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Breanna Stewart to miss entire WNBA season with Achilles injury

By OlympicTalkApr 17, 2019, 12:30 PM EDT
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Breanna Stewart, the world’s top female basketball player and one of the most dominant athletes of 2018, is expected to miss the entire upcoming WNBA season after rupturing an Achilles playing in Europe on Sunday, according to the Seattle Storm.

“The situation is still a shock to me,” was posted on Stewart’s social media. “I’m feeling every emotion possible at this point but just know that the bounce back will be real and I’ll be back better than ever.”

Stewart, 24, skyrocketed in this Olympic cycle.

The Storm’s franchise player went from playing the second-fewest minutes on the 2016 Olympic team as its youngest player to leading the U.S. per game in points (16.3) and minutes (27) at the 2018 World Championship tournament.

Stewart earned MVP honors at worlds, matching her WNBA season and Finals honors. She became the first player to earn all three MVPs in one year.

Stewart is still expected to be in play for the 2020 Olympic team, given the Storm expect her to make a full recovery by the start of the following WNBA season next spring.

Tamika Catchings made the 2008 Olympic team after tearing her right Achilles in September 2007.

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Caster Semenya leads Olympians in Time 100; streak hits 16 years

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By OlympicTalkApr 17, 2019, 11:03 AM EDT
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More: Olympics

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An Olympian has made the Time 100 Most Influential list every year since its annual inception in 2004. South African runner Caster Semenya, soccer players Alex Morgan and Mo Salah and LeBron James kept the streak going in 2019.

It’s the fourth appearance for James (2005, 2013, 2017), extending his record for an athlete, and the first for Semenya, Morgan and Salah. Semenya made it in the “icons” category, while the other three are “titans.”

Two-time Olympic 400m hurdles champion Edwin Moses penned an essay about the two-time Olympic 800m champion Semenya, who is fighting a legal battle with the IAAF over a potential rule change limiting women’s testosterone levels in her events. If the rule goes into effect, Semenya’s dominance (three years undefeated at 800m) is expected to vanish.

“Caster Semenya has taught us that sex isn’t always binary, and caused us to question the justness of distributing societal benefits according to “male” and “female” classifications,” Moses wrote. “Ultimately, this incredibly difficult issue is a political one for sport to resolve. But however it is addressed, Semenya will have already made a singular historical contribution to our understanding of biological sex.”

Here are Olympians and Paralympians on past Time 100 lists, counting only athletes who competed in the Games before being listed:

2018 — Kevin Durant, Roger Federer, Chloe Kim, Adam Rippon
2017 — Simone Biles, LeBron James, Neymar
2016 — Usain Bolt, Caitlyn Jenner, Katie Ledecky, Sania Mirza, Ronda Rousey
2015 — Abby Wambach
2014 — Cristiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams
2013 — LeBron James, Li Na, Lindsey Vonn
2012 — Novak Djokovic, Lionel Messi, Oscar Pistorius
2011 — Lionel Messi
2010 — Yuna Kim, Serena Williams
2009 — Rafael Nadal
2008 — Andre Agassi, Lance Armstrong, Oscar Pistorius
2007 — Roger Federer, Chien Ming-Wang
2006 — Joey Cheek, Steve Nash
2005 — LeBron James
2004 — Lance Armstrong, Paula Radcliffe, Yao Ming
2000 (20th Century) — Muhammad Ali

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Katie Ledecky makes appearance on Steph Curry’s YouTube show

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By Rachel ThompsonMar 28, 2019, 3:53 PM EDT
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Steph Curry picked a fellow Bay Area-based sports star as the latest guest for his YouTube series “5 Minutes From Home.”

Five-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky studies and trains at Stanford, about thirty-six miles south of Oracle Arena in Oakland. Ledecky appears in the episode along with Riley Morrison, who wrote to the Warriors star last year when she couldn’t find his sneakers in girls’ sizes (Curry quickly fixed the issue).

Ledecky agreed to push her sleep schedule a bit when Curry reached out: she attended a game and filmed with Curry and Morrison before an early wake-up for morning practice.

The series is centered around conversations between Curry and guests as they drive around the area and share a post-game meal (previous episodes have featured 76ers center Joel Embiid and Bay Area rapper E-40).