Category: 2016 Rio Olympics

So there I found myself inside the famed Maracanã alongside Brazilian soccer fans, caught up inside their moment of glory, redemption and pure elation. Brazil has just beaten Germany to win its first-ever Olympic gold medal with an ending you couldn’t script any better. After the World Cup humiliation, the constant dissection of Brazil’s numerous …

RIO DE JANEIRO – There was another bus to catch, and this one was going to be easy because I was leaving Carioca Arena 1, the basketball venue, and I knew my way out, or so I thought. The internal bus that looped within Olympic Park, the one that would lead me to the bus …

By Frank Gogola | @FrankGogola RIO DE JANEIRO — Kyle Snyder capped of an incredible calendar year with an Olympic gold medal in Sunday’s 97 kg. final at Carioca Arena 2. Snyder, the reigning world champion and NCAA champion, became the youngest U.S. wrestler ever to win Olympic gold at age 20. He defeated Azerbaijan’s …

By Rebecca Harris | @MsRebeccaHarris RIO DE JANEIRO — Life has been somewhat of a waiting game for Jackie Galloway, newly-minted Olympic bronze medalist, at least when it comes to taekwondo. She was named an alternate to Mexico’s Olympic team for the London Games as she carries dual citizenship. She waited to be called up, …

By Frank Gogola | @FrankGogola RIO DE JANEIRO — Boxer Shakur Stevenson was hoping to win a gold medal in men’s bantamweight (56 kg.), but his silver marks the best finish by a U.S. men’s boxer since Andre Ward won gold at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The first-time Olympian won the silver medal when …

By Rebecca Harris | @MsRebeccaHarris RIO DE JANEIRO — With five world championship titles, two Olympic golds and one bronze to his name, it would be understandable to wonder what Steven Lopez had left to prove in the world of taekwondo. It’s this: an ankle injury before the London Games in 2012 kept Lopez off …

By Frank Gogola | @FrankGogola RIO DE JANEIRO – The end is in sight for U.S. men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, and it could be golden. Krzyzewski will coach his final game as the head coach of USA Basketball in the gold-medal game against Serbia at 3:45 p.m. Sunday at Carioca Arena 1 in Barra’s …

The reprieve came on Wednesday afternoon. I was still scheduled to be on volleyball duty the next day (Team USA’s women were playing Italy in the semifinals). But instead of a 10:15 p.m. start time, they were put into the 1 p.m. slot, meaning that I would actually be able to sleep Thursday night. So …

By Frank Gogola | @FrankGogola RIO DE JANEIRO — Ryan Crouser had seen the throw thousands of times. The exact number escapes him, but the image of the throw is imprinted in his memory. The throw is East German Ulf Timmermann’s record shot put toss of 22.47 meters on Sept. 23, 1988, four years before …

By Frank Gogola | @FrankGogola RIO DE JANEIRO — Dalilah Muhammad won the gold medal and Ashley Spencer took bronze in the women’s 400-meter hurdles on Thursday at Olympic Stadium. Both are first-time Olympians. Their double-medal performance came one night after the U.S. swept the podium in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Muhammad ran a time of …