Tag: Olympic games

Olympic Update: Jenna Prandini wins silver medal in 4x100m relay; Cole Hocker advances to 1,500m final

Oregon legend Jenna Prandini finally got her Olympic medal, with a silver in the 4x100m relay, and Ducks freshman Cole Hocker advanced to the 1,500m final.

The Oregon Ducks have been well-represented at the Tokyo Olympics this past week, with well over a dozen athletes running in the ‘Athletics’ section of the games.

Competition on the track is well underway, and for fans of the Ducks, it has been highlighted by Oregon legend Raevyn Rogers, who mounted an insane kick to win the bronze medal in the 800m final.

We will continue to update this list as the Olympic games go on, with some big stars continuing to take the track.

The best scoring performances ever against Team USA

Considering America’s place in the world when it comes to men’s basketball, it should come as no surprise that the United States often receives opponents’ absolute best shots in international competition, be it at the Olympics or World Cup. Just …

Considering America’s place in the world when it comes to men’s basketball, it should come as no surprise that the United States often receives opponents’ absolute best shots in international competition, be it at the Olympics or World Cup.

Just recently, in an Olympic elimination game between the top-seeded Americans and second-seeded Spaniards, we saw Ricky Rubio, a career 11.0 point per game scorer in the NBA whose career-high scoring-wise as a pro was 34 points, go toe-to-toe with Kevin Durant and drop 38 against Team USA, albeit in a defeat for Spain.

It was the greatest scoring mark against Team USA in the Olympic Games  ever:

Below, check out the 25 best scoring performances that have come against Team USA in the two major FIBA tournaments – a list that, for the most part, isn’t a who’s who of NBA legends.

WATCH: Raevyn Rogers mounts insane comeback to win first Olympic medal in 800m final

Raevyn Rogers looked to be down and out, but a massive kick down the backstretch shot her past 4 women and put her in third, winning bronze in the 800m final.

Now that’s how you finish a race like there’s no tomorrow.

For about 90 percent of the race, Oregon Ducks legend Raevyn Rogers was near the back of the pack, seemingly letting her chance at a first Olympic medal in the 800m final get away from her. Up ahead, United States sensation, Athing Mu, was dominating and pulling away down the backstretch.

While the world was focused on the 19-year-old who was about to cruise to her first of hopefully many medals, Rogers was mounting a charge.

Down the final straightaway, Raevyn flew up the leaderboard, making her way past four other women to just barely edge out a third-place finish as she crossed the stripe. Mu won the gold, and Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson — another 19-year-old — won the silver.

It was stressful until the very end, and at many points, didn’t look like it was going to happen, but Rogers found a way to get the job done and land on the podium in her first Summer Olympics.

The legend lives on for one of Oregon’s all-time favorites.

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Olympic Update: Jenna Prandini finishes 13th in 200m; Raevyn Rogers to run in 800m final

There are a number of former Ducks competing at a high level in the Tokyo Games, with Raevyn Rogers advancing to the 800 final, and Jenna Prandini finishing 13th in the 200m.

The Oregon Ducks have been well-represented at the Tokyo Olympics this past week, with well over a dozen athletes running in the ‘Athletics’ section of the games.

Competition on the track is well underway, and for fans of the Ducks, it has been highlighted by Oregon legend Raevyn Rogers, who advanced to the 800m final which will be run on Tuesday morning at 5:25 a.m. PT.

We will continue to update this list as the Olympic games go on, with some big stars continuing to take the track, including Devon Allen, Marcus Chambers, and English Gardner. Stay tuned as the Tokyo Games continue to roll on.

Real Madrid has more players than any other team at the Olympic basketball tournament

Real Madrid, the storied Spanish club with 10 Euroleague titles leads the way with eight players taking part in the Olympics.

While this year’s Olympic basketball tournament features more NBA players than ever before, it’s still mostly FIBA clubs who are the most represented at the Games.

And there’s actually a runaway No. 1 as far as the club with the most male basketball players participating: Real Madrid, the team that produced a certain Luka Doncic, who just tied the record for second-most points ever scored in an Olympic basketball contest.

The storied Spanish club leads the way with eight players taking part in the Olympic Games this summer, followed by Fenerbahce out of the Turkish League, Australia’s Melbourne United, the Miami Heat (the NBA team with most male basketball representatives in Tokyo), Olimpia Milano (Italy) and Union Olimpija (Slovenia), all of whom have four players at the Games.

Below, check out the teams with the most players at the Olympic male basketball tournament. There’s a few other NBA teams on the list.

That all changed in 2006. A couple of …

That all changed in 2006. A couple of days before Bryant would score 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, Colangelo invited him to his office in Phoenix. The Lakers were in town to face the Suns, but Colangelo had something else on his mind: He wanted Bryant to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympics. “I knew in advance that he really wanted to be a part of U.S.A. Basketball,” said Colangelo, who had taken over as managing director of the men’s national team after its disastrous third-place finish at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens — a far cry from the standard of excellence set by Michael Jordan and the so-called Dream Team that won gold in 1992. “It was on his list of things that he wanted to accomplish, because he had never played for U.S.A. Basketball. No junior teams or anything like that. So it was important to him, and his commitment was huge.”

“I think Kobe challenged everybody,” …

“I think Kobe challenged everybody,” said Jim Boeheim, one of the team’s assistants and the head coach of men’s basketball at Syracuse. “He was like, ‘I’m going to defend the toughest guy on every team, I’m going to push everyone, so just come along with me.’ And he did that from Day 1.” For Colangelo, it was a window into greatness. The foundation for all of Bryant’s feats — the 81-point game, the scoring titles, the series-clinching jump shots, the three championships he had already won with the Lakers — was his work ethic and desire. The spectacular was rooted in the mundane, in the monotony of hard labor.

At the Olympics, Bryant helped lead the …

At the Olympics, Bryant helped lead the way in the gold-medal final against Spain — and did it with flair. With just over three minutes remaining in a tight game, Bryant effectively sealed the win with a 4-point play. He raised an index finger to his lips to silence the Spanish fans in the crowd. A few minutes later, as the Americans celebrated on the court, Colangelo embraced the player he had once dreamed of drafting. The wait, in some ways, was worth it. “How often does someone have an objective, a goal, and have it perfectly executed?” Colangelo asked. “It was just so special.”

ESPN’s recently aired documentary …

ESPN’s recently aired documentary series “The Last Dance,” chronicling Michael Jordan’s final championship season with the Chicago Bulls, rekindled interest in Jordan’s long-running feud with Isiah Thomas, including how the Pistons’ star was left off the 1992 Dream Team that won Olympic gold in Barcelona. Author Jack McCallum addressed the controversy in the most recent episode of his “The Dream Team Tapes” podcast series. McCallum said Jordan brought up the issue of Thomas himself in a 2011 interview. “When they called me and asked me to play — Rod Thorn called me. I said ‘Rod, I won’t play if Isiah Thomas is on the team.’ He assured me. He said, ‘Chuck doesn’t want Isiah. So, Isiah is not going to be part of the team,’” Jordan said on the recording that McCallum played during the podcast.