2020 Summer Olympics | Olympic Betting Odds

Summer Olympics Cancellation Still Possible Amid COVID-19 Issues

Christina Monroe — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 17:34:22 +0000

The Coronavirus Pandemic could cause Tokyo 2020 to be canceled at some point during the competitions.
Tokyo has seen almost 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, leading Olympic Officials to discuss whether or not to continue with the events.
Any wagers made on the 2020 Summer Olympics will be void should the events be canceled at any point before they begin.

TOKYO – As the Coronavirus cases rise amongst those involved with the Olympics in Tokyo, Toshiro Muto, the President of the Olympic Organizing Committee has said there could still be a cancellation of the events only two days before the official start of the games.

"We have agreed that based on the coronavirus situation, we will convene five-party talks again. At this point, the coronavirus cases may rise or fall, so we will think about what we should do when the situation arises," said Muto on Tuesday. "We can't predict what will happen with the number of coronavirus cases. So, we will continue discussions if there is a spike in cases.”

Any Olympic gambling already done by players would be refunded by sportsbooks should the competitions not take place.

Will The Olympics Still Be Held?

There has been news circulating that a very last minute canceling of all of the games could occur. Olympic Officials and Government Officials in Tokyo will be meeting to get the up-to-date statistics on the Coronavirus. Japan is hoping to stop a fourth wave of COVID-19 from impacting their country.

However, Olympic betting odds will remain on sports betting platforms until any announcements of cancellations are formally made.

On Wednesday, Tokyo had a total of 1,832 new Coronavirus cases, the largest number they’ve seen in months.

"What we have worried about is now actually happening," said Toshio Nakagawa, President of Japan's National Medical Association. "The surge in cases has been expected whether we have the Olympics or not, and we are afraid that there will be an explosive increase in cases regardless of the Olympics."

Over 70 of those cases so far have been either athletes or personnel affiliated with the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. A number of sponsors, including Toyota, have opted out of the opening ceremonies, much to the surprise of the Japanese government. With sponsorships and athletes, as well as locals falling victim to the Coronavirus Pandemic, will the Olympic Games be next?

Touch And Go

Although the opening day of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games doesn’t begin until Friday, the Olympic news continues to pour in by the hour. At the moment, everything is set to start the closed competitions with alternates being used in place of any athlete that is quarantined, but there is still an air of uncertainty if the games will be held in their entirety or if cancellations will occur before then.

"I really want to apologize from my heart for the accumulation of frustrations and concerns that the public has been feeling towards the Olympics,” said Seiko Hashimoto, co-president of the organizing committee.

The Summer 2020 Olympics are still slated to begin on Friday from Tokyo when the Opening Ceremony is broadcasted.

The post Summer Olympics Cancellation Still Possible Amid COVID-19 Issues first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

3×3 USA Basketball Roster Announced For 2020 Olympics

Samuel Profeta — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 18:11:29 +0000

The Men’s 3x3 team is made up of a mix of former and current NBA players and college standouts.
The Women’s team is made up of WNBA standout players from a variety of teams.
This is the first time that 3x3 basketball will be played in the Olympics.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA basketball has announced its rosters for both the Men’s and Women’s 3x3 basketball teams. These teams will play in a qualifying tournament first in order to play in Tokyo. Four players were selected to each team.

The Men’s team is made up of former and current NBA players and college standouts. The Women’s team includes four WNBA players from the Minnesota Lynx, Chicago Sky, Dallas Wings and Las Vegas Aces. This will also be the first time that the Olympics features Basketball games of this size.

Men’s Team

The Men’s team has some talent on it. It includes Canyon Barry, Robbie Hummel, Dominique Jones and Kareem Maddox. Each player comes from a bit of a different background, and while they are not household names, their experience does showcase their ability to play Olympic Basketball.

Canyon Barry

Barry currently plays in the NBA G League for the Iowa Wolves. He is averaging 6.9 points and 2 rebounds so far this season. He is also the son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry.

Robbie Hummel

Hummel is the oldest player on the team at 30 years old. NBA fans might remember him as he played two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In his four years at Purdue, he averaged 14 points and led his team to a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Dominique Jones

Jones played three seasons in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks. With the Mavs, Jones averaged 3.1 points. He was also a part of the 3x3 team in the Pan American Games where he won a gold medal.

Kareem Maddox

Maddox did not make it to the NBA. However, in his four seasons playing at Princeton, he averaged 7.9 points and 4.4 rebounds. He also won the MVP award in 2018 at the Pan American games National Championship.

Women’s Team

The Women’s team has impressive talent as they have four current WNBA players. Three of which made the playoffs this past season. Napheesa Collier, Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, and Kelsey Plum make up the team and each of them brings a different skill set to the table.

Napheesa Collier

Collier had a great rookie season for the Minnesota Lynx. She was awarded the Rookie Of The Year as she averaged 13.1 points 6.6 rebounds and wheeled her team to the playoffs.

Stefanie Dolson

Dolson was an all-around contributor for the Chicago Sky this season. She averaged 9.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.2 apg and 1 bpg. She’ll serve as a big presence on both sides of the ball during the qualifying tournament.

Allisha Gray

Gray had a great 2019 campaign with the Dallas Wings. She’s stayed consistent across the board all season having averaged 10.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 30.4 minutes per game. She’ll look to stay consistent throughout the 3x3 tournament.

Kelsey Plum

Plum had solid numbers across the board. She finished the season averaging 8.6 points, 3 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game. She’ll play a key role in spreading the ball around.

3x3 Basketball Debut

Since this will be the first time that 3x3 basketball will be included in the Olympics it will make for an interesting betting opportunity. Although, the teams still have to go through a qualifying tournament to make it to Tokyo. The qualifying games will be held in Bengaluru, India so it will be best to wait until after that to place any wagers.

The post 3×3 USA Basketball Roster Announced For 2020 Olympics first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Coronavirus Causes Cautious Preparation For 2020 Olympics

Samuel Profeta — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 21:22:48 +0000

The coronavirus has shifted plans for the 2020 Olympic events.
The U.S. and Japan have been taking serious precautionary measures.
Training and travel plans have been redirected as the games will take place in Tokyo.

TOKYO, JAPAN - With the outbreak of the contagious coronavirus, both the United States and Japan have been taking precautionary measures in order to keep it contained. Both countries have been holding restrictions for Olympic players and officials regarding travel and training.

The effect it will have for certain athletes Olympic betting odds may not be seen until the games start. However, many are still finding ways to get in the best shape possible before the biggest events of their lives.

Postponed/Canceled Events

Many different sporting events have been either postponed, canceled or the location has been changed. All events that were held in China that are not being postponed or canceled have been relocated to either Australia or Serbia. Four sports that were moved there are:

Women’s Soccer (Australia)
Women’s Basketball (Serbia)
Badminton (Canceled)
Boxing (Canceled)

The LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) has canceled 3 events that were to be held in Hainan Island, China, Singapore, and Thailand and has no plans of rescheduling any of them for the remainder of 2020.

The World Indoor Athletics Championship will, however, postpone their event by a whole year and will be scheduled for March of 2021. They released a statement on the change of plans.

“We know that China is doing all it can to contain the new Coronavirus and we support them in all their efforts but it is necessary to provide our athletes, Member Federations and partners with a clear way forward in what is a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances.”

United States Safety

The main concern for the U.S. is the international traveling by the players, coaches and general staff as well as the travel from Asian athletes to the United States for pre-Olympic events.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has been working hand in hand with Homeland Security in order to process incoming athletes from Asia for skiing and speed skating events held in Utah.

Colton Brown, a member of the United States Judo team has spoken out about the cancelation of some events. “I remember being told I should take extreme caution—some people warned me against even traveling to Brazil for the Olympics—but everything turned out to be fine.”

Brown continued, “I feel terrible for the Chinese athletes who currently aren’t able to travel to some of the Olympic qualifying events—but I seriously think that we are at a point with international medicine that this won't last too long and everything will be resolved before the Olympics.”

Japan Safety

Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, said, “We must firmly tackle the new coronavirus to contain it—or we are going to regret it. I will do the utmost to contain this new problem as we cooperate closely with all of you.” Koike also advised the citizens of Tokyo to take proper sanitary measures to avoid contamination.

The Olympic committee in Tokyo added to Koike’s concerns, “Countermeasures against infectious diseases constitute an important part of our plans to host a safe and secure (Olympic) games.”

Travel And Training Disruptions

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has voiced their concerns about the virus. They are pushing for non-U.S. citizens who were in China within 14 days of their travel plans to not be permitted into the United States.

UFC fighter, Weili Zhang was originally training in Beijing but moved it back to the U.S. in Las Vegas. Chinese Sports authorities have canceled training for 10 sports. Sports that training has not been canceled has been moved to isolated areas.

The head official in charge of competitions from the General Administration of Sports, Liu Guoyong said, “The epidemic has indeed presented severe challenges as we prepare for Tokyo…but as of now, preparations for all teams are going smoothly and no suspected case has occurred.”

The post Coronavirus Causes Cautious Preparation For 2020 Olympics first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.

Different Time Zones Pose Potential Issue For NBC, 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Christina Monroe — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 14:47:49 +0000

NBC is the main network for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
NBC lost money due to the low ratings of PyeongChang 2018 because of the time difference.
Tokyo, Japan, and PyeongChang, South Korea are in the same time zone.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The NBC network will be airing the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo but the difference in time zones is looking to be problematic. NBC has a three-event deal over the television viewing rights of the Olympics. Their first of the three-event contract was in 2018 for the Winter Games in South Korea. The 2018 Games recorded the worst viewership of any Olympic event in over 30 years, pulling in an average of about 19 million viewers daily.

No matter how many different ways NBC made the Olympics accessible to watch, the time difference is what caused the problem. Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of the United States. For people that wanted to watch the Games live, it was nearly impossible to fit into their daily schedule. Events taking place at noon in Tokyo would start at 11:00 pm ET on the other side of the world.

To make matters worse, the 2020 Olympics and NBC will be competing with the 2020 Presidential Election debates being aired during the same time. They did not have this problem in 2018. This could lead to potentially even fewer viewers than that of the 2018 numbers.

What’s The Game Plan?

NBC will employ the same ways for everyone to watch the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as they did in 2018. The Games can be streamed online through the network website; however, you must be a cable subscriber. If you do not currently have a cable account, you will not be able to stream from NBC’s site. With a cable package, streaming of the Olympics is a free service.

No Olympic packages will be sold like that of a pay-per-view event. In 2018, services like HULU offered live streaming of the Olympics. OlympicBettingOdds.com has not heard if that will be available for the 2020 Games. Tokyo 2020 will begin on July 24th and run through August 9th.

The post Different Time Zones Pose Potential Issue For NBC, 2020 Tokyo Olympics first appeared on Olympic Betting Odds.