Virginia Tech University will get a semi-celebrity in its swimming ranks with Vedaant Madhavan as a freshman recruit for next year.

Legend Serena Williams' legacy is carried on through fellow tennis players such as Alycia Parks.

Richard Gasquet went to Disneyland.

(The weekend's not the only thing looking 'pretty fine', Johannes Vetter...)

Koen Verweij still enjoys Indonesia.

Salvatore Maresca sweats out the bad stuff.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is back home with 'the boys'.

Olymics.com​: Get to know Polina Buhrova, a top-ranked junior badminton player who's rise coincides with the conflict in her home in Ukraine.

FINA.org checks in with artistic swimmer Miyako Tanaka: Seoul 1988 memories, working as a sports psychologist, and more.

With a 'long apprenticeship' in the sport, taekwondo world champion Omar Salim relishes following in his father's championship footsteps.

Kaillie Humphries still has peak competitive fire as she and the Team USA bobsled team look to a new season of challenges this winter.

South African Danisha Patel is not just a top table tennis player, but a double major in biokinetics.

Olympic rowers Aifric Keogh and Eimear Lambe 'dare to believe' in outreach to schoolchildren in Ireland.

Now having "finally made it", gymnast Adem Asil revels in his first world championship medal...a gold.

Fulfilling 'a dream', Beauty Dungdung is ready for her senior debut with Team India field hockey.

Retiring road cyclist Aafke Soet turns her attention to helping others battle eating disorders.

New world triathlon champion Leo Bergere "can't believe" his title, a win he's been chasing a long time.

Meanwhile, Alex Yee's and Georgia Taylor-Brown's mutual second-place finishes at the world finals may cement their positions to still challenge through Paris 2024.

Long-time teammates Summer Britcher and Emily Sweeney are now partners as they eye women's luge doubles this season for the first time.

Remember Alpine skier Nina O'Brien's hard crash at Beijing 2022? She's back on the slopes this season. 

How has Aleksander Aamodt Kilde become 'the master of consistency'?

"Everyday was a challenge", but 2022's been a 'breakthrough' season for diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix.

U.S. Open junior tennis champ Alex Eala makes the cover for Vogue Philippines.

Beach volleyball players Esteban and Marco Grimalt are just one example of family members finding international success for Team Chile in 'less traditional sports'. (in Spanish)

Speaking of beach volleyball...did you know that Croatian soccer World Cup player Ivan Perisic once played on the beach volleyball tour?

Count Team Spain's number one goalkeeper and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Unai Simon as surprised to even being ever called up for the World Cup squad.

Look back at a pre-World Cup interview with Team Australia soccer player and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Riley McGree: Middlesbrough, parmos and lost in Qatar.

Will one of my earliest favorite Olympic athletes, Los Angeles 1984's P.T. Usha, become president of the Indian Olympic Committee?

Race walker Jemima Montag was a double honoree at the Victorian Institute of Sport Awards of Excellence: Performance Lifestyle Award and Award of Excellence.

Softball Olympians Monica Abbott and Maria Soto headline the new additions to the WBSC Athletes' Commission as representatives on the executive and softball boards, respectively.

Can Japanese-born freestyle wrestler Gaku Akazawa make it to Paris 2024 representing Samoa?

Beijing 2008 boxer Azea Augustama arrested for 'threatening to shoot up a gym in South Florida'.

Olympics.com: Swimmer Daniel Wiffen reflects on that Game of Thrones cameo, and more.

Swimming great Kyle Chalmers has two big items left to do on his career bucket list, and feels ready to tackle one of them at the short course worlds next month.
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Has 'enigmatic' biathlon star Emilien Jacquelin found a 'new balance' as the season gets underway?

It's the rare professional senior tennis event in which the victor is called a 'world champion'...and also is alternately referred to as the 'World Cup of Tennis'...it's the Davis Cup, which finished today in Malaga, Spain after four Finals rounds of men's team competition.

In the end, Team Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime, Vasek Pospisil, and Dennis Shapovalov took a surprise 'world championship' title, defeating Team Australia's Alex de Minaur, Thanasi Kokkinasis, Max Purcell, and Jordan Thompson 2-1 in the final for a first-ever Davis Cup championship.

Team Canada only entered the 16-team group stage of the Finals as a wildcard, after Team Russia was barred following the sports world sanctions for the war in Ukraine. The Canadians scored wins over Team Germany (2-1) and then Team Italy (2-1) to make the final match.

The Davis Cup has been held since 1900 (!), with Team United States and Team Australia having the most titles, at 32 and 28 each, respectively.

​In the women's equivalent event earlier this month - the Billie Jean Cup - Team Switzerland likewise won its first-ever title, with Belinda Bencic and Jill Teichmann defeating Team Australia's Storm Sanders, Samantha Stosur, and Anja Tomjanovic 2-1 across singles and doubles in the final. The Swiss had overcome Teams Canada and Italy in the group stage, and Team Czech Republic in the semifinals.

Launched in 1963, the Billie Jean Cup (nee Federation Cup / Fed Cup) has been won most often by Team United States (18 titles), followed by Team Czech Republic / Czechoslovakia (11). Just as in the Davis Cup, Team Russia had been the defending champions from the previous year, but was excluded from the competition.

Congratulations to Teams Canada and Switzerland, tennis' world team champions in 2022!

The Swimmers (2022)
A Quick Film Review

Swimmer Yusra Mardini's road to the Olympics received a lot of attention at Rio 2016 - compelling in its foundation of a dramatic survival as an asylum-seeker-turned-Olympian, it finally has a cinematic outlet in The Swimmers, released this week on Netflix.

Olympic watchers will be well-familiar with the outline of Mardini's story - a competitive swimmer in Syria looking to escape the civil war at home, she and her sister embark on a journey that includes an Aegean Sea crossing turned treacherous. To ensure survival of the raft's passengers, the two swim for three hours tethered to the overcrowded vessel until they reach Europe, i.e. Lesbos, Greece.

That alone is enough for a media firestorm, but The Swimmers is here to provide context. So, we see the Mardinis in a relatively standard and stable household, with the sisters trying to live carefree lives as much as possible before the volatile political civil war encroaches too close. Yes, the sea crossing with its dramatic overnight swim is the highlight, but far from the only difficult moment of an arduous  journey. Yusra and Sara, their cousin Nizar, and the multiple fellow refugees from across various origins face uncertain routes, questionable guides, the threat of arrest, and discrimination from locals, and worse, on their way to safety. But once in Berlin, the sisters find some sense of stability despite, with Yusra making her way to a local swim club to continue training. From there, it's onward to the Rio Games despite some reluctance accepting 'refugee' nomination.
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Yes, The Swimmers provides a certain level of Hollywood-ization breeziness about it all, but it is fresh to see not only a remarkable Olympian's story, but a refugee's story. It's a reminder of the humanity behind asylum seekers' journeys that are too often reduced to headlines. And, credit to The Swimmers for making the story as much about Sara as Yusra. Sara, not as accomplished nor driven a swimmer as the younger Yusra, is equal a hero in the crossing, and her own search to find purpose in her new home is thankfully acknowledged.

That breeziness mentioned earlier is an unfortunate distraction, but, in the end, The Swimmers is a must-watch for Olympic fans to commemorate one of the most colorful and impactful stories of recent Games. And, who doesn't choke up when watching stirring Olympic competition, even if cinematically-driven?