Five events that could define Rio 2016

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • The five must-see events

    The Olympic Games are set to feature some stellar events and rivalries.

    Which of the events are you most looking forward to? Get in touch and let us know, use #360fans on Twitter and Facebook.

    Here’s five events that could define Rio 2016.

    SWIMMING – Men’s 200m butterfly

    Heats: Monday, August 8, 20:34 (UAE time)

    Semi-finals: Tuesday August 9, 06:10
    Final: Wednesday, August 10, 05:28

    It was one of the moments of London 2012 – the all-conquering Michael Phelps beaten in one of his favourite events, by an unheralded South African at his first Olympics. But it was perhaps Chad le Clos’s father’s subsequent emotional TV interview, all tears and elation, that made the moment even more memorable.

    It signalled something of a changing of the guard when it came to butterfly events. Phelps had dominated since Athens and was to be retiring after London. That was short-lived, however, and some believe it was that loss that lured him back into the pool.

    Le Clos has continued his form from London, claiming the 200m butterfly world title in 2013 but then lost out in 2015 to another potential protagonist – Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, who happens to have swum the fastest time over the distance this year.

    SWIMMING – Men’s 200m individual medley swimming

    Heats: Wednesday, August 10, 21:09
    Semi-finals: Thursday, August 11, 06:29
    Final: Friday, August 12, 06:01

    There’s another potentially enthralling showdown in the pool and once again it involves 22-time medallist Phelps. The American has ruled the 200m IM for the past 12 years and will be gunning for an unprecedented fourth gold in the event.

    It won’t be easy though. Not only has he not quite reached the speeds he was at prior to his short-lived retirement, but standing in his way are long-time rival and team-mate Ryan Lochte – and new kid on the block Kosuke Hagino.

    The 21-year-old Japanese claimed bronze in the 400m IM in London when he was still a teenager and bagged silver behind Lochte at the 2013 Worlds. He missed out on adding to that tally at the 2015 World Championships, because of a broken elbow, but has the quickest time this year and is 10 years younger than his American rivals.

    ATHLETICS – Men’s 100m

    Preliminaries: Saturday, August 13, 16:30
    Round 1: Saturday, August 13, 19:00
    Semi-finals: Monday, August 15, 04:00
    Final: Monday, August 15, 5:25

    It’s the same narrative that had fans across the globe tuning in to the World Championships in Beijing a year ago: good v evil, Usain Bolt v Justin Gatlin, two-time Olympic champion v two-time drug cheat. Yes, Gatlin has the fastest two times in the world this year – a 9.80 and a 9.83 – but is not known to perform well under pressure.

    Bolt is fourth fastest in 2016 – 9.88 – and, despite having to pull out of the Jamaican Trials with a hamstring injury, is ready to race as he targets a ‘triple-triple’. But there are a few other protagonists who could throw a spanner in the rivalry.

    USA’s Trayvon Bromell has run a 9.84 and France’s Jimmy Vicaut a 9.86 while 2011 world champion Yohan Blake is said to be finding some form again.

    ATHLETICS – Women’s 800m

    Round 1: Wednesday August 17, 17:55
    Semi-finals: Friday August 19, 4:15
    Final: Sunday August 21, 4:15

    She can do absolutely nothing to avoid it, but Caster Semenya’s inevitable victory, and possible world record, in the women’s 800m is likely to become another one of the controversies of the Rio Games.

    The 25-year-old South African first sprung to fame, or perhaps infamy, when she won the world title in 2009. She was then subjected to a mortifying string of abysmally-managed gender tests and eventual appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to determine whether or not she was allowed to compete with her naturally-occurring elevated levels of testosterone.

    In short, they ruled there was a limit to the level of testosterone allowed, but the ruling was then overturned in 2015. While she struggled initially to regain her phenomenal form, this year Semenya has run the fastest time in the 800m since 2008 and is knocking on the door of the 33-year-old world record over the distance.

    It’s a tough one, but for now she is allowed to compete, and despite Briton Paul Radcliffe’s deeply unhelpful comments that “it’s no longer sport”, compete she will.

    As athletics writer Wesley Botton so articulately told The Guardian: “You want to support Caster but there’s always this niggling thought. Is it fair for her to run? I’m glad I don’t have to make the decision, that I’m not the IAAF or CAS, because I don’t know where you draw the line. There are doctors and scientists, lawyers and administrators, and as long as they have said that, for the time being, she can run, I try to treat her just as an athlete.”

    It remains to be seen if the rest of the world will do the same in Rio.

    RUGBY – Sevens

    Final: Friday, August 12, 02:00

    World Rugby fought long and hard to get the thrilling, shortened form of their sport into the Games and their chance to flaunt their speed, power and skill is here. As World Series champions, Fiji go into the men’s competition as favourites and the pressure will be immense for them to win their nation’s first ever Olympic medal.

    Commonwealth Games gold medallists South Africa, 12-time World Series champions New Zealand plus Australia and Argentina are all contenders with Kenya and United States outsiders. The women’s competition is slightly more predictable with Australia, New Zealand, Canada and England the powerhouses of the sport and France dark horses.

    Recommended