The 2016 Olympic games are currently being held in Rio de Janeiro. Basketball, swimming, field hockey, archery, gymnastics ... the list goes on for the events currently going on in Brazil.
Recently there has been talk of video games possibly being inserted into the list of Olympic events one day. Skateboarding and surfing were just accepted into the 2020 event held in Tokyo, after all. A majority, if not all the current stars of today in competitive gaming could be retired by the time that occurs.
So I took it upon myself to create Olympic teams for the top nations in the most global competitive title, League of Legends. Ten players, two from each position, were selected for the teams. While there will be some snubs -- Korea just has too much talent -- hopefully this gives you a general idea of what could be possible in the future.
South Korea
Top: Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho
Top: Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho
Jungle: Go "Score" Dong-bin
Jungle: Yoon "Peanut" Wang-ho
Mid: Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok
Mid: Song "Rookie" Eui-jin
AD Carry: Bae "Bang" Jun-sik
AD Carry: Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu
Support: Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyeon
Support: Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong
This isn't fair. This is ridiculous. All right, call off the Olympics, this was a goofy idea.
You could split these teams into two, and they'd probably come close to sweeping every country in the world before facing off in a South Korea 1 vs. South Korea 2 final. You could conceivably put out a lineup of Smeb, Peanut, Faker, Deft and Mata, a starting five of arguably the best players at their position currently in the world.
Oh, Faker doesn't feel like playing today and wants to water his plants instead of playing Belgium? Here's Rookie to fill in and destroy everyone. You could rotate Smeb and Ssumday. You could mix and match between the bottom lane components until you found the perfect pair.
Overall, this is by far -- and I mean, by far -- the strongest country in the world. While other countries might be able to put up some sort of a fight, if a starting five could find chemistry between these 10 players, the gold medal would be assured.
China
Top: Ke "957" Chang-Yu
Top: Li "Flandre" Xuan-jun
Jungle: Ming "Clearlove" Kai
Jungle: Liu "MLXG" Shi-yu
Mid: Li "Xiaohu" Yuan-Hao
Mid: Su "Xiye" Han-Wei
AD Carry: Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao
AD Carry: Han "S1mLz" Jin
Support: Tian "Meiko" Ye
Support: Jin "Savoki" Hao
This team was selected by League of Legends Pro League commentator Indiana "Froskurinn" Black.
The possible front-runner for the silver medal, China possesses a talented squad even without the Korean players like Mata and Deft who star in the LPL. While there is a lack of depth to the roster when you compare it to the star-studded lineup of Korea, you still have strong positions like the jungle with Clearlove and MLXG, two of the best junglers in the entire world. We'd also get to see the partnership between China's best support, Meiko, alongside the two-time silver medalist at Worlds, Uzi from Royal Never Give Up.
Taiwan
Top: Chen "Ziv" Yi
Top: Chen "Morning" Kuan-Ting
Jungle: Hung "Karsa" Hau-Hsuan
Jungle: Chen "REFRA1N" Kuan-Ting
Mid: Chu "FoFo" Chun-Lan
Mid: Huang "Maple" Yi-Tang
AD Carry: Chang "BeBe" Bo-Wei
AD Carry: Chen "Dee" Jun-Dee
Support: Hu "SwordArt" Shuo-Jie
Support: Ceng "Dreamer" Jian-Hong
This team was selected by League of Legends Master Series expert Xander "Goomiho" Torres.
Wait a minute China -- Taiwan might have a team solid enough to rip the silver away from you.
Although Taiwan's depth is even shallower than China's, only five players can play at one time in League of Legends. A lineup of Ziv, Karsa, either the 17-year-old prodigy FoFo or experienced ace Maple, former world champion BeBe, and proven leader SwordArt could be strong enough to knock off any country on the planet not named South Korea. Karsa and Ziv, in particular, would benefit from being able to play with each other after years of being rivals on Flash Wolves and AHQ, respectively.
United States of America
Top: Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell
Top: Samson "Lourlo" Jackson
Jungle: Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett
Jungle: William "Meteos" Hartman
Mid: Eugene "Pobelter" Park
Mid: Hai "Hai" Lam
AD Carry: Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng
AD Carry: Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi
Support: Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black
Support: Adrian "Adrian" Ma
Looking at the United States roster, this is a pool of talent with the potential to be up there with China, Taiwan and others fighting for the silver medal. Hauntzer is on his way to being one of the better American top laners the region has ever produced, and the same can be said about Dardoch at the jungle position. Pobelter is coming off the best split of his career, and the bottom lane of the U.S. would be stacked with the potential return of the "Rush Hour" bottom lane between now-rivals Doublelift and Aphromoo.
Hai is probably retired at this point after getting Cloud 9 Challenger to the NA League Championship Series for the next split, but he'd come back for one more run to represent the red, white and blue at the Olympics in this what-if scenario.
Canada
Top: Darshan "Darshan" Upadhyaya
Top: Derek "Zig" Shao
Jungle: Rami "Inori" Charagh
Jungle: Anthony "Hard" Barkhovtsev
Mid: Danny "Shiphtur" Le
Mid: Nicholas "Ablazeolive" Abbott
AD Carry: Jason "WildTurtle" Tran
AD Carry: Johnny "Altec" Ru
Support: Vincent "Biofrost" Wang
Support: Andy "Smoothie" Ta
Canada's roster is interesting, albeit possibly a bit weak up the middle with Shiphtur and Ablazeolive both currently in the minor leagues. But a starting five of back-to-back league winner Darshan, Rookie of the Split contender Inori, Shiphtur, two-time NA LCS winner WildTurtle, and other Rookie of the Split contender Biofrost isn't shabby in the slightest.
You'd get to see Shiphtur and Darshan play together, like in the old days on Dignitas, and we'd get to see how former Team SoloMid AD WildTurtle meshes with TSM's new support in Biofrost. A best-of-five with the Americans, especially if Shiphtur could find his old form, would be a must-see event.
Denmark
Top: Martin "Wunder" Hansen
Top: Mike "Wickd" Petersen
Jungle: Jonas "Trashy" Andersen
Jungle: Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen
Mid: Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg
Mid: Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen
AD Carry: Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen
AD Carry: Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup
Support: Nicolai "Nisbeth" Nisbeth
Support: Daniel Ernst "Wendelbo" Wendelbo
Wow, Denmark, you're scary. Not only does Denmark possibly the two best Western players in the world, Bjergsen and Zven, it has rising stars like Wunder to fill out the roster to give it an extra oomph.
Trashy and Svenskeren are both strong junglers, and you could easily switch them out depending if you wanted to focus on top (Wunder and Trashy) or more likely mid (Svenskeren and Bjergsen). Support is easily the weakest link for this proposed Denmark squad, but just look at all that talent in the other four positions.
France
Top: Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet
Top: Paul "sOAZ" Boyer
Jungle: Charly "Djoko" Guillard
Jungle: Kévin "Shaunz" Ghanbarzadeh
Mid: Jérémy "Eika" Valdenaire
Mid: Tony "ShLaYa" Carmona
AD Carry: Pierre "Steeelback" Medjaldi
AD Carry: Liv "Hans" Steven
Support: Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim
Support: Hugo "Dioud" Padioleau
I was left in another awkward position where a few of the positions were stacked (AD, top lane), but others, like the jungle, haven't produced a lot of pro-gaming French talent. So, due to already being a head coach of a team in Team Vitality, Shaunz can pull double duty by being the substitute behind Djoko in the jungle. France is shallow in the jungle and mid, but the trio of Cabochard, YellOwStar and wunderkid Hans sounds interesting with sOAZ and Steeelback also able to start.
Brazil
Top: Felipe "Yang" Zhao
Top: Matheus "Mylon" Borges
Jungle: Gabriel "Revolta" Henud
Jungle: Thúlio "SirT" Carlos
Mid: Murilo "Takeshi" Alves
Mid: Gabriel "Tockers" Claumann
AD Carry: André "esA" Pavezi
AD Carry: Micael "micaO" Rodrigues
Support: Luan "Jockster" Cardoso
Support: Caio "Loop" Almeida
The final team on our list would also be the hosts if this hypothetical League of Legends tournament was hosted today in the Olympics. Brazil, always a favorite to make it out of the wild-card qualifiers, failed to make it to the Mid-Season Invitational against rivals Turkey, but INTZ, the winner of the most recent domestic league, will look to qualify for the upcoming World Championships. This team is full of INTZ players, with all five domestic winners in the 10-man Brazilian Olympic roster.