Category Archives: Olympics

Olympic triathlete Taylor Knibb stunned even herself by winning the womens time trial at the U.S. road cycling championships.

Now, she will have the opportunity to compete in two different sports at this years Paris Games.

Knibb ripped over the flat, out-and-back course around Charleston, West Virginia, in 45 minutes, 54 seconds Wednesday, beating pre-race favorite Kristen Faulkner by 11 seconds. Three-time Olympian Amber Neben was 49 seconds back in third place.

That means that Knibb will contest the time trial and road race in Paris alongside Chloe Dygert, who will be heavily favored to win the gold medal in the race against the clock. Dygert is not competing at nationals because she already had qualified for the Olympics by winning the time trial at last years world championships.

Knibb also had previously qualified for Paris, albeit in the triathlon, when the 26-year-old from Washington, D.C., finished fifth at a test event held over the Olympic course at the historic Pont Alexandre III bridge last August.

Im in shock. Ill be perfectly honest, Knibb said at the finish line Wednesday. There are so many incredible riders out here it was such an incredible day riding with them. Im like, Wow, this is so cool. They ride on the World Tour. Thats amazing!'

In the mens time trial, defending champion Brandon McNulty finished the 20.9-mile (33.7-kilometer) course in 37:42, beating runner-up Tyler Stites by 58 seconds. Neilson Powless finished another four seconds adrift in third place.

The U.S. qualified two womens entries for Paris Knibb and Dygert now have secured them and three spots for its mens team. McNulty locked up one Wednesday while the other two will be announced at a later date and are dependent on several factors, including which American riders will be competing for their pro teams in the Tour de France.

Three years ago, Knibb became the youngest woman ever on the U.S. triathlon team for the Olympics. She finished 16th in the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics but helped the Americans win the silver medal in the mixed team relay.

The two-time IRONMAN 70.3 world champion, who has been spending more time on the bike the past couple of years, covered the first half of the time trial course in 20:59, putting Knibb in a dead heat with Faulkner, who rode into West Virginia on a wave having already won Omloop van het Hageland and a stage at La Vuelta Feminina this year.

Knibb pulled away over the second half of the ride, though, securing her spot on the U.S. road cycling team for Paris.

There were four turns and thats it, Knibb said. Last year, there were so many turns and my coach said, Youre really good at holding race pace. Your weakness is getting to race pace. So, only four times I had to get to race pace. And that was a relief for me. If it did get a little bit more surgey, it would have probably favored some other women a lot better.

The Olympic schedule should work in Knibbs favor. The womens time trial has moved up to July 27, giving her a cushion before the womens triathlon on July 31. The road race is Aug. 4 and the triathlon mixed relay is the following day.

McNulty, who won a stage at the Giro dItalia last year and was third overall at Paris-Nice this season, was the final rider off in the mens time trial Wednesday. By the intermediate time check, the UAE Team Emirates rider already was more than 30 seconds ahead of Stites and Powless, who had started just ahead of him, and he never slowed down from there.

The U.S. road cycling championships continue through the weekend in Charleston, the new host city for the event. The mens and womens road races wrap up competition Sunday, though there are no automatic Olympic berths on the line.

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Olympic triathlete Taylor Knibb wins US cycling time trial to earn spot in Paris in a second sport - Iron Mountain Daily News

VERMILLION, S.D. (KELO) Its a big weekend for athletes from across South Dakota taking part in this years Special Olympics. More than 500 athletes are a part of the event this year. The three-day gathering is open to the public and is expected to bring more than a thousand spectators to Vermillion.

For nearly 10 years, Cole Pedersen has been competing in the South Dakota Special Olympics.

I love all of our athletes. Theyre all great competitors. Its more important just to see how everybody comes out, gives it their best no matter what. If they win or lose, its not about that. Its about coming out here and having fun, Pederson said.

In the past, hes done many of the athletic events offered. This year, hes trying something new.

It is my first year doing powerlifting. I just thought Id try something, you know, just fun to come out, have a good time, Pederson said.

While Pedersens day was just getting started, others like Orion Karsch were already in full competition swing.

I already competed in two swimming events. I got a gold medal in both of them, Karsch said.

Karsch said hes been competing since 2019, and hes also been able to conquer his fear of the pool.

I kind of just had to, you know, just stay calm and just say its going to be okay, Karsch said.

The Special Olympics includes more than 20 Olympic-type sports and is supported by more than 100 coaches.

Just the joy that the athletes have and just the joy that the sports brings them is something that cant be described in words, South Dakota Special Olympics Marketing Manager Jill Kvanli said.

And just about every athlete told us the same thing its not about winning.

Its about being a good sport, citizenship and sportsmanship and wishing the other athletes good luck and stuff, Special Olympics athlete Jordan Olson said.

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Over 500 athletes competing in SD Special Olympics - KELOLAND.com

Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer, an amateur at the time, sent shockwaves through both the cycling and wider sporting communities when she won Olympic gold in the womens road race at Tokyo 2020. It was a story for the ages as she crossed the line 75 seconds ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten, who herself celebrated without realising the gold had already been claimed.

In the process, Austrias first summer Olympic gold since 2004 and their first in cycling in 125 years was won.

Kiesenhofer has gone from amateur to professional in the years that followed, now racing with Israel-Premier Tech Roland. The historic gold has, however, added a weight of expectation that has somewhat marred her tenure as reigning Olympic champion.

To be honest, it did affect the expectations both from other people and myself. Myself not that much because I know that, genetically, I haven't changed since the Olympics. It's just that other people know me now, but I'm the same person that I was before. It doesn't make sense to think that now, magically, my watts will massively go up only because I have an Olympic gold medal; that's not the case, but people think that, Kiesenhofer said in an exclusive interview with Cyclingnews.

It's almost like a reproach when I only came 15th or whatever, people think you should win because you're the Olympic champion - it just doesn't make sense at all. I haven't fundamentally changed as a person, my genetic make-up is the same. It was sometimes hard to deal with that because anything I did was framed as a disappointment - everyone was measuring it with Olympic gold, she explained candidly.

I've kind of come to terms with it, and I just look at myself and my progress. Maybe I have come full circle to how I was before the Olympic Games. It was very much the same: looking at my own progress and not getting distracted by what other people are doing or saying.

While the victory will remain one of the greatest in Olympic history, Kiesenhofer admits that, perhaps unlike others, the dream of becoming an Olympian, let alone a gold medalist, was never a lifelong ambition.

Before Tokyo, I didn't really buy into the hype around the Olympics, she said honestly. It might sound a bit strange, but it was never a childhood dream of mine to become an Olympian. Now that I'm more in the sports bubble before I was an amateur, and now I'm a professional cyclist, I see the value more because everybody wants to be at the Olympics. In that sense, there is kind of additional motivation to be there just because I see how much everybody wants to be there, I see more of the hype.

The Austrian signed a professional contract in 2023 with Israel-Premier Tech Roland which has given her a first taste of consistently racing at the top level and being immersed within a team.

The 32-year-old was previously on the books at Lotto Soudal Ladies back in 2017, although she admits that the change in the cycling landscape, as well as her personal circumstances since, have meant that her recent contract has provided a contrasting experience.

In general, women's cycling has just developed so much, so it's very hard to compare. In 2017, when I signed with Lotto Soudal, I didn't actually do many races because I was in a bad moment in my life in general. I wasn't really fit enough to race neither mentally nor physically, so it wasn't really a proper experience, she said.

This year was my first year racing at this level against the best in the world in several road races, not just the Olympic Games. It was completely different from what I had done before. The whole team dynamics, racing against the big teams, all of that kind of thing, I'd never had this exposure before.

It was a mixed season this year for Kiesenhofer however, in the latter half, the time trial, now her preferred discipline, was where she really shone. She ended the season at the top of the podium at Chrono des Nations and Chrono Gatineau and additionally added a fourth Austrian ITT title to her palmars in June.

The first part [of the 2023 season] was very hard for me, but I think that's also normal because it was my first year racing at that level, so it was a bit of a shock to the system. That also made it a great experience, and I learned so much even though it was tough.

The second part was very much focused on time trialling, which has been my favourite discipline for a couple of years now. I got some good results there, so that also made me happy on the outcome side of things. The first part was really about learning, and then the second part, I also had some outcomes, she said on reflection.

Before signing for Israel-Premier Tech Roland, she enjoyed a brief stint with Soltec, which allowed her to race at the 2022 Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta - a race which turned out to be one of her favourite racing memories in the years after her Olympic victory and spurred her on to continue racing.

I really liked the 2022 Vuelta. I wasn't really in a UCI team last year but I signed with Soltec for a short period in order to race the Vuelta. That was kind of a fun race because I don't know why, but I just felt really strong physically. I didn't really get any great results, but it was fun to be in the mix and attack and feel strong. I went in this crazy breakaway, 160kms on my own, and it felt cool to race like that, and it was also my motivation for giving road racing another go.

Her learnings in the past two years have spanned beyond professional racing, and the importance of simplicity is one that has been particularly reinforced.

Sometimes confirming that what I had been doing was actually right in the sense now I have more opportunities [has been important]. I could do lots of fancy stuff, for example, with training and using many fancy tools, and then I realised that a lot of that is actually a distraction. Just doing the basics like I did before Tokyo is actually the most important thing. Being a minimalist despite the new opportunities is something I've learned since Tokyo.

As eyes turn to Paris 2024, now just seven months away, Kiesenhofer has her sights set on the time trial rather than defending the road race title this time around.

Austria has two places for the time trial and for the road race. That's really cool because I love time trialling. I hope I can get one of these two spots, then, my focus will be more on the time trial. I don't want to put any pressure on myself, and as I said, the main focus for myself will be the TT. However, we have another very strong Austrian, Christina Schweinberger.

In the road race, it will be more about supporting her because I think on this course she has much better chances than I have. The time trial, I like any time trial, so I'll be fine!

"The road race, on paper, doesn't really play into my cards. Of course, if everybody has forgotten who I am, then I can win again [she laughs], but on paper, it should suit Christina. We will certainly fight for the medals, she added proudly.

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The weight of gold - Anna Kiesenhofer on managing expectations after Tokyo Olympics shock victory - Cyclingnews

The IOC is keen on rotating the Games among a select few safe sites. Credit: Jon Wick, CC BY 2.0.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is mulling over a possible fragmentation of the Winter Olympics citing the climate crisis.

We need to address very quickly this dramatic impact of climate change on winter sport, IOC President Thomas Bach said at the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, India, in October. By mid-century, there will remain practically just 10-12 NOCs (National Olympic Committees) who could host these snow events.

Given the growing unpredictability of weather patterns and the increasing scarcity of locations with consistent snowfall, the IOC is keen on rotating the Games among a select few safe sites.

These are locations trusted for their predictability in providing suitable conditions for winter sports. The committee has even advised potential future hosts to utilize existing or temporary venues, thereby reducing the environmental footprint of the Games.

As part of its innovative strategy, the IOC is also contemplating a decentralized system for organizing the Olympic competitions. This concept would involve outsourcing certain events to various international and national event organizers who have demonstrated expertise in their respective fields.

This approach would ensure a higher standard of event management, as each organizer would focus on their specific domain.

Under the proposed plan the requirement for an Olympic Village would be eliminated, and a central hub would be established wherever the ice events are hosted.

Meanwhile, the snow events would be spread out across various locations, thereby distributing the Games more widely. This sweeping reform aims to make the Games more adaptable and resilient in the face of the climate crisis.

I dont think there is a Doomsday scenario where we say, OK, by 2050 no more Olympic Winter Games, said Christophe Dubi, the IOCs Olympic Games Executive Director. But the Games will have had to have adapted themselves to the conditions at that point in time.

That means finding solutions now to safeguard the Games in the long run.

A recent study concluded that only one city in Japan in the entire world will be able to host the Winter Olympics in the future.

The study, which was published in Current Issues in Tourism, looked at the effect of globalemissions on the planetsability to meet the environmental demands of the Winter Olympics, finding that there may only be one city by 2100 up to the task.

Climate change is altering the geography of the Winter Olympic Games and will, unfortunately, take away some host cities that are famous for winter sport, Robert Steiger of the University of Innsbruck in Austria said in astatement. Most host locations in Europe are projected to be marginal or not reliable as early as the 2050s, even in a low emission future.

The study modeled different potential scenarios as emissions worsened throughout a projection of the arch of the 21st century, watching as potentially fit host cities dwindled as they got closer to the 22nd century.

The impact of a high emission scenario was far more pronounced, reducing the number of climatically reliable locations to 10 in the 2050s and eight in the 2080s. The prognosis for the Paralympic Winter Games, which occur in March after the Olympics, was far worse.

In one situation, the sole city capable of hostingthe Winter Olympics was Sapporo, Japan.

The high emission pathway results in a very different outcome for the ability to reliably deliver fair and safe conditions for snow sports at Olympic Winter Games locations, the authors write.

By mid-century, the number of reliable hosts declines to four (Lack Placid, Lillehammer, Oslo, and Sapporo) and by the end of the century, only one location remains reliable (Sapporo).

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Climate Crisis Forces the IOC to Rethink Winter Olympics - Greek Reporter

If France is hit again by extremist attacks or a security crisis in the run-up to the 2024 Olympics, the huge opening ceremony Paris plans to hold on the banks of the Seine could be postponed, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

Macron's comments came in a television interview on Wednesday evening. Many details of the 26 July ceremony remain under wraps to preserve its expected wow factor.

Security, involving tens of thousands of police and soldiers, will be tight: athletes will be paraded in boats on the Seine through the heart of the French capital in the first Summer Games opening ceremony to be held outside the usual stadium setting. Hundreds of thousands of spectators will fill both banks of the river.

"We are preparing a unique opening ceremony that I hope will make the French very proud," Macron told France 5.

"It will be a moment of beauty, true art, a celebration of sport and our values, with the Seine and the capital as the theatre," he added. He did say, however, that the plans could be revised for security reasons.

He cited the deadly extremist attacks that hit Paris in 2015 as an example of the kind of serious crisis that could force a re-think of the plans. "You're 15 days away from the Olympics. There's a series of terrorist attacks. What do you do? Well, you don't organise (a ceremony) on the Seine," he said.

"Of course, being professionals, there are plans B, C and so on. You have to be ready for anything. If there is an increase in international or regional tensions, if there is a series of attacks... this is a plan B," Macron stressed.

Paris 2024 is hoping to finalise its private security plan by the end of the first trimester next year, having so far covered 70% of its needs, organisers said on Wednesday.

"In terms of private security contracts, we have covered 70% of our needs. We've had three tenders that helped us recruit 47 private security companies," Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet told a press conference.

"We've just launched her last tender and it should be done by the end of the first trimester; it's the last part of a two-year effort."

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be held from 26 July - 11 August.

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Macron: "If there are security problems, the inauguration could be reconsidered" - Insidethegames.biz

Mendes says hell still compete if the waves are good. Lucky guy. Photo: WSL

Brazilian Jesse Mendes says hes done with pursuing the Olympics. In 2022, he leveraged his grandmothers Italian roots to get citizenship and compete under Italys national flag. Mendes motivation for doing so: 100 percent the Olympics, he said. Even though the Paris 2024 qualification system still has 18 slots left to be decided, hes going to put the competition grind on the back burner in 2024, skipping the QS circuit and the World Surfing Games in February the last Olympic qualifier.

At the end of last year, I started just thinking a bunch and I just started to see that my heart wasnt there anymore, Mendes told The Inertia about his competition surfing. If Im not fully committed, why would I travel around the world (to compete and) get bummed if I lose?

(The Olympics) was no longer really a dream for me, Mendes added. I was a little burned out on competing. The toughest part was just committing. Theres a lot that comes with it and I tip my hat to everyone who does it, because they put in so much energy. They put their whole lives into it. Everyone thinks that competitors just travel and get to put on a jersey. And even if the waves suck theyre getting paid for surfing. But theres way more behind it the training, the mindset, the preparation, pretty much 24-7 thinking about it. And that takes a lot of energy out of you.

Mendes was just one of a handful of surfers who realized their chances of Olympic qualification would be better if they switched countries. Given that the Olympic qualification system for surfing is capped at two surfers of each gender per country (with a few caveats), athletes like Mendes, who has ten fellow Brazilians on the CT competing for those slots, looked for the simpler route: switching nationalities. Surfers like Kanoa Igarashi went from the U.S. to Japan. Brisa Hennessy went from the U.S. to Costa Rica. Tatiana Weston-Webb (Mendes wife) went from the U.S. to Brazil. A handful of other surfers followed suit.

It was Mendes idea to reach out to Italys surfing federation in 2022 to let them know about his Italian bloodline. He was hoping to qualify as an Italian on the 2023 WSL CT. When he didnt qualify, he tried again at the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games, which also proved fruitless. Thats when he contacted the federation again, to let them know that his goals had shifted away from competition. According to Mendes, the federation was shocked, but understanding.

While Mendes is stepping away from the Olympic qualification pathway, he doesnt deny the value of winning a medal. I have nothing against people that love that theyre going to be (Olympians), said Mendes My wifes biggest dream is to be an Olympic gold medalist more than anything. But for me, it just wasnt there.

As far as whats in store for Mendes in 2024, he says hell be working closely with his main sponsor, Body Glove, making new surf edits, and doing a bit of web commentating with the WSL. Hes even got a new edit set to drop at the beginning of the new year featuring surf trips in Portugal and Indonesia. But dont be surprised if you do see Mendes wearing a competition jersey in 2024. I wouldnt be opposed to doing an event where the waves are sick, he added.

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Jesse Mendes Says He Wont Pursue Olympics After Switching From Brazil to Italy - The Inertia

It was not until she became Nikes youngest sponsored athlete seven years later, along with her desire to represent Britain, that her colourful young life was thrust into the limelight.

In 2018, she starred in the American reality TV show Dancing With The Stars: Juniors. Brown had never danced before but ended up winning the competition, aged 10.

When I interviewed Brown four years ago, her parents controlled her social media accounts. Nowadays, Brown has free rein over her 1.3 million followers on Instagram, where she documents the highs and lows of competing in a high-risk sport. Last October, she fractured her ankle after a fall in training, causing her to miss the WST Rome Park Championships.

Things like that dont hold me back, they just make me stronger, Brown says. Falling is part of life, so is getting back up. Its a lifestyle for me and its what I love to do and nothings going to stop me. Hopefully, that will inspire other girls to keep going in sport.

The day after opening the skate park, where she is helping to launch a GB Skateboarding partnership with Samsung aimed at engaging more young people in the sport, she flew to Indonesia for a period of warm winter surfing.

It looks crazy on the internet, concedes Stuart, who accompanies his daughter on all her trips. People see shes in London, then back in Japan, but actually because we do it quickly, we keep it really tight. She missed two X Games. Most skateboarders who are invited to the X Games will never not go its the Olympics of skateboarding she says no to a lot of stuff to keep that balance. Shes done the bare minimum to be the highest British-ranked surfer.

Brown is still not old enough to buy a National Lottery ticket in the UK, but should she succeed in representing her country in two sports next year in Paris, Brown will feel like she has won the jackpot.

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British teen Sky Brown targets medals in two sports at Paris Olympics - The Telegraph

MIAMI The whistle sounded and the womens water polo players for Team USA and Spain swam to the middle of the pool. The referee threw the ball into the water. The players converged. The sellout crowd at the Ransom Everglades Aquatic Center cheered.

Welcome to the swim-off, a barreling sprint that opens each water polo match.

In a rematch of the Tokyo Olympic gold-medal match, the U.S. won 9-7 over Spain in the first of five international friendly matches for the Americans in December. It was the U.S. teams first competitive action since securing its place in the Paris 2024 Olympics when it won the Pan American Games gold medal over Canada on Nov. 4.

In Paris, the U.S. will attempt to continue its Olympic dominance. The Americans have won three straight gold medals and havent missed a podium since womens water polo became an Olympic sport in 2000, also earning two silver medals and a bronze.

But this is a different Team USA. Several players will be Olympic rookies, mixed in with experienced veterans like Maggie Steffens Team USAs most decorated womens water polo player, who helped capture the three-peat.

One of those rookies is Ryann Neushul, trying to make her first Olympic roster. But she isnt like most Olympic rookies. Her sisters Kiley and Jamie also played water polo and won Olympic gold. All three went to Stanford and achieved greatness on the Cardinals illustrious womens water polo team.

By making the Paris 2024 team, Ryann, 23, would accomplish a childhood dream: to follow in the footsteps of her sisters and represent Team USA at the highest level in water polo, all while hoping to extend the countrys already-unprecedented gold-medal streak.

Its hard to escape water polo in the Neushul household. Ryanns parents Cathy and Peter played collegiate water polo at UC Santa Barbara. Peter was on UC Santa Barbaras lone championship mens water polo team. In 2015, Cathy started the Santa Barbara 805 Water Polo Club, which allows athletes ages 4 through 18 to develop as water polo players.

Being around the pool deck and in the water, Ryann caught the water polo bug. At 5-foot-6, shes not the tallest player, but she compensates with her innate determination.

Size doesnt matter in the water, Neushul said. You get in the water and you just play.

Neushul looked up to her older sisters. Seeing them in the pool provided Ryann with the foundational knowledge of what it took to be the best. Neushul recalls as a 10-year-old watching Jamie and Kiley play against Newport Harbor, a competitor to Dos Pueblos High School in the CIF Southern Section Division I championship game. Newport was leading Dos Pueblos, 7-2, just before halftime.

Theyre not going to let us lose this game, Ryann said of her sisters.

Dos Pueblos defeated Newport Beach that day, 8-7. Jamie, a freshman in high school, scored the tying and game-winning goals.

Flash forward to Kileys last NCAA championship game at Stanford. Ryann was in attendance, taking in the finale of a stellar collegiate career. She pointed to Kiley drawing an exclusion (water polos term for a foul), giving Stanford an advantage. On the ensuing power play, Kiley passed to Jamie, who tossed it back. Kiley blazed the ball past the goalie for the score.

Ryann was awestruck. Kiley scored five of Stanfords seven goals en route to the 7-6 victory over UCLA. It was Kileys third NCAA championship. For Ryann, it was a source of inspiration. She wanted to follow the path her sisters carved. To be dominant water polo athletes. To play in the biggest matches.

I want people in the stands to be like, Ryann Neushul isnt going to let her team lose by eight goals, Neushul said.

John Tanner sat in his office at Stanfords Avery Aquatic Center, where he is entering his 27th season in charge of the Cardinal womens water polo team.

Mentioning Ryann Neushul makes Tanner grin. He still sees the little girl on the pool deck watching her sisters or being the lightning rod of energy at team events.

Tanner first spoke with Ryann on the pool deck at Cal State Bakersfield. She was 9 years old.

She came up to me and said, Hi, JT, Im Ryann, Tanner said, marveling at her intellect and confidence at such a young age.

He brings up her first NCAA championship win in 2019. It was an exclusion, where players often pass the ball to set up a scoring chance. Instead, Neushul took the ball, fired it into the net and scored. No hesitation.

How we carry ourselves contributes and even leads our confidence, Tanner said. Just no shortage of belief in herself.

Tanner was an All-American water polo player at Stanford. He became a scout coach for the U.S. national team in 1988. Ten years later, after coaching the U.S. team to gold at the 1991 World Cup, he returned to his alma mater. He assumed the womens water polo head coach role. In Tanners fifth season on the job, Stanford won its first NCAA championship. It began an avalanche of accolades for Tanners program. Nine NCAA championships. Fourteen Olympians. Stanford hasnt finished outside the top three in the nation in any of his seasons as coach.

These achievements are a by-product of the excellence Tanner forged at Stanford for over two decades. The training, the expectation and the competition prepared Stanford athletes like the Neushuls for the national team.

The freedom to choose your major, the freedom to make decisions in the water has molded me into the player I am today, Neushul said of Tanners team culture.

For those water polo athletes wanting to make the Olympics, Tanner meets with them individually. He writes down a detailed plan of the steps necessary to be considered for the team.

Neushul remembers that meeting with Tanner. A collaboration between coach and athlete with the hope of accelerating the path to the Olympic goal.

He is extremely meticulous, Neushul said. He says, Im efficient with your time, so you will be efficient with my time. We are all sacrificing to be here.

He does not just care about the players for what they do in the water. But he cares about them as a human being and what they can do in the future for the world.

On the morning of the international friendly against Spain, Team USA trained for two hours. The athletes dove into the pool, swimming laps for their 15-minute warmup. Then, the players practiced passing.

Adam Krikorian, Team USAs womens water polo coach since 2009, called his players over to the far end of the pool. Krikorians tenure with the national team includes three Olympic gold medals, five World Aquatics championships and four World Cups.

In short, a dynasty.

The one thing Ive enjoyed is just the energy and the positivity that all of our new players have brought to this process, Krikorian said. It inspires you to be better, and it kind of brings you back to that time for me, 14 years ago when I first started this job and it gives you a little boost of energy.

Krikorian instructed his players to practice the 6-on-5 formation. As the players passed the ball and the defenders locked onto their assignments. There was a set amount of time per drill. Ashleigh Johnson, Team USAs goalie, was counting down.

With Team USA, Neushul is taking on a more defensive role, a contrast to the offensive presence she brought while at Stanford. But Neushul doesnt mind. She sees herself as a bridge between the gold medalists and the newcomers on the national team, adaptable to help the team win.

While the 6-on-5 drill continued, Neushul moved to another pool. There, she worked with Steffens on defending tactics. For Steffens, theres nothing left to prove in water polo. A three-time Olympic gold medalist, a four-time world champion, a three-time Pan Am gold medalist, and a four-time World Cup winner, shes in rarified water polo status. She still loves the game. She embraces the competition. Most importantly, the 30-year-old Steffens enjoys mentoring younger players like Neushul.

Shes like a little sister to me, Steffens, also a Stanford graduate, said. She does a great job finding her own identity. Shes willing to fight and I can feel her heart thousands of miles away.

Down 3-2 at halftime against Spain, Team USA showcased its high-scoring offense in the second half. In the third quarter, the U.S. outscored Spain, 4-1. The fourth quarter saw the U.S. take a four-goal lead that it never relinquished.

Neushul, Steffens, Jewel Roemer (also from Stanford), Denise Mammolito, Kaleigh Gilchrist and Rachel Fattal scored in the second half. Roemer led Team USA with two goals. As the final horn blasted, the women embraced and exited the pool. According to Krikorian, matches against the top countries in the world are necessary preparation for Paris 2024. Unlike previous teams, which had several returning players, this version of Team USA is navigating new territory. They arent as talented, according to Krikorian. Not as experienced.

This is a brand new team, Krikorian said. We havent done anything.

This is why Team USA is doing the rigorous training. Players are away for several months at a time training in Long Beach, Calif., playing matches in Florida and overseas in Europe. To be prepared for the giant Olympic stage.

(Top photo of John Tanner and Ryann Neushul celebrating Stanfords 2019 NCAA championship: Jamie Schwaberow / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

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From Stanford to Team USA, a water polo dynasty eyes an Olympic four-peat - The Athletic

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) The journey from nowhere to an Olympic gold medal is a tale as old as time.

Just as well-worn, but far less explored, are the stories about great athletes who realize they can't make it anywhere unless they have a way to bankroll the trip.

The Boys in the Boat is Hollywood and director George Clooney's way of stringing those plot lines together. That it opens Christmas Day, a mere seven months before the start of the Paris Olympics, is good fortune for the people who oversee rowing in the U.S. and know the general public mostly either a) doesn't think about that sport or b) sees it as the exclusive playground for East Coast and Ivy League elites.

USRowing worked with producers of the movie to sponsor dozens of screenings across the country with two purposes: raising funds for an organization that received about $3.5 million of its $15 million budget in 2023 from charitable donations, and building awareness across racial and socioeconomic lines. One jarring stat: In 2021, a study found that only 2% of women who competed in NCAA rowing were Black. (Men's rowing isn't sanctioned by the NCAA, and so, wasn't part of the study.)

What were trying to do here, and what so many clubs are doing around the country, is trying to create programs and opportunities for people to row, said USRowing CEO Amanda Kraus.

TBITB is about a group of poor students at the University of Washington who try out for the junior varsity crew team. It's 1936, and far from seeking Olympic glory, these guys are simply trying to find a way to make a buck.

All you gotta do is make the team, one of them says. How hard can that be?

Plenty hard, it turns out, and what ensues is the Miracle on Ice, except on water and with one other notable difference: Most of those hockey kids always knew where their next meal was coming from.

Certainly there are others out there in a country of 330 million looking for a fresh start, a taste of the great outdoors and a chance to try something new. Kraus believes her sport might be that thing and that all those potential rowers don't have to be daughters and sons of millionaires.

Rowing is hoping to inspire more people like Arshay Cooper, who was a member of the first all-Black high school rowing team at Manley High School in Chicago. Cooper authored a book, A Most Beautiful Thing," that itself was made into a movie produced by basketball stars Grant Hill and Dwyane Wade.

In rowing, you move forward by looking in the opposite direction," is a quote from Cooper on his website that describes his worldview. "I learned that its OK to look back, as long as you keep pushing forward.

The sport also hopes to build more programs, such as Learn to Row Day, when rowing clubs are urged to welcome newcomers and teach them about the sport.

So much about rowing is a steep climb. Kraus says it costs around $50,000 a year to support a Team USA rower; that comes after the tens of thousands expended on their development at the grassroots and college levels. But, she said, building a pipeline is an investment worth making, and it doesn't mean everyone has to end up at the Olympics.

We hope people can get inspired to really check the sport out for themselves, Kraus said. You can be 30 or 40 or 70 and go do a Learn to Row course at your local club. That's a real thing. You don't have to row in college to be part of this sport.

USRowing has around 74,000 members (by comparison, the U.S. Tennis Association has 680,000) and, like all niche sports, the Olympics are its time to shine. That makes a rowing movie a Christmas present for this sport.

The high point in the film based on the 2013 book of the same name by Daniel James Brown that's considered rowing's bible takes place during a particularly fraught time. At the 1936 Berlin Games, Nazi flags get better placement than the Olympic rings and Adolf Hitler is a constantly glowering presence.

Nobody, however, poses a bigger threat to the boys from Washington than the leader of America's Olympic committee, who appears unbothered as he tells their coach that, even though they won their era's version of the Olympic trials, a team with a better pedigree and more money will take their place in Berlin unless they raise $5,000 in a week.

It's an absurd and unfair insult, and one that, sadly, isn't that far removed from today's realities: Politics rule. And even in a billon-dollar Olympics industry, so many athletes have to scratch for pennies, especially in America, where the government doesn't pay for anything.

They make it getting over the hump with a bit of unexpected help and soon find themselves rubbing elbows at the opening ceremony with Jesse Owens. The great sprinter assures the rowers he's not there to prove anything to Hitler, but rather to his own country, which still treats Blacks like second-class citizens.

We know how the Owens story ends. Now, we know how the rowers' story ends, too.

It's a quintessential underdog sports drama, all the way to the short epilogue that's intended to give moviegoers the feels about the mysticism of a sport very few understand. If only a few of them put down the popcorn and navigate to an online donations page or maybe even a local crew club then the small rowing community in the U.S. will have a hit on its hands.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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'Boys in the Boat' gives Hollywood treatment to rowing during an Olympic year - Denver 7 Colorado News

By Sierra Ryder USSS, 2016 YOG super-G mens podium GEPA Ch. Kelemen

U.S. Ski & Snowboard formally nominated the Youth Olympic Winter Games (YOG) alpine, nordic combined, ski jumping and ski cross teams slated to compete Jan. 19 Feb. 1, 2024, in Gangwon Province, South Korea.The four teams are in addition to the cross country, freestyle, snowboard and freeski teams, which werenominated earlier in the fall.

The 2024 Youth Olympic Games, held every four years, will welcome more than 1,900 athletes from more than 80 National Olympic Committees to PyeongChang, the home of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Historically, the Youth Olympic Games was created by the former president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, with a mission to bring together the worlds best young athletes and educate and inspire the next generation of Olympians.

At the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland, 96 athletes across 16 sports represented the United States. The games helped catapult the careers of many national team athletes, including the 2023 world champion and alpine skier River Radamus, who succeeded at the Youth Olympic Games in 2016, winning three gold medals.

I am very impressed by this group of alpine skiers set to represent the U.S. in Gangwon, said Anouk Patty, U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport. These alpine skiers have an incredible opportunity with the Youth Olympic Games to put their alpine ski racing to the test among international competitors.

The Games will have five alpine events, including slalom, giant slalom, super-G, alpine combined, and mixed team parallel. Ski cross will feature mens and womens individual ski cross and a mixed team ski cross.

We are thrilled to announce this talented group of U18 athletes and look forward to seeing them compete on the Youth Olympic stage,said Alpine Development Director Chip Knight.Its going to be an exceptional experience for them, and we hope they can bring home some medals too!

The ski jumping and nordic combined teams also show great promise this year. Most of the nordic combined team will get their first taste of international experience. It will put their talents to the test on the international stage after a strong season of domestic results.

This years team is strong and Im looking forward to seeing how they perform in South Korea, said Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Sport Director Anders Johnson.Gangwon should be a very exciting event, and Im looking forward to watching our athletes perform their best and represent our country.

Nordic combined will include a mens and womens individual 4k and 6k race, a mixed team 43.3k relay, mixed team normal hill and mens and womens individual normal hill. The ski jumping schedule will include individual and mixed team events.

Full nominations for alpine, nordic combined, ski jumping and ski cross are below. The full roster for cross country, freestyle, snowboard and freeski can be viewedhere. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee will officially name the teams in January.

ALPINE

Women

Men

Alpine Staff

SKI JUMPING

WOMEN

MEN

SKI JUMPING STAFF

NORDIC COMBINED

WOMEN

MEN

NORDIC COMBINED STAFF

SKI CROSS

WOMEN

MEN

SKI CROSS STAFF

HOW TO WATCH A live stream of the YOG will be athttps://olympics.com/en/gangwon-2024/starting with the Opening Ceremony.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS For the full schedule of events, visithttps://olympics.com/en/gangwon-2024/schedule.

Originally posted here:

USSS Nominates Stellar Teams for 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Gangwon, South Korea - SkiRacing.com