{"id":2640,"date":"2021-07-26T10:24:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T10:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/?p=2640"},"modified":"2021-07-26T10:25:13","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T10:25:13","slug":"what-can-we-expect-at-the-2021-tokyo-olympic-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/?p=2640","title":{"rendered":"What can we expect at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Simon Rea<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Simon Rea previews the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, looking at the new sports featuring, plus\u00a0who are Team GB’s best chances of winning medals.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Games are going ahead despite a host of problems<\/h2>\n

After the successes of Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and London in 2012, the 2021 Olympic Games land in Tokyo amid difficult circumstances. Only\u00a0domestic spectators will be allowed in the stadiums<\/a>\u00a0due to concerns about athletes and spectators bringing in the COVID-19 virus. It looks like the New National Stadium in Tokyo will not allow any spectators as a national state of emergency has been called in Tokyo, due to rising numbers of coronavirus infections. Athletes will have to undergo regular testing and their movements will be restricted and monitored. Unfortunately, the Olympic flame that began its journey in Fukushima in March before being scheduled to travel across 47 prefectures and arrive in Tokyo on 23rd<\/sup>\u00a0July has been beset by protests and eventually its journey through Tokyo was cancelled due to fears over COVID-19.<\/p>\n

However, at least the greatest sporting spectacle in the world is going ahead and there is plenty to look forward to. The Olympics will run until 8th<\/sup>\u00a0August and will involve a record number of 339 medal events across 33 sports. The organisers have taken inspiration from the London Games by putting together high-profile events for Super Saturday (31st<\/sup>\u00a0July) and Golden Sunday (1st<\/sup>\u00a0August) that includes the 100m finals.<\/p>\n

Four new sports and new competitors to look forward to<\/h2>\n

Four new sports, surfing, climbing, karate, and skateboarding have been introduced to cater for a younger audience and to keep the Games relevant to all generations. Also, softball and baseball return to the Olympics after being dropped for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"Female\"Copyrighted<\/span><\/span><\/span>Surfer Shino Matsuda of Japan<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Surfing will take place at Tsurigasaki Beach\u00a0roughly 100 km away from the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo and will involve a series of heats of 4-5 surfers who will each have 30 minute to showcase their skills and catch as many waves as they can. They will be judged on five criteria including difficulty, innovation, and variety. Currently, the top surfers come from USA, Australia, and Brazil. Americans\u00a0John John Florence<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Carissa Moore<\/a>\u00a0are the top Americans while Australian,\u00a0Stephanie Gilmore<\/a>, is a seven time World Champion.<\/p>\n

\"Player<\/span><\/span><\/span>Sport climbing will feature three disciplines, speed, bouldering (pictured right), and lead, in a combined competition. Speed is measured by athletes climbing a 15-metre-high wall at angle of 95 degrees as quickly as possible. The current men\u2019s world record in 5.63 seconds and the women\u2019s is 6.96. Bouldering involves a climber being faced with a 4.5 metre wall that they will ascend as many fixed routes as they can. They must try and ascend as many routes as they can in four minutes. Lead climbing is where a climber uses a rope to make a vertical climb. They have to keep attaching their rope to the climbing wall over a 15-metre climb. They have six minutes to get to the highest point and if they are tied with other climbers they are separated by time. The six medals will be competed for by 20 men and 20 women with\u00a0Czech Republic climber Adam Ondra<\/a>\u00a0a favourite in the men\u2019s event, while\u00a0Slovenian climber Janja Garnbret<\/a>\u00a0is favourite in the women\u2019s event. She has competition from\u00a0GB climber Shaunna Coxsey<\/a>\u00a0who has a chance of a medal.<\/p>\n

Japan is the home of karate, so it is fitting that it is making its debut here. There are six events in Tokyo \u2013 three weight categories for men (67kg, 75kg, 75+kg) and three for women (55kg, 61kg, 61+kg). Japan have high hopes in these events with\u00a0Kiyou Shimizu<\/a>\u00a0in the women\u2019s event and\u00a0Kiyuna Ryo<\/a>\u00a0in the men\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

The introduction of skateboarding seems like a radical move for the Olympics and will hopefully engage a different audience to the traditional Olympic sports. There are two disciplines of skateboarding \u2013 Street and Park. Street skateboarding is held on a straight street-style course and includes stairs, handrails, benches, and walls. Athletes are judged based on originality and execution, and the number of tricks they perform.\u00a0American skater Nyjah Huston<\/a>\u00a0has won more prize money than any other skater in history and has over 4.5 million Instagram followers.<\/p>\n

Park skateboarding takes place on a hollowed-out course that features curves and deep bowls. They often include halfpipes and quarter pipes. This is the event where we will see Team GB\u2019s youngest ever Olympian\u00a0Sky Brown<\/a>\u00a0who will be just 13 years old when she competes. She is a very modern athlete who has a huge Instagram following and learns her moves on YouTube rather than having a coach.<\/p>\n

What about Team GB\u2019s chances of medals?<\/h2>\n

While Sky Brown does have the chance of a medal Team GB having some hot favourites, such as swimmer\u00a0Adam Peaty<\/a>\u00a0in the 100m breaststroke event. Cycling golden couple,\u00a0Laura and Jason Kenny<\/a>, are both close to creating British Olympic history as Laura is one gold medal away from Katherine Grainger\u2019s record of 5 gold medals and Jason is one medal short of Bradley Wiggins\u2019 record of 7 medals. There is real interest in the athletics as well where World and European champion\u00a0Dina Asher-Smith<\/a>\u00a0takes on American Gabby Thomas and veteran Jamaican athlete, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce over 100m and 200m. There are medal hopes in the middle distance events with Scottish athletes,\u00a0Jemma Reekie<\/a>\u00a0(800m) and\u00a0Laura Muir<\/a>\u00a0(1500m) in the women\u2019s events and the trio of Elliott Giles, Oliver Dustin and Daniel Rowden in the men\u2019s 800m.<\/p>\n

\"GB's\"Copyrighted<\/span><\/span><\/span>Chris Walker-Hebborn, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Duncan Scott at the medal ceremony during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are a couple of less known athletes to watch out for including Northern Irishman,\u00a0Patrick Huston<\/a>, in the men\u2019s archery competition and Scottish shooter\u00a0Seonaid McIntosh<\/a>\u00a0who is reigning world champion in the 50m prone event. Boxer\u00a0Pat McCormack<\/a>\u00a0is favourite in the men\u2019s welterweight category and along with his brother, Luke, is one of\u00a0eight sets of siblings<\/a>\u00a0who will compete for Team GB.<\/p>\n

While it may be hard for Team GB to better their medal haul of 67 medals, including 27 golds, from the 2016 Olympics there is excitement that the Games actually going ahead after the barren summer of 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This article was originally\u00a0published on OpenLearn<\/a>.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Simon Rea Simon Rea previews the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, looking at the new sports featuring, plus\u00a0who are Team GB’s best chances of winning medals. The Games are going ahead despite a host of problems After the successes of Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and London in 2012, the 2021 Olympic Games land […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,105,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-olympics","category-paralympics","category-simon-rea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2640"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2647,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640\/revisions\/2647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}