When there was no WNBA in the early 1990s, a then-teenaged Sue Bird looked to Olympic women basketball players for inspiration. Decades later, Bird — one of the greatest WNBA players of all time — enters the Tokyo Olympics chasing her fifth gold medal.
The big picture: Bird, 40, began her Olympic journey in 2004 in Athens. She has since helped Team USA win four gold medals. The Seattle Storm point guard will likely wrap up her Olympic career in Tokyo, according to TIME.
Spanish soccer league La Liga has agreed to sell 10% of its commercial business to CVC Capital Partners for around $3 billion.
The bottom line: "If approved by the league's clubs, the deal could help the league’s cash-strapped teams, including giant ones like F.C. Barcelona, repair their finances and ease a cash crunch caused by the coronavirus pandemic," the New York Times writes.
Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse won Olympic gold in the men's 200-meter final on Wednesday, followed by Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles, who took the silver and bronze, respectively.
Why it matters: The men's 200m had been dominated by Jamaica the last few years with running legend Usain Bolt taking back-to-back-to-back golds. But with a retired Bolt out of the race, Canada and the U.S. looked to claim the top spot.
The college sports landscape has changed more this summer than at any other point in history, as the NCAA grapples with new rules and shifting power dynamics.
The state of play: When NCAA competition resumes this fall, everyone involved — from student-athletes and coaches, to universities and fans — will be entering a new world.
Simone Biles' withdrawal from Olympics gymnastics events generated significant public interest in mental health, according to exclusive data from NewsWhip.
Why it matters: The Tokyo Games offered the ultimate platform for the topic to get global attention, with much of the world watching the same story.
Day 12 of the Tokyo Olympic Games saw American Sydney McLaughlin break her own world record to win gold in the women's 400-meter hurdles final on Wednesday.
Of note: Japan won a third Olympic skateboarding gold, as two teenagers and a 12-year-old swept the podium for the inaugural women's park skateboarding event.
American Tamyra Mensah-Stock told reporters after beating Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu 4-1 to win the women's freestyle 68kg gold medal Tuesday it's "awesome" that a Black woman has for the first time won the sport's top prize.
What she's saying: "Look at us representing," said the 28-year-old Texan, who is the second U.S. woman to win Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling, per the New York Times.
Greece's entire 12-woman artistic swimming team is out of the Tokyo Olympic Games due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among the group.
Driving the news: Tokyo Games organizers confirmed Wednesday that five members of the Greek team had tested positive for the virus and that their teammates were considered close contacts.
TOKYO — Two teenagers and a 12-year-old girl swept the podium for the inaugural women's park skateboarding event on Wednesday, with Japanese 19-year-old Sakura Yosozumi clinching gold.
Why it matters:While Yosozumi won with her high-flying acrobatics amid the brutal midday heat, her 60.09 was only a point ahead of 12-year-old Kokona Hiraki, also of Japan. Hiraki and 13-year-old British bronze medalist Sky Brown are among the youngest Olympic medalists of all time.
Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya left Japan on Wednesday, aboard a plane bound for Vienna after refusing national team orders to fly home amid concerns for her safety.
Driving the news: The 24-year-old Olympian had sought refuge at the Polish embassy in Tokyo, where she was granted a humanitarian visa. But she changed flights at the last minute and boarded an Austrian Airlines flight for Vienna, an airport official told reporters.
U.S. hurdler Sydney McLaughlin clinched an Olympic gold medal in the women's 400m hurdles final at the 2020 Tokyo Games — breaking her own world record to finishing in 51.46 seconds on Wednesday morning local time.
The big picture: McLaughlin edged into silver teammate Dalilah Muhammad, who was defending her own gold from the 2016 Rio Games. The Netherlands' Femke Bol took Bronze.
