Category: Olympics

A Paralympic France-Brazil blind soccer matchup featured an awesome penalty kick

Blind soccer is AWESOME.

There are many truly phenomenal sports at the Paralympic Games in Paris, but few events might be more impressive than blind soccer.

Blind soccer — also known as blind football — has existed since 1996 and is an adaptation of soccer for athletes with vision impairment.  It was first featured during the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games, and it includes some unique differences to support athletes. Per the Paralympics’ site, teams consist of four outfield players and one goalkeeper. Outfield players are completely blind (with low visual acuity and/or no light perception), and goalkeepers are typically sighted or partially sighted.

To keep things fair, all outfield players must wear eyeshades when playing and can use off-field guides for assistance. The ball used in the field of play makes a noise that assists players with positioning and orientation. Considering all those facts, a penalty kick is all that much more incredible. You have to see this awesome shot during a France-Brazil matchup on Tuesday. It was awesome.

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Paralympics wheelchair tennis rules: What you need to know for the 2024 Paris events

A look at the Paralympics tennis rules.

The 2024 Paralympics have been fantastic, from the opening ceremony to the events we’ve seen so far.

And now, there’s wheelchair tennis, which is mostly similar to the sport we saw in the Paris Olympics when it comes to the rules.

The differences? Glad you asked.

The one you’ll notice when watching a match is that the ball can bounce twice instead of just once. That’s legal and it leads to some incredible rallies.

Per UK’s Paralympics site, there’s another rule to take note of: “At the serve, the server must be in a stationary position before serving the ball, but is allowed one push of the wheelchair before striking the ball.”

That’s it! Enjoy.

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Caitlin Clark and the Fever fangirled so hard over meeting Simone Biles and Gabby Thomas

Caitlin and the Fever met Simone Biles and Gabby Thomas, and the whole team was HYPED.

Simone Biles and fellow Olympian Gabby Thomas met the Indiana Fever Wednesday, and the team’s reaction was priceless.

Before the Fever’s matchup with the Connecticut Sun, Biles posted on her Instagram story that she was attending her first WNBA game. Simone and Gabby picked one heck of a matchup to attend. Caitlin Clark was doing Caitlin Clark things during a back-and-forth game that included breaking a WNBA record, an unbelievable crosscourt assist and trading buckets with DiJonai Carrington.

The Fever eventually won and they were rewarded with a locker room visit by Simone and Gabby. Unsurprisingly, nearly every player could hardly contain themselves as they posed for photos. The pure joy on their faces is spectacular.

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Lynn Williams revealed how she broke the gold medal she won with the USWNT during the Olympics

“They should have made them more sturdy, and honestly, I can’t be faulted for that.”

Olympian Lynn Williams actually broke the gold medal she won with the USWNT during the Paris Olympics, and the story of how it happened is hysterical.

Imagine going out to celebrate you being a total boss at the Olympics, and you break the thing that shows you were a total boss during the Olympics. I’d be so upset. I’m talking, “Nobody speak to me. I need a moment to dramatically cry,” upset. But not Lynn Williams.

She turned what would surely be a traumatic event for most people into an epic story. The soccer star recently turned to TikTok to share how she now has “the world’s most expensive” coaster, and the details did not disappoint. Here’s what Lynn said about her gold medal:

“Obviously, you guys all saw me swinging the thing around…ironically that’s not how it broke…we were dancing…I had it on my shoulder like a little purse, and I was just jumping — dancing, jumping — and I jumped down, and it just fell off.”

“So, everybody was dancing, and I was roaming around, trying to get my medal off the ground. It has a dent now. So, it’s definitely one-of-a-kind, and the little bar [inside the medal] is gone.”

“So, I don’t know what happened. The bar got loose, and it fell out. Probably, swinging it around didn’t help, but I just think they should have made these better. They should have made them more sturdy, and honestly, I can’t be faulted for that.”

@lynnwilliams9

Story time… 🥇

♬ original sound – Lynn Raenie Williams

@espnw

Lynn Williams #storytime 😂 (via @Lynn Raenie Williams) #gold #medal #funny #Olympics

♬ original sound – espnW

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Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik and his medal-winning pommel horse moves are joining Dancing With The Stars

The legend of Pommel Horse Guy lives on.

Someone had the brilliant idea of casting Stephen Nedoroscik in the new season of Dancing with the Stars, and I’m so excited.

To be honest, I’m more than excited. I’m THRILLED. Starting September 17, Stephen and several other dancers, yet to be named, will be moving and grooving all over the dance floor in front of judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.

Per Good Morning America, Steve is also super pumped about joining the cast and will bring his expert Olympian moves to his routine. He says, “I want to do some flares. I want to bring some of that gymnastics — maybe a backflip or handstand. I want to have fun with it.”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C–Ru0MC6z-/?igsh=MTc1c2dyYzl3ZHQ4aA==

Host George Stephanopoulos asked Steve how he would dance with his medals around his neck. “That’s a good question,” Steve said.” “Dangerously!”

If fans are wondering if he’ll dance the same way he competes — without his glasses — Steve explained that things might have to change.

“I’m scared they’ll fly off is the thing, but you know, maybe we could do a gadget — keep them on. Maybe a new pair of glasses. Match the theme, right?”

I LOVE THIS GUY. GIVE HIM ALL THE THINGS.

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Naeher: Lack of gold medals brought USWNT together at Olympics

The U.S. somehow entered the 2024 Olympics with zero collective gold medals

Alyssa Naeher has said the U.S. women’s national team came together at the Olympics over the group’s collective lack of even a single gold medal.

The USWNT entered the 2024 Olympics on the back of two straight tournaments without a gold medal. In 2016, the U.S. was stunned in the quarterfinal by Sweden and exited with no medal, while in 2021 the team beat Australia in the bronze medal game after losing to Canada in the semifinal.

Two players from the 2012 gold medal-winning Olympic team, Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn, were in the mix for the 2024 roster, but both were left at home by head coach Emma Hayes.

That meant all 22 players on the 2024 roster entered the Olympics with a collective total of zero gold medals — a rarity for a program as historically successful as the USWNT.

According to Naeher, who turned in an outstanding tournament at goalkeeper, the team bonded over their opportunity to do something special as a collective.

“For us specifically going into this one, something that we talked about as a group before was unlike any tournament team that I can remember for sure, nobody on this team had an Olympic gold medal,” Naeher said on SiriusXM FC.

“That’s really rare going into this kind of a tournament — you always have that one person that’s still around from 2012 or something. But I think that was something very unique to this group, and once we figured that out, it helped jell the group even more because we were kind of like, ‘Hey, this is something special and unique that we can do together as the 22 players in this room.'”

The USWNT now has a roster full of players with a gold medal, of course, as the team beat Brazil 1-0 in the Olympic final earlier this month.

It was the program’s fifth gold medal, having also won in 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012.

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Simone Biles recreated her head-turning Olympics meme on TikTok and it’s glorious

Recreating your own meme and somehow making it better is top-tier talent.

There’s humor, and then there’s Simone Biles‘ humor. Frankly, it’s unmatched, and the other girls don’t stand a chance.

Simone has been living her best life since her fantastic run during the 2024 Paris Olympics. She finally got to see other Olympic athletes compete, hung out with Elmo and even unexpectedly started a funny meme just for being herself.

The meme took over social media, with people finding all kinds of ways to use a moment where Simone turned her head and appeared startled by something to their advantage. Simone seemingly knows about her head-turning meme being a thing with the internet because she recreated it for a TikTok with Netflix, and it’s glorious.

@simonebilesowens

👀👀👀 @Netflix

♬ original sound – Simone Biles

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NFL fans roasted Tyreek Hill for suggesting he’d only race Noah Lyles in a 50-yard sprint

Tyreek Hill is already moving the goal posts with Noah Lyles.

One of the lingering stories from the Paris Olympics has been the “feud” between Miami Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill and 100-meter men’s gold medalist Noah Lyles.

When Lyles (correctly) said NFL Super Bowl champions are not “world champions,” Hill took exception. He came at Lyles by saying he could actually beat him in a race. Later, during an NBC Sports interview, Lyles trolled Hill, claiming he didn’t even know who the Dolphins playmaker was.

On Sunday morning, Hill circled back to some recent comments from Lyles challenging the receiver to a race as long as he’s “serious” about it and not just talking trash on the internet.

There’s one important caveat.

Hill set the parameters at 50 yards, not 100 meters, as everyone had initially assumed (and as Hill himself had maintained) while following this back-and-forth. Why, it’s almost as if he’ll only race Lyles under conditions he’s comfortable in — a 50-yard sprint would clearly favor/help a short distance-oriented professional football player:

Oh, come on.

I can’t lie. Hill coming back at Lyles while saying he’d race him for 50 yards is pretty weak. If he thinks he’s faster than the world-class sprinter, he’d race him at any distance, but especially 100 yards. Hill suggesting 50 yards is him leaning on his wheelhouse — the Dolphins’ speedster is known for turning on the jets in 50-yard bursts past helpless cornerbacks. And if he were to lose in 50 yards to Lyles, he could probably make the outcome look a lot closer than it should be.

But all of this was never the implicit discussion anyway. It just makes Hill look fearful of losing to Lyles.

Naturally, fans on Twitter called out Hill for suggesting a 50-yard race with Lyles.

Jordan Chiles releases first statement since Olympic drama

Jordan Chiles opens up.

Jordan Chiles, who was one of the biggest hits in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris has released her first statement since the IOC stripped her of her bronze medal.

Chiles originally finished five, then after a review took home the bronze medal. Several reviews later, the latest is Chiles is likely to keep her third-place medal.

” I am overwhelmed by the love I have received over the past few days. I am also incredibly grateful to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, USAG and the USOPC for their unwavering support during this difficult time. While celebrating my Olympic accomplishments, I heard the devastating news that my bronze medal had been stripped away. I had confidence in the appeal brought by USAG, who gave conclusive evidence that my scored followed all the rules. This appeal was unsuccessful.”

Chiles went on to talk more about the events, and her reactions. Chiles made an announcement pretty soon after the Olympics she would be coming back for two more seasons at UCLA.

14-year-old Australian skateboarder’s parents promised a pet duck if she wins gold, so she did

14-year-old Australian Trew’s parents told her that she could get a pet duck … under one Olympic condition.

Different countries award different prizes for the Olympics. Most give some financial figure, while it has been reported that others add on bonuses like a house. The ask of a 14-year-old to her family was much different:

Australian skateboarder Arisa Trew secured a promise from her parents that if she won gold, she could get a pet duck. With that extra motivation, she won.

“My parents promised if I won the gold medal I would get a pet duck,” she said to Australian outlet nine.com.au. “Because they are really cute, then I can take it on walks and take it to the skate park.”

She added that her parents wouldn’t allow a dog or cat due to the amount of travel of the family, but Trew felt like “a duck might be a little easier.” Apparently, her dad gave the thumbs-up, but her mom remained hesitant. Trew proposed the stipulation of her winning gold, and her mother approved.

“It will just be in my yard and I’ll get a little pool thing for it,” said.

“I’m going to take the duck to the skatepark as well,” she added in a video interview posted to Reddit.

Trew, who has been skateboarding since she was 8, won gold with a score of 93.18 on her final run, which included two 540s. Legend Tony Hawk, who gave tips to Trew last year to help her become the first girl to land a 720, complimented Trew on the gold medal.

“Congratulations to Arisa Trew on her epic last run in women’s park finals this afternoon, landing her to a well-deserved gold medal,” Hawk posted to Instagram, according to Nine.

She has the gold and the praise from Hawk, but it’s unclear if she has the final prize: the promised pet duck.