Tag: tokyo olympics

Gators News: Olympics are over, time to look forward to fall

In the end, the Orange and Blue was among the best when it came to schools producing Olympic talent at this year’s summer games.

Welcome back from the closing weekend of the Tokyo Olympics. Despite the ongoing pandemic plus a myriad of other issues, the summer games somehow made it to the finish line as the world once again came together to compete on the international stage. The Gator Nation was well-represented the past couple of weeks, earning numerous medals across a slew of events while representing their respective host countries. In the end, the Orange and Blue was among the best when it came to schools producing Olympic talent. Take a look below at the final tally.

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LeBron James congratulates Team USA for winning gold in Men’s Basketball during Tokyo Olympics

LeBron James congratulated the Team USA Men’s Basketball team for taking home the gold medal in Tokyo.

Team USA took home another gold medal during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as the Men’s Basketball squad earned another win.

Team USA didn’t walk through the tournament this time around compared to previous years as it defeated Spain and Australia in close matches to reach the final; the exhibition matches and opening games also featured uncharacteristic losses.

Facing France in the final, which had notable NBA players Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum and others, Team USA needed to bring their best to win gold again.

It was another tight affair throughout the game, but Kevin Durant’s 29 points led all scorers, while Jayson Tatum chipped in 19 off the bench.

The win marked Team USA’s fourth straight gold medal in the Olympic Games, and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James congratulated the squad on Twitter for their achievement:

James, who has won two gold medals (2008, 2012) and a bronze (2004) at the Olympics, opted out of the tournament this year by joking he’d play for the Tune Squad instead.

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French men’s volleyball team celebrated its gold medal victory by dancing to the can-can

The can-can!

In a nail-biting final, the French men’s volleyball team took down the Russian Olympic Committee in a five-set gold-medal match Saturday at the Tokyo Olympics, earning its first gold medal in the sport. And the players’ on-court celebration was fabulous.

France won the first two sets, and the Russian Olympic Committee won the next two, forcing a thrilling back-and-forth fifth set. France won the match, 25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 15-12, after the final point was reviewed and upheld.

And when the French were officially the Olympic champions, they had the perfect celebration. As the can-can — the popular 19th century French cabaret song — played at Ariake Arena, the players and team members circled up and did their version of the famous can-can dance.

While they weren’t all in unison, many of them had their kicks nicely synched up. Gotta love it.

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Tom Brady FaceTimed Draymond Green after U.S. men’s basketball team won gold

After Team USA men’s basketball defeated France to win gold, Tom Brady FaceTimed Draymond Green to congratulate him.

When the U.S. men’s basketball team lost exhibition games against Nigeria and Australia and its first Olympic game against France last month, there were many criticizing the program.

But the U.S. men’s basketball team proved those critics wrong, winning gold with a 87-82 win over France in the Gold Medal game on Saturday.

Following the game, Warriors forward Draymond Green got a surprise from the GOAT himself, Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, who FaceTimed him after Team USA took home gold.

“You get a call from the (GOAT)…act normal!” Green wrote on Instagram. “Everything is Golden!”

While Green didn’t score any points, he did have two rebounds, five assists and two steals in 16 minutes of play.

It was Green’s former Warriors Teammate, Kevin Durant, who was dominant for Team USA, scoring a game-high 29 points, including 21 of those points in the first half.

This is Green’s second gold medal after he won one in 2016 at the Rio Olympic games. Team USA has now won four consecutive Olympic gold medals.

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It turns out the USA Men’s Basketball Team is still pretty far ahead of the rest of the world

Nobody is touching the US when it comes to basketball. And it’s not close.

As we entered into the Olympics, there were plenty of concerns about Team USA’s Men’s Basketball team.

Yes, they were riding in off of a 25 game winning streak. But they were also missing a bunch of their stars. There was no LeBron James. There was no James Harden. There was no Steph Curry. There was no Dwyane Wade. No Carmelo Anthony.

All of the big stars we were used to seeing just weren’t there anymore with the exception of Kevin Durant. This team felt like Kevin Durant and a bunch of guys despite the squad having stars like Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and more.

It just didn’t…feel the same. And then the unthinkable happened — they lost to Nigeria in their first exhibition game. Then they lost again to Australia after that. Then, once Olympic play actually started, they lost to France.

Everyone started to pile on. This team wasn’t built right. There were too many stars who weren’t doing the little things. The rest of the world was catching up.

Gregg Popovich said it himself to reporters in Tokyo, per the AP.

“The gap is smaller and smaller every year as far as talent is concerned,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said.

And you know what? He’s right. The talent around the rest of the world has gotten a lot better. Teams are catching up.

You’ve got teams in France, Spain and Australia with tons of NBA talent like Nic Batum, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Ricky Rubio and more. You’ve also got Slovenia with Luka Doncic, who can be the best player int he world on any given night.

Ben Simmons didn’t play this year. Neither did Giannis Antetokounmpo. Canada is only getting better. The rest of the world has improved and will continue to do so.

But Team USA’s run here makes it clear: As good as the rest of the world is getting, the United States is still comfortably better than their best.

Kevin Durant said it best himself in his Instagram Live session. It’s still not close.

“They had some power rankings out. They had us fourth. Behind Slovenia. Talking about they catching up to us, like, are you serious? This skill is unmatched. You dig?” 

He’s right. It is unmatched. And, despite a shaky start to the Games, they proved it.

Team USA’s margin of victory over the rest of the field through their five games of Olympic play was 20 points after their 87-82 win over France. It just wasn’t close. Kevin Durant was the best player on the floor in every game and that’s really all they needed to happen.

This isn’t to say that the path they took was easy. That isn’t true at all. They certainly had their struggles and they’ve alluded to them throughout the process. But they still dominated. And they won gold. At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.

So is the rest of the world better? Absolutely. But Team USA is still the best. And it’s not close.

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Lydia Ko dedicated her Olympic bronze medal to late grandma: I was ‘playing for her’

Lydia Ko is now a two-time Olympic medalist.

After winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, Lydia Ko is now a two-time Olympic medalist. And the New Zealand golfer dedicated her newest medal to her late grandmother, who died during the Games, she said.

Ko — who also won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics — finished third in the competition after losing a playoff for silver to Japan’s Mone Inami, while Team USA’s Nelly Korda won gold. Ko shot 65 in the final round.

In an emotional interview afterward with the bronze around her neck, Ko said she was playing for her late grandmother all week — in addition to her family and country – and dedicated the medal to her.

The 24-year-old LPGA star and former world No. 1 pro told the Golf Channel:

“It’s really cool. When I was out there playing, I said all week I’m out there playing for my country, and it’s a huge privilege to be able to represent New Zealand and to be able to have brought two medals for New Zealand. I’m super honored.

“Actually in our private life, we lost our grandmother I guess within a week ago, and I was, I think, also playing for her as well. …

“I just wanted to make our family really proud and our country proud, and to be able to win a medal for them, I think it means so much not to me but to everyone that has been in this journey with me. So this is for my grandma.”

Ko finished the Olympic tournament with a 70-67-66-65 performance.

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Kevin Durant’s Instagram Live session after Team USA’s gold-medal win was the absolute best

Kevin Durant’s Instagram Live is the best

Kevin Durant is one of the best basketball players in the world, plain and simple. There’s no debating that.

But there is a debate about whether that’s his best skill or not. Because as great as he is at basketball — and, don’t get it twisted, he’s an all-time great — he might be even better at social media.

He proved that to us all once again after Team USA’s gold-medal victory over France where Durant dropped 29 points and solidified himself as one of the greatest Olympian hoopers ever.

After the win and during the medal ceremony, Durant jumped on Instagram Live and gave us so much good content. SO MUCH.

Here are some of the greatest moments we saw.

*WARNING: THERE IS SOME NSFW LANGUAGE IN THESE VIDEOS* 

How JaVale and Pam McGee made awesome mother-son Olympic history

This is the coolest.

With Team USA’s victory over France in the men’s basketball gold-medal game Saturday at the Tokyo Olympics, JaVale McGee became an Olympic champion for the first time and made some awesome history with his mom, Pam McGee.

Pam is a Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer who helped lead USA Basketball to its first-ever gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. And now with the Denver Nuggets center’s gold medal, they’re the first American mother-son duo to win Olympic gold and the first overall to do it in Olympic basketball.

Winning any medal at the Olympics is an incredible accomplishment, but this is an extra cool achievement and moment for the McGee family.

But the McGees are not the first mother-son combo to win Olympic gold medals.

The only other known time this has happened was when the Soviet Union’s Valentina Rastvorova won gold in fencing at the 1960 Rome Games, and then her son, Yevgeny Grishin, won gold in water polo in 1980 in Moscow, according to the Associated Press and Olympic historian Bill Mallon.

More from the Associated Press:

“It’s an amazing feeling, man,” said [JaVale] McGee, who adds gold to his three NBA titles. “I’ve got a gold medal. My mother has a gold medal. We’re the first to do it, mother-son duo. It’s an amazing feeling. You can’t really explain it. Just knowing you’re the best in the world, amazing, man.”

JaVale was a late addition to the U.S. men’s basketball Olympic lineup after Kevin Love withdrew about a week before the Tokyo Games began. Pam said she felt an overwhelming sense of pride when her son was added to the Olympic team and added, via The Orange County Register:

“I always tell him, “We don’t care how we got in the door – front door, back door, side door – as long as we get to the table.’” she said in a phone interview with Southern California News Group. “I got cut from several teams before the Pan American team (in 1983) and then the Olympic team. Eventually, people will recognize the work, those hours you’re putting in the gym.”

A gold medal-winning mom and son is absolutely the coolest.

And once JaVale had his Olympic gold medal, he celebrated it and his mom’s achievements with a couple great Instagram posts showing off their hardware.

He wrote in one caption:

The originator, the woman who sacrificed, the standard to live up too! LOVE YOU MA!

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Allyson Felix made history winning 11th Olympic medal in the Women’s 4×400 final and fans were thrilled

Allyson Felix made history. Again.

Whenever you mention the greatest names to touch the track, you have to mention Allyson Felix. She is the GOAT.

Felix and the absolute dream team of Dalilah Muhammad, Sydney McLaughlin and Athing Mu won gold in the women’s 4×400 meter final on Saturday morning, giving Felix an 11th career Olympic medal in the final race of her Olympic career. And that final medal put her into a pantheon no one else in American history has been able to reach.

With Felix’s 11th medal, she surpassed Carl Lewis as the most decorated Olympian in American history.

It was an incredible race for Team USA.

And it was not close.

Just an absolutely spectacular win and an amazing way to close out her fifth and final Olympic games. She made history. Again.

Fans were so happy for her.

Olympic marathoner Molly Seidel asked her family to have a beer for her after surprise bronze finish

“I’m so tired. Please drink a beer for me!”

Molly Seidel, have yourself a day!

Coming into the final days of the Tokyo Olympics, Seidel was not expected to place near the podium in the women’s marathon. And yet, Seidel finished in a surprise third place on Friday after running the marathon in 2:27:36, becoming just the third American woman to win an Olympic medal in the event.

Not only that, this event was Seidel’s THIRD-EVER marathon! To post a time like that in just your third marathon ever, and in the Olympics nonetheless, is an incredible feat and a wonderful moment of athletic achievement.

Here’s how the end of the race went down on Friday.

A stunning third-place finish by Seidel was then capped off by a lovely emotional moment between her and her family post-race. Seidel was overcome with emotion seeing her family celebrate her bronze finish, then had just one request to celebrate the occasion.

“Please drink a beer for me!”

What a moment for Seidel. No doubt her family obliged as well!

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