There are four days left at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with the first of those taking place in the Japanese capital on Thursday when a number of sports continue to head towards their conclusion between now and Sunday.
There are a whopping 27 gold medals up for grabs out in Tokyo on Thursday and some of the stars of the sporting world looking to get their hands on them so we should be in for another cracking day of sport to enjoy.
Gold Medal Events
- Athletics
- Boxing
- Canoe Sprint
- Cycling
- Diving
- Hockey
- Karate
- Marathon Swimming
- Skateboarding
- Sport Climbing
- Table Tennis
- Wrestling
Other Sports
There is so much great sport to enjoy on Thursday with one of the highlights being the bronze medal match in the women’s football. We also see the competitions continuing in sports such as the beach volleyball, baseball, basketball, handball, volleyball and the water polo. They are jostling for places in the medal matches over the weekend so those sports are about to reach fever pitch for excitement.
Athletics
There are some great athletics to look forward to over the course of Thursday with the main final in the morning session being the Men’s 110m Hurdles in which Grant Holloway is an unopposable but equally unbackable favourite based on the 10 obstacles between him and the line and his short price. Gold medals will also be handed out in the Men’s Triple Jump, Men’s Shot, Women’s Pole Vault and the Men’s 400m and it is that latter race which catches my betting attention.
We are guaranteed a new winner of the race after the defending champion Wayde van Niekirk bit the dust in the semi-finals and it is the man who won that semi, Steven Gardiner, who is the favourite to win the gold medal now. The Bahamas athlete is undefeated when he has stayed on his feet this season but he is yet to dip under 44 seconds this season which is a slight concern. He won a stacked semi-final but in truth the race didn’t play out to expectations. I think he’s vulnerable here for all that he’s the world champion and a solid act. Michael Norman would have been one of the favourites going into the meet but he hasn’t impressed so far and finds himself up in lane eight for this race. I think the man to take on Gardiner is the 2012 champion Kirani James. He is regularly hampered by injuries but he ran a season best in Doha in May and was one of just two men to go under the 44 seconds barrier in the semi-final. He looked to be cruising there too. At his best he’s still a top quality operator and I think he’s the value against Gardiner who looks a little vulnerable to me.
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Hockey
We will crown the men’s Olympic champions on Thursday when Australia go up against Belgium in what could be a fantastic final between the world champions and an Aussie side who have both been in exceptional form throughout this competition. These two have been the best teams at these Games and we are set for a cracking final.
I think the odds might be the wrong way around though. Belgium have looked every bit of the world champions in this competition, with the only match they haven’t won inside the 60 minutes being against Great Britain in their final group match when they had already won the group. Australia also drew their final group match in the same circumstances but they needed penalties to get the better of the Dutch in the quarter finals when they were expected to win. They did beat Germany in the semis but I think they are up against it here. This is a final that could easily finish level and go to spot hits but if there is a winner in normal time I fancy it will be Belgium. I’ll take them on the win or draw double chance handicap.
Women’s Football
We have to wait until Friday to find out who the gold medallists will be in the women’s football event at these Olympic Games but we do find out who will walk away with the bronze medal on Thursday when Australia go up against the team who were expected to win the gold medal in the USA. Both teams will have to bounce back from disappointing semi-final defeats.
Australia were probably expected to lose to Sweden but USA certainly weren’t predicted to lose to Canada in the semi-final and it will be interesting to see how they respond from that. The Americans haven’t really been at the races in this competition right from the first game when they were beaten. Usually I’d question their motivation here but women’s football is so big in America and this might be the last Olympics for a lot of this squad so I think they would rather go home with something than nothing. These two met in the group stage of the competition and drew 0-0 but we can’t read a lot into that as it was one of those final group games where a draw served its purpose for both. I expect USA to round off a disappointing tournament with a win here.
Tips
Back K.James to win Men’s 400m for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back Belgium (+0.5) to beat Australia in Men’s Hockey for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
Back them here:
Back USA to beat Australia in Women’s Football for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Boylesports
Back them here:
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