One week from today, the Olympic Torch will illuminate the
city of London and mark the beginning of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The whole
world will turn to watch the competitions that we’ve longed to see for four
years. This years' events will be nothing short of spectacular, and we’ll be
sure to see our fair share of records broken, tears shed, bursts of raw
emotion, inspiration, and pure glory. To have a truly complete experience with
this year’s Olympics, I’d make sure to keep your eye on some of the following
stories and opportunities for Team USA:
The big one everyone’s talking about… Ryan Lochte vs.
Michael Phelps. They’ll compete head to head in the 200 and 400 individual
medley and work together for the 4x200 freestyle relay, but the big question is
“whose going to earn more gold medals”? Every race shall be a fight to the
finish so I’d get your DVR set up now.
On the women’s side of the sport, we’ll see 17-year old
Missy Franklin compete in her first Olympic Games. She will be swimming in 7
different events, and with her potential she just might place in every single
one.
Men’s Basketball is dealing with a whirlwind of injuries at
the moment, so can they still ban together and continue to make other teams
look silly? Spain is a big threat standing in their way, and it will be an
interesting matchup of NBA teammates when they square off.
The Women’s Soccer (football) team looked sharp in the
qualifying tournament, and here’s to hoping they can carry that over to the big
show. A talented, young, yet experienced group of women will work to repeat the
success of their Beijing counterparts and take home the gold this year.
The “fab five” of gymnasts will be competing in the women’s
all around with Jordyn Wieber leading this pack of young teenagers to victory.
It says quite enough that Nastia Liukin couldn’t make the cut this year after
an inspiring performance for the all-around gold medal just four years ago.
As we approach the makeshift beach of central London, we
will look to Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh to do it again for us in the
Beach Volleyball competition. If
you followed their journey in 2008, you couldn’t help but jump out of your seat
with every passionate point from the duo. However, a lot has changed and will
make this trip more difficult. Walsh gave birth to two children, Misty May
dealt with lingering injuries, their 112 match win streak came to an end, and
to top it all off their biggest threat this summer are the fellow US
competitors (Kessy and Ross). It will be an uphill battle, but I don’t foresee
a lack of excitement.
For extra motivation (as if you need it) here is a video to pump you up for next week:
What are you looking forward to? Do you have a dark horse to keep your eye on?
With so many talented US Olympians, it's hard to pick a few to spotlight so please share any noteworthy athletes I may have left out.
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