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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Triathlon: Qualified Nations List Released

The International Triathlon Union has published its Olympic Qualification List filling out the qualified nations through the Olympic Rankings, Olympic Points List and tripartite nations. The Olympic Rankings and Olympic Points List consisted of approved events including World Championship, Continental Championship and other world events. The top eight nations were allowed to qualify three athletes per gender through the Olympic rankings including the quotas obtained through the continental qualifiers and world qualification event. All other nations were allowed to qualify a maximum of two. Originally the top 39 eligible athletes from the Olympic Rankings qualified their nation to the Olympics, however, reallocations has increased that number. The Olympic Points List gave one quota to each of the five continents to athletes whose nations have yet to qualify in triathlon, provided that they met the minimum ranking of 140. For the tripartite commission, two men’s and two women’s quotas were available to athletes from nations whom have qualified an average of 8 or less athletes from individual events over the past two Olympics. They too had to meet the minimum ranking requirements. The Olympic Rankings and Olympic Points List were created using results from various events from May 15th 2014 to May 15th 2016.

In the men’s race a total of 23 nations qualified through the Olympic Rankings. They include Argentina (2), Australia (2), Azerbaijan, Belgium (2), Brazil, Canada (2), Costa Rica, Denmark, France (2), Germany (2), Great Britain (2), Hungary, Ireland, Italy (2), Mexico, Norway, New Zealand (2), Portugal (2), Russia (3), Slovakia, Spain (2), Switzerland and the United States (3). Since Brazil was among the qualified nations its host quota has been reallocated to Israel. Only one tripartite quota was awarded to Jordan which meant the other quota place was reallocated to Mexico. The Olympic Points List gave quotas to Austria, Barbados and China. Since there were no eligible nations in Africa and Oceania the quotas were reallocated to Hungary and Portugal.

In the women’s race a total of 25 nations qualified through the Olympic Rankings. They include Australia (2), Austria (2), Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada (2), Czech Republic, France, Germany (3), Great Britain, Hungary (2), Ireland, Italy (2), Japan (2), Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand (3), Poland, Russia (2), Slovenia, South Africa, Spain (3), Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States (2). Since Brazil was among the qualified nations its host quota has been reallocated to the Netherlands. No tripartite quota was awarded in the women’s race meaning the quotas have been reallocated to Belgium and Sweden. The Olympic Points List gave quotas to China, Ecuador, Estonia and Mauritius. Since there were no eligible nations in Oceania the quota was reallocated to Canada.

Overall the eight nations which will send three athletes in the men’s race are Australia, France, Great Britain, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States. For the women the nations are Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the United States. As a reminder this is a provisional list and is subjected to the approval of nations so there is the potential for reallocation.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Canada – 5
• Germany – 5
• New Zealand – 5
• Russia – 5
• Spain – 5
• United States – 5
• Australia – 4
• Belgium – 4
• Hungary – 4
• Italy – 4
• Austria – 3
• France – 3
• Great Britain – 3
• Mexico – 3
• Portugal – 3
• Switzerland – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Brazil – 2
• China – 2
• Ireland – 2
• Japan – 2
• Netherlands – 2
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Barbados – 1
• Bermuda – 1
• Costa Rica – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Israel – 1
• Jordan – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• Norway – 1
• Poland – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Ukraine – 1

 

References

• ITU. Rio 2016 Olympic Male Qualification. Access on May 18 2016.
• ITU. Rio 2016 Olympic Female Qualification. Access on May 18 2016.

Badminton: Olympic Qualification Rankings Released

With the final update of the Olympic Badminton Rankings the initial lists of qualified athletes have been announced. The Olympic Badminton Rankings included tournaments such as the World Championships, Continental Championships, Grand Prixes and others. The ranking period for the Olympic Badminton Rankings were from May 5th 2015 to May 1st 2016.

The top 34 athletes in the single rankings qualified to the Olympics. However, there is a maximum of two athletes per nation if both athletes are in the top 16 in the overall rankings. If not the maximum quota for each nation is one. Also all five continents must be represented with the highest ranking athlete from the continent automatically qualifying. The tripartite quotas also count towards the continental representation.

For the doubles rankings the top 16 teams qualified to the Olympics. Similarly, there is a maximum of two teams per nation if both teams are in the top 8 in the overall rankings. If not the maximum quota for each nation is one team. Also all continents that have at least one team in the top 50 will be granted a spot to the Olympics.

Overall China qualified the most quotas, winning the maximum of two entrants in all five events. In addition Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and the United States have at least one qualified entrant in all five events. In total, 41 nations have qualified at least one athlete.

There have been some reallocations due to the same athlete competing in two events. For the men China’s Zhang Nan, Germany’s Michael Fuchs and United States’ Phillip Chew have qualified in both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles. Brazil also qualified through the men’s singles releasing its host quota. These quotas will be reallocated to the men’s singles benefitting Portugal’s Pedro Martins, Austria’s David Obernorsterer, Canada’s Martin Giuffre and Czech Republic’s Petr Koukal.

Similarly China’s Zhao Yunlei, Denmark’s Christinna Pedersen and Netherlands’ Selena Piek qualified both in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles. These extra quotas will be reallocated to the women’s singles benefitting Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet, Ireland’s Chloe Magee and Portugal’s Telma Santos.

Also Australia will have to give up two of its continental quotas due to the rule allowing a nation to only benefit from a maximum of two continental quotas. The quotas will be reallocated to the next best eligible nation from Oceania first. If there are no eligible nations it will be reallocated to the next best ranked eligible nation regardless of continent.

Confirmation of quotas and tripartite invitations still remain so there will be a few changes between now and at the beginning of the Olympics, but for the most part the majority of athletes here will compete at the Olympics.

 

Quotas by Nations

• China – 10
• South Korea – 9
• Denmark – 6
• Indonesia – 6
• Japan – 6
• Germany – 5
• Great Britain – 5
• Hong Kong – 5
• India – 5
• Malaysia – 5
• Thailand – 5
• United States – 5
• Australia – 4
• Poland – 3
• Russia – 3
• Chinese Taipei – 3
• Austria – 2
• Belgium – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Canada – 2
• Czech Republic – 2
• France – 2
• Ireland – 2
• Netherlands – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Singapore – 2
• Spain – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Vietnam – 2
• Cuba – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Finland – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Israel – 1
• Italy – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Turkey – 1

 

References

• BWF. Race to Rio – BWF Olympic Qualification. Access on May 7 2016.

Wrestling: 1st World Qualifier Qualifies 28 Nations

28 nations qualified at least one athlete at the 1st World Wrestling Qualification Tournament. The top three athletes from the men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman and the top two athletes from the women’s freestyle qualified their nations to the Olympics. The 1st World Wrestling Qualification Tournament was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from April 22nd to April 24th 2016.

Belarus topped the Greco-Roman events by winning two gold medals. Aliaksandr Hrabovik defeated Georgia’s Revazi Nadareishvili in the -98kg while Javid Hamzatau defeated Armenia’s Maksim Manukyan in the -85kg. Armenia secured a second quota in the -75kg where Arsen Julfalakyan won the third place bout. The -75kg was won by Hungary’s Peter Bacsi in a walkover after China’s Yang Bin withdrew. China’s Meng Qiang also withdrew in the -130kg to give Iran’s Amir Ghasemi the victory. Uzbekistan’s Muminjon Abdullaev won the third place bout while his compatriot Elmurat Tasmuradov won the play-off match in the -59kg. The -59kg was won by South Korea’s Kim Seung-Kak whom defeated Norway’s Stig Andre Berge. Romania’s Ion Panait won the -66kg event over Finland’s Tero Valimaki. Lithuania’s Edgaras Venckaitis won the third place bout. Sweden also qualified two athletes in the third place bouts via Zakarias Berg in the -85kg and Fredrik Schon in the -98kg.

The United States qualified two athletes in the women freestyle events. In the -53kg Helen Maroulis defeated Greece Maria Prevolaraki while Haley Augello lost to North Korea’s Kim Hyon-Gyong in the -48kg. Hungary also qualified two athletes to the Olympics, but lost both of their final bouts. In the -63kg Marianna Sastin had to withdraw giving Turkey’s Hafize Sahin the victory while Zsanett Nemeth lost to France’s Cynthia Vescan in the final of the -75kg. The -58kg was won by Ecuador’s Lissette Antes whom defeated Germany’s Luisa Niemesch while the -69kg was won by Israel’s Ilana Kratysh whom defeated Venezuela’s Maria Acosta in the final. This will Israel’s first female wrestler to compete at the Olympics.

The final day contained results from the men’s freestyle events. In the -65kg it was Bahrain’s Adam Batirov whom defeated Georgia’s Zurabi Iakobishvili in the final. Third place bout winner Yakup Gor of Turkey also qualified to the Olympics. Turkey ended up qualifying a second quota as they won the -74kg event over Bulgaria’s Georgi Ivanov. Moldova’s Evgheni Nedealco also qualified to the Olympics by winning the third place bout. Moldova won a second third place bout through Nicolae Ceban in the -97kg event. The event was won by Armenia’s Georgy Ketoyev whom defeated Uzbekistan’s Magomed Ibragimov. The -86kg event was won by J’den Cox of the United States who defeated Venezuela’s Pedro Ceballos in the final. The third place bout was won by Poland’s Zbigniew Baranowski. Poland won a second third place bout with Robert Baran in the -125kg event. The event was won by China’s Deng Zhiwei in a walkover against Hungary’s Daniel Ligeti. The -57kg event was won by Romania’s Ivan Guidea whom defeated Azerbaijan’s Mirjalal Hasanzada in the final. The third place bout was won by Sandeep Tomar of India.

With this competition Azerbaijan and Georgia will be sending full men’s freestyle teams. Unqualified nations will get one more opportunity to qualify to the Olympics at a second world qualification tournament due to be held in May.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Hungary – 4
• Armenia – 3
• China – 3
• Turkey – 3
• United States – 3
• Uzbekistan – 3
• Belarus – 2
• Georgia – 2
• Moldova – 2
• Poland – 2
• Romania – 2
• Sweden – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Bahrain – 1
• Bulgaria – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Finland – 1
• France – 1
• Germany – 1
• Greece – 1
• India – 1
• Iran – 1
• Israel – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Norway – 1
• North Korea – 1
• South Korea – 1

 

References

• UWW. 1st Olympic Games World Qualifying Tournament – Schedule and Results. Access on April 24 2016.