The NBA season ended just a few days ago but for fans who want their basketball fix, the Olympics will help.
The NBA season ended just a few days ago, but for fans who want their basketball fix, the Olympics will help provide necessary excitement.
When the United State’s men’s national team begins to play against other top competition from around the world, the men’s team will be coached by Gregg Popovich. He is a five-time NBA champion leading the San Antonio Spurs and has served as head coach for Team USA since taking over for Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski back in October 2015.
Also on the coaching staff for the United States is Steve Kerr, who won five NBA titles as a player and has also already been crowned champion three times as a coach. Kerr played for Popovich for several years when he was a professional player.
Others on the coaching staff are Lloyd Pierce — who was head coach of the Atlanta Hawks until this past season and was recently hired as lead assistant for the Indiana Pacers — as well as Villanova men’s basketball head coach Jay Wright.
Meanwhile, the United States women’s basketball team is led by Dawn Staley, who has held the position since 2017.
(Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
She played professional basketball for more than a decade both domestically and internationally and is now the head coach for South Carolina’s women’s basketball team. She was recently considered a candidate for the head coaching position with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Her staff includes Dan Hughes (who recently retired as head coach of the Seattle Storm), Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve and former George Washington women’s basketball head coach Jennifer Rizzotti — who recently took over as head coach of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun.
Men’s basketball at the Tokyo Olympics is set to begin Sunday, July 25, and Team USA’s first game is against France at 8 a.m. ET.
Women’s basketball at the Games begins Monday, July 26, and Team USA’s first matchup is against Nigeria at 12:40 a.m. ET on Tuesday, July 27.
We’re all familiar with many of the standard sports we’ll see in the Tokyo Olympics — which officially began this week — like athletics (like track and field), gymnastics, swimming, judo and so on.
And while you’ll familiarize yourself with some of the new and returning events coming to this Summer Games soon enough, we decided it would be a good idea to rank them by watchability before we see them, which might motivate you to tune in to watch some of them.
Lots of Olympics fans are tired of the Ralph Lauren looks at the Opening Ceremony.
No matter what Olympic year it is, fans have a general idea of what Team USA’s athletes will wear to the Opening Ceremony because since 2008, Ralph Lauren has been outfitting them. And those outfits generally look the same.
Covered in red, white and blue, American athletes don preppy, New England-looking styles that often look repetitive and stiff, especially when compared with the unbridled enthusiasm of the people wearing them.
At Friday’s Opening Ceremony — which officially kicked off the Games, even though some sports began playing this week — Team USA’s look included jeans, navy blue blazers, blue-and-white striped shirts and ascots. And let’s just say a lot of people weren’t huge fans of the look.
(Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Olympics fans on Twitter didn’t hold back and roasted Team USA’s look this year, as well as those of previous Games.
Naomi Osaka was the final torchbearer at the Tokyo Olympics.
As the Opening Ceremony at the Summer Olympics was coming to a close Friday night in Tokyo, Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka lit the iconic Olympic cauldron.
Osaka — the No. 2 tennis player in the world and four-time Grand Slam champ who will compete for the host country at the Games — was the final Olympic torchbearer in what’s usually a long and celebrated relay in the months leading up to the Olympics.
As NBC Sports noted, the relay began in March in Fukushima before traveling across Japan for 121 days and reaching Tokyo on July 9. However, this year because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the public portion of the torch relay was canceled, so torchbearers did not run through the streets surrounded by fans as originally planned.
But the tradition of lighting the Olympic cauldron at the Opening Ceremony continued, and Osaka described it as “the greatest athletic achievement and honor” of her life.
Undoubtedly the greatest athletic achievement and honor I will ever have in my life. I have no words to describe the feelings I have right now but I do know I am currently filled with gratefulness and thankfulness ❤️ love you guys thank you. pic.twitter.com/CacWQ5ToUD
While the rest of the LPGA chased Jeongeun Lee6’s at the Amundi Evian Championship, Gaby Lopez enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime walk in Tokyo.
While the rest of the LPGA chased Jeongeun Lee6’s historic run at the Amundi Evian Championship in France, Gaby Lopez enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime walk in Tokyo.
Lopez carried the flag for the Mexican delegation during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. She told Golf Channel back in January that the president of the Mexican Olympic Committee first approached her about the possibility after she won the 2020 Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.
The 27-year-old Arkansas grad is a two-time winner on the LPGA and is ranked 61st in the world.
“It’s a huge honor to be able to represent my country in women’s golf in Mexico, which isn’t a huge sport,” Lopez told Golf Channel’s Amy Rogers. “To just inspire little girls and [for them to] see what a golfer and little girl can do to achieve their dreams, that’s going to be why I play golf and that’s what it means to me and my life and my career.”
Julieta Granada was the flagbearer for Paraguay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Inbee Park, the LPGA Hall of Famer and 2016 gold-medal winner, was one of the final Olympic torchbearers during the Opening Ceremony at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
At 27 years old, American swimmer Natalie Hinds made her first Olympic team after initially retiring in 2016.
After a disappointing performance at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, Natalie Hinds’ swimming career came to an abrupt and devastating end. Or so she thought. She quietly waved goodbye to the sport, graduated from Florida and moved to Atlanta for an internship in digital sports media.
But her love for swimming never completely evaporated.
And now, five years after retiring and letting go of her Olympic dream, the 27-year-old swimmer has mounted an incredible comeback, qualifying for her first Games as one of the oldest first-time American Olympic swimmers in history.
“I still have moments where I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m at [training] camp to go to the Olympics,'” Hinds recently told For The Win. “Like, this is so crazy. And you really prepare for this moment, but you really can’t fully prepare for the actual moment.”
At the Rio trials in 2016, she finished 40th in the 100-meter freestyle — her highest finish in three events and a far distance away from the top-2 swimmers who qualified for the 2016 Games. (She also competed in the 2012 trials.)
“I was just disappointed, and I felt like I really just let distractions get to me throughout that past year,” Hinds said. “I kind of just didn’t want to swim anymore. I wasn’t swimming fast, and it wasn’t enjoyable for me at the time. So that just kind of equals being miserable.”
A 20-time All-American Florida Gator, she was embarrassed and didn’t announce her departure from the pool. So the then-22-year-old Midland, Texas native began working for Turner Sports and eventually Bleacher Report, while coaching swimming as a second job. And that was about as close as she got to watching swimming or keeping up with the sport on an elite level “because it was just still painful.”
But something changed for her as she watched the 2018 U.S. nationals.
“I think it just took me seeing how much fun they were having at nationals to start to get the wheels turning like, ‘Is that something that I’d want to do?'” Hinds said. “I did a lot of soul-searching before I decided that I was going to give this a try.”
Hinds tested herself at first to see if she could consistently get up at 5 a.m. for an early workout at the pool and have the drive to keep going. By Fall 2018, at 24 years old, she was training with Athens Bulldog Swim Club under Georgia Bulldogs coach Jack Bauerle and competed in her first meet that December.
But like her exit from the sport two years before, Hinds didn’t tell anyone she was attempting a comeback. She said she worried about announcing her return and swimming poorly again, so she decided to mostly keep it quiet — part of her efforts to grow as a person and athlete, limiting outside distractions and pressure to focus purely on herself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jd_IoY3keQ
And now, Hinds made her first Olympic team as one of the oldest swimmers on Team USA and the second-oldest member of the American women’s team competing in the pool, behind 31-year-old four-time Olympian Allison Schmitt. (Overall, marathon swimmer Ashley Twichell is the oldest first-time Olympic swimmer at 31, per USA Swimming, and she’ll swim the open-water 10K at the Games.)
With a time of 53.84, Hinds finished fourth in the 100 freestyle, which was strong enough to qualify her for the 4×100-meter freestyle relay team and bring her remarkable comeback story full circle. She dropped nearly three seconds off her time — an eternity in sprints — compared to the 2016 trials.
“I’m a completely different swimmer, ” Hinds said.
“You learned about yourself when you’re not swimming all the time,” she continued. “A mental break for me was really good. It allowed me to reset and just fall in love with the sport again because you obviously don’t want to do something you don’t love or that you’re not having fun doing.”
The opening heats for the 4×100 free relay will close Saturday night’s lineup at the Tokyo Aquatics Center (about 7:40 a.m. ET), and the final is set for Sunday morning (about 10:45 p.m. ET Saturday).
Abbey Weitzeil, Erika Brown, Olivia Smoliga and Natalie Hinds celebrate at the medal ceremony for the 100 freestyle Olympic Trials in June. (Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
Since her swimming comeback, Hinds said she’s much more focused on nutrition and recovery. She’s mindful of her physical and mental health and said she her emphasis on visualization has alleviated some pressure and helped her when she’s behind the blocks ready to race. Shutting out social media ahead of Olympic Trials in June was also key. She now listens to audio books and began weaving “as a way to cope with the anxiety,” which she then turned into a side business, Loominary Design, last year.
Hinds’ new approach to her training is working for her now that she’s in Tokyo for the Summer Olympics, and some on the team see her as a natural leader, despite being an Olympic rookie.
“I’ve gotten to know Natalie over the last few years, and she’s an awesome young person,” said Team USA’s women’s coach Greg Meehan, who also coaches at Stanford. “Fiercely competitive, and to see her in that moment at trials make her first Olympic team was really special. …
“She has this energy, and it makes everybody around comfortable. And so when you when you take that personal setting and bring it over to the pool, or you add to the competitive piece once we’re outside of training and actually go into competition, we are really blessed that she’s here with us.”
Simone Manuel and Natalie Hinds at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
In 2015, Manuel, Neal and Hinds finished 1-2-3 in the 100-yard free, respectively, becoming the first Black swimmers to sweep an event at NCAA championships in what Hinds described as “a turning point” for her. She began working to create experiences for Black people and people of color interested in swimming and elite levels of the sport through speaking engagements, free swim lessons and collaborations with USA Swimming and Team BLAC — the Black Leadership in Aquatics Coalition, which was formed in 2020 after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd.
Hinds said she’s the only Black swimmer on Georgia’s pro team, and she and her white peers have had uncomfortable conversations about racism in and outside of swimming. Her efforts to talk about racism in swimming and help diversify the sport have been aided by her white teammates, she said, though she acknowledged other swimmers of color might not feel similarly.
“Me making the Olympics is really cool, personally,” Hinds said. “But it also is an amazing win for the Black community and the minority community because I’m the fourth [American] Black female [swimmer] to make the Olympic swim team. And as amazing as that is, it’s really sad also.
“So it’s just important that I’m always representing a larger group of people and doing what I can to help, so there’s more people that come after me. And hopefully they can see me and be like, ‘Wow, she literally was living a completely different life and decided to come back.'”
Hinds’ return to the pool after retiring is an example for swimmers in college or their 20s to keep pushing, Meehan said. While many first-time Olympic swimmers for Team USA are in their teens and early 20s — there are 11 teenagers on the U.S. Olympic swim team this summer — Hinds proves that doesn’t always have to be the case.
“Obviously, [Hinds is a] fantastic human being,” said Olympic swimmer Lilly King. “I love just being around her and getting to know her more and more each day. But I think it just goes to show that this sport isn’t just for young girls, which is what it was even just 10 years ago. You can look back and find a different way of training and really make the best out of it. You just have to be determined to do it.”
Still, when Hinds hit the wall in the 100 free at Olympic Trials and saw her fourth-place finish, the reality of her Olympic dream coming true didn’t immediately sink in, she said. She didn’t realize she was going to the Tokyo Games until after the medal ceremony when she returned to the warm-down pool.
It was at the end of competition for the night, and no one was really around her, she said. It was quiet, and when she finally had a moment to herself, it hit her.
“In a matter of 10 seconds, I had gone through two and a half years of feelings,” Hinds said. “So it was a very overwhelming feeling, and I was not really able to stand. I just needed a moment to breathe through it and like accept that I’m really proud of myself.
“I felt very grateful — just very grateful that it was me who made this team, and I was grateful that I was able to leave [no] stone unturned. And it worked out for me.”
The Olympics really played video game music during the Opening Ceremony
Everyone knows what Olympic-themed music sounds like when they hear it. It’s regal. It has this sort of pristine vibe to it. You know the vibe I’m talking about.
So, naturally, everyone was surprised when they turned on the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics and they heard Kingdom Hearts’ (!!!!) Olympus theme music player.
Kingdom Hearts, y’all. THE Kingdom Hearts. For real.
For those out of the know, Kingdom Hearts is a video game made by Square Enix — a Japanese video game publisher — that involves lots of Disney characters. It’s pretty awesome, to say the least. Many a moment of my childhood was blessed by this game.
And here it is. Playing at the Olympics. Specifically, the Olympus theme – the music that plays when you enter Hercules’ world.
And, as it turns out, it wasn’t just Kingdom Hearts. Apparently, there was a whole video game music playlist they used as athletes marched around the stadium.
It included a bunch of Square Enix properties, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter and more, per Nikkan Sports.
Full list of video game music playing for the Parade of Nations, including Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, Ace Combat, Sonic the Hedgehog, NieR, Soul Caliber, and more 🎮🎶https://t.co/62vSPloH5tpic.twitter.com/94JMqaYN7b
Caeleb Dressel already has two Olympic golds, but he could win a lot more at the Tokyo Olympics.
For the Tokyo Olympics this summer, For The Win is helping you get to know some of the star Olympians competing on the world’s biggest stage. Leading up to the Opening Ceremony, we’re highlighting 23 athletes in 23 days. Closing out the series is Caeleb Dressel.
Although swimming fans are well-versed on the incredible talents of Caeleb Dressel, the 24-year-old sprinter isn’t quite a household name among general sports fans — yet. Because with his outrageous speed and versatility, he’s in position to bring home a ton of hardware and be a star of the Tokyo Olympics.
The former Florida Gators swimmer is headed to his second Olympics after competing in the 2016 Rio Games, when he won two medals. But since then, he’s picked up some speed, along with 13 total world championships.
So ahead of Dressel’s second Olympics, here are five things to know about Team USA’s swimming superstar and team captain (along with Simone Manuel, Ryan Murphy and Allison Schmitt).
Let us help you calculate the time difference for the Tokyo Olympics.
You want to watch the Tokyo Olympics, and you’re even willing to wake up at weird hours to do that. But you don’t know when to set your alarm.
If that sounds like something that could reasonably happen to you sometime between now and the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics on August 8, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. That means if it is noon in New York City, it is 1:00 a.m. where all of the Olympic athletes are. So if an event is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. in Tokyo, it will be 6:00 a.m. on the East Coast and 3 a.m. on the West Coast.
If you’re in a different time zone, convert your time to EST and then use this guide if you need a visual explanation any time over the next few weeks:
Japan Standard Time
Eastern Standard Time
12:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
1:00 a.m.
12:00 p.m.
2:00 a.m.
1:00 p.m.
3:00 a.m.
2:00 p.m.
4:00 a.m.
3:00 p.m.
5:00 a.m.
4:00 p.m.
6:00 a.m.
5:00 p.m.
7:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
8:00 a.m.
7:00 p.m.
9:00 a.m.
8:00 p.m.
10:00 a.m.
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11:00 a.m.
10:00 p.m.
12:00 p.m.
11:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m.
12:00 a.m.
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1:00 a.m.
3:00 p.m.
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3:00 a.m.
5:00 p.m.
4:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m.
5:00 a.m.
7:00 p.m.
6:00 a.m.
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7:00 a.m.
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8:00 a.m.
10:00 p.m.
9:00 a.m.
11:00 p.m.
10:00 a.m.
Of course, if you don’t feel like doing all of that math, you’ve got another option that can get you out of this pickle fairly easily as well.
Over the course of the next few weeks, one of your best friends can be worldtimebuddy.com. Just type in your location and the location of where you’d like to know the time, and it will tell you exactly what time of day it is there.
Hint: This resource can also be pretty helpful if you’re in a long-distance relationship!
The men and women of Team USA will be sporting looks from Adidas as they compete to make history at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
As the official uniform provider for USA Golf at the Tokyo Olympics, Adidas worked with Tokyo-based artist Hiroko Takahashi on how the red, white and blue will be presented at the Games. Takahashi is known for her minimalistic touches in her art. She used elements such as circles and straight lines to represent infinite possibilities as USA Golf works to make history in this year’s competition.
The golfers will play Kasumigaseki Country Club near Tokyo, and each round’s uniform scripting will represent a different characteristic: Round 1 – wind, Round 2 – forest, Round 3 – fire, and Round 4 – mountain.
Golf in the Games begins with the four-round men’s competition July 30-August 1, and the women will compete August 4-7.
The USA men’s outfits for the Tokyo Olympics (Adidas)
The men’s team will be fitted in Ultimate365 and Heat.Rdy polos so players can remain cool as Tokyo’s temperatures rise. The material is made of Aqua-X yarns that are built to wick away sweat.
Round 1 men: An Ultimate365 polo in a white base with bold blue stripes.
Round 2 men: A sport-inspired light gray printed polo with a blade collar.
Round 3 men: A bright red polo featuring Takahashi’s unique representation of fire.
Round 4 men: A blue polo that complements an athletic look with a single red stripe from the collar and into the sleeves for added design detail.
The men will have a blue pant option to wear as their bottoms. The pant is made with Adidas’ beltway material deigned for a soft and ventilated feel.
The USA women’s outfits for the Tokyo Olympics (Adidas)
The women will wear a mixture of Heat.Rdy and Aeroready materials to beat the Tokyo heat and play comfortably.
Round 1 women: A crew mock short-sleeve polo with a white base and blue stripes, paired with a 16-inch Ultimate Solid Skort with a bright red under short for an additional color.
Round 2 women: A choice between a mock collar long-sleeve shirt, short-sleeve or sleeveless polo featuring a sport collar construction. The women will pair this with a 3-inch pull-on woven short in blue with a USA logo and side slits in red.
Round 3 women: The players will be decked out in all red.
Round 4 women: A dress with a mock collar and hidden-zip closure. The dress is sleeveless and has an athletic cut.
“I think that I was able to design with a different perspective from when I design products for everyone to wear,” Takahashi said. “I believe that golf is a unique sport in a sense that it’s an individual sport, but you can also play it with a team. With that in my mind, I designed the USA Golf uniforms with links of circles and lines, imagining the powers of individuals coming together as one and spreading into infinite possibilities.”
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