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.

Tennis: Athlete List Updated After Withdrawals

After a number of late withdrawals the International Tennis Federation has announced an updated list of qualified athletes. In total three men and three women withdrew and have been replaced.

For the men Milos Raonic (Canada), Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) and Richard Gasquet (France) have withdrawn and Jordan Thompson (Australia), Benoit Paire (France) and Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia) have replaced them. For the women Victoria Azarenka (Belarus), Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) and Simona Halep (Romania) have withdrawn and Mariana Duque-Marino (Colombia), Ana Konjuh (Croatia) and Cagla Buyukakcay (Turkey) have replaced them.

Due to these changes a number of doubles partners have changed. In the men’s doubles Daniel Nestor, whom has been added and Vasek Pospisil (Canada), Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) and Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) will compete together. Also the Czech Republic will only send one doubles team meaning Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Miguel Angel Reyes Varela will compete in the event. For the women’s doubles only the Czech Republic contain a change with Lucie Safarova partnering up with Barbora Strycova.

 

Net Athlete Changes by Nations

• Mexico – 2
• Australia – 1
• Colombia -1
• Croatia – 1
• Russia – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Canada – 0
• France – 0
• Belarus – -1
• Romania – -1
• Czech Republic – -2

 

References

• ITF. Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event entries. Access on July 19 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.

Beach Volleyball: Final Nations Qualify After World Continental Cup Olympic Qualifier

The final teams which will compete at the Olympics were decided at the Beach Volleyball World Continental Cup Olympic Qualification Tournament. The Continental Cup features nations with two teams each facing off against each other. Each nation designates a team 1 and a team 2. In the first two matches team 1 faces off against the other nation’s team 2. In the event that the series is split a final set (up to 15) using any team is played. In total nine teams competed in each gender and were split into two groups. The winners qualified directly to the semi-final while second and third place played a cross-over quarter-final. The winners of the semi-final qualified to the Olympics, no final was played. The World Continental Cup Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Sochi, Russia from July 6th to July 10th 2016.

In the women’s tournament Group A contained five teams. China and Russia were the only undefeated teams after three rounds of matches, with two victories each. The two faced off each other in the fourth round where China won both matches 2-1. China’s win in the group wasn’t completely assured as the Czech Republic forced a golden set, but China won it and the group 15-9. Russia and the Czech Republic advanced to the quarter-final as the second and third best teams respectively.

Group B only contained four teams. Both Austria and Vanuatu secured victories over Colombia and Ukraine to set up a final match to determine the winner of the group. In that series both Austria and Vanuatu split the two matches, but it was Austria whom won the golden set 15-12 to finish first in the group. Ukraine defeated Colombia to advance as the third place team.

The quarter-final saw the Czech Republic and Vanuatu split the two matches, forcing a golden set. In the end the Czech Republic won the set 15-7. Russia won the other quarter-final match over the Ukraine in a two match victory. In the semi-final both matches went to the golden set. The Czech Republic and Russia won and qualified to the Olympics with 15-12 and 15-3 victories over China and Austria respectively.

In the men’s tournament Group A contained five teams. Going into the final set of matches both Canada and Russia were undefeated. The series between the two nations saw them split their matches thus forcing a golden set. Canada would go on to win the set and group 15-6. For third place and a spot in the quarter-final Venezuela defeated Ukraine in a golden set 15-13.

Group B originally contained five teams, but Sierra Leone dropped out after the draw was made. Overall Belgium topped the group with three victories. China and Mexico qualified to the quarter-final after finishing second and third respectively in the group.

It was the two Group A teams which won their quarter-final series to advance to the semi-final. Russia defeated Mexico and Venezuela defeated China in a two match victory. The first semi-final saw Canada and Venezuela split the first two matches, forcing a golden set. Canada would go on to qualify to the Olympics with a 15-11 win. In the other semi-final Russia defeated Belgium in straight matches to qualify to the Olympics.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify in beach volleyball. All that is left to determine is which athletes will represent their nation at the Olympics.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Russia – 2
• Canada – 1
• Czech Republic – 1

 

References

• FIVB. World Continental Cup Olympic Qualification 2016 – Men’s Results. Access on July 10 2016.
• FIVB. World Continental Cup Olympic Qualification 2016 – Women’s Results. Access on July 10 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.

Swimming: China Tops Marathon Swimming Olympic Qualifiers

China won gold in both events at the 2016 Marathon Swimming Olympic Qualifier. In each event the top 10 highest ranked athletes, with a maximum of one athlete per nation qualified to the Olympics. Similarly the highest ranked eligible athlete from each continent also qualified to the Olympics. The Marathon Swimming Olympic Qualifier was held in Setubal, Portugal from June 11th to June 12th 2016.

In the women’s 10km race it was China’s Yan Siyu whom led the pack for the first two laps. She would go on to lose the lead with Poland’s Joanna Zachoszcz leading at the end of the third lap and her compatriot Xin Xin leading in the fourth and fifth laps, but she remained within the lead group. Going into the sixth and final lap the lead group was numbered at about 10. During the final lap three swimmers; Xin Xin, Great Britain’s Keri-Anne Payne and Ecuador’s Samantha Arevalo broke away and had a sprint swim towards the finish line where Xin finished ahead of Payne with a time of 1:55:12.1, just 0.8 seconds ahead. Arevalo won the bronze medal.

The top 10 eligible swimmers which qualified to the Olympics were;  Xin Xin (China), Keri-Anne Payne (Great Britain), Samantha Arevalo (Ecuador), Chelsea Gubecka (Australia), Yumi Kida (Japan), Michelle Weber (South Africa), Joanna Zachoszcz (Poland), Paola Perez (Venezuela), Spela Perse (Slovenia) and Jana Pechanova (Czech Republic). The five continental qualifiers were Erika Villaecija (Spain), Stephanie Horner (Canada), Heidi Gan (Malaysia), Charlotte Webby (New Zealand) and Reem Kaseem (Egypt).

The men’s 10km race saw multiple lead changes and had a lead group of about 20 athletes going into the final lap. As the final lap progressed the number of athletes in the lead group dwindled, until only China’s Zu Lijun remained as he won the race with a time of 1:52:18.2. 2.2 second later Germany’s Christian Reichert won the silver while Ecuador’s Ivan Enderica Ochoa won the bronze.

The top 10 eligible swimmers which qualified to the Olympics were; Zu Lijun (China), Christian Reichert (Germany), Ivan Enderica Ochoa (Ecuador), Evgenii Drattcev (Russia), Ous Mellouli (Tunisia), Richard Nagy (Slovakia), Jarrod Poort (Australia), Yasunari Hirai (Japan), Chad Ho (South Africa) and Ventsislav Aydarski (Bulgaria). The five continental qualifiers were Mark Papp (Hungary), Erwin Maldonado (Venezuela), Kane Radford (New Zealand), Vitaliy Khudyakov (Kazakhstan) and Marwan Elamrawy (Egypt).

This was the final opportunity to qualify in marathon swimming. Swimmers can still attempt to qualify to the pool events by reaching the qualification times.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Australia – 2
• China – 2
• Ecuador – 2
• Egypt – 2
• Japan – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Bulgaria – 1
• Canada – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Germany – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Malaysia – 1
• Poland – 1
• Russia – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Tunisia – 1

 

References

• OmegaTiming. Marathon Swimming Olympic Games Qualification Tournament Results. Access on June 12 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.

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.

Rowing: Qualification Concludes With European and Final Regatta

In total 24 nations qualified boats at the 2016 European and Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. The regatta was split into two qualification tournaments. The European portion which includes entries from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States had Olympic qualification for the top three boats in the single sculls and the top two boats in the lightweight double sculls. Like the other continental qualifiers a nation can only qualify one boat per gender. The final regatta portion contained the other 10 events where any nation can qualify. In total two boat quotas were available in the double sculls, quadruple sculls, eights, men’s pairs, men’s fours and men’s lightweight fours while four boat quotas were available in the women’s pairs. The European and Final Olympic Qualification Regatta was held in Lucerne, Switzerland from May 22nd to May 24th 2016.

In the European Regatta an extra boat quota was made available in the women’s single sculls due to a returned quota from the tripartite commission. The women’s single sculls was won by New Zealand’s Emma Twigg whom finished with a time of 7:21.870. Also joining her to the Olympics were boats from Ireland, Belarus and Denmark. The women’s lightweight doubles sculls was won by the Netherlands with a time of 6:54.910. Joining them was the silver medal boat from Romania.

On the men’s side the single sculls was won by Belgium’s Hannes Obreno whom won gold with a time of 6:47.610. Also qualifying to the Olympics were boats from Australia and Hungary. Belgium also won the men’s lightweight double sculls with a time of 6:21.780 while Turkey won the silver medal. Since a nation can only qualify one boat per gender at the continental qualifier this meant Belgium will have to pick between the men’s single sculls and lightweight double sculls. The non-selected boat will be reallocated to the next best boat here which will be Denmark regardless of choice.

At the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta Spain won the women’s pairs event with a time of 7:10.160. Joining them to the Olympics will be China, Italy and Poland. The women’s double sculls had the Czech Republic defeating Denmark with a time of 6:56.690. The women’s quadruple sculls was won by China whom finished 1.67 seconds ahead of the silver medalists from the Ukraine finishing with a time of 6:19.000. Romania won the women’s eights with a time of 6:02.560 while the Netherlands also qualified to the Olympics, finishing with the silver medal.

Among the men’s boats the Czech Republic won the men’s pairs with a time of 6:29.820 while Hungary also qualified by winning the silver medal. The men’s double sculls was won by Norway whom won by almost 2 seconds against Serbia, finishing with a time of 6:16.130. Similarly South Africa won the men’s fours by almost 2 seconds, winning against France with a time of 5:55.220. The men’s quadruple sculls was won by Russia whom defeated Canada with a time of 5:42.130. Russia was also able to win the men’s lightweight four by defeating Germany with a time of 6:02.970. The men’s eights had a three-way race for almost the entire race, but with only two Olympic quotas available Italy was the odd nation out as the United States won the gold over Poland with a time of 5:29.160.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify in rowing and with the exception of Belgium’s choice between the men’s single sculls and lightweight double sculls all of the boats competing are now known. In total 68 nations will be competing in rowing.

 

Boats by Nations

• Belgium – 2*
• China – 2
• Denmark – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Netherlands – 2
• Poland – 2
• Romania – 2
• Russia – 2
• Australia – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Canada – 1
• France – 1
• Germany – 1
• Ireland – 1
• Italy – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Norway – 1
• Serbia – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Spain – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Ukraine – 1
• United States – 1

* Must choose one boat

 

Athlete Quotas by Nations

• Netherlands – 11
• Poland – 11
• Romania – 11
• United States – 9
• Russia – 8
• China – 6
• Canada – 4
• Czech Republic – 4
• France – 4
• Germany – 4
• South Africa – 4
• Ukraine – 4
• Belgium – 3*
• Denmark – 3
• Hungary – 3
• Italy – 2
• Norway – 2
• Serbia – 2
• Spain – 2
• Turkey – 2
• Australia – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Ireland – 1
• New Zealand – 1

* Will either be 1 or 2 athlete quotas depending on boat choice

 

References

• WorldRowing. 2016 FISA European and Final Olympic Qualification Regatta Schedule and Results. Access on May 24 2016.

Table Tennis: Singles Reallocation Quotas Announced

The International Table Tennis Federation has announced the reallocation of single quotas. These quotas are unused quotas from the team event along with the host quotas. In total seven of each gender is available. The reallocated quota goes to the highest ranked eligible athlete from the Olympic World Rankings. As a reminder all athletes had to have participated in their respective continental qualifier to be allowed entry into the Olympics.

The men’s reallocation quotas went to Lubomir Jancarik (Czech Republic), Benedek Olah (Finland), Dmitrij Prokopcov (Czech Republic), Adam Pattantyus (Hungary), Zhiwen He (Spain), Aleksandar Karakasevic (Serbia) and Adrian Crisan (Romania).

The women’s reallocation quotas went to Xialian Ni (Luxembourg), Margaryta Pesotska (Ukraine), Maria Dolgikh (Russia), Hana Matelova (Czech Republic), Carole Grundish (France), Eva Odorova (Slovakia) and Alexandra Privalova (Belarus).

 

Quotas by Nations

• Czech Republic – 3
• Belarus – 1
• Finland – 1
• France – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Luxembourg – 1
• Romania – 1
• Russia – 1
• Serbia – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Ukraine – 1

 

References

• ITTF. Players Qualified For The Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on May 21 2016.