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21 U.S. medal contenders to observe on the street to the Tokyo Olympics, which open in six months on July 23 …
Perry Baker
Rugby
World Rugby Sevens Participant of the 12 months in 2017 and 2018, beating out gamers from powers Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa. Baker reverted to rugby after a quick soccer profession, failing a bodily with the Philadelphia Eagles however taking part in two years within the Enviornment League as a large receiver.
Simone Biles
Gymnastics
Biles, whose final all-around defeat got here in 2013, can turn into the primary girl to win back-to-back Olympic all-around titles since 1968. She will be able to additionally turn into the primary U.S. girl in any sport to win 5 golds at a single Video games. Anticipated to retire after the Tokyo Olympics.
David Boudia
Diving
4-time medalist on the platform. Switched to springboard after struggling a concussion on a failed 2018 dive off the platform, his head and abdomen hitting the water first from practically 33 toes within the air. Another medal would match Greg Louganis for essentially the most in U.S. diving historical past.
Caeleb Dressel
Swimming
Received two relay golds in Rio. Since blossomed right into a gold-medal risk in seven occasions when together with relays, after taking seven golds on the 2017 World Championships and eight medals on the 2019 Worlds. Solely Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz received greater than six golds at one Olympics.
Chloé Dygert
Biking
A gold-medal contender on the street and the monitor. Should now come again from crashing over a guard rail finally September’s world championships and struggling a not-for-the-faint-hearted leg laceration.
Brady Ellison
Archery
Owns three Olympic medals however nonetheless searching for gold. In 2019, grew to become the primary American to win a person world title in 34 years, re-ascending to the world No. 1 rating. The final time an American received Olympic archery gold was 1996.
Adeline Grey
Wrestling
A five-time world champion relationship to 2012, however thus far solely associates the Olympics with heartbreak. Did not qualify for 2012. Upset within the quarterfinals in Rio. All three of the energetic U.S. wrestlers with Olympic gold medals face main obstacles to make the Tokyo group, however Grey owns her division domestically and internationally.
Nevin Harrison
Canoe-Kayak
Eighteen-year-old phenom in canoe, which debuts as an Olympic ladies’s self-discipline in Tokyo. In 2019, Harrison grew to become the primary American girl to win a world title in a dash canoe or dash kayak occasion, doing so within the 200m, three years after changing into a severe canoeist after hip dysplasia pressured her to cease sprinting on the monitor.
ON HER TURF: U.S. women who can extend medal streak in Tokyo
Nyjah Huston
Skateboarding
The world’s most well-known skateboard competitor during the last decade. Goes into his sport’s Olympic debut yr as three-time reigning world champion in road, considered one of two disciplines added to the Video games.
Katie Ledecky
Swimming
Adopted one gold at age 15 in 2012 with 4 extra in 2016. Ledecky might win 5 occasions in Tokyo with the addition of the ladies’s 1500m freestyle to the Olympic program, however she was slowed by sickness on the final world championships in 2019.
Noah Lyles
Observe and Subject
Has the flexibility to match the retired Usain Bolt‘s feat of sweeping the Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles, and a equally electrical persona. Lyles is the reigning world 200m champion and have become the Olympic 100m favourite following Christian Coleman‘s suspension.
Simone Manuel
Swimming
After two historic golds in Rio, Manuel received 5 golds on the 2017 Worlds and a feminine file seven medals on the 2019 Worlds, cementing her fame as a championship-meet performer. Manuel has an opportunity at six medals, and so they might all be gold. The one U.S. girl to win six medals at one Olympics was Natalie Coughlin.
Carissa Moore
Browsing
4-time world champion within the new Olympic sport. Moore attended the Punahou Faculty in Honolulu (most well-known alum: Barack Obama), the place she was such a convincing tour information for potential college students that admissions officers reportedly called her “The Closer.”
Dalilah Muhammad
Observe and Subject
In 2013, unsponsored, reportedly raced in shorts and a tank prime bought on clearance at Ross Dress for Less. Now’s the reigning Olympic and world 400m hurdles champion and twice lowered the world file in 2019. Muhammad is the highest U.S. feminine sprinter in the meanwhile, although one other American, 21-year-old Sydney McLaughlin, is the second-fastest in historical past.
ON HER TURF: Young U.S. female athletes who can make history in Tokyo
Megan Rapinoe
Soccer
Swept the Golden Ball and Golden Boot on the 2019 World Cup. Rapinoe, at 35, is amongst veteran U.S. nationwide teamers attempting to carry off the subsequent technology for spots on the 18-player Olympic roster, and to rebound from a quarterfinal exit in Rio.
April Ross/Alix Klineman
Seashore Volleyball
Ross, a silver and bronze medalist on the final two Olympics with two completely different companions, took an opportunity on the unproven Klineman after splitting with legend Kerri Walsh Jennings in 2017. The A-Staff is now ranked No. 2 on the planet, whereas Walsh Jennings and new accomplice Brooke Sweat battle for the second and last U.S. Olympic berth.
Maggie Steffens
Water Polo
The U.S. ladies’s water polo group received gold medals on the Olympics in 2012 and 2016 and world championships in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Steffens, a two-time FINA Participant of the 12 months, was a pillar on all of these groups and, amongst these titles, graduated from Stanford.
Christian Taylor
Observe and Subject
Received six of the seven Olympic and world triple bounce titles within the 2010s, and switched takeoff legs in the course of that stretch. Taylor has come inside a cigarette’s size of the world file in an occasion the place the world’s finest marks get close to 60 toes.
Serena Williams
Tennis
A lot is product of her pursuit of Margaret Court docket‘s file 24 Grand Slam singles titles, however in Tokyo, she will break her tie with older sister Venus Williams for essentially the most Olympic tennis titles (presently 4).
A’ja Wilson
Basketball
Too younger for the Olympic radar in 2016, when she was a rising junior at South Carolina, guided by the now U.S. nationwide group head coach Daybreak Staley. Since, she’s been named the NCAA Match Most Excellent Participant (2017), WNBA Rookie of the 12 months (2018) and WNBA MVP (2020) and honored with a statue on campus in Columbia.
ON HER TURF: Tokyo Olympics storylines in women’s sports
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