Tennis: ITF Updates Qualified List Again

With several late withdrawals in tennis the list of qualified athletes has changed again. In total 56 nations will send at least one athlete. As a reminder mixed doubles will be made up of athletes which have qualified in other events.

 

Athletes by Nations

• United States – 11
• France – 9
• Spain – 9
• Germany – 8
• Russia – 8
• Australia – 7
• Brazil – 7
• Czech Republic – 7
• Great Britain – 7
• Italy – 7
• Poland – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Argentina – 6
• Japan – 6
• Romania – 6
• Serbia – 6
• China – 5
• Chinese Taipei – 5
• Canada – 4
• Croatia – 4
• India – 4
• Slovakia – 4
• Belgium – 3
• Colombia – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Switzerland – 3
• Austria – 2
• Belarus – 2
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Chile – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Kazakhstan – 2
• Mexico – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Thailand – 2
• Tunisia – 2
• Barbados – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Georgia – 1
• Israel – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Liechtenstein – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Luxembourg – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Montenegro – 1
• Paraguay – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

 

Reference

• ITF. Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event entries. Access on July 31 2016.

Tennis: 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.

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.

Swimming: China Tops Marathon Swimming Olympic Qualifiers

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

• OmegaTiming. Marathon Swimming Olympic Games Qualification Tournament Results. Access on June 12 2016.

Archery: Turkey Tops European Qualification Tournament

Turkey won both of the Continental Qualification Tournaments held in conjunction with the 2016 European Archery Championship. The continental qualification tournament contained athletes which were eligible to qualify to the Olympics. In total three quotas were available for each gender with a maximum of one nation per each gender. The entirety of the European Archery Championship was held in Nottingham, Great Britain from May 23rd to May 29th 2016.

The women’s continental qualification tournament was won by top seed Yasemin Anagoz of Turkey. She easily dominated her opponents until the final where she required a tie-breaker to win against seventh seed Alexandra Longova of Slovakia. The third and final quota was won by 13th seed Olga Senyuk of Azerbaijan whom defeated the third seed Hanna Marusava of Belarus in the bronze medal match 6-2.

The men’s continental qualification tournament saw quite a few upset. In fact besides second seed Mete Gazoz of Turkey the highest seed to reach the semi-finals was 20th seed Samuli Piippo of Finland. Piippo defeated Serbia’s Luka Popovic 6-0 to reach the final while Gazoz defeated Great Britain’s Patrick Huston 6-2. Gazoz won the event in a tie-breaker while Huston won the bronze and final Olympic quota over Popovic in a score of 6-4.

Unqualified nations will have one more opportunity to reach the Olympics. The final qualification tournament will also be the final place where nations can qualify to the team event.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Turkey – 2
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Finland – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Slovakia – 1

 

References

• Ianseo. European Archery Outdoor Championships 2016 + CQT Europe Results. Access on May 27 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.

Table Tennis: Singles Reallocation Quotas Announced

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

Canoeing Sprint: European Nations Qualify After Sprint Continental Qualifier

Twelve nations qualified boats at the 2016 European Sprint Canoe Olympic Qualifier. The two highest ranked eligible boats in the men’s K1 200m, K1 1000m, C1 200m, C1 1000m, C2 1000m and women’s K1 200m, K1 500m along with the highest ranked eligible boat in the men’s K2 200m, K2 1000m and women’s K2 500m qualified to the Olympics. The European Sprint Canoe Olympic Qualifier was held in Duisburg, Germany from May 18th to May 19th 2016.

There are a few rules when it comes to qualifying at the continental level for sprint canoeing. First a nation can only qualify a maximum of two athlete quotas from the men’s canoe events. Should a nation qualify two boats in the same category (women’s K1, men’s K2 etc.) they are given the athlete quota in the boat with the longer distance, the other athlete quota will be reallocated to the next highest ranked boat. Finally an athlete can only qualify one athlete quota. Should they qualify in two boats the quota will be given in the largest boat (K2, C2) while the other quota will be allocated to the next highest ranked boat in the K1/C1 event.

In the men’s kayak events it was Hungary and Spain whom topped the medal events. Hungary’s Tibor Ufnagel and Bence Dombvari won the men’s K2 1000m with a time of 3:13.223 to qualify their nation to the Olympics. Dombvari would also go on to win the K1 1000m with a time of 3:35.307. However, since Dombvari has already qualified in the K2 event the quotas went to silver and bronze medalists Roman Anoshkin of Russia and Marcus Walz of Spain respectively. In the men’s K2 200m Spain’s Saul Cravitto and Cristian Toro won the event and Olympic quota with a time of 32.040. Cravitto would also win the men’s K1 200m with a time of 34.615. The Olympic quotas went to silver and bronze medalists Bence Horvath of Hungary and Manfredi Rizza of Italy respectively.

The women’s kayak events were topped by Germany and Sweden. In the women’s K2 500m Sweden’s Karin Johansson and Sofia Paldanius won the event and Olympic quota with a time of 1:45.176. The quotas for the women’s K1 500m went to Germany’s Sabrina Hering and Slovakia’s Martina Kohlova whom finished with time of 1:55.378 and 1:55.677 respectively. The women’s K1 200m was won by Germany’s Sabine Volz with a time of 41.470, but since Germany qualified in the K1 500m the two quotas were awarded to silver medalist Linnea Stensils of Sweden and fourth place finisher Francisca Laia of Portugal.

The men’s C2 1000m saw Romania’s Leonid Carp and Stephan Strat barely finishing ahead of Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Radon and Filip Dvorak, winning with a time of 3:37.639. Both nations qualified boats to the Olympics. Carp would also go on to win the C1 1000m with a time of 3:58.288, but since he already qualified the two quotas went to silver and bronze medalists Carlo Tacchici of Italy and Angel Kodinov of Bulgaria respectively. The men’s C1 200m was won by Alfonso Benavides of Spain, winning with a time of 39.245. Also qualifying to the Olympics was Georgia’s Zaza Nadiradze.

This was the final opportunity for European nations to qualify to the Olympics in sprint canoeing. Also to clarify a nation can still take part in the shorter distance/few person events, but they would have to use athletes qualified from other events.

 

Athlete Quotas by Nations

• Spain – 4
• Hungary – 3
• Sweden – 3
• Czech Republic – 2
• Italy – 2
• Romania – 2
• Bulgaria – 1
• Georgia – 1
• Germany – 1
• Portugal – 1
• Russia – 1
• Slovakia – 1

 

References

• ICF. Euro Olympic quotas secured. Access on May 19 2016.
• IMAS. 2016 ICF Paracanoe World Championships and European Canoe Sprint Olympic Qualifier. Access on May 19 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.

Table Tennis: Olympic World Rankings Published

21 nations qualified through the Table Tennis Olympic World Rankings. The Olympic World Rankings consisted of tournaments such as the World Championship, Continental Championship and other World Events. Overall the top 22 eligible athletes of each gender qualified to the Olympics in the singles events. Any athlete which qualified through the continental events were not eligible while nations can only qualify a maximum of two athletes overall. Also the athletes had to have participated in their respective continental qualifier. The cut-off for the Olympic World Ranking was on May 1st 2016.

The athletes which qualified in the men’s singles include; Fan Zhendong (China), Jun Mizutani (Japan), Chuang Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei), Chun Ting Wong (Hong Kong), Vladimir Samsonov (Belarus), Peng Tang (Hong Kong), Lee Sangsu (South Korea), Maharu Yoshimura (Japan), Jung Youngsik (South Korea), Andrej Gacina (Croatia), Stefan Fegerl (Austria), Simon Gauzy (France), Kristian Karlsson (Sweden), Ning Gao (Singapore), Ahmet Li (Turkey), Robert Gardos (Austria), Zengyi Wang (Poland), Yang Wang (Slovakia), Liam Pitchford (Great Britain), Jakub Dyjas (Poland), Paul Drinkhall (Great Britain) and Ovidiu Ionescu (Romania).

The athletes which qualified in the women’s singles include; Liu Shiwen (China), Kasumi Ishikawa (Japan), Ai Fukuhara (Japan), Jeon Jihee (South Korea), Seo Hyowon (South Korea), Cheng I-Ching (Chinese Taipei), Menyu Yu (Singapore), Hoi Kem Doo (Hong Kong), Ho Ching Lee (Hong Kong), Chen Szu-Yu (Chinese Taipei), Elizabeta Samara (Romania), Georgina Pota (Hungary), Tetyana Bilenko (Ukraine), Yanfei Shen (Spain), Xue Li (France), Sofia Polcanova (Austria), Jieni Shao (Portugal), Daniela Monteiro Dodean (Romania), Viktoria Pavlovich (Belarus), Katarzyna Grzybowska (Poland), Iveta Vacenovska (Czech Republic), Barbora Balazova (Slovakia).

Once the nations confirm the selection the nations which qualified to the team events will be announced. Given the potential make-up of the teams it will be quite likely that there will be reallocations of quotas to the Olympic World Rankings. We will likely see seven more athletes (six extra athlete team quotas and the host quota) qualify through the rankings for each gender.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Hong Kong – 4
• Japan – 4
• South Korea – 4
• Austria – 3
• Chinese Taipei – 3
• Poland – 3
• Romania – 3
• Belarus – 2
• China – 2
• France – 2
• Great Britain – 2
• Singapore – 2
• Slovakia – 2
• Croatia – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Portugal – 1
• Spain – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Ukraine – 1

 

References

• ITTF. Players Qualified for Rio 2016 Olympics. Access on May 7 2016.