Summer Olympics 2016: Ranking the Most Competitive Events in Rio
Summer Olympics time is almost here.
Though there will be dozens of competitions over what'll seem like countless hours of television for the next few weeks, there are certainly a handful of events in Rio de Janeiro in which interest is ratcheted up.
Some of it will be from star power. Some of it will be from anticipated showdowns.
Some of it will be from impossibly compelling backstories.
And some will be from a blend of all those factors.
Toward that end, we've assembled a list of the events that merge the three. Either the field is so impossibly loaded with talent that it's simply inevitable that you'll watch, or the competition between two or more individuals or teams is so close that it's compelling enough to tune in no matter your rooting interest.
Take a look at our list and feel free to critique, and suggest your own, in the comments section.
8. Gymnastics, Women's Individual All-Around
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If it feels like the run-up to an expected coronation, it is.
Though she's never competed on an Olympic stage, more than one breathless TV commentator labeled U.S. teen Simone Biles as the greatest gymnast of all time during her roughshod run through the recent American trials competition.
She's packed a duffel bag full of individual gold medals during three years' worth of competition at global events, including two at the 2013 world championships in Antwerp, Belgium, four at the 2014 event in Nanning, China, and four more at the 2015 go-round in Glasgow, Scotland.
For her not to be deemed all-around champion by the end of the Rio show would be a shocker, but if Catalina Ponor (Romania), someone from a talent-laden Great Britain team or even a clutch U.S. teammate were to do it (Gabby Douglas, anyone?), remember where you heard it first.
7. Tennis, Women's Singles Gold-Medal Match
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If you're a fan of both the Olympics and women's tennis, circle Aug. 13 on your calendar.
Because that could be the day—if the women's event goes according to pre-event chatter—that the world's No. 1 player, American Serena Williams, bids farewell to the Olympic singles stage in the gold-medal match.
Williams and her sister, Venus, have won doubles gold medals three times (Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012), and Serena herself arrives in Rio as the defending Olympic singles champion on the strength of a 6-0, 6-1 rout of Maria Sharapova.
She won her seventh Wimbledon singles title just a few weeks back, so momentum isn't an issue.
However, she is nearly 35 years old—her birthday arrives on Sept. 26—so if you're a fan of Germany’s Angelique Kerber, Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, Belarus' Victoria Azarenka or Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, there's hope.
6. Basketball, Men's Gold-Medal Match
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If you're tired of men's basketball at the Olympics, blame 1992.
The NBA-stacked Dream Team set the wheels in motion for a quadrennial hoops beatdown that has failed to materialize in only one Olympics (2004) since.
The U.S. will certainly be favored this time around, too, but there's as much attention being paid to the stars who aren't planning a trip to Brazil—LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook among them—as to the ones who are.
And it's not as if the other countries arrive without talent.
Spain's roster includes longtime professional star Pau Gasol, while Argentina and France will bring fellow NBAers Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, respectively, among others. Serbia, Lithuania and Croatia are also capable of springing an upset in a big spot, and all will be aiming to test the mettle of the Carmelo Anthony-led American squad.
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5. Soccer, Women's Gold-Medal Match
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Speaking of Dream Teams, the U.S. women's soccer program has got one of its own going.
The Americans have been Olympic champions three straight times, won the women's World Cup in 2015 and reach the Summer Games as the No. 1 team in the international FIFA rankings.
A win in Brazil would make them the first unit to win the World Cup in one year and Olympic gold the next.
That said, Germany, France, England and Australia also arrive to the Games with top-five world FIFA rankings street cred, and the No. 8 team, Brazil, will have hometown energy on its side to spare.
"I get on to the girls and tell them that if the 2004 and 2008 teams had the resources we have now, they would have won gold,” Brazil's Cristiane said, per FIFA.com. “We’ve achieved a lot, but perhaps not as quickly as we would have liked. Perhaps winning the gold will give us the final push we need."
4. Swimming, Men's 200-Meter Individual Medley
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It was among the most anticipated events during the U.S. Olympic Trials.
And for the same reasons, it'll be among those that stand out in Rio as well.
On one side of the U.S. coin is a world-record holder in Ryan Lochte, whose 1:54.00 from 2011 still holds up five years later. And on the other is some guy named Michael Phelps, who just happens to be the most decorated Olympian of all time and a Summer Games champion in the event in 2004, 2008 and 2012.
Phelps and Lochte, both 31, went 1-2 at the U.S. trials in what'll likely be the penultimate race of their prolonged pool rivalry, a reality that the brash Floridian seemed to appreciate.
“I love racing against him,” Lochte said, per Rich Kaipust of the Omaha World-Herald. “It was kind of really heartbreaking at the end, but after we finished we gave each other a hug and said, ‘Good job.’ But that’s probably the last time me and him are going to race against each other in the U.S.”
3. Swimming, Men's 4x100-Meter Freestyle Relay
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The U.S. used to be the standard-bearer in the 4x100-meter Olympic men's freestyle swim relay.
And now the Americans are anxious to regain that elite status just a year after failing to qualify a team for the finals at the 2015 world championships.
Nathan Adrian, Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Held and Anthony Ervin are the expected foursome heading to Rio. Though they do have some Summer Games street cred between them—Adrian is the reigning 100-meter freestyle gold medalist, and Ervin shared a 50-meter freestyle gold in the 2000 Games—the hopes this time around are based as much on freshness as experience.
Dressel is a 19-year-old junior from the University of Florida who's run roughshod over the NCAA record book, while Held, 21, swam a personal-best 100 time of 48.26 seconds at the U.S. trials a few weeks back.
"The rest of the world is badass, and we want to be bad, too," Ervin said at the trials, per the Associated Press (via USA Today).
An example of that world comes via France, the defending Olympic champion in the event, as well as Australia, which arrives with a slew of young 100-meter talent. And don't be surprised if Russia, courtesy of two swimmers who train at the Trojan Swim Club in Southern California—Vlad Morozov and Alexander Sukhorukov—makes itself a factor as well.
2. Track and Field, Men's 100-Meter Dash
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You won't find a lot of Olympic events where the last three Summer Games champions are squaring off once again. But the men's 100-meter dash is among them.
Jamaica's Usain Bolt has spent much of the last eight years rewriting the sprinting record books after becoming the "world's fastest man" with gold in 2008 in Beijing and following it up with another gold four years later in London.
This year in Rio, he's matched up again with the 2004 gold medalist, American Justin Gatlin, who ran a 9.80 at the U.S. trials in Eugene, Oregon, and endured a four-year doping suspension before returning to take bronze in 2012.
At 34, his chances are based on his resilience.
“I don’t look at myself as an age, I look at myself as a talent, and I gotta keep picking out ways to keep being talented and be in the mix,” he said, via Runner's World.
1. Tennis, Men's Singles Gold-Medal Match
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It's an Olympic year, so tennis fans are treated to a fifth star-studded Grand Slam event.
And on the men's side, that means different things to different stars.
To world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, it's a chance to right the competitive ship after he was shockingly bounced in the third round at Wimbledon several weeks after his French Open title made him the reigning champion in all four major events.
Incidentally, he failed to medal in the Olympics in 2012.
To former kingpin Roger Federer, it's a chance to prove that even at the advanced age (for a tennis player) of 34, and even with a balky knee that led to a semifinal exit at Wimbledon, he's got the stuff to add to a resume that already includes 17 major titles and an Olympic silver from the 2012 Games.
To 2012 gold medalist Andy Murray, it's a chance to validate the title he won in front of an adoring London crowd, as well as the Wimbledon championship—his second in four seasons—he captured in early July. He'll be trying to win over a Brazilian crowd with no hometown contender to root for.
And for 14-time major winner Rafael Nadal, it's a chance to prove that a knee injury that's scrubbed his 2016 professional season has healed enough to allow him to be a factor. The Spaniard hasn't played competitively since withdrawing from the French Open in May, but he does have Olympic street cred after winning gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
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