For the United States , I believe team USA will be the only country to have more than 100 total medals, probably around the range 100-110, while winning 40-50 gold medals, securing the top sport of both the gold medal and overall medal tally counts. While the US may have some decline in their dominance in Swimming, the new sport events, including skateboarding and surfing will help out team USA maintain similar medal count figures to that of the past 20 years.
For Thailand , I expect them to win about 1-2 total medals with probably 1 gold medal from Panipak Wongpattanakit in 49 kg in women's taekwondo. Prior to last week, I thought their was a chance that Thailand could win up to 3-4 total medals, but due to the withdrawal of Thitisan Panmot in men's boxing, 52 kg, that injury had a big hit on Thailand's medal chances. Badminton, women's golf, women's boxing and shooting could contend for medals, but need to overcome their psychological meltdowns to win a medal.
While pro Thai fans would argue that the ban of its weightlifting team is the main cause of its potential lack of substantial success in this year's Olympics (It's nobody's else fault that they get caught doping), in my opinion, it is the lack of improvement in Olympic Sports as well as the decline of its economy along with its sociopolitical issues (These issues affect a country's performance because most countries are funded by the state government) are the main causes of its imminent failure.
Since the start of the 2020 +1 cycle, Thailand has done poorly in Olympic sports competitions in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and Asian Games. In the 2017 and 2019 SEA Games, Thailand has finished third on medal counts for Olympic events, often lagging its main competitor, Vietnam, in key sports such as Swimming, Athletics and Gymnastics. In the 2018 Asian Games, Thailand finished 11th in the medal count, marking its first time that it fell of the top 10 since 1994. A bad performance in this year's Olympic would sum up the downward trajectory of the country's sports program. It is likely that Thailand would officially lose its no. 1 spot among Southeast Asian countries at the Olympics and considering the training/preparation difficulties during the pandemic, I would not be surprised if Thailand would not win any medal at all.
Boxer Thitisan Panmot of Thailand, who qualified to compete in the men's 52 kg category has withdrawn from the Olympics after suffering a severe knee tear injury that needs a 5 month period of recovery. This is a huge blow to Thailand's medal standings since Panmot is the country's few athletes who has a genuine chance of winning a medal this year. He qualified by winning silver at the Asian/Oceania qualifiers last year, upsetting Uzbek world champion Zoirov in the process.
As a Thai-American, I can think of a few that would be fun:
-Carlos Yulo of the Philippines winning a medal in Gymnastics, because Southeast Asia has never won a medal in the sport and to win it in a mainstream sport means a lot for the region (At least in my opinion).
-Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei winning the Women's Singles in Badminton. Some badminton observers would say Ratchanok Intanon is the best technical player in that division. But Tai ups her game to a higher level in comparison to her peers. She works hard on her technical game and physical fitness and it shows on the court. She embodies what it means to be a professional and rarely lets outside stuff like social media comments distract her unlike Ratchanok. She is basically an upgrade version of Ratchanok with less stamina and mental issues. For a neutral, Tai is very easy to root for.
-Belgium winning men's field hockey. Because that sport badly needs a new country to win the Olympic gold medal.
-Naomi Osaka winning the Women's singles in tennis. A title win to cheer her up after her off-court fight with the media at large.
-Ireland winning any medal with Rowing, Sailing or any other sport besides boxing because I have a soft sport for that country and they need to win medals in events they haven't won before.
-Any medal won by someone from a Refugee Olympic Team because that would be historic and weird in the same time that a person without a country can win an Olympic medal.
-Anyone who could beat China in Table Tennis because it's been 17 years since someone else won a gold medal in that sport.
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For the United States
, I believe team USA will be the only country to have more than 100 total medals, probably around the range 100-110, while winning 40-50 gold medals, securing the top sport of both the gold medal and overall medal tally counts. While the US may have some decline in their dominance in Swimming, the new sport events, including skateboarding and surfing will help out team USA maintain similar medal count figures to that of the past 20 years.
For Thailand
, I expect them to win about 1-2 total medals with probably 1 gold medal from Panipak Wongpattanakit in 49 kg in women's taekwondo. Prior to last week, I thought their was a chance that Thailand could win up to 3-4 total medals, but due to the withdrawal of Thitisan Panmot in men's boxing, 52 kg, that injury had a big hit on Thailand's medal chances. Badminton, women's golf, women's boxing and shooting could contend for medals, but need to overcome their psychological meltdowns to win a medal.
While pro Thai fans would argue that the ban of its weightlifting team is the main cause of its potential lack of substantial success in this year's Olympics (It's nobody's else fault that they get caught doping), in my opinion, it is the lack of improvement in Olympic Sports as well as the decline of its economy along with its sociopolitical issues (These issues affect a country's performance because most countries are funded by the state government) are the main causes of its imminent failure.
Since the start of the 2020 +1 cycle, Thailand has done poorly in Olympic sports competitions in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and Asian Games. In the 2017 and 2019 SEA Games, Thailand has finished third on medal counts for Olympic events, often lagging its main competitor, Vietnam, in key sports such as Swimming, Athletics and Gymnastics. In the 2018 Asian Games, Thailand finished 11th in the medal count, marking its first time that it fell of the top 10 since 1994. A bad performance in this year's Olympic would sum up the downward trajectory of the country's sports program. It is likely that Thailand would officially lose its no. 1 spot among Southeast Asian countries at the Olympics and considering the training/preparation difficulties during the pandemic, I would not be surprised if Thailand would not win any medal at all.
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