Countdown to Tokyo 2020(2021) - One year!

Today marks one year until the Tokyo Olympics! The games will be held from July 23-August 8, 2021! Lets hope the games will take place!

Tokyo 2020(2021) USA Olympic qualifiers..

Although the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been postponed to 2021, several Team USA athletes have qualified for the Olympics. It is to be assumed that qualifiers to the 2020 games will still be qualified for the 2021 games.

This list courtesy of NBC Sports...

Cycling:

Chloe Dygert
Hannah Roberts


Fencing:

Eli Dershwitz
Lee Kiefer
Alexander Massialias
Gerek Meinhardt

Mariel Zagunis


Gymnastics:

Jade Carey


Karate:

Sakura Kokumai


Modern Pentathlon:

Samantha Achterberg
Amro Elgeziry



Sailing:

Charlie Buckingham
Riley Gibbs
Pedro Pascual
Paige Railey

Farrah Hall
Stephanie Roble
Maggie Shea
Anna Weis

Shooting:

Madelynn Bernau
Kayle Browning
Amber English
Alexis Lagan
Austen Smith
Mary Tucker
Sandra Uptagrafft
Ali Weisz

Brian Burrows
James Hall
Vincent Hancock
Phillip Jungman
Lucas Kozeniesky
Derrick Mein
Nick Mowrer
Keith Sanderson
Will Shaner


Softball:

Monica Abbott
Ali Aguilar
Valerie Arioto
Ally Carda
Amanda Chidester
Rachel Garcia
Haylie McCleney
Michelle Moultrie
Dejah Mulipola
Aubree Munro
Bubba Nickles
Cat Osterman
Janie Reed
Delaney Spaulding
Kelsey Stewart


Sport Climbing:

Kyra Condie
Brooke Raboutou

Nathaniel Coleman
Colin Duffy


Surfing:

Caroline Marks
Carissa Moore

Kolohe Andino
John John Florence


Table Tennis:

Juan Liu
Huijing Wang
Lily Zhang

Kanak Jha
Nikhil Kumar
Xin Zhou


Taekwondo:

Paige McPherson
Anastasija Zolotic


Swimming: Open Water

Haley Anderson
Ashley Twichell
Jordan Wilimovsky

Track and Field - Men's and Women's Marathons:

Abdi Abdirahman
Jacob Riley
Galen Rupp

Sally Kipyego
Molly Seidel
Aliphine Tuliamuk


Triathlon:

Summer Rappaport




The USA women's soccer team qualified for the 2020 Tokyo games by winning the CONCACAF Qualiying tournament held from January 28 to February 9, 2020.

Results:

January 28 - at Houston. TX - USA 4 Haiti 0
January 31 - at Houston, TX - USA 8 Panama 0
February 3 - at Houston, TX - USA 6 Costa Rica 0

Semifinals:

February 7 - at Carson, CA - USA 4 Mexico 0

Finals:

February 9 - at Carson, CA - USA 3 Canada 0

2020 Tokyo Games postponed due to Coronavirus Pandemic

The 2020 Tokyo summer Olympic games have been postponed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. The games will now take place from July 23-August 8, 2021. The Paralympic games will take place from August 24-September 5, 2021. According to a Tokyo games organizer. There are no other proposed dates to hold the games. The games could be cancelled if not held in July 2021.

For weeks the IOC had been waiting to see the effect of the Coronavirus and had been waiting until May 2020 to make a decision on either cancelling or postponing the games. On March 24, 2020 the IOC and Tokyo 2020 decided to postpone the 2020 Tokyo games.

In February 2020, as Olympic qualifiers were being cancelled due to Coronavirus, Tokyo 2020 said there was no reason to postpone the games and were confident they would go on as scheduled. Canadian IOC member Dick Pound said there was a possibility that the games would be postponed.

In mid-March 2020, USA Track and Field and USA Swimming complained to Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the USOC that the Coronavirus kept them indoors and away from properly training for the games. The USOPC(The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee) closed the Training Centers in mid-March. Some Team USA athletes complained that their health and safety would be compromised. At first, the USOC said nothing and was accused of not listening to the athletes. After days of pressure the USOC caved and told the IOC that the games should be postponed. The Canadian and Australian Olympic teams pulled out of the July 2020 games. This swayed the IOC to act quickly to postpone the games. The IOC originally said the games would begin no later than summer 2021.

Several sports postponed Olympic qualifications. The FIVB canceled an Olympic qualifying March 2020 beach volleyball tournament in Australia. 3 on 3 basketball has postponed their Olympic qualifier in India scheduled for mid-march 2020. The World Indoor Track and Field Championships scheduled for March 13-15 in Nanjing, China has been postponed until 2021.

The Olympic boxing qualifier scheduled for February 2020 to take place in Wuhan, China has been postponed.

Several winter Olympic sports had their events postponed or canceled. The World Figure Skating Championships scheduled for March 18-22 in Montreal, Canada has been cancelled.
The World Short Track speed skating Championships scheduled for March 13-15 in Seoul, South Korea has been cancelled. The Alpine skiing World Cup finals scheduled for March 18-22 in Italy was cancelled. The men's and women's hockey world championships were canceled. The Curling World Championships were cancelled as well.

The USA swimming Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska will now be held June 13-20, 2021.

The USATF Olympic trials will now be held in Eugene, Oregon from June 18-27, 2021.

The USA Gymnastics Olympic trials will be held in St. Louis, MO from June 24-27, 2021.

The World Track and Field outdoor Championships to be held in Eugene, Oregon were re-scheduled for July 15-24, 2022.

The FINA World Swimming Championships will now be held from May 13-29, 2022.

The FIVB World Beach Volleyball Championships will now be held in June 2022 in Rome Italy. Dates are being finalized.

The NCAA cancelled the rest of the winter sports championships that included the men's and women's basketball conference and NCAA tournaments, and gymnastics Championships. The NCAA said there will be no extra eligibility for winter sports athletes but spring sports athletes will get an extra year of eligibility.

Several World Athletics Diamond League meets have been postponed from the 2020 season. Diamond League events in Doha and China were indefinitely postponed. The Shanghai meet was moved to August 13. Meets in May 2020 in Stockholm, Naples, and Rabat were canceled. The next meet on the Diamond League is Eugene on June 7, 2020. In the USA, the Penn Relays were canceled. The Penn Relays were scheduled from April 23-25, 2020.

Revised AVP Schedule as of June 18, 2020:

The 8 City AVP Tour has been cancelled and replaced with 3 AVP Tournaments to he held with no fans at Long Beach, CA

July 18-19 - Monster Hydro Cup
July 25-26 - Wilson Cup
Aug. 1-2 - Porsche Cup

Revised World Athletics Diamond League Schedule proposed as of June 26, 2020:

June 11 - Oslo
July 9 - Zurich
August 14 Monaco
August 16 Gateshead - Cancelled
August 23 Stockholm
Sept. 2 Lausanne
Sept. 4 Brussels
Sept. 6 Paris - Cancelled
Sept. 17 Rome/Naples
Sept. 19 Shanghai - Cancelled
Oct. 4 Eugene - Cancelled
Oct. 9 Doha
Oct. 17 TBA China


Other events that were cancelled and or postponed:

Boston Marathon - Cancelled
New York City Marathon - Cancelled
French Open - Moved to September 27, 2020 to October 11, 2020
Wimbledon - Cancelled
Tour de France - August 29, 2020 to September 20, 2020

There will be no USA Gymnastics Championships held in 2020 and all USA Gymnastics meets to be held this year are cancelled as well. The USA Gymnastics Championships will be held in St, Louis, MO from June 22-27, 2021 in conjunction with the USA Gymnastics Olympic trials.

2020 USA Figure Skating Championship Results/Four Continents Figure Skating Championships - USA Medalists

The 2020 USA Figure Skating Championships were held in Greensboro, NC from January 21-26, 2020.

Nathan Chen won his fourth USA singles title, Alysa Liu won her second singles ladies title at age 14, Madison Chock/Evan Bates win their first Ice Dance title since 2015 and Alexa Knierim/Chris Knierim win the USA pairs title.

Results(Top 4):

Pairs Short Program Scores:

Alexa Knierim/Chris Knierim - 77.06
Tarah Kayne/Danny O' Shea - 70.35
Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc - 68.86
Jessica Calalang/Brian Johnson - 67.56

Ladies Short Program Scores:

Bradie Tennell - 78.96
Alysa Liu - 75.40
Mariah Bell - 73.22
Amber Glenn - 73.16

Ice Dance - Rhythm Dance Scores:

Madison Chock/Evan Bates - 87.63
Madison Hubbell/Zach Donohue - 86.31
Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker - 82.59
Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko - 78.02

Men's Short Program Scores:

Nathan Chen - 114.13
Jason Brown - 100.99
Andrew Torgashev - 97.87
Vincent Zhou - 94.82

Pairs Free Skate Scores:

Alexa Knierim/Chris Knierim - 139.09 Free Skate - 216.15 total - Gold
Jessica Calalang/Brian Johnson - 146.01 Free Skate - 213.57 total - Silver
Tarah Kayne/Danny O'Shea - 133.72 Free Skate - 204.07 total - Bronze
Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc - 128.26 Free Skate - 197.12 total - Pewter

Ladies Free Skate Scores:

Alysa Liu - 160.12 Free Skate - 235.52 total - Gold
Mariah Bell - 151.99 Free Skate - 225.21 total - Silver
Bradie Tennell - 141.90 Free Skate - 220.86 total - Bronze
Karen Chen - 123.24 Free Skate - 193.65 total - Pewter

Ice Dance - Free Dance Scores:

Madison Chock/Evan Bates - 134.23 Free Dance - 221.86 total - Gold
Madison Hubbell/Zach Donohue - 130.88 Free Dance - 217.19 total - Silver
Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker - 118.57 Free Dance - 201.16 total - Bronze
Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko - 116.14 Free Dance - 194.16 total - Pewter

Men's Free Skate Scores:

Nathan Chen - 216.04 Free Skate - 330.17 total - Gold
Jason Brown - 191.89 Free Skate - 292.88 total - Silver
Tomoki Hiwatoshi - 183.87 Free Skate - 278.08 total - Bronze
Vincent Zhou - 180.41 Free Skate - 275.23 total - Pewter


Four Continents Figure Skating Championships - USA Medalists

The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships were held in Seoul, South Korea from February 4-9, 2020.

Ladies - Bradie Tennell - 222.97 total - Bronze

Men - Jason Brown - 274.82 total - Silver

Ice Dance - Madison Chock/Evan Bates - 213.18 total - Gold
Madison Hubbell/Zach Donohue - 208.72 total - Bronze

Olympic and athlete updates- October 2019-May 2020

USA swimmer Conor Dwyer has been suspended from swimming competition in October 2019 through the 2020 Tokyo games for doping. Dwyer had testosterone pellets inserted into his body and had failed three drug tests in late 2018. Dwyer has since announced his retirement from swimming. Dwyer is a two time Olympic 4 by 200 gold medalist(2012 London and 2016 Rio) and won bronze in the men's 200 at the 2016 Rio games.

The IAAF is now re-branded as World Athletics. World Athletics is the new name for the Track and Field Federation.

USA men's cyclist Taylor Phinney has announced his retirement from the sport. Phinney will pursue a career in Art. Phinney is a three time Olympian and two time World Champion in Track and Road Cycling.

USA distance runner Shalane Flanagan has announced her retirement from Track and Field and marathons. Flanagan won the 2017 women's New York City Marathon and finished 3rd in 2018. Injuries took its toll on Flanagan in 2019. Flanagan won the silver(upraded from bronze) medal at the 2008 Beijing games. Flanagan is now a coach with the Bowerman Track Club.

USA women's soccer star Alex Morgan is pregnant. Morgan will be due in April 2020. Morgan is expected to try to be back before the Tokyo 2020 games begin in July 2020. Update: Alex Morgan had a baby girl on May 7, 2020 named Charlie Elena Carrasco.

The new USA women's soccer coach as of October 2019 is Valtko Andonovski. Andonovski takes over for outgoing USA soccer coach Jill Ellis.

USA Figure Skating has announced the sites for the next two USA National Figure Skating Championships. The 2021 USA Figure Skating Championships will be held from January 11-17 in San Jose, California and the 2022 USA Figure Skating Championships will be held from January 3-9 in Nashville, TN.

2016 Rio gold medalist Laurie Hernandez will attempt a comeback in an attempt for qualify for the 2020 Tokyo games. Hernandez is not part of the USA women's gymnastics national team. Hernandez will take part in a team camp in November 2019 and will compete in events in 2020 to try and qualify for the 2020 Tokyo games.

USA 100 meter hurdler Dawn Harper-Nelson was decided to make a comeback in time for the 2020 Tokyo games. Harper retired at the end of the 2018 Track and Field season. Harper had a child in April 2019.

USA distance runner Mary Cain has accused former Nike Oregon Project coach Alberto Salazar of mistreatment, both physically and mentally. Cain has come out with this as Alberto Salazar is facing a four year doping ban. Cain had thoughts of suicide and had health issues like broken bones and missed periods that curtailed her running career. Salazar has been banned by US Safesport.

British middle distance runner Mo Farah has decided to train for the 10,000 at the Tokyo games. Farah has been competing in marathons since 2017. Farah last competed in the 10,000 at the 2016 Rio games.

The Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony Parade of Nations will now have Greece first, the Refugee team second and then the first country in alphabetical order. The future hosts of the next Olympic games will go next to last(USA, France and Japan).

Skier Gus Kenworthy has decided to compete for Great Britain going forward. Kenworthy competed for the USA at the 2014 Sochi games, winning a silver medal. Kenworthy has dual citizenship between the USA and Great Britain. Kenworthy's mom is from Great Britain. Kenworthy will try to qualify for the 2022 Beijing games for Great Britain.

The IOC has moved the Olympic marathons and Olympic race walking events to Sapporo, Japan from Tokyo because of concerns about excessive heat. Tokyo organizers did not approve this action.

Bobsledder Kaillie Humphries is now competing for the USA and not for her native country, Canada. Humphries did not feel comfortable competing for Canada. Humphries was granted a release from the Canadian program. Humphries won three Olympic medals for Canada, including two gold.

Russia has been banned from the 2020 Tokyo summer games and the 2022 Beijing winter games by the World Anti Doping Agency(WADA) Russia will be not allowed to compete for an organization (Olympic Athletes from Russia) like they did in Pyeongchang 2018. Russia will compete as a neutral country. Russia will also not be allowed to host any world championships in that four year period.
Russian athletes can compete if they test clean and are not implicated in previous doping cases. This ruling stems from the blatant statewide doping scheme by Russian officials and cover up by the Russian Anti Doping Agency to hide doping cases at the 2014 Sochi games.

Australia(Queensland) will bid on the 2032 Summer Olympic games.

USA multiple gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman will not compete or train for the 2020 Tokyo games.

USA Ice Dancer Maia Shibutani had a cancerous tumor removed from one of her kidneys. Shibutani won a bronze with her brother Alex Shibutani at the 2018 Pyeongchang games.

Salt Lake City has expressed interest in hosting the 2030 Winter Olympic Games. Sapporo, Japan, and Barcelona, Spain are the two other cities that have expressed interest in hosting the 2030, 2024 and or 2038 Winter Olympic games as well. If the USA bids on the 2030 Winter Olympic games, Salt Lake City would be the lead bidder.

Australian snowboarder Torah Bright will no longer compete at the Olympics. Bright will also not compete in half-pipe competitions as well. Bright won gold at the 2010 Vancouver games in half-pipe.

American skier Maddie Bowman has announced her retirement. Bowman competed in the halfpipe. Bowman won gold in the ski halfpipe at the 2014 Sochi games and finished 11th in the same event in Pyeongchang.

Training expenses for Olympic athletes is now allowed by the NCAA to be paid by outsiders like coaches and families of the athletes. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee will determine who the elite athletes are. Previously, getting outside help with expenses related to travel was an NCAA violation. This should help athletes prepare more in their sport. This rule is effective immediately.

USA speed skater Heather Bergsma has retired from the sport. Bersma hasn't competed since 2018. Bergsma lives in the Netherlands with her husband and young son. Bergsma competed at the 2010 Vancouver games in the 500M and finished sixth.

Russian Tennis player Maria Sharapova has announced her retirement. Sharapova won silver in women's singles at the 2012 London games. Sharapova tested positive in 2016 for the illegal substance meldonium and was suspended for 15 months.

Chinese swimmer Sun Yang was suspended for eight years for tampering with a blood sample. Yang hit his blood sample with a hammer in September 2018. FINA issued a warning but no suspension. WADA appealed the FINA decision to suspend Yang. Yang medaled at the 2012 London games and 2016 Rio games. No Olympic medals will be stripped from Yang. Update: Yang has appealed and the suspension was dropped pending a retrial with a different judge. Update: Yang has been suspended for 4 years as a result of the retrial.

Russian figure skater Adelina Sotnikova has announced her retirement. Sotnikova won singles gold at the 2014 Sochi games.

Newly turned American bobsledder Kaillie Humphries wins gold with Lauren Gibbs at the World Bobsled Championships.

South African 800M runner Caster Semenya will now race in the 200M to try to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 games. Semenya was banned from competing in events from 800M to the mile because of a higher than World Athletics accepted testosterone levels in women.

Russia will only be allowed 10 neutral track and field athletes at the Tokyo games stemming from a 2015 ban by the IAAF(World Athletics) against Russia for doping by Track and Field athletes.

USA Long Jumper Jarrion Lawson is now allowed to compete. Lawson had been suspended since August 2018 for eating beef containing steroids that promotes cattle growth. Lawson appealed his ban to the Court of Sport and his appeal was successful.

USA men's gymnast John Orozco will now compete for his native country Puerto Rico. Orozco's parents were born in Puerto Rico. The move was approved by FIG. Injuries have slowed his gymnastics career. Orozco tore his ACL on two occasions. Orozco competed at the 2012 London games.

There are two US figure skating pairs changes. Chris Knierim is taking a break from skating. Chris Knierim was partnered with Alexa Scimeca Knierim. Alexa's new partner is Brandon Frazier. Brandon Frazier split with Haven Denney. Denney also is taking a break from figure skating.

USA 2020/2021 Swimming schedule as of April 27, 2020:

Nov. 5-8 2020 - TYR Pro Swim Series - Richmond, VA
Dec. 2-5 2020 - Toyota US Open - Atlanta, GA
Jan. 13-16 2021 - Pro Series Meet - Knoxville, TN
March 3-6 2021 - Pro Series Meet - San Antonio, TX
April 8-11 2021 - Pro Series Meet - Mission Viejo, CA
May 12-15 2021 - Pro Series Meet - Indianapolis, IN

Athletes Unlimited is the name of the new USA women's Volleyball indoor league that will start in February 2021 and will last for six weeks. Several prominent US athletes are expected to join.

USA Sprinters Deajah Stevens and Gabby Thomas have been suspended for missing three drug tests and avoiding filling out drug testing forms in the past year. The cases are now headed to a disciplinary hearing.

USA Gymnastics coach Maggie Haney has been banned eight years for verbal and emotional abuse. Haney coached 2016 gold medalist Laurie Hernandez. Hernandez has since changed coaches due to the abuse and now trains in California. Hernandez previously resided in New Jersey. Haney plans to appeal the decision.

USA Marathoner and three time Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein has announced his retirement. Ritzenhein competed at the 2004 Athens games, 2008 Beijing games and 2012 London games in the marathon.

200 Days!

Today marks 200 days to Tokyo 2020! Opening ceremony is July 24!