■ Marcus D’Almeida, Brazil: Ranked No. 1 in the world, D’Almeida was the World Federation Archer of the Year in 2023. He earned the bronze medal at the world championships last year and claimed the South American title in March.
■ Mete Gazoz, Turkey: He is trying to repeat as individual Olympic gold medalist. Gazoz recently won the European championship after claiming the world championship in 2023.
■ Kim Je-deok, South Korea: He won gold as part of the men’s team competition and the firstever mixed team competition in Tokyo at just 17 years old.
■ Casey >Kaufhold, United States: The 20-year-old is ranked No. 1 in the world. She qualified for Tokyo and competed at age 17. She was a silver medalist at the 2021 world championships.
People are also reading…
■ Lim Si-hyeon, South Korea: The 20-year-old is ranked No. 2 in the world and has emerged as South Korea’s top female archer.
■ Kim Woo-jin, South Korea: The veteran won gold in Tokyo as part of the men’s team competition. He’ll be 32 by the time competition starts in Paris.
■ Who will fill the void left by An San on the women’s side? The South Korean won three medals in Tokyo but failed to qualify for Paris in national trials. Lim, Jeon Hun-young and Nam Su-hyeon are the powerhouse nation’s qualifiers on the women’s side this time.
■ Can Brady Ellison bring home another medal? The 35-year-old American already has won three Olympic medals: a silver in 2012 in team, a silver in 2016 in team and a bronze in 2016 in the individual competition. He was ranked No. 1 in the world before a disappointing run in Tokyo. He has qualified for his fifth Olympics.
■ Beiwen Zhang, United States: After winning the women’s singles gold at the 2023 Pan American Games, the 33-year-old is the best shot at the first American badminton medal at the Olympics since its debut as a medal event in 1992. Born in China, Zhang moved to Singapore as a teenager in 2007 and has represented the U.S. internationally since 2013.
■ Viktor Axelsen, Denmark: Axelsen was Europe’s only medalist (gold) in Tokyo three years ago, and he was the top qualifier for Paris. At 30, this will be his third Olympics; he won bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
■ Chen Yu Fei, China: The defending women’s singles champion led China to a tournament win in May and finished behind only An Se-young of South Korea in the Paris qualification rankings.
■ The U.S. mixed doubles team of Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai qualified at the Pan Am Games. It still will be an uphill climb for them to medal.
■ El Salvador, Kazakhstan and Nepal are represented in badminton for the first time, all in men’s singles with Uriel Francisco Canjura Artiga, Dmitriy Panarin and Prince Dahal, respectively.
■ Victor Montalvo (B-boy Victor), United States: A breaker who describes himself as a student of old school b-boys from the founding era of hip-hop, the 30-year-old Montalvo, who is from Kissimmee, Florida, qualified for Paris by besting all other b-boys at the 2023 WDSF World Breaking Championship in Belgium.
■ Sunny Choi (B-girl Sunny), United States: The 35-year-old Choi, a cheerful Queens, New York-bred breaker, has long been an ambassador for b-girls globally. She qualified for the Paris Games with her win at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile.
■ Philip Kim (B-boy Phil Wizard), Canada: Consistently ranked in the top three b-boys in the international breaking competitive community, Kim secured a spot for Paris when he came out on top at last year’s Pan American Games.
■ Dominika Banevic (B-girl Nicka), Lithuania: Banevic was the youngest in her category at last year’s WDSF World Breaking Championship, when she punched her ticket to Paris. Banevic turns 17 this month.
While breaking and hip-hop both originated in The Bronx, New York, in the 1970s, the art forms have extended far beyond the U.S., highlighting themes of racial and economic inequality and subcultures around the world.
Breaking is being given a global stage this summer for the first time, and hip-hop’s global reach will be on display perhaps in a way that it never has before. While many fans are excited the genre is being recognized on a massive scale, others are skeptical of attempts to co-opt the culture, commercialize it further and impose a rigid competitive structure. The spirit of hip-hop and breaking has been rooted in local communities and centered around street battles and living a b-boy or b-girl lifestyle.
For the Paris Games, judges will score breakers using what’s known as the Trivium judging system. A panel of five judges scores each breaker on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality. However, this system has its critics, who say it has been too heavily influenced by people who don’t understand breaking as an essential element of hip-hop culture.
■ Lisa Carrington, New Zealand: Carrington won three gold medals at the Tokyo Games; the K-1 200 meters, the K-1 500 meters and the K-2 500 meters.
■ Casey Eichfeld, United States: The 34-year-old is going to his fourth Olympics after competing in Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro.
■ Aimee Fisher, New Zealand: Fisher recently beat Carrington in the K-1 500 at the ICF Canoe World Cup and set the world’s best time in the event this year.
■ Evy Leibfarth, United States: The 20-year-old will be the first American woman to compete in three whitewater events; canoe slalom, kayak slalom and kayak cross. She finished 18th in canoe slalom and 12th in kayak slalom at the Tokyo Olympics when she was 17.
■ Nevin Harrison, United States: Harrison won the C-1 200-meter race in Tokyo and is back to try again.
■ There will be a new event this year: the kayak cross. Four competitors slide off a ramp and maneuver through an obstacle course.Competitors can use their paddles against each other. They also must execute an Eskimo roll before crossing the finish line — that means flipping 360 degrees into the water then landing upright.
■ Arlen López, Cuba: Now 31, the two-time Olympic champion will attempt to become the fourth three-time gold medalist in Olympic boxing history. He’ll probably have to beat the Philippines’ Eumir Marcial, a promising pro boxer and Manny Pacquiao protégé.
■ Julio César La Cruz, Cuba: Although he took two pro fights in 2022, the punishing heavyweight is back to take his own shot at the exclusive club of three-time gold medalists.
■ Teremoana “Junior” Teremoana, Australia: The most compelling fighter on the Aussies’ impressive team might be this 6-foot-6 super heavyweight with four professional knockouts.
■ Kellie Harrington, Ireland: The lightweight champion of Tokyo is back to try for a second gold, but she is coming off her first loss in nearly three years and has faced criticism for her perceived anti-immigration stances on social media.
■ Busenaz Sürmeneli, Turkey: She utterly dominated the welterweights in Tokyo to win her nation’s first Olympic boxing medal. Now a standard-bearer for the amateur sport, she’s back in Paris with an eye already on Los Angeles.
■ The Paris field features the most women’s boxers in Olympic history fighting in a record six weight classes. The women’s sport has grown exponentially since its addition to the Olympic program in 2012, and the current field is deeper than ever.
■ After a century of Olympic competition, there’s a chance this will be the final Olympic boxing tournament. The IOC recently cut ties with the sport’s previous governing body and declared boxing could be dropped altogether before Los Angeles, although a breakaway organization is fighting to save it.
