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RIO DE JANEIRO — Michael Phelps insists his third retirement will stick, and given the cute little baby snoozing peaceful during most of his races here, it’s hard not to take him on his word this time. Then again, why would he quit? If the top swimmers can’t touch him at the Olympics at 31, there’s no reason to think a healthy Phelps couldn’t show up in Tokyo four years from now and…

Some of the greatest athletes to have ever lived are participating for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics. No athlete is more decorated than Michael Phelps, and few if any athletes have ever been as singularly dominant as Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky in their sports. They get a lot of media coverage, and they deserve it. Then there’s the United States women’s coxed 8, whose dominance has…

Abuljadayel was seventh of the eight entrants in heat three of the preliminary round Sprinter Kariman Abuljadayel became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to compete in the Olympic 100m. The 22-year-old, dressed in a full-body kit and hijab, was unable to qualify, finishing seventh in her preliminary heat in a time of 14.61 seconds. Afghanistan’s Kamia Yousufi also raced in a hijab and full bodysuit, finishing last in her…

Salomon Rondon has scored in each of his past three West Brom games Salomon Rondon’s header was enough to give West Brom a narrow win over Crystal Palace in a dreary Premier League opener at Selhurst Park. Both of these sides struggled for wins at the back end of last season and it showed in a game low on chances. Crystal Palace debutant Andros Townsend failed to inspire the home…

Peter Pawlett (left) battles with Prince Buaben at Pittodrie Aberdeen and Hearts failed to score a single goal between despite a lively 90 minutes. Niall McGinn twice had efforts blocked in the first half, and Shay Logan, Mark Reynolds and Peter Pawlett all went close in the second half. However Hearts has chances of their own, with Tony Watt spurning a late chance when he put the ball over the…

In a stadium far north of the Olympic heart, a goalkeeper spewed ugly. “We played a bunch of cowards,” Hope Solo said. “The best team did not win today. I strongly believe that.” In a news conference room in the center of the Olympic soul, a mom spread grace. “We started talking to [Simone] about how swimming isn’t just going to be about her,” said Sharron Manuel, the mother of…

Last Updated Aug 12, 2016 10:07 PM EDT RIO DE JANEIRO — A stunner at the Rio Olympics: Michael Phelps has been beaten. Joseph Schooling of Singapore built a big lead on the opening lap and easily held off the hard-charging Phelps to win gold in the 100-meter butterfly. Sports – Friday Michael Phelps, Simone Manuel make history in Rio Michael Phelps beats Ryan Lochte to break an ancient record…

RIO DE JANEIRO — Before the bus windows got blasted out and the water in the aquatics center turned emerald, before the Australian coaches got robbed at knifepoint and the Belgian sailor fell sick after tumbling into the sewage-strewn bay, before gang members in a favela killed a Brazilian police officer and a stray bullet landed in the media tent, one could make the case that Rio’s Olympics were going…

NEW YORK — Look: If you dare defend Alex Rodriguez in any fashion, you bother people. I get that, but I don’t fully get why, as it seems extremely obvious to me, as an adult, that ballplayers are human beings and human beings make mistakes constantly, and that none of us can accurately guess exactly which mistakes we’d make ourselves in the same situations. I know full well that this…

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(Eraldo Peres/Associated Press) For the first time in its distinguished history, the U.S. women’s soccer team has failed to advance to the semifinals of a major tournament. The four-time Olympic gold medalists were upset by Sweden on penalty kicks, 4-3, following a 1-1 draw Friday at Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia. The top-ranked Americans had gotten past the quarterfinals in seven World Cups and earned no worse than silver in…

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Thursday night, Simone Manuel made history when she became the first black woman in the Olympics to ever earn an individual swimming gold medal and the first African-American woman to win an individual medal. The groundbreaking win, which Manuel shared with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak after a tie, would be worth celebrating in the context of any sport. But the particularly racist history of American swimming pools — and resulting…

Michael Phelps has won more than twice as many gold medals as any other Olympian—and more than many entire nations. Since the modern Olympics began in 1896, 56 countries have taken home fewer gold medals in all than the 22 golds accrued by Phelps in his past four appearances at the Summer Olympics. And that doesn’t include the 47 countries that have participated without winning any gold medals. Phelps won…

In the notoriously unpredictable sport of trampoline–just one bad bounce can send a world-class athlete into last place–it’s much easier to fly into the top ranks of the sport than to stay there. Rosannagh, or Rosie, MacLennan of Canada proved it wasn’t impossible, however, when she became the first trampoline athlete to win two golds at an Olympics. Trampoline has a short history at the Olympics; it only made its debut…

For those who are unfamiliar with my thought process, I aim to add as many home run hitters as possible to my daily fantasy baseball lineups. One way of doing that is to look at a player’s isolated power numbers (ISO). The ISO statistic removes singles and provides a larger weight for each extra-base hit. I also use the weighted on-base average (wOBA) metric. This stat takes every positive outcome into consideration. Last year,…

There is no perfect athlete — no player who exuded nothing but virtue both on and off the field. You can’t find one in this day and age, and if you had a time machine, you wouldn’t be able to go back and find one either. Some imperfect players carry more baggage than others. Some players keep their faults under wraps; some have to wear them like scarlet letters. But…

DAZN will cost €9.99 (£8.60) per month and show 8,000 events a year Fans will be able to watch football from Europe’s top five leagues Tennis, darts, basketball and American Football will also be available   By James Andrew for MailOnline Published: 06:43 EST, 12 August 2016 | Updated: 12:16 EST, 12 August 2016 65 View comments The wayfootball fans watch the beautiful game is about to change for ever – in Germany…

The coverage of Muslim women athletes often emphasizes their traditional roles in an exotic culture, and makes their uniforms and veils into the topic of much fascination and tokenization. According to a 2014 Women’s Media Center report, almost 90 percent of sportswriters are white, straight, able-bodied men. Therein lies much of the problem. When stories on Muhammad emphasize that she is not an oppressed and subservient woman, it just reinforces…

They have a lifelong rivalry in the pool. But take these two Olympians out of the water, and you have a beautiful friendship. After four joint Olympics — not to mention a string of world championships — the athletes have built up a strong bromance. After Rio, Phelps will be returning home to marry his fiancée and enjoy some well-earned time with his new baby, Boomer. Lochte, meanwhile, has said…