Usain Bolt and Allyson Felix overcame injuries to go for gold in Rio

Aug 02, 2016 Sports

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SB Nation – Every four years, the Usain Bolt show comes to television screens all over the world. The Michael Phelps of sprinting, Bolt is racing for three more gold medals in Rio in the 100, 200 and 4 x 100-meter relay. He has said Rio will be his final Olympic Games, and he leads an exciting slate of action on tap in Maracanã Stadium in his final run.
The U.S. won the medal count in track and field in London with 28. Their nine golds were the most, too. Russia was second in the 2012 medal count with 16, but the track and field team was deemed ineligible for this year’s games by the International Olympic Committee due to a doping scandal (long jumper Darya Klishina is the only Russian track and field athlete allowed to compete in Rio, and she’s competing under a neutral flag.) The U.S. should have no problem taking home the most medals once again.
Track and field begins on Friday, Aug. 12, and ends on the final day of the Olympics with the marathon closing out the Games on Aug. 21.
Usain Bolt goes for three more golds
Bolt headlines the sprints for the third consecutive Olympic Games. After setting world records in the 100 and 200 meters in Beijing in 2008 and adding a gold in the 4 x 100 meters with his Jamaican team, he followed it up by repeating as Olympic champion in all three events in London. Now Bolt is on track to add three more in Rio to up his gold-medal total to nine. Bolt did miss the Jamaican Olympic Trials with a hamstring injury, but is a safe bet to win gold as long as he’s healthy — he hasn’t lost at the World Championships or Olympics since he false-started in the 100 at the 2011 world championships in South Korea. Justin Gatlin should be Bolt’s toughest competitor in both events — Gatlin took silver in the 2015 world championships in the 100 and 200.
Here’s a brief schedule of Bolt’s sprints for gold (all times Eastern):
100 meters, Aug. 14, 10:25 p.m.
200 meters, Aug. 18, 10:30 p.m.
4 x 100 meters, Aug. 19, 10:35 p.m.
Allyson Felix runs for one more
This was supposed to be the year of Felix — the reigning 200-meter gold medalist was set to defend her title in that race while doubling in the 400 for one more gold. She landed on a medicine ball during a lifting session in April, tearing multiple ligaments in her right ankle and halting her training.
The dream of joining Michael Johnson as a 200-400 double-gold winner no longer lives, but Felix has a shot at glory in the 400 and the 4 x 400.
Felix runs for 400 gold on Aug. 15 at 10:45 p.m.
Mo Farah goes for double gold again
Farah of Great Britain is the Bolt of the distance events. He won both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in front of his home crowd in London and is the favorite to repeat in both events. He’ll face tough competitors from Kenya and Ethiopia, along with the U.S.’s Galen Rupp, who took silver in the London 10,000. Rupp will also run the marathon — he debuted at the U.S. Olympic Trials in January and coasted to an easy win in the heat of L.A.
U.S. medal hopes in the 5,000 lay in the hands of Bernard Lagat, a five-time Olympian. The 41-year-old was left for dead this season, but shocked by winning the 5,000 at the U.S. Trials with a 52-second last lap.
Farah runs the 10,000 on Aug. 13, and the 5,000 on Aug. 20.
Youngsters jump onto center stage
When Vashti Cunningham, the 18-year-old daughter of famed football player Randall, took second at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the high jump with a leap of 1.97 meters (6’5.5) on July 3, she became the youngest U.S. track and field Olympian since 1980. One week later, 16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin, a high school junior, joined the team too after taking third in the 400-meter hurdles to become the youngest since 1972.
Cunningham won the world indoor title in March with a jump of 1.99 meters. She turned pro after the world championship, and could be one of the youngest gold medal winners in the history of the high jump. She’ll face tough competition from U.S. Trials winner Chaunte Lowe — who, at 32, is a mother of three.
McLaughlin also has a shot at a medal, not that it will be easy. She ran a world junior record of 54.15 to take third in the Trials, a time that ranks her sixth in the world this year — and two of the runners ranked in front of her failed to make the Games.
The women’s high jump is on Aug. 20, and the 400 hurdles take place on Aug. 18.
Ashton Eaton chases another world record in decathlon
Ever since breaking the world record at the 2012 Olympic Trials, no one has come close to competing with Eaton — and Rio shouldn’t be any different. He even re-broke his own world record at the 2015 World Championships, completing the 10 events in astounding fashion:
Eaton will have more on his mind than his own competition. His wife, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, is Canada’s best heptathlete and will be fighting for a gold medal of her own.
Another world record may not be in the cards, but, barring disaster, Eaton is on pace for another gold.
He’ll compete on Aug. 17 and 18.

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