The Prospects of Latvian Athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Games: Bookmakers Predict the Expected Results in the Fight for Medals

Last week saw the start of this year’s central event in the sporting calendar—the Summer Olympic Games—which fans had been waiting for a full five years this time. They can follow the Games daily via live broadcasts from Japan’s capital, Tokyo, until 8 August. This time, the Olympic programme also includes sports that have not previously been represented, such as surfing, skateboarding, karate, sport climbing and baseball. Although the performance of Latvian athletes in some of the tournaments did not help them reach the finals, there have also been pleasant surprises in certain sports. What will the coming week bring for Latvia, and do we have reason to hope for another medal? According to Betsafe bookmakers’ predictions, all hope is not yet lost.

Latvia is represented by 33 athletes at this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games. While Latvian Olympians in tennis, road cycling and swimming have already withdrawn from further competition, Wednesday brought very positive news for Latvia, as the 3x3 basketball team convincingly won the gold medal among eight competing countries. The debut competition in this relatively new sport began on the very first day of the Games, and until the final minutes of the last match, our national team’s athletes displayed outstanding performance and fighting spirit in the men’s tournament. The 3x3 basketball team’s chances of winning a medal had already been rated very highly before the start of the Olympic Games, but its performance this week exceeded the expectations of many sports fans.

“In the history of independent Latvia, we have won three gold medals and had two Olympic champions at the Summer Olympic Games—Igors Vihrovs triumphed in Sydney, and Māris Štrombergs subsequently won two gold medals. And although the 2016 Rio Olympic Games proved less successful for Latvia, with our athletes failing to win a single medal, this year the 3x3 basketball team took the opportunity to immediately triple the number of Latvia’s Olympic champions in one fell swoop, fulfilling the hopes of all fans and bookmakers’ initial predictions of an Olympic medal,” comments Betsafe prediction expert Valters Rozmanis.

Latvia also has a strong beach volleyball line-up this year. Although Samoilov and Šmēdiņš failed to qualify for the Olympic tournaments, Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Edgars Točs will try to make use of their opportunity instead, as will Olympic debutants Tīna Graudiņa and Anastasija Kravčenoka. By contrast, when it comes to the forthcoming athletics events, apart from the once-medalled Laura Ikauniece, there are no obvious medal contenders among Latvia’s Olympians. However, Latvian fans certainly hope that the javelin will finally hit its mark. In this discipline, Latvia will be represented by Gatis Čakšs and javelin throwers Madara Palameika, Līna Mūze and Anete Kociņa, all three of whom have achieved high-calibre results, but now they will have to do so at the most crucial moment.

Representatives of Latvia’s strength and combat sports have also travelled to Tokyo with greater or lesser hopes. In wrestling, Anastasija Grigorjeva seeks an appropriate culmination to her highly successful career; Kalvis Kalviņš will compete in karate, while in weightlifting, if not medals, high placings may be expected from Ruslans Suharevs and Artūrs Plēsnieks. It will be possible to follow the competitions in all three sports this and next week. However, in the beach volleyball, athletics and combat sports competitions alike, bookmakers’ predictions of reaching the finals are rather modest this time, and it would seem quite premature to hope for a medal.