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.

Weightlifting: IWF Sanctions Nations, Announces Reallocation Quotas

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

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

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

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

 

Net Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

Judo: Olympic Rankings Published 113 Nations Qualify

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

Rowing: Update on Latin America Regatta Qualifiers

FISA has given us an update about the qualified boats from the Latin America Regatta. Since a nation can only qualify one boat per gender some nations had to choose which event they will compete in meaning the other boat was reallocated to the next highest ranked nation. Also there was a slight change to the qualification format where the host quota reallocation now goes to the next highest ranked nation from the Latin America Regatta. Since Brazil has already qualified there will be seven quotas available in the single sculls for both genders. Here’s a list of qualified boats.

 

Men’s Single Sculls

1. Mexico
2. Argentina
3. Peru
4. Uruguay
5. Venezuela
6. Ecuador
7. Paraguay

 

Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls

1. Brazil
2. Cuba
3. Chile

 

Women’s Single Sculls

1. Bermuda
2. Mexico
3. Trinidad and Tobago
4. Argentina
5. Paraguay
6. Peru
7. Bahamas

 

Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls

1. Brazil
2. Cuba
3. Chile

 

References

• FISA. 2016 Rowing Olympic and Paralympic Qualification By Event. Access on April 20 2016.

Rowing: Nine Nations Qualify Boats After Latin American Regatta, Reallocations Still to Follow

Brazil managed to medal in all four events at the 2016 Latin American Olympic Qualification Regatta. The top six nations in the single sculls and the top three nations in the lightweight double sculls were given quotas to compete in the Olympics. However, there is a maximum of one boat per gender. The Latin American Olympic Qualification Regatta was held in Curauma, Chile from March 22nd to March 24th 2016.

The top two in the three heats of the men’s single sculls advanced to the A/B semi-final while all other boats advanced to the repechage. Mexico’s Julian Cabrera Perez had the fastest time in the heats, winning heat 1 with a time of 7:07.014. In the two repechages the top three advanced to the A/B semi-final. Uruguay’s Jhonatan Esquivel Montes finished with the fastest time of 7:07.453 in repechage 1. Cabrera Perez repeated his strong performance in the A/B semi-final, winning heat 1 with a time of 7:06.912. Brazil’s Steve Hiestand won the second semi-final with a time of 7:04.296. Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay also qualified to the A Final and thus all six nations qualified to the Olympics. Cabrera Perez would go on to win the event with a time of 6:58.991. Argentina’s Brian Russo won silver while Hiestand won bronze.

The top two in the four heats of the women’s single sculls advanced to the A/B semi-final while all other boats advanced to the repechage. Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga Alenis had the fastest time in the heats, winning heat 4 with a time of 7:35.886. In the two repechages the top two advanced to the A/B semi-final. Chile’s Antonia Abraham Schuessler finished with the fastest time of 7:47.514 in repechage 1. Bermuda’s Michelle Pearson won the first race in the A/B semi-final with a time of 7:46.073. The second heat went to Lechuga Alenis whom finished with a time of 7:46.094. Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago also qualified to the A Final and thus all six nations qualified to the Olympics. Pearson won the event with a time of 7:42.008 while Brazil’s Fabiana Beltramebiana won silver and Lechuga Alenia won bronze.

The winners of the two heats of the men’s lightweight double sculls advanced to the A Final while all other boats advanced to the repechage. The first heat was won by Mexico with a time of 6:20.942 while the second heat was won by Cuba with a time of 6:28.352. The top two from the two repechages advanced to the A Final. Chile and Brazil both won their respective heats while Argentina and Uruguay also advanced to the A Final. Brazil won the event with a time of 6:25.965 while Mexico and Cuba won the silver and bronze respectively as all three nations qualified to the Olympics.

The top two boats over the two heats of the women’s lightweight double sculls advanced to the A Final while all other boats advanced to the repechage. The first heat was won by El Salvador with a time of 7:12.461, Chile finished in second. The second heat was won by Cuba with a time of 7:15.346, Brazil finished second. The top two from the single repechage advanced to the A Final. The repechage was won by Argentina with a time of 7:10.956, Mexico finished second and also advanced to the A Final. Brazil won the event with a time of 7:08.950 while Cuba and Chile won the silver and bronze respectively as all three nations qualified to the Olympics.

Since Brazil and Mexico for the men and Brazil, Chile and Cuba for the women qualified in both boats they must now choose which event they will compete in while the other boat will be reallocated to the next highest ranked boat at this regatta. The reallocations will force another nation to choose between two boats, but in the end the following nations could potentially benefit from the reallocation; in the men’s singles sculls; Venezuela and Ecuador, in the men’s lightweight single sculls; Venezuela and Paraguay, in the women’s single sculls; Argentina, Paraguay and Peru and in the women’s lightweight double sculls; El Salvador, Argentina and Uruguay. Nations will have two weeks to submit which quota they will use so it will probably be a while before we will know the final qualification.

 

Boats by Nations

• Brazil – 4*
• Chile – 3*
• Cuba – 3*
• Mexico – 3*
• Argentina – 1
• Bermuda – 1
• Peru – 1
• Trinidad and Tobago – 1
• Uruguay – 1

* Will be reduced

 

References

• IMAS. FISA Americas Olympic Continental Qualification Regatta Results. Access on March 24 2016.

Sailing: 10 Nations Qualify Boats After World Cup Miami

Ten nations qualified at least one boat at the 2016 Miami World Cup. The event doubled as the continental qualification events for the North America/Caribbean and Central/South America continents. While other nations from other continents competed only those nations were eligible to win quotas. The highest ranked eligible boat for each continent won a quota, except for the men’s RS:X where the top two from each continent was given a spot. The Miami World Cup was held in Miami, United States from January 25th to January 30th 2016.

Canada was the biggest winner at these qualifiers as they qualified boats in six events. However, three of them; men’s Finn, women’s RS:X and women’s 470 were because Canada was the only eligible nation. The other three boats in which they qualified were men’s RS:X, men’s 470 and mixed Nacra17. In total Canada will be competing in 9 out of the 10 events.

Speaking of completing quotas the United States will compete in all 10 events after they won quotas in the men’s RS:X, men’s 49er and women’s 49erFX. The two remaining quotas in the North America/Caribbean continent went to Mexico in men’s laser and Bermuda in women’s laser radial.

Chile was the biggest winner in the Central/South America continent. In total they qualified four boats; men’s 470, women’s 470, men’s 49er and women’s 49erFX in which they were the only eligible nation competing. In total they will be competing in five events at the Olympics.

Argentina was almost able to complete its set, but missed qualifying in the women’s 470. They did qualify in the men’s Finn and women’s RS:X. Venezuela also qualified multiple quotas with boats in the men’s RS:X and men’s laser. The remaining quotas went to Colombia in men’s RS:X, Peru in women’s laser radial and Uruguay in mixed Nacra17.

In the overall event the Netherlands were the best team, winning four medals including gold in the men’s RS:X and mixed Nacra17. Brazil also won two events in the men’s laser and men’s Finn. The other gold medallists were from Belgium (women’s laser radial), China (women’s 470), Great Britain (women’s RS:X), New Zealand (women’s 49erFX), Spain (men’s 49er) and United States (men’s 470)

This was the final opportunity for nations in these two continents to qualify to the Olympics. Currently we still have all of the European continental qualifiers remaining along with some events for nations in Africa and Asia.

 

Boats by Nations

• Canada – 6
• Chile – 4
• United States – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Bermuda – 1
• Colombia – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Peru – 1
• Uruguay – 1

 

References

• WorldSailing. Rio 2016 spots decided at Sailing World Cup Miami presented by Sunbrella. Access on January 30 2016.

Sailing: Great Britain Retains Finn World Title

Reigning world champion Giles Scott of Great Britain was able to retain his crown at the 2015 Finn Gold Cup. In addition the top four ranked nations not yet qualified were given spots to compete at the Olympics. The Finn Gold Cup was held in Takapuna, New Zealand from November 24th to November 29th.

In total ten full races and a medal race were held over the competition. New Zealand’s Andrew Murdoch took an early lead on the first day, but a couple of poor performances quickly pushed him out of contention as Giles Scott of Great Britain took over and extended his lead. By the mid-way point he held an 18 point lead over Estonia’s Deniss Karpak and Finland’s Tapio Nirkko. Scott continued to extend his lead over the rest of the competition and was guaranteed a gold medal, even before the medal race begun as he held a 53 point lead over France’s Jonathan Lobert. Lobert would retain his second place finish while Slovenia’s Vasilij Zbogar finished with the bronze medal. The Olympic quotas went to 6th place Netherlands, 9th place Greece, Estonia and Uruguay.

This was the final opportunity for Asia to qualify as they already had their continental qualifier. As for the other continents they will have their qualifiers between now and just before the Olympics with just five more quotas remaining overall.

 

Quotas by Nation

• Estonia – 1
• Greece – 1
• Netherlands – 1
• Uruguay – 1

 

References

• Takapuna Boating. 2015 Finn Gold Cup Results. Access on November 29 2015.

Equestrian: United States Dominate at Pan American Games

The United States won five out of the six gold medals in equestrian at the Pan American Games as they displayed their dominance of the sport in the region. Several individual and team quotas were up for grab at the games. The Pan America Games are currently being held in Toronto, Canada from July 7th to July 26th 2015. The equestrian events were held from July 11th to July 25th 2015.

In dressage the highest ranked team along with the highest ranked individuals with a Grand Prix score from Group D (English America) and Group E (Latin America) not yet qualified will be given spots. In eventing only the highest ranked team qualifies. In jumping the two highest ranked teams qualify along with the six highest ranked individuals not yet qualified with a maximum of two quotas per nation.

It became clear that the fight between the only spot in team dressage will be between Canada and the United States. In the Grand Prix round the two nations had their entire team finish within the top 8, ahead of everyone else, but it was the United States, led by Steffen Peters whom led all nations by 4.433 points. Canada performed a bit better in the final Grand Prix Special round, but it was not enough as the United States was able to extend its lead to win the event and Olympics quota with 460.506 points over Canada whom finished with 454.938. Brazil finished in third with 414.895.

With the United States winning the team quota things were a lot easier for Canada to win an individual quota for individual dressage. The United States was still the best nation during the Grand Prix Freestyle portion as they were able to win the gold and silver medal from Steffen Peters and Laura Graves respectively. The Group D quota went to Belinda Trussell of Canada while the Group E quota went to Bernadette Pujals of Mexico as they were the highest ranked riders to have achieved a Grand Prix score, not intermediate score.

The fight for the team eventing quota wasn’t too interesting as both Brazil and Canada have previously qualified through being the host nation and through the World Championships respectively. As long as the United States finished the event they will very likely win the quota. At the end of the dressage portion the United States had a 0.7 slim lead over Canada with Brazil trailing by 3.7 points. Brazil, Canada, Ecuador and the United States all finished the cross-country portion with 0 penalty points; however Canada’s Kathryn Robinson was eliminated which meant her score will be the one removed at the end of the competition and given she was Canada’s best performer in the dressage portion meant Canada was now in a distant third place. In the jumping portion Brazil incurred 4 penalty points and while the United States did the same it was from the athlete that was to be dropped. Therefore the United States won gold and the Olympic quota with a score of 133.00. Brazil won silver with a score of 140.70 while Canada won the bronze medal with a score of 163.00.

Like with eventing both Brazil and the United States had previously qualified in team jumping through being the host nation and through the World Championships respectively. Both Colombia and Argentina surprisingly led the standings after the first round with a score of 1 and 2 respectively while Canada was sitting in third and outside of Olympic qualification with a score of 6. Disaster however struck Colombia as they incurred 14 penalty points in the second round to ultimately finish fifth. Canada however had a very good second round finishing with 1 penalty point for a total of 7. In the end it was enough for gold and the Olympic quota. Argentina won the second Olympic quota and the silver medal with a score of 8. The United States won bronze with a score of 12.

In the individual jumping event a jump-off was required for the gold medal as two riders finished tied with 0 penalty points. United States’ McLain Ward was able to get through the jump-off without penalty and thus won the gold medal as Venezuela’s Andres Rodriguez finished the course with 4 penalties. Bronze went to Lauren Hough of the United States who had to win a bronze medal jump-off of her own. The six Olympic quotas went to Venezuela, Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia, Colombia and Peru.

This was mostly the final opportunity to qualify a team in any equestrian discipline for Pan America. The only other way to qualify a team would be if a nation qualifies enough individuals to form a composite team. This also concludes the Pan American Games in terms of direct qualification to the Olympics.

Number of Athletes by Nation

• United States – 8
• Canada – 5
• Argentina – 4
• Colombia – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Mexico – 1
• Peru – 1
• Uruguay – 1

References

• Toronto2015. Equestrian – Schedule & Results. Access on July 26 2015.

Sailing: Guatemala and United States Win Gold at Pan American Games

Guatemala and the United States won the laser and laser radial events respectively at the Pan American Games. The continental qualifiers were split for these two events where the highest ranked nation not yet qualified from the North and South American regions will qualify to the Olympics. The fight for the second spots will occur in a later regatta. The Pan America Games are currently being held in Toronto, Canada from July 7th to July 26th 2015. The sailing events were held from July 12th to July 19th 2015.

United States’ Paige Railey may have only won one race, but she was by far the most consistent sailor in the women’s laser radial. In fact her worst race was only a 8th place finish in a field of 16. With that she was able to take a 10 point lead going into the medal race where she easily hanged on to win gold.

The fight for the North American position ultimately came down to Aruba’s Philipine van Aanholt and Trinidad and Tobago’s Kelly-Ann Arrindell where a five point gap separated the two going into the medal race. Arrindell did the best she could be winning the race, but Aanholt’s third place finish meant it was enough for Aruba to qualify.

The South American quota was between Argentina’s Lucia Falasca, Uruguay’s Dolores Moreira and Venezuela’s Daniela Rivera. Falasca had a 4 and 10 point lead over Uruguay and Venezuela respectively, but a disastrous medal race where she placed eighth, not only cost her a medal, but an Olympic quota. Instead it was Uruguay’s second place performance which was enough not only for a silver medal, but an Olympic quota. Brazil’s Fernanda Demetrio won the bronze.

Like in the women’s race Guatemala’s Juan Ignacio Maegli may have only won a single race, but it was his consistency in the men’s laser that won him the event as he posted a top 5 finish in every race except one which was dropped anyways. The silver medal went to Brazil’s Robert Scheidt while the bronze went to Canada’s Lee Parkhill.

The quota for North America nations wasn’t much of a race as Trinidad and Tobago’s Andrew Lewis consistently finished ahead of his eligible opponents and was the only sailor to reach the medal rounds.

As with North America in South America it was El Salvador’s Enrique Arathoon that did just enough against his Venezuelan opponent to stay ahead of him in most races. While in some sports which separate North and South America include El Salvador as a North American nation in sailing they are considered a South American nation.

The other single spot in men’s laser and women’s laser radial will be decided at a world cup in early 2016. The laser radial also has its world championships to go so it will be likely that some nations in Pan America will qualify through that.

Quotas by Nation

• Aruba – 1
• El Salvador – 1
• Trinidad and Tobago – 1
• Uruguay – 1

References

• ISAF. Pan American Games serves up four Rio 2016 qualifiers. Access on July 20 2015.