John Orozco left off U.S. gymnastics team for World Championships

By Nick ZaccardiAug 18, 2013, 11:10 PM EDT

Fourth place wasn’t good enough for John Orozco to make the six-man World Championships team.

Orozco, the 2012 U.S. all-around champion, came back from a torn ACL and meniscus in October to compete in all six events at this past week’s U.S. gymnastics championships. He finished in fourth place in the all-around after two days of competition, putting him on the bubble of being selected for the six-man team to go to Antwerp, Belgium, for worlds from Sept. 30-Oct. 6.

USA Gymnastics announced the team late Sunday night, and Orozco was the big name missing. The rest of the top seven all-arounders from nationals made it: Olympians Sam Mikulak, Jake Dalton and Danell Leyva and past world team members Alex Naddour, Brandon Wynn and Steven Legendre.

Orozco is one of three alternates.

The thought was Orozco and Leyva were fighting for one spot. They were the two U.S. men to compete in the all-around at the 2012 Olympics, but both were out of form in Hartford, Conn., this past week. Leyva finished in seventh in the all-around, three spots behind Orozco, who competed with a knee brace.

The World Championships the year after the Olympics do not include a team competition, putting more emphasis on event specialists to rack up medals. Both Orozco and Leyva excel on the same events — parallel bars and high bar — which put them in direct competition to make the team given they weren’t at their best in the all-around at nationals.

Mikulak and Naddour were the top two all-arounders at nationals. Dalton won the American Cup in March and took third in the all-around in Hartford. They were pretty much considered locks by the end of the meet Sunday. Wynn’s specialty is still rings, and Legendre is strong on floor exercise.

Orozco did not look all right on the first day of competition Thursday, standing in eighth place in the all-around. He rebounded Sunday to rise into fourth, but it looks like he’ll now get several months to build more knee strength for next season.

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French Open: Daniil Medvedev stunned by 172nd-ranked qualifier

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 1:43 PM EDT

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No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev was eliminated by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild at the French Open, the first time a top-two men’s seed lost in the first round of a major in 20 years.

Seyboth Wild, a 23-year-old in his second-ever Grand Slam main draw match, prevailed 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in more than four hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I’ve watched Daniil play for, like, my entire junior career until today, and I’ve always dreamed about playing on this court, playing these kind of players,” he said. “In my best dreams, I’ve beaten them, so it’s a dream come true.”

Seyboth Wild overcame the ranking disparity, the experience deficit (it was his first five-set match) and cramps. He began feeling them in the second set, and it affected his serve. Medvedev’s serve was affected by windy conditions. He had 15 double faults.

“I’m not going to look at it back on TV, but my feeling was that he played well,” he said. “I don’t think I played that bad, but he played well.”

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Seyboth Wild, who had strictly played in qualifying and lower-level Challenger events dating to February 2022, became the first man to take out a top-two seed at a Slam since Ivo Karlovic upset Lleyton Hewitt at 2003 Wimbledon, which ended up being the first major won by a member of the Big Three.

The last time it happened at the French Open was in 2000, when Mark Philippoussis ousted No. 2 Pete Sampras.

It’s the most seismic win by a Brazilian at the French Open — and perhaps any major — since the nation’s most successful man, Gustavo Kuerten, won his third Roland Garros title in 2001.

Tuesday marked the 26th anniversary of Kuerten’s first big splash in Paris, a third-round win over 1995 French Open champion Thomas Muster en route to his first Roland Garros title.

As a junior, Seyboth Wild won the 2018 U.S. Open and reached a best ranking of eighth in the world. Since, he played eight Grand Slam qualifying tournaments with a 1-8 record before advancing through qualifying last week.

The 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev entered the French Open having won the first clay tournament title of his career at the Italian Open, the last top-level event before Roland Garros.

“Because wind, dry court, I had a mouthful of clay since probably third game of the match, and I don’t like it,” he said. “I don’t know if people like to eat clay, to have clay in their bags, in their shoes, the socks, white socks, you can throw them to garbage after clay season. Maybe some people like it. I don’t.”

Medvedev’s defeat leaves no major champions in the bottom half of the men’s draw. The top seeds left are No. 4 Casper Ruud, last year’s French Open and U.S. Open runner-up, and No. 6 Holger Rune. No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Novak Djokovic play their second-round matches in the top half on Wednesday.

Women’s seeds to advance Tuesday included No. 6 Coco Gauff, who rallied past 71st-ranked Spaniard Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, plus No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 4 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Ons Jabeur in straight sets.

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Olympians, Paralympians star on Top Chef World All-Stars in Paris

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls get a taste of Paris in this week’s episode of Top Chef World All-Stars, premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Olympic medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Suni Lee and Paralympic medalists Mallory Weggemann and Hunter Woodhall team up with contestants for a cooking challenge in front of the Eiffel Tower, one year before the French capital hosts the Games.

Olympians have appeared on Top Chef before.

A 2020 episode set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum included Diana Taurasi, Rai Benjamin, Nastia Liukin, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Christian Coleman and Kerri Walsh Jennings.

A January 2018 episode featured figure skater Meryl Davis, freeskier Gus Kenworthy and skeleton slider John Daly, one month before the PyeongChang Winter Games.

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