The U.S. women’s eight has entered the Rio Olympics rowing competition in dominating style, winning its heat several boat lengths ahead of the Netherlands.
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Gymnasts Max Whitlock and Louis Smith, of “Strictly Come Dancing” renown, prepared for a possible gold medal showdown on the pommel horse – essentially, the artistic equivalent to a rodeo – by leading Britain into the final of the team event.
Medals in rugby will be awarded for the first time in 92 years as the top four women’s sevens teams in the world – Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand – compete. The 21-year-old swimmer clocked 57.55 seconds to break his own world record of 57.98, then swam 57.62 to win his semi-final, qualifying for the final in the second-fastest time ever. From the USA women’s gymnastics team’s first step to the finals to key matchups on the basketball court and a world-record swimmer’s quest for gold, there will be plenty to please your inner competitive nature. Qingquan Long secured China’s third gold in the men’s 56-kilogram weightlifting event. After that, at 2:30 p.m. ET, we’ll have the repechage, semifinals and medal matches. Keep in mind, Ledecky is also the current world record holder in the 400m freestyle.
American Katie Ledecky crushed her own world record in the 400 freestyle Sunday night, touching almost 5 seconds ahead of her closest pursuer.
Brazil is hosting South America’s first Games amid a political crisis that has deeply divided the nation of 200 million people. Tip-off is at 11 a.m. EST.
Vox reports that 45% of competitors at Rio de Janeiro will be female, a slight rise on the previous best of 44.2% set at the London games in 2012. Her teammate Charles, a New York Liberty star, has been recognized as one of the best players at every stage of her career and was the first draft pick of the 2010 WNBA Draft.
Brazilian fans led soccer-style chants at the U.S. The men’s hockey team, however, were trounced 4-1 by Group A rivals Belgium. She ran into a buzz saw in Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who shattered the world record in the women’s 400 IM by more than two seconds, an astounding margin, to win the gold. The diminutive champion (she is 4’11) trains to Christian music, and has talked about her faith in the past, saying: “God has given me this fantastic God-given talent, so I’m going to go out and glorify His name”.
“I look at the younger generation of women’s basketball players and there is such a tremendous boat load of talent from, say, 10 years ago”, said Geno Auriemma of UConn, who is coaching the US team.
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India won six medals at the London Olympics in 2012.
