Usain Bolt — owner of the 100m world record and eight gold medals — became a father in May.
The Jamaican Olympics legend introduced his daughter to the world Tuesday on social media, and we all got to find out her name, which is just the best: Olympia Lightning Bolt.
Not only do you get the use of his fantastic nickname, “lightning bolt,” but you also get a reminder of Bolt’s unreal Olympics performances.
I want to wish my gf @kasi__b a happy birthday. I get to spend ur special day with u. I want nothing but happiness for u & will continue to doing my best keeping a smile on ur face. We have started a new chapter together with our daughter Olympia Lightning Bolt ⚡️🎉🎊💫 pic.twitter.com/FhlwdaF2Zx
“This is the most overwhelmed I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Michael Phelps wanted to remind people that his battle against mental health issues has no “finish line.” There’s no neat and tidy end to his daily struggles with depression, even if the media portrays him in way that show he’s somehow made a complete comeback — and that he’s beaten the disease.
He hasn’t — he won’t.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak and during the rigors of quarantine, Phelps admitted he is struggling more than ever. And he seems to want to encourage others to create a health discourse around mental health during the pandemic.
“It has been one of those months. Nonstop, my mood jumping up and down and all around. The pandemic has been one of the scariest times I’ve been through. I’m thankful that my family and I are safe and healthy. I’m grateful we don’t have to worry about paying bills or putting food on the table, like so many other folks right now. But still, I’m struggling.”
“…There are times where I feel absolutely worthless, where I completely shut down but have this bubbling anger that is through the roof. If I’m being honest, more than once I’ve just screamed out loud, “I wish I wasn’t me!” Sometimes there’s just this overwhelming feeling that I can’t handle it anymore. I don’t want to be me anymore. It’s almost like that scene in “The Last Dance” where Michael Jordan is on the couch, smoking a cigar and he’s just like, “Done. Break.” He can’t take it anymore.
“This is the most overwhelmed I’ve ever felt in my life. That’s why I have times where I don’t want to be me. I wish I could just be ‘Johnny Johnson,’ some random person.”
Phelps issued a reminder: the times when he’s needed help the most have often been the times when he’s least likely to seek help from a therapist. But that’s the time when people need to take care of themselves.
In other words, love yourself at a time when it’s enormously important to do so. Love yourself, even — and maybe especially — when you don’t feel like you can.
The legendary USA squad was comprised of 11 Hall of Famers, including Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson, and swept through the Olympic slate with an average margin of victory of 43.8 points. This team was responsible for putting the NBA and basketball on the global stage that it is today.
But for Jordan, his business relationship with Nike did create a stir back in 1992.
The U.S. team’s podium apparel back then was outfitted by Reebok, and Jordan wasn’t too keen on displaying the Reebok logo while receiving his gold medal. He ended up covering the logo up with an American flag. But in the lead-up to that moment, he dealt with heavy pushback from former USOC executive Harvey Schiller.
That led to this moment captured on The Last Dance with Jordan calling Schiller an expletive.
Naturally, as this challenge escalates while people are social distancing and staying inside when possible, superstar Simone Biles took it to a whole new level, as GOATs do.
Forget the t-shirt. Biles — one of countless athletes all over the world impacted by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics being postponed until next summer — did a prolonged handstand while taking off a pair of sweatpants and hilariously offered a little commentary as she struggled with that second leg.
With a move seemingly only she could perform, we’d expect nothing less. She’s great at everything. And amazingly, in the replies to Biles’ video, some people are actually attempting it.
Meanwhile, others — including Ryan Reynolds, who was first part of Holland’s challenge — want nothing to do with it.
Simone I have to lay down and have someone else do it normally
A poll by Seton Hall University revealed some telling information about how sports handled COVID-19 and what to do going forward.
In the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic there are so many questions and variables to when the country can go back to functioning as normally as possible. Seton Hall University took a poll recently asking 762 people across the country a series of questions regarding some very large pressing issues in the sporting world.
The NFL has continued to do business as usual. Free agency has been going on while the draft will happen in two weeks as planned, albeit a virtual one, which led SHU to ask if social distancing was still in effect when the NFL season was to start, should the season actually start? The majority said no, 70% of the polled believe that the players safety is more important than getting back on the field for their viewing pleasure.
Many leagues have kicked around the idea of having games, but no fans in the stands, as the people polled were asked if they would watch if this were to happen. More than 3 of 4 people would, 76% answered yes, that they would be just as interested as before the social distancing went into effect.
The majority of people believed that the leagues shut down in the correct time frame, as 76% said that sports were canceled at the proper time, while another 16% said it wasn’t fast enough. The Olympic committee was one of the last to cancel their athletic events and once again the overwhelming majority believe this was the right thing to do, with 88% of people polled agreeing with the committee.
We are in the middle of unprecedented times, and with no clear end point, no one really knows the direction we will take as a nation. I personally would love to see sports return, but only with the safety of the players and staff put first. If this is unable to happen, postponing or canceling seasons might just be in the best interest for everyone, even if it means not seeing our favorite pastimes anytime soon. How do you feel about this? Would you return to sporting events if a cure hasn’t been found? Do you feel comfortable for athletes to return to empty stadiums?
Three-time Olympian Lolo Jones is a rockstar who appears to be handling the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics relatively well, all things considered.
When USA TODAY Sports broke the news that the International Olympic Committee was planning to postpone the Games — one day before it officially did — because of the global COVID-19 outbreak, the American hurdler and bobsledder made a joke about ordering a pizza and delaying her retirement from the track for another year. And while quarantining, she’s been posting funny videos to social media about how she’s killing time and working out — like bench pressing her couch.
So not only did her boredom lead her to try the handstand t-shirt challenge, but she also one-upped the people who made the challenge go viral: Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal. The Spider-Man actor shared a video of him doing a handstand while putting on a shirt and challenged Gyllenhaal, among others, to do it. And he did.
But like an elite athlete, Jones took it a step further. She put on two t-shirts while upside down on her hands *and* did it while having a glass of wine.
when I saw Spider-Man and Jake Gyllenhaal do a handstand challenge with one shirt…
first I want to thank them for having their shirt off because I haven’t seen a man in 25 days and also pic.twitter.com/BpQTiOsDY3
Postponing was really the only choice the International Olympic Committee had because, in addition to it not being safe to gather massive groups of people from around the globe during a pandemic, training facilities are closed. With only a few months out from the Games’ original start date, athletes everywhere are unable to train properly
But that’s not stopping them from attempting to train in some capacity. While practicing social distancing and staying at home, several Olympians and Olympic hopefuls are finding incredible and innovative ways to try to stay in shape and practice their respective sports at least a little.
[lawrence-related id=907524]
So we rounded up a bunch of videos showing off their creative workouts, which are really quite amazing.
April Ross, American beach volleyball player, 2-time Olympic medalist
Paul Chelimo, American track runner, Olympic silver medalist
Trying this out in case, there is a curfew! No Treadmill, No Problem!!!!!!! Tough Times calls for Tough Measures. I'm not about to show up at the Olympics Trials out of shape😅😅 Go Hard or Suffer the Rest of Your Life! pic.twitter.com/N71J2G1all
“The dream’s not gone; it’s just postponed,” three-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy told For The Win.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics officially being postponed last week was only the latest example of countless athletes and Olympic hopefuls’ lives being flipped upside down.
Prior to the International Olympic Committee’s postponement decision, gyms, pools and other training facilities had already closed, and several sports cannot be played while also practicing social distancing. So for the first time in history, the Games were postponed, and the IOC announced Monday that they are now scheduled to begin July 23, 2021, giving athletes about a 15-month training cycle to prepare.
While they have some clarity about their futures with a new date, they still face a variety of physical and mental health issues around pushing their training, goals and lifelong dreams back another year.
For The Win spoke with Olympic swimmer Ryan Murphy — who won three gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 100-meter backstroke (and broke that world record), 200-meter backstroke and the 4×100 medley relay — about his reaction to the postponement. We also talked to the 24-year-old American, who trains at California Aquatics in Berkeley, about how he’s coping with the change and what he’s doing to get creative with his workouts.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
What was your reaction to the Olympics being postponed?
It was really a slow bubble for us. Everything was progressing every day, and we were getting little snippets. We got a call on a Tuesday the week before the Olympics officially got postponed. We were training at the Olympic Training Center [in Colorado Springs] on Tuesday night from our coach that said, “Hey, they’re going to shut down the training center. Get out of there as soon as you can.”
That was really the first shock, and that’s when I started talking to a bunch of people trying to gain perspective on the severity of the health situation.
Like who?
I leaned on someone like my sister for that. She’s a physical therapist at a hospital in Chicago, so a lot of her coworkers are screening people for coronavirus. And after conversations like that, I understood the severity of the situation and the need we have to support the medical community to make sure they’re not overwhelmed.
The competitor side of me — it’s still hard because we started in a job and I want to finish that at the original date. Luckily, I’m someone who’s fortunate to be able to continue to swim and continue to pursue this dream. That’s a relatively small sacrifice we have to make compared to what the medical community is making.
Since the Olympics have been postponed, have you received any direction from USA Swimming about how to move forward in general and in terms of training?
The initial help from USA Swimming is on the mental health side. There was a call to talk with a USOPC sports psychologist.
It’s really that you’re operating within your current training group. My training group is Cal Aquatics, and we’ve been staying in touch regularly about things we can do on our own in the comfort of our homes to stay in shape and make sure we’re in a good spot when we can get back into the pool.
Ryan Murphy with Cody Miller, Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrian after winning the 4×100 medley relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
What have those conversations with other swimmers been like?
On the mental health side, I think the biggest thing is getting comfortable in just recognizing your emotions on this. I think it’s completely normal to be torn. It’s completely normal to wish you had a competition this summer. That’s very fair. On the same side, it’s totally normal to recognize the severity of this pandemic and realize that we have to be stewards of society and do our part to protect our community, our families, our friends.
And on my side, recognizing that I am fortunate. The dream’s not gone; it’s just postponed. I put a ton of effort into this season and was in a really good spot, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going not be in a great spot four months out from the Olympics next time around.
What have you guys talked about from a physical standpoint of how to stay in shape as much as you can right now?
We can plan for having a 15-month run-up to the Olympic trials and the Olympics. So getting creative with what you have at your disposal. Like, I was doing pull-ups on a tree the other day. I was pushing my car up the street in neutral up. Getting creative like that is fun and breaks up the monotony of regular training. So from a physical standpoint, I really don’t think we’re going to miss a beat.
While recognizing your emotions and allowing yourself to be upset, how are you coping with all that?
I’m someone that has to just talk it through. So that’s talking with my innner circle, my family. My family’s been great throughout all of this.
But also on the competitive side, talking to my close friends on the national team, whether that’s Chase Kalisz, Caeleb Dressel, Kevin Cordes, Nathan Adrian, Tom Shields, Josh Prenot, all the guys at Cal. They get it. They completely understand the mix of emotions as well, and really just pumping each other up. We’re all lucky we’re going to be able to do this again.
We’ll take the experiences this year and apply them to being better next year. So I think, ultimately, the performances are going to be better next summer than they could have been this summer because it’s another year of knowledge.
Aside from pull-ups on a tree and pushing your car up a hill, how else have you had to get creative with your workouts?
I live with five people, and everyone’s pretty active. So we have a decent supply of workout tools at our house. We have a boxing bag — I think it’s 100 pounds — so we were picking that up and doing squats with that. We’ve been doing a lot of stuff like jumping into a lunge, so then you get the impact of gravity so your muscles have to fire off really quickly. I’m going to get into biking too. I don’t usually bike, but I’m looking into stationary bikes now.
Open-water gold medalist Sharon van Rouwendaal shared a video of her swimming in a small blowup pool with a rope attached to her. Have you gotten creative swimming wise, or are you sticking to dryland?
Right now, I’m just doing dryland. Given that we have such a long time now until the Olympics, this has been my break from the water, which is totally healthy to do.
I’ve got some ideas for some stuff I can do in a pool, but that’s mainly vertical stuff. One idea I have — and I wouldn’t recommend people do this — but I have ankle weights. So I’ll put those on so I’m naturally sinking in the water. And I also have a band, so I can tie my legs together. So if I immobilize my legs, I’ll sink pretty quickly, so I’ll do some sculling to keep myself on the surface. So that’s an idea I have that I’ll start doing probably in the next couple days.
What pool would you do that in?
Luckily, Nathan Adrian has a pool, so I could do it there.
Had you considered the possibility of skipping the Games if they were going to go on as scheduled?
I’m not an expert on this, and I don’t think I can become an expert on public health overnight. So I was really leaning on the information I was getting from USA Swimming and from the World Health Organization. And I essentially would have followed the advice of the experts on whether to compete or not.
How do you think it might affect you to not be able to train properly a year out from the Olympics next summer?
I honestly don’t think it’s super important to be doing a ton of stuff in the water right now. I think I might be a little more new school in terms of my thoughts on that. I honestly think I could probably take two months out of the water and be perfectly fine for next summer. So I’m not stressing too much about getting back into the pool.
Not even a week after the 2020 Olympics were postponed the International Olympic Committee has finalized new dates for the Tokyo games.
About a week after the 2020 Olympics were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Olympic Committee has set new dates for 2021.
The Summer Games will start with opening ceremonies on Friday, July 23, and conclude Sunday, August 8.
From an IOC release sent Monday:
“These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organization of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
IOC president Thomas Bach said last week that all athletes who have already qualified for the Summer Games will remain qualified for 2021. Per Bach, about 43% of the qualifying spots are still up for grabs.
The global event will still be formally referred to as the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have officially been postponed. But has that ever happened before?
A day after USA TODAY Sports broke the news that the 2020 Summer Olympics would be postponed because of the global coronavirus pandemic, it became official.
The president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, announced Tuesday in a joint statement that the 2020 Tokyo Games — which were originally scheduled to begin July 24 — will be postponed.
They said the Olympics “must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021,” but they’ll still be referred to as the 2020 Olympics.
Have the Olympics been canceled or postponed before?
This is the first time in Olympic history that the Games have been suspended. But they have, however, been canceled — which is still a possibility, despite the IOC and Japanese government insisting otherwise.
1916 Summer Olympics: Canceled because of World War I.
1940 Summer and Winter Olympics: Canceled because of World War II. This was also back when both Games were still held in the same year.
1944 Summer and Winter Olympics: Canceled because of World War II.
And now, we can add the 2020 Tokyo Games to the short list of Olympics that didn’t take place as originally scheduled.
