The CHill Zone of T&F: Conway's View From the Finish Line

American Medal Hopes

Jul 19th, 2012
10:11 am PDT

Sprinter ShadowOk, it’s time to climb out on that limb and stick my neck out. I’m sure by the time I’m done there will be several whacks taken at it. So I’m going out gingerly by starting with my list of American athletes that I think have medal potential.

I’m sure the first comment will be that we will never win thirty eight medals! And I agree, all of those names will not translate into medals. Let’s be real, no one is going to the Games to roll over and hand over medals – to us or anyone else. At the end of the day they must be won. So in spite of the fact that these athletes have the ability to win medals, some are going to perform at high levels and still come up short as other athletes perform even better. And some will simply have a bad day – it happens.

That said, this list reflects those athletes that I think have the best chance to medal given their performances to date as well as how the competition has performed to this point. The list does reflect the fact that this may be the strongest team we’ve ever sent to a Games – and I do believe we will have the largest medal count ever surpassing the 29 medals won in Barcelona, and hitting the magical 30.

Take note that in a few slots (distances) I have athletes “sharing” a medal position. As much as I love our athletes there are some events where the competition (Kenya/Ethiopia) is just too strong.

My “medal” predictions for the Games should be done within 24 hours. I’m still wrestling with some areas. Like I keep saying, this is going to be a tough Games and I expect to see Seoul like results – upsets galore. If any of you remember Seoul we had Johnson over Lewis; DeLoach over Lewis; Lewis (Steve) over Reynolds; Phillips over Moses; Ereng over Cruz; Rono over Cram; Timmerman over Barnes; Ritter over Kostadinova; Ivan big over the 1500 field; and the Soviet Union taking gold in the men’s 4×1. If anyone needs reminding that anything can happen at the Games and anyone can win/lose remember Seoul. See ya shortly with my Olympic predictions. Til then here are my US medal hopefuls.

 

American Medal Hopes for London

100 meters Tyson Gay
100 meters Justin Gatlin
100 meters Carmelita Jeter
100 meters Tianna Madison
200 meters Wallace Spearmon
200 meters Allyson Felix
200 meters Carmelita Jeter
400 meters LaShawn Merritt
400 meters Tony McQuay
400 meters Sanya Richards Ross
800 meters Alysia Montano
1500 meters Morgan Uceny/Shannon Rowbury/Jenny Simpson
1500 meters Andrew Wheating/Leo Manzano
5000 meters Galen Rupp/Bernard Lagat
10000 meters Galen Rupp
Marathon Shalane Flanagan
110H Aries Merritt
110H Jason Richardson
100H Dawn Harper
400H Angelo Taylor
High Jump Jesse Williams
High Jump Chaunte Lowe
Pole Vault Brad Walker
Pole Vault Jenn Suhr
Long Jump Marquis Goodwin
Long Jump Will Claye
Long Jump Brittney Reese
Triple Jump Christian Taylor
Triple Jump Will Claye
Shot Christian Cantwell
Shot Reese Hoffa
Discus Stephanie Brown Trafton
Decathlon Ashton Eaton
Decathlon Trey Hardee
4×1 Men
4×1 Women
4×4 Men
4×4 Women

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4 Responses to “American Medal Hopes”

  1. hopeton says:

    Can’t fault this list of hopefuls as it represents, in my mind, a list of finalists. You accidentally left out Demus. I would include LoLo and Wells in the 100m hurdles.

    • CHill says:

      Yes, leaving out Demus was an accident, because certainly she can win it ..I think Lolo was fortunate to make the team, but certainly Wells could share the spot with Harper though I think Harper is our best competitor..

  2. Mike says:

    After today, you might need to add Evan Jager in the steeplechase!

    • CHill says:

      Yeah, that was an awesome run … Huge American Record … And did it racing well and competitive … Nice .. Monaco sent me back to the drawaing board on predictions .. I’ll have them out tomorrow, but have to rethink a few things …

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