SolarWinds: Top US prosecutors hit by suspected Russian hack

It is feared hackers may have accessed sensitive legal files during last year's SolarWinds breach.

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Double GB gold in new mixed events

Great Britain kick off a golden Saturday by winning two of the new mixed relay events but there is disappointment for Dina Asher-Smith.

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New on Sports Illustrated: NBA Mailbag: Was This A Fluke Season For The Knicks?

What free agent would best complement Julius Randle? Is Chris Paul facing more pressure during this free agency? Chris Herring answers this and more in his latest NBA mailbag.

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With the Finals and the Draft complete, and a massive trade involving Russell Westbrook out of the way, we can turn our attention to the whirlwind that is free agency, and all that comes with it.

In anticipation of that period beginning on Monday evening, I asked readers and followers to send along the questions they have on their mind. I did my best to answer a few of them here. (Thank you in advance for those who took the time to submit them.)

New York Knicks

Was this a fluke season for the Knicks? (The Kid Mero) And what available free agent would best complement someone like Julius Randle? (Frank Drummond)

The easy answer is no: this past Knicks’ playoff season wasn’t a fluke, even though the roster was largely the same as the year before, when they went 21-45.

Some will suggest that it was, citing the illness and injury plagued season, full of disruptions that allowed more of an opening for teams perceived to be less talented. (New York had a handful of issues like those, too. Aside from starting center Mitchell Robinson missing more half his games and being out from late March to the end of the season, Derrick Rose—easily one of the most valuable Knicks, despite coming off the bench—missed three weeks with the virus in March.)

I’ve long believed that teams that are well above average on defense (but subpar or merely mediocre on offense) will generally fare better in the regular season than teams that are well above average on offense, but poor or mediocre on D. The reason: A team can better control its effort and defensive rotations than it can its jumpshots, which will very from game to game.

For much of the past decade, the Pacers played the same way: Suffocating on defense, but a struggle bus much of the time on offense. (RJ Barrett struggled in the postseason and Julius Randle looked like an impostor for much of the team’s first-round loss to the Atlanta Hawks.) Playing with that exhausting level of effort for an entire regular season will often be enough to get you to the playoffs. But without another gear—or more scoring variety when things tighten up—it may be a short stay in the postseason.

So who should the Knicks target to try and take the next step? After seeing Elfrid Payton falter as the starter, and watching coach Tom Thibodeau extend the injury prone Rose’s minutes out of necessity during the playoffs, who should the Knicks target?

There’s been plenty of NYK chatter—a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania—concerning Cavs point guard Collin Sexton, a talented scorer who competes hard and is an underrated passer. He falls solidly within the age range of the team’s young core. But what assets would the team have to part with to get him? And is it worth those assets and the max or near-max deal it would likely take to lock him in long term a year from now, when his contract is up?

If they determine the price of going that route is too steep, you could see the Knicks end up making runs at some of the more veteran point guards on the market.

Assuming Chris Paul will stay in Phoenix, players like Kyle Lowry and Mike Conley will be on the market. (Although the Jazz just maneuvered to clear space for Conley by trading center Derrick Favors and the $10 million he’ll make this season to Oklahoma City.) If you’re New York, you obviously don’t want to go too high in terms of salary—Dallas sounds prepared to pay Lowry a ton—and if you do, you’d prefer to keep the deal shorter; perhaps just two years, if possible, since members of the core will be due paydays soon.

At the same time, you’re looking for a well-rounded table-setter who can score enough to relieve some of pressure off Randle and Barrett. Spencer Dinwiddie can get you baskets, but will be coming off injury (and hasn’t exactly endeared himself to the Knicks players and fans). Lonzo Ball’s shooting has improved, and he’s a fantastic distributor, but, from the Knicks’ perspective, may not be aggressive enough as a scorer to be worth the long-term money he’ll command.

A name that deserves more attention in this conversation: DeMar DeRozan.

No, he’s not a pure point. But people overlook how good a passer he’s become in recent years, while still being a dynamite scorer from inside the arc. All while being younger than the best free-agent floor generals on the market. He would probably become the Knicks’ best scorer, too.

Would almost make too much sense.

Atlanta Hawks

Should ATL match whatever offer RFA John Collins gets, no matter how much $? And if you can only keep two of Huerter/Hunter/Reddish, which are you keeping? (David Goldstein, via email)

What would the Hawks have to trade to get Beal? And could it work on defense? (Kal_EL292)

The Hawks have one of the more interesting paths forward of any team, beginning with their decision on forward John Collins, who is a restricted free agent. The question, of course, is whether someone will throw a max offer sheet at the 23-year-old, who averaged 17.6 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting 55.6% from the field and 39.9% from three.

He’s a key piece for a young Atlanta team, which surprisingly reached the Eastern Conference Finals and came within two wins of a NBA Finals berth. But it’s also a team that’s set to become very expensive all of a sudden. Trae Young will obviously be deserving of a max deal. Kevin Huerter is in line to be a restricted free agent next year, and would likely command big money. De’Andre Hunter is a dynamite wing scorer and defender, and his restricted free agency would come just one year later, in 2023, when Cam Reddish could also be in line to get paid.

Keep in mind: The Hawks already shelled out enormous cash last summer, when they brought in Bogdan Bogdanović, Danilo Gallinari, Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn. It was certainly a lot for a ball club that, before this year, had long struggled to draw fans to the games in big numbers.

Owner Tony Ressler was upfront pretty recently about the fact that it would be difficult to keep this team together. Last season’s spending brought about results, without question. But continuing to spend on the same core may not keep up that trend. And identifying a proper pecking order after Young is something they’ll need to do, starting with Collins’s money.

Letting him walk for nothing at all would be a tremendous blow. (The Hawks were able to nab Bogdanovic after Sacramento opted to let him walk.) It’s not often that 6-foot-9 guys are born with the ability to hit 40% of their threes while also playing solid defense. Just a season ago, he averaged 21.6 points and 10.1 boards.

Our guess here: If someone opts to max Collins, the Hawks match, if only to avoid losing him for nothing. And depending on how things go—both with the team, and with Collins’s production—Atlanta could look to deal him later on down the line.

Beyond the question of Collins, as it relates to pecking order: For now, I think it should be Hunter, Huerter then Reddish. All three have been dazzling at times—Reddish has loads of potential, and was lights-out with 21 points in the Hawks’ season-ending loss to Milwaukee—but Reddish has been less consistent offensively, with fewer of those moments than the other two.

With so many young, intriguing pieces, though, the Hawks could likely piece together one of the league’s more intriguing packages for someone like a Bradley Beal, a player that would give them a legitimate second star to pair with Young, while also slimming down the number of young, talented players who’d need to be paid as such going forward.

But aside from the fact that Beal sounds as if he’s not looking for a way out in Washington at the moment, Atlanta’s backcourt defense would be a challenge to say the least. (The team’s defensive frontcourt is solid, though.)

Just as challenging perhaps: The Wizards, or any other team with a star-level talent itching for new scenery, might not want to take on a couple of players who are set to become far more pricey in the next year or two, even if it means getting solid talent—and a handful of draft picks—along with them. Because they’d go from undervalued assets to ones that clog the cap a bit more.

Phoenix Suns

Is Chris Paul facing more pressure than anyone to nail this FA period? (SwitHBeAtZ) Is Andre Drummond a logical fit for PHX? (Lamar Battle)

To the first question: Sure, in a broad sense, Drummond fits one of the things the Suns need, in that he’s a very good offensive rebounder.

The lack of offensive rebounding—hell, the lack of defensive rebounding, too—was one of the clearest reasons Phoenix lost the NBA Finals to the Bucks. The Suns got eaten alive whenever Deandre Ayton went to the bench; particularly after Dario Šarić was forced out with an ACL tear.

Realistically speaking, though, Drummond will likely make too much for a team like the Suns to make a run at him. He’ll surely get a haircut from a salary standpoint. But between what Phoenix would likely end up committing to Chris Paul—and the pending paydays for players like Ayton and star role player Mikal Bridges—Phoenix will have other, cheaper contributors to choose from. Someone like JaVale McGee could serve as Ayton’s backup there and do just fine.

On the question of Paul, I don’t think it’s possible for him to be facing more pressure than he did this time last year, when he pushed to be traded to a team that hadn’t reached the postseason in 11 years. It was a hell of a bet that paid off more than any of us would have guessed—and seemingly paid enough dividends to where it would make sense for him to stay put there.

Paul’s always had a good nose for clubs he could help take the next step. That was the case with the Harden-era Rockets, and it was undoubtedly the case with the Suns this past season. So if Paul were to go elsewhere now, chances are it would be to join a competitive team in need of a key piece. But again: as long as Phoenix is willing to open its wallet for the next couple years, it’s hard to see why Paul would leave a young, growing team that just made the Finals.

The 36-year-old obviously wants to win a ring, but there aren’t that many teams that can roll out way more top-end talent than the Suns possess. Which seems like a reason to stay.

Ben Simmons and the Brooklyn Nets

Would it make sense to swap with Philly for Simmons by giving up Dinwiddie (in a sign-and-trade) and Joe Harris? (Lionel Pomerantz, via email)

If I’m Brooklyn? Not really.

For starters, if I’m in the Nets, I’m not looking to add any more big-money players, as it merely thins the rotation even more. I think it goes without saying that Brooklyn wins the Milwaukee series—and likely the conference—if not the Kyrie Irving and James Harden injuries.

I’m not really sold that having Simmons or a Simmons-type would’ve made the difference there. Truthfully, all the Nets need to do is stay relatively healthy, and they look to be in great shape. So I’d guard against the idea of a deal of that magnitude, even though Simmons would improve their defense. (Their defense wasn’t problematic in the postseason, when it mattered most.)

A deal like this would potentially make far more sense for the Sixers, who can always use more traditional ball-handling and perimeter shooting.

Dinwiddie may show rust as he returns from his ACL injury, and Joe Harris was vastly underwhelming in the conference semifinals. But both would figure to be solid rotational fits for the Sixers.

That said, who the hell knows what will actually move the needle for Daryl Morey and the Sixers to unload Simmons? ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Sixers are setting their initial asking price at a superstar level; “Harden-esque,” he called it.

We’d all be wise to keep in mind that the Rockets themselves opted against taking Simmons for Harden earlier this year. Simmons is incredibly talented, yet—as we saw in the postseason—isn’t of that caliber. Morey knows that, too, which is why Philly is looking to trade Simmons elsewhere. Still, you can’t blame him for trying to drum up a market. That’s his job.

Just don’t expect the Nets to be involved on any talks there. If they’re healthy, they can win without adding what would be a fourth maximum salary to their roster.

More NBA Coverage:
• Why Cade Cunningham Is the No. 1 Pick
• Which Team Should Trade for Damian Lillard?
• 2021 NBA Free Agency: Ranking the Top 50 Players
• Rockets Chart Path Forward With Jalen Green, International Prospects

New on Sports Illustrated: Elaine Thompson-Herah Blazes Into Olympic History

Despite a headwind, a pandemic and an empty Olympic Stadium, the 29-year-old Jamaican triumphed in the 100 meters, winning gold and taking down Florence Griffith Joyner's 33-year-old record in the process.

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TOKYO — As the fastest woman in Olympic history crossed the finish line, she pointed at the scoreboard, her mouth opened like a drawbridge and she spread both arms a mile, er, kilometer, wide. At that moment, on the track in an empty stadium but in front of an international audience witnessing 10.61 seconds without precedent, the celebration had begun.

Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica looked like all she wanted in the world was to find someone to hug. This marked bad timing, which followed a great time. With no one available, she started screaming, and because there were no fans beyond her coaches and the volunteers here, her elation echoed all the way up into the rafters—and probably down the block. She then fell backward, onto the track, arms and legs extended, as if she wanted to make a snow angel in 90-degree temps.

Her chief rival and countrywomen, two-time gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, just stood there, her face cloaked in astonishment. Not because Thompson-Herah won, but because of how she triumphed, with the second-fastest time in the history of the race, despite a headwind, a pandemic and the only energy in National Stadium on Saturday coming from how fast her legs churned.

In victory, Thompson-Herah joined Fraser-Pryce in the two-100-meter-gold-medals club, defending her title from 2016. The Jamaicans now comprise half the members and helped sweep the event, with Shericka Jackson snagging the bronze in her first major championship final at that distance.

That was not the shocking part, nor the special one. The shocking part was the actual times. Thompson-Herah out-sprinted one of the most accomplished speedsters in the history of their sport by .13 seconds and defeated the bronze medalist by .15. The special part was the Olympic mark, set by the late Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988, in South Korea. Thompson-Herah edged that time of 10.62 by one one-hundredth of a second, or roughly the time it takes a hummingbird to furiously flap its wings seven times.

Afterward, basking in the afterglow, Thompson-Herah said something unexpected. Not: I’m amazing. Not: Nobody can run like me. She said, simply, “I was nervous.”

The person most likely to share that feeling was waking up across the world. Al Joyner had seen the time but not the race, and because of that and the time difference, he didn’t realize the final had concluded until a reporter told him. But he did not share in Thompson-Herah’s nerves. He asked if her time was legal. Told it was that—and into a headwind—and he gasped. “Oh, wow, that means the record’s broken,” he continued. “That’s amazing. That’s in the books.”

Joyner said he had actually pegged Thompson-Herah as the favorite, citing her improved technique that he witnessed in person earlier this year. She appeared more relaxed, and she moved forward differently—to his trained eye—in a significant way, by “touching the ground instead of touching down off the ground.”

As he talked, it sounded like Joyner had been transported back to Seoul, to the race his wife won and the record she registered that stood for 33 years. He says that Florence had dreamed of seizing gold all her life, back to childhood, and that when she knew, as she neared her own finish line, she stuck her arms out.

“Why did you do that?” he asked afterward.

“Because I realized I was about to win,” she said.

If this wasn’t the most anticipated 100-meter final since, it certainly ranked up there. Even the times from Friday’s qualifying heats spoke to a wealth of talent and a track many of the sprinters here described as “fast.” The day before the final, three blazed times that would have won a medal four years ago in Rio, staking a claim to the once open post-Usain Bolt marquee event in track and field.

There wasn’t the usual buzz, but it didn’t matter, not with that deep of a field. They were the buzz. Who cared about the stands? Volunteers, the lucky ones, clustered together, unable to look away. The frontrunners advanced in their semifinals, setting up the match-up most desired. Thompson-Herah stretched out in Lane 4. Fraser-Pryce bounced in Lane 5. They were even right next to each other, which seemed appropriate. But they would not be for long.

The gun sounded at 10:55 p.m. in Tokyo, but not before an introduction that looked more like a rave. The stadium went dark, as the 100 meters the fastest women in the world would sprint across was brightened. As each competitor waved for their introduction, their faces, via holograms, lit up roughly 15-meter sections of the tracks. Their names were also displayed by lighting, along with their national flags. Spotlights danced and a helicopter hovered overhead, giving the whole scene a feel like the movie The Fugitive.

Then the race started. Thompson-Herah sprung from the blocks just as Joyner would describe her form later. She looked relaxed and her feet hardly touched the track, acting more like springs. Fraser-Pryce, owner of the world’s fastest time (10.63) this year before Saturday, made a push about halfway through. As if sensing what had happened, Thompson-Herah turbo-charged, seeking another gear—and finding one. She pulled away. She triumphed. And she launched into that epic solo celebration. Anyone who doesn’t see the replay on NBC in the coming days … isn’t watching NBC.

Afterward, Fraser-Pryce did not rule out another Olympics. She did not directly answer questions about Paris in 2024. But when asked to describe her signature moment from four Games, she said she hadn’t created it yet, which would indicate she’s not done. On Saturday, she did not match Bolt’s trio of Olympic golds, the mark she had been seeking. But she did become the first person with four Olympic medals in the 100 meters. “It’s definitely a legacy for Jamaica,” she said, meaning herself and her compatriots.

The three Jamaican medalists laughed at questions about the track’s condition. They didn’t want it to seem like the new Olympic mark resulted from anything other than technique, willpower and horsepower, or pure speed. They didn’t think it had.

Joyner didn’t care. The new record did not bother him; in fact, he had expected it to fall, if not at these Olympics, then at the next world championships. This group of sprinters is too fast, too seasoned, and they have long been closing in.

Nor does he believe the world record, also set by Florence, will last forever. That’s the thing with records. They rarely do. Florence ran a 10.49 in Indianapolis, two months before she registered the Olympic mark in South Korea. They used to keep it on a table in their house, her husband said, before she died in 1998 after an epileptic seizure.

Everyone knew her as Flo-Jo by then, the fastest woman in the world. Joyner knew her as more than that. More than her records, too. Certainly more than her times. He said that Florence would be happy for Thompson-Herah and happy for the Jamaicans. They were also her most fierce rivals, along with her fellow Americans. They pushed her to be faster. She would understand how hard they had pushed each other to do the same.

He said he might find the medal on Saturday in the States and tell his wife, the one that he still misses, about her record, the one that is now broken.

More Olympics Coverage:

• Caeleb Dressel: The Swimming Machine
• ROC Releases Brazen Response to Doping Claims
• Put on the Spot, USWNT's Alyssa Naeher Has Proved She Can Thrive

Navy Charges Sailor With Arson in Fire That Destroyed Warship

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New on Sports Illustrated: Katie Ledecky Isn't Done Yet

The 24-year-old Katie Ledecky is leaving the Tokyo Olympics with two gold and two silver medals. But her historic swimming career is far from over.

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TOKYO — And now, Katie Ledecky rests.

So deep into the grind for so long, the greatest and most tireless freestyler of all-time has emerged from that tunnel of commitment at last. Her work here at these Summer Olympics is done: two gold medals, two silver, one fifth-place finish, no regrets.

This has been the hardest of her three Olympics, both in terms of competition and workload. Ariarne Titmus of Australia completed her ascendancy to worthy rival of Ledecky, with the two splitting four matchups—Titmus winning the 200- and 400-meter freestyles, while Ledecky defeated her in the 800 and anchored a 4 x 200-meter relay that upset the Australians while losing gold to the Chinese. And with the addition of the 1,500-meter freestyle to the docket, Ledecky put in a withering 6,200 meters of competition.

Factor in a pandemic that prolonged the run-up to this Olympics by a year, and it’s a lot. She’s ready for life on the other side of a five-year haul, ready to reconnect with the world after isolating herself for more than a year.

She wants to go home—not to her apartment in Palo Alto, but to her childhood home of Washington, D.C., for the first time since before the pandemic took hold. She wants to sleep in her own bed and grab a breakfast sandwich at Izzy’s Deli and see her beloved Nationals play. She has some urgency to visit her grandmothers, one in her 90s and the other her 80s, the latter in declining health. She wants to visit the schools she attended while growing up, to thank them for all the support during these Olympics, because that’s how Ledecky rolls. Her loyalty runs deep and true.

She may stay home for a good while. For now, and for the first time in a very long time, she’s not locked into a schedule. She will not be waking up chasing something. The fall is, for once, presently undefined. “I think I’ll just let this sit for a little bit,” she says.

After her revelatory gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle in 2012 at the London Olympics, Ledecky dove into the next Olympic quadrennial excited to build from there. She couldn’t wait to get going on 2016, and the result was an unbroken line of domination. Then, after the Rio Games, she quickly immersed herself in college life and college training, starting the next chapter quickly.

Now she is ready to exhale. During this nine-year run of greatness, spanning three Olympics and seven gold medals and 10 medals total, she has never let anything sit for an extended period. I asked her what is the longest she has gone without being in the water training, and she said two-and-a-half weeks. “I would guess that would be surpassed this year,” she says.

She wants to go to her old pool, Palisades, and goof around. Maybe play some water basketball and ping-pong with her older brother, Michael. But she also knows what happens when she’s around a pool—the itch returns. It can be ignored for a while, but never denied.

“I get very eager,” she says. Maybe there won’t be “hard laps,” but anyone visiting Palisades in the month to come might find a legend turning in a light workout.

The fact that she can retain that eagerness, avoiding the burnout that looms over so many elite swimmers, is part of her greatness. Until Ariarne Titmus of Australia came along, her only competition was the black line on the bottom of the pool and the clock in her head, as she tried to chase her own unassailable records.

That became increasingly difficult since 2016, when she created her career masterpiece in Rio. Ledecky won four gold medals and one silver there, setting two world records and winning her longest events by jaw-dropping expanses of open blue water. Nobody was close.

She set one world record since then, in the 1,500-meter in 2018. But from that point forward the chase became more futile, despite her unceasing efforts. She always went to the starting blocks expecting to swim better than ever, but rarely was rewarded.

Was the Katie in her 20s ever going to catch the Katie of her late teens? Ultimately, she had to reach peace with herself. She could still be the best in the world in many things without being better than the 2016 version of herself.

The effort and aspiration would never waver, but the willingness to accept lesser performances had to happen. “I started [after 2016] with the goal to go the same times as I did in Rio, and maybe go faster. I gained some perspective over the years of how hard that is. … I wasn’t going to beat myself up if I didn’t go those times again. That was a big realization for me. I recognize the standard I set for myself.”

That realization can fuel her next swimming chapter—and there will be a next swimming chapter. Ledecky has consistently said for a long time that she will swim through the Paris Olympics in 2024, but for some reason that became a news flash in an NBC interview Saturday.

She’s not retiring, or coming close to retiring. She may even hang around until Los Angeles in 2032, intrigued by the opportunity to race in an Olympics on home soil (or in home water, if you will). It seems like an incredibly long time to swim the grueling distances she does, but when the joy comes in the daily effort, that time can pass quickly.

“It is a lot of hard work, but I think I love the training as much, if not more, than the racing,” she said. So she will, once again, embrace the grind—but here’s hoping she sticks to her plan to slow down for longer than usual.

If Katie Ledecky gets in that Palisades Pool in the next month, I hope it’s on a raft and not with cap and goggles on. She’s earned the break.

More Olympics Coverage:

• Caeleb Dressel: The Swimming Machine
• ROC Releases Brazen Response to Doping Claims
• Put on the Spot, USWNT's Alyssa Naeher Has Proved She Can Thrive

New on Sports Illustrated: Mixed Events Are Perfect for the Olympics and More Sports Need to Get in on the Trend

Mixed-gender events would not work in every sport, but it's a trend that should be embraced—especially for sports in desperate need of some fun.

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TOKYO — The International Olympic Committee, in its endless quest to bring harmony and understanding to anyone who will pay for it, has decided it is O.K. for boys and girls to play together. Mixed-gender relays featuring men and women are the big trend here, with the admirable goal of identifying who is sexist enough to whine about them.

Thankfully, I am secure enough to say that I am absolutely, definitely, most certainly not one of those people. Like, at all. I love the mixed events! They’re fun, they showcase different kinds of athletes, and the Olympics are the perfect venue for trying new things, because they’re a big, complicated mess and nobody can make sense of them anyway. You might remember that many years ago, the IOC announced plans to make ballroom dancing an Olympic event, and this offended people who thought it would diminish the value of a gold medal in, what? Equestrian? The IOC abandoned ballroom dancing, but it has gone all-in on mixed events, with no concern for whether it annoys a really misogynistic horse.

Mixed sporting events are not exactly new; mixed doubles has been a tennis staple forever. The mixed formats can be quite refreshing. In the mixed medley swimming relay at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, each country was allowed to choose two men and two women to swim the four strokes, though the Russians tried to enter three male swimmers and a pharmacist. It was an odd event. The strategy and lead changes were interesting, but at times, the relay achieved the exact opposite of its purpose: With the fastest men and women in the world swimming at the same time, the women looked relatively slow, which was silly.

The Americans had a frustrating race. Teen prodigy Lydia Jacoby seemed out of her element in the relay, possibly because she is from Alaska and never met another swimmer until last month. Her goggles fell off immediately, so she swam with them in her mouth, and then the two American men skipped their legs so they could each show her how to put goggles on like she had never done it before. The U.S. finished fifth.

The U.S. fared better in the mixed triathlon relay, which the official Olympics website describes as—this is a direct quote—“one of the Games' most furious events,” along with judo and trying to get on a media bus. Triathletes, of course, are required to spend an inordinate amount of energy swimming, running, riding a bike and posting about it on Instagram. The U.S. won silver.

Then there was the mixed 4x400 track relay, which allowed the Americans to show off their two specialties: messing up relays and litigation. Friday night, the U.S. team was disqualified for passing the baton outside the designated zone, but they appealed and won. The Americans ended up with bronze.

Mixed events would not work in every sport. Nobody needs to see a mixed shotput, which would inevitably end with two gold medalists looking at each other and wondering which one will be caught doping. But mixed events work in many disciplines. Mixed doubles table tennis is finally an Olympic sport, after a decades-long wait that has certainly kept me up at night, and speaking of which:

If you have ever laid in bed and wondered, “What if the Olympics were just like the John Deere Classic?” then Olympic golf is for you. Golf here has none of the qualities that make the Olympics fun. The men play four rounds of stroke play, and then the women play four days of stroke play, and then they all go home and wonder why they got medals instead of Rolexes.

Olympic golf doesn’t determine the best in the world. It isn’t quirky. It raises nobody’s profile. It has no real Olympic history. It doesn’t bring people together from all over the world for the first time. It appeals to golf dorks and nobody else.

If the IOC is adamant about golf remaining in the Olympics, the solution here is obvious: one mixed event. That’s it. It would be unlike any other major golf event. It would capture the spirit of the game—with handicaps and multiple tee boxes, golf is truly designed for people of all skill sets—and it would be much better theater than what is happening this week. It might even appeal to people who don’t really care about golf. It is the most natural event to have a mixed-gender competition, at least until the IOC reconsiders ballroom dancing.

More Olympics Coverage: 

• Team USA Plagued by Trust Issues in Swimming Relays
• Wave of Mixed Team Sports Shows Growing Olympics Trend
• Caeleb Dressel's Olympic Schedule Is Not for the Faint of Heart

New on Sports Illustrated: Lions Hold Watch Party as Melissa Gonzalez Qualified for Olympic Semifinals

As Colombia's Gonzalez, wife of Lions QB David Blough, qualified for the women's 400m hurdles semifinals, Detroit hosted a watch party.

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Melissa Gonzalez may be competing for Colombia, but the Olympian had one of the biggest American crowds supporting her as she qualified for the women's 400m hurdles semifinal on Saturday. 

Her husband, David Blough, is the backup quarterback for the Lions, and the franchise held a watch party in Detroit, where the squad started training camp just a few days ago. 

“That was pretty cool, man,” Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell said. “It was a moment."

Gonzalez bested her own Colombian national record (55.68) when she finished second with a time of 55.32 in Tokyo. Prior to the event, the Lions put together a good luck video for her. Different players walked in the frame to send her encouragement while some, like Jared Goff, cracked a few jokes. 

Blough closed out the video, walking up and high-fiving the camera. 

"Love you, honey!"

The women's 400 hurdles final is set to take place Wednesday, Aug. 4.

Sign up for our free daily Olympics newsletter: Very Olympic Today. You'll catch up on the top stories, smaller events, things you may have missed while you were sleeping and links to the best writing from SI’s reporters on the ground in Tokyo.

More Olympics Coverage:

• The Medals Keep Piling Up. But at What Cost?
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• Under an Unexpected Spotlight, Suni Lee Shines
• Caeleb Dressel Sets World Record, Wins Gold in 100m Fly

New on Sports Illustrated: Elaine Thompson-Herah Breaks Olympic Record, Leads Jamaican Sweep in Women's 100m Final

Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah broke the Olympic record of 10.62 set by Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 Olympics.

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Elaine Thompson-Herah broke Florence Griffith Joyner's Olympic record in 10.61 seconds and into a 0.6 m/s headwind to lead a Jamaican sweep of the medals in the women's 100 meters. 

Griffith Joyner's Olympic record of 10.62 was set into a headwind at the 1988 Olympics. Thompson-Herah successfully defended her Olympic title from 2016 to become just the fourth woman to win two Olympic medals.

"I knew I had it in me but obviously I've had my ups and downs with injuries," Thompson-Herah said after the race. "I've been keeping the faith all this time. It is amazing."

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took silver in 10.74. Shericka Jackson clocked a personal best of 10.76 to snag bronze. This is the second time in history and the first time since 2008 that Jamaica has swept the women's 100 meter medals.

"It is special," Jackson said. "I am glad that I am among that one, two, three. It is the first time I have run the 100 meters at a major championship and I got a medal."

For Fraser-Pryce, she was attempting to match Usain Bolt's three gold medals in the 100 meters at 34 years old and competing in her first Games as a mother. She entered the Olympics as the fastest woman of the year after running 10.63 on June 5th in Jamaica. With her silver, Fraser-Pryce is the first person to win four individual Olympic medals in the 100 meters.

Teahna Daniels, who was the lone American in the final, finished seventh in 11.02. The United States was without Sha'Carri Richardson, who won the U.S. Olympic Trials in June but tested positive for marijuana and was suspended for a month. Richardson was widely considered a favorite for a medal with a 10.72 personal best but the 21-year-old will likely have to wait until 2024 to compete in her first Olympics.

Thompson-Herah also surpassed Fraser-Pryce as the second-fastest woman of all-time. Only Griffith-Joyner and her 10.49 world record is faster. 

More Olympics Coverage:

• Ledecky Leads USA to Silver as All Three Medalists Break the World Record
• German Official Sent Home for Use of Racial Slur
• Gators in Gold: Dressel and Finke Top Podium In Individual Races
• How Olympic Pressure Can Change an Athlete

Tokyo Olympics: The medal winners' flowers that pay tribute to 2011 disaster

More than 5,000 bouquets are being handed to athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games - and have a special significance, with flowers from areas devastated by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

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Dressel sets world record to win third Tokyo gold

American Caeleb Dressel gains his third gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a 100m butterfly world record, while Katie Ledecky and Kaylee McKeown also win golds.

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New on Sports Illustrated: Kevin Durant Passes Carmelo Anthony for Team USA's All-Time Olympic Scoring Record

The Nets star only needed 19 games to accomplish what Carmelo Anthony did in 31. KD now is Team USA's all-time Olympic scoring leader at 339 points and counting

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U.S. men's basketball has a new all-time Olympic scoring leader at 339 points and counting.  

Kevin Durant passed Carmelo Anthony, who previously sat atop the list with 336 points, on Saturday as Team USA faced off against the Czech Republic. Coming into Saturday's game with 331 points, Durant needed only six points to make history.

And he did so in the second quarter, lofting up a three-point jumper to push Team USA ahead. 

Durant has played in a total of 19 Olympic games that span from the 2012 London Games, 2016 Rio Games and 2020 Tokyo Games. He has scored in double digits in all of them, scoring over 20 points six times and was the team's leading scorer in 2012 and 2016. 

While he previously sat behind Anthony as the all-time Olympic scoring leader, he leads USA's all-time career Olympics stats for points averaged (18.9), fourth in games played, fourth in rebounds (88), third in most field goals, first for three-point field goal attempts (203), first in three-point field goals made (60) and tied for sixth in three-post shooting percentage (.526). 

Team USA currently leads the Czech Republic 34-33 in the second quarter.  

Sign up for our free daily Olympics newsletter: Very Olympic Today. You'll catch up on the top stories, smaller events, things you may have missed while you were sleeping and links to the best writing from SI’s reporters on the ground in Tokyo.

More Olympics Coverage:

• The Medals Keep Piling Up. But at What Cost?
• Caeleb Dressel's Olympic Schedule Is Not for the Faint of Heart
• Under an Unexpected Spotlight, Suni Lee Shines
• Caeleb Dressel Sets World Record, Wins Gold in 100m Fly

Tokyo Olympics: Elaine Thompson-Herah defends 100m title

Elaine Thompson-Herah became the second-fastest woman in history as she beat fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to defend her Olympic 100m title.

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Tokyo Olympics: Georgia athletes removed from Games after sightseeing trip

Two Georgian silver medallists are told to leave the Olympic Games for taking a sightseeing trip in Tokyo.

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New on Sports Illustrated: Cole Hocker’s Ascent to the Top of U.S. Middle-Distance Running

At the Tokyo Olympics, the 20-year-old University of Oregon runner will be the youngest American man competing in the 1,500 meters in 53 years.

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After a four hour delay due to extreme temperatures from a rare Pacific Northwest heat wave, the fans at Hayward Field were rewarded for their patience with a truly thrilling finish to the men’s 1,500 meter final on June 28th. University of Oregon sophomore Cole Hocker maneuvered his way through traffic in the final 200 meters of the race to out-kick reigning Olympic champion and fellow Ducks great Matthew Centrowitz for the victory and his first Olympic team berth.

Although the newly-renovated stadium was nowhere near full capacity due to COVID precautions, Hocker still raised his finger to his lips and hushed the roaring fans. It was a motion toward the doubters who questioned whether a 20-year-old college athlete would be able to hold his own against professionals. It was aimed at those who thought he’d burn out by the time the trials came up due to a long season. It was to those who critique his form.

“I wanted to silence everyone who thought otherwise,” Hocker says.

Hocker closed his final lap in 52.5 seconds to reel in Centrowitz. He won in a personal best of 3:35.28, which was just shy of the auto-qualifying mark for the Tokyo Olympics but he was able to make it to the Games based on his world ranking.

At the Summer Games, where Hocker’s first race will be the preliminary round of the 1,500 meters on Aug. 3, he will be the youngest American man contesting the event in 53 years. In the past decade, Americans have fared well at the Olympics, with Leo Manzano winning silver in 2012—the country’s first since Jim Ryun in 1968—and then Centrowitz ending a 108-year gold drought with a tactical masterclass in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Although Centrowitz returns to defend his title, medal hopes have also been passed onto Hocker.

“There’s some pressure for sure,” Hocker admits. “There’s pressure from myself on myself. Now there’s that pressure that comes with representing the United States since there’s only three of us. I did win the trials so there might be a little bit of a higher expectation but I think doing my best should be enough.”

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Hocker has skyrocketed as one of the U.S.’s best middle-distance runners, especially within the past year. A myriad of factors could be at play. Track and field is experiencing a technological boom, with history books and record lists being rewritten due to blazing times caused, in part, by major advances in footwear. As an athlete at Nike’s favorite university, Hocker has the best available weapons to test. New shoes coupled with an extra year of hard training afforded by the Olympic postponement and the talent that won Hocker three Indiana high school state championship titles surely account for some of the unknown variables in the equation for greatness.

His athletic pursuits started at Horizon Christian School in Indianapolis, where he joined the cross-country program as a third-grader. His father, Kyle, volunteered to serve as an assistant coach since he's a teacher in the area and then followed his career through middle school and high school. For him, the earliest sign of promise he observed came at the 2010 Cross Country Coaches Youth National Championship in Lexington, Kentucky, where a nine-year-old Cole, representing his Indy Gold club team, won his age division in 11:19.50 (6:04/mile pace) over the three-kilometer course.

“The program at his elementary school was excellent,” Kyle says. “It was speed-based training. They focused on short interval work and the coaches believed the body would adapt to unaccustomed stresses as long as it wasn’t too much. They just kept seeing how quick they could get him at different paces. He adapted to that really well.”

At Cathedral High School, his coach Jim Nohl applied the same training philosophy but fine-tuned with a more statistical approach since he was also the school’s math teacher. In addition to developing his signature closing speed, Cathedral was also where Cole started growing his long hair as a freshman, so the Sampson comparisons were inevitable as he started winning.

“In my junior year, I started going toward the front of races and taking it,” Cole remembers. “This sort of feels like the same thing. My freshman and sophomore year of high school, I wasn’t dominating or winning any race but junior and senior year I realized my potential. I saw myself at the front of races. Once you have that feeling a couple times, it just comes naturally after that.”

For Cole, angst and nerves in anticipation of big races has always been a consistent factor. Even rewatching some of his races from the past year, Cole still gets nervous despite knowing the outcome. For Kyle and the rest of his family in the stands, the emotional rollercoaster isn’t any easier since Cole enjoys sitting in fourth or fifth place before relying on his kick to get him across the finish line first.

Throughout the year, the Hocker family has hosted a few watch parties with friends for some of Cole’s biggest races. Due to the decision by the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo Olympic organizers to bar spectators from the Games, the Hockers will stay in Indianapolis to watch on television. And with the time difference in Japan, Kyle says they’re planning to just host a viewing party on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 7 for the final. Cole has given them the confidence that he’ll make it that far.

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Hocker’s rivalry with Centrowitz grew from unsuspecting roots at a meet last December in California. In a low-key 5,000 meter race, Centrowitz outleaned Hocker at the finish line in 15:32.92 for the win by .03. The next generation of Ducks were literally on the heels of the current stars.

“I think my biggest thing was having Cooper Teare to train with,” Hocker says. “I saw him at the top of his game and the top of the NCAA. I knew if I hung with him in workouts then that’s an immediate path to the top of the NCAA. I was able to do just that.”

Teare was a highly touted recruit out of California and has progressed into a collegiate stud at Oregon, consistently posting results in the top 10 of the NCAA. After a coaching switch in 2018 led several teammates to transfer, Teare stayed put and emerged as one of the vocal leaders of the cross country and distance squad. When Hocker arrived in 2019, Teare got a training partner to push him toward the top of those NCAA lists.

When the Oregon’s campus closed last spring, Hocker returned home to Indianapolis and spent much of the summer training alone. This included solo time trials for the mile in 4:02 and 1:50 for 800 meters. He took a visit to Boulder, Colo., where he joined Teare on a long run on Magnolia Road at more than 8,000 feet above sea level and stayed with the rising senior when the pace quickened to 5:20 per mile. By the end of the run, it was just the two of them.

Teare and Hocker reunited in August and faced a decision on whether the Ducks wanted to focus their training toward the indoor track season or the delayed cross country championships that were set for March. As a team, they figured sticking to the track would offer them the best chance at winning an NCAA team title, so they spent the fall running small time trials in an empty Hayward Field under the watchful eye of coach Ben Thomas. During their 3,000 meter time trial, Teare ran 7:44, which would be good enough to crack the NCAA indoor all-time top-10 list and Hocker was just one second back.

“I had to do everything I could in that last lap to not get caught by him,” Teare recalls. “I thought, ‘OK. This kid is going to be good.’ Right off the bat indoors, it was the Cole show.”

On Feb. 12, the first shockwaves from the next generation were felt at an indoor meet in Fayetteville, Ark. Teare and Hocker both destroyed the previous NCAA indoor mile record of 3:52.01 from 17-time NCAA champion Edward Cheserek (another former Ducks star) by running 3:50.39 and 3:50.55, respectively. In his post-race Instagram post, Oregon walk-on Carter Christman tagged Centrowitz in the comments section, saying, “Your move.” This led to a fiery response by Centrowitz and sent the niche track and field running community into a frenzy over the perceived “beef” between the two runners—despite no comment by Hocker.

A month later on the same Arkansas track, Hocker took down Teare at the NCAA indoor championships in the 3,000m, his second national title of the day after winning the mile 90 minutes earlier. The day before, Hocker and his Oregon teammates had won the distance medley relay, an event where earlier in the season they had run the world’s fastest time ever. Hocker led the relay off with a blistering 2:49.89 split for 1,200 meters.

Hocker entered the outdoor season full of momentum, but new challenges quickly presented themselves. At a home meet on May 7, fans had their first opportunity to see Hocker against Notre Dame’s Yared Nuguse, the 2019 NCAA outdoor champion in the 1,500 meters, who decided bypassed the indoor season to help the Irish cross country team finish second at the NCAA cross country championships. Nuguse kicked to win in 3:35.96 and Hocker set a personal best of 3:36.47 for third place behind teammate Teare.

According to Teare, Hocker was not happy with his performance, and he took it out on their 7 x 200-meter post-race workout. The first few reps started at 30 seconds and progressed to 26 seconds but Hocker decided to close it out with a low 23-second rep.

“I remember watching that and thinking, ‘What the f--- is he dropping?’” Teare recalls. “I ran like 24-mid and he had daylight on me. How?!”

Nuguse followed up his win by setting the NCAA record in the 1,500 meters with a solo 3:34.68 at the ACC championships. In the rematch five weeks later, Hocker would have the last word as he dethroned Nuguse and beat him by .25 seconds in a personal best of 3:35.35.

“[This season] really did go off without a hitch,” Hocker says. “That’s sort of what I was telling myself going into the trials, ‘You only get this opportunity that you stay healthy for this long and you stay racing at the top level.’ This was just an opportunity that doesn’t present itself typically in this sport.”

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In the weeks leading up to the Olympics, Hocker passed on opportunities to race at Diamond League meets, including a prestigious meet in Monaco, where the men’s 1,500 typically produces the fastest times of the year. At the 2021 edition of the race, reigning world champion Timothy Cheruiyot ran a personal best of 3:28.28, the No. 7 mark of all time. Norwegian prodigy Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran 3:29.25, meaning Hocker may not even be the top 20-year-old in his event at the Olympics.

All the while, Hocker and some of his Oregon teammates stayed back to train at Hayward Field and make the most of Eugene’s trails. The system has worked up until this point, so why change it?

“Of course this is the biggest stage in the sport,” Hocker acknowledges. “In my head I’ve compared it to—and this might sound silly—I had never been to NCAA indoor championships. I went there and was able to win two titles. I had never been to an outdoor NCAA championship and I was able to win the 1,500. I had never been to the U.S. trials and I was able to win the race there. I’m sort of looking at it like that. I’ve never been to the Olympics but I’ve been able to execute on stages I’ve never been to before and I think this should be the same way.”

More Olympics Coverage: 

• How Olympic Pressure Can Change an Athlete
• Will Simone Biles Return to Competition in Tokyo?
• Gators in Gold: Dressel and Finke Top Podium

New on Sports Illustrated: Wave of Mixed Team Sports Shows Growing Olympics Trend

While not a new idea, mixed-gender competitions are a big initiative at the Games.

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It was a historic day at the Tokyo Olympics (aren’t they all?) but not just because of performances like Caeleb Dressel’s world record in the 100-meter butterfly.

Five events made their Olympic debuts. Try to see if you can spot the pattern:

The 4 x 400-meter mixed team relay (track), 4 x 100-meter medley (swim), mixed team triathlon, mixed team judo and mixed team trap shooting.

That’s five different events in which men and women competed together on the same teams for the same medals. This is not a new idea in the Olympic program (they played mixed doubles tennis at the 1900 Games in Paris, though the event disappeared from 1928 through 2008), but it’s clearly become more of an emphasis.

I’m sure plenty of people reading this newsletter tuned into the swimming in prime time and watched that relay, with Dressel swimming the anchor for a U.S. team that failed to medal. But you may not have noticed it’s part of a much larger trend. Equality between men’s and women’s sports has been a goal across the Olympics—we’ve seen several sports eliminate men’s weight classes and add women’s brackets in an effort to make those numbers more even—and adding these events appears to be a separate, though related, initiative.

I liked what I saw, and I’ll give you two reasons.

First, I like the strategy element, with countries considering different ways to build teams and order their athletes. In both the swimming and running relays, we saw teams try different orders, which led to certain teams getting out to big leads and trying to hold on. (Pat Forde has a column from the pool about the U.S.’s disaster on this front.)

Second, I just like the idea of having more opportunities to see the top athletes in action. It’s one more time we get to see Caeleb Dressel in the pool. Katie Zaferes won bronze in the women’s triathlon, and that would normally be all we get to see of her. But we got to see her in action again, trading legs of a relay with male and female teammates as the U.S. won another silver medal. Judo is a sport where you can lose a match within seconds and be knocked entirely out of the bracket. French heavyweight legend Teddy Riner (who won gold in London and Rio) lost on Friday and took home a bronze medal individually. But I turned on the France vs. Israel mixed team judo quarterfinal, and got to see him not just competing again, but actively involved in cheering on his teammates as they competed with him. (Just FYI: The team judo involves a series of individual matches. It is not a six-on-six judo battle royale. I don’t want to get your hopes up too high.) France made it to the finals, giving Riner a fifth medal in his fourth Olympics.

I imagine these events are here to stay, and we will likely only see more like them in time. I’d call that a good thing. In the era of superteams and super leagues, most people just want to see the best athletes as much as possible. The Olympics are a TV show designed to get ratings. If they already have so many of the best athletes in the world all together, they might as well give us more ways to watch them.

Track

Speaking of that team relay, the U.S. was disqualified for an illegal baton transfer in the morning heats. I recommend watching the video of the whole race 1) to see an example of what I wrote above, as Nigeria sends a man out for the third leg against all women and he builds a huge lead that evaporates and 2) to watch the U.S. team learn in real time that it had been DQ’d.

(Lynna Irby took it in stride like a champ, but the team was reinstated on appeal anyway.)

After the race, Sha’Carri Richardson, the sprinter who was disqualified from the Olympic team because she tested positive for marijuana after winning the 100-meters at the U.S. trials, tweeted: Missing me yet?

The tweet got mixed results.

Swimming

What’s left to say about Katie Ledecky? She won her third straight Olympic gold in the 800-meter freestyle, and here are some of my favorite stats in the aftermath.

Before the race, the TV broadcast showed that she had the top 23 times in the world in the event. Australian Ariarne Titmus won silver by swimming the fastest 800 ever by a woman other than Ledecky, a distinction previously set in 2008. As The Ringer’s Rodger Sherman put it, Ledecky set the record as a 16-year-old, Ledecky beat that mark 23 more times and Titmus is the first woman ever to beat 16-year-old Ledecky.

Ledecky now has 10 Olympic medals, seven of which are gold. Six are individual gold, which is the most by any female swimmer (behind only Michael Phelps’s 13). She is the 15th Olympian with 10 medals, and she is the third woman to win gold in the same event in three straight Olympics. And keep in mind that she would have more medals, and more golds, if the women’s 1,500-free had been an Olympic race her whole career.

She also told the world in her post-race interview that she’s not done.

Gymnastics

This is not unexpected at this point, but it is news: Simone Biles is officially out of the vault and uneven bars individual finals.

As we saw with Suni Lee’s all-around gold, Biles’s absence creates opportunities for her teammates. Here’s what Biles tweeted when it looked like MyKayla Skinner was done competing at the Olympics.

And here’s Skinner after finding out she gets to compete in the vault finals.

Beach volleyball

Group play is now over, so it’s time for a big-picture look. The headline: All four U.S. teams advanced into the knockout stage.

On the women’s side, both U.S. teams—April Ross and Alix Klineman; and Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil—went 3–0 to win their respective groups. They are on opposite sides of the bracket and would not have to meet each other until the gold-medal game.

On the men’s side, Jake Gibb and Tri Bourne went 2–1 to finish second in their group; and Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser went 2–1 but finished third. They are on the same side of the bracket and would face each other in the semifinals if they were to advance that far.

While You Were Sleeping

Rugby

The rugby is over, and I am sad. If anyone out there runs a rugby sevens fantasy league in non-Olympic years, please hit me up. Location and time of day matches are played would not be deal-breakers.

The U.S. women’s team beat China to reach the fifth place game, but fell to Australia to finish sixth. New Zealand beat France for the gold medal, and Fiji topped Great Britain to win the bronze.

Diving

I caught some of the women’s 3-meter springboard semifinals, and two divers from Team USA qualified for the finals. One is Krysta Palmer, who came in fifth. The other is Hailey Hernandez, who came in 10th. Palmer has been on the scene for a while and won a bronze medal at the 2017 world championships. But Hernandez just turned 18 in March and was supposed to be diving at the junior national championships this week in Indianapolis. Instead, she qualified for Tokyo and then made it all the way to the Olympic finals. I’m sure she and her family (and all the competitors at the junior national championships in Indianapolis!) are very happy.

Archery

Brady Ellison, the No. 2 seed in the men’s archery competition, lost his quarterfinal match against Turkey’s Mete Gazoz. That ended a disappointing Olympics for Ellison, who did not medal in individual, team or mixed team. Gazoz was seeded No. 10, but went on to win gold, so clearly he got hot at the right time. For what it’s worth, the bracket did not come close to following all chalk. Silver medalist Mauro Nespoli was No. 24 and bronze medalist Takaharu Furukawa was No. 46. Ellison beat fellow American Jacob Wukie in the round of 16 for his final win. And all credit to Gazoz, who ripped off three straight 10s in the fifth set to get past Ellison.

Archery is over, but I’ll be recommending it three years from now. It’s a sport that lends itself well to TV, with cameras zooming in on their faces as they, how shall we put this, smoosh part of the bow against their faces to steady themselves; with the slo-mo replays showing the arrows gently wobble through the air; and with the dramatic cuts to the target before those arrows arrive.

Water polo

The U.S. men lost to Hungary 11-8, dropping the team to 2-2 in group play. That makes two straight losses, though the team still has a plus-15 goal differential, thanks to a blowout win against South Africa. Four out of six teams advance out of the group into the quarterfinals, so the team’s medal hopes are still alive.

Volleyball

It was a rough night for the U.S. women’s indoor team, not just losing in straight sets to the ROC, but suffering an injury in the process. Jordan Thompson had been the team’s leading point-scorer, but landed hard on her ankle early in the second frame. It’s too early to know if/when she’ll be back.

Windsurfing

Yeah, a windsurfing update! Because I watched some at 1:30 in the morning. One thing I am always reminded of during the Olympics is that even if there is something you do not have strong feelings about, or particularly know much about, there are always people out there who care a great deal about it.

Competitive sailing is a world I have just had very little exposure to. But I always enjoy tuning into sports for at least 15 minutes just to hear what’s going on and the way they’re talked about. The commentator on this night was talking about how the style of boards they use in the Olympics has evolved over time (useful info). And he was also talking about how the windsurfing community was worried the sport would be voted out of the Olympics in 2012, but it survived (another good fact).

I guess what I’m saying is, when you listen to the top analysts in the world in a given sport, you get the best commentary:

Quick notes

Nigerian sprinter is out of the Olympics after testing positive for HGH.

Remember Sam Kendricks, the pole vaulter who tested positive for COVID-19 on the eve of the Olympics? USA Today’s Tom Schad has a story about Matt Ludwig, his replacement, who went from packing a bag in Ohio to competing in Tokyo in 48 hours.

Two judokas from Georgia were ejected from the Olympics for leaving the athletes’ village to go sightseeing. They had finished competing already, but given the COVID-19 numbers in Japan, it’s important for everyone to follow the rules.

Quadrathlon

It’s been a while since I updated everyone on the quadrathlon, my competition against colleague Dan Gartland, in which we drafted teams in five sports with no U.S. team in the picture. With group play over in field hockey, it’s time for an update. And the update is: I know how to pick field hockey teams.

I adopted both Australian teams. The men are 4–1. The women are 5–0. As for Gart’s teams: India went 4–1 (losing to my Kookaburras) and the Argentinian women went 3–2.

All four teams are in the knockout stage, which will make for some fun stakes in the single-elimination tournament.

All four of our handball teams (Norway’s men and Spain’s women for me; Sweden’s men and ROC’s women for him) are currently projected to make the knockout stage, but group play hasn’t concluded yet.

I have a slight advantage overall, but am at a disadvantage with Argentina’s failure to get out of group play in men’s soccer. (He has Mexico.)

Here’s our Google Doc with the schedule and standings, if you want to follow along.

What to Watch

Friday night and Saturday morning, all times ET.

Medals

Golf: The final round of the men’s tournament starts at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The leaders tee off at 10:09 p.m.

Track and field: The Saturday night session starts at 8:10 p.m., and the only medal event is the women’s shot put. The morning session picks up at 6:10 a.m. Sunday with medals in men’s high jump, women’s triple jump and the men’s 100-meters at 8:50 a.m. Usain Bolt won the event three Games in a row, but a new Fastest Man in the World will be crowned at the Olympics for the first time since 2004.

Cycling: The women’s and men’s BMX park final starts at 9:10 p.m. Saturday

Swimming: It’s the final night of indoor swimming! Starting at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, all races are finals: men’s and women’s 50-meter free, men’s 1,500-meter free, women’s and men’s 4x100-meter medley

Sailing: Men’s and women’s one-person dinghy medal races start at 1:33 a.m. Sunday

Diving: The women’s 3m springboard final starts at 2:00 a.m. Sunday

Tennis: Three gold-medal matches start at 2:00 a.m. Sunday: women’s doubles gold (Czech Republic vs. Switzerland), followed by men’s singles (Germany’s Alexander Zverev vs. ROC’s Karen Khachanov) and mixed double’s gold (two ROC teams).

Gymnastics: The individual events begin at 4:00 a.m. Sunday with the men’s floor exercise, women’s vault, men’s pommel horse and women’s uneven bars.

Fencing: Men’s team foil medal matches start at 5:30 a.m. Sunday

Weightlifting: Women’s 76kg at 6:50 a.m. Sunday

Badminton: Women’s singles medal matches start at 7:30 a.m. Sunday

Team USA

Beach volleyball: Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil are in the round of 16 against Canada at 8:00 p.m. Saturday. The men’s schedule won’t be finalized until after competition Saturday morning.

Wrestling: We get our first taste of Olympic wrestling at 10:00 p.m. Saturday. Two members of Team USA are in action on the first night: Ildar Hafizov and Adeline Gray.

Boxing: Duke Ragan fights Ireland’s Kurt Anthony Walker at 10:30 p.m. Saturday

Boxing: Richard Torrez Jr. fights Cuba’s Dainier Pero at 6:06 a.m.

Table tennis: The U.S. women’s team plays against Chinese Taipei at 6:30 a.m.

Equestrian: Eventing cross country team and individual starts at 6:45 p.m. Saturday

Volleyball: U.S. men vs. Argentina at 8:45 a.m.

Baseball: Team USA’s upcoming schedule depends on a game being played Saturday morning against South Korea. Check listings elsewhere when that game ends.

Caz’s Medal Picks

Every day Brian Cazeneuve will give us a few medal predictions for some upcoming events.

Cycling, Men’s BMX Freestyle Park

Gold: Logan Martin (Australia)
Silver: Rim Nakamura (Japan)
Bronze: Justin Dowell (U.S.)

Martin won the X Games in 2018 and 2019. Dowell built his own skate park in Virginia Beach and is known for his signature trick, The Twix.

Gymnastics, women’s uneven bars

Gold: Nina Derwael (Belgium)
Silver: Suni Lee (U.S.)
Bronze: Angelina Melnikova (ROC)

The inventive Derwael has debuted two versions of a Tkatchev release skill. Belgium has never won gold in Olympic gymnastics.

Diving, women’s 3-meter springboard

Gold: Han Wang (China)
Silver: Shi Tingmao (China)
Bronze: Jennifer Abel (Canada)

At 29, Abel is competing in her fourth Olympics. Chinese divers have won this event at the last eight Olympics.

Track and field, men’s high jump

Gold: Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar)
Silver: Ilya Ivanyuk (ROC)
Bronze: Maksim Nedasekau (Belarus)

Barshim won bronze in London and silver in Rio. He started out as a long jumper.

SI’s Best

• Friday’s SI Daily Cover: The medals keep piling up, but at what cost? Lauren Green’s in-depth look at the culture of USA Gymnastics.

• Avi Creditor wrote about the USWNT’s dramatic win over the Netherlands in penalty kicks to reach the women’s soccer semifinals. This game was in progress when Friday morning’s newsletter went out.

• And Michael Rosenberg on the heroics of goalie Alyssa Naeher.

• Here’s Pat Forde on USA Swimming’s struggles in the relays.

• And Forde on Caeleb Dressel’s big night, swimming three races.

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The weekend is here, and we’re halfway through the Olympics. Hopefully I have the math on the 13-hour time zone difference figured out by now

Thanks for reading.

— Mitch

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New on Sports Illustrated: Team USA Plagued by Trust Issues in Swimming Relays

The U.S. could use a relay revival to end on at the Olympics after a disappointing fifth-place finish in the inaugural mixed medley.

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TOKYO — The reason the United States finished a sobering fifth in the first Olympic mixed medley swimming relay was not the performance of any of the four swimmers. But the sight of 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby persevering through the breaststroke leg with her goggles in her mouth, having rolled down her face after diving in, served as an apt metaphor.

It was a snapshot of a relay gone wrong.

Scheduling issues, stamina issues, experience issues—and perhaps biggest of all, trust issues—likely played parts in the worst U.S. relay finish in Olympic history. Coaches Dave Durden and Greg Meehan admittedly “overanalyzed” the race in going with a flawed lineup, though freestyle star Caeleb Dressel also spoke some truth when he noted that “we don’t have the pieces right now.” The coaches were not playing a flush hand.

This is a weird, gimmicky new Olympic event, with two women and two men swimming the four legs. Strategic trial and error can be expected as coaches around the world wrap their arms around it. But they serve up medals for it like every other relay—and the Americans finishing fifth is a forehead slapper for sure.

“Fifth place is unacceptable for USA Swimming and we’re aware of that,” Dressel said. “The standard is gold.”

After what Durden and Meehan described as extensive study of all the numbers, plus a dash of “gut feel,” they opted for a lineup strategy that differed significantly from the other seven finalists. The U.S. was the only relay team that put a female breaststroker to go up against the fastest human ever in that event, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty. It also was the only relay to anchor the freestyle leg with a male—and while Dressel is the fastest in the world in the 100 free, he was destined to be too far behind to make a difference.

By times, the largest gap between men’s and women’s gold medalists here is in breaststroke. Peaty, who is the world-record holder, won the 100 breast in a time 7:58 seconds faster than Jacoby’s gold-medal effort. So why did the Americans roll the dice on the biggest of mismatches? And why did they risk leaving their best relay swimmer (Dressel) in a too-little, too-late position?

The answer is multi-layered. But here are some of the factors:

• Not going with a male breaststroker is the easiest second guess. But the U.S's best in that event, Michael Andrew, had just contested a 50 freestyle minutes earlier—and if there is one thing we’ve seen with Andrew and his light training regimen, his stamina is not the best. (Dressel, by comparison, had no problem swimming the 50 and then producing a fast relay leg in his third swim of the morning.) Also, having been coached by his father on a one-man team for most of his life, Andrew has less relay experience than most and might not be as committed to the team cause. Lastly, there is the significant fact that Andrew has been one of the bigger disappointments of this competition so far—or was until the time when the relay lineup had to be submitted an hour before the session started. (Andrew then swam a good 50 free to make the final in that event.)

The other option from the individual 100 breaststroke was Andrew Wilson, who was O.K. but not great in the mixed medley preliminary and had already logged 800 meters of racing this week. The best play might have been Nic Fink, who finished fifth in the 200 breast. He’s had some quality relay performances in the past.

Jacoby fought hard in her leg, especially given the fact that her goggles were literally in her mouth—“I was definitely panicking a little bit,” she said. That’s a mishap routinely seen in age-group races but almost never at this level. (Yes, Michael Phelps swam with water in his goggles in the 2008 Olympics 200 butterfly, but that was a momentary flip where they still remained on his eyes, not in his mouth. Jacoby was only wearing one swim cap, as opposed to two, which increases the chances of a total goggle malfunction.)

Jacoby’s time was good—nearly as fast as her gold-medal mark. For an Olympic rookie, that’s a game effort under extreme duress. She showed some character in that moment. But ideally, relay swimmers are .5 to .7 faster with benefit of a flying start instead of a flat start.

Even if her goggles had stayed on and she’d gone a second faster, Jacoby wasn’t going to put the U.S. on the podium. But the Alaskan had no international relay experience, and likely no high-level relay experience nationally. Lilly King, world-record holder in the 100 breast, has been through the international battles and was certainly an option—theoretically one capable of posting something in the low 1:04 or high 1:03 range. But she hadn’t been faster than 1:05 in four 100s in Tokyo; Jacoby beat her handily head-to-head; and King was coming off an all-out 200 breast the day before.

Ultimately, the breaststroke problem was less Jacoby’s performance than her presence on the relay in place of a man. That’s not her fault.

• Dressel was absolutely going to be used on this relay, and moving him up to butterfly would have increased his impact on the race. Torri Huske, in her first Olympics, did not produce a stellar relay split, although part of that could be attributed to being caught up in the wash behind several other teams. Regardless, it contributed to the hole Dressel had to try to swim out of at the end.

But replacing him with a female on the freestyle leg also was not a cut-and-dry call—because who do you choose? The U.S.'s best 100 free swimmer, Abbey Weitzeil, was coming off a 50 just minutes earlier. So was Simone Manuel, a relay star for years struggling with health issues in 2021. The best option in that spot might have been Natalie Hinds, who twice turned in good legs on the 400 freestyle relay earlier in the week.

Quite simply, American swimming has never had an Olympic relay meet this bad. Five relays in, the results are one gold (men’s 400 freestyle), one silver (women’s 800 freestyle), one bronze (women’s 400 freestyle) and two podium misses (fourth in the men’s 800 and this fifth). And don’t look now, but the American men will be underdogs to Great Britain in the medley relay Sunday—an event the U.S. has never lost at the Olympic level.

Egos battered, the U.S. could use a relay revival to end this meet and reassert itself. To do that, the Americans need to very quickly solve some trust issues and find the right eight people to finish the job.

More Olympics Coverage: 

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• Caeleb Dressel's Olympic Schedule Is Not for the Faint of Heart
• Put on the Spot, USWNT's Alyssa Naeher Has Proved She Can Thrive

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By Juliet Macur from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3f7sLIz

New on Sports Illustrated: Caeleb Dressel's Olympic Schedule Is Not for the Faint of Heart

After a three-race performance on Saturday that included another gold medal, the U.S. swimmer has two more medals on the line Sunday.

TOKYO — Caeleb Dressel has been known to flex his unparalleled athleticism around the pool, but he’s notably scaled back some of his trademark rituals this week. No vertical leaps behind the starting blocks. No vaulting himself out of the water and onto the deck, landing on his feet.

If the world’s fastest swimmer and his full sleeve of tattoos can be understated, Dressel has done it. “Trying to conserve as much energy as I can,” the American sprint sensation explained Friday. “I haven’t even jumped out of the pool yet; I’ve been taking the ladder. Every time I can get a little edge, I’ll take it.”

Dressel was conserving energy for days like Saturday, when the physical investment was going to be at its highest. Across an ambitious 110 minutes that ranged from the brilliant to the bizarre, he swam three races. The results: a

world record and gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly; a second blazing performance that advanced him to the 50 freestyle final as the top seed; then the hopeless task of trying to salvage a failed mixed-medley relay.

“I wouldn’t want that every day,” Dressel said of the single-session triple, “but I can handle it for a day or two.”

Sunday, the last day of swimming, will require him to squeeze the lemon dry. Dressel has his final two races of these Olympic Games—his 11th and 12th trips to the blocks this meet, counting earlier rounds of races—chasing gold medals Nos. 4 and 5. Neither will come easy, and both will come with the weight of history and expectation attached.

If he wins the 50, Dressel will become just the third U.S. male swimmer to capture three individual gold medals in one Olympics. The other two: Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz, the most elite company possible. (Among the other American male Olympians who have accomplished that feat: Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis.)

If he wins the 50 and the American men’s medley relay triumphs to gain a measure of redemption in a meet rife with relay disappointment, Dressel will have authored one of the great swimming performances in Olympic history. But if the medley relay loses, which seems likely given the American struggles in the relays here, it will mark the first time in history that it did not win that event at the Olympic level.

That specter of that possible outcome, plus anchoring a mixed medley unit that finished fifth Saturday and being left off an 800 freestyle relay that failed to medal, would leave Dressel with quite the peaks-and-valleys Olympic experience.

It also will leave him mentally and physically taxed to the max. Dressel has always poured all of himself into a meet, and the more ambitious the program, the bigger the toll. After a six-gold performance at FINA World Championships in South Korea in 2019, he collapsed into the arms of his family. This time around, with his wife, parents and siblings far away in the U.S., he will need his teammates to hold him up—literally and metaphorically.

“I’m just tired,” Dressel said Saturday. “This sport’s really not that easy. Does that mean I can’t swim fast [Sunday]? No. It’s just probably going to be a little more hard-earned.”

The Dressel Triple was one of the more remarkable single sessions in Olympic history—perhaps an unprecedented one. It began with the butterfly, which on paper was the surest of Dressel’s events but brought the most pressure. He felt it.

“This sport was a lot more fun when nobody knew my name,” he said. “I was a little shaky. … I was telling my brain to shut up, it was a little bit annoying. Yeah, I was nervous.”

One reason to be nervous, despite already owning the world record (49.50 seconds) and ranking as the only active swimmer ever to break 50 seconds: He had a legit challenger. Hungarian Kristof Milak would make Dressel earn it. The 200 world-record holder and gold medalist in that event earlier in the week swam the best 100 of his life, making it closer than expected at the end.

Dressel used his unmatched starting speed to gain his customary advantage, powering through the first 50 in 23 seconds flat. But Milak was only .65 behind at the turn, and everyone knew he would be closing with a rush. Milak swims the race much like Phelps, building through the first 50 and then finishing faster than anyone else.

Indeed, the 21-year-old Milak finished faster than anyone in history Saturday—his second 50 was 26.03 seconds, easily eclipsing Phelps’s fastest time of 26.35 in the latter half of a 100 fly. But Dressel finished very well himself, coming home in 26.45, tying his best back half ever. That was good enough to take down his world record by .05, and with slightly better timing at the turn and the finish he could have dropped that another tenth or two.

“That was a really fun race to be a part of,” Dressel said. “It was extremely close. It took a world record to win an Olympic final. I didn’t even die. He just came home really well. He’s going to put me out of a job one day.”

While that may be true if the job is winning the 100 butterfly, Dressel has several other specialties. He won the 100 free in a dramatic duel with Australian Kyle Chalmers earlier this meet. And he has the 50, which he contested a little more than an hour after the butterfly, shrugging off fatigue and cruising through his semifinal in 21.42 seconds.

Then the timetable really became condensed.

Dressel hopped out of the competition pool at 11:20 a.m., Japanese Standard Time, and went directly to the adjacent diving well to warm down. Thirteen minutes later he was out of the water and putting on clothes over his suit, drying his cap in his towel, and then joining his relay teammates in the ready room at 11:42.

Then he was back behind the blocks to swim again, in a race where a questionable relay order left Dressel way too far behind to get the U.S. on the podium. The result was fifth place, a stunning pratfall.

“Fifth place is unacceptable for USA Swimming and we’re aware of that,” Dressel said. “The standard is gold.”

Dressel is talented enough to win gold in other events—he assuredly is the U.S’s best 200 individual medley swimmer (he owns the short-course American record in that) and perhaps its best 200 freestyler as well. The difficulty is cramming more events into his program.

There is only one Phelps, who can take on five individual events plus a full menu of relays. For mere mortals—even freakishly athletic ones like Dressel—there isn’t much wiggle room when you factor in the relay demand. And that demand has never been higher, given the addition of the mixed medley and the current state of American relay options.

If Caeleb Dressel’s value to U.S. swimming in the post-Phelps world wasn’t already evident, his exhausting triple Saturday made it so. Now all he has to do is follow it up with a heroic double Sunday. The vertical jumps and leaps out of the pool can wait; the guy needs all the energy he can muster to finish these Olympics.

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