Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.
Where is Team USA from?
594 Americans arrived in Paris this summer, the most of any country, and 340 of them (57%) are first-time Olympians.
The Golden State: More than 1 in 5 Team USA athletes hail from California (122), which has nearly three times as many athletes as runner-up Florida (43).
-
Six other states have at least 20 representatives: Texas (41), Colorado (27), Illinois (27), Pennsylvania (27), New York (23) and New Jersey (21).
-
Only four states, plus Washington D.C., do not have a single representative: Maine, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Team USA, by the numbers:
-
Youngest Olympians: There are 32 teenagers, but none younger than gymnast Hezly Rivera, who turned 16 last month. Skateboarder Paige Heyn and sprinter Quincy Wilson are also 16.
-
Oldest Olympians: Equestrian Steffen Peters, 59, is the oldest American Summer Olympian since 1936. Fellow equestrian Laura Kraut, 58, isn’t far behind.
-
Most appearances: Peters, equestrian McLain Ward and hoops star Diana Taurasi are competing in their sixth Olympics.
-
Sports represented: Of the 32 sports in Paris, handball is the only one without an American. Track and field has the most (120), followed by swimming (48).
-
By gender: For the fourth consecutive Summer Games, Team USA has more women (315) than men (279).
Family affair: Team USA features six sets of siblings, which is remarkable. That includes identical twins Annie and Kerry Xu, who are badminton doubles partners.
The other five:
-
Water polo: Chase and Ryder Dodd
-
Swimming: Alex and Gretchen Walsh
-
Swimming: Aaron and Alex Shackell
-
Field hockey: Brooke and Emma DeBerdine
-
Track and field: Juliette and Isabella Whittaker
Meet Team USA: Here’s the full roster of athletes, which includes Paralympians.
Photos of the day
📸 Photo of the century: Gabriel Medina recorded the highest single wave score in Olympic history (9.90), and this shot of him exiting the wave is one of the coolest photos ever taken. My goodness.
🥉 U.S. men take bronze: Stephen Nedoroscik nailed his pommel horse routine to help the men’s gymnastics team win their first medal since 2008. Do yourself a favor and watch this celebration. Sports!!!
🎾 Novak beats Rafa: Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal, 6-1, 6-4, in their 60th and perhaps final meeting. It was also likely Nadal’s final singles match at Roland Garros, but he and Carlos Alcaraz are still alive in doubles.
🏉 Sweet revenge: The Americans beat Great Britain, 17-7, in a quarterfinal rematch from Tokyo to advance to their first-ever women’s rugby semifinal. They play New Zealand today.
Day 3 recap: More from Monday
Team USA is proudly funded by family, friends and fans like you. When you give to the Team USA Fund, 100% of your donation goes to athletes and the programming that supports them. Donate today.
Athlete spotlight: Jimmer Fredette took the basketball world by storm at BYU. Now, he returns to the spotlight as he makes his Olympic debut today in 3×3 basketball (4:30pm ET, NBC).
College hoops legend: Fredette capped off his illustrious BYU career by winning Player of the Year, averaging an NCAA-best 28.9 ppg and splashing threes from the parking lot. If you don’t remember, Jimmermania was absolutely electric.
-
He went No. 10 overall to the Kings and enjoyed a promising albeit unspectacular rookie season, but that was the high-water mark of an inconsistent six-year NBA career.
-
He found success in China, where he averaged 37 ppg and dropped 70 on multiple occasions. But when he came back home early in the pandemic, he was ready to call it quits — until he was approached about playing 3×3.
Second act: “As soon as I heard ‘Olympics,’ I was like, ‘I’m all in.’ I saw this as the opportunity of a lifetime,” Fredette told Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg. Joining him on Team USA are Canyon Barry (son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry), Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis.
-
Fredette is the undisputed leader and has taken a squad that failed to qualify in Tokyo — where the sport made its Olympics debut — and turned things up a notch.
-
The Americans finished runner-up to Serbia at last year’s 3×3 World Cup, and that’s who they play today in their opener.
3×3, explained: Teams play on a half court with a 12-second shot clock. Games are first to 21, or the leader after 10 minutes, with field goals counting for one (inside the arc) or two points (behind the arc).
More athletes in action:
-
🏉 Ilona Maher: The 2017 MA Sorenson Award winner (rugby’s Heisman) has a stiff arm that rivals Derrick Henry’s and a hilarious social media presence that’s made her famous. She and her teammates play in the semifinals at 9:30am ET.
-
🏊 Regan Smith: The former teen phenom missed out on gold in Tokyo in her signature event, the 100m backstroke. But the 22-year-old reclaimed her world record last month at U.S. trials and has a chance for redemption in today’s final.
Team USA: News | Athletes | Shop
Follow along at TeamUSA.com and @TeamUSA on social media.
Behind the lens
Each week during the Paris Olympics, we’ll be going “Behind the Lens” with Getty Images photographers to get the backstory on their favorite shots.
Behind the lens: Ezra took this photo using a new mirrorless camera being released by Canon in the coming months (the EOS R1) and a new lens that came out earlier this year (a 100-300 f2.8 zoom). This allowed him to track and capture Jordan’s eyes — like she’s looking right at us.
The uneven bars always make for eye-catching images, and the lighting here in Paris provides a very dark background, which is great for pictures. The Olympics also doesn’t have any sort of branding, so we’re able to use these clean, ad-free backgrounds to our advantage.
Behind the lens: Al captured this photo from the press tribune high above the pool, where he was operating a robotic camera mounted in the roof of the arena. He’d just learned how to use the camera and was getting a feel for the controls when opportunity struck.
As I was panning, the female swimmer in the USA cap and a male swimmer in the lane over were both doing the backstroke. At the same time, two other swimmers came in the frame going in the opposite direction. The black lane markers on the bottom of the pool worked nicely as they divided up the photo into sections.
Behind the lens: This is Steph’s second time photographing Olympic table tennis, which requires a lens with a lot of magnification (400mm 2.8 lens in this case) and a fast shutter speed (1/5000th of a second) as the athletes and ball move so fast.
A major component I challenge myself with is patiently waiting for the ball with the Olympics logo to be upright and visible. This is very tedious! Oftentimes, I don’t get lucky, but when I do it’s quite rewarding. The venue has field of play positions, so you can get fairly close to the athletes along the sides of the table.
🥇🥈🥉
Full medal count.
Watchlist: Women’s Gymnastics Team Final
USA Women’s Gymnastics goes for gold today in the Team Final, where Simone Biles will try to lead the Americans back to the top of the podium after they settled for silver in Tokyo.
Featured events:
-
🤸 Women’s Gymnastics: Team Final (12:15pm ET, NBC)
-
🏄 Surfing: Men’s and Women’s Finals (8pm, Peacock) … Semifinals begin at 5:45pm.
-
⚽️ Men’s Soccer: USMNT vs. Guinea (1pm, USA) … The U.S. is guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals with a two-goal victory. Anything less could spell trouble.
-
🏊 Swimming: Three medal events (2:30pm, NBC) … Women’s 100m Backstroke, Men’s 800m Freestyle, Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay.
-
🏉 Women’s Rugby: Gold Medal Match (1:45pm, E!) … USA vs. New Zealand and Canada vs. Australia in the semifinals (9:30am, USA).
-
🏀 3×3 Basketball: U.S. Women vs. Germany (11:30am, Peacock); U.S. Men vs. Serbia (4:30pm, NBC) … The women’s gold medal defense and the men’s Olympics debut begin today.
Medal events:
-
🏓 Table Tennis: Mixed Doubles (7:30am, Peacock)
-
🎯 Men’s Shooting: Trap Final (9:30am, Peacock)
-
🥋 Judo: Women’s 63kg and Men’s 81kg (10am, Peacock)
-
🤺 Women’s Fencing: Team Épée (1:30pm, Peacock)
Non-medal events: Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, BMX, Boxing, Canoe Slalom, Equestrian, Handball, Hockey, Rowing, Sailing, Swimming, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo.
Primetime on NBC: Women’s Gymnastics Team Final (8pm), Men’s 100m Freestyle Semifinals and Women’s 100m Backstroke Final (8:45pm), Women’s Surfing Final (11pm).
For a complete schedule, click here. Every event streams live on Peacock. Sign up here.
Lightning round
❤️ Girl dad: Shortly after winning his third Olympic medal in the 100m backstroke, American Ryan Murphy learned that his first child, due in January, will be a girl.
📺 Huge TV ratings: NBC Universal averaged 34.5 million viewers through Sunday, a 79% jump from Tokyo. Perhaps the most impressive number of all: 10.9 million people watched the U.S. men’s basketball opener.
🏊 Positive COVID test: Just hours after winning silver in the men’s 100m breaststroke, Adam Peaty of Great Britain tested positive for COVID-19.
⭐️ A star is born: “Bob the Cap Catcher” has become an Olympic sensation after jumping into the pool to retrieve a lost swim cap. How do I apply for this job?
Daily trivia
The U.S. is one of three nations to have multiple cities host the Summer Olympics (St. Louis, Los Angeles, Atlanta). Can you name the other two nations?
Hint: One hosted in the 1930s and 1970s, one hosted in the 1950s and 2000s.
Answer at the bottom.
In non-Olympics news…
What a warrior: Orioles catcher James McCann took a 95 mph fastball to the face in the first inning on Monday, going down hard as blood gushed from his nose. But incredibly he got up, took his base, and played the entire game, going 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Plus:
Trivia answer: Germany (Berlin 1936, Munich 1972) and Australia (Melbourne 1956, Sydney 2000)
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
Source Agencies
