The Olympics are about to start, and admit it, you don’t know the first thing about any of these sports.
You probably know the USA Olympic basketball team, and probably a gymnast or two, but the rest of the sports — it’s fine if you’re drawing a blank.
We’re here to help.
The Olympics is the greatest festival — perhaps Carnival is the better term here — of sport the world has to offer, and there are a lot of sports you’ve never watched that will be beamed directly to your television sets and smartphones this August.
Now’s the time to fall in love with a new sport, and we’re here to help introduce you to a few new games:
Men’s Sprint Track Cycling
When can I watch?
Aug. 12 - Qualifications, Round of 32
Aug. 13 - Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals
Aug. 14 - Finals
Why should I watch?
This is raw power. No gears, no brakes, all gas. If you enjoy speed skating in the Winter Olympics, you’ll love match sprint cycling. To win requires deft tactics and the ability to create more than 2,000 watts (enough to power 20 light bulbs for an hour) which can push them upwards of 45 miles per hour. It also won't take up your entire afternoon.
Can you explain the rules in a minute?
Two racers go at it in a best-of-three match, each race going for three laps — the first to cross the finish line wins. The tactics are a bit more complicated than that, though. Because of the incredible power output racers put in at the end of races, the first lap or so is usually a jockeying for position. Getting behind the leader allows racers to sit in a slipstream, which lets them conserve energy for the end of the race. During this period of the race, you might even see racers come to an almost complete stop — it's all part of the game. The bikes have one single gear and no brakes, so the bikes go exactly as fast as the rider's legs push. The velodrome track is 250 meters long, with 45-degree banks on the corners, which adds risk (you have to travel further) and reward (you get momentum from going down the slope.)
Do you have a video? A video might help:
Are Americans any good at this?
Not in the men’s match sprint. Luckily, there are several events in track cycling, and while Americans are hardly the dominant force in the sport, they do stand a few chances to win medals this year.
Matthew Baranowski has an outside shot at a medal in the Keirin event — an eight-lap race where the first six laps are pace-limited by a motorcycle.
Sarah Hammer has an excellent shot at gold in the women’s omnium — a six-race event that features time trials, an elimination race, and an endurance race.
The USA women are the favorites to win the team pursuit event, where four cyclists per team go head-to-head on different sides of the track to see who can finish 12 laps in the best time.
Who are the favorites in men’s match sprint?
Jason Kenny of Great Britain, the 2012 gold medalist, is the favorite to win again in 2016. He’ll be pushed closely by Australian Matthew Glaetzer, defending silver medalist Gregory Bauge of France, and Russian Denis Dmitriev.
