Iranian star weightlifter Kianoush Rostami wins a gold medal consolation prize ahead of a Tokyo 2020 competition in which he would have been a strong favorite.

Will the famous Barry family of basketball legend make it to the Olympics through 3x3 star Canyon?

Also in basketball...French teammates Diandra Tchatchouang and Valeriane Ayayi-Vukosavljevic are looking not just for Tokyo 2020 success but to represent women as well.

New Zealand's champion rower Jackie Kiddle hit with an Olympic withdrawal out of her control.

Russia keeps on churning gymnastics stars out. Newly eligible senior gymnast Viktoriia Listunova is the new star to watch for women's gymnastics as she wins the European title.

More gymnastics: Hear from Great Britain's star Max Whitlock on his start in the sport, the impact of London 2012, and more, in a quick video from FIG.

And more: Does Simone Biles' new sponsorship represent a shot across the bow to USA Gymnastics?

The two Svetlanas - Romashina and Kolesnichenko - talk with Fina.org on their Olympic goals as the leading artistic swimming duet for Russia after their strong 2021 start.

Julio Cesar La Cruz has designs on carrying the Cuban boxing standard for Tokyo 2020 (and through Paris 2024), if he can make it there despite a weight class change.

Water polo stars Maggie Steffens and Ashleigh Johnson share with People their experiences on the Team USA: "It's one of the most empowering spaces for women".

Hear BMX racing gold medalist Connor Fields' thoughts on Tokyo 2020's course, and more on Keep the Flame Alive's latest podcast.

Tennis player Carla Suarez Navarro announces a recovery from Hodgkin's Lymphona. Will we see her in Tokyo this summer?

But count Team France's 'enfant terrible' of tennis out of an Olympic appearance...

Canadian ice hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser weighs in on whether an Olympics during the current pandemic is still viable.

But more from ice hockey...the women's ice hockey worlds are postponed (?) with short notice and U.S. star Kendall Coyne Schofield has some thoughts.

It's all good will amongst Mexico's men's beach volleyball teams as they compete to earn their nation a spot at Tokyo 2020.

From last month, a great piece in The New York Times not only profiling Tokyo 2020's sport climbing favorite Adam Ondra, but also a good sense of the Olympic event itself.

Panagiotis Gionis will appear at his fifth  Olympic Games this summer, as the table tennis stalwart made it through European qualification this weekend.

U.S. runner Nikki Hiltz opens up to NBC Sports' On Her Turf re: transgender identity while an athlete.

Irish hurdler Thomas Barr articulates the risk of lessening youth interest in track & field due to the pandemic.

Can Switzerland's women sprinters challenge for a medal in the relay? The team has confidence.

Anders Mol and Christian Sorum are back on top of men's beach volleyball, now in the top 10 of all-time World Tour victories together as a team.

Speaking of beach volleyball...can beach volleyball player Kinga Wojtasik make it to Tokyo 2020 for her second Games...and bring her husband and coach along for his first?

IJF.org checks in with Argentinian judoka star Paula Pareto from earlier this month...she's determined to make the most of Tokyo 2020 despite training difficulties this Olympic cycle.

Double Olympic gold medalist Patrick Marleau sets a new record for most National Hockey League games played, with his 1,768th on Monday.

China's soccer star Wang Shuang is still riding high after scoring Olympic qualification and has high hopes for team improvement this summer.

Eric Radford un-retires with a new pairs partner in Vanessa James. A new power duo in figure skating, to the surprise of some.

Romanian star gymnast Larisa Iordache confirms a return trip to the Olympics. Can she challenge Simone Biles in the Tokyo 2020 all-around?

Meanwhile, ​Melanie de Jesus dos Santos has bigger plans than to defend her all-around title at this week's European Gymnastics Championships: the Olympics.

2020/21 season breakout star Sturla Holm Laegreid shares with Biathlon World​ his battle with mononucleosis from a few years ago.

A Brazilian fencing star? World champion epee specialist Nathalie Moelhausen looks to set an example for her countrymen at Tokyo 2020.

Irish women's champion marathoner Aoife Cook looks to score Olympic qualification this weekend after a career of side-tracks.

Veteran discus thrower Dani Stevens leads the Australian track & field contingent as the voice of reason ahead of the pandemic-afflicted Tokyo Games.

Meanwhile, champion shot putter Tom Walsh shares with Team New Zealand the "tough year" he's faced.

Spanish water polo player - and out LGBT activist - Victor Gutierrez faces down anti-LGBT language and bullying in the domestic league.

Mathilda Karlsson wins a victory for Sri Lankan Olympic qualification via the courts in equestrian, but where's Hong Kong's side of the saga for Kenneth Cheng?

​Team Great Britain's Sam Walker is up to the underdog's challenge of securing Olympic qualification in table tennis this week. He's off to a mixed start so far...

Karate star Hamideh Abbasali is back from serious injury and focused on Tokyo 2020 success.

Beijing 2008 freestyle wrestler Ben Askren hits a payday in the ring despite a loss, and fans aren't happy.

Deepika Kumari is headed to her third Olympics this summer, and this time she's hoping her improved "thought control" leads to better performance, too.

The Major League Baseball season gets underway tomorrow, and its top stars are likely embracing the return to playing. In an alternate universe, though, they'd also be excited this year at the opportunity to showcase their sport and represent their home nations at the Olympic Games this summer.

In reality, the vast majority of MLB players will not be in Tokyo. While its "second-tier" players could be available, MLB's elite players will not. And from Barcelona 1992 through Beijing 2008, the last Olympic stretch for baseball before its Tokyo return, they did not, either. Simply put, MLB's team owners and players' union don't like the idea of shutting down the league's summer season for two weeks to accommodate the Games. (Meanwhile, the Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization have committed to the Olympic break.)

For Olympic and baseball (not necessarily MLB) fans, it's incredibly frustrating. The Olympics are the ultimate stage for a worldwide sports audience, and a validation of a sport as globally relevant. Sure, MLB has had the World Baseball Classic - notably, revenue from which it controls - but it hardly compares to the Summer Games. 

​Outspoken MLB star Bryce Harper puts it frankly, "You want to grow the game as much as possible and you're not going to let us play in the Olympics because you don't want to (lose) out on money for a two-week period? OK, that's dumb". (Um... yes, baseball team owners are more interested to grow their immediate revenue than to "grow the game".)
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Baseball may not get the chance again. The sport was not included in the program for Paris 2024, taking women's softball (despite embracing the Olympics) down with it. Very likely, the fact that the sport's biggest power brokers don't have an interest is a key to why baseball isn't a core sport for the Olympics. A return for Los Angeles 2028 is possible, helped by a United States-based Games, but MLB availability may very well again be an issue.

The vast majority of sports do see the Olympics as a unique, elite goal for its players. But MLB is not alone in some recalcitrance. Here is a look at how some other high-revenue professional sports approach the Games.

​Ice Hockey

As the only traditional team sport in the Winter Olympics* since Chamonix 1924, ice hockey has a special position of interest from the International Olympic Committee in ensuring elite players participate. Aside from that background, men's ice hockey's relationship with the Games is similar to baseball's.

The sport's top professional league, the National Hockey League, has a team ownership structure reluctant to stop a season's play and risk revenue and player injury. And, similar to MLB's World Baseball Classic, the NHL has its own contrived international tournament, the World Cup of Hockey.

And also similar, other top leagues make the Olympics a priority. But every four years, there is another round of negotiations, with the NHL's business interests pitched against the IOC's and the International Hockey Federation's interest in presenting a top quality tournament to expand the game. NHL players appeared for the first time in Nagano 1998, and did so through Sochi 2014, but skipped Pyeongchang 2018. Current expectation is that the NHL will return for Beijing 2022. That's due in large part to the players themselves wanting to go.

Brad Gushue won curling gold at Turin 2006, but has Beijing 2022 dreams, despite studying for an MBA and running a business at the same time.

Team New Zealand wins sailing's America's Cup, with Rio 2016 gold medalist Peter Burling at the helm.

Swiss ice hockey star Lara Stalder is the subject of "The Mind Behind" short documentary feature ahead of the start of her professional season.

Ukrainian gymnast Petro Pakhniuk has two elements confirmed into the FIG's Code of Points after successful execution of the original skills in competition.

"The world's most successful paddler", Jess Fox, is up for a new challenge in Tokyo as she eyes canoeing's Olympic debut.

2020 UCI time trial world champion Filippo Ganna hopes to use the Giro d'Italia as preparation for Tokyo, "the real peak of  (my) season".

Alice Dearing could become Great Britain's first Black female Olympic swimmer at Tokyo 2020. She's well aware of the signifcance of the opportunity.

Qatari Cherif Younousse shares his beach volleyball ambitions with FIVB, including his target of Olympic qualification with new partner Ahmed Tijan.

Get to know newly-minted U.S. national soccer team member Yunus Musah, who had three other national team options.

Badminton star Viktor Axelsen is preparing for Tokyo 2020 with a strong start to the 2021 season, thanks to a new mental approach and a complete comeback from an ankle injury.

Professional footballer Nate Ebner of the New York Giants is looking to return to the U.S. rugby sevens team to help avenge a group stage end at Rio 2016.

U.S. speed skater Conor McDermott-Mostowy is having "the most rewarding season of his career", and he just came out publicly as gay.

Three field hockey players - Aki Yamada, Janne Muller-Wieland, and Hollie Pearne-Webb - are awarded spots in the EY Women Athletes Business Class of 2021.  Congrats!

Wealthy Olympians: looks like an exclusive club on the Rio 2016 Danish equestrian dressage team.

Weightlifter Maria Fernanda Valdes is one of her country's leading hopes for a Tokyo 2020 medal. "The Strongest Woman in Chile" is determined to try for it at her third Games.

Kierin cyclist Yudai Nitta has big hopes for Tokyo 2020, including an inspiration for continued recovery for his home region of Fukushima.

Johannes Klaebo breaks his silence on the controversial end to the cross-country world championships.

Meanwhile, history is made as Jessie Diggins is the first American woman to win the World Cup overall title for cross-country skiing.

NBC's OlympicTalk looks back at the unique story of Margaret Abbott, the first female Olympic champion for the United States. The golfer didn't realize it though!

Need an inspiring story? ESPN.com offers a feature on surfer Tyler Wright, whose return from illness inspired an outspokenness out of the water.

Artistic swimming: anyone out there surprised that the sport has a culture of abuse problem?

Count NBAer Kawhi Leonard as one star with plans on a Team USA appearance at Tokyo 2020 despite a potentially challenging schedule.

London 2012 swimming sensation Missy Franklin announces pending motherhood.

Planet Canoe explores how the Spanish K4 men's team is adjusting to a new canoeing race distance for Tokyo 2020.

Toyko 2020 hopeful, IWF Athletes Commission member - and former beauty pageant competitor - Sarah Davies works to show that "strong is beautiful".

Get to know Canadian women's skateboarding trailblazer Annie Guglia as she looks ahead to the sport's debut at the Olympics this year.

There's no stopping freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury, even with a fractured spine.

Turin 2006 medalist Tomasz Sikora has high hopes for Poland's biathletes at Beijing 2022.

Rio 2016 long jump champion Jeff Henderson finds inspiration in his quest to defend his title: his mother.
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Wayde van Niekerk fights to fully return from a "devastating" injury in 2017 and defend his 400 meter title from Rio 2016.

Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross gets a seat on the board for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.

​Ice hockey player Mark Pavelich: a "Miracle on Ice" star passes away.

In a personal feature on The Players' Tribune, sprinter Dina Asher-Smith shows why she's a champion off the track as well as she acknowledges her potential as a role model.

Hammer thrower Anita Wlodarcyzk gets honored as a "shero" with a custom Barbie doll.