Olympics Page 49 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Ethiopian Steeplechaser Slams Into Race's Final Hurdle, Leaves Track In A Wheelchair
Here's pretty much the definition of "agony of defeat": Ethiopian steeplechase competitor Birhan Getahun, already far at the back of his qualifying heat at the end of the race, fails to navigate the final hurdle and slams down to the track. (Steeplechase hurdles, unlike those used in the hurdle ev...

Alex Morgan's Knee Obliterated A Kiwi Goalie's Face
It was a horrifying moment in the second half of today's women's soccer match between the U.S. and New Zealand, as American star Alex Morgan drove a knee directly into New Zealand keeper Jenny Bindon's face. It was the second blow to the head for Bindon in the match, and yet she somehow managed to...

Olympics Field Guide: Zac Purchase & Mark Hunter: Rowing's Odd Couple
Names: Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter...

Before Steroids And Supplements, Olympics Dopers Used Brandy And Strychnine
These days, Olympians have to pass random drug tests and steer clear of shady supplements to avoid the wrath of the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency. But back in 1904, during the Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Thomas Hicks of the United States (pictured above, middle) secured gold in the marathon rac...

NBC Poll Finds People Love NBC's Tape-Delayed Olympics
We've all come to terms with NBC's tape-delayed Olympic broadcasts, right? After a solid week of bitching, we've accepted that NBC's not a charity, that they're in this to make money, and prime time is the only time to make money. (And the ratings are bonkers. Despite projections of a $200 million l...

This Is The Coolest Volleyball Play We've Ever Seen
We heard about this when it happened two days ago, but it took awhile to track down the video. When we finally saw it, it was a shock. Who knew you were allowed to kick the ball in volleyball?...

Your Daily Olympic Schedule: August 3 - Day 8
In effort to save you the time that it takes to both find and decipher the NBC Olympics schedule while trying to figure out which events are even worth watching, we've created our own (better) daily schedule of Olympic events. All events are listed in Eastern Daylight Time (no math) at the time tha...

NBC Aired A Promo Featuring A Monkey Doing Gymnastics At The Most Inopportune Time
After Bob Costas wound down tonight's Olympics coverage by editorializing about Gabby Douglas's all-around gold medal ending stereotypes and tearing down racial barriers, NBC followed it up immediately with this promo for Animal Practice featuring a monkey doing gymnastics. That's... unfortunate....

Gabby Douglas's Beam Performance Gives Us The Defining Photo Of The London Olympics
I'm just not certain how sports photography gets any better than this. Greg Bull of the Associated Press deserves every Sports Photo of the Year Award coming his way in a few months' time. Gabby Douglas gave a historic performance today in the women's gymnastics all-around, and this is a photo worth...

Women's Gymnastics: Gabby Douglas Leaves The Rest Of The World Behind
Where the Olympic men's gymnastics all-around final had been a gradual, predictable victory for favorite Kohei Uchimura, the women's final came down to the last routine and the last score. When the tabulation was done, Gabby Douglas of the United States took the title, becoming the first woman of co...

This Was The Only Positive For Nigeria In The Basketball Game They Just Lost To The U.S. By 83 Points
The final was 156-73, and as we watched the end of it here in the Deadspin office, we kept marveling at how Andre Iguodala, James Harden, Deron Williams, and Kevin Love kept chucking three-pointers in the final minutes. It was as if the U.S. would lose if it didn't win by 70....

Fake, Jingoistic, And Stupid: Gymnastics Coverage Is The Worst Part Of NBC's Olympics
If you have a full-time job, no privacy at work, and/or a boss who cares about productivity, you probably didn't spend two hours in the middle of the day, like I did, watching the women's all-around Olympic gymnastics final. This means that you get to see it tonight on NBC, with routines sprinkled b...

Michael Phelps Three-Peats In The 200 Individual Medley
Michael Phelps became the first male swimmer to win the same event in three successive Olympics when he held off American teammate Ryan Lochte to win the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 1:54.27, just off Lochte's world record of 1:54 flat. It was a result that, if his reaction immediately afte...


A Vote For Haiti Is A Vote For Yourselves: Foreign Olympics News That Didn't Fit On The NBC Teleprompter
Deadspin and Gelf Magazine bring you the best (or at least the most interesting) foreign-produced journalism about the London Olympics. ...

Olympics Field Guide: Dong Dong, The Master Of Philosophy And Psychological Warfare
Name: Dong Dong. Yes. Ha-ha, very funny....

No One Is Saying Whether NBC's Olympic Streaming Is A Success
NBC coughed up more than $1 billion to air these 2012 Summer Olympics and it's going to squeeze every last revenue dollar out of its investment. That means constant tape delays, tons of commercials, overly creative editing, and jingoism galore. (And you can probably forget about seeing anything inte...

How A Career Ends: Dominique Moceanu, America's Youngest Gold-Medal Gymnast
Tell Me When It's Over is an interview series in which we ask former athletes about the moment they knew their playing days were over. Today: Dominique Moceanu, the youngest American, at age 14, to ever win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. Moceanu was part of the Magnificent Seven—along with Sha...

Your Daily Olympic Schedule: August 2 - Day 7
In effort to save you the time that it takes to both find and decipher the NBC Olympics schedule while trying to figure out which events are even worth watching, we've created our own (better) daily schedule of Olympic events. All events are listed in Eastern Daylight Time (no math) at the time tha...

NBC's Local Affiliates Don't Understand How Spoilers Work, Either
On Monday NBC inadvertently spoiled the result of a race they had yet to broadcast by showing its winner celebrating in a promo for the following morning's Today show. It seems its local affiliates aren't quite getting how to play the tape-delay game, either. Here's a clip from last night's 6 p.m....