Connor Bedard of Team Canada hailed as the "greatest ever at 15" after his heroics at the recent U18 World Ice Hockey Championships. A world lead and a new Swiss high jump record puts Lois Gasch on the map in 2021. Trinidad & Tobago's Tyra Gittens wins the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships' heptathlon in dramatic fashion. Tamara Salazar sets a new South American record, and helps Ecuador's female weightlifters to new heights heading into Tokyo 2020.
Say it loud, Epp!!
Yarolsava's bringing the brightness to start us off...
Grigor Dimitrov bids 'ciao'.
Fanny Smith continues vacation.
Matty Lee and Tom Daley, still at it...
Mai Murakami completes a comeback from injury to take leadership of the Japanese women's gymnastics team ahead of the home Tokyo 2020 games. U.S. Rio 2016 Olympian Brenda Martinez opens up about her depression, and how a drug test pushed her there. Mondo Duplantis is "getting used to" the pressure of world record tries as he eyes his first Olympics. Race walker Tom Bosworth finished sixth and got married at Rio 2016, but hopes for an even more good memories at Tokyo 2020. Irish marathoner Stephen Scullion has had an "eventful time" in 2020, providing a colorful backdrop to his road to the Tokyo Games. I don't speak German, but always happy to see decathlete Johannes Vetter in training action...playing badminton, too! Olympic medalists Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Tamika Catchings headline the latest Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement. The Covid-19 crisis in India hits the field hockey community with the passing of two heroes. A world cup win this weekend helps put demons behind Valentin Prades in modern pentathlon. More field hockey: Re-live a classic Olympic comeback moment with Germany's Mo Fuerste. Can Florian Wellbrock win Olympic gold in both open water and pool swimming this summer? Spain names two opening ceremony flag bearers...canoeist Saul Carviotto and swimmer Mireia Belmonte. Congrats!
Canadian national team member Sarah Nurse leads a trio of professional hockey players on the cover of Elle Canada. Brighton Zeuner talks skateboarding and the Olympics with NBCOlympics.com. World champion road cyclist Julian Ataphilippe decides against Tokyo 2020 participation, ending the opportunity to better his Rio 2015 fourth-place finish. Weightlifter Lydia Valentin qualifies for Tokyo 2020, at a new weight, without making a lift at her last qualification event. Such is the depth of Russian figure skating that neither a defending Olympic champion nor a two-time world champion make the next season squad, and Russians probably still expected to dominate. Nick D'Agostino looks back on his Olympic-qualification goal that sent Australia's socceroos toward Tokyo 2020. Snowboarder Shaun White is on his way to go for his fourth Olympic halfpipe gold. And...fellow snowboarder Torah Bright makes waves with a social post celebrating motherhood. Attila Ungvari has high hopes to make it to Tokyo 2020 alongside his brother and fellow judoka Miklos. A 2018 Israeli Film Showcases A Key Period in Young Athletes' Careers17 Seconds (2018) A Quick Film Review I'm not sure what "17 seconds" refers to in the documentary 17 Seconds from director Alon Marom, despite what I think was paying close attention throughout. Perhaps a reference to potential crucial moments of time in the various sports events presented. No matter...the film pretty much accomplishes what it's billed as, namely an intimate look at the drama of emerging athletes exploring their futures at an elite Israeli sports academy. Filmed at "the most prestigious place for sports" in the country, the Wingate Institute for Excellence in Sport, 17 Seconds follows four of the many teenagers hosted at the facility: judokas Noa Even (age 16) and Raz Hershko (16), basketball player Mohamed Abu Arisha (17), and swimmer Ilia Gladishev (17). Over the course of the film, we get a look at Wingate's aim of "raising the best athletes in sports", as the teens are pushed by coaches, challenged in training, and tested in competition. we witness the teens work through their struggles for motivation. And teenagers, they are...they're distracted from training (particularly by Gladishev, whose girlfriend is identified as a cause), they break diet and sneak in pizza (Even and Hershko), and have short moody fuses (again, the judokas). Abu Arisha faces particular challenges of fitting in as an Arab-Israeli at the school; his coach urges him to "choose between being an Arab or an athlete." All four have talent, and represent Israel internationally in various junior competitions. But as the film unfolds, Hershko and Abu Arisha seem to adjust best to their athletic opportunities. Hershko wins a European junior championship, and we see Abu Arisha secure an opportunity to play at Jacksonville State in Alabama. Meanwhile, both Even and Gladishev struggle to live up to potential - Even frustrated by injury and failing to defeat a frequent opponent, and Gladishev disqualified at the European Championships, blamed on his lack of focus. As 17 Seconds takes place in 2015, today we have the benefit to catch-up on where those trajectories have led since the film's release in 2018. Hershko is currently 21st in Olympic qualification rankings for Tokyo 2020. And after stints in the U.S. college system, Abu Arisha now is with Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Israeli Basketball premier League. Meanwhile, Even's and Gladishev's careers seem to have plateaued. It's interesting to see those trends in 2015 appear to come to fruition. To paraphrase the indifferent Gladishev's prescient comment in 17 Seconds, not everyone who dreams accomplishes the dream. 17 Seconds offers a good "behind-the-scenes" look at an intense sports academy. And it also offers a universal coming-of-age story that transcends geography, as we see the young athletes work on their futures,. Even if they don't realize it at the time.
Koen Verweij gives us a photoshoot sample.
Ona Carbonell gets ready.
Fanny Smith soaks in some rays.
Onward, Cody!
Canoeist Vit Prindis enjoys recent medals.
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Above: Athens' Kallimarmaro, the site of the 1896 Summer Olympics
About This BlogAn Olympics fan blog celebrating all things Olympic sport athletesRead about me.
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