Team USA is gearing up for Tokyo. Who made the cut? Meet the team.

Eight more sleeps until the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. Some won’t believe it until they see the flags waving – from their television screens, of course.

The master roster of Team USA dropped on the website this week. It is comprehensive and informative. Bookmark it.

No fans will be at these Olympics, the announcement from organizers coming last Thursday. Notably, the ban on fans pertained to domestic spectators; international spectators were banned in March.  

Japan’s government announced a state of emergency amid a surge of coronavirus cases that will be in effect for the entirety of the Games, and there is fear that the influx of bodies and the Delta variant will accelerate spread.

By the way, we still don’t what exactly the opening ceremony – reminder, eight days away – will look like. But we do know Jill Biden will be there.

As for the actual events, there appears to be trouble on the hardwood. The men’s basketball squad made the bad kind of history with two straight losses (Nigeria, Australia) in exhibitions, though it beat Argentina in its most recent game. The women’s team lost to the WNBA All-Stars on Wednesday.

In cooler – literally – news, Ralph Lauren unveiled the opening ceremony outfit, which is equipped with a small self-cooling device meant to withstand the heat of a Tokyo summer. Check out the fits.

Other headlines included swimmer Michael Andrew confirming he has not received his coronavirus vaccine. Our Christine Brennan wrote about how that might put his teammates at an unnecessary risk in Tokyo.

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