2016 Summer Olympics: Americans That Will Be Serious Threats in 4 Years

Four years go by in the blink of an eye.

The 2012 Summer Olympics just started, but many athletes minds are already on 2016 and Rio de Janeiro. Team USA always racks up the gold medals in the world’s most prestigious competition. 2016 will be no different.

Here are five American athletes that will take Brazil by storm in four years. 

5. Kyla Ross

Shawn Johnson. Jordyn Wieber. Kyla Ross?

Ross is on the U.S.’s women’s gymnastics national team now, but she’s only 15 years old. Most female gymnasts only have one shot at Olympic gold, but Ross is at the perfect age in which she’d be able to pull off a pair of Olympic berths.

In March, she was part of an American squad that won gold in the team all-around at the Pacific Rim Championships. Ross also shined in individual competitions, so much so that she took home silver in the individual all-around. She also won gold on the balance beam, silver on the uneven bars and bronze on the floor.

Considering that Wieber stole gold on the floor and Gabby Douglas on the uneven bars and that they aren’t expected to return in 2016, Ross could have trouble holding her head up with all the medals around her neck.

4. Jabari Parker

Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported in June that David Stern wants an under-23 team to represent the U.S. in future Summer Olympic tournaments. If an age limit is agreed upon, that would open the door for Jabari Parker to lead Team USA.

The 17-year old is the No. 1 high school basketball recruit in the class of 2013 according to everyone who knows anything about high school basketball. Parker is so gifted that many have labeled him “the next LeBron James”.

Every school in the nation wants him: Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, but wherever he lands, expect him to be the next one-and-done to go first overall in the NBA Draft—unless he decides to go the Mormon mission route, but that’s another story.

By 2016, Parker would be 21 and should’ve already established himself as a force in the NBA.

3. Marvin Kimble

Marvin Kimble is well on his way to being a U.S. gymnastics legend. He’s the brightest star on the American’s junior national team and at 16 years old, he already has quite the resume.

In the 2012 Visa Championships, he left with so much gold that he could’ve started his own grill store (and by grill I’m thinking Paul Wall, not George Foreman). Kimble finished first in the floor exercise, still rings, uneven bars and horizontal bars. As you can imagine, he won the individual all-around competition too—a feat he also pulled off in the Junior Olympic National Championships.

Kimble is a medal machine. By the time he’s 20, he’d have achieved so much success that the Olympics would be just another opportunity to clean house.

2. Missy Franklin

The comparisons to Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin are justified.

Missy Franklin is just 17 years old, but this year in London, she’ll be the first female in Olympic history to compete in seven—I repeat, seven—events. Brian Braiker of the guardian reported, though, that Teri McKeever, the Team USA’s head women’s swimming coach, isn’t a fan of the comparisons. She said:

"

To compare her to Michael or Natalie is not fair. They've had their own challenges and their own success. Missy is definitely the marquee female athlete on this Olympic team and probably has the highest expectations. Our job as coaches is to help her maneuver those and help her stay true to who she is.

"

McKeever is right. It isn’t fair. Because Franklin could retire in a league of her own.

Expect Franklin to leave London with plenty of bling and in 2016, she should be even more dominant.

1. Ashton Eaton

Roman Šebrle held the decathlon points record for over a decade. This year at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Ashton Eaton shattered it.

The 24-year old can now call himself the best athlete in the world after defeating Brian Clay in Oregon with a score of 9,039. Eaton also set two other decathlon records in specific events. He ran the 100-meter dash in 10.21 seconds and recorded a leap of 8.23 meters in the long jump.

While Eaton is the favorite to win gold in the decathlon this year, that won’t change in four. In 2016, Eaton will be 28 and in his athletic prime. It would be his last shot to put his versatility on display and back-to-back golds could be within reach.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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