Highlight of the Day
Athletics – Women’s Shot Put
Not many double Olympic gold medallists are less famous than one of their non-Olympian siblings, which is an absolute travesty in the case of Valarie Adams. Whilst her NBA-playing brother Stephen is building up an enviable early resume, Valarie might be the most accomplished field athlete of her generation in any event. Quite simply, four world championships, three Commonwealth Games golds, a world junior championship, three world indoor titles, two World Track & Field Athlete of the year awards and one IAAF World Athlete of the Year award speaks for themselves.
Adams is putting for her third consecutive gold in the shot, and is a favourite to do so. But, she’ll face some competition from Christina Schwanitz and Lijiao Gon, although Adams’ 21.24m personal best is a half-metre superior to anyone else in the field. In 2012 Adams was beaten by a doper, Nadzeya Ostapchuk, but then awarded the gold after the positive test. Ostapchuk’s doping ban doesn’t expire for another few days.
Favourites: Valerie Adams, Christina Schwanitz, Lijiao Gon
Probably should watch
Cycling – Women’s team sprint, Men’s team pursuit
Both the sprintand the superior pursuit sees racers start opposite each other, leading to the idosyncratic and very pleasing cross-track snapshots to demonstrate who is leading as they pass their respective starting points.
Favourites: China, Russia (women’s sprint), Great Britain (men’s pursuit)
Gymnastics – Women’s Trampoline
Trampolining is an Olympic sport because of course it is. It’s pretty cool to watch – anyone who gets sick of people doing double backflips have lost their sense of fun. Having to stick your bounce after finishing your routine is a harsh and entertaining coda.
Favourites: Li Dan, Rosannagh MacLennan, He Wenna
Boxing – Men’s light fly 49 kg
The punching science kicks off with the very small men and there’s no better place to see tiny Cuban men fighting other tiny men. This is honestly probably worth a look just for how different to a heavyweight bout it is. Fun fact: 6 of 9 men’s weight classes have Cuban favourites and none of the 3 women’s divisions do.
Favourites: Joahnys Argilagos, Hasanboy Dusmatov
Judo – men’s 100kg+, women’s 78kg+
This is the last Judo and we keep recommending you catch some. This might also be worth a look to see just how far over the minimum weight the judoka can get. This should have some spectacular moments.
Favourites: Yu Song, Idalys Ortiz (Women’s 78kg+) Teddy Riner, Hisayoshi Harasawa, Yakiv Khammo, Roy Meyer (men’s 100kg)
Watch if it’s on
Rowing – Women’s lightweight double sculls, Men’s lightweight double sculls, Women’s coxless pair, men’s coxless four
Yesterday there was some talk that lane 1 was beneficial to teams due to the lively weather conditions, but it’ll have to be a big influence as three of the four favourites are under 1.20 and the Dutch lightweight double sculls team are still 1.50 to win. We reckon the certainty of so many favourites is another arugment for event consolidation to promote more competitiveness.
Favourites: Netherlands (Women’s lightweight double sculls), France (Men’s lightweight double sculls), Great Britain (Women’s coxless pair and men’s coxless four)
Athletics – Men’s 20km walk, Women’s 10000m track run
The 20km road walk may not be appointment viewing for most, but is good for the occasional cut to proceedings against the backdrop of other viewing and should be compelling. Injuries and doping suspensions have opened the field right up, with a number of athletes fighting for the podium.
Otherwise known as the 10km or the 100 hectometre run, this track event will be won by Almaz Ayana or fellow Ethiopian national Tirunesh Dibaba.
Favourtites: Almaz Ayana, Tirunesh Dibaba (women’s 10k). Wang Zhen, Eiki Takahashim, Miguel Angel Lopez, Isamu Fujisawa, Cai Zelin (Men’s 20km walk)
Archery – Men’s individual
This is notable as an event soimeone other than a Korean athlete might win. Brady Ellison, a bloke from Arizona who looks like Guy Fieri and is nicknamed ‘the Prospector’ has spent extended periods ranked number one, has been world champion, and was part of the American team that was swept 6-0 by the Koreans in the team event.
Favourites: Ku Bon-chan, Brady Ellison, Lee Seung-yun
Weightlifting – Men’s 85kg, Women’s 75kg
The men, and presumably the weights they lift, get heavier. But is the relationship linear? Who knows.
Favourites: Kianoush Rostami, Tian Tao (men), Jong Sim Rim Lidia Valentin Perez
Don’t bother
Equestrian – Team Dressage
Honestly, why is horse dancing in the Olympics for human beings? Anyone?
Favourite: Germany
Tennis – Men’s Doubles
Romania? In an Olympic final? In tennis? Who the fuck are Mergea and Tecau? Are those places? Squash should be in the Olympics instead of Tennis.
Favourites: Nadal and Lopez
Shooting – Men’s 50m prone rifle
The prone rifle is the blue ribbon Olympic event that lives out the motto Faster, Higher, Stronger by seeing which scary monomaniac is best at gunning down victims from a bell tower.
The women’s skeet is where women shoot precisely one clay thing at a time, but this time it’s going at a different direction to in the other one where that same thing happens.
Favourites: Warren Potent , Torben Grimmel, Henri Junghaenel (Men’s 50m prone), Morgan Craft, Kimberly Rhode (Women’s skeet)
Fencing – Men’s Team Foil
The men’s team foil is the event where three fencers from each country wrap attempt to see who can most quickly erect a barricade or wall to protect a village from intrusion…
Wait, that’s not what happens?
(googles team fencing)
Ah, our thing was better than the real one.