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 subsequent 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 photos broadcast world wide of triumph, tragedy, pageantry, and greatness.
Right here’s what I feel are going to be a number of the most essential tales popping out of this summer time:
- Doping. I don’t assume we’re ever going to totally be capable 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 assessments have been administered to the Chinese language swim workforce in a 10-day interval main into the Video games.
- Gutless enforcement of doping guidelines. Now, these assessments 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 optimistic assessments 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 optimistic have been allowed to swim at Tokyo 2021.
- Other forms of dishonest. The detainment of a member of the Canadian girls’s nationwide soccer workforce’s help employees for flying a drone over New Zealand’s coaching session is exhibiting simply the lengths to which this workforce (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 form, 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 observe earlier than the Tremendous Bowl.
- Newer occasions: will they create extra eyes to the Video games? The previous few Olympics have included plenty of athletic occasions which come from endeavors engendered by youngsters — skateboarding, BMX racing, snowboarding, freestyle snowboarding, and, this summer time, breakdancing.
- Expectations and potential nice falls? The US have dominated girls’s workforce 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 workforce has been with out 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 workforce, having misplaced final weekend to the WNBA All-Star facet, has to go in with a dent to its confidence.
- The spectre of wagering. Positive, 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, plenty of sports activities books have been providing any variety of betting varieties throughout many sports activities. I’m wondering, given the sum of money being wagered globally on sports activities, if that is the Olympiad during which corruption is absolutely laid naked.
- The rise of Africa. Positive, 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 a fantastic 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 street 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 workforce. Control France with regards to the medal depend. I feel they are going to discover a approach to enhance in lots of occasions. I feel they could wind up sweeping each males’s and girls’s soccer, which might trigger an absolute sensation.
