At the beginning of 2023, we Asking the biggest questions in Olympic sport Going to the year. All of them have been answered, to some extent. Here’s what we learned…
Gymnastics: How many all-around Olympic gold medalists will return?
Answer: Two (so far).
The year began with Sonny Lee competing collegiately (and expected to return to elite meets), Gabby Douglas returning to training, and Simone Biles taking an indefinite break from the sport.
Lee’s second and final season at Auburn ended prematurely in February due to kidney problems. The all-around gold medalist competed in Tokyo in a limited capacity at the elite summer meets. She told me last month that she was on the road to recovery and was still taking medication as she prepared for a second Olympics attempt.
Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion who last competed in 2016, announced in July that she was training for a 2024 Olympic bid. In November, she participated in her first USA Gymnastics camp in seven years. Douglas has not announced her return meeting.
Biles announced in June that she would compete in August in her first meet since the Tokyo Olympics. She competed in three meets in 2023, as well as the USA Gymnastics Selection Camp competition, winning the all-around championship in each.
Track and Field: What is Sydney McLaughlin Levrone?
Answer: The apartment is 400 square meters.
McLaughlin-Levrone had options until 2023. As the world champion in the 400-meter hurdles, she had a bye to the world championship in the event. Sprinters who make it past worlds often compete in various events at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. McLaughlin-Levrone also said in the fall of 2022 that she wants to add the 400 flat to her program while not giving up the hurdles.
McLaughlin-Levrone competed strictly in the flat 400 meters outdoors in 2023 and ran the world’s best time for the year, which was four-hundredths off the American record. She then halted her season before the World Championships in August due to a small tear in her left posterior cruciate ligament that led to patellar problems and tendonitis.
“Coming back from nationals, I think I was a little upset,” she said last month. “Preparing for worlds wasn’t quite right, and we didn’t want to risk anything. So I decided to play it safe.”
McLaughlin-Levrone has not yet announced whether she will race in the 400m flat, 400m hurdles or both at the Olympic Trials in June, with the top three in each event lining up to make the team individually for Paris.
Swimming: Will Caeleb Dressel compete in 2023, and if so when?
Answer: Yes. His return meeting was in May.
The five-time Tokyo gold medalist took months off from swimming after withdrawing from the world championships in June 2022 for unspecified medical reasons. He returned to coaching at the University of Florida last winter, returned to a full workload by May and had a career-best finish of third nationally later in the spring.
Two weeks ago, Dressel claimed his first race win since the 2022 world championship at the Toyota US Open. Due to a lack of training, he placed 25th and 20th in the nation in his three main events (100-meter butterfly, 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle) with the best times this year. He is expected to get more substantive training this winter.
Two top finishes in the 50 free and 100 fly and potentially a top six in the 100 free (when including the relay pool) at the Olympic Trials in June are on their way to making the team in Paris.
Swimming: Is Katie Ledecky heading to a race? a century?
Answer: Not exactly, but it produced a world record.
The women’s 400 freestyle final at July’s World Championships featured the three fastest women in history: Ledecky, Australia’s Ariarne Titmuss and Canada’s Summer McIntosh.
The predictions included comparisons to the 2004 Olympic men’s 200 freestyle event, which featured the four fastest men in history and was dubbed the “race of the century.” Australian Ian Thorpe won by 55 hundredths over Dutchman Peter van den Hoogenband, and 19-year-old American Michael Phelps almost beat them on his way to breaking his American record by 1.28 seconds.
The July race was not close. He held off Titmus Ledecky by 3.35 seconds and reclaimed the world record from McIntosh, who finished fourth. Ledecky later won the 800m and 1,500m freestyle at the World Championships. McIntosh later won the 200-meter butterfly and the 400-meter individual medley. The three are expected to line up again in the 400m freestyle in Paris on the first night of competition.
Alpine skiing: Mikaela Shiffrin breaks down one of Alpine skiing’s historic achievements Records?
Answer: Yes.
Shiffrin entered 2023 with 80 career World Cup victories, having won her last four races in 2022. She was six races shy of the alpine skiing record held by Ingemar Stenmark, a Swedish legend in the 1970s and 1980s.
Shiffrin set the record in 2023, breaking it in March and raising her tally to 91 as of last week. She is expected to race several more times before the end of the year. The question for 2024 may be whether she can achieve 100 victories, a feat reached by only one athlete in World Cup history across all Winter Olympic events: Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen, who has won 114 times.
All Sports: What’s happening with Russian athletes?
Answer: Some returned as neutral individuals.
At the beginning of 2023, athletes from Russia and Belarus were banned from competing internationally in most Olympic sports due to the war in Ukraine.
In March, the International Olympic Committee recommended that if a sport decided to lift the ban, athletes should compete as neutrals (without the Russian flag, national anthem or colours) in individual events only. Furthermore, athletes who support the war in Ukraine or are contractors to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies should not be allowed to compete.
These recommendations and conditions were later transferred to form the IOC’s policy on allowing certain athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in the Paris Games, should they qualify.
Some international sports federations have taken steps to lift the ban under these circumstances, including the World Aquatics Federation (swimming and diving) and United World Wrestling. The International Gymnastics Federation announced in July that some gymnasts from Russia and Belarus could be readmitted from January 1 if conditions are met. World Athletics (track and field) has not lifted its ban. No sport has lifted the ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus in team events.
Beach volleyball: Will any U.S. Olympic gold medalists return?
The answer: Yes, two.
The year began without any public word from defending Olympic champions Alex Kleinman and April Ross on whether either would bid to host Paris. Both Kleinman and Ross later announced their pregnancy, and Kleinman returned to competition in September, three months after giving birth.
Kerri Walsh Jennings, a gold medalist in 2004, 2008 and 2012, returned to competition in March for the first time in nearly two years. She had ankle surgery a month later and has not competed since.
Meanwhile, women’s beach volleyball spots at the US Olympics were secured by Taryn Kluth and Kristin Noss, who won the World Tour Finals in December, and Kelly Cheng and Sarah Hughes, who won the World Championships in October. They are ranked second and third in the world behind Brazilians Ana Patricia and Duda. The Americans could, mathematically, clinch the Olympic spots in early 2024.
Basketball: Which NBA stars will play for the USA in the FIBA World Cup?
Answer: Nothing.
The United States men’s World Cup roster did not include any players with prior Olympic or World Cup experience for the first time in the Dream Team era (since the Olympics began allowing NBA players in 1992). It was also the first time in this era that the roster did not contain any players who had previously made an All-NBA team. (If you exclude the 1998 World Series roster, which ended up not having any active NBA players due to the lockout. The original team featured players with Olympic and NBA honors.)
The United States, whose 2023 tournament stars include Anthony Edwards, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Tyrese Haliburton, finished fourth after losing three matches in a global tournament for the first time since the 2004 Athens Games, the last Olympics in which the United States did not participate. gold.
The US roster for the Paris Olympics is expected to be very different. Kevin Durant, the United States’ top scorer in the last three Olympics, led the charge by saying he would be on the team, which is not expected to be named for several months.
Basketball: In which country will Joel Embiid play?
Answer: United States, if he plays.
Arguably the biggest victory for the USA men’s basketball program in 2023 was securing a commitment from the NBA’s top player, who is eligible to play internationally for his native Cameroon, the United States or France.
In 2022, Embiid obtained French citizenship and American citizenship. Then in October, the 7-footer announced that if he competed in the Olympics, it would be for the United States, saying it was a family decision and that his son was American.
Embiid’s decision could tip the scales at the Paris Games. In Tokyo, France inflicted the USA’s first defeat at the Olympics since 2004. That was in the group stage. The United States later beat France 87-82 in the final, its closest match to an Olympic gold medal since its controversial loss to the Soviet Union in 1972.
Aside from Embiid, Anthony Davis is the only American to make a first, second or third team in the NBA in the past six seasons, but he last played in a major international tournament in 2014.
Surfing: Can Kelly Slater qualify for the Olympics at 51?
Answer: No.
Slater did not reach the quarterfinals in any World Surf League competition for the first time in more than 30 years. The record 11-time world champion finished the season ranked sixth among Americans and needed to be in the top three to keep Olympic hopes alive.
Olympic bidding: Will the host country for the 2030 Winter Games be decided?
Answer: We are almost there.
The International Olympic Committee announced in November that a bid from the French Alps and Salt Lake City had been recommended for a “targeted dialogue” about hosting the Winter Games in 2030 and 2034, respectively. The IOC’s future host committee has recommended that the 2030 Games be awarded to France and the 2034 Games to Salt Lake City next summer, if the talks are successful.
This could lead to a second “double prize” of the Games being awarded to France and the United States. In 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced that Paris would host the 2024 Games and Los Angeles would host the 2028 Games, both summer editions.
Before then, the host country for the Olympic and Special Olympics Games was determined by a vote of IOC members after seven years. Under recent Olympic bidding reforms, the IOC can enter into a targeted dialogue with whomever it considers to be the “preferred host” candidate rather than holding a traditional race with multiple candidates all the way through the final vote of IOC members.
Salt Lake City hosted the last US Winter Games in 2002 and plans to use many of the same venues in 2034.
The next Winter Games will be in 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.
Get ready to dive into the world of Olympic sports as we explore some of the most common questions related to this global sporting event. From the history of certain sports to the rules and regulations that govern them, we’ll provide you with all the answers you need to feel like an expert in the realm of Olympic athletics. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or simply curious about the world of sports, our comprehensive guide will have you covered with all the information you need. So, let’s jump in and discover the fascinating world of Olympic sports together!