U.S./World Sports category, Page 225
Sue Bird, Eddy Alvarez to carry American flag at Olympic opening ceremony
Four-time Olympic women’s basketball gold medalist Sue Bird and baseball player Eddy Alvarez were chosen as U.S. flag bearers for the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday night. Alvarez, who won a silver medal in speedskating at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and Bird were chosen by a vote of...
Sweden clobbers U.S. women’s soccer team in Olympic opener
TOKYO — Sweden didn’t have to bunker down on defense against the Americans this time. Stina Blackstenius scored a pair of goals and the Swedes stunned the United States at the Olympics with a 3-0 victory Wednesday in the women’s soccer tournament. The Americans, ranked No. 1 in the world...
Behind 50 points from Giannis, Bucks beat Suns to end 50-year NBA title drought
MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo ended one of the greatest NBA Finals ever with 50 points — and a championship Milwaukee waited 50 years to win again. Antetokounmpo had 50 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns 105-98 on Tuesday night to win the...
Japan tops Australia in softball as delayed Tokyo Games open
FUKUSHIMA, Japan — Host Japan got off to a winning start when the Tokyo Olympics got underway after a one-year delay, beating Australia 8-1 on Wednesday in softball behind 39-year-old pitcher Yukiko Ueno, who won the 2008 gold medal game against the United States. The game was played in a...
Column: With another major, Morikawa charting new pathVideo
Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus. Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth. Add another name with whom Collin Morikawa is now linked by his remarkable run through the majors in a span of 343 days. This one is a little out of left field, but it speaks to how much Morikawa has...
This Date in Sports History: July 21
1876 — Princeton takes the team championship in the first IC4A (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes Association) track and field meet. 1957 — Lionel Herbert wins the PGA championship with a 2-1 final-round victory over Dow Finsterwald. 1963 — Jack Nicklaus wins the PGA championship by two strokes over Dave...
Carli Lloyd, other middle-age Olympians still going strong
TOKYO — Much has been made about Carli Lloyd’s age. The American forward will be — gasp! — 39 when the Olympics soccer tournament kicks off. But for all the focus on Lloyd, she’s not even going to be the oldest athlete competing in Tokyo. Meet Formiga, who is a...
U.S. women’s soccer team circles wagons, aims for 5th gold medal
TOKYO — The U.S. women’s national soccer team is in a bubble of its own making for the Tokyo Olympics, and it’s not just because of coronavirus restrictions. The World Cup champions have become adept at shutting out all the outside noise — the seemingly endless social media debates, the...
This date in sports history: July 20Video
1858 — Fans are charged for the first time to see a baseball game. Approximately 1,500 fans pay 50 cents to see the New York All-Stars beat Brooklyn, 22-18, at Fashion Race Course on Long Island. 1958 — The PGA championship calls for medal play for the first time, and...
History awaits: Bucks try to focus with championship chance
MILWAUKEE — High atop the outside of Fiserv Forum — way above even a leaping Giannis Antetokounmpo’s reach — blares the Bucks’ postseason motto. “HISTORY IN THE MAKING” it reads, a sign and a situation that’s now impossible to ignore. And yet, that’s exactly what the Bucks are trying to...
Column: Quirky SRX exceeded expectations in debut season
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — SRX exceeded all expectations, right? Not even a bookie in Las Vegas — Tony Stewart’s gold standard for foreseeing results — could have predicted the six-week Superstar Racing Experience summer season would have been such a success. It grew so big, so quickly that by the made-for-TV...
Ready or not: Short-handed U.S. basketball roster off to Tokyo
The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team has been together for two weeks. There have been six practices. The team played four exhibitions. A pair of roster changes have already been required and the Americans have no idea when three other players will join the team for the first time. If...
U.S. Olympic gymnastics alternate tests positive for virus
TOKYO — Kara Eaker, an alternate on the United States women’s gymnastics team, has tested positive for covid-19 in an Olympic training camp in Japan. Al Fong, the personal coach for both Eaker and fellow Olympic alternate Leanne Wong, confirmed the positive test in an email to the Associated Press...
Aric Almirola gives SHR much-needed NASCAR Cup win in New HampshireVideo
LOUDON, N.H. — With darkness closing in, Aric Almirola sprung to life late Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and pulled off a surprise victory, the first one of the year for Stewart-Haas Racing. “There is no doubt we have struggled,” Almirola said. “But guess what? We’re going playoff racing.”...
Early goal lifts U.S. over Canada in Gold Cup group stageVideo
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Shaq Moore scored 20 seconds in, and the United States beat Canada, 1-0, Sunday to win Group B at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Moore’s goal was the fastest since U.S. records began in 1990. Clint Dempsey scored 30 seconds in against Ghana in the Americans’ 2014...
Tadej Pogacar dominates field, wins 2nd straight Tour de France titleVideo
Tadej Pogacar took the yellow jersey to Paris to win his second straight Tour de France on Sunday after a grueling three-week odyssey that at times he made look like a recreational ride. Pogacar’s repeat success at cycling’s biggest event was a tale of total dominance, prompting one question: At...
NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski ready for to add ownership duties in 2022Video
LOUDON, N.H. — Admitting it was “hard to walk away” from a NASCAR career almost all spent driving for Roger Penske, Brad Keselowski is bullish on a fresh start in 2022 — as a driver and an owner. Keselowski is set to race for Roush Fenway Racing in 2022 and...
Coco Gauff to miss Olympics after testing positive for covid
U.S. tennis player Coco Gauff has tested positive for coronavirus, forcing her to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics. “I am so disappointed to share the news that I have tested positive for COVID and won’t be able to play in the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” Gauff tweeted on Sunday....
Lewis Hamilton roars back to win British Grand Prix after Max Verstappen crashVideo
SILVERSTONE, England — Lewis Hamilton roared back from a first-lap incident that sent championship leader Max Verstappen to the hospital and overcame a 10-second penalty to win the British Grand Prix and reignite his title defense on Sunday. The seven-time champion won at his home track to snap a run...
Flawless finish: Collin Morikawa wins British Open for 2nd major
SANDWICH, England — Collin Morikawa was making one of the most satisfying walks in golf, down the 18th fairway as a soon-to-be British Open champion, when he looked up at the huge grandstand surrounding the green. It was filled with spectators, who firstly were applauding and soon giving a standing...
First positive covid tests for athletes in Olympic Village
TOKYO — Two South African soccer players have become the first athletes inside the Olympic Village to test positive for covid-19, with the Tokyo Games opening Friday. Organizers confirmed the positive tests Sunday but didn’t identify the athletes other than to say they were non-Japanese. The South African Football Association...
Bucks edge Suns to take 3-2 lead in NBA Finals
PHOENIX — Jrue Holiday seized his chance to give the Milwaukee Bucks the lead in the NBA Finals. Took it right out of Devin Booker’s hands, actually. Holiday’s steal and alley-oop pass to Giannis Antetokounmpo for a dunk sealed a wild Game 5 and gave the Bucks a 123-119 victory...
Popular NASCAR driver Matt DiBenedetto could be out of Cup options after losing rideVideo
LOUDON, N.H. — Always a popular driver, Matt DiBenedetto won a fan vote this season that earned him the final spot in NASCAR’s All-Star race. As for the rest of his racing career? Well, wins haven’t come at all. DiBenedetto became a fan favorite over his seven-year career as the...
Louis Oosthuizen still leads British Open after wild 3rd roundVideo
Louis Oosthuizen stood on the 11th tee with only one bogey on his card over 46 holes at Royal St. George’s and a two-shot lead Saturday afternoon in the British Open. Five holes later, he stood over a 10-foot putt that he had to make to avoid trailing for the...
Marcel Siem among group of surprise British Open contenders
Marcel Siem is raising the roof and pumping his fists, a 41-year-old German who looks to be having the time of his life at the British Open. That starts with even being at Royal St. George’s. Siem was among the very last players to earn a spot in the Open....
