According to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Warriors forward Draymond Green has committed to play for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics.
While the NBA is setting up for the start of the final Eastern and Western conference postseason series, Team USA basketball is beginning to prepare for the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Although the team likely won’t be set until the end of the NBA Finals, a member of the Golden State Warriors has reportedly committed to playing for Team USA. According to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Draymond Green is among one of the initial commitments to Team USA for the Tokyo Olympic run.
Portland Trail Blazers guard and Oakland native Damian Lillard joins Green as early commitments for the Gregg Popovich-led squad. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, Team USA also hopes to secure a commitment from Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal.
Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard and Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green are among the initial commitments to Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics this summer, sources tell me and @joevardon.
In 2016, Green helped Team USA win a gold medal in the Rio de Janeiro edition of the Olympics, averaging 1.9 points, 2.1 boards and 1.3 assists in 9.9 minutes per contest.
During the 2020-21 campaign, Green tallied seven points on 44.7% shooting from the floor with 8.9 assists and 7.1 rebounds in 31.5 minutes per game. Along with being a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year award, the Michigan State product was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive first team.
Team USA training camp for the Summer Olympics is set to begin on July 6 in Las Vegas.
Twenty-five former and current Florida men’s and women’s swimmers will make the trip to Omaha, Nebraska, to vie for a spot on Team USA.
Twenty-five former and current Florida men’s and women’s swimmers will make the trip to Omaha, Nebraska, to vie for a spot to represent the red, white and blue at the Tokyo Olympics. The trials will run from Sunday, June 13 to June 20 at the CHI Health Center.
The current Florida swimmers that are set to compete are Clark Beach, Ethan Beach, Adam Chaney, Jace Crawford, Will Davis, Trey Freeman, Brennan Gravley, Dillion Hillis, Caleb Kravitz, Kieran Smith, Tyler Watson, Bobby Finke, Kevin Vargas, Kathleen Golding, Vanessa Pearl, Allie Piccirillo, Taylor Ault, Amanda Ray, Talia Bates and Tylor Mathieu are all scheduled to compete in various events. The Gators alumni set to compete include Caleb Dressel, Ryan Lochte, Mitch D’Arrigo, Sherridon Dressel and Natalie Hinds.
Seven Florida swimmers rank in the top 10 of their respective events and three former ones who accomplish the same feat.
The top two in each event will make the U.S. Olympic team and in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle, the top six will find their name on the roster.
Team USA is chasing its 250th gold medal. It currently resides at 246.
There will be lots of orange and blue swimmers to cheer for at the Team USA Olympic Trials this week for sure.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – World No. 1 Dustin Johnson will not represent the red, white and blue in the Summer Games in Tokyo.
Johnson said Saturday following his third round in the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass his schedule will keep him from trying to win a gold medal.
“It’s right in the middle of a big stretch of golf for me, so that was the reason I was kind of waffling on it a little bit,” Johnson said. “It’s a lot of traveling at a time where it’s important for me to feel like I’m focused playing on the PGA Tour.”
Johnson pointed out that the British Open is July 15-18 at Royal St. George’s in England, which is 11 day before the men’s competition in the Olympics is scheduled to begin at Kasumigaseki Country Club, 35 miles north of Tokyo.
Four days after the men’s competition ends in Japan, the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational begins in Memphis.
Then the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin two weeks after Memphis.
“I think if there was a little more time (between tournaments), especially if you weren’t trying to fly right from Tokyo to Memphis and play a WGC, yeah, I obviously definitely would have thought about it a lot more,” Johnson said.
The top 15 players in the Olympic Golf Rankings the day after the U.S. Open ends in June are eligible for the Olympics. A country’s representation is limited to four players. The field will be set at 60 players.
With Johnson opting out, World No. 3 Justin Thomas, No. 4 Collin Morikawa, No. 5 Xander Schauffele and No. 6 Bryson DeChambeau lead the standings for the U.S. Patrick Cantlay, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau and Daniel Berger are also ranked in the top 15.
As for Johnson’s play in the Players, he’s shot 73-70-73 and stands well down on the leaderboard. In Saturday’s third round, his tee shot on the par-3 17th hit the flagstick on the fly and rolled into the water.
“That just sums up my week right there,” he said. “I felt like I’m playing good, just not scoring very well, missing some short putts. I feel like I’m swinging good, I’m hitting some good shots, just making some mental mistakes.
“Just need to get a little more focused on what I’m doing and what I’m trying to do.”
The Olympic swimmer weighed in on discussions about athletes receiving preferential treatment for the COVID-19 vaccine.
After a challenging last 12 months plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic, swimming superstar Katie Ledecky remains hopeful.
Hopeful the Tokyo Olympics this summer will safely happen. Hopeful her preparation in trying to win up to five gold medals isn’t suffering because of the added distractions and what-ifs. Hopeful she and her fellow athletes will be able to receive COVID-19 vaccinations before the Opening Ceremony on July 23.
Ledecky said she’s training as if the Games will take place. And at this point, she really doesn’t have much of a choice, even when it’s sometimes impossible to ignore all the speculation less than five months out.
But optimistic outlook aside, the six-time Olympic medalist has a firm stance when it comes to debates about athletes jumping the line for a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of more vulnerable people.
“We’re waiting in line,” 23-year-old Ledecky said Wednesday during a Zoom call with reporters. “I feel pretty strongly that we all have to get it when it’s our turn, and I really hope that that’s soon for all of us, not just athletes.
“And I hope that we’ll be back soon by the time — I mean, hopefully before Olympic trials, but definitely by Tokyo as well. I haven’t heard anything on timing of any of that. I’ll get it when I’m told that I can get it.”
Katie Ledecky nearly lapping her competitors during the 1,500m freestyle final of the 2017 FINA World Championships. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
The International Olympic Committee is not requiring athletes get vaccinations before competing — though it’s encouraging them to do so if the vaccine is available but hasn’t provided any indication that it will help them jump the line, USA TODAY Sports reported. The World Health Organization is continuing to work with the IOC and Japanese officials, and in January, it said Olympic athletes should not receive preferential treatment, especially ahead of healthcare workers and more vulnerable populations.
The U.S. Olympic Committee isn’t pushing for American athletes to get priority access to a vaccine either, but it has been in contact with the White House about the situation, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.
Responses from 20 Olympic countries surveyed by The Wall Street Journal indicate that many nations are willing to risk public blowback by at least seeking to advocate on behalf of athletes’ vaccination.
Following early shutdowns in the U.S. last spring, Ledecky and four-time Olympic medalist Simone Manuel swam together in a backyard pool under coach Greg Meehan before their training at Stanford resumed in the summer.
Their current COVID-19 protocols include being tested three times a week, and only members of the same household are allowed to swim in the same lanes during practice, said Ledecky, who lives alone.
Ahead of the Olympic trials in June, Ledecky said she’s “in a good spot right now” in terms of training. Looking to add to her already stunning collection of Olympic hardware, she’s aiming to qualify in the 200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle events. (The latter is Ledecky’s most dominant event — she holds the world record — and it’s the first time women can compete in it at the Games.) She also wants to qualify for the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
And while she hopes she’ll have the opportunity to be vaccinated prior to the Olympics, she said she doesn’t think she’d consider skipping them if she’s not.
“Whether we all have the vaccine or not, we are gonna have to do the exact same things in Tokyo — the mask wearing, the distancing the testing,” Ledecky said about the hypothetical situation. “Even if you get the vaccine and you have a positive test, you’re still able to spread the virus potentially. So there are lots of questions in play like that.”
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For the TYR Pro Swim Series event in San Antonio next week, she said she will travel for the first time in about a year, and with the rules USA Swimming has established, she feels these events can be done safely.
Ledecky — who turned pro in 2018 after her sophomore season at Stanford and graduated last fall — also expressed confidence in Tokyo organizers to keep athletes safe with protocols, like restricting their movements in the Olympic Village.
“They’re talking as though they’re planning for the fact that not very many athletes may be vaccinated,” Ledecky said. “I hope that many athletes are vaccinated by then, and I hope U.S. athletes are vaccinated by then.”
A big obstacle in the NBA’s way is now gone, according to a new report from the Times of London that the Olympics won’t happen.
One of the biggest potential obstacles in the NBA’s way when they were planning how to conduct the current season is no longer going to be in the league’s way as they are trying to finish a 72-game season amid the coronavirus pandemic. But it’s also a blow to many athletes globally who have been training for this moment their whole lives.
The Tokyo Olympics, which were moved from 2020 to 2021, are unlikely to happen as the Japanese government has internally lost faith that they will be able to hold the game due to the coronavirus, according to The Times of London. The NBA had been hoping to finish their season before the Olympics, which several players, including LeBron James, said they would be open to participating in.
With the Olympics looking like it’s not going to happen, that could potentially give the NBA more latitude to make the season longer and get an entire regular season in while still maintaining the health and safety protocols.
While this is of course a blow to athletes across the nation who were hoping to compete in the Olympics, including several NBA players, it opens up more possibilities for the NBA schedule and also presumably gives players who would have to play in the Olympics more time to recover after the season.
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported on Friday that the NBA wants to avoid competing with the Olympics in Tokyo.
The NBA was hoping to make a decision today about modifications to the collective bargaining agreement and the plan for the 2020-21 season. The league had proposed a 70-72 game season starting almost immediately on Dec. 22, with camp starting a month before that, but players had reportedly pushed back on that idea and preferred a start in mid-January.
On Friday, the league countered with what they see as an undesirable conflict with the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to start on July 23, which involves significantly fewer games, which means significantly less money, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times. The Olympics, being a major worldwide sporting event that often draws the attention of casual fans, is clearly something the league does not want to compete with.
A 50-game season would reduce player salaries significantly in 2020-21, since NBA pay adheres to a regular-season schedule
The NBA's 72-game model calls for teams to play roughly 14 games a month through May, followed by the playoffs through mid-July — before the Olympics begin
Obviously, Olympic basketball is not as much of a concern here, because the best players will be playing in the NBA Finals that would potentially start just a few weeks before the Olympics. With the NBA also coming to terms with the fact that there won’t be fans, maximizing what they can from the game as a television product is likely their biggest priority.
Former Auburn softball legend Emily Carosone will return to Auburn as an assistant coach. The announcement was made public on Wednesday by head coach Mickey Dean.
𝘼𝙡𝙡-𝘼𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣. 𝘼𝙡𝙡-𝙎𝙀𝘾. 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙧. 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙣.
Now add assistant coach to her long list of titles! 😎
“We are excited to have Emily join our staff as a full-time member…she has earned this opportunity as a player and as our volunteer assistant for the last three seasons.”
Carosone left Auburn before the 2020 season start to begin training with the Italian National Team for the Tokyo Olympics. Prior to her departure she served as a graduate assistant in 2017 and the program’s volunteer assistant in 2018-2019.
She’s Auburn’s all-time leader in five categories, per auburntigers.com they are as follows: career batting average (.406), hits (285), runs (267), on-base percentage (.534) and hit by pitches (85). Carosone is a three-time All-American whose defensive performances and leadership helped clinch the 2015 and 2016 SEC Softball Tournament titles. She also helped the Tigers advance to the 2015 and 2016 Women’s College World Series.
“I’m excited to be back with the Auburn Family,” Carosone said. “There’s no other place I’d rather be.”
Carosone was drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 National Pro Fastpitch Draft. She has playing experience with the Chicago Bandits, Cleveland Comets, and USSSA Pride. While her journey to the Olympics has been postponed, her return to Auburn is welcomed with open arms!
Steve Kerr doesn’t know yet about how the next NBA season will affect the league’s involvement with the Olympics.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to hearing about the NBA’s plans for next year’s 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The Olympics were postponed and rescheduled for 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kerr is an assistant coach on Team USA, and he said he hasn’t spoken with head coach Gregg Popovich yet about what’s in store for next summer, according to Tim Reynolds of the AP.
“Believe it or not, I haven’t had a single conversation with Pop about that,” Kerr said, per Reynolds. “And the reason is because we don’t know. We’ve been talking almost daily now for the last couple of weeks and before that we were speaking once every few weeks. So, we haven’t even had a single conversation because there’s nothing to report.”
The qualifying tournaments are slated to begin in June 2021, and four countries will advance to the Olympics from those tourneys. The Olympics are set to begin July 23, but that whole timeline is poised to run into the next NBA season.
When news of the NBA’s resumption came out, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported a tentative date of Dec. 1 for the start of the 2020-21 season. After that, though, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the NBPA told players a Dec. 1 start for next season is “unlikely.”
Since uncertainty currently surrounds the NBA’s involvement with the Olympics, USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and Popovich will wait until the plan for next season is clear “before mapping out an exact plan to build the roster,” per Reynolds.
Even if next season still begins in December, that means the regular season would probably end around May, per Reynolds. The league’s best would be gearing up for the playoffs with the Olympics around the corner.
“We’re just sort of waiting to hear what the news is,” Kerr said, per Reynolds. “If the news is good and we’re going to be able to take part, we’ll be ready to roll. And if not, we’ll deal with it later.”
The golf qualifying system for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was extended after the games were moved to 2021. Here’s what that means.
Tiger Woods was on the outside of making the U.S. golf team for the Tokyo Summer Olympics when the sport spectacle was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
But Woods has plenty of time to make the team.
The International Golf Federation and International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday an adjustment to the qualifying system that will accommodate the new dates. Golfers now will accumulate Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR) points through June 21, 2021, for the men, and June 28 for the women. Field sizes for both the men and women remain at 60 players.
The Tokyo 2021 Summer Games have been rescheduled for July 23-Aug. 8, with the golf competitions scheduled to be held at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
The Olympics Golf Rankings are based on the men’s Official World Golf Rankings and the Women’s World Golf Rankings (WWGR). On March 20, however, both rankings were frozen and it has yet to be determined when each will resume.
The top 15 players at the end of the qualifying period will be eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players per country. After the top 15, there will be a maximum of two players per country that doesn’t already have two or more players in the top 15. The host country will be guaranteed a spot.
As it stands on the men’s side, the U.S. is one of three countries – the others being England and Australia – with two or more players ranked in the top 15.
The USA would be represented by No. 3 Brooks Koepka, No. 4 Justin Thomas, No. 5 Dustin Johnson and No. 7 Patrick Reed. Johnson, however, said he wouldn’t participate in the 2020 Summer Games, although he might change his mind after the postponement.
The next in line are No. 8 Patrick Cantlay, No. 9 Webb Simpson and then No. 11 Woods, who went to the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles when he was 8 and has spoken often of his desire to play in the Olympics. He’ll be 45 next summer so he’s eyeing it as his last shot of making the squad.
No. 12 Xander Schauffele and No. 13 Bryson DeChambeau are also ranked in the top 15. The USA is so loaded that No. 16 Tony Finau, No. 17 Matt Kuchar and No. 18 Gary Woodland are also within grasp of a berth.
Currently on the women’s side, the most notable name not eligible for the Olympics is Inbee Park, who won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games when golf returned after a 112-year absence. Park is at No. 11 in the rankings but sits as first alternate behind South Koreans Jin Young Ko, Sung Hyun Park, Sei Young Kim and Jeongeun Lee6.
The American team would be represented by Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson. The host country, Japan, would also have three players: Nasa Hataoka, Hinako Shibuno and Ai Suzuki.
“The fairest and most equitable way to determine the qualifying athletes was to align the previous qualification system with these new dates,” said Antony Scanlon, IGF executive director. “The IGF will continue to work closely with the IOC and Tokyo 2020 to address the other areas that the postponement of the Games affects our sport and our athletes, to develop the necessary plans.”
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.
