Hockeyfan44
Smash Journeyman
I might be the only person on here interested in the Olympics, but I wanted to start a thread now that there's only 18 days until the start of competition in Brazil (preliminary football matches starting August 3, then the actual Opening Ceremony on August 5.)
I'll be honest, I'm torn on these particular Games. With Zika devastating Brazil, terribly polluted waters at the sailing, triathlon and marathon swimming venues, horrific crime rate in Rio itself, collapsing economy and unstable government, I was hoping that the Games would be moved because Brazil has much more important issues to deal with than hosting gymnasts and rugby players (though why they wouldn't clean up those waters at the venues is still a complete mystery, they had 7 years after all.) But it's Games On, and we just have to hope for the best.
As for the competition, I expect the US to win the medal count once more, probably with at least 95 medals, with China, Great Britain, Germany and Russia rounding out the top 5. And as for the host nation Brazil, needless to say their medal count will be much closer to Greece's 16 medals at Athens 2004 than to China's 100 at Beijing 2008, or even Great Britain's 65 medals four years ago in London. They should do very well in volleyball, but other than that, they're likely going to struggle, even with home crowd advantage. As for their football teams, their women's team is much more likely to medal than the men's team.
I'll be honest, I'm torn on these particular Games. With Zika devastating Brazil, terribly polluted waters at the sailing, triathlon and marathon swimming venues, horrific crime rate in Rio itself, collapsing economy and unstable government, I was hoping that the Games would be moved because Brazil has much more important issues to deal with than hosting gymnasts and rugby players (though why they wouldn't clean up those waters at the venues is still a complete mystery, they had 7 years after all.) But it's Games On, and we just have to hope for the best.
As for the competition, I expect the US to win the medal count once more, probably with at least 95 medals, with China, Great Britain, Germany and Russia rounding out the top 5. And as for the host nation Brazil, needless to say their medal count will be much closer to Greece's 16 medals at Athens 2004 than to China's 100 at Beijing 2008, or even Great Britain's 65 medals four years ago in London. They should do very well in volleyball, but other than that, they're likely going to struggle, even with home crowd advantage. As for their football teams, their women's team is much more likely to medal than the men's team.
