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.

Archery: Final Olympic Qualifiers Adds 6 Teams and 11 Individuals

The final Olympic quotas were decided at the 2016 Archery World Cup – Stage 3. A special Final Olympic Qualification Tournament was held during the World Cup event. The top three nations from the team event of the Olympic qualification tournament qualified to the Olympics. In the individual event, initially three spots were available to the highest ranked athletes with a maximum of one quota per nation per gender, but should a nation whom qualified in the team event, previously qualified an individual quota that quota will be reallocated to the next highest ranked eligible athlete at this individual event. The Archery World Cup – Stage 3 was held in Antalya, Turkey from June 12th to June 19th 2016.

In the women’s team recurve Germany was the top nation in the ranking round, finishing with a score of 1991. However, they suffered an early upset to Estonia in the first round where Estonia won in an upset. Estonia would continue its unlikely run by defeating Great Britain 6-0 in the quarter-final. In the semi-final they were stopped by fifth seed Ukraine whom won the match 5-3. The other half of the bracket was relatively tame as both the second and third seed Italy and Chinese Taipei respectively faced off in the semi-final. The match went to a tie-breaker where Italy advanced to the final. Ukraine would go on to win the event with a 5-1 win over Italy. For third place and the final Olympic quota Chinese Taipei easily dispatched Estonia to win the match 6-0. Since Chinese Taipei, Italy and the Ukraine all qualified athletes previously the total amount of quotas for the women’s individual qualifiers will be six.

The men’s team recurve saw many upsets. After winning the top seed in the ranking round with a score of 2008 India quickly felt the pressure as the required a tie-breaker to defeat Turkey and then were eliminated in the quarter-final after losing a tie-breaker to Malaysia. Second seed Mexico lost 6-0 in the first round to Canada while fourth seed Russia lost to 12th seed Indonesia 5-3 in the quarter-final. In total the semi-finals consisted of 8th seed Malaysia, 12th seed Indonesia, 3rd seed Germany and 10th seed France. Indonesia booked their spot to the Olympics with a 6-0 victory over Malaysia while France qualified by defeating Germany 5-1. Indonesia would go on to win the event 6-0. The final Olympic quota was decided in the third place match where Malaysia defeated Germany 6-2. Since Indonesia and Malaysia qualified athletes previously the total amount of quotas for the men’s individual qualifiers will be five.

While there were relatively few upsets in the women’s individual recurve none of the top four seeds reached the semi-final though three of them reached the quarter-final. The first semi-final was between Moldova’s Alexandra Mirca and Great Britain’s Naomi Folkard. Folkard won the match 7-3. The other semi-final match was between Estonia’s Laura Nurmsalu and Sweden’s Christine Bjerendal. Nurmsalu won the match 6-4. All four nations qualified a quota to the Olympics. The event was won by Nurmsalu whom defeated Folkard 6-0. The other two Olympic quotas went to Finland (Taru Kuoppa) and Spain (Adriana Martin).

One of the largest upsets in the entire qualifier came in the men’s individual recurve in the round of 32 where 80th seed Boris Balaz of Slovakia defeated top seed Bair Tsybekdorzhiev of Russia in a 6-4 match. Balaz was unable to reach the semi-final as he lost to Thailand’s Witthaya Thamwong 6-2 in the quarter-finals, however, it would be enough to grab one of the Olympics quotas. The final was between two Belarussians where Anton Prilepov and Pavel Dalidovich faced off against each other. Prilepov won the match 6-0. Since a nation can only qualify one athlete quota the five quotas went to Belarus (Anton Prilepov), Thailand (Witthaya Thamwong), Belgium (Robin Ramaekers), Norway (Baard Nesteng) and Slovakia (Boris Balaz).

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics. All that is left is for the tripartite quotas to be announced and for nations to officially confirm their quotas.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Chinese Taipei – 3
• France – 3
• Indonesia – 3
• Italy – 3
• Malaysia – 3
• Ukraine – 3
• Belarus – 1
• Belgium – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Finland – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Norway – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Thailand – 1

 

References

• IANSEO. Archery World Cup 2016 – Stage 3 + Final Olympic Qualifier Results. Access on June 17 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 BMX: BMX Quotas Decided

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

Cycling Mountain: Cross-Country Olympic Rankings Published

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

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.

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.

Wrestling: Final Spots Given At 2nd Qualification Tournament

23 nations qualified athletes at the 2016 Second World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament. The top two athletes from each event qualified their nation to the Olympics. The Second World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Istanbul, Turkey from May 6th to May 8th 2016.

The men’s Greco-Roman events featured four withdrawals in the finals, mostly due to the perception that there was nothing left to fight for after qualifying to the Olympics. Turkey benefitted from this as they became the winners in the -75kg where Selcuk Cebi defeated Bulgaria’s Daniel Aleksandrov and in the -98kg where Cenk Ildem defeated Italy’s Daigoro Timoncini. Similarly Germany’s Denis Kudla had a walkover against Georgia’s Robert Kobliashvili in the -85kg and Sweden’s Johan Euren had a walkover against Georgia’s Iakob Kajaia. In the events where the final was actually played Azerbaijan’s Rasul Chunayev defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Ruslan Tsarev in the -66kg. Iran completed its Greco-Roman team with Iran’s Hamid Sourian defeating United States’ Jesse Thielke in the -59kg.

In the women’s freestyle Ukraine did well by winning two events. Yuliya Khavaldzhy defeated Turkey’s Bediha Gun in the -53kg while Alina Stadnyk had a walkover against Norway’s Signe Marie Store in the -69kg. Russia also had two gold medalists with Ekaterina Bukina defeating Germany’s Maria Selmaier in the -75kg and Valeria Koblova defeating India’s Sakshi Malik in the -58kg. India won a gold medal of its own in the -48kg where Vinesh Phogat defeated Poland’s Iwona Matkowska. In the -63kg Poland won the gold where Monika Michalik defeated Sweden’s Henna Johansson.

Uzbekistan won two quotas in the men’s freestyle events. Bekzod Abdurakhmanov won the -74kg in a walkover against Spain’s Taimuraz Friev while Abbos Rakhmonov lost in the final of the -57kg to Turkey’s Suleyman Atli. In the -65kg Bulgaria’s Borislav Novachkov won in a walkover against Canada’s Haislan Garcia. China’s Bi Shengfeng defeated South Korea’s Kim Gwan-Uk in the -86kg. The -97kg saw Romania’s Albert Saritov defeating Mongolia’s Dorjkhandyn Khüderbulga. The -125kg had Ukraine’s Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi defeating Belarus’ Ibrahim Saidau.

The men’s freestyle -125kg highlights a strange scenario as both Ukraine and Belarus qualified different athletes at the European qualifiers. This is due to those athletes failing a doping test. However, those athletes have not been formally suspended so depending on the hearings there will be reallocations of quotas one way or another.

Overall this was the final opportunity for athletes to qualify to the Olympics. In total before reallocation and tripartite quotas 59 nations qualified at least one athlete. Russia will compete in the most events, qualifying in 17 out of the 18 events, missing only the women’s freestyle -53kg.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Turkey – 4
• Ukraine – 3
• Bulgaria – 2
• Georgia – 2
• Germany – 2
• India – 2
• Poland – 2
• Russia – 2
• Sweden – 2
• Uzbekistan – 2
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Canada – 1
• China – 1
• Iran – 1
• Italy – 1
• Kyrgyzstan – 1
• Mongolia – 1
• Norway – 1
• Romania – 1
• South Korea – 1
• Spain – 1
• United States – 1

 

References

• UWW. 2nd OG World Qualifying Tournament 2016. Access on May 8 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.

Gymnastics: Test Event Decide Remaining Quotas

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

 

Artistic

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Trampoline

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

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

 

Rhythmic

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

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

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

 

Athletes by Nations

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

 

References

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