Daniel Borjas | Olympic Betting Odds

A 12-Year-Old Female Skateboarder Could Compete At Tokyo 2020

Daniel Borjas — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 18:26:59 +0000

Sky Brown is a professional skateboarder, surfer, and dancer.
Brown will be only 12 years old by the time the Sumer Olympics happens.
Brown could be one of the youngest Olympians in history.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – Sky Brown, who is currently 11 years old, could potentially qualify for the park skateboarding event at Tokyo 2020.

By the time the Summer Olympics happen, Brown will be 12 years old. Although she is young, she has won many top-level skateboarding competitions. Thanks to that, she is on the way to represent Great Britain in the park skateboarding at the Summer Olympics.

A Young Champion

The Olympics would not be Brown’s first competition. Despite her age, Brown has won many different competitions. She recently won gold at the United Kingdom National Skateboarding Championship. She has also won bronze during the Park World Skateboarding Championship in Brazil.

Thanks to her accomplishments, it is almost guaranteed that she will represent Great Britain in the park competitions at Tokyo 2020. This will likely make her the youngest Olympian at the Summer Olympics.

"I don't feel any nerves. It will be really cool to be the youngest Olympian. People might think you're too young or that you can't do it, but I want to show that it's not about your size or age. I want to be in the Olympics to inspire other girls to show them you can do anything. I'm excited for Tokyo,” said Brown.

Brown is not just good at skateboarding. She is also an accomplished surfer as well. Tokyo 2020 will also have surfing as a competition. However, Brown decided to focus on skateboarding for the Summer Olympics.

"I like them both the same, they're super similar," said Brown. "But it's like if you go and get ramen and ice cream – if you eat too much ramen you want to go and get ice cream. I used to be better at surfing, but I've been skating a lot lately, and I've got way better from doing contests. It's made me want to go harder."

Brown appearing at the Olympics is almost guaranteed. Tokyo 2020 will feature the inaugural skateboarding competition and Brown is planning to take the competition by storm. Olympic odds on her will likely appear as soon as it is confirmed that Brown is going. The Women’s Park competition will happen on August 5, 2020.

The post A 12-Year-Old Female Skateboarder Could Compete At Tokyo 2020 first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

USWNT Vets Give Best 2020 Olympic Odds To Win Gold

Daniel Borjas — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 22:23:27 +0000

The USWNT will have mostly returning faces when they go to Tokyo.
A majority of the women are older than 31 years old.
Many young upstarts were not considered to go to Tokyo.

CHICAGO – Now that the USWNT has qualified for Tokyo 2020, most of the team are returning veterans.

The USWNT has a new head coach guiding them into the Summer Olympics. Vlatko Andonovski is now guiding the USWNT into Tokyo 2020. As such, he is deciding that veterans are going to be best suited to win Gold in Tokyo.

Some of the members of the team include Becky Sauerbrunn, Megan Rapinoe, Ali Krieger, Tobin Heath, Christen Press, and Kelley O’Hara. Many recognizable names are in this list. A good amount of these women were in the 2016 Olympics and the previous FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Half of the team will be 31 years or older by the time they head to Tokyo. Andonovski seems to be relying heavily on veterans to increase their Olympic odds. He is even bringing pregnant Alex Morgan to Tokyo. Her baby is due in April, giving her three months to recover.

👀 People keep talking about the Olympics as if Alex Morgan won't be there. But here she is training a couple days ago via @BeastModeSoccer. Her baby is due in April. #USWNT #NWSL pic.twitter.com/PisXMi9ILn

— Caitlin Murray (@caitlinmurr) February 5, 2020

This means though that a good number of young players on the USWNT will not be able to play at the Tokyo Olympics. Tierna Davidson, who is 21, will not be playing in Tokyo. Davidson is looking to be the future of the USWNT, but she will not get the chance to prove it in Tokyo.

During their last three qualifying matches, the USWNT did not allow their opponents to score even once. The USWNT are looking to be the favorite to win gold at Tokyo during the 2020 Olympics. Bettors interested in Olympic betting on women’s soccer during Tokyo will be hard press to wager on any other team than the USWNT.

The USWNT will have a few more months to prepare for Tokyo 2020. Afterall, one player first needs to give birth before she can prepare for the games. Soccer matches in Tokyo begin on Wednesday, July 22 in Tokyo.

The post USWNT Vets Give Best 2020 Olympic Odds To Win Gold first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Triathletes Disqualified For Solidarity Moment At Finish Line

Daniel Borjas — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 19:40:58 +0000

Qualifiers for Tokyo 2020 is well underway.
Two British triathletes were disqualified and will not go to the Olympics.
They will have another opportunity to qualify in the future.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Two British athletes were disqualified from a triathlon qualifier for finishing together hand-in-hand.

What Was At Stake

The World Triathlon Olympic Qualification Event happened in Tokyo. As the name implies, this race would earn triathletes a spot at the Summer Olympics. Needless to say, this event was important for the triathletes to do well in. In the end, two British athletes won the triathlon. They were Jess Learmonth and Georgia Taylor-Brown.

Learmonth and Taylor-Brown were the two first runners to cross the finish line. As they were crossing the finish line, there were holding hands in celebration. However, this caused both of the triathletes to be disqualified from the race.

The Ruling

The International Triathlon Union has rules and regulations for the triathlon. Rule 2.11.f states that “Athletes who finish in a contrived tie situation, where no effort to separate their finish times has been made, will be DSQ.”

Regarding the disqualification of Jessica Learmonth and Georgia Taylor Brown, the ITU rules are as follows:
“Rule 2.11.f
Athletes who finish in a contrived tie situation, where no effort to separate their finish times has been made, will be DSQ”

— TriathlonLIVE (@triathlonlive) August 15, 2019

That is exactly what happened. Although it was not malicious, the two triathletes made no efforts separating from each other. They both wanted to finish the race together and show the world solidarity and friendship. But that cost them both a spot on the podium and their ticket to the Summer Olympics.

This means that Flora Duffy from Bermuda ended up taking the gold medal for this qualifier. Behind her is Alice Betto of Italy and British athlete Vicky Holland. They received silver and bronze respectively.

Although Taylor-Brown is disappointed by the result, she does not regret it. Plus, OlympicBettingOdds.com knows this is not the only qualifiers for the Olympic triathlon. The running section of the triathlon was cut short due to poor weather. This means that more opportunities to qualify for the Olympic triathlon will appear later in the year.

View this post on Instagram

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn’ . Firstly I want to say WELL DONE to all the girls for yesterday: a change in distance and some hot conditions was going to be challenging but we all accepted the situation, wore big smiles and pushed to the end ☺️⭐️ . Secondly, Thank you to @brittri for their time and efforts to get us to the start line fully prepared 🤩 and to all 4 British girls: 5 in the top 11, that’s kinda cool 🥳 . Lastly, about the race. I have read everyone’s messages and they mean an awful lot to us, so thank you! Yesterday was a test of the course, conditions, procedures, techniques and our bodies & it was always going to be a team effort to get to the finish line safely! We are all extremely competitive and we work hard, but we are also friends out there and look out for each other and that matters more to me than anything else! But I would like to apologise for the upset we caused, it was never our intension. We are simple humans, enjoying what we do & who we do it with 🥰 . 📸 @tzaferes . #TokoyTestEvent #Triathlon #Tokyo

A post shared by Georgia Taylor-Brown (@georgiatb) on Aug 15, 2019 at 6:47pm PDT

The post Triathletes Disqualified For Solidarity Moment At Finish Line first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Surfer John John Florence Is Aiming For Olympics Despite Injury

Daniel Borjas — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 22:22:53 +0000

John John Florence is hoping to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.
An ACL injury has taken him out of the 2019 World Surf League Championship Tour.
Now Florence must wait to see if he will get an opportunity to qualify for Tokyo.

OAHU, Hawaii – John John Florence is hoping to make it to the 2020 Olympics, despite the fact he tore his ACL.

Qualifiers Are Passing By

One of the biggest qualifiers for the 2020 Olympics is the 2019 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour. During this time, there will be 10 men and women who will end up qualifying for the Tokyo Games. For each gender, there can be only two representatives per country. That means that only two US men will make it to the Olympics.

If the Championship Tour were to end today, Florence would qualify for the Olympics. Despite being out, Florence is currently ranked third in the overall standings. But the problem is that there is another US representative in front of him. He is currently behind Kolohe Andino. At this point, it seems like Andino will more than likely represent team USA in Tokyo.

That means that if one more US surfer surpasses him in the rankings, Florence will miss his Tokyo opportunity. Kelly Slater is the closest US surfer to overtake Florence. Slater is currently in eighth place in the Championship Tour.

Opportunities To Qualify

There are a couple of different ways that Florence can still qualify. The first is that he remains his position as the second-highest scoring American in the WSL tour. This is unlikely as there are five more surfing contests left in the WSL Championships.

OlympicBettingOdds.com knows another way for Florence to qualify is that either only Andino qualifies this round, or no Americans qualify. This will give Florence the opportunity to qualify via the 2020 ISA World Surfing Games.

Florence underwent reconstruction surgery for his torn ACL. He is currently undergoing rehab in hopes to make it to the 2020 Olympics. He wants to recover in time just in case he needs to go to the ISA World Surfing Games to qualify. Florence does not want to miss the opportunity to represent Team USA at the 2020 Olympics.

“It's the Olympics, the top of sporting, and being a part of it would be awesome. I think it would be so cool to have a Hawaiian on the team," said Florence. "Since it's the first year in the Olympics for surfing, I imagine there is going to be a lot of conversation... To be part of the first one and growing our sport in the Olympics would be cool,” said Florence.

The post Surfer John John Florence Is Aiming For Olympics Despite Injury first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Two MN 3-On-3 Basketball Teams Take First Steps Toward Tokyo

Daniel Borjas — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 15:45:52 +0000

Tokyo 2020 Olympics will have 3-on-3 basketball matches.
These Minnesota teams have taken the first steps to go to the Olympics.
There are still many more qualifiers that will occur before these teams can make it to Tokyo.

BLAINE, Minn. – Two local Minnesota 3-on-3 basketball teams have taken their first steps to represent Team USA in Tokyo 2020.

A Demanding Game

Two teams came out victorious in the Red Bull 3-on-3 tournament last Saturday. For the women’s side, it was the MN OGs. On the men’s division, it was Treyball MN. The MN OGs grew up in Minnesota and were part of the Big Ten when they went to school. That was over a decade ago. Jenna Smith of the MN OGs still plays professionally overseas. A good portion of the MN Treyball plays professionally as well.

One thing that both teams agree on is that 3-on-3 basketball is much harder than the traditional version. One of the main differences between 3-on-3 basketball and traditional basketball is the pacing.

“You're actively moving, there's 10 seconds of possession. Just the intensity you have to play with is brutal. Not only that, with all the different rules, your mind has to be right," said Breanna Salley of the MN OGs.

It is not just the possession time that is different. Traditional basketball is played on a full court. The 3-on-3 version is played on a half-court, meaning the ball is almost always in range for a shot. This combined with the short shot clock, this demands a lot from all players.

"In 5-on-5, you get beat to the bucket, you might have a little help side; 3-on-3, there's no help. Individually, you have to be solid. If you're not solid individually, 3-on-3 might not be the sport for you" said Brensley Haywood of Treyball MN.

A Local Tournament To Start The Journey

Despite the game’s difficulties, the MN OGs and Treyball MN are on the road to Tokyo 2020. This tournament was sponsored by Red Bull and awarded the winning teams $2,000. This tournament was also the very first step towards the Olympics.

OlympicBettingOdds.com knows it is going to be quite some time before MN OGs and Treyball MN can get to Tokyo. There are 22 different qualifiers happening between June to September. Afterward, there will be four regional tournaments happening in the fall. Then the national event will happen in the spring. The winners of the nationals will represent Team USA in Tokyo.

The post Two MN 3-On-3 Basketball Teams Take First Steps Toward Tokyo first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Brooke Raboutou Qualifies For Tokyo 2020 Climbing Event

Daniel Borjas — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 20:42:14 +0000

Brooke Raboutou will go to Tokyo 2020 for the climbing event.
She is the first USA athlete ever to qualify for Olympic climbing.
More qualifiers for the climbing event will be held throughout the year.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Brooke Raboutou is going to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo for the climbing event.

Qualifying In Japan

The first qualifiers for the Olympic climbing event were at the IFSC Climbing World Championships in Hachioji, Japan. Hachioji is less than an hour away from where the 2020 Summer Olympics will be held. There, Raboutou qualified for the Olympic climbing event.

Climbing has three different disciplines. Speed climbing is a race between two climbers that scale a 15-meter wall. Bouldering is when climbers scale as many fixed routes as they can within four minutes. Lead climbing is when climbers climb as high as they can on a 15-meter wall within six minutes. There are no re-climbs in lead climbing.

Normally, a climber would choose one or two different disciplines to focus on. To be an Olympic climber, they need to do all three. This is known as combined climbing. Because of this, the IFSC Climbing World Championships was combined climbing.

During the World Championships, Raboutou placed sixth in the speed round. She then ended in tenth place for the lead and bouldering rounds. Her final standing was ninth place. Her ninth-place finish allows her to go to Tokyo in 2020.

By our count here at OlympicBettingOdds.com this officially makes Raboutou the seventh member of Team USA. The others are three open water swimmers, two modern pentathletes, and a triathlete. Tokyo 2020 will only have 20 athletes per gender with a max of two per country in climbing. This means that team USA can potentially send up to three more climbers to Tokyo. There are seven more opportunities for USA climbers to qualify for the climbing event and join Raboutou.

The post Brooke Raboutou Qualifies For Tokyo 2020 Climbing Event first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Japanese Breakdancers Are Preparing For Paris 2024

Daniel Borjas — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 19:14:15 +0000

Breakdancing is expected to appear in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
A few Japanese breakdancers are preparing for 2024.
Breakdancing will not appear in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Japanese breakdancers are starting to prepare their moves for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

As we are approaching Tokyo 2020, more is being revealed about Paris 2024. In early 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to include breakdancing in Paris. The qualifiers are not likely to occur until 2023. But that has not stopped Japanese breakdancers from preparing for the Olympics.

Breakdancer Shigeyuki “Shigekix” Nakarai is one of the Japanese breakdancers preparing for Paris. The 17-year-old breakdancer is comfortable competing in the world stage. Nakarai won the bronze medal during the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aries for breakdancing.

Nakarai said that he is going to turn his “frustration into positive energy.” He wants that positive energy to turn into an Olympic gold medal. Nakarai is one of Japan’s biggest hopes to win breakdancing gold in 2024. But other Japanese breakdancers are also aiming for the gold medal.

Issei Hori is a 22-year-old breakdancer, and he is also aiming for Olympic gold. He won the Red Bull BC One World Finals back in 2016, making him the world champion. He was the first Japanese breakdancer to win that competition.

“I would love to win that first gold medal,” said Hori.

Ami Yuasa is also excited that breakdancing is coming to the Olympics. The details for the breakdancing competition have not been hammered out yet. But OlympicBettingOdds.com thinks that it is likely that both men and women will get the opportunity to compete. In that case, Yuasa is also expected to represent Japan. Yuasa said that she considers breakdancing as a form of expression, like photography or art.

Yuasa believes that breakdancing will be a good fit for the Olympics. This is due to the fact that figure skating and synchronized swimming are in the Olympics. At the moment, breakdancing is not officially in Paris 2024. The IOC needs to rubber-stamp the decision in December of 2020. This will likely happen because skateboarding and surfing are in Tokyo 2020.

The post Japanese Breakdancers Are Preparing For Paris 2024 first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Katie Ledecky Aims For Gold, Despite Illness

Daniel Borjas — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 17:10:10 +0000

The FINA World Championships are underway.
Katie Ledecky has been suffering from an undiagnosed illness during FINA.
Many winners in FINA automatically qualify for Tokyo 2020.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Katie Ledecky is heading to the 800m freestyle final at the FINA championships on Saturday.

Pushing Through Illness

It’s clear that Ledecky’s undiagnosed illness is affecting her FINA World Championships results. So far, she has won two silver medals. In the 400m freestyle individual and the 4x200m relay, she won silver medals. Although those are impressive feats, we are more used to seeing Ledecky win gold.

Unfortunately, there were moments where Ledecky could not even compete. Illness caused Ledecky to withdraw from the 400m freestyle and the 1,500m freestyle. The 1,500m freestyle is her best event, so Ledecky could have won if she was healthy.

But Ledecky still wants to swim. She competed in the 800m freestyle event and finished second with a time of 8:14.42. Leah Smith from team USA finished in first. Both swimmers are heading to the 800m freestyle finals on Saturday.

OlympicBettingOdds.com knows normally, swimmers who complete a heat will immediately look at the clock to see their results. Ledecky did not. She was clearly out of breath and exhausted from the 800m heat. After Ledecky left the pool, she went straight to the warm-down pool. She did not take any questions from reporters and looked drained.

But now Ledecky has the time to rest. After 800m heat, she will likely not enter the pool until the finals on Saturday. That gives around 33 hours to rest and recover from her illness. The 800m freestyle is Ledecky’s last shot to win gold at the FINA World Championships. Team USA is hoping Ledecky will get the rest she needs for the 800m freestyle finals on Saturday.

The post Katie Ledecky Aims For Gold, Despite Illness first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Tokyo 2020 Medals Are Environmentally Friendly

Daniel Borjas — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 19:26:25 +0000

The Medals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are made to be sustainable.
Recycled materials were used to create the medals.
The medals were made to look like polished stones.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals will be the first sustainable medals made in Olympic history.

The design for the Tokyo 2020 medals is now available for the public eye. The medals used in next years Olympics was created by using recycled materials. More specifically, the medals are made out of mobile phones.

Over 90 percent of cities in Japan donated their mobile phones to help create the Olympic medals. Around 6.2 million mobile phones were used to create these medals. From these mobile phones, 70 pounds of gold, 7,716 pounds of silver, and 4,850 of bronze were extracted. This helped create the 5,000 medals needed for both the Olympics and Paralympics.

This is similar to how Brazil made their medals for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. But the 2016 medals were only made of 30 percent recycled materials.

OlympicBettingOdds.com has heard that in the past, medals won in the Olympics have been reported to fall apart. By making the medals out of recycled materials, Tokyo is hoping to make them 100 percent sustainable. Japan also wanted to give all Japanese residents a chance to contribute to the Olympics.

The post Tokyo 2020 Medals Are Environmentally Friendly first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Italy Will Host The 2026 Winter Olympics

Daniel Borjas — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 20:39:17 +0000

The 2026 Winter Olympics are going to be in both Milan and Cortina.
Sweden lost its bid to host the Winter Olympics.
We now have a list of where the next five Olympic Games are going to be.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The results are in, and Italy will host the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) always holds a vote to determine where the Olympics will be. There were two countries competing to bring the 2026 Olympics to their homeland. Italy and Sweden were the hopeful hosts for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Italy ended up being chosen over Sweden with a 47-34 vote by the IOC. This will mark the third time the Winter Olympics will be held in Italy. Sweden has never hosted a Winter Olympics and lost their last eight bids to do so.

But it is not like the residents of Sweden was upset about the results. Italy had 28 percent more people who were excited about hosting the Winter Olympics. Sweden failed to gain the support of the public to host the Olympics. This was a large reason why Italy is going to host the 2026 Olympics instead of Sweden.

Italy also had a better plan on how they would fund the Olympics. Because this is their third winter Olympics, Italy plans on reusing old venues. This will help cut the costs of funding the 2026 Winter Olympics. The IOC will help fund the operating costs of the Winter Olympics to around $1.7 billion.

We now know where the next five Olympics will take place. Next up is the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Then is the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The 2026 Olympics is in Milan and Cortina. Finally, the US will host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

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