The 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo could be pretty badass if the Rio closing ceremony is any indication. Japan, the epicenter of video games, gave us a glimpse as to how it will play on that reputation when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared from a fake tunnel dressed as Super Mario.
The country that gave us Pokémon no doubt has plenty more where that came from, and it’s just one reason we’re already pumped for 2020. Here’s how our hype meter shapes up right now, a mere 1,431 days until the opening ceremony.
1. All those firsts
From Simone Manuel and Ashleigh Johnson breaking barriers in the pool for African-Americans, to firsts in sports from taekwondo to wrestling to boxing to track and field, almost daily in Rio there were historic moments taking place. No doubt the same will be true in Tokyo, and some of those athletes might be in elementary school right now.
2. Robots!
Japan’s technological innovations will be on full display in 2020, and we’re likely to see its effects well beyond the duration of competition. If you’re lucky enough to visit Tokyo during the games, you might see driverless taxis, translation devices that hang around your neck and robot concierges in hotels and at airports, according to CNN. Not to mention man-made meteorite showers and referees using 3-D laser technology to analyze gymnasts’ movements. OK, so the latter won’t be much use in everyday life, but where do we sign up for the rest?
3. Katie Ledecky
Not even the illustrious Michael Phelps can say he’s never lost a solo Olympic race. Ledecky can. She has five gold medals, including four from Rio. More important, she’ll be only 23 when the Tokyo Olympics arrive. She set a pair of world records this time around, and all eyes will be on Ledecky to see if she can set at least that many in Japan.
4. Skateboarding
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Given the success of snowboarding at the Winter Olympics, this seems like a natural fit for the Summer Games. Especially when one looks at it through the lens of the X Games and how skateboarding has taken off. “There are more participants in skateboarding than most sports, so I feel like [the Olympics] need our credibility and they need our excitement level in their Summer Games,” said Tony Hawk, skateboarding legend and the sport’s most prominent ambassador. There are some skaters who say that their sport’s counter-culture roots are ill-suited for the Olympics and that those who smoke marijuana will have a problem being tested for drugs. But overall this seems like a win-win.
5. USA Basketball
America loves a winner, and its basketball teams deliver gold at the Olympics almost without fail (yes, we remember that stumble in 2004). In Rio, Chicago stars Jimmy Butler and Elena Delle Donne were cast as supporting players. Which is not a slight on them; that’s just how deep these squads are. However, four years from now, now that each has a gold medal and both will be 30 years old, there’s a good chance the reins will be handed to them in hopes that Team USA’s dominance continues.
6. Gymnastics
With the possible exception of Laurie Hernandez, who is 16, don’t expect any of the gold medal-winning “Final Five” to compete in Tokyo. Yet given the success of all-around champions Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Nastia Liukin and Carly Patterson, expect the gymnastics legacy to be alive and well four years from now. It’s almost as if it’s just a matter of when someone fills their shoes as opposed to if.
Bonus: Michael Phelps
Sorry, but until he’s not named to the 2020 U.S. Olympic team, we won’t believe he’s actually retired. He already fooled us once after the London Games. Even if he doesn’t swim as intense a schedule as he did in Rio, how awesome would it be if he concentrated on one or two races? For example, in Brazil he won the 200-meter individual medley for the fourth straight time, and he did it by almost 2 seconds—an eternity in swimming. Surely he’s curious as to whether anyone could close that gap by 2020. We are, that’s for sure.