Meet Team U.S.A.
Our Tokyo Olympic team is the second-largest in history, with the most women ever
Last week, the United States Olympic Committee announced the official 2020 U.S. Olympic Team that will compete at the upcoming Tokyo Games, kicking off next Friday.
The American team will be its second-largest in history and is set to shatter the record for the most women competing for any nation at a single Games.
The roster is 627 athletes (if including all of the athletes who can be substituted for strategic purposes during several team events), though it’s possible some of those athletes will not be used in competition. And there are more women than men for a third time in history and for the third Summer Olympics in a row. Unfortunately, the team is down a few Americans after a couple NBA players, including Kevin Love, withdrew from the team and won't make the trip to Tokyo due to injuries.
The team features 193 returning Olympians—including one seven-time Olympian. The slate of veterans features 104 Olympic medalists, including 56 Olympic champions and 33 athletes who have won multiple medals.
No single statistic, however, defines the United States’ unique situation in the Olympic world better than the number of college athletes who go on to wear the red, white and blue. Because our Olympic team does not receive government funding, it looks to universities as a major training ground and pipeline for talent, reports ESPN.
Meanwhile, with Tokyo banning foreign spectators—and nearly all others—from watching the Games in person, the U.S. Olympic Committee (along with NBC and a few sponsors) are sending athletes’ closest friends and family to a remote viewing-and-cheering hub at an Orlando Florida resort.
Hidden Costs
One Team U.S.A. athlete shares her experience of crowdfunding, training on a shoestring budget and the financial strain of going for the gold.
How to Watch the
Opening Ceremony
With the Games taking place on the other side of the world, NBC has decided to air the Opening Ceremony spectacle three times in 24 hours. The network’s coverage starts at 6:55 am ET/3:55 am PT. It will also be streamed live on the NBC Sports app and on NBCOlympics.com. And CNET has all the info on how you can stream the whole Games in 4K HDR, if you have the ability.