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I know we haven't much discussed the Olympic races. But I wanted to say that someone diving over the finish line in a track race doesn't seem like it should be a winning play. Shouldn't it be the required that you end the race, standing??

Michael Phelps may be untouchable in the water, but even he can’t out-swim the Tax Man. America’s Olympic medalists must pay state and federal taxes on the prize money they get for winning. The U.S. Olympic Committee awards $25,000 for gold medals, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. That’s not all. Olympians also have to pay tax on the value of the medals themselves. Gold and silver medals are made mostly of silver, while bronze medals are composed of mostly copper. Rio’s medals are among the largest and heaviest ever and contain about 500 grams of either silver or...

If you're like me, you love the Olympics. You especially love the Olympics when Team USA is wracking up bragging rights and this time around, they're winning big. Unfortunately, years of dedication to mastering a sport and taking home Olympic medals is expensive. Why? Team USA athletes who win medals get slapped with giant tax bills as soon as they arrive home from Rio. America's Olympic medalists must pay state and federal taxes on the prize money they get for winning. The U.S. Olympic Committee awards $25,000 for gold medals, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. That's not all. Olympians also...

The Rio Olympics wrapped its first full week of competition on Friday night with more Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and a primetime kickoff for track and field. Fast-affiliate ratings give NBC's primetime showing for the games, between 8 and 11 p.m., 23.9 million viewers and a 6.3 rating among adults 18-49. That's down from the night before and the lowest showing for a competitive night to date, but that's to be expected, given the lineup and Friday's status as a typically slower night for TV viewers. (The same Friday four years ago in London averaged 26.9 million viewers and an...

I’d like to interrupt the lack of news reports on the Obamas-on-vacation-on-Martha’s-Vineyard for an important update on the green slime problem at the Rio Olympic diving pool. Whoops! That’s not the look we were going for.Apparently it’s just algae. Some guy dumped 40 gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the pool by mistake and that neutralized the chlorine which allowed the algae to grow like, well, algae. We have been assured that while the pool “smells like farts” it’s quite harmless.And as you may recall, we LOVE algae! After wind, solar and corn, it’s our favorite alternative fuel du jour. I...

Gymnastics isn't What It Used to Be...and That's a Good Thing.

Men's 100m finalists Here are your finalists. 2.25am start. Don't go anywhere. Usain Bolt (JAM) - 9.86 Andre De Grasse (CAN) - 9.92 Justin Gatlin (USA) - 9.94 Jimmy Vicaut (FRA) - 9.95 Ben Youssef Meite (CIV) - 9.97 Akani Simbine (RSA) - 9.98 Yohan Blake (JAM) - 10.01 Trayvon Bromell (USA) - 10.01

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...

Superstar swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, nearly committed suicide two years ago. His athletic prowess and success had brought him so much attention over the last decade that sports media nearly worshiped him as a kind of god, but Phelps was struggling to find peace in his heart. He felt empty inside and sought to fill his pain with drugs and alcohol, which sent him into a downward spiral. In 2009 he was suspended from swimming for three months after a photograph of him using a bong went viral, but that didn’t stop him...

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.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Olympics officials on Saturday gave what they said was a definitive explanation why the water in two competition pools turned green this week. Someone, the officials said, mistakenly added 160 liters of hydrogen peroxide on Aug. 5, neutralizing the chlorine and allowing the growth of “organic compounds” that might have included algae. On Saturday, the water in the diving pool was still a murky bottle-green color, while the water in the second pool, used for water polo and synchronized swimming, had begun to look a bit lighter and a bit bluer. Athletes have been complaining that...

Dozens of heavily armed commandos could be seen Thursday frisking residents and going house to house in the Mare complex of slumsElite special forces raided a slum in Rio de Janeiro Thursday after officers providing security at the Olympics made a wrong turn and encountered gunfire. One police officer was shot in the head, and was recovering at a local hospital. The officers from Brazil's national security force were using a GPS device to navigate unfamiliar streets when they took a wrong turn off a highway leading to Rio's international airport. Their truck was sprayed with bullets, and one officer,...

EXCERPT: "Part of the issue here is that there are not a ton of alternatives. The village has a cafeteria in a big tent — plus a “casual dining” restaurant with Brazilian food — but the reviews have been well short of glowing. The crush of people in the cafeteria, trying to figure out in a babel of languages what is being served, can make for a frenzied meal...."

...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...

There are very few events that bring our country and the world at large together the way that the Olympics do. The Rio Olympics are a perfect example. In only a few days, the international community has been inspired and enlightened by the examples of some of the worldÂ’s best athletes who show us greatness both in their respective sports and in their communities.With that in mind, here's a few of the most inspiring stories that have come out of the Olympics so far.The Refugee Team: For some athletes at the Olympics, fighting to participate in the Olympics might have...

We know that America is feeling like a cancer patient at the moment. Doctors explain that there are only two options: amputate a limb or go through chemotherapy, which might save the limb, but also might kill us. We shuffle around in a daze, scarcely believing that there are no good exits from this house of mirrors. So, in the spirit of escapism from our national crisis, let's turn to the Olympics. It's not that the Olympics have exactly been a beacon of righteousness through the years. In 1936, Adolf Hitler did his best to make the games an infomercial...

BRASILIA, Brazil - The United States was eliminated by Sweden in Olympic women's soccer quarterfinal after a penalty shoot-out Friday. The U.S. team, which is the reigning World Cup champions, had been favored to get to the gold medal showdown -- but are instead out in the round of 8. The Friday match was a stunning loss for the U.S. team, which has played in the final every year since women's soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996, winning gold four times. This is a developing story ...

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.