U.S. women’s basketball wins World Championship, makes Olympics

By Nick ZaccardiOct 5, 2014, 3:49 PM EDT

The U.S. women’s basketball team clinched a berth in the 2016 Olympics, beating Spain 77-64 in the World Championships final in Istanbul on Sunday.

The U.S. captured its second straight World title and will try for a sixth straight Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in two years.

Maya Moore scored a game-leading 18 points. Lindsay Whalen added 12 off the bench.

Brittney Griner scored 11 points in her first global championship final.

Moore was tournament MVP. Griner made the all-tournament quintet with Moore.

In Turkey, the Americans won all six of their games by at least 12 points, which they had not done at a World Championships since 1986.

U.S. coach Geno Auriemma‘s top lineup in Turkey included four of his former UConn players — Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Moore and Tina Charles — and Griner.

A great challenge moving forward will fall on Bird, 33, attempting to become the oldest U.S. woman since Lisa Leslie in 2008 to make an Olympic team. Bird will be in competition with Tulsa Shock guards Odyssey Sims, 22, and Skylar Diggins, 24, for playing time and roster spots. Diggins was among the final cuts for the World Championships team. Sims made it to Worlds and came off the bench.

In Rio, the U.S.’ biggest competition should come from longtime nemesis Australia. The Americans beat the Aussies 82-70 in the semifinals Saturday, with Australia missing its top two players from the 2012 Olympics due to injuries (Lauren Jackson, Liz Cambage).

France, the Olympic silver medalist, handed the U.S. its first loss since 2011 in an exhibition game two weeks ago. The U.S. then beat France by 22 points in the quarterfinals Friday.

Spain is a rising threat with former WNBA All-Star Sancho Lyttle and Alba Torrens. Both made the all-tournament team.

Russia, the last team to beat the U.S. at a Worlds or Olympics in 2006, did not qualify for this year’s World Championships. It lost six-time WNBA All-Star and naturalized citizen Becky Hammon to retirement.

Argentina mulls Summer, Winter Olympic bids

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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.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

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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