Delayed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics finally begins this week, and the United States enters the Tokyo Olympics 2021 once again as the country to beat in the medal count. Team USA has earned the most medals in six consecutive Summer Olympics. The last time the United States did not top the medals table was 1992 when it finished second to the Unified Team, a joint team consisting of 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics.
The Americans are expected to excel in swimming, women's gymnastics and track and field at the Olympics 2021. Gymnast Simone Biles and swimmers Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel are in position to leave Tokyo as the headliners of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. For this year, William Hill Sportsbook has set the over-under for total medals won by Team USA at 111.5. Before locking in any 2021 Tokyo Olympics picks or predictions, you need to see what SportsLine's Olympics expert, Mike Tierney has to say.
A national sportswriter whose work appears in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Tierney has covered nine Olympic Games in person. For Rio in 2016, Tierney profited big-time. He told readers to bet over on Team USA's gold medal count (41.5) and over on Team USA's overall medal count (102.5). The result? 46 golds, 121 medals and two easy cashes.
And for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Tierney hit two of his three predictions: Germany (+200) to win the most gold medals and the United States winning under 10.5 gold medals (+110). Anyone who has followed him is way up.
Now, with the Tokyo Summer Olympics 2021 starting, Tierney has analyzed every sport and come up with a confident pick on the U.S. medal count total. He has identified several factors as to why this wager will cash with "ease." You can visit SportsLine now to see the Tokyo Olympics pick.
Tokyo Summer Olympics preview
No one enters the Tokyo Olympics 2021 under a bigger spotlight than Biles. The 4-foot-8 dynamo from Texas is the five-time all-around world champion and the reigning Olympic all-around champ. Four years ago in Rio, in her only Olympic appearance thus far, she won gold in the all-around, vault and floor exercise and led the Americans to gold in the team competition.
She and the rest of Team USA will try to extend the Americans' dominance in gymnastics. An American woman has won the last four all-around gold medals. In addition, the United States has won gold in the team competition in the last two Olympics. Four years ago, Team USA set an American record with eight women's gymnastics medals.
The United States is also expected to dominate in the pool. On the women's side, Katie Ledecky enters as the swimmer to beat in several events. The 24-year-old from Bethesda, Md., has won five golds and one silver across two Olympic Games. Four years ago she won gold in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle and 4x200 freestyle relay.
On the men's side, the Tokyo Games could be the breakthrough performance for Caeleb Dressel. A 24-year-old from Florida, Dressel enters the Games looking for his first individual Olympic gold medal (he won two golds in Rio in relays). In two World Championship meets since the 2016 Olympics he's won seven individual gold medals and 13 gold medals overall.
How to make Tokyo Summer Olympics picks
Tierney has analyzed every sport and come up with his projected 2020 Olympics medal count. He has identified several factors why this wager will cash with "ease." He's sharing that pick and his Olympics 2021 predictions only at SportsLine.
Will the U.S. go over or under 111.5 medals? Visit SportsLine now to get Mike Tierney's predictions for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, all from the renowned sportswriter who's covered nine Olympics in person and cashed big in both 2016 and '18, and find out.
