T&F Collegians At The 2016 Rio Olympics: Strong Underdogs

NEW ORLEANS — A few days ago, we listed those collegians from the 2016-16 season that we saw as medal contenders at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Here are three we feel are strong underdogs to look out for when the athletics portion of the competition begins Friday.

Clayton Murphy

800 Meters

Survive and advance is the mantra at the Olympic Games.

Get through qualifying. Fight through the semifinals. Put yourself in position to win one of three medals in the final.

Former Akron standout Clayton Murphy is built for this kind of racing.

Murphy went 3-0 this year in big meets. He won the indoor 800-meter crown at NCAAs, increased the distance to 1500 meters outdoors and won that title handily, then got back to his roots at the U.S. Olympic Trials – Track & Field in July and kicked past the favorites to be crowned U.S. champion.

The Bowerman Award semifinalist has his work cut out for himself if he wants to win an Olympic medal, though. Murphy is currently ranked 16th in the world at 800 meters, two seconds behind world-leading Amel Tuka of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tuka was one of five men to go sub-1:43.50 at the Monaco Diamond League meet last July.

Don’t forget about reigning Olympic champ David Rusisha either or a number of other talented men trying to prove they’re the best half-miler in the world as well.

Qualifying begins Friday morning with the semifinals set for Saturday evening. The final is scheduled for Monday, August 15 at 8:25 p.m. ET.

Keturah Orji

Triple Jump

Can the best female triple jumper in American history become the first American woman to win a medal in the event in Olympic history? We’re about to find out.

Since the women’s triple jump became an Olympic event in 1996, Eastern European countries have dominated the podium. Nine of the 15 medals — including each of the first six — went to women from Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

Georgia rising junior Keturah Orji is America’s best shot at ending the medal drought. Orji, the American record holder thanks to her wind-legal leap of 47-8 (14.53m) at the NCAA meet in June, sits 12th on the world leaderboard.

Colombia’s Catherine Ibarguen, the world leader at 49-4¼ (15.04m), is one of two women to post leaps of farther than 49-2½ (15.00m) during the qualification period. Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas is the other at 49-3½ (15.02m).

That’s quite the difference between Orji and a silver medal, so what’s the catch?

Well, Orji increased her PRs in a remarkable way in a short time this year. Orji opened the outdoor season with an effort of 46-3½ (14.11m) in late April, then a little more than one month later, uncorked her American record. That’s an improvement of 42 cm.

Orji, who competed on the world stage in March at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, had more than a month to prepare for the Olympics. Can she knock another huge mark out of the park?

We’ll find out when qualifying for the triple jump begins Saturday morning with the ensuing finals coming Sunday night at 6:55 p.m. ET.

Lindon Victor

Decathlon

Lindon Victor made his presence felt in the decathlon this past season.

Victor, a rising senior at Texas A&M, debuted at the SEC Outdoor Championships and posted the fourth best score in collegiate history (8446). The Grenada native PR’d in nine of the 10 events (barely missed a PR in the shot put).

The next month, Victor won an incredibly fierce competition at the NCAAs. Victor had to post the fifth best score in collegiate history (8379) to beat a horde of contenders, namely indoor heptathlon champ Zach Ziemek, Maicel Uibo and Pau Tonnessen.

As it stands right now, Victor is ranked eighth in the world entering the Olympic Games.

The first event of the decathlon is scheduled for Wednesday, August 17 and Victor should see several familiar faces in the warm-up area. He’ll be joined by many of those men he beat in June, including Ziemek (10th ranked), Uibo (12th) and Tonneson (18th).

Victor is going to need an incredible effort in Rio to medal, but it’s not outside of the realm of possibility. If he could PR in 9 of 10 events at the SEC Outdoor Championships, what’s to say he can’t run a perfect gauntlet on the world’s biggest stage?