By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer

There are big races, and then there are the Olympics.

When Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles and all the other fastest runners and best jumpers and throwers of 2024 line up for the Olympic track and field meet, little of what they’ve done on the road to Paris will mean much. What will matter is how they respond to pressure when the spotlight is on.

Will they end up shining as brightly as a Usain Bolt or Carl Lewis, whose knack for performing when Olympic gold medals were at stake turned them into larger-than-life icons?

Or will they be more like Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson and American hurdler Grant Holloway, among the best performers of their generation but still looking to parlay all that talent into a spot at the top of the Olympic podium?

“Right now, I do not hold a gold medal in the Olympics,” said Lyles, who counts the bronze medal he won in the 200 meters at the Tokyo Games among his biggest disappointments. “I have multiple world championships, and national championships, as well. The only one that’s missing from the list is an Olympic gold. And I’m planning on leaving with a lot of those.”

The dramas involving Richardson, Lyles and everyone else will play out in 48 events spread over 10 days, with most of the action taking place at the Stade de France, starting Aug. 2. As an added bonus, there will be a bonus: a first-of-its-kind $50,000 payout to all 48 gold medalists, courtesy of World Athletics, the organization that runs global track.

The near 2,200 athletes competing in the Olympics’ biggest sport are well aware that the money is great, but the gold medal brings an air of immortality that only an Olympic title can.

“The moment only comes once every four years,” Holloway said. “If you’re not training to be an Olympic gold medalist, then what the hell are you doing? That’s my mentality.”

Richardson’s first Olympics

Richardson makes her Olympic debut after her much-discussed absence from the last Olympics due to a positive marijuana test.

Her current form, her status as the reigning world champion, along with the absence of two-time defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, all make Richardson the sprinter to beat in the women’s 100. But it won’t be a gimme.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is heading to her fifth (and final) Olympics and has won this race twice. Jackson is a 200 specialist (see below) but also one of the fastest in the world at this distance.

FILE – Noah Lyles celebrates after winning the men’s 100-meter final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. When Noah Lyles and all the other fastest runners and best jumpers and throwers of 2024 line up for the Olympic track and field meet, little of what they’ve done on the road to Paris will mean much. What will matter is how they respond to pressure when the spotlight is on.(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Lyles tries to win the sprint double

Lyles attributes a lot of his bad finish in 2021 to depression that kept him from focusing . That race is the only 200-meter sprint he’s lost at a major championship.

By the time the 200 final comes around on Aug. 8, the 100 will be in the rearview mirror and we’ll know if Lyles has a chance to complete a sprint double, a la Bolt, and Lewis before him. Lyles is the reigning world champ at 100, but he’s less seasoned at that distance.

Just last month, another Jamaican, Kishane Thompson, ran 9.77 to head into his first Olympics with the world’s best time. Also, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville beat Lyles head-to-head at a meet in Kingston in June. But a tune-up in Kingston and the Olympics in Paris are two different animals.

Distance demons

In Tokyo, Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands pulled off one of the most amazing feat s in Olympic history by winning medals in the 1,500 (bronze), 5,000 (gold) and 10,000 meters (gold).

She’s coming back for more, and has even floated the idea that she might do those three, then add the marathon, which takes place on the last day of the Olympics, to her schedule.

“I will decide a week before,” Hassan said in a recent interview. “Maybe I’m gonna have great training somehow, somewhere.”

As always, Hassan, and her quest for medals, will face a stern challenge Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who is the reigning world champion at 1,500 and 5,000 meters. Kipyegon broke her own world record at 1,500 in an Olympic tune-up this month, finishing in 3:49.04.

Holloway’s bad race

Holloway is a three-time world champion in the 110 hurdles, and a favorite to win on Aug. 8. He was a favorite three years ago in Tokyo too, but weakened down the stretch, and fell to Hansle Parchment of Jamaica.

Holloway is 9-3 in head-to-head matchups with Parchment, and even 2-1 against him at the Olympics. But the two victories came in preliminary rounds and that loss came with the gold medal on the line.

Jackson’s bad day

Jackson is the only woman other than the late Florence Griffith Joyner to run the 200 meters in 21.48 or faster. So, why hasn’t most of the world heard of her?

At the last Olympics, she put on the brakes too early in her opening heat, finished fourth and never even got to race in the final for the gold. It’s a mistake she called the most devastating of her career, and one that has fueled her run to Paris.

Now, more trouble. She failed to finish a July 9 tune-up race in Hungary, and it was unclear if she is healthy going into the Olympics. If Jackson isn’t in the lineup, American Gabby Thomas, who comes in with this year’s fastest time (21.78) and a bronze medal from Tokyo, would be the clear favorite.

Jumping for Ukraine

Anyone who says sports and politics do not intersect might want to tune in Aug. 4, when Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh takes the field.

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Mahuchikh is coming in just a few weeks after breaking a 37-year-old world record in her event, jumping 2.10 meters at an Olympic tune-up in Paris.

World Athletics has not allowed Russians in international meets since the war with Ukraine broke out. It means Maria Lasitskene will not be on hand to defend her Olympic title. Lasitskene also wasn’t present last year when Mahuchikh won the title on an emotional closing day at world championships.

By DOUG FERGUSON, AP Golf Writer

One of the best indications that golf was starting to catch on as an Olympic sport came from a player who never even made it to the podium.

Rory McIlroy was part of a seven-man playoff for the bronze medal at the Tokyo Games, eliminated on the third of four extra holes. He said when it was over, “I never tried so hard to finish third.”

McIlroy was among those who skipped the Olympics when golf returned to the program in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro. He said then he wouldn’t be watching golf, only “the stuff that matters.” The next time around, he was all in.

And he’s not alone. Only two eligible players are sitting out the men’s competition when it begins Aug. 1 at Le Golf National outside Paris.

One is Bernd Wiesberger of Austria, who withdrew from the Tokyo Games right after he moved into position to make it. The other is Cristobal del Solar of Chile, who plays on the Korn Ferry Tour and doesn’t want to miss a week if it jeopardizes his chance to get a PGA Tour card.

In most cases, the competition was fierce just to get to the Paris Games.

“Qualifying was my first goal this year,” defending gold medalist Xander Schauffele said. “It’s a very hard team to qualify for on the U.S. side.”

The Americans have two players in the top 10 who won’t be going, including U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.

Of course, there are no excuses for skipping this year. Rio de Janeiro carried the threat of the Zika virus. The Tokyo Games were postponed one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning no spectators, no opportunity for athletes to attend other events and daily coronavirus testing.

Still to be determined is the value of gold, silver and bronze.

Given the endless golf schedule, the silver claret jug from the British Open will be awarded just 11 days before the pursuit of a gold medal.

“For track and field, gymnastics, winning a gold medal from when you were a kid was the top of the top,” said Schauffele, who won his first major this year at the PGA Championship. “People ask me now about a major and a gold medal. Growing up, it was about watching the majors. Maybe in 50 years it will be different.

“But there’s added emphasis on trying to win one,” he said of an Olympic gold. “It’s starting to pull some of its own weight. And I imagine it will be pulling more and more.”

The gold medalists from Rio de Janeiro (Justin Rose and Inbee Park) and Tokyo (Schauffele and Nelly Korda) all have major championship hardware at home.

FILE – Nelly Korda, of the United States, bites her gold medal of the women’s golf event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe, Japan. Korda will be a strong favorite to win another gold at the Paris Games. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

Schauffele and Korda will be among the contenders to give golf back-to-back gold medalists, a difficult task in golf regardless of the brand of trophy.

Scottie Scheffler remains the clear favorite everywhere he goes, already a six-time winner against the best fields in golf, including the Masters and The Players Championship. The gap between Scheffler and the rest of golf in the world ranking is a size not seen since the peak years of Tiger Woods.

“Playing for your country is always extremely exciting. Especially I think it will be extra special doing it on the Olympic stage,” Scheffler said. “It’s also good bragging rights for people when they tell me golf’s not a sport. I can say it’s an Olympic sport.”

Korda is more of a mystery.

The American, who will be 26 when the women’s competition begins, was unbeatable in March and April as she tied an LPGA record with five consecutive victories, including her second major at the Chevron Championship.

But then she took a 10 on one hole in the U.S. Women’s Open and shot 80, missing the cut. She missed another cut in Michigan, and then shot 81 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and missed another cut in a major.

Typical of golf these days, there is a LIV Golf effect. Seven players from the Saudi-funded league will be in the Olympics. The list starts with Jon Rahm, the two-time major winner who defected to LIV at the end of last year. His world ranking was high enough that it didn’t affect his Olympic standing.

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The same can’t be said of DeChambeau, who this year tied for sixth in the Masters, was the runner-up to Schauffele at the PGA Championship and beat McIlroy at the U.S. Open. Because majors are the only events where he can accrue world ranking points, it left him out of the top four Americans who get to play.

The Olympic ranking is based on the world ranking, and countries get a maximum of four players provided they are among the top 15 in the world.

Joaquin Niemann of Chile and Abraham Ancer of Mexico were among those who played where they could — mainly the Asian Tour — to get whatever ranking points they could. Ancer narrowly made it back for his second Olympics.

The venue will be familiar to a handful of players and a television audience. Le Golf National has hosted the French Open 29 times — three past champions, including Tommy Fleetwood, will be in the Olympics — and more famously it hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018.

Five players from that Ryder Cup will be at the Olympics, all of them European, including Rahm and McIlroy.

They are playing for the flag, yes, but they are playing for themselves and a medal. In that respect, it’s just like any another tournament except it comes around only once every four years. That makes it special, whether a player has won a major or not.

“You’re playing for a medal, for bragging rights. It’s the rawest form of competition and it has an old-school feeling to it when you play the game because you love it,” Schauffele said.

By NOREEN NASIR, Associated Press

Logan Edra knows her journey to securing a spot as one of the breakers on the U.S. team heading to the Olympics took longer than some expected.

The 21-year-old Filipina American didn’t officially qualify for the Paris Games until last month. It was the last competition for her to earn an Olympic spot despite being of one of the world’s best breakers — more commonly referred to as breakdancers.

“As much as we have people around us that are encouraging or part of the hype, it’s still a lonely journey. No one really knows what you’re going through except for you,” said Edra, who is ranked No. 14 in the world and had a meteoric rise on the global breaking scene since 2018.

She was expected to defend her championship at the 2022 Red Bull BC One World Final in New York, but was beat out in the intense final round by India Dewi (b-girl India) from the Netherlands before dominating in the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest in June.

With all the anticipation around breaking officially debuting as an Olympic sport, Edra and her U.S. teammates are navigating the pressure that comes with performing a uniquely American artform while facing tough competition from what has now become a global phenomenon.

Nonetheless, Edra, known as b-girl Logistx, using the term for female breakers and the nickname her father gave her as a child, is focused on staying grounded and embracing the challenges as she prepares for the global stage.

“I value this goal,” she said, “but not because of what it comes with. More so because of how I’ve grown through it.”

FILE – United States’ Logistx battles Japan’s Riko for a third placing match of the Breaking B-Girls Finals for the 2024 Olympic Qualifier Series held in Shanghai, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Her hope as she heads to Paris is that she doesn’t lose her passion and purpose amid the pressures of performing on a global stage. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

An American art up against tough global competition

The breakers from Team USA have the added responsibility of representing the country where breaking, and the broader culture of hip-hop, originated. Hip-hop was born in the Bronx in the 1970s and with it came the rise of breaking, one of the four foundational elements of the movement. The other elements are DJing, MCing or rapping and graffiti “writing.”

“I’m really excited to represent a whole country, but I’m more excited to represent my dance, my artform and I’m super excited to bring the hip-hop culture to the Olympics,” said Victor Montalvo, or b-boy Victor, one of the U.S. breakers. “We’re going to bring something new to the table. We’re going to bring a vibe, we’re going to bring that peace, love, unity and having fun.”

In the U.S., breaking is often considered to have “died out in the 80s,” Edra said. But globally, the culture is thriving.

Some of the world’s best breakers — and top Olympic contenders — are from countries around the world. The who’s who of the best hail from Canada (Philip Kim, or “b-boy Phil Wizard”) to Japan (Shigeyuki Nakarai, or “b-boy Shigekix”) to France (Danis Civil, or “b-boy Dany”) to China (Qingyi Liu, or “b-girl 671”) to Lithuania (Dominika Banevič, or “b-girl Nicka”), among others.

Edra and Montalvo, along with fellow U.S. breakers, Sunny Choi (b-girl Sunny) and Jeffrey Louis (b-boy Jeffro), are not just focused on nailing their moves, they’re serving as ambassadors of the birthplace of a culture and lifestyle now deemed an Olympic sport.

The Paris Games could be their only shot at an Olympic medal — breaking won’t be one of the sports at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

Preserving the roots of the dance

Montalvo learned breaking from his father and uncle, twin brothers who were breaking pioneers in Mexico. Currently ranked No. 5 in the world, he cites their instruction as learning “from the roots, from the originals.”

“It’s fascinating and gratifying to see something we did for fun and now see it become an international sport,” said Douglas “Dancin’ Doug” Colón, a b-boy of the first generation of breakers from Harlem. He was 15 when he started breaking at parties in the recreation room of an apartment building in the Bronx.

“For us, it was a release, growing up as poor kids in New York City. We had a lot of fire in our energy, that’s why it was so raw,” he said.

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Hip-hop celebrated its 50th anniversary last summer. Since its founding, the culture has expanded to a multibillion dollar global industry. The expansion and growing popularity of the sport has led to skepticism of attempts to co-opt the culture and commercialize it while imposing a rigid competitive structure and moving further away from the spirit of breaking that has historically been rooted in local communities.

Before there were global competitions and large stages, there was only the cypher – a circle formed by breakers in which b-boys and b-girls enter, one after another, to dance and battle. Unlike organized sporting events, there are fewer rules and restrictions.

Colón isn’t worried about the changes.

“There are still cyphers. There will always be cyphers,” he said. “Everything evolves. Brothers will say: ‘we used to dance. They don’t dance anymore, they go straight to the breaking part.’ But that’s what it is now. They kept evolving and now it’s more acrobatic, more competitive. It’s like the difference between a Model T and a Lamborghini. It keeps evolving.”

A win for visibility

Judges at the Olympics will score breakers based on the Trivium judging system, which scores breakers on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality. The scores can fluctuate throughout the battle, based on how breakers respond to their opponents.

In all, 32 breakers – 16 women and 16 men – will compete over two days, August 9 and 10, at the iconic Place de la Concorde, a public square in Paris that is being transformed into an open-air stadium for the Olympics. The outdoor venue is meant to be a nod to the culture of street battles in breaking.

For Team USA, the hope is that the spotlight at the Paris Games brings more respect and resources to breaking back home.

“From us being in the Olympics, it’s going to grow,” said Montalvo. “There’s going to be a new generation of kids that are going to want to do it… and you just need a dance floor and your body and self expression.”