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.

Russia: Sport Federations Removed Athletes From Result of McLaren Report

With the publication of the McLaren Report on the accusation of government sponsored doping from Russia the IOC has ruled that Russia will not be banned from the 2016 Olympic Games, but gave each sport federation a set of rules to follow and remove athletes should they not meet the standards. The notable rules include the removal of all athletes implicated in the report, the removal of athletes whom have doped in the past and the removal of athletes which have not satisfied testing standards after excluding the results from the Moscow lab. While most sports did not make any changes others have.

Before the report was released athletics had already banned all of Russia’s athletes, with the exception of ones which have been out of the Russian testing system long enough. Currently only Darya Klishina has satisfied IAAF’s standard, she will compete in the women’s long jump. The other 67 athletes chosen by Russia did not make the standard. Yuliya Stepanova was also eligible to compete, but due to her role in exposing the Russian doping scandal she currently has not been selected to compete.

Besides athletics the biggest loss of athlete quotas comes from rowing. Originally Russia qualified five boats with 28 athletes (including 2 coxswains). In total 20 athletes were found to not have sufficient testing, causing World Rowing to remove four boats from Russia; the men’s lightweight fours, men’s eights, women’s lightweight double sculls and women’s eights. Russia was allowed to make a team to compete in the men’s fours out of the remaining six rowers; the two coxswains were technically eligible though for obvious reasons were not going to be selected. The reallocated boats went to Australia (women’s eights), Greece (men’s lightweight fours) and Italy (men’s eights and women’s lightweight double sculls).

Overall only one sport suffered a full banned. Due to multiple athletes getting caught doping the International Weightlifting Federation has completely banned Russia. Earlier Russia lost one man and one woman quota due to excess doping violations, but now they have lost the remaining eight (5 men, 3 women) quotas. The women’s quotas have been reallocated to Albania, Georgia and Moldova while the men’s quotas have been reallocated to Belgium, Croatia, El Salvador, Mongolia and Serbia.

In aquatics only swimmers were removed. Four athletes were removed due to having prior doping violations while three more were removed due to being implicated into the report. One of these athletes was open water swimmer Anastasia Krapivina. This means her quota has been reallocated to Hungary’s Anna Olasz.

The International Canoeing Federation announced five athletes scheduled to compete at the 2016 Olympics will be removed due to their involvement in the report. This has caused Russia to lose athlete quotas in five boats; men’s K2 200m, men’s C1 200m, men’s C2 1000m, women’s K1 200m and women’s K2 500m. The quotas have been reallocated to Austria (women’s K2 500m), Germany (women’s K1 200m), Iran (men’s C1 200m) and Sweden (men’s K2 200m). The men’s C2 1000m was not reallocated. The additional boat in the women’s K1 500m which did not use an athlete quota has also been removed.

Edit: Sweden has declined the quota, it has been reallocated to Canada

In cycling six athletes were withdrawn, three due to previous doping violations and three others whom were implicated in the report. Currently the UCI has not named the athletes or any potential change in the quotas.

In modern pentathlon Maksim Kustov and alternate Ilia Frolov were connected in the report and have been excluded. The quota was reallocated to Latvia’s Ruslan Nakonechnyi.

United World Wrestling removed one wrestler due to a prior doping violation. Viktor Lebedev has been removed from his event, men’s freestyle -57kg. The quota was reallocated to Belarus.

In sailing one athlete, in the men’s 470 was connected to the report and has been removed. However, Russia has been given an opportunity to make a late replacement.

In total, including athletics the Russian team has shrank by 122 athletes. While most of them were removed due to previous doping offenses or being included in the report others have been excluded due to being teammates of someone who has doped.

 

Net Athlete Quotas by Nations

• Italy – 11
• Australia – 9
• Greece – 4
• Austria – 2
• Canada – 2
• Albania – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Belgium – 1
• Croatia – 1
• El Salvador – 1
• Georgia – 1
• Germany – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Iran – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Mongolia – 1
• Serbia – 1
• Russia – -122

 

Note: Possible cycling reallocations have yet to be announced.

 

References

• The Star. IAAF turns down 67 Russian applications to compete internationally. Access on July 29 2016.
• WorldRowing. FISA Determines Six Russian Rowers meet conditions for participation in Rio 2016. Access on July 29 2016.
• IWF. IWF EB decision on Russian participation at the Rio 2016 OG. Access on July 29 2016.
• SwimSwam. Fields confirmed for Olympic Games golf com FINA Says World Champs Efimova, Morozov Pulled from Olympic Gamespetitions. Access on July 29 2016.
• UCI. UCI statement on the eligibility of Russian riders at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on July 29 2016.
• ICF. Canoeing Removes Five Russian Athletes from Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on July 29 2016.
• CBC. Canada sending men’s kayak K2 200-metres crew to Rio. Access on July 29 2016.
• UIPM. UIPM Executive Board decides on Russia participation in Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on July 29 2016.
• UWW. Wrestling’s Special Commission Completes Review of Russian Wrestlers, Sends Recommendations. Access on July 29 2016.
• ISAF. World Sailing provisionally confirms the participation of six athletes for the Rio Olympic Games. Access on July 29 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.

Sailing: Second Round of Reallocations Announced

World Sailing has announced the second stage reallocation of rejected quotas. In total six boats were rejected by their federation. The highest ranked eligible boat from the 2015 World Championship is granted the reallocation quota.

Four of the boats came from the RS:X events. Canada rejected their quotas from both genders while Sweden rejected the two boats which it gained through the last round of reallocation due to their strict qualifying standards. For the men’s RS:X the boats were reallocated to Chinese Taipei and Turkey while for the women’s RS:X they were reallocated to Latvia and Singapore as Germany also rejected the reallocation quota.  Canada also rejected the men’s 49er boat it was given through the previous round of reallocation thus the boat now goes to Switzerland. The final rejected quota was in the 49erFX where Australia rejected the boat. Initially the boat was reallocated to Croatia, but since they also rejected the quota it has now been given to Austria.

With the exception of Austria in the women’s 49erFX all other boats have been confirmed by their NOC thus we now know the make-up of the races. All that is left is for the final athletes to be announced.

 

Net Quotas by Nations

• Austria – 1
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Singapore – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Australia – -1
• Sweden – -2
• Canada – -3

 

References

• WorldSailing. All Nations Qualified for the 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition as of 28 June 2016. Access on June 28 2016.

Weightlifting: IWF Sanctions Nations, Announces Reallocation Quotas

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

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

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

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

 

Net Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

Beach Volleyball: Olympic Rankings Published

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

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

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

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

 

Teams by Nations

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

 

References

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

Judo: Olympic Rankings Published 113 Nations Qualify

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

Cycling BMX: BMX Quotas Decided

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

Cycling Road: Men’s World and Continental Tour Spots Decided

The quotas have been allocated in the men’s road race and time trial with the conclusion of the world and continental tours. In total, 54 nations have received at least one quota from the various tours. Quotas were given out based on the team rankings. Other factors which determine a change of the number of quotas are nations cannot gain more quotas than they had riders in the tour and nations cannot earn continental quotas if they have already reached the maximum quotas from their world tour rankings. The 2015 Nations Tour Rankings were calculated by adding up the points collected by their athletes over various races held between January 1st and December 31st 2015.

In the World Tour the top 5 nations were given 5 quotas to compete in the road race while nations ranked 6th to 15th were given four. In addition all 15 nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete. Nations which have not qualified in the world or continental team rankings were given a single quota to compete in the road race.

Spain, led by individual leader Alejandro Valverde Belmonte was the highest ranked nation, finishing over 800 points above Italy whom narrowly finished ahead of Colombia and Great Britain. Belgium rounded out the top five nations earning 5 quotas. Nations ranked 6th to 15th were France, Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland. However, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia had fewer than four athletes competing in the tour meaning Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia received three quotas while Norway only received one. The unallocated quotas were first reallocated to individual nations which competed in the World Tour, but did not qualify in any team rankings, specifically Slovakia and Luxembourg while the other four will be reallocated at a later date to nations not yet qualified.

The African Tour gave the top nation 3 quotas and nations ranked 2nd to 4th 2 quotas to the road race. In addition any athlete in the top 10 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the bottom ranked nations losing a quota. Also the top two nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.

Morocco, led by individual leader Salaheddine Mraouni was the highest ranked nation and was given three quotas. Algeria, South Africa and Eritrea rounded out the top four. Individual fourth place Rafaa Chtioui of Tunisia and ninth place Janvier Hadi of Rwanda qualified a single quota for their respective nations. Due to this South Africa and Eritrea only qualified a single quota.

The America Tour gave the top three nations 3 quotas and nations ranked 4th to 5th 2 quotas to the road race. In addition any athlete in the top 20 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the bottom ranked nations losing a quota. Also the top four nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.

The America Tour was won by Colombia, however, they had already qualified the maximum athletes from the World Tour meaning second place Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, United States and Brazil were the top five eligible nations. In the top 20 there were athletes from Ecuador, Guatemala and Chile meaning they were given a spot to compete causing a reduction of one quota for Brazil, the United States and Venezuela. Also because Brazil qualified one athlete one of its host quotas has been allocated to the next best team meaning Costa Rica also qualified one athlete.

The Asian Tour gave the top nation 3 quotas and nations ranked 2nd to 4th 2 quotas to the road race. In addition any athlete in the top 10 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the bottom ranked nations losing a quota. Also the top two nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.

Iran was by far the strongest nation in the Asian Tour as they finished over 1000 points ahead of its next competitors. The rest of the Olympic qualified nations were Kazakhstan, Japan and South Korea. There were no athletes in the top 10 that were eligible to take an individual quota meaning there was no reduction to the other nations.

The Oceania Tour gave the top nation 2 quotas. In addition any athlete in the top 3 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the top nation only receiving one quota. Also the top nation was given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.

With Australia already qualified New Zealand was the only nation eligible to qualify. They would however go and earn their spot as three of their athletes occupied the top 3 individuals causing New Zealand to easily outranked Australia in the nation rankings.

The European Tour gave the top six nations 3 quotas and nations ranked 7th to 16th 2 quotas to the road race. In addition any athlete in the top 200 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the bottom ranked nations losing a quota. Also the top six nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.

In a tight battle it was Italy whom topped the rankings by barely finishing ahead of Belgium. However, both nations were already qualified from the World Tour. The top six eligible nations were Ukraine, Slovenia, Russia, Denmark, Norway and Poland. While Slovenia, Norway and Poland already qualified athletes from the World Tour they were unable to fill the maximum quota due to having fewer riders than the maximum quota, meaning they are able to win quotas in this tour. This means Slovenia and Poland only qualified one quota each, but Norway was still able to qualify the three spots. Also since Slovenia, Norway and Poland already qualified a time trial spot from the World Tour the time trial spots for the European Tour went to the next ranked nations, specifically Austria, Belarus and Turkey.

The nations ranked 7th to 16th were Austria, Belarus, Turkey, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Croatia and Sweden. As with Slovenia, Norway and Poland the Czech Republic was able to use the European Tour to fill out its maximum quota from the World Tour meaning they only earned one quota here. The five extra quotas were reallocated to the individuals of not yet qualified nations ranked in the top 200. The nations earning a single quota were Azerbaijan, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.

The publications of the rankings have caused reallocations in other qualifying events. Firstly the United States has lost its time trial quota earned in the World Championship because they have only qualified one athlete and the nation already has a time trial spot. The spot has been reallocated to the next eligible nation, Portugal. The African, Asian and Pan American Championships have also had reallocations due to nations qualifying through the tours. The African Championship spots now go to Ethiopia and Namibia, the Asian Championship spots now go to United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong and the Pan American Championship spots now go to Dominican Republic and Mexico.

Outside of reallocation spots the quotas for the men’s road race and time trial have been determined. The women’s spots will be allocated at the end of their World Tour to be finished at the end of May.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Belgium – 5
• Colombia – 5
• Great Britain – 5
• Italy – 5
• Spain – 5
• Australia – 4
• France – 4
• Germany – 4
• Netherlands – 4
• Norway – 4
• Poland – 4
• Portugal – 4
• Slovenia – 4
• Switzerland – 4
• Argentina – 3
• Canada – 3
• Czech Republic – 3
• Denmark – 3
• Iran – 3
• Morocco – 3
• Russia – 3
• Ukraine – 3
• Algeria – 2
• Austria – 2
• Belarus – 2
• Croatia – 2
• Estonia – 2
• Ireland – 2
• Japan – 2
• Kazakhstan – 2
• Latvia – 2
• Lithuania – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• South Korea – 2
• Sweden – 2
• Turkey – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Brazil – 1
• Bulgaria – 1
• Chile – 1
• Costa Rica – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Eritrea – 1
• Greece – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Luxembourg – 1
• Romania – 1
• Rwanda – 1
• Serbia – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Tunisia – 1
• United States – 1

 

References

• UCI. 2015 Nation World Tour Ranking. Access on January 2 2016.
• UCI. 2015 Nation Africa Tour Ranking. Access on January 2 2016.
• UCI. 2015 Nation America Tour Ranking. Access on January 2 2016.
• UCI. 2015 Nation Asia Tour Ranking. Access on January 2 2016.
• UCI. 2015 Nation Europe Tour Ranking. Access on January 2 2016.
• UCI. 2015 Nation Oceania Tour Ranking. Access on January 2 2016.

Wrestling: 37 Nations Qualify After World Championships

Russia led all nations by qualifying in 12 out of the 18 events at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships. In total 37 nations qualified at least one spot. The four medal winners along with the bronze medal losers of each Olympic weight-class would qualify to the Olympics. The World Wrestling Championships were held in Las Vegas, United States from September 7th to September 12th 2015.

Several former World and Olympic medalists were among the athletes that qualified their nations a spot in men’s Greco-Roman to the Olympics. Cuba’s Ismael Borrero defeated double Olympic silver medalist Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan in the -59kg event. Reigning World Champion Davor Stefanek of Serbia had to settle for bronze in the men’s -66kg as he was defeated by Germany’s Frank Stabler who went on to win the championship title. In the men’s -75kg 2012 Olympic gold medalist Roman Vlasov of Russia repeated his past performance by defeating Denmark’s Mark Madsen in the final. Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine upgraded his bronze medal from 2014 to gold in the men’s -85kg by defeating Uzbekistan’s Rustam Assakalov in the final. The final of the men’s -98kg event was a bout between reigning Olympic champion Ghasem Rezaei of Iran and reigning World Champion Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia. Aleksanyan was able to win the match by defeating Rezaei 3-0. The men’s -130kg final was a rematch of the 2014 championship final between Cuba’s Mijan Lopez and Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp. Kayaalp was able to get a measure of revenge by winning gold after losing to Lopez a year ago.

The women’s freestyle qualifications were headlined by Japanese athletes Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho. Saori Yoshida defeated Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson in the women’s -53kg to win her 13th World Championship gold medal in a row. Kaori Icho defeated Petra Olli of Finland in the women’s -58kg to win her 10th World Championship gold medal. Both athletes will likely attempt to win a record fourth Olympic gold medal in 2016. Eri Tosaka of Japan defended her title in the women’s -48kg by defeating two time Olympic medalist Mariya Stadnik of Azerbaijan. 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Soronzonboldyn Battsetseg won the -63kg event by defeating Japan’s Risako Kawai. Defending World Champion Yuliya Tkach of Ukraine was able to recover from a first round loss to Kawai by winning the repechage to win the bronze medal. In the women’s -69kg 2012 Olympic gold medalist Natalia Vorobieva of Russia defeated 2014 World gold medalist Aline Focken of Germany in the semifinals on route to winning a world championship gold as she defeated China’s Zhou Feng in the final. United States’ Adeline Gray repeated her 2014 performance by winning gold against Zhou Qian of China in the women’s -75kg.

The men’s freestyle had both new and past winners taking gold. In the men’s -57kg 2012 Olympic silver medalist Vladimer Khinchegashvili defeated Iran’s Hassan Rahimi. Italy’s Frank Chamizo defeated Uzbekistan’s Ikhtiyor Navruzov to win the gold in the men’s -65kg. 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs of the United States redeemed himself after a relatively poor 2014 World Championships by winning the gold medal in the men’s -74kg event by defeating Purevjavyn Onorbat of Mongolia. Russia’s Abdulrashid Sadulaev repeated his 2014 World Championship result by winning the men’s -86kg event after he defeated Turkey’s Selim Yasar. Russia’s Abdusalam Gadisov however was unable to defend his men’s -97kg title as he lost in the final to United States’ Kyle Snyder. The men’s -125kg final was between Azerbaijan’s Jamaladdin Magomedov and Turkey’s Taha Akgul. Akgul was able to defend his title by winning the match 10-0.

While in total 108 quotas were given out at this championship that only translates to just under a third of the total quotas so there is still a lot of spots up for grab. Next up for wrestling will be continental qualifications. In total there will be four tournaments including a combined Africa and Oceania where the top two nations will qualify to the Olympics.

Quotas by Nation

• Russia – 12
• Azerbaijan – 11
• Iran – 8
• Mongolia – 6
• Japan – 5
• Ukraine – 5
• United States – 5
• China – 4
• Georgia – 4
• Turkey – 4
• Armenia – 3
• Bulgaria – 3
• Kazakhstan – 3
• North Korea – 3
• Sweden – 3
• Belarus – 2
• Canada – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Cuba – 2
• Finland – 2
• Germany – 2
• Uzbekistan – 2
• Algeria – 1
• Brazil – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Estonia – 1
• France – 1
• Hungary – 1
• India – 1
• Italy – 1
• Kyrgyzstan – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Netherlands – 1
• Nigeria – 1
• Romania – 1
• Serbia – 1
• South Korea – 1

QUOTAS BY EVENT

Men’s -57kg Freestyle

• Georgia
• Iran
• Mongolia
• Russia
• Kazakhstan
• North Korea

Men’s -65kg Freestyle

• Italy
• Uzbekistan
• Russia
• Iran
• Mongolia
• Azerbaijan

Men’s -74kg Freestyle

• United States
• Mongolia
• India
• Russia
• France
• Iran

Men’s -86kg Freestyle

• Russia
• Turkey
• Georgia
• Iran
• Azerbaijan
• Bulgaria

Men’s -97kg Freestyle

• United States
• Russia
• Azerbaijan
• Ukraine
• Georgia
• Iran

Men’s -125kg Freestyle

• Turkey
• Azerbaijan
• Georgia
• Russia
• Mongolia
• Armenia

Men’s -59kg Greco-Roman

• Cuba
• Azerbaijan
• North Korea
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Belarus

Men’s -66kg Greco-Roman

• Germany
• South Korea
• Serbia
• Russia
• Algeria
• Armenia

Men’s -75kg Greco-Roman

• Russia
• Denmark
• United States
• Kazakhstan
• Iran
• Azerbaijan

Men’s -85kg Greco-Roman

• Ukraine
• Uzbekistan
• Iran
• Azerbaijan
• Finland
• Hungary

Men’s -98kg Greco-Roman

• Armenia
• Iran
• Russia
• Ukraine
• Bulgaria
• Romania

Men’s -130kg Greco-Roman

• Turkey
• Cuba
• Ukraine
• Russia
• Azerbaijan
• United States

Women’s -48kg Freestyle

• Japan
• Azerbaijan
• Netherlands
• Canada
• China
• Russia

Women’s -53kg Freestyle

• Japan
• Sweden
• North Korea
• Nigeria
• Azerbaijan
• China

Women’s -58kg Freestyle

• Japan
• Finland
• Turkey
• Azerbaijan
• Colombia
• Sweden

Women’s -63kg Freestyle

• Mongolia
• Japan
• Ukraine
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Latvia

Women’s -69kg Freestyle

• Russia
• China
• Japan
• Germany
• Mongolia
• Sweden

Women’s -75kg Freestyle

• United States
• China
• Estonia
• Belarus
• Colombia
• Brazil

References

• UnitedWorldWrestling. 2015 World Championships Results. Access on September12 2015.