Zach Parise named as men’s hockey captain for Team USA

By Chris EstradaJan 31, 2014, 1:20 PM EST

The Minnesota Wild’s Zach Parise was named the U.S. men’s hockey team captain for the Sochi Olympics on Friday afternoon. He is the youngest U.S. men’s hockey captain since National Hockey League players began competing in the Olympics starting with the Nagano Games in 1998.

“I was pretty thrilled the other day to get that call from [head coach Dan] Bylsma,” Parise said on Friday. “I am lucky enough to join a pretty elite list of players that have been captains for the United States…There’s plenty of guys that wear letters with their own teams. I don’t think our team is going to be lacking in leadership at all.”

Dustin Brown, captain for the Los Angeles Kings, and Ryan Suter, who, like Parise, is an alternate captain for the Wild, will serve as the U.S. team’s alternates in Sochi.

The Americans are looking to go one step higher on the podium after winning the silver four years ago in Vancouver, which saw the team captained by the recently retired Jamie Langenbrunner.

Parise, who was a teammate with Langenbrunner on the New Jersey Devils at the time, served as an alternate captain in Vancouver and scored the tying goal that sent the gold medal game against Canada to overtime.

Langenbrunner himself took over the captain’s role from Chris Chelios after he led Team USA in the previous three Winter Olympics (Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006).

Several of Team USA’s gold medal rivals have already made their choices for men’s hockey captains. Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby will lead the reigning champions from Canada, while Detroit Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg will captain the host Russians and Swedes, respectively.

American barista lacing up for Swiss women’s hockey team

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Jim Hines, Olympic 100m gold medalist and first to break 10 seconds, dies

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 6:06 AM EDT

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Jim Hines, a 1968 Olympic 100m gold medalist and the first person to break 10 seconds in the event, has died at age 76, according to USA Track and Field.

“I understand that God called him home today and we send the prayers up for him,” was posted on the Facebook page of John Carlos, a 1968 U.S. Olympic teammate, over the weekend.

Hines was born in Arkansas, raised in Oakland, California and attended Texas Southern University in Houston.

At the June 1968 AAU Championships in Sacramento, Hines became the first person to break 10 seconds in the 100m with a hand-timed 9.9. It was dubbed the “Night of Speed” because the world record of 10 seconds was beaten by three men and tied by seven others, according to World Athletics.

“There will never be another night like it,” Hines said at a 35th anniversary reunion in 2003, according to World Athletics. “That was the greatest sprinting series in the history of track and field.”

Later that summer, Hines won the Olympic Trials. Then he won the Olympic gold medal in Mexico City’s beneficial thin air in 9.95 seconds, the first electronically timed sub-10 and a world record that stood for 15 years.

Hines was part of a legendary 1968 U.S. Olympic track and field team that also included 200m gold and bronze medalists Tommie Smith and Carlos, plus gold medalists Wyomia Tyus (100m), Bob Beamon (long jump), Al Oerter (discus), Dick Fosbury (high jump), Lee Evans (400m), Madeline Manning Mims (800m), Willie Davenport (110m hurdles), Bob Seagren (pole vault), Randy Matson (shot put), Bill Toomey (decathlon) and the men’s and women’s 4x100m and men’s 4x400m relays.

After the Olympics, Hines joined the Miami Dolphins, who chose him in the sixth round of that year’s NFL Draft to be a wide receiver. He was given the number 99. Hines played in 10 games between 1969 and 1970 for the Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.

He remains the only person to have played in an NFL regular season game out of the now more than 170 who have broken 10 seconds in the 100m over the last 55 years.

2023 French Open women’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkJun 4, 2023, 4:10 PM EDT

At the French Open, Iga Swiatek of Poland eyes a third title at Roland Garros and a fourth Grand Slam singles crown overall.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Swiatek, the No. 1 seed from Poland, can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

Having turned 22 on Wednesday, she can become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Men’s Draw

But Swiatek is not as dominant as in 2022, when she went 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her last pre-French Open match with a right thigh injury and said it wasn’t serious. Before that, she lost the final of another clay-court tournament to Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, is her top remaining challenger in Paris.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula, the highest-seeded American man or woman, was eliminated in the third round. No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who has three wins over Swiatek this year, withdrew before her third-round match due to illness.

No. 6 Coco Gauff, runner-up to Swiatek last year, is the top hope to become the first American to win a Grand Slam singles title since Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought is the longest for U.S. women since Seles won the 1996 Australian Open.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Women’s Singles Draw

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