| 100% | SKATEBOARDING | 13 | Discipline that will be a medal event for the first time at the 38-Across Olympics |
| 100% | SURFING | 7 | Discipline that will be a medal event for the first time at the 38-Across Olympics |
| 99% | SPORTCLIMBING | 13 | Discipline that will be a medal event for the first time at the 38-Across Olympics (2 wds.) |
| 48% | KOSOVO | 6 | Partially-recognized Balkan state that was a first time entrant at the 2016 Summer Olympics |
| 42% | REFUGEES | 8 | Competed for the first time at the 2016 Olympics |
| 40% | THIRTY | 6 | "Guess what? There will be a whopping ___ two sporting events at the Olympics! That's as many as my teeth" |
| 40% | FALLING | 7 | Hit song by Harry Styles which was performed for the first time at the 2020 Brit Awards |
| 39% | GYM | 3 | ___nastics are always a popular event at the summer Olympics |
| 39% | ASIA | 4 | Where the Olympics were held for the first time in 1964 |
| 38% | KARATE | 6 | Japanese discipline that was to make its debut at the 2020 Olympics |
| 38% | SPACEWALK | 9 | NASA event that consisted of all women for the first time (October, 2019) |
| 38% | TAN | 3 | Color of skin that has been in the sun for a long time |
| 37% | TONGUETIED | 10 | At a loss for words, and what the starts of 17-, 23-, 38- and 47-Across can literally be? |
| 37% | BASTILLE | 8 | Band with the album "Bad Blood" that was a first-time Grammy nominee for Best New Artist |
| 37% | SNOOP | 5 | Rapper who was a special correspondent for NBC at the Paris Olympics, familiarly |
| 36% | JIMTHORPE | 9 | First Native American to win a gold medal at the Olympics |
| 36% | WATERBREAK | 10 | Time for a drink at the gym... or what can literally be seen in 17-, 24-, 35- and 49-Across |
| 36% | YUTOHORIGOME | 12 | Japanese skateboarder who was the first person to win a gold medal in skateboarding at the Olympics, in men's street skateboarding in Tokyo in 2021 (2 wds.) |
| 36% | ALIBI | 5 | A reason that is given for not being at a place, at a particular time |
| 36% | SPORTCLIMBING | 13 | Wall-ascending event that was to make its debut at the 2020 Olympics: 2 wds. |
| 35% | CARRIERPIGEONNAMEDGIJOE | 23 | The first non-British to receive Britain's Dickin Medal for Gallantry was a _____ |
| 35% | ALIBI | 5 | Claim that one was somewhere else at the time of a crime |
| 35% | DECATHLON | 9 | Ten-part track and field event for which 15-Across won one of his two gold medals at the 1912 Olympics |
| 35% | SIMONE | 6 | I was a part of the "Final Five" at the 2016 Olympics and won four gold medals |
| 35% | GMT | 3 | Time zone that is used as a central reference point for all the others: Abbr. |
| 35% | SIDESALAD | 9 | Dish that may accompany a main course, and what can be found at the start of 17-, 25-, 38-, or 53-Across? |
| 35% | OTTO | 4 | Swimmer Kristin ___, the first woman to win six gold medals at a single Olympics |
| 35% | EPSON | 5 | Company that began with the development of a printing timer for the 1964 Olympics |
| 34% | NADIA | 5 | Comaneci who was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect ten at the Olympics |
| 34% | NADIA | 5 | ___ Comaneci, the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 at the Olympics |