Our 5 Favorite Storylines To Follow During The Summer Olympics
Expect the unexpected.
Photo: Unsplash
The Olympics are filled with thousands of stories, with over 11,000 athletes competing. It was hard to narrow it down, but here are five storylines worth following during the Tokyo Olympics.
Gold medal-worthy small talk,
The Last Night’s Game Team
1. Wondering why it seems like the Olympic coverage appears to be overly female-friendly? The abundance of media coverage is seemingly because they’re the names we’re most likely to hear announced on the podium. Women have won more than 50% of Team U.S.A.’s medals at the last two Summer Olympics. GET IT GIRLS
2. Keep an eye on Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim, golfers from South Korea. The two PGA (Professional Golfers Association) golfers dropped out of the British Open earlier this month to focus on their preparation for the Olympics. An Olympic medal for these two athletes (or any other South Korean athlete) would not only make their country proud but would provide the Olympian with an exemption from mandatory two-year service in the South Korean military. This exemption is something that not even the members of international sensation K-pop group BTS are able to achieve. EYES ON THE PRIZE
3. With the topic of transgender children in sports being hotly debated in the U.S., Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, will represent her country and proudly carry the title of the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics. After failed efforts from neighboring countries to ban her from the Commonwealth Games, Hubbard pushed on, with support from her fellow New Zealanders, and landed a spot on the Olympic team. SHINE ON
4. They were, and then they weren’t. The Japanese government was prepared to allow fans, Japan residents only, at Olympic competitions. Then earlier this month, they changed their mind, declaring a state of emergency due to COVID and will no longer allow fans at any of the Summer Olympic competitions in Tokyo. This ban on fans includes family and friends of the athletes competing as foreign fans were banned back in March. CHEERING FROM AFAR
5. There are five sports taking place in the Olympics for the first time. Look for your favorite men’s and women’s athletes to compete in surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding (park & street), karate (kumite & kata) and softball/baseball. While softball/baseball was voted out of the Olympics in 2006, they’re back and will bring the most new athletes to the Games, with 144 men and 90 women participating in the sport. GOING FOR GOLD
The Rundown: Weekend Preview Edition
The NFL Combine is on the brain this weekend. Who will be the next Brett Farve and who will run as slow as Tom Brady? Take the Combine IQ test to see if you’re smarter than an athlete. We’ll share our scores on our Twitter page. Let us know how you do at @lastnights_game.
It’s going down for real,
The Last Night’s Game Team
MLB (Major League Baseball)
- Come fly with me. Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has a history of showing up late to team events. Always a solution provider, Puig is in the process of purchasing a helicopter to take to the stadium. Take that L.A. traffic.
NBA (National Basketball Association)
- What a good sport. Golden State Warriors' guard Stephen Curry (reigning NBA MVP) set the record for consecutive games where he sank a three-point shot at 128 games. Curry then gave his record breaking shoes to a young fan for their birthday after the game. That’s class.
NFL (National Football League)
- Brain vs brawn. Since the 70s the NFL has instituted the Wonderlic Test, an IQ test designed to test cognitive ability, at the NFL Combine. In its history the test results don’t directly correlate to an athlete’s athletic ability or NFL career. The average score of a quarterback is 24 and there has only been one perfect score of 50. Take a sample test here. (The athletes take the 12 minute, 50 question version of the test).
Soccer
- Vote. Today’s the day where they announce the new FIFA President. The four candidates campaigning to lead the international governing authority of soccer are Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Gianni Infantino and Jerome Champagne. Tokyo Sexwale (yes his real name, seriously) removed his name from the ballot a few minutes ago stating “it’s your problem now.” Results are expected this morning.
Surfing
- Surf’s up. While most of the country is still in the dead of winter, down in Hawaii the waves were big enough to hold the Eddie Aikau big-wave surfing invitational. The waves have to be large enough for the competition to take place. This has only happened nine times in the past 31 years. This year the waves were as big as 60 feet.
UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)
- Bring it on. Arguably best fighter of all-time, Anderson Silva, takes on Englishman Michael Bisping live from London on Saturday at 4 pm (EST) on UFC FIGHT PASS.
Overtime
- What will 15 years as an elite NFL defender get you? See this picture of former New York Giants defensive end and current co-star of LIVE with Kelly and Michael, Michael Strahan’s fingers. Bey would not put a ring on that.
Sideline Stat
- You might see Tom Brady for the super star that he is now, but coming out of University of Michigan he was not highly sought after and was drafted 199 overall (the lower the draft number the better). Why you ask? Brady ran the slowest 40-yard dash for a quarterback in history (5.28 seconds). Break out your sundial and watch this.
Coaches’ Corner
- Former University of Arkansas quarterback, Brandon Allen, employed a masseuse in preparation for the NFL Combine. Not for his back as you might think but to massage his hands to help them grow. A 9 1/8 inch hand is considered the smallest hand size for an NFL quarterback (base of hand to the tip of the middle finger). Allen’s hands were 8 1/2 inches in January and have stretched 3/8 inches since then because of massages.
It’s obvious that size matters. Why? Smaller hands worry teams about their quarterback’s ability to hang onto the ball during inclement weather.