Olympics / World Games

• Erin Jackson Becomes First Black Woman to Win Gold in Speed Skating at Winter Olympics

  Feb 15, 2022 SportZ 0 Comments

  

   

  Erin Jackson, a 29-year-old Florida native and lifelong rollerblader became the first Black woman to win Team USA a gold medal in speed skating Sunday. She earned her first Olympic medal in the women’s 500- meter speed skating race at the Beijing Games, an event Team USA has not won since 1994, finishing her lap in only 37.04 seconds.

  Jackson was already a gold medal favorite leading into this. She made her Olympic debut four years ago in Pyeongchang, having switched to ice skating from rollerblading roughly a year earlier. She was the first Black woman to make it on to Team USA as a speed skater. However, despite being ranked No. 1 in the world, Jackson's return to the Olympics was not guaranteed; she stumbled during the Olympic trials, putting a hiccup in her chase for gold. Brittany Bowe, a fellow skater and good friend, ultimately offered Jackson her spot in Beijing, calling it "the right thing to do." The rest, as we already know, was history.

   

  Source: Erin Jackson brings home gold, first Black woman to win speed skating medal at the Winter Olympics (link)

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• Carl Lewis Calls US 4x100 Performance a "total embarrassment"

  Aug 5, 2021 SportZ 0 Comments

  

  Source: 'A total embarrassment': Carl Lewis slams U.S. track leadership after 4x100 relay failure (link)

   

  Trayvon Bromell called it “BS.” Carl Lewis called it “a total embarrassment.” Whatever you want to call it, the U.S. still can’t find four men who can pass the baton to one another while running as fast as they can. For the fourth straight Olympics, U.S. men failed to win a medal in an event they once owned. The favored Americans finished sixth in their 4x100-meter relay heat Thursday and didn't qualify for the final largely because Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker botched the baton pass between the relay's second and third leg. What started off as a scant margin turned out to be the difference between a lifeline and misery. China, Canada, Italy, Germany and Ghana all qualified for the final from the U.S.’s heat. The Americans once again were left to stare at the video board in dismay and figure out what went wrong.

  The U.S. couldn't recover despite deploying its three fastest men in the prelims. Bromell owns the top time in the world this year in the 100. Kerley and Baker finished second and fifth, respectively, in the Olympic final. Even Cravon Gillespie, who placed sixth in the 100 at the U.S. Olympic Trials, is the fastest remaining American who didn't run in the men's 200 final less than 24 hours earlier. 

  There's no doubt the relay was a complete disappointment. Even Carl Lewis, nine-time Olympic gold medalist, joined in on the criticism. He tweeted that the U.S. relay passed the baton worse than AAU teams, calling it a "total embarrassment". Lewis also took issue with which Americans ran which legs. It's unclear exactly what Lewis meant, but the decision to put Gillespie on the anchor leg was a head scratcher. So was using Baker to run the curve on the third leg. Why not leave that to someone with a background in the 200 and let Baker showcase his 60-meter speed on the opening leg?

  Regardless, speed is never the issue for the U.S. men's 4x100-meter relay. Inevitably, it's preparation - and essentially everything else - that plagues the Americans. 

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• Novak Djokovic's Golden Slam Hopes Ended at Tokyo Olympics

  Jul 30, 2021 SportZ 0 Comments

  

  Source: Novak Djokovic's search for 'Golden Slam' comes to an end at Tokyo 2020 (link)

   

  Novak Djokovic's search for a historic 'Golden Slam' came to an end on Friday as he lost to Alexander Zverev at Tokyo 2020. The world No. 1 lost 1-6 6-3 6-1 to the German in the semifinals of the Summer Games.

  He was bidding to become the first men's player to win a 'Golden Slam' -- consisting of four grand slams and an Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Steffi Graf is the only tennis player to complete the feat when she did it in 1988. The Serbian has already won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year. He would have needed the gold medal at the Olympics and the US Open title to complete the set. There is still something to look forward too, though; victory at the last grand slam of the year would still take the 34-year-old to 21 major titles, surpassing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who each have 20 majors to their name.

  Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev, the winner of the semi-finals match, will play Russian Olympic Committee's Karen Khachanov for the gold medal this weekend.

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• Simon Biles Pulls out of Olympic Team Finals

  Jul 27, 2021 SportZ 0 Comments

   

  

   

  Source: Team USA gymnastics star Simone Biles pulls out of Tokyo Olympics team final (link)

   

   Simone Biles pulled out of the Olympic team final on Tuesday, leaving the competition after struggling to land a vault. According to USA Gymnastics spokeswoman Carol Fabrizio, the reason was a medical issue.

  For the final three events, Biles stood on the sideline in her warm-ups, cheering her teammates. With the U.S. women cutting into Russia’s lead on balance beam, she danced alongside Jordan Chiles. Without her, though, the U.S. women did not have enough to match the Russians, who claimed gold by more than three points.

  Biles left the competition floor moments after she struggled to land a vault that is second nature for her. On the team’s first event, she shockingly bailed on an Amanar – one of her more difficult vaults – and just barely landed a one-and-a-half.

  A visibly upset Biles talked with one of her personal coaches, Cecile Landi, and the team doctor, Marcia Faustin. Though she put on her grips to prepare for uneven bars next, she left the competition floor.

  When she returned, she took off her grips and put on her warm-ups.

  It was unclear why Biles pulled out or if she was injured, but it is no doubt and unexpected development.

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• An Oversight of Olympic Proportion

  Jul 21, 2021 Andrew Williams 0 Comments

  

  

   

  Over the last six weeks as the NBA season slowly wrapped up in an  awe inspiring fashion we were eagerly waiting to see this crop of NBA all stars represent our Country in the Olympics.  Of course once the roster was revealed immediately we as the media and fans started second  guessing the roster. 

   

    My first thought was “what happened to the most exciting player last season , Trae Young . Or better yet Ja Morant or LaMelo Ball.” All 3 very exciting to watch and all have the ability to make players better. So why were they left off?  First before we address the elephant in the room let’s look at the Olympic team.  Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, Jerami Grant, Draymond Green , Zach Levine, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Love all round out the high profile players that makes up the meat of this team.  Some names that we were not so familiar with also were entrusted to bring a gold home back to the US. This includes Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers drafted 2019), Saddiq Bey ( Detroit Pistons drafted 2020), John Jenkins ( last known NBA team Knicks 2019 drafted 2012), Josh Magette ( Orlando Magic undrafted 2012, Dakota Mathias ( Philadelphia 76ers , undrafted 2018) , Cameron Reynolds Houston Rockets undrafted 2018.  All players are very good but I list all the players to say this LaMelo, Trae or Ja was not on the squad. 

   

   Through the first 4 games  USA splitting it 2-2, I couldn’t help allowing myself to wonder would Nigeria been able to handle the explosive athleticism of Ja Morant on a fast break or would Australia be able to keep up with another round of precision full court passing from LaMelo Ball or how would Trae fair on the biggest stage in the world. Certainly he deserves to take a bow.  Not to question the great Coach Pop or the selection committee, they have always put together a team that will represent our country but why not Trae, Melo or Ja.

    I am possibly one of those basketball fans that were ruined by seeing the Dream Team and Redeem Team play in one lifetime. Maybe I was just overly exposed to Olympic Melo and Vince Carter dunking over a grown, competent Center. Maybe it’s my fault, after watching the world admire and fear USA basketball I expected them to put together the 15 best collection of killers that  can work in a cohesive manner.  Or maybe these guys may have something together, so just like Ja Morant, LaMelo Ball, and Trae Young  I will be watching from home as we look on to Tokyo. 

   

   

   

   While Young was named to the 57 man pool last March, Morant and Ball wasn’t even invited. The Hawks guard recently had a cryptic post on Twitter, showing a video of NBA legend Isiah Thomas explaining why he wasn’t named to the Dream Team. Young captioned it with a sad emoji and a USA flag. Of course Morant replied with the message “Keep working dawg”.  The snub was unexplainable, more importantly we all know that  all 3 future stars would have made this Olympic team damn near unstoppable. 

  https://twitter.com/jamorant/status/1415804882192318466?s=21

   

   

  Trae Young , LaMelo Ball and Ja Morant may have been left off Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics, but they’ll surely be center piece in future Olympics to come let’s hope they have a full roster of star talent.

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