It’s become a bit of a biannual tradition for me to write an about the Olympics – specifically the distribution of medals between countries.

I don’t have any sport by sport insight into how these games will look, but judging from the last couple years this should be another showdown between the US and China over Olympic supremacy. In three of the last four Olympics the United States has edged out China with China’s lone victory coming as a big win when they hosted in 2008.

Other medal count story lines to watch:

• Can Britain build on their impressive growth, or was 2012 only about the home country bounce?
• How will Russia do? Historically they were a powerhouse, but the breakup of the Soviet Union and the struggles of their economy let to a prolonged slump. Their economy has improved and they have seemed determined to reassert themselves on the world stage. Will that show up in their medal count? As a result of a huge doing scandal some of their athletes were banned. How much of a factor will that  be?
• How will Brazil do? There’s been a lot of press coverage about how Rio want ready to host, but is Brazil ready to compete?
• Will Japan see a spike add they prepare to host in 2020?