Team USA Paris 2024 predictions: breakout stars to a seismic basketball shock

Winner of the medal count…

US. In terms of total medals, it will be a wide margin. In terms of gold medals, it will be a little bit smaller because China dominates diving and table tennis so thoroughly. China may be ahead for the first week or so, but the American track and field contingent will take the lead in week two. BD

The US should easily surpass China in total medal count. The race for the most gold prospects is about to get much more excitingbut the Americans should win there too, unless they completely disappoint on the track. BAG

Now that China is hampered by a widespread doping network, and the country that shall not be named continues to be punished for waging war against Ukraine, the US should take this away. The precedent for excellence in a variety of sports is the envy of the world, and the rosters run deep. Only disappointments in track and swimming can keep America from scoring a record number of medals. ALREADY

The US star becomes…

It should be Amit Elor, the 20-year-old two-time world wrestling champion. But wrestling only gets a small slice of the attention in the second week of the Games, so let’s go with versatile swimmer Kate Douglasswho already won a bronze medal in Tokyo, but will have a much busier schedule this time. BD

Noah Lyles‘ thrilling wins in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at last year’s world championships were largely ignored in the United States, where track and field only receives mainstream attention during the Olympics. Should he pull off the same triple triumph at the Stade de France, and perhaps add a fourth-place finish in the 4x400m relay to put him in the company of Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens, it would be a different story. BAG

After making her debut at the Tokyo Olympics at the age of 15, Katie Grimes is poised to make another big splash. The first American in any sport to book a trip to Paris, Grimes is gunning for three long-distance medals in Paris, where her toughest competition will likely come from USA Swimming’s other Katie – Ledecky – in the 1500m freestyle. ALREADY

Athlete of the Games (non-US division) will be…

Victor Wembanyama. In Tokyo, the French men’s basketball team defeated the US in the first game of both teams, but then put up a stubborn fight in the final. Wembanyama, the NBA rookie of the year, could pull them over the line. Also think of several Chinese swimmers and gymnasts. BD

Canada’s teenage prodigy Summer McIntosh will swim four individual events – the 400-meter freestyle, the 200-meter butterfly, the 200-meter and 400-meter medley – plus three relays. If all goes her way, a global superstar will be born. “Summer McIntosh is the best swimmer in the world right now. There’s really nobody better,” NBC swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines said recently. “A lot of people will know that name by the end of the summer.” BAG

As my Jamaican father likes to say, the Olympics don’t start until the running starts. And all eyes on that island will undoubtedly be on Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce when the women’s 100m events get underway on August 2. With Elaine Thompson-Herah unable to defend her record-breaking Tokyo gold due to an Achilles injury, the pressure is on the 37-year-old Fraser-Pryce, a three-time golden girl, to hold off a fast-closing American contingent, this time including Sha’Carri Richardson, who is looking for redemption.

Bold prediction…

The U.S. women win gold in every team sport except handball, for which they did not qualify, and field hockey. That includes basketball (again a lock), 3×3 basketball, soccer, water polo, volleyball, beach volleyball, and the least likely but still fits the word “daring”, rugby sevens. They will also win gold in many team-based events – the gymnastics team event, the women’s eight in rowing, various swimming and track relays, etc. BD

France defeats American men’s basketball dynasty. Three years after an Olympic tournament in Tokyo where they beat the Americans in the group stage and lost by five points in the battle for the gold medal, Les Blues finished the job in front of a jubilant home crowd as Wembanyama took his place among his country’s all-time sporting greats. BAG

The IOC finds a way to reclaim the newly awarded Salt Lake City GamesThe prospect of a former prosecutor holding the highest office in America may have undermined confidence in the FBI’s ability to get the Chinese swim team off its back. ALREADY

Events not to be missed include…

The track and field sprints are too obvious – everyone knows you have to be in front of the TV to watch Noah Lyles and co. Men’s 100m (August 4, 3:50 p.m. ET) And 200m (August 8, 2:30pm ET)and Sha’Carri Richardson who made her delayed entrance onto the Olympic podium in the Women’s 100m (August 3, 3:20 p.m. ET). Other times to watch include the first and last swimming days (July 27, 2:30 PM ET and August 4, 12:30 PM ET)with the best of the best Katie Ledecky, comeback-minded Simone Manuel and reigning two-time gold medalist Bobby Finke competing in competitive individual races, as well as thrilling relay events that will see the U.S. teams and their rivals potentially lose the lead more than once in each race. BD

The swimming program is starting with a bang, because Women’s 400m Freestyle (July 27, 2:30 p.m. ET) features the last three distance world record holders: Katie Ledecky, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, and McIntosh. And you’ll probably want to be in front of a TV for Simone Biles’ final competitive appearance in the Women’s Floor Exercise Finals (Aug. 5, 12:30 p.m. ET). And do not forget Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraza dream doubles team with a combined 15 French Open singles titles, bringing their Peter Parker-Miles Morales team to the Roland Garros battle. BAG

Including: the men’s and women’s 100 meters finals, the men’s singles gold medal event (August 4, 6:00 p.m. ET), the USA-Serbia Men’s Basketball Rematch (July 28, 11:15 a.m. ET) And Women’s Gymnastics Team Finals (July 30, 12:15 p.m. ET)But for me, the event that could make for the most enchanting television breakwhich starts on August 10th at 10am ET with the B-girls round robin. ALREADY