Monday August 5th Olympics Best Betting Picks & Predictions

We’re pretty much one week through the 2024 Olympics, and what a fun spectacle it’s been, especially for us gamblers who just can’t turn down a little wager on some random athlete we’ve never heard of playing a bizarre sport we’ve never watched before.

Congrats to those who, like me, had a few bucks on Noah Lyles to win the men’s 100m at +500-ish, a price that seemed unlikely earlier in the week when he was definitely in minus territory. Those odds were just too good to pass up just before the race, and I’m glad I didn’t.

On to Monday, where we will stay in Paris and focus on some more track and field, a soccer semi (I think that’s what Alexei Lalas walks around permanently with), and some field hockey!

Women’s 5000m Final, 3:15 p.m. ET

The results from the heats for this event were insane, as the top six fastest women all finished within a second of each other.

The third-fastest qualifier was Italian Nadia Battocletti, who is the reigning European champion at both 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

As the only European threat for a medal, you have to imagine the crowd will be cheering for Battocletti very loudly in Paris, which could perhaps give her just enough oomph to take a piece of metal back to her nearby home country.

While the competition is undoubtedly stiff in this final, Battocletti’s times this season suggest she may have a chance to sneak on to the podium here, and I like the value offered as a result.

Nadia Battocletti to medal (+400 at DraftKings)

Men’s Olympic Soccer semifinal: France vs. Egypt, 3 p.m. ET

France are currently the overall favorites to take home the gold in Paris, but you have to imagine that the fiery quarterfinal win over their recent fierce rivals in the sport, Argentina, took something a little out of Les Bleus both mentally and physically. 

Plus, the pressure will be on at home to take home a medal after the senior men’s team toiled to even get to the Euro 2024 semis before losing to eventual winners Spain.

Egypt needed a late goal to squeak past Paraguay in the previous round, and they haven’t exactly lit this tournament on fire offensively with just four goals in their four games so far. France themselves did put three past both the USA and New Zealand, but those two teams disappointed massively in this competition, and Egypt held Spain to just a single goal in a 2-1 group stage win.

Therefore, I don’t expect the goals to be flying in during the 90 minutes of this one.

Under 2.5 goals (+100 at DraftKings)

Women’s Field Hockey quarterfinal: Belgium vs. Spain, 2 p.m. ET

I’m not a huge fan of betting unders; it can be soul-destroying to root for a lack of offense, but I have a good feeling about this one.

Belgium should win, but Spain have been very good defensively in this competition so far, allowing just seven goals in their five matches so far. That included three in a disappointing final round-robin game loss to Australia, but I like them to bounce back here and maybe lose 2-0 or 2-1.

Under 3.5 goals (+100 on DraftKings)