Tennis: ITF Updates Qualified List Again

With several late withdrawals in tennis the list of qualified athletes has changed again. In total 56 nations will send at least one athlete. As a reminder mixed doubles will be made up of athletes which have qualified in other events.

 

Athletes by Nations

• United States – 11
• France – 9
• Spain – 9
• Germany – 8
• Russia – 8
• Australia – 7
• Brazil – 7
• Czech Republic – 7
• Great Britain – 7
• Italy – 7
• Poland – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Argentina – 6
• Japan – 6
• Romania – 6
• Serbia – 6
• China – 5
• Chinese Taipei – 5
• Canada – 4
• Croatia – 4
• India – 4
• Slovakia – 4
• Belgium – 3
• Colombia – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Switzerland – 3
• Austria – 2
• Belarus – 2
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Chile – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Kazakhstan – 2
• Mexico – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Thailand – 2
• Tunisia – 2
• Barbados – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Georgia – 1
• Israel – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Liechtenstein – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Luxembourg – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Montenegro – 1
• Paraguay – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

 

Reference

• ITF. Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event entries. Access on July 31 2016.

Golf: Olympic Rankings Published

The International Golf Federation has published the Olympic Golf Rankings. Over the past two years athletes gained points from select events which form the rankings. For athletes ranked in the top 15 a maximum of four athletes can represent one nation. However, for athletes ranked outside of the top 15 the maximum for one nation becomes two. In total sixty athletes will take part in each event. The ranking period lasted from July 14th 2014 to July 10th 2016.

While golf makes its return to the Olympics since 1904 it has been a bit of a bumpy ride for the men’s event. There have been multiple withdrawals, including the four highest ranked athletes in the rankings. Many of these golfers cited fear towards the Zika virus as the reason for their withdrawal. Overall only the United States will send the maximum of four athletes while other nations will send one or two athletes.

The women however have had much fewer withdrawals with everyone eligible in the top 15 so far committing to the games. South Korea will be the only nation sending four athletes while the United States will send three.

In total 40 nations will compete in golf’s return to the Olympics. Athletes and nations have one week to formally confirm their participation to the games so there may be a few more withdrawals before the games begin.

 

Quotas by Nations

• United States – 7
• South Korea – 6
• Australia – 4
• Canada – 4
• China – 4
• Chinese Taipei – 4
• Denmark – 4
• Finland – 4
• France – 4
• Germany – 4
• Great Britain – 4
• Italy – 4
• Japan – 4
• Malaysia – 4
• New Zealand – 4
• South Africa – 4
• Spain – 4
• Sweden – 4
• Thailand – 4
• Belgium – 3
• India – 3
• Ireland – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Norway – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Austria – 2
• Brazil – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Mexico – 2
• Paraguay – 2
• Philippines – 2
• Switzerland – 2
• Bangladesh – 1
• Chile – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Hong Kong – 1
• Israel – 1
• Portugal – 1
• Russia – 1
• Venezuela – 1

 

References

• IGF. Men’s Olympic Golf Rankings. Access on July 11 2016.
• IGF. Women’s Olympic Golf Rankings. Access on July 11 2016.

Boxing: Professional Athletes Qualified at APB/WSB Qualifier

The final qualification quotas were decided at the 2016 APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event. At this tournament boxers from AIBA Pro Boxing and World Series of Boxing are allowed to compete. In addition, with the late ruling allowing full professional boxers to compete this will be the only opportunity for them to qualify to the Olympics. In total the highest ranked boxers from the men’s heavyweight and super heavyweight qualified to the Olympics while for the other eight weight classes the top three athletes qualified to the Olympics. The APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event was held in Vargas, Venezuela from July 3rd to July 8th 2016.

The late rule change to allow all professional boxers was met with some controversy with some nations declaring it was unfair to change the rules this late with some nations refusing to allow professionals to compete even if they had space on the team. Pro boxing organisations also threatened suspensions for athletes whom choose to compete in the Olympics. In the end only a small group of professionals actually competed. Two of the most prominent pros which qualified were Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng in the men’s lightweight (-60kg) and Cameroon’s Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in the men’s light heavyweight (-81kg). Both actually lost their final match with Mexico’s Lindolfo Delgado defeating Ruenroeng and Colombia’s Juan Carlos Carrillo defeating N’Jikam. Also qualifying in those weights were Italy’s Carmine Tommasone (-60kg) and Ukraine’s Denys Soloneko (-81kg).

Mexico was the top performing nation, winning three gold medals. Along with Delgado, Joselito Velazquez defeated Ecuador’s Carlos Quipo in the men’s light flyweight (-49kg) and Juan Pablo Romero won in a walkover against Germany’s Arajik Marutjan in the men’s welterweight (-69kg). Also qualifying were Argentina’s Leandro Blanc in the light flyweight and Spain’s Youba Sissokho in the welterweight.

While Mexico won the most gold medals Venezuela qualified the most athletes, with four in total. Overall they won two events; Yoel Finol Rivas defeated Germany’s Hamza Touba in the men’s flyweight (-52kg), Colombia’s Ceiber Avila finished third and Edgar Munoz won the only available spot in the men’s super heavyweight (+91kg) with his win over Ukraine’s Rostyslav Arkhypenko. Also qualifying for Venezuela was Endry Jose Pinto whom lost to Ecuador’s Marlo Delgado in the men’s middleweight (-75kg), Turkey’s Onder Sipal won the third quota and Victor Rodriguez grabbed the third quota in the men’s bantamweight (-56kg). The winner of that event was Kenya’s Benson Gicharu whom won in a walkover against Dominican Republic’s Hector Garcia.

 

In the men’s light welterweight (-64kg) Armenia’s Hovhannes won in a technical knock-out over Qatar’s Thulasi Tharumalingam. The third quota for that event went to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Matviychuk whom won in a walk-over against Argentina’s Carlos Daniel Aquino. The lone quota in the men’s heavyweight (-91kg) went to Ecuador’s Julio Cesar Castillo whom defeated Croatia’s Marko Calic in the final.

 

This was the final opportunity for athletes to qualify in boxing. All that is remaining is for the nations to confirm the quotas and for the tripartite commission to announce the remaining tripartite quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Venezuela – 4
• Ecuador – 3
• Mexico – 3
• Colombia – 2
• Germany – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Armenia – 1
• Cameroon – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Italy – 1
• Kenya – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Spain – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Turkey – 1

 

References

• AIBA. APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event. Access on July 8 2016.

Tennis: Qualified Athlete List Released

The International Tennis Federation has announced the full list of qualified athletes based on the ATP and WTA rankings. A nation can only qualify a maximum of six athletes for each gender. The ATP and WTA rankings contain various events throughout the year, specifically events taking place from June 8th 2015 to June 5th 2016.

For the singles the top 56 eligible athletes in the men’s ATP and women’s WTA rankings are qualified to the Olympics. A nation can only qualify a maximum of four athletes in each singles event and the athlete must fulfill their requirements to the Davis and Fed Cup or get special permission. Six quotas are classified as ITF places which are allocated to the (if unqualified) host nation, continental representation (must be in top 300) and former Olympic gold medalists or Grand Slam champions (must be in top 200). Should those quotas not be filled the next highest ranked eligible athlete will qualify. Also two tripartite quotas were allocated to each of the singles events.

For the doubles athletes in the top 10 of the men’s ATP and women’s WTA are qualified. Similarly they must fulfill the Davis and Fed Cup requirements. The athletes can partner with any eligible player from their nation provided that they do not exceed the maximum of two doubles teams in an event. 14 spots go to the teams with the highest combined rankings (singles or doubles). 8 spots are classified as ITF places which are allocated to the (if unqualified) host nation (must have combined ranking of less than 500) and continental representation (must have combined ranking of less than 300). Should those quotas not be filled the next highest ranked doubles will qualify.

The men’s singles list contains a few missing top athletes with the 4 in the top 20 missing. Reasons for not competing ranged from not fulfilling the Davis Cup requirements (South Africa’s Kevin Anderson), issues with their NOC (Australia’s Nick Kyrigos) and wanting to focus on the ATP season (Austria’s Dominic Thiem and United States’ John Isner). Of the four Thiem was the highest ranked athlete at the time of the Olympic rankings publication at seventh.

One of the interesting developments on the men’s side is that the ITF has provisionally included some athletes provided that they compete at the July Davis Cup or have an appeal. This was reserved for athletes who have not completed their Davis Cup requirements; the most notable athlete subjected to this is Spain’s Rafael Nadal. In the men’s singles seven athletes qualified through protected rankings, usually reserved from athletes returning from long term injury. Athletes which qualified through the injury list include. Argentina’s Juan Monaco and Juan Martin del Potro, Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis, Chinese Taipei’s Lu Yen-Hsun, Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz and United States’ Brian Baker. Overall the ITF Places were reallocated to the next best ranked athletes while the tripartite commission selected Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur and Barabdos’ Darian King to compete at the Olympics.

The women’s singles on the other hand had relatively few missing top athletes. Out of the top 40 only two are missing, recently retired Flavia Pennetta of Italy and Russia’s Maria Sharapova whom is serving a doping ban. Three athletes also used their protected rankings as a way to qualify to the Olympics; China’s Peng Shuai, Italy’s Karin Knapp and Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva. Also three athletes qualified through the intended use of the ITF Places; Brazil’s Teliana Pereira qualified by being from the host nation, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur qualified by being the highest ranked athlete from Africa and Italy’s Francesca Schiavone qualified by being a former Grand Slam champion. The other three quotas were reallocated to the next highest ranked eligible athletes. The tripartite commission selected Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg and Liechtenstein’s Stephanie Vogt to compete at the Olympics.

Unlike during the ATP and WTA tour doubles pairs must be from the same nation. This has caused many pairs to break-up and compete with someone else for one tournament. In the men’s doubles brother Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States will attempt to depend their gold medal. Overall six athletes will compete with someone else in the top 10 meaning three quotas are reallocated to the combined ranking list. Like with the men’s singles some athletes are provisionally chosen with the expectation that they will compete in July’s Davis Cup competition or submit an appeal. None of the ITF Places were used as intended and were reallocated to the highest combined ranked pairs which applied.

The women’s doubles will have the United States’ Serena and Venus Williams defending their Olympic gold medal. Four athletes will compete with someone else in the top 10 meaning two quotas are reallocated to the combined ranking list. One ITF Place was given to Brazil’s Teliana Pereira and Paula Cristina Goncalves so that the host nation will have participation. The other seven places were reallocated to the highest combined ranked pairs which applied.

The mixed doubles pairs won’t actually be announced until after the Olympics begin. Only players which have already qualified in other events can participate. A total of 16 pairs will compete, with 4 ITF Places included.

 

Athletes by Nations

• United States – 12
• Czech Republic – 10
• France – 9
• Germany – 9
• Spain – 9
• Russia – 8
• Brazil – 7
• Great Britain – 7
• Italy – 7
• Serbia – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Argentina – 6
• Australia – 6
• Switzerland – 6
• Chinese Taipei – 5
• Romania – 5
• Canada – 4
• China – 4
• India – 4
• Japan – 4
• Kazakhstan – 4
• Poland – 4
• Slovakia – 4
• Belarus – 3
• Belgium – 3
• Croatia – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Austria – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Chile – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Latvia – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Tunisia – 2
• Barbados – 1
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1
• Cyprus – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Israel – 1
• Liechtenstein – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Luxembourg – 1
• Montenegro – 1
• Paraguay – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

 

References

• ITF. Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event entries. Access on June 30 2016.

Weightlifting: IWF Sanctions Nations, Announces Reallocation Quotas

The International Weightlifting Federation has sanctioned eight nations due to their athletes testing positive for performance enhancing drugs multiple times. Overall Azerbaijan lost one male and one female quotas, Belarus lost one male quota, Kazakhstan lost one male and one female quotas, Moldova lost two male quotas, North Korea lost one male and one female quotas, Romania lost one male quota, Russia lost one male and one female quotas and Uzbekistan lost one female quota.

Sanctions could be increased to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia for a total ban depending on the result of the investigation from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Unsurprisingly this will cause a massive change in the World Championship Rankings for Olympic quotas. Sadly the IWF has not published the change in rankings due to wanting to finalize everything. They however, published the reallocation of those quotas lost by the offending nations along with the six women’s quotas that were not allocated from the individual rankings.

The following nations were given a reallocation quota. For the men they are; Chile, Greece, Guatemala, Israel, Kenya, Nauru, Qatar and Sri Lanka. For the women they are; Argentina, Finland, Iraq, Latvia, Mauritius, Morocco, Peru, Solomon Islands, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.

 

Net Quotas by Nations

• Argentina – 1
• Chile – 1
• Finland – 1
• Greece – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Iraq – 1
• Israel – 1
• Kenya – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Nauru – 1
• Peru – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Solomon Islands – 1
• Sri Lanka – 1
• Sweden – 1
• United Arab Emirates – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Belarus – -1
• Romania – -1
• Uzbekistan – -1
• Azerbaijan – -2
• Kazakhstan – -2
• Moldova – -2
• North Korea – -2
• Russia – -2

 

References

• IWF. Strong statement by the IWF Executive Board. Access on June 23 2016.
• IWF. Second day of the IWF Executive Board meeting in Tbilisi. Access on June 23 2016.

Beach Volleyball: Olympic Rankings Published

In total 15 nations qualified to the Olympics after the publication of the Beach Volleyball Olympic Rankings. The top 15 ranked eligible teams from the Olympic rankings qualified their nation a spot to the Olympics. Brazil has already qualified the maximum quotas through the host quota and winning the 2015 World Championship. Other nations can qualify a maximum of two teams per gender. Teams can earn points through their performances at eligible tournaments. The Beach Volleyball Olympic Rankings contained points earned from various events held from January 1st 2015 to June 12th 2016.

The men’s rankings were topped by Brazil’s Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt. The 15 qualified teams were (in alphabetical order); Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy (2), Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands (2), Poland (2), Russia, Spain and the United States (2).

The women’s rankings were also topped by Brazil’s Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes. The 15 qualified teams were (in alphabetical order); Argentina, Australia, Canada (2), China, Germany (2), Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland (2) and the United States (2).

There are still two more opportunities for nations to qualify quotas. The first opportunity is the continental cup while the second will be the final qualification tournament.

 

Teams by Nations

• United States – 4
• Canada – 3
• Germany – 3
• Italy – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Poland – 3
• Spain – 2
• Switzerland – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Australia – 1
• Austria – 1
• China – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Russia – 1

 

References

• FIVB. Men Beach Volleyball Olympic Rankings. Access on June 13 2016.
• FIVB. Women Beach Volleyball Olympic Rankings. Access on June 13 2016.

Judo: Olympic Rankings Published 113 Nations Qualify

113 nations qualified through the Judo Olympic Rankings. Athletes earned points through various world and continental events over a two year period. There were two methods of qualifying. First the top 22 men and top 14 women qualify with a maximum of one NOC per weight class. Second are the continental qualifiers. The highest ranked, not yet qualified athletes across all events can qualify. Each continent has a set amount of quotas; Africa 24 (14 men, 10 women), Europe 25 (14 men, 11 women), Asia 20 (12 men, 8 women), Oceania 10 (7 men, 3 women), and Pan America 21 (13 men, 8 women). A nation can only earn one spot across all events through this and a single continent can qualify a maximum of two athletes in a single event. The qualification period lasted from May 30th 2014 to May 29th 2016.

In total 113 nations have qualified with France and Japan joining hosts Brazil as being the only nation to have qualified a full team of men and women. Also qualifying a full men’s team are Georgia, Germany, Mongolia, Russia, South Korea and Uzbekistan. Overall 53 nations only qualified through the continental rankings while 14 nations did not receive a continental quota. Oceania did not allocate all 10 of its continental quotas thus the unused quota was reallocated to the athlete with the most points and is not yet qualified among all events, specifically Uzbekistan’s Soyib Kurbonov in the men’s -100kg.

The quotas are tied to the athletes by name with the exception of where multiple athletes from the same nation finished in the top 22 for men and top 14 for women where the nation can choose from among them. All that is left to determine in judo is the tripartite quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• France – 14
• Japan – 14
• Germany – 13
• Mongolia – 13
• South Korea – 12
• Netherlands – 11
• Russia – 11
• Cuba – 9
• Canada – 8
• China – 8
• Georgia – 8
• Hungary – 8
• Uzbekistan – 8
• Australia – 7
• Great Britain – 7
• Israel – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Azerbaijan – 6
• Portugal – 6
• United States – 6
• Algeria – 5
• Austria – 5
• Belgium – 5
• Egypt – 5
• Italy – 5
• Kazakhstan – 5
• Slovenia – 5
• Spain – 5
• Poland – 4
• Romania – 4
• Sweden – 4
• Tunisia – 4
• Turkey – 4
• Czech Republic – 3
• Ecuador – 3
• Iran – 3
• Morocco – 3
• North Korea – 3
• Switzerland – 3
• United Arab Emirates – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Belarus – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Chinese Taipei – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Gabon – 2
• Greece – 2
• Kosovo – 2
• Kyrgyzstan – 2
• Latvia – 2
• Mexico – 2
• Puerto Rico – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Tajikistan – 2
• Turkmenistan – 2
• American Samoa – 1
• Angola – 1
• Armenia – 1
• Aruba – 1
• Benin – 1
• Bolivia – 1
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1
• Burkina Faso – 1
• Cameroon – 1
• Chile – 1
• Congo – 1
• Costa Rica – 1
• Côte d’Ivoire – 1
• Croatia – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• El Salvador – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Fiji – 1
• Finland – 1
• Gambia – 1
• Ghana – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Guinea-Bissau – 1
• Haiti – 1
• Honduras – 1
• Iceland – 1
• India – 1
• Iraq – 1
• Jordan – 1
• Kenya – 1
• Lebanon – 1
• Libya – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Madagascar – 1
• Mali – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Mozambique – 1
• Nauru – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Niger – 1
• Pakistan – 1
• Palau – 1
• Papua New Guinea – 1
• Peru – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Samoa – 1
• Saudi Arabia – 1
• Senegal – 1
• Serbia – 1
• Seychelles – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Trinidad and Tobago – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Vanuatu – 1
• Venezuela – 1
• Vietnam – 1
• Zambia – 1

 

References

• IJF. Judo Base Olympic Quotas by Nations. Access on June 4 2016.
• IJF. Judo Base Men’s Olympic Rankings. Access on June 4 2016.
• IJF. Judo Base Women’s Olympic Rankings. Access on June 4 2016.

Modern Pentathlon: Athletes Qualify After Olympic Rankings Are Published

The International Modern Pentathlon Union has published the Olympic Qualification Rankings. Athletes are able to earn points in various competitions such as the World Championship, the World Cups and continental championships. Originally the top 6 men and women were supposed to qualify, but due to reallocations the top 8 men and top 10 women not yet qualified are qualified to the Olympics. As a reminder in modern pentathlon the athlete is directly qualified. If a nation has more than two athletes per gender qualified then they must select two from that list. The Olympic Qualification Rankings contain events starting on May 30th 2015 and ending on May 29th 2016.

For the men’s rankings world number one James Cooke of Great Britain leads the qualification list. Also qualified are Amro El Geziry (Egypt), Adam Marosi (Hungary), Omar El Geziry (Egypt), Maksim Kustov (Russia), Justinas Kinderis (Lithuania), Yasser Hefny (Egypt) and Guo Jian-Li (China). Since Egypt has three qualified athletes through the Olympic rankings (plus one through the African Championship) after selecting two athletes at least one will be reallocated through the Olympic rankings meaning Bence Demeter (Hungary) is guaranteed a spot.

For the women’s rankings the qualified athlete list is led by world number three Zsofia Foldhazi of Hungary.  Also qualifying are Annika Schleu (Germany), Claudia Cesarini (Italy), Anastasiya Prokopenko (Belarus), Ieva Serapinaite (Lithuania), Freyja Prentice (Great Britain), Gintare Venckauskaite (Lithuania), Iryna Khokhlova (Argentina), Melanie McCann (Canada) and Margaux Isaksen (United States).

Overall a few nations have more than two athletes in one event meaning they will have to choose two. Should the rejected quota come from a continental qualifier then the next best athlete from that event will be selected. In all other cases the reallocated quota will be through the Olympic Qualification Rankings. Also the tripartite quotas need to be announced, if things are similar to 2012 they may also be reallocated to the rankings.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Egypt – 3
• Lithuania – 3
• Great Britain – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Canada – 1
• China – 1
• Germany – 1
• Italy – 1
• Russia – 1
• United States – 1

 

References

• UIPM. Modern Pentathlon Men Senior OG Rankings. Access on June 1 2016.
• UIPM. Modern Pentathlon Women Senior OG Rankings. Access on June 1 2016.

Cycling BMX: BMX Quotas Decided

With the update of the World Rankings the BMX quotas have been decided. There are three stages in which quotas are allocated. First is the Olympic Qualification Rankings where athletes can earn points for their nation at select events such as, the World Championship, World Cup, Continental Championship and others. For the men the top four nations qualified three athletes, nations ranked 5th to 7th qualify 2 athletes while nations ranked 8th to 13th qualify 1 athlete. For the women the top three nations qualified two athletes and nations ranked 4th to 7th qualify 1 athlete. The ranking period was from May 31st 2014 to May 30th 2016.

The second way to qualify quotas was through the UCI Individual Rankings. Athletes can earn points at select events such as, the World Championship, World Cup, Continental Championship and others. Nations which did not qualify through the Olympic Rankings are eligible. The top four individual athletes for the men and the top three individual athletes for the women qualify their nation to the Olympics. The ranking period was from May 31st 2015 to May 30th 2016.

The final way athletes can qualify was through the 2016 BMX World Championship. The top three for men and top two for women ranked athletes from nations not yet qualified qualify their nation to the Olympics. The BMX World Championship was held in Medellin, Colombia from May 25th to May 29th 2016.

The Olympic Qualification Rankings for the men’s BMX was as follows; United States, Netherlands, Australia and France all qualified three athletes, Great Britain, Latvia and Colombia qualified two athletes and Argentina, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil and Japan qualified one athlete.

The nations which qualified through the Individual Rankings were as follow; Alfredo Campo (Ecuador), Russia (Evgeny Komarov), Germany (Luis Brethauer) and Norway (Tore Navrestad). At the World Championship the gold medal was won by France’s Joris Daudet whom narrowly defeated Netherlands’ Niek Kimmann by 0.048 of a second. The Olympic quotas went to South Africa (Kyle Dodd), Venezuela (Jefferson Milano), and Denmark (Niklas Lausten). Since Brazil qualified through the Olympic Rankings the host quota will be reallocated to the next best nation in the Olympic Rankings not yet qualified, specifically Indonesia.

For the women’s BMX the following nations qualified through the Olympic Qualification Rankings; Australia, United States and Netherlands qualified two athletes and Colombia, France, Venezuela and Russia qualified one athlete. The nations which qualified through the Individual Rankings were as follows; Belgium (Elke Vanhoof), Denmark (Simone Christensen) and Argentina (Maria Gabriela Diaz).

At the World Championship the women’s BMX was won by 2012 Olympic gold medalist Mariana Pajon of Colombia whom finished with a time of 41.385, well ahead of second place Caroline Buchanan of Australia whom finished with a time of 42.312. The Olympic quotas went to Germany (Nadja Pries) and Brazil (Priscilla Stevaux Carnaval). Since Brazil qualified normally its host quota has been reallocated to the next best nation in the Olympic Rankings not yet qualified, specifically Thailand.

This concludes the qualification for the BMX events. All that is remaining is for nations to confirm their qualification quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Australia – 5
• Netherlands – 5
• United States – 5
• France – 4
• Colombia – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Brazil – 2
• Denmark – 2
• Germany – 2
• Great Britain – 2
• Latvia – 2
• Russia – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Belgium – 1
• Canada – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Indonesia – 1
• Japan – 1
• Norway – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Thailand – 1

 

References

• UCI. 2016 BMX Cycling Rankings. Access on May 31 2016.
• UCI. 2016 BMX World Championship Men’s Results. Access on May 31 2016.
• UCI. 2016 BMX World Championship Women’s Results. Access on May 31 2016.

Cycling Mountain: Cross-Country Olympic Rankings Published

The UCI Olympic Qualification Rankings have been published. The rankings consisted of the combined point total obtained by a nation’s top three athletes at select world and continental events over the past two years. For the men’s rankings nations ranked 1st-5th qualified three athletes, 6th-13th qualified two athletes and 14th-23rd qualified one athlete. For the women’s rankings nations ranked 1st-8th qualified two athletes and 9th-17th qualified one athlete. The UCI Olympic Qualification Ranking period lasted from May 25th 2014 to May 24th 2016.

The men’s rankings were topped by Switzerland whom finished with 9877 points. Also earning three athlete quotas was France, Spain, Czech Republic and Italy. The nations which earned two athlete quotas are; Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Portugal, South Africa and Brazil. The nations which earned one athlete quota are; Austria, Slovakia, United States, Argentina, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Israel and Japan.

With the release of the rankings there are also some reallocations to be done. First the host quota has been reallocated to the next highest ranked nation, Hungary. Also since Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand all qualified through the rankings their spot won at the continental qualifiers are reallocated to the next highest ranked nation at that qualifier meaning Costa Rica, Rwanda and Hong Kong are qualified. However, since no other Oceania nation competed at the continental qualifier the next level of reallocation is through the Olympic Rankings of teams from the same continent meaning Guam has qualified. Since no other Oceania nation is ranked in the Olympic Rankings the quota has been reallocated to the next highest ranked nation overall in the Olympic Rankings, specifically Russia.

The women’s ranking was also topped by Switzerland whom finished with a total of 8614 points. Also earning two athlete quotas was Germany, Canada, France, United States, Slovenia, Poland and Ukraine. The nations which earned one athlete quota are; Russia, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Australia, Sweden and Serbia.

Like with the men’s rankings there are a couple of reallocations. Since Brazil qualified through the rankings the host quota was reallocated to the next highest ranked nation, Czech Republic. Also since Australia qualified through the rankings their spot won at the continental qualifiers was reallocated to the next highest ranked nation from that qualifier, New Zealand.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics in mountain biking. There is still the possibility for reallocation as some nations may decline some or all of their quotas. We should know one way or another over the coming weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

• France – 5
• Switzerland – 5
• Canada – 4
• Czech Republic – 4
• Germany – 4
• Italy – 4
• Australia – 3
• Belgium – 3
• Brazil – 3
• Spain – 3
• United States – 3
• Denmark – 2
• Netherlands – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• Poland – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Russia – 2
• Slovenia – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Sweden – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Austria – 1
• Costa Rica – 1
• Greece – 1
• Guam – 1
• Hong Kong – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Israel – 1
• Japan – 1
• Norway – 1
• Rwanda – 1
• Serbia – 1
• Slovakia – 1

 

References

• UCI. Mountain Biking Rankings. Access on May 25 2016.