SPORTS SECTION E
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2016
Golden Moments
Rio Olympics, Page 8
Track and field team hopes to have ‘perfect storm,’ says head coach By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — The BTC Bahamas team is all set and ready to put on a show when the athletic competition gets underway on Friday at the Olympic Stadium, according to head coach George Cleare, who is predicting some medals at the end of the 10 days of competition. “We have settled in. We have people getting in so basically the entire team is in place,” Cleare told the local media. “We’ve been going to the practice sessions and we are looking good. We’ve been monitoring athletes that have been training with their individual coaches and we feel as though they are basically healthy, which is
a good thing. There’s always some knicks and knacks, but that’s a part of the sport. “But I’m looking forward to the competition. I think the athletes now are getting restless and the excitement of them beginning on the 12th is starting to really show up. They’ve been coming to practice and they’ve been on time. We have a good group, we have a lot of newcomers, it’s really a young group, but the future looks bright and we’re hoping to make a lot of noise in the upcoming days.” With all of the athletes here qualified to compete in their individual events, Cleare said it makes the job of the coaching staff that much easier. “A lot goes into it, it’s not just about physical, but mentally,” he said. “We always remember our great accomplish-
ments, but we forget about our licks. Along the way, many of our stars, who have gone on to become medallists, took some licks. But this young group of athletes that
we have, I think that they’re going to do, how well they do will show how well we are going to be in the next four years and we know we have some veterans here that are very strong, so we have a few shots at some medals. We hope to have a perfect storm and leave out here with a lot of hardware.” Coupled with the fact that there are no complaints from the living accommodations to the sporting facilities, Cleare said it is definitely a total team effort in Rio. “I think that everybody is getting along. The accommodations are great. I don’t think Team Bahamas has much to complain about. I think it’s been more than satisfactory,” he said. “The venue is beautiful, so I think that everybody has been getting together, they’re catching the bus together
Morley clinches final berth
SEE PAGE 3
BAHAMIANS IN ACTION THIS WEEK all times Bahamian Wednesday Swimming 12.02pm: Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Women’s 100m freestyle, heat five, lane seven Final at 9.12pm
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — In just her first exposure to the international circuit, Emily Morley said she feels like a celebrity after all the attention she has received in treading new waters for the Bahamas at the 2016 Olympic Games. She has accomplished her goal and is looking forward to putting the icing on the cake in her series of races on Friday. Yesterday in the semi-final of the Women’s Single Sculls, Morley clinched her birth into the final with a third place finish at the Lagoa Stadium. She will have a few days off to relax and recuperate before she completes her debut as the first Bahamian to compete in the Olympic Games in rowing on Friday. Morley, 22, completed the 2,000 metre race on a straight course in eight minutes and 46.09 of the Repechage - a contest in which the best-placed of those who failed to win heats compete for a place in the final - to earn her berth in the E Final with Kazakhstan’s Svetlana Germanovich, the heat winner in 8:29.18 and second place finisher Dewi Yuliawati from India, who did 8:39.95 for second place. “The race was definitely a bit more harder than yesterday (Monday),” Morley told the media. “There was a bit of a head wind, so there was more on the legs than yesterday. But it was a good race. My start and my first 500 wasn’t my best. Today was my slowest 500, but after that I picked it up, got my pace and got my boat running the way I wanted it to. So
and eating together as a group, so I’m pleased with the way the team is gelling. “It’s not just the track, the swimmers are here and we have a rower and everybody is sharing the space. We’re always in the office watching TV together and encouraging each other so I think it’s a good mix.” There, however, could be something brewing in the camp with word emanating that flag bearer Shaunae Miller is now leaning towards running the double and if she does, it will eliminate one of the three female competitors already listed to compete. Bear in mind that Miller has qualified, not just for the 400m, but for both the 200 and 100m.
Thursday Swimming 1.26pm: Joanna Evans Women’s 800m freestyle, heat 2, lane eight. Final at 10.18pm
EMILY MORLEY
EMILY MORLEY, of the Bahamas, and Svetlana Germanovich, of Kazakhstan, compete in the women’s single sculls semi-final heat yesterday during the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP) it was good after that.” Through the first 500m, Morley did 2:13.83 to sit in third and she remained there, despite dropping to 2:14.37 to take her to 4:28.20
at the halfway mark of 1,000. She improved over the next 500m in 2:11.30 to push her time to 6:39.50, but it was a stronger finish in a 2:06.59 split that propelled
her across the line ahead of Claire Ayivon of Togo, who rounded out the field in 9:25.60 and was relegated to the F final. “The first two minutes were a bit choppy so my blades kept hitting the water a little bit,” said Morley of her performance through the race. “But other than that, it smoothed out. There was just a gust of wind here and there, but the water was flat.” The integrated marketing and communications major at Ithaca College in New York, who is assisted here by her coaches Becky Robinson and Beth Greene and accompanied by her family, said her goal coming here was to make a final and she will get that opportunity on Friday against five other boats and she hopes that she can make the best of it. With a few days off to relax and
SEE PAGE 3
Friday Swimming 1.02pm: Arianna VanderpoolWallace - Women’s 50m free, heat 12, lane three Athletics 8.05pm: Steven Gardiner, Chris Brown and Alonzo Russell - men’s 400m prelims 9.40pm: Ty’Nia Gaither Women’s 100m heats Saturday Athletics 10am: Shaunae Miller Women’s 400m heats 11am: Shavez Hart, Adrian Griffith and Jamial Rolle Men’s 100m heats 7.30pm: Men’s 400m semi-final 8pm: Women’s 100m semi-final 9.35pm: Women’s 100m final Sunday Athletics 7.30pm: Donald Thomas, Trevor Barry and Jamal Wilson - men’s high jump qualification. Final Tuesday, August 16, at 7:30pm 7.30pm: Women’s 400m semi-final 8pm: Men’s 100m semi-final 9pm: Men’s 400m final 9.25pm: Men’s 100m final
Vanderpool-Wallace looks to make a splash in 100m free tonight By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — With a day off to relax and reflect on the fantastic performances so far from Joanna Evans, head coach Andy Loveitt said he’s looking forward to the swim team returning to action today in the 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Swim Complex. The three-man team will pick up from the two national record breaking performances posted by Joanna Evans in the women’s 400 metre freestyle in four minutes and 7.80 for a ranking of 13th in the world and 2:01.27 in the 200m freestyle for 37th in the world. Dustin Tynes was the first to compete, finishing 44th overall in the 100m breaststroke in 1:03.71.
“When the preliminaries were going on this morning, we were at the stadium training,” said Loveitt, who worked directly with Evans, while Lionel Moreau dealt with Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace. “Arianna has a big three days of competition to look forward to and Jo had a nice easy swim and she will do some more pace work before she finishes her final swim. “But they are both looking very good. A girl dropped out of the 800m, which moves Jo into the second heat, which means that she is put in the pool with the women in the 8:20 range. She’s around the 8:32 range, so moving into that competition will help her to improve on her time.” To help put the team in a more relaxed mood, Loveitt said they took the swimmers out to dinner
VANDERPOOL-WALLACE
Monday night, rather than eating from the variety of items on display in the Games Village cafeteria. He said they got a chance to enjoy another side of the Olympic experience. “We slept in late this morning, had a light breakfast and went straight to the pool,” he said. “Now they are relaxing in their rooms and hopefully get a good night’s sleep so that they can be ready for tomorrow (today).” Vanderpool-Wallace, who has qualified for three events here, will be competing for the first time in the heats of the women’s 100m freestyle. She will be in lane seven in the fifth of six heats that starts around 12:02 pm EST. On Thursday, Evans will come back in her final event in the women’s 800m freestyle at 12:36 pm EST. She is now entered in the
second of four heats in lane eight. Then on Friday at 12:02pm EST, Vanderpool-Wallace completes her participation in her third Olympics by swimming in the heats of the women’s 50m free where she is entered in the last of 12 heats in lane three. “We have to be very pleased what we’ve done so far. We’re really making progress,” Loveitt said. “In the past when you look at it, the Bahamas has really been a track and field country, but swimming is coming up and our swimmers are making great progress. So we’re looking forward to some exciting results over the next few days.” Loveitt said the swimmers have been holding their own and anticipates that they will close out the competition for Team Bahamas with a bang.
PAGE 2, Wednesday, August 10, 2016
THE TRIBUNE
AT THE 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES IN RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
CHEF DE MISSION: ‘AT THIS POINT, THINGS ARE LOOKING VERY GOOD FOR THE TEAM’
RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — Chef de mission Roy Colebrooke said everything is going very well for Team Bahamas at the 2016 Olympic Games. “At this point, things are looking very good for the team,” said
Colebrooke after the completion of the team’s first week in the Games Village. “We already had some fantastic performances from Joanna Evans and Emily Morley and I think it’s important to note that these young athletes are doing a tremendous job for the Bahamas and we salute them. “On the other note, track and field will start on Friday and the
TODAY AT THE GAMES all times Bahamian Archery Men’s and Women’s Individual Eliminations, 8am, 2pm Basketball Men Serbia v France, 1.15pm Australia v United States, 6pm Venezuela v China, 9.30pm Women China v Spain, 11:15am United States v Serbia, 2.30pm Senegal v Canada, 4.45pm Beach Volleyball Men’s and/or Women’s Prelims, 9am, 2.30p.m, 8pm Boxing Men’s 49kg, 56kg, 64kg, 81kg, 91kg Prelims, 10am, 4pm Canoe-Kayak (Slalom) Men’s K-1 Semi-finals and Men’s K-1 Finals, 12.30pm Cycling (Road) Women’s Time Trial, 7.30am Men’s Time Trial, 9am Diving Men’s Synchronized 3m Springboard, 3pm Equestrian Dressage Team Grand Prix Day 1, 9am Fencing Women’s Foil Individual First Round, 2nd Round and Quarter-finals, 7.30am Women’s Foil Individual Semi-finals and Finals, 4.30pm Men’s Sabre Individual First Round, 2nd Round and Quarter-finals, 11.45am Men’s Sabre Individual Semi-finals and Finals, 5.30pm
preparation works are still being done, the workouts are still ongoing with the coaches on a daily basis, so we are just anticipating their start time on Friday.” While they are still awaiting the arrival of the final few athletes, who opted to come in closer to the start of the athletic competition, Colebrooke confirmed that team captains Chris ‘Fireman’
Handball Women Brazil v Spain, 8.30am Romania v Montenegro, 10.30am Russia v Sweden, 1.40pm Norway v Angola, 3.40pm Netherlands v South Korea, 6.50pm France v Argentina, 8.50pm Hockey Men New Zealand v Brazil, 6.30pm Britain v Australia, 7.30pm Women Spain v New Zealand, 9am India v Australia, 10am Germany v South Korea, 11.30am Britain v Argentina, 12.30pm United States v Japan, 4pm China v Netherlands, 5pm Gymnastics (Artistic) Men’s Individual All-Around Final, 3pm Judo Men’s -90kg and Women’s -70kg, 9am Men’s -90kg and Women’s -70kg Finals, 2.30pm Rugby Men France v Spain, 10am South Africa v Australia, 10.30am Kenya v Japan, 11am New Zealand v Britain, 11.30am Argentina v Brazil, noon Fiji v United States, 12.30pm Placing 9-12, 3pm, 3.30pm Quarter-finals, 4pm, 4.30pm, 5pm, 5.30pm Rowing Women’s Pair Semi-finals, 7.30am Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls Semi-finals, 7.50am Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls Semi-finals, 8.10am Men’s Four Semi-finals, 8.30am
Brown and Christine Amertil as well as sprinter Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson, whose bags did not arrive when they got here, have gotten them sorted out and they are all relaxed and eager to prepare for their competition. “We resolved all of those issues,” he said. “Everyone is settling in very well because the conditions are quite fine. We don’t
Women’s Eight Repechage, 8.50am Men’s Eight Repechage, 9am Men’s Quadruple Sculls B Final, 9.10am Men’s Quadruple Sculls A Final, 9.20am Women’s Quadruple Sculls A Final, 9.40am Men’s Single Sculls C-D Semi-finals, 10.40am Women’s Single Sculls C-D Semi-finals, 10.50am Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls D Final, 11am Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls D Final, 11.10am Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls C Final, 11.20am Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls C Final, 11.30am Women’s Pair C Final, 11.40am Sailing Men’s Laser, Women’s Laser Radial, Men’s Finn, Men’s 470, Women’s 470, Mixed Nacra 17, noon Shooting Men’s 50m Pistol Qualification, 8am Men’s Double Trap Qualification, 8am Men’s 50m Pistol Final, 11am Men’s Double Trap Final, 2pm Soccer Men Algeria v Portugal, noon Argentina v Honduras, noon Germany v Fiji, 3pm South Korea v Mexico, 3pm Colombia v Nigeria, 6pm Japan v Sweden, 6pm Denmark v Brazil, 9pm South Africa v Iraq, 9pm Swimming Women’s 100m Freestyle, Men’s 200m Backstroke, Women’s 200m Breast, Men’s 200m Individual Medley and Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Pre-
have any complaints on the facilities or the rooms, so we think that’s a very good thing on the path of management to deliver on the things that we had promised.” With everything in place, all is left is for the athletes to go out and perform and so far Colebrooke said they have been pleased with what they’ve seen in both swimming and rowing.
lims, noon Men’s 200m Breaststroke Final, Women’s 100m Freestyle Semi-final, Men’s 200m Backstroke Semi-final, Women’s 200m Butterfly Final, Men’s 100m Freestyle Final, Women’s 200m Breaststroke Semi-final, Men’s 200m Individual Medley Semi-final and Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final, 9pm Table Tennis Women’s Singles Semi-finals, 9am Women’s Singles Bronze Medal match, 7.30pm Women’s Singles Gold Medal match, 8.30pm Tennis Men’s Singles Third Round, Men’s Doubles Semi-finals, Women’s Singles Quarter-finals, Women’s Doubles Quarter-finals, Mixed Doubles First Round, 9.45am, 5.45pm Volleyball Women China v Puerto Rico, 7.30am Italy v Netherlands, 9.35am United States v Serbia, 1pm Russia v Cameroon, 3.05pm South Korea v Argentina, 6.30pm Brazil v Japan, 8.35pm Water Polo Men Australia v Japan, 8am Greece v Hungary, 9.20am France v United States, 10.40am Montenegro v Italy, noon Brazil v Serbia, 6.30pm Spain v Croatia, 7.50pm Weightlifting Men’s 77kg Prelims, Women’s 69kg Prelims, 9am Women’s 69kg Final, 2.30pm Men’s 77kg Final, 6pm
What to watch in Rio today RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Day 5 of the Rio Games features medal action in gymnastics, swimming, judo, fencing and more. • Here are some things to watch (all times local):
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SWIMMING A day after Michael Phelps won his 20th Olympic gold, taking first in the 200 metre butterfly, he and Ryan Lochte will be looking to get to the semi-finals in the men’s 200 metre individual medleys. Those are held at 11:29pm. Heats start earlier in the day, at 2:09pm. Lochte holds the world record, which he set in 2011, and Phelps has the Olympic record, set in 2008 (Beijing). At 11:03pm the men will go in the 100 metre freestyle. Australian Kyle Chalmers had the fastest qualifying time yesterday, and he already shared in a bronze in the 4x100 freestyle relay. American Caeleb Dressel was nipping at his heels in the preliminaries, and he takes to the water with a gold already in hand, also from the 4x100. The women seek gold in the 200 metre butterfly a day after the semi-finals. Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain had the fastest qualifying time Tuesday. She already won bronze in the 400 meter individual medley. Later, at 11:55pm the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final is held. Heats start at 2:31 p.m. BASKETBALL We’ll see how much US star Carmelo Anthony can add to his Olympic scoring total when his dominant team faces Australia at 7pm. Anthony is in third place and has 258 for his career after surpassing Michael Jordan’s 256 yesterday against Brazil. David Robinson is No. 2, with 270 points. LeBron James has 273 points. Earlier, Serbia takes on France at 2:15pm. At 3:30pm, the US women play Serbia. They’ve smashed opponents Senegal and Spain in their first two games.
RYAN LOCHTE will be looking to get to the semi-finals in the men’s 200 metre individual medleys tonight. (AP) SOCCER It’s do or die for host nation Brazil when the men take on Denmark at 10pm. The team has had two disappointing draws and fans are booing them — and superstar Neymar — when they take the field. Also of note, Argentina faces Honduras at 1pm. BEACH VOLLEYBALL After consecutive midnight matches, including one Tuesday, American Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross take on the Swiss team of Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre at the more reasonable hour of 9pm. Walsh Jennings took gold in London and Ross won silver, but each were playing with different partners at the time. ROAD CYCLING The women’s individual time trial starts at 8:30am with defending gold medallist Kristin Armstrong going last at 9:06am. The men start at 10am and British cyclist Chris Froome , coming off his third victory in Paris in four years, goes last at 11:40 p.m. FENCING A day after South Korea’s Sangyoung Park won gold in men’s epee, the women’s foil fencers and men’s sabre
fencers go for the gold. The women’s final is at 8:15pm. and the men’s are held at 8:45pm. GYMNASTICS A day after U.S. women took gold in the team finals, the men’s individual all-around final is held. Events start at 4 p.m. and all eyes will be on Japan’s Kohei Uchimura. He won the worlds in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and is the defending gold medalist (London). He starts on the floor exercise and comes to the event with a gold in hand from the men’s team finals Monday. RUGBY Preliminary rounds continue with strong matchups in rugby sevens one day after the stunning upset win for Japan over New Zealand. At 11:30 a.m., South Africa takes on Australia. An hour later, New Zealand tries to get some momentum back with a match against Great Britain. And, at 1:30 p.m., gold medal favorite Fiji faces the United States. JUDO Women and men compete for medals in the middleweight divisions (70kg and 90kg, respectively), with bouts taking place through the day.
THE TRIBUNE
Wednesday, August 10, 2016, PAGE 3
Phelps wins 21st Olympic gold medal with win in 200 fly, relay By PAUL NEWBERRY AP National Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — This is the one Michael Phelps really wanted, and it showed. With challengers all around, he simply wouldn’t be denied. After touching the wall first — barely — he held up one finger. Then he sat on a lane rope, egging on the roaring crowd at the Olympic Aquatics Center with both hands, before emphatically pumping his fist in the direction of his fiancé and their infant son. Once again, the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly belongs to Phelps. Being the 20th gold of his career only added to the satisfaction. Making up for one of the few losses in his staggering career, Phelps held off Japan’s Masato Sakai by a mere four-hundredths of a second. The winning time was 1 minute, 53.36 seconds, but that was of little concern. The only thing that mattered was getting to the wall first. Four years ago, Phelps mistimed his finish in the swooping stroke he does better than anyone, gliding to the wall a little too long after his final stroke. That allowed Chad le Clos of South Africa to stunningly
win gold in an event that Phelps had dominated for the better part of a decade. Phelps retired after the London Games, so it looked like he wouldn’t get a chance to make up for his defeat. But when he decided about a year later to start competing again, the 200 fly was clearly the title he wanted more than any other. Le Clos was in the final again, thoroughly inspired himself by his mother and father, both battling cancer and in the stands cheering him on. But the South African could only manage fourth this time, finishing behind bronze medallist Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary. In what was shaping up to be another very good night for the Americans, Katie Ledecky took the most challenging step toward a feat that’s only been done one other time. Ledecky held off Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom to win the 200 freestyle and give the American star her second gold of the Rio Games. Debbie Meyer is the only female swimmer to capture the three longest freestyle events at a single Olympics, winning the 200, 400 and 800 at Mexico City in 1968. Ledecky looks like a lock to match Meyer, having already won the 200 and 400
MICHAEL PHELPS, of the US, celebrates after winning gold in the 200m butterfly yesterday at the Summer Olympics. (AP) titles and an overwhelming favourite in the 800, where she’s the world-record holder and far faster than anyone else in the world. Fifth at the first flip turn, a bit faster than she usually goes out, Ledecky powered to the front on the third lap and grittily shooed off a hard-charging Sjostrom coming to the wall.
Ledecky touched in 1:53.73. The silver went to Sjostrom in 1:54.08, while early leader Emma McKeon faded to the bronze in 1:54.92. World-record holder Federica Pelligrini of Italy was fourth. “That was a really tough race and it hurt really badly,” Ledecky said. “I’m pretty sure it’s the closest
I’ve come to throwing up in the middle of a race. I’m just so glad I got my hand on the wall first and it was all worth it.” Ledecky knew this was the most vulnerable of her three individual events. She crushed the world record in the 400 and everyone expects her to do the same in the 800.
The 200 may be the shortest race of the bunch but it’s definitely the hardest for Ledecky, requiring her to show both her speed and endurance against a far more competitive field. “The 200 is a much more stressful race than the 400 and 800, and it always just feels good when it’s over,” she said. “I took it out pretty fast and kind of forced everybody to try to do that. Once I was ahead I knew I wasn’t going to let it out of my hands. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to see most of the field on the last 50, so I just had to dig deep.” Phelps hustled off the deck after his victory celebration, having only about an hour to get ready for his second race of the night — anchoring the US to gold in the 4x200 freestyle relay. Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte went out ahead of Phelps, handing off a commanding lead to the most decorated athlete in Olympic history. Phelps essentially spent the next 100 seconds or so soaking up the cheers. He was only the third-fastest swimmer on his team, but he was a full body length ahead of Britain’s James Guy when he touched in 7:00.66. The British claimed silver in 7:03.13, while Japan took the bronze in 7:03.50.
Rower Emily Morley clinches final berth in the Rio Games FROM PAGE 1
EMILY MORLEY is congratulated by Chef de Mission Roy Colebrooke (left) and BOC president Wellington Miller (right).
Track and field team hopes to have ‘perfect storm,’ says head coach FROM PAGE 1 She’s the only member on the track team to do so in multiple events. Ty’Nia Gaither, who has qualified in both sprints, is entered in the 200m along with Anthonique Strachan and Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson. Carmiesha Cox, who is here to run on the 4 x 400m relay team, has also qualified, but was fourth behind the top three finishers in the order listed at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ Nationals and final Olympic trials in June. Miller, who has the fourth fastest time in the world of 22.05 in the event, did not contest the 200 at the nationals. Instead, she only ran the 400m where she has the world’s best time of 49.55. As for the schedule of both events here in Rio, the heats of the 200m will be held on Sunday with the final set for that evening. When asked about the situation, Cleare could only say: “I actually heard that too,” but he declined to comment any further, saying “no comment.” Pressed about whether or not Miller
wants to run the half-lap race, Cleare again answered “no comment, next question.” When the competition starts, what’s your expectation? “We will start off with the 400s and we have the short sprints coming up. Right now we are just looking at one round at a time. The expectations, we leave that up to the fans. You guys can be out there and predict and project, but at the end of the day, we’re the professionals and the athletes know that you have to take care of business each round, each day, so we’re going in with ‘let’s take care of each round, each day’ as we work on the small things, making sure that we are at the venue on time, making sure that we’re eating the right food, making sure we’re coordinating with the medical staff and everybody is where we need to be. “Those are the things that we don’t necessarily see that creates the medal. So right now, we are just focused on doing our part and once we get out there, we will see. But I think that we are ready to go. The
young athletes are excited, the older athletes have been wonderful. They have been setting a wonderful example. I can’t say enough about Chris Brown and Christine Amertil. They are our team captains and I’ve seen them mentoring the younger athletes.” With respect to the coaching staff, Cleare said James Rolle has been relentless in assisting all of the jumpers everyday doing multiple sessions. Rudolph Ferguson is working with the men’s sprints and Debbie Ferguson is keeping it together with the ladies and they’re just waiting on coaches Tyrone Burrows and Shaun Miller to arrive to complete the team. “The staff is wonderful and the athletes are doing their thing,” he said. “The elder statesmen are really leading by example, so I’m really excited. You guys have the luxury of dealing with all that other stuff. As for me and my staff, we’re just dealing with the little things, making sure that each and every Bahamian athlete can go out there and represent the country to the best of their abilities.”
recuperate, Morley said she’s going to see what it’s like to be staring in awe at all of the superstars that she hasn’t had a chance to focus on because of her commitment to getting ready to compete. “I feel like a star, which I’m totally not,” she said. “My boat is next to Jenny Stone, who is the women’s world champion in singles, which is really cool. So it’s so good to be a part of such an elite group of women and strong women and bring the Bahamas rowing into such an elite community like this,” she said. And having gotten a taste of the competition, Morley said she will be looking forward to returning to her second Olympics in Toyko, Japan in four years. In the meantime, she intends to build up body mass and acquire a little more muscle to complement her height. “It’s a dream to be here and I hope that it helps the rowing community back in the Bahamas,” she said. Of course, she’s not going to party like a rock star just yet because she still has some unfinished business to take care of on Friday.
PAGE 4, Wednesday, August 10, 2016
THE TRIBUNE
Manager of Kenya’s Olympic track team arrested on his return home By TOM ODULA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Kenyan track and field team manager who was sent home from the Olympics after being caught offering to help cover up doping for cash was arrested on arrival at Nairobi’s airport and appeared in court yesterday. Kenyan police and prosecutors are seeking an order to hold Michael Rotich in custody for a week while they investigate, and said they don’t want him to be released because he’s likely
MICHAEL ROTICH (AP) to interfere with their investigation. British newspaper The Sunday Times alleged over
the weekend that Rotich asked its undercover reporters who were posing as coaches for a 10,000 pound ($13,000) payment to give them and their athletes advance warning of doping tests in a popular highaltitude training region in Kenya. Rotich said he could protect athletes from doping controls because he is a senior track federation official in the region and knew the official doping testers and when they would be targeting athletes, The Sunday Times reported. The doping testers were not implicated in any wrongdoing. Rotich was sent home from the Olympics in Rio
de Janeiro after the allegations were published, and Kenyan authorities promised to show him “no mercy” in the latest of a series of doping scandals to rock Kenyan track and field over the last four years. Kenya recently passed legislation criminalising doping and attempts to aid doping. The secretly-filmed negotiations with Rotich were in January and February, The Sunday Times said, and are part of a larger doping case in Kenya. Three Kenyan men have already been arrested and are facing charges after they allegedly offered to provide the banned blood-booster EPO
to undercover reporters in the same region. The investigation into Rotich, the official who was in charge of Kenya’s star-studded Olympic track team, would take time and involve investigators travelling to a number of towns in the west of the country to contact possible witnesses and record statements, prosecutor Duncan Ondimu said on Tuesday. Rotich’s lawyer asked for him to be released because he was diabetic and because his travel and identity documents had already been confiscated and he wasn’t a flight risk. Magistrate Christine Njagi said she would rule
on the police application today. The Sunday Times report cast even more suspicion on Kenya’s track and field programme days ahead of the start of the athletics events at the Rio Olympics on Friday. In Rio, International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said the allegations against Rotich were “clearly very serious allegations,” but he also moved to give reassurances that Kenya’s team had been heavily tested for doping over the last two years. Adams said the Kenyan team had probably been tested more than any other over those two years.
Race walking at epicentre of Olympic doping problems By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — For decades, race walking and all its straight-legged, hip-swaying awkwardness has largely been ignored, derided and sometimes ridiculed by those unfamiliar with the inner workings of the sport. To the Russians, it was never a joke. Aware of the nine Olympic medals available — the first three of the Rio Games are up for grabs Friday in the 20K men’s walk — Russia ramped up a doping machine that produced champion race walkers, year after year. That machine won 11 medals in the past five games. It worked so well, in fact, that race walking became the epicentre of the doping scandal that engulfed the country’s entire sports programme and led to the ouster of the track team from this year’s Olympics. “I wasn’t surprised,” retired American race walker Curt Clausen said of the revelations about Russian race walking that have surfaced over the past two years. “I was more glad somebody is finally shining some light on the issue.” Clausen is 48 now and keeps his hand in the game as a member of the USA Track and Field board of directors. At his house in Wisconsin is a replica of the bronze medal he won at the 1999 world championships. The duplicate medal — he never got the original — was awarded to him two years after the race, when the Russian winner, German Skurygin, was disqualified for doping. Clausen calls it “my big penny, the validation for my career.” He received it during a break at a national meet in 2001. “It was like a 38-second ceremony, and people didn’t understand why I was getting the medal,” Clausen said. Much to his shock, Skurygin had served his ban and was back out on the course two years later, dominating races again. Two years after that, Skurygin died of a heart attack at age 45. It came as no surprise to Clausen, then, when Russian race walkers started being kicked out of the sport at an alarming rate. There have been at least 33 doping cases involving Russian walkers in recent years, with 26 of them serving bans. They trained out of a
AUSTRALIA’s Jared Tallent grimaces after dousing himself with water during the men’s 50k race walk at the World Athletics Championships outside the Bird’s Nest stadium on August 29, 2015. Tallent says race walking is better off now that Russians have been expelled from track and field at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, for a series of doping violations, many of which came from race walking. (AP) small city in central Russia called Saransk. Many were coached by Viktor Chegin, who resigned last year. “I once told Curt I didn’t know if all the doping (in the sport) affected me much,” said
American John Nunn, a member of this year’s team whose best finish at his previous two Olympics is 26th. “Curt smiled. He said, ‘John, when you finish fourth and miss the podium because the per-
son in front of you doped, it takes on a whole new meaning.’” It takes on even greater meeting to Jared Tallent, the Australian who finished second to Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin at the Lon-
don Olympics but received the gold medal earlier this year after Kirdyapkin got nailed for doping. The IOC website posting the results of that race says they are not final, because retests of samples from both Beijing and London are still being analysed. Earlier this year, Tallent finished second to Italian Alex Schwarzer at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Rome. Schwarzer had a fouryear doping ban reduced by three months, which made him eligible for the major race in his home country. About a month after the event, it was revealed he had another positive. He has been banned from the Olympics and is appealing, with a decision expected this week from the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The case involving Schwarzer, who also beat Tallent at the Beijing Olympics, illustrates how far race walking still has to go to clean up its act, even with the Russians out of the mix. The woman who won the 20K in Rome and is a favourite at the Olympics, China’s Liu Hong, got stripped of the Rome title and served an almostunheard-of one-month ban. Liu is coached by the same Italian who used to coach Schwarzer. “I’m still leery about what’s going to happen,” Nunn said. Tallent is trying to stay upbeat, and said that Friday — along with August 19, when the women’s 20K and men’s 50K walks take place — should be good days for his sport. “They have been the main culprits in our sport,” Tallent said of the Russians, in an interview with Australian media last week. “A lot of the top guys will think they have got a chance for a medal, whereas in the past, when you had the three Russians there, you always thought it was going to be pretty tough to get a medal.” Of course, none of that can erase the past — or give Clausen the turn on the medals podium that was denied him all those years ago. Still, he’ll be in Rio for the races — rooting for his American buddy, Nunn, along with others he knows have done things the right way over the years. “It seems there’s been a failure at many different levels,” Clausen said. “Now that that’s been brought to light, I’m optimistic some of those gaps can be closed.”
Meet our Olympians Name: Lanece Clarke Nickname: LC Age: 28 High School: CR Walker Senior High College: Mckendree University ‘09 Event (s): 200m/400m Best time (s): 23.22/52.43 Favourite colour: Blue Favourite food: Chicken Fettuccine Favourite movie: Titanic Parents: Maryann and Patrick Clarke Sibling (s): Shant’e Clarke Status - Married, engaged, single: Expectations for Rio: I expect that God’s timing is always right and I’m being prepared for something bigger than myself. • The Tribune is featuring profiles of the Bahamian Olympians daily in the buildup to the 2016 Games in Brazil next month
SPRINTER LANECE CLARKE
THE TRIBUNE
Wednesday, August 10, 2016, PAGE 5
More fuss, please, for Rio’s Olympic moms By JOHN LEICESTER AP Sports Columnist RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — If you strapped weights to Usain Bolt’s chest, replaced his six-pack stomach with abs stretched out of shape, de-tuned his muscular frame and explosive power by jellifying his joints, and forced him to take the best part of nine months off, how amazed would we all be if the world’s fastest man fully recovered from that fitnessshredding assault to once again vie for medals at the Olympic Games? Short answer: stunned. Likely adoring. Yet, across the Rio Games, amazing women are doing exactly this without the celebrate-this-fromrooftops full fanfare they deserve. We’re talking, of course, about Olympic moms. By competing postpregnancy, the likes of self-declared “Momma on a Mission” Dana Vollmer, a swimmer, are showing that having children and a continuing career in elite sport need not be mutually exclusive. That freedom to not have to choose either one or the other is important in encouraging women to compete for longer and later into their lives. On the most fundamental level, if nationalism and the race for medals are stripped away, the Olympics showcase what an astounding piece of machinery the human body is: malleable, adaptable, capable of absorbing and recovering from great punishment. Olympians who have put their bodies through motherhood and then willed and beaten them back into world-conquering shape are the purest embodiment of this. They are also something of a scientific mystery. Kari Bo, a Norwegian School of Sport Sciences researcher working on IOCbacked studies in this field, notes big holes in the scientific community’s understanding of how pregnancy affects elite athletes’ bodies. One common yet not fully understood impact is on joints. In pregnancy, the body produces a hormone, relaxin, that helps loosen up ligaments and the pelvic area for birth. Once back in the Olympic business of aiming faster, higher and stronger, looser joints aren’t necessarily a plus. British 10,000-metre runner Jo Pavey, competing at her fifth Olympics, blames relaxing for collapsing the arch of her left foot dur-
BRITAIN’s Jessica Ennis-Hill smiles after competing in a heat of the women’s 100 metre hurdles last month during the Diamond League anniversary games at The Stadium, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. (AP)
DANA VOLLMER, of the US, shows off her bronze for the women’s 100-meter butterfly final on Sunday. (AP)
PROUD MOM: In this August 23, 2015 file photo, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt hugs his mom, Jennifer Bolt, after winning the men’s 100 metres final at the World Athletics Championships at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing. How does Bolt’s mother help the world’s fastest man keep his cool? “We say things that will make him laugh,” said Jennifer Bolt as her sprinter star offspring faces down what just may be his last Olympics. (AP) ing pregnancy. She had to wear a bigger shoe on her left foot than on her right and stress-fractured her big toe, with a diagonal crack through a bone. Vollmer, who has an individual bronze and relay silver so far in Rio, says looser ligaments were “a big thing for me” in her post-pregnancy comeback. Having battled injuries in the past, she worried about overextending her newly more flexible joints. “I played it really cautious,” she says. “Just trying to make sure that everything was really stable before I really cranked on my strokes.” And what of her postpregnancy abs, so vital in
her stroke, the butterfly? “There were none,” she says matter of factly. After seven weeks of enforced bed rest and having gained 50 pounds (22 kilograms), the triple gold medallist at the 2012 London Games was “probably 10 per cent” of the athlete she used to be when she started working out again following her son Arlen’s birth in March 2015, says her coach, Teri McKeever. Gains and shifts in weight from pregnancy and breastfeeding also disrupt balance and change “your relationship with the water,” McKeever says. “She still had a nice stroke but you go 100 metres and you have to stop,”
the coach says. “It’s amazing how quickly you lose it.” Defending Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill also became a mother between London and Rio. To stop her from comparing herself to the athlete she was before son Reggie’s birth in July 2014, her coach, Toni Minichiello, wiped the slate clean, using what he calls “postpregnancy personal bests” to measure Ennis-Hill’s progress since. “Physically she wasn’t the same person,” Minichiello says on a blog chronicling their Rio journey. “It was really tough mentally. Her body was changing month to month.” Weakened ankles were a
post-pregnancy problem for US high jumper Chaunte Lowe, competing at her fourth games, because “I had been waddling for so many months.” “It felt like it was impossible,” she says of resuming jumping. “You have that question of whether you have lost it forever.” Second and third pregnancies broadened out what had been slim, boyish hips, giving Lowe less ideal new curves to squeeze over the high bar. “By the third time, I felt like I had it down,” she says. “But then I was sleep deprived.” So why start a column about amazing women with an amazing man, Bolt?
Because if men were capable of all this, you can be sure more fuss would be made. There’s a school of thought which holds that it demeans women to make a big deal of pregnancy. After all, the argument goes, women have babies all the time. But few of them, too few, come back to compete at the Olympics. Just 10 of the 298 U.S. women are also moms. “I was told that you can never get your body back,” Vollmer says. “I wanted to show that you can. I think it will keep women in sports much longer, that you can have family and you can make it work.” They deserve our applause.
Meet our Olympians Name: Christine Amertil, 36 High School: R.M.Bailey Secondary School College: Southeastern Louisiana University Best subject: I can’t remember Event (s): 200m, 400m, 4x100m, 4x400m Best time (s): 200m22:58secs, 400m-50.09, 4x100m- 42.29 (Bahamas Silver medal at Berlin) 4x400m- 3:19 (Athens World Cup 2006) International teams competed on: 4 Olympic Games (not including this one, this will be my fifth), 6 Outdoor World Championships, 3 Indoor World Championships, 4 Commonwealth Games, 2 Pan American Games, a few CAC Championships and Games, 2 NACAC under 23, 1 NACAC ,2 World Relays Coached by whom: Self-coached Medals won: 1 outdoor world, 2 indoor world, indoor 400m, NACAC record, 1 Commonwealth Games, 1 Pan American
Games, 4 CAC Championships, 1 CAC Games Favourite colour: Favourite food: Chocolate Idol: GOD Status - Married, engaged, single: Married Expectations for Rio: To
not only make the finals but run a new national record as well. • The Tribune is featuring profiles of the Bahamian Olympians daily in the buildup to the 2016 Games in Brazil next month
QUARTERMILER CHRISTINE AMERTIL
PAGE 6, Wednesday, August 10, 2016
THE TRIBUNE
PICTURED (l-r) are Brenda Bethell, BESA Administration, Raschard Greene, Eamon Collie, Kenneth Barry Jr, Mario Bowleg, BBF Vice President, Evon Wisdom, Ministry of Education Sports Unit, Charles Rahming, Jaden Feaste and Rodney Curry, BESA Director.
YOUNG STUDENT ATHLETES TO CONTINUE CAREERS IN US By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net A GROUP of young student athletes were afforded the opportunity to continue their educational and athletic careers in the United States based on their performances at the inaugural Top Elite Basketball Showcase. Seven students; including Raschad Greene, Jaden Feaste, Charles Rahming, Kenneth Barry Jr, Eamon Collie, Raheem Nixon Garet Finlayson and Caleb Burrows, will attend St Louis Christian Academy in St Louis, Missouri, while Blaze Darling will attend Lake Mary Prep in Orlando, Florida. The official announcement was made yesterday at the Bahamas Elite Sports Academy (BESA), Town Centre Mall before a group of parents, staff and executives from the Ministry of Education and the Bahamas Basketball Federation.
Both Green and Feaste were teammates at St John’s College. Greene said his goal was to perform motivated at the showcase. “I was a bit nervous at the showcase but I just had to play my game and thankfully I stood out to at least one coach,” he said.“I know my goal and I used that as motivation to push myself and I played well. It earned me this opportunity and I know St Louis Christian is a great school for education and sports.” His mother, Corrie Mitchell-Greene, said she was always confident in her son’s ability as both an athlete and a student. “Raschad is an excellent player. Both academically and athletically he’s very sound. I think his work in the classroom played a major part because you have to have a certain grade point average to get and maintain a scholarship,” she said. “He played in a lot of showcases and he had a few
offers but I went with this one. It’s a Christian school, I would know where he is and he would always be on campus with people concerned about his whereabouts. I’m excited and I’m happy that he’s able to go off. It’s a great opportunity and something I never had but I’m happy to be able to see him seize this.’ Feaste said he is looking forward to expanding his game with his new programme. “At the showcase I knew I had to play well, I had to establish myself in the post. It was pretty nerve wrecking at first but I found myself getting more into it as the day went along,” he said. “I think I have to work on my shooting because that is where the game is going now and I have to work on my footwork. I had a few offers before this one, but this seemed like the right fight for me.” His mother, Karen Feaste, lauded the programme Curry has estab-
lished at BESA. “What Mr Curry has going on, it’s a great programme. The information they impart is valuable. They prepare them for the classroom and teach them what is expected of them, especially as international students,” she said. “I have mixed emotions. I’m excited for him to go but in the back of my mind I want to control things in terms of wanting him to be safe, but I don’t want to keep him back. At some point you have to let them go, especially if their mind is made up.” Both Rahming and Collie were teammates at Teleos Christian Academy. Rahming, who recently participated in the Buddy Hield Invitational Classic, said this is another honour to add to what has been a great season. “I looked at it as an achievement just to get picked, but I was thankful and grateful,” he said. “I just try to bring energy, defence and score where I could. Ever since I started playing seriously and I saw other guys get scholarships, I really looked at it and took it in and I said this year I really wanted this and it was a goal of mine.” Collie said his strategy was to stand out based on the intangibles that may not show up on a stat sheet. “I was nervous when I first went to the showcase but I still had to do my part. I had to play aggressive and fit into the style of play, not just scoring but doing the little things a coach would notice,” he said. Kenneth Barry Jr also played in the Bahamas Scholastic Association, for the Mt Carmel Prepatory Cavaliers. “There was a lot of talent there but coach Curry just told me to work hard, be myself and play my game. I just thought I had to go hard to get any attention from coaches. I knew I put in a lot of work I just had to
be the player I knew I could be and hoped someone saw me,” he said. “Moving forward, I just want to have a good work ethic toward my basketball career and in the classroom. There’s a lot I still need to work on because I’m far from where I want to be, but I’m ready to work on those things.” Bahamas Basketball Federation Vice President Mario Bowleg said that while they received the opportunity based on their efforts on the court, the work in the classroom should remain paramount. “I always tell my guys to use basketball as the vehicle to make a life for yourself through education. One injury and you can be back in the Bahamas so ensure that you become the best student you can be as well. Education is the most important and basketball is secondary,” he said. “We hope that in this group we have some future national team players that can represent the country.” The first Top Elite Basketball Showcase took place April 28-29 at the AF Adderley Gymnasium. The showcase featured both male and females from grades 9-12 along with graduate unattached players. Several scouts and coaches from visiting US programmes were in attendance, including those representing Claflin University, Indian River College, St Thomas University, Missouri Valley College, St.Louis Christian, Lake Mary Prep, Gulliver Prep, Evelyn Mack Academy and others. Casey Autenreith, head coach at St Louis Christian Academy, previously recruited Bahamian players including Anthony Pratt, Rayford Rigby and Nate Bethel. Pratt is currently playing at the NCAA Division I level with the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, while Rig-
by is at Bethesda University and Bethel at Navarro Junior College. BESA Director and showcase organiser, Rodney Curry, said the goal of the programme is simply to provide opportunities for aspiring student athletes that meet the criteria. “My goal is just to give young men an opportunity to reach their full potential that God has set out for them. Parents should feel great these guys have this opportunity because that means someone saw something in these guys that they feel is great. It could have been anyone but they chose them,” he said. “I went through the right channels because I wanted things to be done the right way so that when these boys go to schools we can keep track on them. Next year we will have the showcase again, hopefully it will be bigger and better. Our goal is to help these guys, I didn’t have this opportunity but many of these guys do and it’s up to them to take advantage.” Evon Wisdom, director of the Sports Unit in the Ministry of Education, said Curry’s BESA programme has been accredited through the proper channels. “We believe this facility and this service allows the opportunities for young men. They have been actively involved on the academic side of things and that is key for any organisation. We are looking at a number of institutions we have serious concerns about that have not properly registered with the Ministry of Education and we are asking them to do so forthwith or there could be serious problems with regards to them offering academic programmes to the student athletes,” he said. “Feel comfortable and knowing Mr Curry and his team are on the right path. While we care about sport, it is the tool being able to acquire that education.”
Todd Isaacs named All-Star in New York-Penn League By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net ANOTHER Bahamian in the Minor League system has achieved recognition in his league for his stellar play thus far. Todd Isaacs has been named an All-Star in the New York-Penn League. The 2016 NYPL All Star Game will be played on Tuesday, August 16 at Dutchess Stadium, the home of the Hudson Valley Renegades in Wappingers Falls, New York. Isaacs, a member of the Cleveland Indians farm system, advanced to the Class A Short Season with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the NYPL. He appeared in 40 games thus far and in 71 at bats, he is hitting .380 with three home runs, seven RBI and six stolen bases. Isaacs has an on base percentage of .408, slugging percentage of .563 and OPS of .971 with 40 total bases. He has been on a particu-
TODD ISAACS JR lar team since the calendar flipped to August. Isaacs had the game winning two run double at West Virginia on August 4, in the top of the ninth inning and went 4-4 with a homerun at Hudson Valley on August 6. The New York–Penn league operates in the Northeast beginning in June, after major league teams have signed their amateur draft picks to profes-
sional contracts, and ends in early September. Prior to this season, Isaacs spent last year in the Arizona Rookie League with the AZL Indians. Through 34 games he hit .214, with six RBI, scored 12 runs with five stolen bases. He had an on base percentage of .225 and OPS of .507. Isaacs, 20, was chosen by the Cleveland Indians in the 19th round as the 574th selection of the 2015 MLB Draft, following a critically acclaimed year with the Palm Beach State Community College Panthers. In 2014, Isaacs was drafted by the Toronto Bluejays in round 22 at No.654 but opted to attend Palm Beach State rather than pursue the club’s farm system directly out of high school. In 57 games with the Panthers, Isaacs hit .330 with 40 runs scored, 30 RBI and 31 stolen bases. His 60-yard dash was timed in 6.1 seconds, ranking him among the fastest runners on any level of collegiate baseball at the time.
THE TRIBUNE
Wednesday, August 10, 2016, PAGE 7
Murray, Nadal chase unprecedented 2nd singles tennis gold By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — No one in the history of Olympic tennis has ever won two gold medals in singles. Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal are hoping to change that. Both moved into the third round at the Rio de Janeiro Games yesterday. Neither has been tested much, dropping a total of nine games apiece so far. This is Nadal’s first tournament since he pulled out of the French Open in May with an injured tendon sheath in his left wrist, and the No. 3 seed wasn’t even sure he would compete until testing his arm once he arrived in Brazil. Still, everything is going exactly to plan for the owner of 14 Grand Slam championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympic title, who beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3. “Not much pressure for me,” Nadal said. “Two months without competing, I don’t expect much.” Murray, who won gold at
the 2012 London Games and is seeded No. 2, breezed past Argentina’s Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-1. Murray committed only 10 unforced errors — Monaco had 26 — and was broken just once. Britain’s Murray and Spain’s Nadal could only meet in the goldmedal final or bronze-medal match — and they don’t need to worry about dealing with No. 1 Novak Djokovic, a 12-time major champion who lost in the first round to 2009 US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro. “Obviously surprising,” Murray said. Nadal’s take on Djokovic’s early exit? “He can lose sometimes, no?” Nadal said with a chuckle. “His success is something difficult to repeat and it is normal that in some moments, he loses some matches. But at the same time, he had a very negative draw, against one
of the best players of the world.” What’s not entirely known about Nadal is just how badly his wrist is still bothering him: He said after his first-round match that it’s not fully healed. “For me, the important thing is to be here,” said Nadal, who skipped the 2012 Games because of a knee injury. “That’s the reality. Two weeks ago, I didn’t know if I could be here.” Looked pretty good, though, against the 71stranked Seppi. “I’ve seen him play worse,” said Seppi, who has won 1 of 9 career matches against Nadal. “It’s clear that maybe he’s not the Nadal of a few years ago, but it didn’t seem to me like he was holding back much. Maybe he needs another couple of matches to feel 100 per cent.” Nadal is staying busy.
He was scheduled to play a men’s doubles match later Tuesday and also is entered in mixed doubles with Garbine Muguruza, the French Open champion who was seeded No. 3 in singles and surprisingly lost to Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 6-1, 6-1. Nadal never has played mixed doubles before. But the Olympics are important to him. “It’s an event they only play once every four years,” he said. “That makes the emotions even higher.” In addition to Djokovic’s loss, top-five players Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka stayed away from Rio because of injuries, while JoWilfried Tsonga and David Ferrer have been beaten. Another seeded man departed when Fabio Fognini of Italy beat No. 16 Benoit Paire of France 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5). The women are a round ahead, and players reaching the quarterfinals included No. 7 Madison Keys of the United States, No. 10 Johanna Konta of Britain, and No. 11 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
RAFAEL NADAL, of Spain, returns to Andreas Seppi, of Italy, at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. (AP)
THe WeaTHer repOrT
5-Day Forecast
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The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day.
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Statistics are for Nassau through 2 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 90° F/32° C Low .................................................... 75° F/24° C Normal high ....................................... 89° F/32° C Normal low ........................................ 76° F/24° C Last year’s high ................................. 94° F/35° C Last year’s low ................................... 76° F/25° C Precipitation As of 2 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.47” Year to date ............................................... 25.96” Normal year to date ................................... 21.44”
The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
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marine Forecast aBaCO andrOs CaT Island CrOOKed Island eleuTHera FreepOrT GreaT eXuma GreaT InaGua lOnG Island mayaGuana nassau raGGed Island san salVadOr
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WINDS SE at 4‑8 Knots ESE at 6‑12 Knots SE at 6‑12 Knots E at 6‑12 Knots E at 7‑14 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots ESE at 6‑12 Knots E at 7‑14 Knots SE at 4‑8 Knots ENE at 4‑8 Knots E at 7‑14 Knots E at 7‑14 Knots NE at 8‑16 Knots ENE at 10‑20 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots ESE at 4‑8 Knots E at 4‑8 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots E at 7‑14 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots
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VISIBILITY 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 8 Miles 8 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 8 Miles 8 Miles 5 Miles 8 Miles 8 Miles 8 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 8 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles
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PAGE 8, Wednesday, August 10, 2016
THE TRIBUNE
GOLDEN MOMENTS AT THE 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES IN RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
DENG LIFTS GOLD WITH RECORD AGAINST FIELD DEPLETED BY DOPING By JAMES ELLINGWORTH AP Sports Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In a field depleted by doping bans, Deng Wei won Olympic gold and set a world record in women’s weightlifting. The Chinese lifter won the 63-kilogram category yesterday, hoisting 147 kilograms in the clean and jerk and 115 in the snatch for a world-record total of 262. Deng’s clean and jerk lift also broke her own world record by 1 kilo. Choe Hyo Sim of North Korea took silver and Karina Goricheva of Kazakhstan earned bronze. Weightlifting has been ravaged by doping in recent years, with the women’s 63kg class hit particularly hard. Defending champion Maiya Maneza of Kazakh-
stan missed the Olympics after failing a drug test, while two of the top four from last year’s world championships were also out for doping-related reasons. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was in the arena, a reminder that weightlifting is under close observation as it tries to clean up its act. Weightlifting has been dogged by steroid use for more than 50 years, but better testing techniques have meant bans for more star athletes. Two of the sport’s superpowers, Russia and Bulgaria, were kicked out of weightlifting at the Rio de Janeiro Games entirely after repeated doping cases. The International Weightlifting Federation had threatened to ban Kazakhstan and Belarus, too, but failed because various doping cases were not
DENG WEI, of China, poses with her gold medal after the women’s 63kg weightlifting competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. (AP) processed in time for the Olympics. Results from the past are also in danger because of advances in testing.
Besides Maneza’s gold, Kazakhstan stands to lose four more Olympic victories after failing retests of samples from Beijing and
London, including two by Ilya Ilyin, the sport’s most marketable name. Nine Russians from the 2008 and 2012 Games have
also failed retesting, all for oral turinabol, a relic of the East German state doping programme of the Cold War era.
KAROLYI’S ‘FINAL FIVE’ US TEAM WINS THE GOLD IN GYMNASTICS By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Just call them the Final Five. Dominant. Peerless. Golden. The US women’s gymnastics team gave retiring national team coordinator Martha Karolyi a fitting send off in the Olympic finals last night, putting on a two-hour display of precision and class. Their score of 184.897 was more than eight points points clear of silver medallist Russia, a blowout that Michael Jordan’s “Dream Team” should envy. The Americans’ second straight Olympic team triumph — and third overall — was never in doubt. From the second Laurie Hernandez drilled her opening vault to Simone Biles’ boundarypushing floor exercise to end it, the US put on an exhibition that showed how far the divide between themselves and everyone else has become. It’s a gap that Karolyi created from scratch since taking over for husband Bela in 2001. She’s molded the US programme into a ponytailed juggernaut. The 73-yearold is stepping down after the games. Watching from the front row of the Rio Olympic Arena in a red jumpsuit, Karolyi watched perhaps her greatest team seem
totally immune to the pressure. Maybe that’s because for Hernandez, Biles, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian and Aly Raisman, the meets are the fun part of their jobs. The toughest competitions happen in quiet at the regular training camps Karolyi carefully oversees. When the lights come on, it’s time to let loose. Biles admitted there were nerves before Sunday’s preliminaries, though it hardly looked like it while the Americans posted the highest score by more than nine points. The only moment of tension yesterday came early. When Hernandez was introduced to the crowd, Raisman nudged her and told her to wave, which the 16-year-old did with a toothy smile. Barely five minutes later, the youngest member of Team USA was all business. Her doubletwisting Yurchenko — basically a roundoff into a pair of twists — put the machine in motion. Raisman, who won three medals in London four years ago and seemed to be on the outside looking in as last as this spring, followed with perhaps the finest vault of her long career. When Biles drilled her Amanar and put up a 15.933 — the highest of the night — the US was already on top of the leaderboard.
UNITED States gymnasts, left to right, Simone Biles, Gabrielle Douglas, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Aly Raisman hold their gold medals during the medal ceremony for the artistic gymnastics women’s team at the 2016 Summer Olympics yesterday. (AP) Yet it’s not just enough for Karolyi for her team to win. She stopped measuring the Americans against everyone else long ago. Karolyi wants there to be no doubt. And there wasn’t. The US went through 28 rotations over two days, just like the other seven teams that made the team final. Unlike the other seven, the Americans didn’t slip off
KHALMURZAEV WINS RUSSIA’S 2ND GOLD IN JUDO By MARIA CHENG Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Undefeated all year, Khasan Khalmurzaev is now the Olympic champion. The sixth-seeded Russian beat Travis Stevens of the United States to win the judo gold medal yesterday in the 81-kilogram division. It was Russia’s second gold in judo at the Rio de Janeiro Games. Khalmurzaev and Stevens fought for control of each other’s uniform. Stevens appeared to have a lapse of concentration which allowed Khalmurzaev a slight gripping advantage, and that was enough to let the Russian throw Stevens for an ippon score to automatically end the contest. Stevens then crouched over, his hands covering his face. Until the final, Stevens had looked unbeatable.
RUSSIA’s Khasan Khalmurzaev stands on the podium after winning the gold medal in the men’s 81 kg judo competition of the 2016 Summer Olympics yesterday. (AP) The Pan American Games champion overcame longtime rival Avtandili Tchrikishvili with a stranglehold so powerful that the Georgian was forced to tap out, leaving him in tears. The bronze medals were won by Sergiu Toma of the United Arab Emirates and Takanori Nagase of Japan.
Despite the widespread Russian doping scandal, the country’s entire judo team was allowed to compete in Rio. Russian President Vladimir Putin is the honourary president of the International Judo Federation, the sport’s governing body.
uneven bars. They didn’t hop off balance beams. It’s that ability to avoid mistakes when it counts that’s as much a testament to Karolyi’s meticulous preparation as their dynamic and unparalleled gymnastics. While the gold was never in doubt, you wouldn’t have known about it by watching Karolyi. She clutched the white railing in front
of her during Biles’ floor routine, nodding with approval with each gravity-escaping tumbling pass. Russia, which wasn’t sure it would even be included in the games until just days before the opening ceremonies as the IOC and sport federations sorted out punishments for a national doping scandal, won silver. China took bronze.