Chasing Gold in the Olympic Arena
Introduction to the Olympics Betting
The Olympics are one of the greatest spectacles in the sporting world as every couple of years countries bring their best athletes together to compete against one another. The Olympics go as far back as 776 BC. That date is the widely accepted date of the first ancient Olympics. The first Olympics consisted of games that were mainly athletic but also had combat sports in them as well such as wrestling and hand-to-hand combat. Learn more about Olympics picks in this analysis.
The ancient Olympics were of religious importance as they were held alongside ritual sacrifices that honored Pelops and Zeus, both of who were divine and mythical heroes at that time. The Olympic Games reached their height of popularity around 500 BC but then started to decline in popularity as the Romans gained influence in the country of Greece. The games ended around 393 BC when the emperor declared that all pagan cults be eliminated.
That brings us to the modern Olympics, which is what we see today. Today’s Olympics started throughout the 1600s in various countries but the first true modern Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece. This was the first Olympic games held under the IOC, which was the International Olympics Committee.
The 1896 games brought 14 different countries together and 241 athletes competed in 43 different events. This was a great start to something that was certainly going to take hold going forward.
Many loved the newly found success of the Olympics and demanded that it be held in Athens every four years. The IOC wanted to move it around the world through and the 1900 Olympic games were held in Paris.
In 1924, the Winter Olympics were introduced. Originally, they were to be held every four years just as the Summer Olympics took place but in 1994 it was decided that the Winter Olympics would be held every two years after the Summer Olympics as it still is done today.
The Olympics have vastly multiplied in size as they now have grown to more than 11,000 competitors and over 200 countries for each summer games. The Winter Olympics host over 2,900 athletes and over 90 nations each year.
One beauty of the Olympics is that it gives the individual athlete a chance to play for their own country. Some athletes have shown that they compete at a higher level when they feel that they are competing for more than themselves, but their entire country. Athletes get a gold medal if they finish first in an event and for many, that is one of their greatest achievements. If an athlete places second that will receive a silver medal and if they finish third they receive a bronze medal.
Every gold medal that is given out must contain at least six grams of gold. A solid gold medal was given out up until 1912. After that point, the gold medals were made of gilded silver and now to the gold-plated silver medals that winners receive.
If there is a single-elimination tournament with a sport and thus third place not determined, then both losers of the semi-finals will receive a bronze medal. People who place fourth through eighth now also get certificates for their achievements.
Olympics Picks
There are a ton of different ways that you can bet on the Olympics but using the moneyline and betting on an athlete, team, or country is the most used bet. This involves picking who you think is going to come out on top of the individual event. In order to bet the moneyline, you must know what the moneyline and the odds mean.
For example, say that you want to bet on a soccer match between China and France. China’s odds to win are +275 and France’s odds to win are -300. The favorite in the event will always be shown with a negative (-). If you see this then that team or athlete is the one who should win the event. The underdog in the event will be indicated by a positive (+) sign.
If you were to bet $100 on China to win the soccer game then you would win $375 for your bet if they win. That is the original $100 back and the $275 for winning the bet. If you were to bet $100 on France and they won, you would get $130 if they won. That is your original $100 bet back and $30 for winning the bet.
The betting odds listed for a team is how you can figure out how much money you would win if that team wins. The favorite is shown with a negative (-) sign and that number is how much you would have to wager to win $100. So in the example above you would have to wager $300 to win $100 if France won.
The underdog is shown with a positive (+) sign and that number is how much you’d win if you placed a $100 bet. In the example above you would win $275 if you wagered $100 on China to win the soccer match.
There are other ways to bet on the Olympics as well and not just on the results of the individual events. You are able to bet on the country that wins the most medals in the Olympic games, who places in the top three the most, and who wins the most gold medals. There are endless amounts of things to bet on since there are so many different things taking place at one time. That is why the Olympics are bettors’ favorites each year they are played.
Olympics Betting Odds
With the Olympics, there are many different types of odds that you can bet on. One of the most popular sets of odds that is bet on each year is on the country to win the most medals. With this bet you can place a bet on the country that you think will have the most medals at the end of the Olympics. This is combined across all of the events that they play and will be tallied at the end of the Olympic games and after the closing ceremonies.
You can also find odds on other things in the Olympics. You can find odds on who will win the most gold medals or who will win the most silver medals. You can also find the odds on how group stage standings will end up, which is the preliminaries in advance of the finals.
Another popular set of odds that come out in advance of the finals is the odds for each individual event. You are able to make a bet on a certain team or individual well in advance of the event taking place. The odds also give you a good look at who could potentially medal, helping you decide who to bet on for the overall medal count.
Props are also another interesting way to bet on the Olympics. Props are bets for what might occur during the competition but also what might happen away from the competition. For example, you may have a prop bet on how many goals a hockey team scores in the Olympics and you might also have a prop available on if certain athlete waves at the podium. With prop bets, the possibilities are endless of what you may find.
Olympics Betting Stats
The Olympics are unlike any other sport just because there is not one true statistic that you can look at to tell you who will win the most medals. You can most effectively use statistics by figuring out the individual event statistics and placing bets on those using the statistics. For the Olympics, you cannot use statistics from one sport to another.
This makes the Olympics one of the hardest to bet on simply because they are always changing and there are so many different things going on. You will need to check out the statistics for each sport prior to betting on the event. This will help you make your futures bets as well by learning the statistics that correlate with each sport in order to bet.
Olympics Betting Trends
Again, trends in the Olympics are tough to read, just because the events are spread out over four years. You can use the results of the athletes at international competitions to the best of your ability but you are not able to see a trend of results from Olympics to Olympics often. In rare cases where an athlete is at their peak or a team is at their peak you can use the trends.
One trend to look for is if a certain country dominates a certain event each year. If they have gold medaled in the same event the past four Olympics then they are likely going to do it again. One example of this is the USA Men’s basketball team. They have been dominant every year in the Olympics so it is a good bet to lay money on them to win the gold medal each year.
Most athletes are past their peak if they participate in more than 2-3 Olympics and so it is very tough to see a trend as athletes do not consistently participate in events for their country. You will need to look very deep to find trends that are available to help you place your bets.
How to Bet Olympics
It is going to be difficult but if you want to make the best bets that you can you will have to set your allegiances aside and make sound bets. You will also need to do a lot of research on both the nations participating in the Olympics and each individual athlete and team. With so many different backgrounds competing in the events, it is tough to line them all together like you would if you bet on an NFL game.
The Olympics only come around every few years so one of the most important things to do when betting on them is to make sure that you have fun doing so. Bet with your head and not your heart so that you can make smart and sound decisions on who you are going to place money on. Make sure that you bet on the sports that you know so that you can make sure to get the best return on your money. Use past Olympics results to help guide your bets for the upcoming Olympics. If you want to bet on a country that won a single medal four years ago, chances are that it is not a very sound bet.
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Yes. You can bet on the Olympics wherever sports betting is legalized. You can use online betting or you can place bets at a casino or sportsbook.
You can bet on the Olympics as you would any other sport.
The odds for the Olympics are very similar to other sports. This makes placing bets on the Olympics easy due to familiarization within the sports betting realm.
You can bet on all of the sports whether they are individual sports or team sports.
You can find the odds for the Olympics on many websites. Remember to continually check the odds because they are ever-changing.
In 2016, there were 26 million people who place bets on the Olympics. This was for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
You can start placing bets on the Olympics about a year in advance of them taking place.
Bet on what you know the best and do not try and chase money in sports that you are unsure of how they are played.
Bet with what you are comfortable with. Most people bet small amounts but in volume so they are placing multiple $5 to $10 bets each day that the Olympics are running.