After a year’s delay, the Tokyo Summer Olympics are well underway! Though the Olympics will be taking place in 2021, they will continue to be officially branded as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and are scheduled to take place between July 23rd and August 8th. There’s something for every sports fan in this year’s slate of 33 Olympic sports. Karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing are all making their Olympic debut, while baseball and softball are returning to the Olympics for the first time since 2008.
COMC is your home for buying. selling, and flipping trading cards across all sports and genres, including the Olympics! Here we’re sharing some Olympic storylines and athletes that could impact the trading card market. The COMC Marketplace has trading cards in stock featuring elite Olympians, both past and present. Enjoy discovering their cards as the world watches these long-awaited Olympic Games.
Men’s Basketball: Can Team USA Bounce Back?
While Team USA has won six of the past seven Olympic gold medals, this year’s team is not a clear favorite to take home the gold amidst stronger competition from across the globe. Familiar names from the NBA are participating for their respective countries, including Luka Doncic for Slovenia, Danilo Gallinari for Italy, and Rudy Gobert for France.
Team USA is filled with fresh faces making their Olympic debuts, including Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum. One of just two returning players from the Team USA squad that won the gold in 2016 is Kevin Durant! Durant led that year’s team in scoring and averaged 34.3 points per game for the Nets in this year’s NBA playoffs. If Team USA can turn it around, KD could join Carmelo Anthony as the only American men’s basketball players to win three gold medals.
You can browse COMC’s full selection of Team USA Men’s Basketball trading cards here!
Simone Biles: Earns Team Silver Before Exiting Competition
One of the most awe-inspiring sports in the Summer Olympics is gymnastics, and Team USA fans were excitedly awaiting to watch Simone Biles compete in Tokyo. Her performance at the 2016 Rio Summer Games was legendary, as she won a total of four Olympic Gold Medals to set a new US Women’s Gymnastics record for most gold medals in a single Olympic Games. Simone Biles made the difficult decision to withdraw from the Tokyo competition citing mental health, but not before helping Team USA win the Silver Medal as a team!
If you’re looking to add Simone Biles trading cards to your collection, check out our selection here! Her 2016 Topps Olympic & Paralympic Team & Hopefuls cards have been in demand this year, and COMC even featured one of the rare Gold Medal parallels on our Instagram (checkoutmycards) for a Flip Friday showcase!
Skateboarding Makes Its Olympic Debut
Of the five sports making their Olympic debut in Tokyo, the introduction of skateboarding has been one of the most-anticipated. With Street and Park events for both Men and Women, this year’s Olympic Games are set to expose a boarder audience to the world’s top skaters and the thrill of skateboarding.
Although his Olympic debut has not gone as planned, one elite athlete who was selected for Team USA Skateboarding’s inaugural roster was Nyjah Huston. Already one of the world’s most-accomplished street skaters, Huston was featured across Topps’ 2020 Allen & Ginter releases as one of the non-baseball names on the checklist. You can shop for his trading cards here. Keep an eye out for his rare on-card framed mini autos and Ginter Chrome refractor parallels!
Olympic Baseball is Back!
MLB fans and baseball card collectors will find many familiar names competing in baseball’s return to the Olympics. Former New York Yankee Masahiro Tanaka is pitching for Japan, and long-time fans will remember he was on Japan’s roster for the 2008 Beijing Olympics when he was just 19 years old!
The six-team baseball competition features top prospects such as Shane Baz (USA) and Julio Rodriguez (Dominican Republic) playing alongside former MLB All-Stars such as Ian Kinsler (Israel) and Adrian Gonzalez (Mexico). Although baseball will not return for the 2024 Paris games, we hope Tokyo sets the stage for more Olympic baseball in future years. Shop COMC’s full baseball card selection here.
USWNT: Going for the Gold
Two summers ago in France, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) went on a remarkable run to win their second FIFA World Cup in a row. Many of the USWNT athletes who starred in the 2019 World Cup will be competing for Team USA again in the Tokyo Olympics including Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath, and Lindsey Horan.
Following three straight Olympic gold medals in 2004, 2008, and 2012, Team USA was eliminated in 2016’s Olympic quarterfinals by Sweden. One USWNT athlete returning for the Tokyo Olympics to help re-capture the Gold Medal is Alex Morgan, a soccer icon who was Team USA’s leading scorer during the 2012 London Olympics. Another gold medal victory would cement Morgan’s already incredible legacy! You can find Alex Morgan soccer cards on COMC here.
More Olympians’ Trading Cards, Past and Present
Looking to collect more Olympians’ trading cards? Cards from the 2021 Topps Olympic & Paralympic Team and Hopefuls release which hit shelves in July are starting to appear on COMC. Beyond cards from this year’s Olympics-focused release, COMC has other cards available for some of the top Olympians competing in Tokyo, including:
- Katie Ledecky (USA, Swimming)
- Andy Murray (Great Britain, Tennis)
- Allyson Felix (USA, Track and Field)
- Simone Manuel (USA, Swimming)
And looking back on past Summer Games, COMC has cards in stock featuring a range of legendary Olympians, including:
- Michael Phelps (USA, Swimming)
- Nadia Comaneci (Romania, Gymnastics)
- Carl Lewis (USA, Track and Field)
- Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA, Track and Field)
We hope that this guide helps you collect Olympic trading cards and that you have a blast watching the rest of this summer’s Games with your friends and family.
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