It’s a swimmer from Zimbabwe.
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With the eyes of the world turning to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games over the coming month, the Olympic Football Tournaments have drawn one step closer, with the confirmation of the final squads for the men’s and women’s competitions.
Phelps has the all-time Olympic record with his medal haul of 22, but Coventry needs one more podium finish at her last Olympics to be the first female swimmer to win eight individual medals.
Zimbabwe has never been a particularly successful nation at the Olympics, but golden girl Coventry has been a shining star in the pool for the southern Africans since she was a teenager, earning her place as the continent’s most decorated Olympian.
The brothers recently said they may continue for “one or two years” after defending their gold medal in Brazil, but either way they are unlikely be seen at another Olympics.
Franklin is not an Olympic rookie – she won four gold medals and a bronze in London – but the 21-year-old swimming sensation has a larger profile outside of the Games, having won 17 world championship medals, including 11 gold, three silver and three bronze.
Lapierre’s season’s best of 8.31 metres has the 32-year-old ranked seventh on the IAAF standings alongside Olympic and world champion Greg Rutherford but a leap beyond his PB of 8.40m (set in 2010) will likely be needed if he is make it onto the podium.
“The field of swimmers is so strong right now, it’s insane”.
“Camille Adams… she will get you out of your chairs when she is racing”. And then there is Katie Ledecky. She will blow your mind. They are the whole package: “hard working, competitive, confident, talented, attractive and filled with positive energy and kindness”.
Also in their fourth appearance are Serena and Venus Williams who are aim to match the Olympic record for overall medals in tennis, which now stands at five.
She made the final at the London Olympics four years ago and placed 11th, the same position she finished at the Beijing world championships.
And that’s the point about the United States of America team: not all may return home with a medal – but they could. Among the toughest teams they will face is Australia, which enters the fray with a line-up that could dent U.S. supremacy this time round. She’s also qualified in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley.
China’s paddler Ma Long will be aiming to win the only major title missing from his illustrious CV when he vies for the men’s singles gold at the Rio Olympics.
Coventry grew up around swimming and the Olympics. She remembers watching the ’92 Games in Barcelona on TV and telling her parents she wanted to go to the Olympics. He won the 60-meter title at the World Indoors this spring and the 9.84 he ran at the U.S. Olympic trials in July is the second-fastest in the world this year to Gatlin’s 9.80.
Water Polo: Courtney Mathewson, photographed after team practice at the Joint Forces Training Base pool in Los Alamitos, will compete on the United States of America women’s Water Polo team in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
On the Russian doping scandal, Coventry said: “This is a huge embarrassment for Russia and the Russian authorities are responsible… there is a higher level of dishonesty at play”.
When asked about the problems that Brazil has been experiencing ahead of the Games, Coventry explained her confidence in the South American host country.
It’s time to get into the spirit of things and show support for Team USA going into the Games. “It’s going to be an awesome Olympics with some outstanding performances and I can’t wait to get there”. But if not, no big deal. This is the second time Team USA has fielded more women than men, but the most recent mark of 292 is the most represented by any country ever.
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Wrestler Jordan Burroughs is counting the minutes to Rio.
