Team Preview: Cyprus

Note: Last minute changes are always possible

Cyprus is an island nation located in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The nation made its Summer Olympic debut in 1980 and has competed ever since. In 2012 Cyprus won its first ever Olympic medal, a silver medal in sailing. Going into Rio the nation is not favoured to win a medal, but it is expected to put up good results and could potentially challenge for a medal in a few events.

The largest portion of the team will be in athletics where seven athletes will compete. Leading the group is 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Kyriakos Ioannou whom will compete in his fourth Olympics in the men’s high jump. Joining him in the event is Dimitrios Chondrokoukis whom reached the final at the 2015 World Championship. Another athlete to watch is 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Apostolos Parellis whom will compete in his second Olympics in the men’s discus. On the women’s side we have Eleni Artymata whom will compete in the women’s 200m. She will be joined by Ramona Papaioannou whom will perform the 100/200m double. Other athletes competing include 2010 Youth Olympian Leonita Kallenou (women’s high jump) and Milan Trajkovic (men’s 110m hurdles).

Cyprus’ first Olympic medal winner will return in sailing. 2012 Olympic silver medalist Pavlos Kontides will compete in his third Olympics in the men’s laser. Kontides is still among the top sailors in the category and has won multiple medals at World Cup events and silver at the 2013 World Championship. Joining him will be Andreas Cariolou whom will compete in his fourth Olympics in the men’s RS:X.

In shooting Cyprus will compete with a couple of skeet shooters.  Returning to the Olympics is 2008 Olympian Andri Eleftheriou whom will compete in women’s skeet. Eleftheriou is the bronze medalist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 European Championship. Joining her will be Andreas Chasikos whom will compete in men’s skeet.

In tennis Marco Baghdatis will compete in his third Olympics (2004, 2012) in the men’s singles. Baghdatis has had an illustrious career where he has won 4 ATP titles, broke into the top 10 and reached the final at the 2006 Australian Open. While he no longer ranks that high he is still a top player and has broken into the top 40 during the 2016 season.

Other sports Cyprus will compete in include artistic gymnastics (Marios Georgiou, men’s events), cycling (Antri Christoforou, women’s road race), weightlifting (Antonis Martasidis, men’s -85kg) and swimming. Iacovos Hadjiconstantinou will compete in the men’s 400m freestyle while Sotiria Neofytou will compete in the women’s 100m butterfly.

Overall Cyprus will compete with 17 athletes in 8 sports. This will be the largest delegation of athletes sent since 2004.

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.

Cycling Road: Women’s Olympic Rankings Published

The Union Cycliste Internationale has published the Women’s Olympic Qualification Rankings which are used to allocate the majority of competitors in women’s road race and time trial. Athletes can earn points for their nation in UCI approved events. For the women’s road race initially the top 5 nations earn four athlete quotas, nations ranked 6th to 13th earn three quotas and nations ranked 14th to 22nd earn two quotas. However, if an athlete is ranked in the top 100 in the individual rankings and their nation did not qualify through the nation rankings they will earn their nation a maximum of one quota. The quota is subtracted from the lowest ranked nations (those nations can only lose a maximum of one quota). For the time trial the top 15 nations from the rankings will be allowed to send one athlete which has qualified from the road race. The Women’s Olympic Qualification Rankings are calculated from various events held from June 1st 2015 to May 31st 2016.

For the women’s road race the women’s individual rankings contained 12 nations where athletes finished in the top 100, but their nation did not finished in the top 22 in the nation rankings. They are Chinese Taipei (Huang Ting Ying), Norway (Emile Moberg), Brazil (Flavia Oliveira), Azerbaijan (Olena Pavlukhina), Thailand (Jutatip Maneephan), Austria (Martina Ritter), Slovenia (Polana Batagelj), Lithuania (Daiva Tuslaite), Cyprus (Antri Christoforou), Israel (Shani Bloch), Japan (Mayuko Hagiwara) and Chile (Paola Munoz). This has caused nations ranked from 11 to 22 to lose one quota. Netherlands, United States, Italy, Australia and Germany qualified four athlete quotas. Poland, Sweden, Great Britain, Canada and Belgium qualified three athlete quotas. France, South Africa and Luxembourg qualified two athlete quotas. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Cuba, New Zealand, Mexico, Switzerland and Spain qualified one athlete quota. Since Cuba qualified through the nation rankings its continental qualifier quota was reallocated to the next best ranked eligible nation from the Pan American qualifier, specifically Venezuela. Also since Brazil qualified one quota through the rankings one of their host quota will be reallocated to the highest ranked nation not yet qualified, Colombia.

The nations which qualified through the women’s time trial are as follows; Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States. As a reminder these nations do not gain an athlete quota, they must use athletes which were qualified from the road race. Due to this rule both the Czech Republic and Russia which qualified quotas from the 2015 World Championship do not have enough athletes to fill that spot. The quotas have now been reallocated to the next highest eligible ranked nation from the event, specifically Japan and Sweden.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics in all disciplines of cycling. All that is left is for nations to confirm the quotas in which they were given.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Australia – 4
• Germany – 4
• Italy – 4
• Netherlands – 4
• United States – 4
• Belgium – 3
• Canada – 3
• Great Britain – 3
• Poland – 3
• Sweden – 3
• France – 2
• Luxembourg – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Austria – 1
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Brazil – 1
• Chile – 1
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Colombia – 1
• Cuba – 1
• Cyprus – 1
• Finland – 1
• Israel – 1
• Japan – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Mexico – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Norway – 1
• Russia – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Ukraine – 1

 

References

• UCI. Athletes quota for road cycling women’s events. Access on June 1 2016.

Gymnastics: Test Event Decide Remaining Quotas

France and Germany qualified a full artistic team, Germany and Uzbekistan qualified both an individual and team in rhythmic gymnastics and Portugal and the United States qualified an athlete in both genders in trampoline at the 2016 Gymnastics Olympic Test Event. The Olympic test event featured all three disciplines in gymnastics. In artistic gymnastics the top four all-around teams will qualify along with eligible all-around individuals until the total quota of 97 men and 97 women have been met including continental representation. In trampoline eight quotas for each gender are available to the top eligible athletes, including continental representation. Two of these quotas are meant for the host Brazil and the tripartite though gender is not specified. In rhythmic gymnastics the top three all-around teams and the top nine all-around individuals, including continental representation will qualify. The Gymnastics Olympic Test Event was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from April 16th to April 22nd 2016.

 

Artistic

In the men’s team all-around competition it was Germany whom led all nations with a score of 350.609. After a relatively weak floor performance the team posted top three results in all of the other apparatuses including a top performance in the parallel bars. Ukraine followed close behind with a final score of 350.160. The team had a good performance at the beginning including a very strong first place in the pommel horse, but ultimately lost pace to Germany. The other two nations which booked a team spot were the Netherlands who will compete in the men’s team event for the first time in its history and France. Inconsistencies including a horrible start on the pommel horse ultimately cost Spain a spot in the team event.

Nations which competed in the team event, but did not qualify are eligible to pick any athlete to compete at the Olympics. These nations are Romania, Spain, Belgium and Canada. Continental representation (1 for Oceania, 2 for other continents) was not met for Africa as only one athlete qualified through the test event. This meant the highest ranked African athlete from the 2015 World Championship, Algeria’s Mohamed Bourguieg qualified to the Olympics. Nations which had two athletes competing and both athletes finishing higher than the lowest ranked qualifier will have the opportunity to pick which one of the two athletes will compete. These nations are Colombia, Mexico and Hungary.

The following athletes are qualified to the Olympics based on the order from the individual all-around event; Andrey Likhovitskiy (Belarus), Alexander Shatilov (Isarael), Ferhat Arican (Turkey), Artur Davtyan (Armenia), Randy Leru (Cuba), Filip Ude (Croatia), Petro Pakhnyuk (Azerbaijan), Anton Fokin (Uzbekistan), Oskar Kirmes (Finland), Ludovico Edalli (Italy), Stian Skjerahaug (Norway), David Jessen (Czech Republic), Robert Tvorogal (Lithuania), Pham Phuoc Hung (Vietnam), Marios Georgiou (Cyprus), Kieran Behan (Ireland), Vlasios Maras (Greece), Gustavo Palma Simoes (Portugal), Mikhail Koudinoc (New Zealand), Ryan Patterson (South Africa), Tomas Gonzalez (Chile) and Lee Chih Kai (Chinese Taipei).

The women’s team all-around event was topped by Brazil whom finished with a score of 226.477. The team had a great performance, finishing first in the balance beam, floor and vault. Despite a poor performance on the uneven bars second place Germany was unable to close the gap completely, finishing with an overall score of 223.977. Also qualifying to the Olympics are Belgium and France. In one of the most shocking news in gymnastics Romania, medalists at every Olympics since 1976 will not be sending a team as a poor uneven bars contributed to their seventh place finish.

Nations which competed in the team event, but did not qualify are eligible to choose any athlete to compete at the Olympics. These nations are Australia, Switzerland, Romania and South Korea. Continental representation (1 for Oceania, 2 for the other continents) was not met for Africa as no athletes were qualified at the end of the test event. This meant the highest ranked African athletes from the 2015 World Championships, specifically; Algeria’s Farah Boufadene and South Africa’s Claudia Cummins have qualified to the Olympics. Nations which had two athletes competing and both athletes finishing higher than the lowest ranked qualifier will have the opportunity to pick which one of two athletes will compete. These nations are Greece, Hungary, Spain, Mexico and Poland.

The following athletes are qualified to the Olympics based on the order from the individual all-around event; Ana Sofia Gomez (Guatemala), Jessica Lopez Arocha (Venezuela), Angelina Kysla (Ukraine), Marcia Vidiaux (Cuba), Filipa Martins (Portugal), Lisa Ecker (Austria), Toni-Ann Williams (Jamaica), Irina Sazonova (Iceland), Phan Thu Ha Thanh (Vietnam), Dipa Karmakar (India), Barbora Mokosova (Slovakia), Courtney McGregor (New Zealand), Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan), Houry Gebeshian (Armenia), Ariana Orrego (Peru), Simona Castro (Chile), Teja Belak (Slovenia), Tutya Yilmaz (Turkey), Emma Larsson (Sweden), Marisa Dick (Trinidad and Tobago), Ana Derek (Croatia), Catalina Escobar Gomez (Colombia), Kylie Dickson (Belarus), Ellis O’Reilly (Ireland) and Ailen Valente (Argentina).

 

Trampoline

The qualification round of the women’s trampoline was topped by Li Dan of China whom scored 102.480 after her two performances. In the final however, Li had a subpar performance and finished in fifth. The event was instead won by her compatriot Liu Lingling whom finished with a score of 55.485. China along with Belarus has already previously qualified to the Olympics while other nations were allowed to only qualify one athlete. The Olympic quotas went to Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Uzbekistan, Germany, Portugal and the United States. While the last spot is expected to go to a tripartite nation it will likely eventually be reallocated to the next best ranked nation, France.

Before the competition began Brazil declared that it will use its host quota on the men’s trampoline, leaving the men one fewer qualification spot. The qualification round of the men’s trampoline was topped by China’s Gao Lei whom scored 110.660 after his two performances. A mistake and a fall in the final cost Gao the event as he finished in eighth. The winner of the event was Belarus’ Uladzislau Hancharou whom finished with a score of 59.750. China along with Belarus has already previously qualified to the Olympics while other nations were allowed to only qualify one athlete. The Olympic quotas went to New Zealand, Portugal, United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and as mentioned before Brazil obtained a quota for being the host nation. While the last spot is currently reserved for a tripartite nation it could potentially be reallocation to the next best ranked nation, Kazakhstan.

 

Rhythmic

The qualification round of the individual all-around was led by Belarus’ Melitina Staniouta whom finished with the top score in all four rotations for a total of 72.215 points. However, Belarus has already qualified to the Olympics. The following athletes qualified to the Olympics; Sabina Ashirbayeva (Kazakhstan), Nicol Ruprecht (Austria), Veronica Berolini (Italy), Ekaterina Volkova (Finland), Anastasiya Serdyukova (Uzbekistan), Ana Luiza Filiorianu (Romania), Shang Rong (China) and Jana Berezko-Marggrander. Also since Oceania did not qualify an athlete Australia’s Danielle Prince has been given a continental quota. An African quota will be given either through the tripartite commission or through the best ranked athlete from the 2015 World Championships (South Africa). In addition Brazil announced that it will use its host quota on Natalia Gaudio. The final was again topped by Staniouta whom finished with a score of 70.749.

A direct final for the team all-around was held. Germany won the event by being the best team in the two rotations finishing with a score of 33.183. The other two Olympic quotas went to silver medalist Uzbekistan (32.832) and bronze medalist Greece (31.982).

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics in gymnastics. All that is remaining is to decide on the tripartite places. Overall China and Russia will be sending the largest teams with 20 athletes each while Japan and the United States will also compete in all of the events.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Germany – 16
• France – 10
• Uzbekistan – 9
• Greece – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Belgium – 6
• Brazil – 5
• Netherlands – 5
• Portugal – 4
• Australia – 3
• New Zealand – 3
• Romania – 3
• Algeria – 2
• Armenia – 2
• Austria – 2
• Belarus – 2
• Canada – 2
• Chile – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Croatia – 2
• Cuba – 2
• Finland – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Ireland – 2
• Italy – 2
• Mexico – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Spain – 2
• Turkey – 2
• United States – 2
• Vietnam – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Azerbaijan – 1
• China – 1
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Cyprus – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Iceland – 1
• India – 1
• Israel – 1
• Jamaica – 1
• Japan – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Norway – 1
• Peru – 1
• Poland – 1
• Russia – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• South Korea – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Trinidad and Tobago – 1
• Venezuela – 1

 

References

• FIG. Final Gymnastics Qualifier (Test Event) – Schedule and Results. Access on April 22 2016.

Shooting: Europe and Asia Secure Spots After Shotgun World Championships

Wins in the men and women’s skeet gave the United States the overall lead in the medal table, but in terms of Olympic qualification it was an all-European and Asian affair at the 2015 World Shotgun Championships. The two highest ranked eligible athletes, as in athletes not already qualified and their nation have not previously qualified two spots in the event from the five shotgun events will be given quotas to compete. The World Shotgun Championships were held in Lonato, Italy from September 9th to September 18th 2015.

The women’s trap required a six person shoot-off to determine the final athlete for the semifinals. The shoot-off was won by Spain’s Fatima Galvez causing the other five eligible athletes to be eliminated. The first quota was decided in the semifinals where Russia’s Elena Tkach qualified to the final along with Galvez. Galvez would go on to win the gold medal by defeating Tkach 11-9. The second quota was determined from the bronze medal match between Egypt’s Maggy Ashmawy and North Korea’s Pak Yong Hui. The bronze medal and Olympic spot went to Pak as she defeated Ashmawy in a dominant 12-6 win.

The Olympic quotas for the men’s trap were decided during the qualification round as only Khaled Al-Mudhaf of Kuwait and Belgium’s Maxime Mottet were the only two eligible athletes to reach the semifinals. The final between Italy’s Giovanni Pellielo and Slovakia’s Erik Varga required a shoot-off after a 12-12 tie. Varga was able to win the shoot-off and the gold medal with a score of 2-1. The bronze medal went to Maxime Mottet as he defeated Alberto Fernandez of Spain 13-11.

Five women vied for the final semi-final spot in the women’s skeet, but it was Germany’s Christine Wenzel that won the shoot-off. While it was unfortunate for Libuse Jahodova of the Czech Republic and Cyprus’ Andri Eletheriou they can take solace of the fact of just reaching a shoot-off was enough to give them the two quotas. The final was an all United States affair where Morgan Craft defeated her compatriot Caitlin Connor 15-13. China’s Wei Ning won the bronze medal over Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit of Thailand, winning 15-13.

A shoot-off was required to decide which two of three men qualified to the semifinals of the men’s double trap. Sadly for Malta’s William Chetcuti he was the odd man out as Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Afasi and United States Walton Eller were able to outlast him. The first quota was decided when Great Britain’s Tim Kneale qualified to the final. He was however, unable to win the gold medal as Russia’s Vasily Mosin defeated him by a score of 29-26. The second quota required a shoot-off in the bronze medal match to be decided as both Al-Afasi and Australia’s James Willett tied 24-24. Al-Afasi was able to give Kuwait its second quota of the championship by defeating Willett 4-3 in the shoot-off.

The highlight of the competition happened in the men’s skeet where France’s Anthony Terras equalled the world record by scoring a perfect 125. While India’s Mairaj Khan and Germany’s Ralf Buchheim lost in the shoot-off to reach the semifinals it was still enough for them to receive the two Olympic quotas. The final between Terras and United States’ Vincent Hancock required a shoot-off as both athletes finished with a perfect 16. Hancock was able to take the gold medal after he won the shoot-off 8-7. Italy’s Gabriele Rossetti won the bronze medal by defeating Denmark’s Jesper Hansen 15-14.

This was the final opportunity for nations from Europe and Pan America to qualify quotas to the Olympics in shotgun events. As for the other continents they will all have one more opportunity to qualify at their continental qualifier.

Quotas by Nation

• Kuwait – 2
• Belgium – 1
• Cyprus – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Germany – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• India – 1
• North Korea – 1
• Russia – 1

References

• SIUS. ISSF 2015 World Shotgun Championship in Lonato Results. Access on September17 2015.

Shooting: Italy and Europe Dominate 2nd Shotgun World Cup

After a relatively poor performance at the first shotgun World Cup Europe, led by Italy obtained all 10 of the available spots in the five shotgun events at the second World Cup event held in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates from March 19th to March 29th 2015. 2 quotas were available in each event. Italy was fantastic overall and gained 4 quotas and now has a total of 9 quotas out of a maximum 10 in shotgun events with only a second quota in the women’s trap missing.

In the women’s trap event San Marino’s Alessandra Perilli qualified to the final and won the first quota after hitting 14 targets in the semifinal. This is San Marino’s first Olympic quota and this event is considered to be that country’s best chance at winning their first Olympic medal. The other spot in the final and the second Olympic quota had to go to a shoot-out as four different shooters hit 13 targets. In the end it was Italy’s Silvana Stanco that won the shootout hitting six targets. In the final Stanco defeated Perilli with a score of 11-10.

The men’s trap had a tie to qualify for the finals with three shooters all scoring 14 hits in the semifinal. In an unusual event two different shootouts were required. The first shootout only lasted one shot as Croatia’s Josip Glasnovic was able to hit the first target, but both Czech Republic’s David Kostelecky and Turkey’s Oguzhan Tuzun missed. The second shootout also lasted one shot as it was Kostelecky who hit his target this time with Tuzun missing for the second time. Croatia and the Czech Republic won the two quotas. In the final Kostelecky defeated Glasnovic 14-12.

In the men’s double trap Italy’s Marco Innocenti scored a perfect 30 hits in the semifinal qualifying Italy’s second quota for this event. Vasily Mosin of Russia gained the second available quota by reaching the final with a score of 28. Mosin however was able to take the overall title defeating Innocenti 26-25.

The women’s skeet was an all Italian affair with the top three shooters in the semifinal being Italian. Specifically it was Diana Bacosi and Chiara Cainero reaching the final and qualifying Italy two more quotas for the Olympics. As a reminder the athletes do not qualify directly it is up to the National Olympic Committee to choose who gets to compete so Katiuscia Spada whom finished third still has a chance to compete at the Olympics. In the final Bacosi defeated Cainero 13-10.

The first quota in the men’s skeet went to Jesper Hansen of Denmark whom reached the final by scoring a perfect 16 in the semifinals. The second quota went to third place Andreas Chasikos of Cyprus because France’s Anthony Terras already obtained a quota for France during the 2014 World Championships. In the final Terras defeated Hansen 26-25.

The next shotgun World Cup will not be for another month, but it will be interesting to see what happens. With a bunch of top European shooters now qualified will we see another shift towards non-European nations outperforming European nations or will things start to equilibrate? Looking at the top performers from this World Cup Europe seems likely to take the majority of the spots, but nations like Australia, China and United States will be looking to expand their qualified quotas.

Quotas by Nation

• Italy – 4
• Croatia – 1
• Cyprus – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Russia – 1
• San Marino – 1

References

• SIUS. 2015 ISSF World Cup Acapulco Results. Access on March 28 2015.
• ISSF. Quota Place by Nation and Name. Access on March 28 2015.

Sailing: 39 Nations Qualify After 2014 World Sailing Championships

138 out of the 274 available boats in sailing for the 2016 Summer Olympics were handed out during the 2014 World Sailing Championships held from September 8th to September 21st 2014. Roughly half of the quotas for all 10 sailing events were given out to the top ranked nations. While some nations may have sent multiple sailors to compete in the same event a nation can only qualify one boat per each event. Also Brazil is unable to qualify any boats here due to being the host nation and already qualified in all events.

France finished on top of the medal table by winning three events; the men’s RS:X, women’s RS:X and the mixed Nacra 17. Netherlands finished second by winning the men’s laser and women’s laser radial events. While Australia and Great Britain won four medals the only gold medal came from the men’s 470 and men’s finn respectively. Other gold medals went to Austria (women’s 470), New Zealand (men’s 49er) and Brazil (women’s 49er FX).

In total 39 different nations from all five continents qualified at least one boat. France, Great Britain and New Zealand were the only nations to qualify all 10 boats. Other big qualifiers include Denmark, Italy and Netherlands whom qualified 7 boats and Australia who qualified 6. Below is a list of qualified nations by event.

Quotas by Event

Men’s RS:X

• France
• Poland
• Great Britain
• Greece
• Netherlands
• Israel
• Germany
• Spain
• New Zealand
• China
• Cyprus
• Denmark
• Argentina
• Lithuania
• Italy
• Russia
• Japan
• Norway

Men’s Laser

• Netherlands
• Australia
• Great Britain
• Germany
• France
• United States
• New Zealand
• Cyprus
• Sweden
• Italy
• Croatia
• Norway
• Singapore
• Guatemala
• Tunisia
• US Virgin Islands
• Ireland
• Portugal
• Belgium
• Canada
• Finland
• Denmark
• Poland

Men’s Finn

• Great Britain
• Croatia
• France
• New Zealand
• United States
• Norway
• Sweden
• Denmark
• Slovenia
• Australia
• Hungary
• Finland

Men’s 470

• Australia
• Croatia
• Greece
• Great Britain
• United States
• Japan
• Spain
• France
• Russia
• New Zealand
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Sweden

Men’s 49er

• New Zealand
• Denmark
• Australia
• Austria
• Portugal
• Great Britain
• Ireland
• France
• Spain
• Italy

Women’s RS:X

• France
• Spain
• Israel
• China
• Great Britain
• Italy
• Poland
• Netherlands
• Finland
• Russia
• New Zealand
• Estonia
• Mexico

Women’s Laser Radial

• Netherlands
• Sweden
• Belgium
• Finland
• Czech Republic
• Croatia
• Denmark
• France
• Great Britain
• New Zealand
• China
• United States
• Italy
• Canada
• Singapore
• Ireland
• Norway
• Lithuania
• Belarus

Women’s 470

• Austria
• New Zealand
• Great Britain
• France
• Slovenia
• Netherlands
• United States
• Japan
• Russia
• China

Women’s 49er FX

• Denmark
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Spain
• Sweden
• Australia
• New Zealand
• France

Mixed Nacra 17

• France
• Argentina
• Australia
• Italy
• New Zealand
• Switzerland
• Great Britain
• Denmark
• Austria
• Netherlands

Quotas by Nation

• Argentina – 2
• Australia – 6
• Austria – 4
• Belarus – 1
• Belgium – 2
• Canada – 2
• China – 4
• Croatia – 4
• Cyprus – 2
• Czech Republic – 1
• Denmark – 7
• Estonia – 1
• Finland – 4
• France – 10
• Germany – 3
• Great Britain – 10
• Greece – 2
• Guatemala – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Ireland – 3
• Israel – 2
• Italy – 7
• Japan – 3
• Lithuania – 2
• Mexico – 1
• Netherlands – 7
• New Zealand – 10
• Norway – 4
• Poland – 3
• Portugal – 2
• Russia – 4
• Singapore – 2
• Slovenia – 2
• Spain – 5
• Sweden – 5
• Switzerland – 2
• Tunisia – 1
• United States – 5
• US Virgin Islands – 1

Reference

ISAF. 2014 World Sailing Championships. Access on Feb 28 2015