Are you ready for some “football?”
How about some sport climbing, kitesurfing or breaking?
About a month from now, the world will turn its attention to such sports at the Paris Olympics.
So bring on Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky. … and even synchronized diving, which my non-sports-loving family members will watch but I’ll pass.
While it would have been cool to see Jocelyn Alo launch dingers like Aaron Judge, softball, as well as baseball, won’t be among the 32 different sports in these Olympics, which spans from July 24 to Aug. 11 (The opening ceremony is actually on July 26.).
Those sports will be back, along with the debut of flag football and the return of cricket (for the first time since 1900), in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
With host citiesnow being allowed to add sports to the demise of others, that means you’ll see breaking — competitively popular in France — and kitesurfing instead of baseball and softball.
However, I’ll watch breaking because whenever I see it, those athletes are incredibly Cirque du Soleil-worthy.
But those aren’t the sports, athletes or rivalries that I highly anticipate viewing, or recording.
These are:
Local flavor on Team USA
(Men’s volleyball, July 27-Aug. 3 preliminaries; Aug. 5 quarterfinals; Aug. 7 semifinals; Aug. 9 bronze, Aug. 10 gold).
The No. 2-ranked team in the world features four (of 12) athletes with Hawaii ties — setter Micah Christenson (Kamehameha), libero Erik Shoji (Punahou), setter Micah Ma’a (Punahou) and middle Taylor Averill (University of Hawaii). It also has a former UH tormentor in TJ DeFalco.
Team USA finished 10th in Tokyo after earning bronze in 2016 in Rio, both times piloted by Christenson.
Annie Drews, terminator
(USA women’s volleyball, July 28-Aug. 4 preliminaries; Aug. 6 quarterfinals; Aug. 8 semifinals; Aug. 10 (bronze), Aug. 11 (gold))
UH fans have witnessed a couple of left-handed dynamos on the men’s side. Annie Drews is the women’s version of Jakob Thelle, Rado Parapunov and Yuzal Katz.
The 6-foot-3 terminator led Team USA to its first gold in Tokyo and she’s one of eight returnees from that team.
Carissa Moore’s final ride?
(Surfing, four days of competition in a 10-day window from July 27 to Aug. 4).
Honolulu’s Carissa Moore is out to defend her gold when the sport made its Olympic debut in Tokyo. She announced earlier that she was taking an indefinite break from tour competition as she plans to start a family.
Haleiwa’s John John Florence suffered a knee injury before Tokyo and was eliminated in the Round of 16. He sits at No. 2 on the world tour rankings behind Olympic teammate Griffin Colapinto.
Simone Biles on the rebound
(Women’s gymnastics, July 28, 30 team competition; Aug. 1 to Aug. 5 individual events)
Who doesn’t admire watching such a diminutive dynamo who’s considered the best gymnast ever. I’m eager to see her bounce back from her “Twisties” episode in Tokyo.
She’ll be competing in the U.S. Olympic Trials June 27-30 in Minneapolis, with only the top-ranked all-around athlete getting an automatic spot. However, the rest of the team will be decided by discretionary selection, per nbcolympics.com, which basically means fans should expect to see her in Paris.
Katie Ledecky’s tough “Summer”
(Women’s swimming, July 27 to Aug. 4, with 400 free on July. 27, 1500 on July 31, 800 on Aug. 3)
Ledecky has been called by swimming analyst Rowdy Games as “without a doubt … the greatest female swimmer in history.”
The 6-foot, 27-year-old should add to her seven Olympic gold medals in the 1,500. But it’s the 800 and 400 free in which she might come in as an underdog to 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh and Australian Ariarne Titmus.
It was McIntosh who broke Ledecky’s 13-year unbeaten streak in the 800 in Orlando in February, beating Ledecky by six seconds. In the world championships last year in Fukuoka, Titmus’ 3:55.38 broke McIntosh’s 400 free world record of 3:56.08 in a field that included Ledecky (second, 3:58.73) and McIntosh (fourth, 3:59.94).
Ledecky, who qualified in the 200 free and won a gold in 2016 in the event, announced Tuesday that she will drop that event to focus on her three strongest races — the 400, 800 and 1,500.
Sha’Carri Richardson vs. the Jamaicans
(Women’s 100 meters, Aug. 2, 100 prelims and round 1; Aug. 3, semifinals and finals)
Speed definitely thrills on the track.
The flamboyant Richardson, who missed the Tokyo Games after testing positive for an intoxicant in marijuana, going against the green and yellow blur of the Jamaicans might be the most exciting sub-11 seconds in these Games.
The three elite Jamaicans have all medaled in the event, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce winning gold in London in 2012 and bronze in Rio in 2016; Shericka Jackson claiming bronze in Tokyo, and Elaine Thompson-Herah capturing both the 100 and 200 the past two Olympics.
Of course, all the Jamaican stars have to qualify (their trials are June 27-30).
Still, the thought of this matchup is spicy.
Richardson is the 2023 world champion, storming back in lane 9 to run 10.65 and stun Jackson (10.72) and Fraser-Pryce (10.77) to win in Budapest in August.
Richardson also beat Thompson-Herah in the American’s 2024 season debut, running 10.83. Richardson improved on that with a 10.71 at the U.S. trials on Saturday.
Fraser-Prycesaid she will retire after the 2024 Games. The 5-foot one-time “Pocket Rocket” now 37-year-old “Mommy Rocket” said in an ESPN article that “My son needs me,” and that her husband “has sacrificed for me.”
Thompson-Herah also recently said she’ll opt-out of the 200 to focus on the 100.
New face of USA track and field
(400 women’s hurdles, Aug. 4 first round, Aug. 5 repechage round; Aug. 6 semifinal, Aug. 8, final)
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is taking over where Allyson Felix left off.
The 5-foot-9, 24-year-old is the defending Olympic gold medalist in the 400 hurdles and also set the world record (50.68) while winning the 2022 world championship in Eugene, Ore.
But while she missed 2023 with an injury, another competitor has been closing the gap.
Dutch star Femke Bol has taken advantage of the star’s absence by winning the 2023 world title while also setting indoor world records in the event.
The 6-foot, 24-year-old also has recorded the year’s fastest time in 52.49 during the European Athletics Championships on June 11. In May, McLaughlin-Levrone ran her first 400 hurdles in nearly two years, clocking 52.70.
McLaughlin-Levrone, who has flirted with running sprints, scratched from the 200 and 400 on Tuesday to concentrate on her specialty.
Still, the uber-talented athlete put in impressive times while working herself back into shape.
Earlier this month, she ran the 400 flat in 48.75, the third fastest in U.S. history. In May, she ran the 200 in 22.07, a more five hundredths of a second off the world leading time while torching Tokyo bronze medalist Gabby Thomas and double-relay world champion Abby Steiner.
McLaughlin-Levrone still has to qualify — the 400 hurdles final in the U.S. Olympic trials is Sunday — but just the thought of an anticipated matchup against Bol heightens my interest in these Games.
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