Free Republic

Forty-one-year-old Uzbekistan gymnast Oksana Chusovitina was already something of a sensation before she competed in the women’s vault competition. She had made history by merely qualifying for her seventh Olympic Games in Rio, becoming the oldest athlete ever to compete in women’s gymnastics. But she didn’t stop there on Sunday. In an attempt to upstage her competition, and perhaps make a run at United States sensation Simone Biles — who is just two years older than Chusovitina’s 17-year-old son — Chusovitina attempted the Produnova, which many have deemed “the vault of death.” “The vault is very dangerous,” she told the...

U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte was robbed at gunpoint while in Rio de Janeiro overnight Saturday, NBC News has confirmed. Following conflicting reports — including the IOC denying any incident took place — Lochte himself confirmed with NBC’s Billy Bush that he and “three other swimmers” were robbed at gunpoint. Lochte’s mom had earlier told other news organizations that the robbery happened at a party. …

The American gold medallist swimmer Ryan Lochte has been held up at gunpoint during a party in Brazil. We'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.

North Korea has its first gold medal of the Rio Olympics after Rim Jong Sim won the women's 75-kilogram weightlifting class. Rim was utterly dominant, lifting 117 kilograms in the snatch and 153 in the clean and jerk for a total of 274, way ahead of the 258 managed by Belarusian silver medalist Darya Naumava, or 257 for Spain's Lidia Valentin Perez.

...Yet, the big-money swimsuit companies — so crucial to the sport's financial viability — are always pressing to show off their high-tech chops, which are severely crimped by rules that restrict the size and fabrics for competition swimsuits...

In an all-Italian gold medal match, Diana Bacosi defeated compatriot Chiara Cainero to win the women’s skeet event. U.S. shooter Kim Rhode, who won the bronze medal match, is the story of the finals, however. Rhode became the first Summer Olympian to win six consecutive individual medals, a feat that had only been done by Italian luger Armin Zoeggeler. After the semifinal, Rhode met fellow American Morgan Craft and China’s Wei Meng in a sudden death shoot off to see who’d advance bronze medal match. Craft, the 23-year-old No. 2-ranked skeet shooter in the world, was ultimately defeated. In the...

It is likely that on the night of Saturday, Aug. 20, in the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, a 25-year-old South African woman named Caster Semenya will win a gold medal. Her victory will come in the 800 meters, a race in which her times have been approaching a decades-old world record thought by many in the sport to be unapproachable. Her performance will be stunning: She is 5'10" and weighs 161 pounds, with muscular arms, broad shoulders and narrow hips. She has a severe jawline, hard and strong, and a competitor's unflinching eyes. In a 2009 article, Ariel...

There was further disaster for the Rio Olympics today when the much anticipated track and fields events began to a near empty stadium. The 46,931-seater stadium was a swathe of empty blue seats and booths stocked with tickets were largely quiet. Rio 2016 has been plagued by a lack of interest from the Brazilian public and security fears have prevented an influx of American fans and other foreigners. Anti-government protests which have focused on the Olympics and the dire Brazilian economic situation have also hampered interest in the games.

In Germany, meanwhile, an equestrian commentator for ARD TV, Carsten Sostmeier, opened an interview with rider Julia Krajewski with, “Let's see what the blondie has to say.” He went on to call her a “scaredy-cat" and said she was so afraid of the course that "there was a brown stripe in her panties." (snip) A commentator for Canada's CBC, Byron MacDonald, said that 14-year-old Chinese swimmer Ai Yanhan "went out like stink and died like a pig" in the 200-meter women’s freestyle heat.

Those dark red, spots dotting Olympians’ shoulders and backs are not cigar burns. They’re not perfectly circular hickeys either. Viewers watching the Olympics this weekend may have spotted the pepperoni-like bruises on athletes and wondered: What is that? Olympians at Rio have taken to cupping — an ancient therapy that have mostly been used in Middle Eastern and Asian countries, especially China. The therapy consists of having round glass suction cups that are warmed, then placed on sore parts of the body. The placement of the glass cup creates a partial vacuum, which is believed to stimulate muscles and blood...

Dutch Olympic medalist Adelinde Cornelissen has been forced to withdraw her dressage horse from the Rio games after it contracted a toxic fever. Cornelissen said the problem with Parzival, a 19-year-old Jazz gelding who won individual silver and team bronze at London 2012, was believed to stem from a bite from a mosquito or a spider. She retired from the competition after just a handful of movements. Cornelissen said the fever started the day before the event began when the horse had a fever of over 40 degrees. 'When I came into the stable he had a swollen cheek, and...

He had a $20.5 million contract, but is now out of the league — and millions of dollars... “I looked at my bank statement and thought, ‘where did this come from?’ they took advantage of me,” he said of his friends and family members. They had paid for 11 Netflix accounts and eight Hulu accounts in his name. They also made many purchases on Amazon and charged him for bottle service at bars.

RIO DE JANEIRO — The playing of the United States’ national anthem at medal ceremonies is bringing tears to the eyes of American athletes here. Elsewhere, the song is having a very different effect.“It is driving me crazy,” said Jason DeBord, a 45-year-old living in Ann Arbor, Mich. “I hit the mute button, or I make dinner, or I just sit there and brace myself.” DeBord has nothing against displays of patriotism, nor is he simply eager to return to the action. What irritates him is the version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” being used at the Olympics. Put bluntly, it...

BOSTON - The Boston Red Sox canceled a David Ortiz bobblehead promotion Tuesday night when the figurine turned out to be "racially insensitive," said team president Sam Kennedy. The bobblehead depicts Ortiz addressing fans at Fenway Park following the Boston Marathon bombings, but Kennedy said it didn't much resemble the retiring slugger and was not fit for distribution. Kennedy saw the final version of the bobblehead for the first time Tuesday afternoon after they were delivered. "My two immediate reactions were first, it was a really inaccurate portrayal of what he looks like," Kennedy told The Associated Press. "My personal...

The diving pool at the Rio Olympics has turned green, and inquiring minds -- like silver-medal-winning U.S. diver David Boudia -- aren't sure why.["Wait is someone playing a joke or are we celebrating St Patty's Day early here in Rio?"]Tom Daley, who won bronze for Great Britain in Rio, is equally puzzled.["Ermmm...what happened?!"]

DEVELOPING: Longtime ESPN host John Saunders has died at the age of 61, the network announced Wednesday.

Gabby Douglas may have just helped her team win gold at the Olympics but that hasn't stopped some fans criticizing her for not putting her hand on her heart during the U.S. national anthem.The American gymnast was the only member of her squad who was photographed with her hands by her sides as The Star-Spangled Banner played in Rio on Tuesday.The Olympic veteran took gold alongside Madison Kocian, Laurie Hernandez, Simone Biles and Aly Raisman in the Women's Team All-Around gymnastics ompetition.Twitter user Angela complained: 'There is no excuse as to why you could not salute the flag of the...

Michael Phelps gave his baby son Boomer a kiss as he added two more Olympic gold medals to his record total on Tuesday night after leading Team USA to victory in the 4x200 freestyle relay less than an hour after defeating his arch nemesis Chad Le Clos. Phelps made up for one of the rare losses in his brilliant career by seeing off rival Le Clos to win the men's 200m butterfly - and his twentieth Olympic gold medal, which he later admitted it was 'revenge' for 2012. 'There was so much emotion and so much build up for that...

As the Rio Olympics kicks off, eeire photographs of the sites of past Olympics games have been revealed In Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, bobsled from 1984 Games was vandalised and is used by mountain bikers There are similar site in Athens, Greece, with a swimming pool in the 2004 Olympic Village filled with brown water In Germany, the site of the 1936 Games, the windows at the athletes village have been boarded up with timber

A lot of talk lately about the Big 12 Conference adding teams. One possibility.. high-profile Brigham Young University. But a gay advocacy group has written a letter to the Big 12 commissioner urging him not to consider adding BYU to the conference saying the Mormon school is discriminatory against the LGBT community. What should the commissioner do?