Tokyo Olympics: Americans to watch

EVERYTHING THAT’S GONE WRONG FOR THE TOKYO OLYMPICS SO FAR

Simone Biles

The 24-year-old from Ohio is arguably the greatest gymnast in sports history. Biles is set to lead the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team to a third-straight Olympic gold medal, following up her performance in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and that of her predecessors, the“First Five,” in the 2012 London Olympics.

Watch for her signature move, called “the Biles,” because it is so dangerous only she will attempt it, during her floor routine when she performs a triple-twisting double-back.

In Rio, she won gold in the team, all-around, vault, and floor events while earning a bronze on the balance beam. In the 2019 World Championships, she won gold in all five aforementioned events. Throughout her career, she has earned a total of 30 medals at the Olympics and World Championships: 23 golds, three silvers, and four bronzes.

Katie Ledecky

The 24-year-old swimmer who grew up in Maryland has six Olympic medals to her name, and she is looking for more.

She attended her first Olympics in London in 2012 at the age of 15, where she won the gold in the 800 freestyle. She followed up that performance four years later in Rio, where she won five medals: four gold and one silver.

She was named Female Athlete of the Games by the International Olympic Committee in 2016. In Tokyo, she will compete in the women’s 200, 400, 800, and 1,500 freestyle, as well as the 4×200 freestyle relay.

Torri Huske

The 18-year-old swimmer from Virginia first garnered attention when she beat the American Olympic record for the 100 butterfly, with a time of 55.78 seconds during the first round of the Olympic qualifiers in June, surpassing the time of 55.98 achieved by Diana Vollmer in London 2012.

The night after, she beat her own American record in the final round of qualifiers, finishing with a time of 55.66 seconds, 0.18 seconds shy of the world record of 55.48 seconds set by the Swedish Sarah Sjostrom in Rio.

Sjostrom, having broken her elbow in February after falling on ice in Sweden, has a metal plate and six screws in her arm and will likely not compete in the butterfly, leaving Huske a clear path to the gold.

Claire Curzan

In the women’s 100 butterfly, the top two finishers qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. Shortly after Huske broke the American record at qualifiers, Curzan, a 17-year-old from North Carolina who shares a birthday with Michael Phelps, finished second.

Although Huske achieved stardom at qualifiers, Curzan had the most media attention going into qualifiers. She competed against Vollmer at the age of 14 in the 2018 U.S. Winter Nationals, where she finished sixth, two places behind Vollmer.

“While I am incredibly proud that my American record has stood for so long, it’s time, I hope my American record gets broken, and I hope that it gets broken by Claire,” Vollmer said days before the qualifiers in June.

DeAnna Price

Although Price, a 28-year-old from Missouri, placed first in the Olympic qualifiers for the hammer throw in June, she did not receive as much media coverage as third-place finisher Gwen Berry, who turned away from the American flag when “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played during the ceremony.

“Whenever I stand for the flag, I think about all of the people who died before us,” Price said of Berry’s protest. “I think about anyone who sacrificed anything for me, and it just makes me cry every time — every time I hear it. That’s one thing I love [about] America is that we have freedom of speech.”

“When I stand for the flag, I stand for the people, and so, to me … we’re good. I’m fine. She’s gonna do her, I’m gonna do me, and we both talk about it, and we’ve had our conversation,” she added.

Price attended her first Olympics in 2016, finishing sixth in the hammer throw. She won gold in the 2019 World Championships, her most recent international competition.

Caeleb Dressel

The 24-year-old swimmer from Florida will be competing in his second Olympics when he dives into the pool in Tokyo. In Rio 2016, he won gold in the 4×100 freestyle and the 4×100 medley.

After competing in the NCAA at the University of Florida, he dominated at the 2019 World Championships, winning six gold medals and two silver medals. At the June qualifiers, he nearly beat his own world record of 49.50 seconds in the 100 fly.

Dressel is expected to swim in seven events after the torch is lit in Tokyo.

U.S. Men’s Basketball Team

With Olympic basketball teams allowed to have professional players on their roster, Team USA inevitably becomes an NBA All-Star team each year.

The team, which includes Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Draymond Green, and Zach LaVine, got off to a rocky start, losing to Nigeria in their first exhibition game, but they later found the momentum to cruise to a win over Spain in their final exhibition game before the Olympics.

Altogether, the team has eight NBA championships and 24 NBA All-Star appearances between them. The team is expected to be joined by Devin Booker and Jrue Holiday after the conclusion of the NBA Finals.

Brody Malone

The 21-year-old gymnast from Georgia will be competing at his first Olympic Games in Tokyo.

A rising senior at Stanford and the youngest male U.S. gymnast in Tokyo, Malone is a seven-time NCAA champion. He placed first in the all-around and high-vault events in early June and placed first at the trials later in the month, earning him a spot on the four-person team.

Malone faced backlash after photos surfaced of him and his national-champion Stanford teammates visiting former President Donald Trump at the White House in 2019. Malone wore a “Trump 2020” tie on the visit, which Trump signed, one photo showed.

Trayvon Bromell

The 26-year-old sprinter from Florida will attend his second Olympics. He first competed in Rio in 2016, where he finished sixth in the 100 sprint.

In Rio, he also competed in the 4×100 relay, but he fell on the track and blew out his Achilles while racing the likes of Usain Bolt. He was brought off the track in a wheelchair and later found out his team had been disqualified because his teammates exchanged the baton illegally.

After years of rehab, Bromell is the holder of the fastest time on Earth this year, running 9.77 seconds, good enough for seventh-best of all time. He finished first in the event at qualifiers, with a time of 9.80 seconds.

Kyle Snyder

The 25-year-old wrestler from Maryland was the Olympic champion at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the youngest American to do so. He is a three-time NCAA individual champion, having competed at Ohio State and Penn State University.

Snyder hopes to have a rematch with his archrival, Russian champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev, he said. The rivalry began at the World Championships in 2017. Snyder and Sadulaev were Olympic champions in their respective weight classes, but the latter moved up a class to challenge the former. Though Sadulaev had the edge for most of the match, Snyder took the lead at the end, bringing Team USA to a 1-point victory over Russia. Their 2018 rematch in the same tournament was a different story, however, as Sadulaev pinned Snyder with barely a minute burned in the match.

“The simple truth is I need to get better. In order for me to fulfill my obligations as a member of Team USA and as the defending Olympic champ, I must give full effort and take complete responsibility for this process,” he said after his loss.

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In Tokyo, he has his sights fully set on Sadulaev.