Simone Biles tried to treat the 2016 Summer Olympics like just your average ordinary gymnastics meet. So what if the stage and the stakes were different? The floor was still the floor. The vault still the vault. The uneven bars still uneven. The balance beam still a four-inch wide test of nerves. And the 19-year-old with the electric smile and boundless talent was still the best in the world. Maybe the best of all-time. Over the course of 10 days in August, the biggest meet of her life ended like pretty much all the others in the four years that came before it, with Biles standing atop the podium, a gold medal around her neck and the sport she’s redefining one boundary-pushing routine
Tag: teammates
This South African’s Bicycle-Kick Might Be Best Goalkeeper Goal In Soccer Histor…
Share this: If a goalkeeper anywhere in the soccer world has ever scored a better goal than Oscarine Masuluke’s, we’d sure like to see it. The Baroka FC goalkeeper scored an unbelievable bicycle-kick goal Wednesday in his team’s South African Premier Soccer League game. His goal, which he scored six minutes into second-half stoppage time, tied the score at 1-1 against South African powerhouse Orlando Pirates. Cue the excellent celebrations. [embedded content] Video of the goal has deservedly gone viral on the internet. Masuluke admitted his goal will be one of the enduring images of the South African season. He also revealed he hasn’t always been a goalkeeper. “I am happy I scored a goal like that,” he said, according to Soccer Laduma. “… my teammates say it
Here’s Everything Russell Westbrook Did Besides Watching Kevin Durant Lose
Share this: In case you haven’t heard, Kevin Durant’s tenure with the Golden State Warriors didn’t get off to a swell start Tuesday night. KD’s new club got blown out by the San Antonio Spurs, 129-100, in its own gym on Opening Night. It was a shocking start for a team with such high expectations and, given the circumstances, it represented the perfect opportunity for his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates to gloat. So, point guard Russell Westbrook and the Thunder were asked Wednesday if they watched any of the Warriors-Spurs game. Here’s how Westbrook responded: In sum: Westbrook did everything Tuesday night but watch basketball. “I played cards, man,” Westbrook said. “I was just chilling, minding my business, eating a nice dinner, talking to my wife on the phone,
Matt Shoemaker Recovering From Brain Surgery After Being Hit With Line Drive
Share this: It was a scary scene during the Angels-Mariners game in Seattle on Sunday when Matt Shoemaker was struck in the head with a line drive, but the Los Angeles starter is recovering after emergency surgery. In the second inning of the Angels’ 4-2 win, Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager hit a ball that hit Shoemaker on the right side of his head at 105 mph. The accident left Shoemaker with a small skull fracture and a hematoma, and CT scans showed increased bleeding that ended up requiring surgery. “The CT scan confirmed or when they actually did the operation that confirmed where the bleeding was,” Angels general manager Billy Eppler said Monday, per the team’s website. “They were able to
USOC boss says Lochte, fellow swimmers will face discipline
U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun says further action is coming in the matter of 12-time swimming medalist Ryan Lochte and his three U.S. teammates whose story of a robbery overshadowed the Rio de Janeiro Games. Blackmun offered no details on what disciplinary action may be coming, but he made no effort to hide his frustration with the matter. “They let down our athletes,” Blackmun said. “They let down Americans.” Lochte said he over-exaggerated what happened at a Rio de Janeiro gas station and acknowledged it was his “immature behavior” that got him and three teammates into a mess that consumed the final days of the Olympics.RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 10: Ryan Lochte of the United States competes in the
Serbia stands in the way of U.S. quest for basketball gold
By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — No gold, no glory. That’s the way it is for the U.S. men’s basketball team. The Americans, the standard in the sport since winning their first 63 games after it debuted 80 years ago in the Olympics, are either winners or failures. There is no celebrating silver. When they say adeus to Rio, it can be with only one thing around their necks to deem the games a success. “That’s what we came here for and we don’t want to leave with anything less than the gold medal,” forward Carmelo Anthony said. Anthony and the Americans will be playing for their third in a row Sunday when they face Serbia, a team of heroes back home
A look back at the memorable moments from Rio
By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Michael Phelps won more medals than anyone else, again. And then he said farewell, also again. Usain Bolt kissed the finish line goodbye after enhancing his Olympic legacy. Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky delivered under the burden of enormous expectations. Two strangers went from rivals to forever-linked by a display of kindness, an entire island seemed to celebrate a tennis match, and a gold medalist scampered home to avoid legal issues after a robbery story unraveled. And then the home team won soccer gold. The Rio de Janeiro Olympics were not perfect. But there were moments — some great, some dreadful and some downright ugly — that will not, and should not, be forgotten. Here’s a