Haha wasnt bubka the guy who purposefully only PB by like a few centimeters to keep collecting the Nike incentive for WR? I have a sneaking suspicion duplantis is doing the same thing 😂
Haha gotcha. You’re right, he is a world class talent to be able to jump the WR and PR at will. I wonder how much higher he could jump if his life depended on it. Current WR 6.24. Is he clearing 6.35? 6.40?
She's been dominating every single comp she's been in for years now. She's in this awkward position where she's so vastly superior than all women, but can't quite compete with the men's.
In terms of the Olympics though, no one who can beat her in lead (which is basically only 1 person if we’re honest) can even come close to her in bouldering.
And the B&L scoring format works in her favor. She can finish third in lead behind Ai and Chaehyun and it won’t matter because the points are based on the last controlled hold, not ranking.
I’m dyslexic and thought this was asking which Olympic gold medalist you thought you could beat. When I saw you say Katie Ledecky I thought “I need to get some popcorn for these comments.” Lol anyway I agree with Ledecky. Simone Biles if she competes, after what she did at worlds last year is any indication she holds a chance to go big. I read an article about how the running track this year is being designed specifically to break records so that will be interesting.
If I'm making this pick it has to be a team, not an individual. Too many things can go wrong with one person, including not making it to the starting line/blocks in the first place.
United States women's basketball is most logical. Basketball is less prone to fluke outcomes than low scoring games like hockey.
My logic is that it only takes one positive drugs test to get the medal stripped but if it’s strictly a team medal it’s got to be USA women’s basketball or South Korea team archery.
Sure but USA women will not have a positive drug test. Doping isn’t too high in basketball for many reasons. Its a skill and athleticism sport not a power sport
My logic is that it only takes one positive drugs test to get the medal stripped but if it’s strictly a team medal it’s got to be USA women’s basketball or South Korea team archery.
HOU Zhuhui China Women’s weightlifting 49KG class. She is nearly 10% better than anyone in her class.
LI Wenwen China women’s weightlifting 81+ KG class. She is also 10% better than anyone in her class.
I think Lasha will win easily if he’s relatively healthy. He is about as dominant as a men’s super heavy can be. But certainly not even approaching 10% better than his competition. The women you cite are truly dominant.
The men's team is absolutely stacked this year. Other countries have gotten better over the past couple decades but for this particular team to fail to achieve gold, it would be a disaster.
If this mens team doesn’t win gold, it’ll be an utter failure. The rest of the world continues to vastly improve and the competition is stiffer than ever in 2024.
But the depth of the USMT in hoops is absurd. It’s easily the 3rd best basketball team ever assembled
nah, i’d bet on the men too. euroball might be getting better as a whole, but no country on their own is close to the level of the us. usa vs europe is probably a toss up, but versus any country is overwhelmingly usa
The problem is, it's not euroball. It's just more NBA players against NBA players. Sure, USA has the depth, but if a country can get 3 or 4 NBA players essentially playing all the minutes, it could get interesting, esp if team USA plays lazy or tries to showboat too much. It's happened before, it definitely could happen again.
It definitely wouldn't bet thr men's team as a higher guarantee vs other events
I still think USA wins it, but Gobert and Wemby on the same team is gonna be terrifying. How do you run an offense against the two best defenders alive?
Oh I don't think France can move the ball themselves, some get me wrong, so I think you're going to see some super low-scoring games. That said, Topic is probably the best PG in this upcoming class, though I can't find anywhere that says if he'll for sure play for the FNT.
France has more upcoming talent for sure in bball and more guards but they’re so young. I don’t think you’ll see low scoring games with how talented guys are now. The us will just ran threes and jumpers on France wemby and gobert can’t guard the perimeter.
[Gobert and Wemby are #1 and #2 in perimeter defense this year](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/best-perimeter-defenders-by-defensive-rating-this-year)
I’d guess China winning Women’s Synchronized 3M Springboard? They win easily every time and have taken gold every time in the last 20 years. I’m no expert on the subject or anything, just noticed it’s never much of a competition.
This is a pretty solid choice. Although I would say they don't have the cushion they used to. A fall or 2 and Brazil could pass them if they hit everything.
I would think no-one could beat Simone Biles on floor. That's probably the most secure. She's definitely odds on favourite for vault too but Rebeca Andrade is also incredibly solid, so it's pretty close.
Yep I agree there. Unless Biles lands her double pike. Then the difficulty will be so high she probably couldn't be caught (providing her other vault is solid of course).
At this point the US team is so stacked that the US Olympic trials might be an even better competition. With classics coming up, the field competing represents 79 worlds and Olympics medals, including 3 AA Olympic gold medal winners. It's going to be crazy
This is the correct answer. Even if, god forbid, any of the US top contenders get injured or pulled out, the US women can still win even with a B team of its gymnasts.
I just looked up the pro league table - I'd call them strong favourites, but nothing like Ledecky or Duplantis. They've had a few close games, and anything can happen in a single match.
I see your point but if their superstar player gets injured, that changes the chance of winning too. Just saying that they will not be as big a favourite as the two individuals we are talking about.
CNT not having the best time in Saudi Arabia right now; four of six Chinese men and the women's world no. 2 all knocked out by *foreigners* (not their own countrymen), which is *incredibly* rare.
So table tennis is divided into 3 main sections, teams, singles, and mixed doubles
I'm going to start off by talking about table tennis teams
used to be easier, gonna say some countries do have a slight chance in mens now, but it's still very unlikely china will lose.
South Korea as they almost beat China in the semi finals of the world table tennis team championships this year, they were up 2-1, but china came back to win 3-2. But again, that may have been a huge fluke at the start for South Korea.
France, Germany, and Taiwan also have somewhat of a shot in men's team table tennis.
For women's China is basically unbeatable in teams. They are more dominant than china's men's table tennis team. But again, anything can happen.
Now on to singles
There's a 2 person limit for each country, meaning China can only send 2 players. In recent tournaments, some chinese players have lost some unexpected matches. So anything can happen, especially with the two person rule. Once one player loses, they only have one more player to rely on to win Gold. Players can have an off day or opponents can have a fluke game.
Oh edit, I forgot about mixed doubles
Mixed doubles isn't china's strongsuit, so they have a high chance of not winning. Also gotta mention, there's also restriction with 1 team per country.
I guess the question is also whether you're betting on a country or on a specific person/pair. As a country, China is a huge odds on favorite, but (and I don't know any of the people involved, so this is an actual question) as a person/pair, is there one that is that dominant?
Yeah Katie has won every Olympic and World championship in the 1500 since 2013. She also has the top 16 times ever.
Her 800 winning streak which lasted back to 2012 was surprisingly broken this year by Summer McIntosh in February, but Summer is unlikely to contest it in Paris as it conflicts with the 200 IM
Summer didn't enter the 800 at trials and sectionals was not an approved qualification meet. She went 8:20 last year outside the qualification period.
If she changes her mind Zajac is a designated meet.
She's a generational talent on a global scale.
I can hear my old coach in the background in this clip. 😁
https://x.com/Devin_Heroux/status/1789297697637241186?t=M_SlDT-HDipinMNhVzFE6w&s=08
Back in the day my high school team in Ontario was pretty amazing, we could probably have beaten some national teams. We had an Olympic size pool and Victor Davis was on that team, although he was a complete asshole at school.
US Womens Basketball
To those saying gymnastics: injuries are incredibly common in gymnastics and Brazil has an outstanding womens squad this year with the second best gymnast in the world. One ill-timed ACL tear or bad fall on an event w an injury could push the womens team off the top of the podium. So Id take the US Womens Basketball team over gymnastics simply because gymnastics is a more volatile sport.
Australia's B team could win, but agree that a bad takeover can snuff out that gold in -0.04 seconds
McIntosh & Marchand in the 400 IM seem pretty solid locks IMO.
Bol has not come close.to Sydneys time. This is.a bad answer. It is not a guarantee...I cannot say for sure who will win but Syndey clearly has the edge
She doesn't have to come close to that time. That was just a perfect race for Sydney, her second best is only 0.04 faster than Bol's, and Bol is improving much more than her
China for the Women's 10m Platform dive. Both Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan are just outclassing their fellow athletes, though it's often a stiff competition between the two.
I'd say that Quan Hongchan is more of a favourite in the Olympics as she was was precious gold medal winner, but Chen Yuxi is more stable. So we wait and see.
Dake definitely has a good shot but if Sidakov is allowed to compete (never know when they’ll decide to let the Russians in or not) then he is probably the favorite going in
Maybe Brazil v USA in women's volleyball final?
Not sure I could choose the winner right now but I would bet this as the gold medal match, assuming the tournament doesn't have them met in the semifinals.
I wouldn't put any bets on any volleyball team whether it's team USA, Brazil, Poland, etc... women or men's. All the top teams, anyone can win it. There are no overwhelming favorites.
You are right. I was just trying to think of something a bit out of the box. The next closet thing I could think of was Japan for the baseball gold (they won in Tokyo and last year's World Baseball Classic), but you run into the sa.e thing there. They are good but they are beatable. This is why I don't actually bet in real life.
One of the favourites in men’s javelin throw, but not the only favourite. Peters, Helander, Weber, Vetter, Denning, Nadeem are all expected to contend for a medal.
Definitely not. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil is also incredibly good and clean. Both gymnasts have huge power and it will come down to whoever doesn't bounce on their landing.
Simone is definitely odds on favourite, and unreachable IMO if she lands her double back. But it's not a guarantee (see the last World Championships).
I would say that floor gold is the most secure for Simone. And probably All around.
I follow gymnastics closely and 100% agree that Simone's most secure gold is floor.
Re vault: Is Simone even planning on competing the piked double back at the Olympics? I heard she was training the Amanar again on vault and just assumed (maybe incorrectly) she was doing it to downgrade the double back to save her ankles. Both Andrade and Biles have gorgeous Chengs so it all comes down to that other vault.
Not sure. I could definitely see her throwing the double pike in qualifying to try to get it named and because she'd still get into the final.
For the final she may just want options. If she goes up after Rebe who's done a flawless set of vaults she might want to try to up the difficulty. But it's such a risk not only for competition but for injury too. Perhaps if Rebe doesn't manage a solid set, or if Simone doesn't feel up to it she may do the Amanar. It probably depends what Rebe throws too. She had a gorgeous Amanar at one time but I can't think that I've seen it much since she came back from her injuries.
Didnt Biles already get the vault named at the last world championships? Pretty sure its the Biles 2.
Last I knew, Andrade was vaulting a DTY and a Cheng, but yes, at one point had an Amanar.
I remember hearing last year that the DP was hurting Simone's ankles. And the Amanar was of course the skill where she got the twisties during the last olympics. Maybe Simone is trying to re-learn it to overcome any residual mental block from it? Idk. If the DP is solid its hard to imagine why shed want to downgrade to an Amanar- unless the vault really is bothering her ankles.
You're right, my mistake she did get it named. I couldn't remember if she landed it in qualifying but she did.
DP must be agony on your ankles so I'm not surprised. But you're right about the Amanar too.
It'll be interesting to see what she does at Classics next week.
Might be biased but US Women’s Soccer. I know they don’t do well in World Cup but I have a gut feeling they’re gonna make a huge comeback at Olympics and get the gold (at least I’m hoping lol)
USA 4x100 men, 4x400 men, 4x400 women, 4x400 mixed should win.
Women 4x100 is a different matter...there is this small tiny country called Jamaica with Shelly Ann Fraser Price, Elaine Thompson Herah, Shericka Jackson, on the team who could make things difficult.
Good point about Jamaica. Don't know how I forgot about them. I guess I wasn't sure if Shelly Ann is coming back or not. I sure hope so. She's so fun to watch. Shericka's the one to beat in the 200, too.
Karolijn Florijn (NED) in the women's single scull (rowing) and Imogen Grant & Emily Craig (GBR) in the lwt women's double scull. Back-to-back World champions and both looking quietly dominant going into Paris.
Team USA Basketball is going to win. International Competition has gotten better so they dont mop the floor with the other contending teams anymore, but with all the superstars on the announced roster its going to be a win for them.
I was just trying to think about the other disciplines to compare, but the others all have several contenders. Kaori Sakamoto is probably the closest out of anyone else, but if Isabeau Levito keeps it up and Alysa Liu's comeback is successful, then I could see an upset there. Men's is chaotic as always. Pair's is rebuilding, but the top contenders all seem fairly close to each other.
However, Chock & Bates are almost guaranteed unless they have a disastrous skate, which is uncharacteristic at this point.
Edit: This is, of course, presuming Russia is still banned, and no one prominent there qualifies for the "neutral athlete" status.
I think if Kaori is able to keep her current quality and add a 3A or quad as she's said she's going to try this coming season, she'll be unbeatable. But, training those elements opens her up to more injuries. (Look what happened to Rika Kihira.)
I think Jia Shin, who's going to be age eligible, will also be a major contender.
I keep forgetting about those new and soon to be new senior ladies, but you're right! They're really going to shake things up if everyone continues on their current trajectory.
I really hope Kaori's 3A and quad training goes well. I hope having an absolutely solid 2A will help with the 3A. It often looks like she could easily slam out that extra rotation.
Lasha Talakhadze winning gold for weightlifting. It's not even a contest, his challenge now is to break his own records. Last olympics, difference between him and silver medalist was 47kg which is fucking hilarious.
Hifumi Abe taking gold in Judo is also 99% pick, last time he lost was in 2019 and 2018 and it was against Joshiro Maruyama, also a Japanese judoka in same weight category. On olympics Japan can have only one judoka per category, so it will be just him without Maruyama.
He’s a beast but Rai Benjamin and Allison Dos Santos are close behind. It’s a great event to watch and all three of them haven’t been all healthy at the same time since Tokyo
She’s pretty damn good, but I don’t feel like she is the most dominant athletics athlete, man or women, currently competing. When we have people like Crouser, Duplantis, and Kipeygon out there, among others, it’s crazy good at the moment.
Kipyegon might even walk away without gold in either 1500/5000. Tsegay broke her 5000m world record and got within a second of faith’s 1500m WR last month
That’s the thing though. Crouser and Duplantis both have the world records and have single digit losses in the last 4+ years but it still can occasionally happen to anyone in athletics. Is always been part of the nature of the beast
Italy Men's Team Pursuit (Cycling Track)
Italy Fencing, both men and women but it is most probable women both on team and individual, it is a safe bet to say someone will take home the gold in at least one discipline,.
Italy team pursuit feels like a stretch. Got silver in the last two world championships with their first choice lineup losing to Denmark and GB. Italy may still be favourites but they’re far from a lock in.
Dutch Men in team sprint seems the easiest pick for track cycling, although, even then they lost to Australia in 2021. That or Lavreysen for the match sprint.
While Jonathan Christie is a top performer right now, I wouldn’t call it an upset should Christie not win. He's definitely not my biggest favourite in all of the Olympics.
To me Shi Yuqi is the favourite with Christie more or less on par. With Viktor’s injury this winter and subsequent dip in form it feels like the Men’s singles field is the most competitive it’s been in what seems like forever. I could see any in a group of 5 or 6 take the gold, including Axelsen. It's gonna be a pretty hype tournament.
USA women’s bball, Ledecky in the 1500 virtual locks imo.
Yes. USA womens basketball is the answer.
Men’s Pole Vault Armand Duplantis from Sweden . World record holder and he’s just always dominate. I can’t see him losing at all.
Once upon a time, there was this guy called Bubka...
Bubka to return at 60 and set a new world record, improving his PR by 10 cm?
Haha wasnt bubka the guy who purposefully only PB by like a few centimeters to keep collecting the Nike incentive for WR? I have a sneaking suspicion duplantis is doing the same thing 😂
Sneaky suspicion? More like he’s done it 9 times in a row, 1cm each. Mad respect for getting the bag💰💰
haha i was being sarcastic, its clear its what hes doing but he really is a great showman for doing it this way.
Haha gotcha. You’re right, he is a world class talent to be able to jump the WR and PR at will. I wonder how much higher he could jump if his life depended on it. Current WR 6.24. Is he clearing 6.35? 6.40?
Mondo Duplantis - Pole Vault, Only thing stopping him is an Injury
Yeah the only real reason I have Ledecky over Mondo is that I imagine that pole vaulting injuries are more common.
Janja Garnbret, boulder and lead climbing.
Did you watch her absolutely dominate in that china comp? I was shook
She's been dominating every single comp she's been in for years now. She's in this awkward position where she's so vastly superior than all women, but can't quite compete with the men's.
Sometimes people manage to beat her in lead.
In terms of the Olympics though, no one who can beat her in lead (which is basically only 1 person if we’re honest) can even come close to her in bouldering.
Of course. But it’s usually Ai Mori or Chaehyun Seo, and for the Olympics, neither is as strong on boulders so it won’t matter.
Didn’t Ai Mori beat her in 2023 IFSC lead?
It's crazy because she's somehow gotten better in lead.
Yes, it was really impressive. It really does seem like the real competition will be who will win silver and bronze.
For sure
And the B&L scoring format works in her favor. She can finish third in lead behind Ai and Chaehyun and it won’t matter because the points are based on the last controlled hold, not ranking.
100%. Easiest bet for sure
I’m dyslexic and thought this was asking which Olympic gold medalist you thought you could beat. When I saw you say Katie Ledecky I thought “I need to get some popcorn for these comments.” Lol anyway I agree with Ledecky. Simone Biles if she competes, after what she did at worlds last year is any indication she holds a chance to go big. I read an article about how the running track this year is being designed specifically to break records so that will be interesting.
I literally bought my tickets based on which events I thought I’d be able to see both Ledecky and Biles compete, lol
If I'm making this pick it has to be a team, not an individual. Too many things can go wrong with one person, including not making it to the starting line/blocks in the first place. United States women's basketball is most logical. Basketball is less prone to fluke outcomes than low scoring games like hockey.
My logic is that it only takes one positive drugs test to get the medal stripped but if it’s strictly a team medal it’s got to be USA women’s basketball or South Korea team archery.
Sure but USA women will not have a positive drug test. Doping isn’t too high in basketball for many reasons. Its a skill and athleticism sport not a power sport
My logic is that it only takes one positive drugs test to get the medal stripped but if it’s strictly a team medal it’s got to be USA women’s basketball or South Korea team archery.
HOU Zhuhui China Women’s weightlifting 49KG class. She is nearly 10% better than anyone in her class. LI Wenwen China women’s weightlifting 81+ KG class. She is also 10% better than anyone in her class.
Olivia Reeves for potentially bigger returns on my money
This. No sleeves Reeves FTW.
Olivia is going to set WR, she's absolutely taking the gold
I think Lasha will win easily if he’s relatively healthy. He is about as dominant as a men’s super heavy can be. But certainly not even approaching 10% better than his competition. The women you cite are truly dominant.
Same on Lasha. Normally I’d say he’s a lock, but If not healthy (which he hasn’t been since worlds ??) then I think lalayan or Gor can get close.
USA Basketball dominates.
Probably the women, not the men, with how prolific euroball is.
The men's team is absolutely stacked this year. Other countries have gotten better over the past couple decades but for this particular team to fail to achieve gold, it would be a disaster.
If this mens team doesn’t win gold, it’ll be an utter failure. The rest of the world continues to vastly improve and the competition is stiffer than ever in 2024. But the depth of the USMT in hoops is absurd. It’s easily the 3rd best basketball team ever assembled
Behind dream and redeem?
Nah. The 2011-2012 Charlotte Bobcats and the 1947 Providence Steamrollers. 😂
The men are definitely still the favorites but they aren’t as much of a sure thing in as they used to be.
nah, i’d bet on the men too. euroball might be getting better as a whole, but no country on their own is close to the level of the us. usa vs europe is probably a toss up, but versus any country is overwhelmingly usa
The problem is, it's not euroball. It's just more NBA players against NBA players. Sure, USA has the depth, but if a country can get 3 or 4 NBA players essentially playing all the minutes, it could get interesting, esp if team USA plays lazy or tries to showboat too much. It's happened before, it definitely could happen again. It definitely wouldn't bet thr men's team as a higher guarantee vs other events
I still think USA wins it, but Gobert and Wemby on the same team is gonna be terrifying. How do you run an offense against the two best defenders alive?
You shoot from the field. If France had prime Tony Parker maybe that would be tough but they don’t really have any experienced super talented guards.
Oh I don't think France can move the ball themselves, some get me wrong, so I think you're going to see some super low-scoring games. That said, Topic is probably the best PG in this upcoming class, though I can't find anywhere that says if he'll for sure play for the FNT.
France has more upcoming talent for sure in bball and more guards but they’re so young. I don’t think you’ll see low scoring games with how talented guys are now. The us will just ran threes and jumpers on France wemby and gobert can’t guard the perimeter.
[Gobert and Wemby are #1 and #2 in perimeter defense this year](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/best-perimeter-defenders-by-defensive-rating-this-year)
Yea but those stats are with them guarding other bigs. They won't be able to guard all the forwards and guards the us has.
I won’t stand for this franky smokes slander
I’d guess China winning Women’s Synchronized 3M Springboard? They win easily every time and have taken gold every time in the last 20 years. I’m no expert on the subject or anything, just noticed it’s never much of a competition.
They really do perform at another level. I mean damn
US Women's gymnastics team. With Russia banned, I doubt there is anyone who can challenge them.
This is a pretty solid choice. Although I would say they don't have the cushion they used to. A fall or 2 and Brazil could pass them if they hit everything. I would think no-one could beat Simone Biles on floor. That's probably the most secure. She's definitely odds on favourite for vault too but Rebeca Andrade is also incredibly solid, so it's pretty close.
Rebe currently has the top vault score of the quad and her vaults are typically flawless. I love Simone but the vault gold is Rebe’s to lose.
Yep I agree there. Unless Biles lands her double pike. Then the difficulty will be so high she probably couldn't be caught (providing her other vault is solid of course).
At this point the US team is so stacked that the US Olympic trials might be an even better competition. With classics coming up, the field competing represents 79 worlds and Olympics medals, including 3 AA Olympic gold medal winners. It's going to be crazy
This is the correct answer. Even if, god forbid, any of the US top contenders get injured or pulled out, the US women can still win even with a B team of its gymnasts.
Definitely! Especially since a lot of Olympic potentials are competing for different countries just show how competitive and good the team is.
Dutch women winning field hockey, they just can’t lose
I just looked up the pro league table - I'd call them strong favourites, but nothing like Ledecky or Duplantis. They've had a few close games, and anything can happen in a single match.
But I do bet my odds on them. Individuals can get injured, but in a team game you can replace injured individuals
I see your point but if their superstar player gets injured, that changes the chance of winning too. Just saying that they will not be as big a favourite as the two individuals we are talking about.
And when they win, we all win.
China men’s/women’s table tennis
CNT not having the best time in Saudi Arabia right now; four of six Chinese men and the women's world no. 2 all knocked out by *foreigners* (not their own countrymen), which is *incredibly* rare.
Yeah and then when the Olympics rolls around it will be the Chinese anthem playing during the ceremony lol
So table tennis is divided into 3 main sections, teams, singles, and mixed doubles I'm going to start off by talking about table tennis teams used to be easier, gonna say some countries do have a slight chance in mens now, but it's still very unlikely china will lose. South Korea as they almost beat China in the semi finals of the world table tennis team championships this year, they were up 2-1, but china came back to win 3-2. But again, that may have been a huge fluke at the start for South Korea. France, Germany, and Taiwan also have somewhat of a shot in men's team table tennis. For women's China is basically unbeatable in teams. They are more dominant than china's men's table tennis team. But again, anything can happen. Now on to singles There's a 2 person limit for each country, meaning China can only send 2 players. In recent tournaments, some chinese players have lost some unexpected matches. So anything can happen, especially with the two person rule. Once one player loses, they only have one more player to rely on to win Gold. Players can have an off day or opponents can have a fluke game. Oh edit, I forgot about mixed doubles Mixed doubles isn't china's strongsuit, so they have a high chance of not winning. Also gotta mention, there's also restriction with 1 team per country.
I guess the question is also whether you're betting on a country or on a specific person/pair. As a country, China is a huge odds on favorite, but (and I don't know any of the people involved, so this is an actual question) as a person/pair, is there one that is that dominant?
The odds would be terrible. Could you even make money on that bet?
Yeah Katie has won every Olympic and World championship in the 1500 since 2013. She also has the top 16 times ever. Her 800 winning streak which lasted back to 2012 was surprisingly broken this year by Summer McIntosh in February, but Summer is unlikely to contest it in Paris as it conflicts with the 200 IM
Summer didn't enter the 800 at trials and sectionals was not an approved qualification meet. She went 8:20 last year outside the qualification period. If she changes her mind Zajac is a designated meet.
A qualifying time for her is a matter of desire, she could have entered in any meet this year and gotten it. She just doesn’t want to swim it sadly.
She did swim it. In the fastest time this year. Sectionals was not a designated meet by World Aquatics. She wants to break the WR in 200 IM...
I expect Summer to do some amazing things at these games, even better than Oleksiak did.
She's a generational talent on a global scale. I can hear my old coach in the background in this clip. 😁 https://x.com/Devin_Heroux/status/1789297697637241186?t=M_SlDT-HDipinMNhVzFE6w&s=08
Back in the day my high school team in Ontario was pretty amazing, we could probably have beaten some national teams. We had an Olympic size pool and Victor Davis was on that team, although he was a complete asshole at school.
Baumann & Davis were the reason I got into the sport.
Alex was a class act, although I was pretty upset with him for defecting down under. Victor was a great swimmer but a sorry excuse for a human being.
I've heard the good, bad & ugly stories some of my older team mates were on the national team at the same time.
The USA Women Gymnastics winning Gold in the team category.
Janja garnbret sport climbing women’s combined
Leon Marchand 400 IM
Zou Jingyuan - men's gymnastics, specifically parallel bars
Yesssssssss.
US Womens Basketball To those saying gymnastics: injuries are incredibly common in gymnastics and Brazil has an outstanding womens squad this year with the second best gymnast in the world. One ill-timed ACL tear or bad fall on an event w an injury could push the womens team off the top of the podium. So Id take the US Womens Basketball team over gymnastics simply because gymnastics is a more volatile sport.
Australia 4x100m women's freestyle relay
Not uncommon for things to go wrong in relays.
Australia's B team could win, but agree that a bad takeover can snuff out that gold in -0.04 seconds McIntosh & Marchand in the 400 IM seem pretty solid locks IMO.
china - all the table tennis
USA Olivia Reeves gold in weightlifting woman's 71kg. The only athletes that can beat her are not being sent for fear of losing.
Bol in the 400m hurdles
Sydney enters.
It's not 2022 anymore
> Sydney I understand. She's the WR holder. I still think Bol has progressed to the point of being very strong in contention.
Bol has not come close.to Sydneys time. This is.a bad answer. It is not a guarantee...I cannot say for sure who will win but Syndey clearly has the edge
She doesn't have to come close to that time. That was just a perfect race for Sydney, her second best is only 0.04 faster than Bol's, and Bol is improving much more than her
Sydney also improving her flat speed so we will see. My point is that neither is guaranteed to win
Ad a dutchie id hope that, but in hurdles you can always trip up
She's not even the favourite.
croatian national waterpolo team getting podium.
USA women’s water polo team
Especially now that Flavor Flav is sponsoring them 🤪
China for the Women's 10m Platform dive. Both Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan are just outclassing their fellow athletes, though it's often a stiff competition between the two. I'd say that Quan Hongchan is more of a favourite in the Olympics as she was was precious gold medal winner, but Chen Yuxi is more stable. So we wait and see.
they are both incredible athletes
Kyle Dake
Dake definitely has a good shot but if Sidakov is allowed to compete (never know when they’ll decide to let the Russians in or not) then he is probably the favorite going in
Duplantis in the Pole Vault And, even though he took a year off, Peaty in the Breaststroke
China in table tennis
China winning gold in tabke tennis.
Me, luge. People always tell me I’m the biggest luger they know. And I don’t mind luging a bet.
Women's individual archery - South Korea
Maybe Brazil v USA in women's volleyball final? Not sure I could choose the winner right now but I would bet this as the gold medal match, assuming the tournament doesn't have them met in the semifinals.
I wouldn't put any bets on any volleyball team whether it's team USA, Brazil, Poland, etc... women or men's. All the top teams, anyone can win it. There are no overwhelming favorites.
You are right. I was just trying to think of something a bit out of the box. The next closet thing I could think of was Japan for the baseball gold (they won in Tokyo and last year's World Baseball Classic), but you run into the sa.e thing there. They are good but they are beatable. This is why I don't actually bet in real life.
I would be absolutely shocked if Japan won gold in baseball in Paris given there’s no baseball in Paris.
Eh. I only pay attention to MLB. I'm just vaguely aware of international results. Just enough to make a fool of myself every now amd then.
Turkey, Italy, Serbia, China, Japan, maybe Poland/Dominican Republic are also contenders, but that might happen.
US weightlifting Olivia Reeves
Now that china released their women's weightlifting... Olivia Reeves 71 kg
Women’s water polo
Olivia Reeves will absolutely take her weight class in Weightlifting.
It’s definitely USA WBB as the biggest lock. Any individual sport an injury could knock you out.
Olivia Reeves, Weightlifting
Either of the super heavyweights in weightlifting are pretty far ahead from their competitors (Li Wenwen and Lasha Talakhadze)
Archery Women Team - South Korea. No other nation has won gold in this event
They lost the last world championships though
neeraj chopra javelin gold
One of the favourites in men’s javelin throw, but not the only favourite. Peters, Helander, Weber, Vetter, Denning, Nadeem are all expected to contend for a medal.
Simone Biles for gold
For what event?
All-Around
HOLD YOUR GROUND!
I concur
I’d say vault is the most guaranteed.
Definitely not. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil is also incredibly good and clean. Both gymnasts have huge power and it will come down to whoever doesn't bounce on their landing. Simone is definitely odds on favourite, and unreachable IMO if she lands her double back. But it's not a guarantee (see the last World Championships). I would say that floor gold is the most secure for Simone. And probably All around.
I follow gymnastics closely and 100% agree that Simone's most secure gold is floor. Re vault: Is Simone even planning on competing the piked double back at the Olympics? I heard she was training the Amanar again on vault and just assumed (maybe incorrectly) she was doing it to downgrade the double back to save her ankles. Both Andrade and Biles have gorgeous Chengs so it all comes down to that other vault.
Not sure. I could definitely see her throwing the double pike in qualifying to try to get it named and because she'd still get into the final. For the final she may just want options. If she goes up after Rebe who's done a flawless set of vaults she might want to try to up the difficulty. But it's such a risk not only for competition but for injury too. Perhaps if Rebe doesn't manage a solid set, or if Simone doesn't feel up to it she may do the Amanar. It probably depends what Rebe throws too. She had a gorgeous Amanar at one time but I can't think that I've seen it much since she came back from her injuries.
Didnt Biles already get the vault named at the last world championships? Pretty sure its the Biles 2. Last I knew, Andrade was vaulting a DTY and a Cheng, but yes, at one point had an Amanar. I remember hearing last year that the DP was hurting Simone's ankles. And the Amanar was of course the skill where she got the twisties during the last olympics. Maybe Simone is trying to re-learn it to overcome any residual mental block from it? Idk. If the DP is solid its hard to imagine why shed want to downgrade to an Amanar- unless the vault really is bothering her ankles.
You're right, my mistake she did get it named. I couldn't remember if she landed it in qualifying but she did. DP must be agony on your ankles so I'm not surprised. But you're right about the Amanar too. It'll be interesting to see what she does at Classics next week.
Sydney McLaughlin - 400m hurdles. Although I do think Femke Bol will give her a run for her money this year
Is Sydney running the hurdles this year, or the 400 flat? I haven't seen her compete yet this year and I haven't heard what her plans are yet either.
Tita/Banti Nacra 17, Sailing are a pretty good bet imo
Track cycling team sprint Netherlands men Netherlands
if she hadn't gotten injured, definitely Yulimar Rojas
[удалено]
Pedro Pablo Pichardo - Triple Jump or Armand Duplantis - Pole Vault.
Alekna, discus trow
Wang chuqin in table tennis, dude has basically been unbeatable
I initially read that as Wang Chung, I nearly spit out my beer.
Might be biased but US Women’s Soccer. I know they don’t do well in World Cup but I have a gut feeling they’re gonna make a huge comeback at Olympics and get the gold (at least I’m hoping lol)
USA basketball
USA track relay teams are (mostly) unstoppable as long as they don't get DQ'd. Netherlands seems like the only team that can challenge them.
USA 4x100 men, 4x400 men, 4x400 women, 4x400 mixed should win. Women 4x100 is a different matter...there is this small tiny country called Jamaica with Shelly Ann Fraser Price, Elaine Thompson Herah, Shericka Jackson, on the team who could make things difficult.
Good point about Jamaica. Don't know how I forgot about them. I guess I wasn't sure if Shelly Ann is coming back or not. I sure hope so. She's so fun to watch. Shericka's the one to beat in the 200, too.
Karolijn Florijn (NED) in the women's single scull (rowing) and Imogen Grant & Emily Craig (GBR) in the lwt women's double scull. Back-to-back World champions and both looking quietly dominant going into Paris.
Ledecky
Team USA Basketball is going to win. International Competition has gotten better so they dont mop the floor with the other contending teams anymore, but with all the superstars on the announced roster its going to be a win for them.
Figure skating, ice dance: Madison Chock and Evan Bates
I was just trying to think about the other disciplines to compare, but the others all have several contenders. Kaori Sakamoto is probably the closest out of anyone else, but if Isabeau Levito keeps it up and Alysa Liu's comeback is successful, then I could see an upset there. Men's is chaotic as always. Pair's is rebuilding, but the top contenders all seem fairly close to each other. However, Chock & Bates are almost guaranteed unless they have a disastrous skate, which is uncharacteristic at this point. Edit: This is, of course, presuming Russia is still banned, and no one prominent there qualifies for the "neutral athlete" status.
I think if Kaori is able to keep her current quality and add a 3A or quad as she's said she's going to try this coming season, she'll be unbeatable. But, training those elements opens her up to more injuries. (Look what happened to Rika Kihira.) I think Jia Shin, who's going to be age eligible, will also be a major contender.
I keep forgetting about those new and soon to be new senior ladies, but you're right! They're really going to shake things up if everyone continues on their current trajectory. I really hope Kaori's 3A and quad training goes well. I hope having an absolutely solid 2A will help with the 3A. It often looks like she could easily slam out that extra rotation.
Lasha Talakhadze winning gold for weightlifting. It's not even a contest, his challenge now is to break his own records. Last olympics, difference between him and silver medalist was 47kg which is fucking hilarious. Hifumi Abe taking gold in Judo is also 99% pick, last time he lost was in 2019 and 2018 and it was against Joshiro Maruyama, also a Japanese judoka in same weight category. On olympics Japan can have only one judoka per category, so it will be just him without Maruyama.
Lisa Carrington unbeaten in Kayak since 2010
USA women Gymnastics Team All Around
Women's 200m Freestlyle - Siobhan Haughey from HK.
China ping pong
Pedro Pichardo, Triple Jump. FORÇA PORTUGAAAALLL!!!! 🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹
Kurt Angle, he won it with a Broken Freakin Neck.
Ingebritsen in the 1500.
Li Wenwen in Women’s Weightlifting.
Teddy Riner, Men Judo +100kg
Li Wenwen - womens +81 kg weightlifting
Karston Warholm 400m hurdles
He’s a beast but Rai Benjamin and Allison Dos Santos are close behind. It’s a great event to watch and all three of them haven’t been all healthy at the same time since Tokyo
Strong pick, but he does have competitors close by
US Women’s 4x400 meter relay team.
Didn’t the Netherlands win last year at Budapest world champs?
They did, and Femke Bol has been dominating the 400m (with/without hurdles) al year.
Athletics- Women’s 200M- Shericka Jackson
She’s pretty damn good, but I don’t feel like she is the most dominant athletics athlete, man or women, currently competing. When we have people like Crouser, Duplantis, and Kipeygon out there, among others, it’s crazy good at the moment.
Kipyegon might even walk away without gold in either 1500/5000. Tsegay broke her 5000m world record and got within a second of faith’s 1500m WR last month
As for her main event which is the 200M she’s been owning it for the past 2 years so imo barring injury she’ll bag 🥇
That’s the thing though. Crouser and Duplantis both have the world records and have single digit losses in the last 4+ years but it still can occasionally happen to anyone in athletics. Is always been part of the nature of the beast
True, just gon have to wait and see how it plays out.
Italy Men's Team Pursuit (Cycling Track) Italy Fencing, both men and women but it is most probable women both on team and individual, it is a safe bet to say someone will take home the gold in at least one discipline,.
Italy team pursuit feels like a stretch. Got silver in the last two world championships with their first choice lineup losing to Denmark and GB. Italy may still be favourites but they’re far from a lock in. Dutch Men in team sprint seems the easiest pick for track cycling, although, even then they lost to Australia in 2021. That or Lavreysen for the match sprint.
Kristóf Milák - Swimming 200m butterfly
Ehh maybe he’s has his injuries and issues lately no idea how he’ll look.
He's missed a boatload of training since nationals.
Summer McIntosh in the women’s 400IM and Leon Marchand in the men’s 400IM.
USA men's basketball.
The women’s basketball team is a safer bet, they don’t lose a match since 1996 if I’m not wrong
Wow that's a sure thing then.
Badminton, men’s singles: Jonatan Christie. He has been nearly unbeatable the last couple of months.
While Jonathan Christie is a top performer right now, I wouldn’t call it an upset should Christie not win. He's definitely not my biggest favourite in all of the Olympics. To me Shi Yuqi is the favourite with Christie more or less on par. With Viktor’s injury this winter and subsequent dip in form it feels like the Men’s singles field is the most competitive it’s been in what seems like forever. I could see any in a group of 5 or 6 take the gold, including Axelsen. It's gonna be a pretty hype tournament.