Although the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony isn’t till Friday, competitors begins right now in a number of occasions, together with soccer and Sevens rugby.
Over the following three weeks, there will likely be loads of tales in every occasion, and every athlete will write their very own story, whether or not profitable or not. With the world watching, there will likely be unforgettable photographs broadcast world wide of triumph, tragedy, pageantry, and greatness.
Right here’s what I feel are going to be a few of the most vital tales popping out of this summer season:
- Doping. I don’t suppose we’re ever going to totally have the ability to evade the scourge of dishonest. We’ve famous tales about one other suspected spherical of performance-enhancing substances being utilized by Chinese language swimmers. Greater than 200 checks have been administered to the Chinese language swim crew in a 10-day interval main into the Video games.
- Gutless enforcement of doping guidelines. Now, these checks are being administered in opposition to a background of a World Anti-Doping Company which, seemingly, is unable to implement its personal guidelines. There have been practically two dozen constructive checks for clenbuterol and TMZ (a coronary heart drug) earlier than the Tokyo video games, and but there was not a single suspension. 13 of the athletes who had examined constructive have been allowed to swim at Tokyo 2021.
- Different kinds of dishonest. The detainment of a member of the Canadian ladies’s nationwide soccer crew’s help workers for flying a drone over New Zealand’s coaching session is exhibiting simply the lengths to which this crew (and maybe others) are prepared to go to get some type of intel on their opponents. Now, I don’t know whether or not the drone flights are a violation of an IOC or FIFA rule of some variety, however I do know that is frowned on in lots of North American skilled sports activities, relationship again to 2017 when a drone was noticed over an Atlanta Falcons apply earlier than the Tremendous Bowl.
- Newer occasions: will they convey extra eyes to the Video games? The previous few Olympics have included a lot of athletic occasions which come from endeavors engendered by youngsters — skateboarding, BMX racing, snowboarding, freestyle snowboarding, and, this summer season, breakdancing.
- Expectations and attainable nice falls? The USA have dominated ladies’s crew sports activities within the final 30 years — successful a number of medals in basketball, softball, and soccer. Query is, can they sustain the dominance? The ladies’s nationwide soccer crew has been and not using a world title (FIFA or Olympic) for practically 350 days, one in every of its longest title droughts since late 1991. The ladies’s basketball crew, having misplaced final weekend to the WNBA All-Star facet, has to go in with a dent to its confidence.
- The spectre of wagering. Certain, there was some type of wagering, authorized or in any other case, on Olympic occasions for a while. However with authorized wagering throughout the US in the previous few years, a lot of sports activities books have been providing any variety of betting varieties throughout many sports activities. I’m wondering, given the amount of cash being wagered globally on sports activities, if that is the Olympiad during which corruption is absolutely laid naked.
- The rise of Africa. Certain, there have been nice athletes from Africa in lots of sports activities within the Summer season Olympics. However I feel an Eritrean bicycle owner named Biniam Girmay is likely to be an amazing determine on this Video games. He’s the present green-jersey holder of the Tour de France, and is entered within the males’s particular person highway race. Thoughts you, he received’t have any Eritrean teammates for drafting and blocking functions. But when he is ready to preserve the race shut in the previous few kilometers, he may win a bunch dash.
- The house crew. Keep watch over France in the case of the medal rely. I feel they may discover a means to enhance in lots of occasions. I feel they might wind up sweeping each males’s and girls’s soccer, which might trigger an absolute sensation.
