Usain Bolt Shines in Rio, wins 3rd Career Gold in 100m

If there were any doubts, it took less than 10 seconds — 9.81, to be exact — for Usain Bolt to erase them.

He is the Olympic champion once again.

On a muggy Sunday night in Rio, the Jamaican superstar won the signature event in track and field in a runaway and added this line to his already gleaming resume: first person to capture three straight 100-meter titles at the Olympics.

Bolt beat American Justin Gatlin, who fans greeted with raucous boos, by .08 seconds. Andre de Grasse of Canada won the bronze.

He shoved Michael Phelps aside to take center stage for Week 2 of these troubled Rio Games.

He pushed his total to seven Olympic gold medals, with a chance for two more — in the 200 and 4x100 relay — later in the week.

Bolt wasn't the only one putting on a show.

A few minutes earlier, South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk eclipsed what many thought was the most-unbreakable record in the book — Michael Johnson's 17-year-old mark of 43.18 seconds in 400 meters. Running out of Lane 8, where the lag puts him well in front of the rest of the field, van Niekerk never saw a soul — crossing in 43.03 and only glancing to his left when he approached the line to peer at the clock, which showed him what he had done.

"Usain Bolt will be retiring soon, but this could be the next star of the sport," Johnson said during his commentary on BBC.

The current star? That guy named Bolt.

The 6-foot-5 sprinter/celebrity overcame his typically slow unfurling from the blocks — he was second-to-last after the break — then churned his legs to gradually build up speed. He caught Gatlin with about 40 meters left and was celebrating — pointing at his chest with his thumb — before he crossed the finish line.

After he crossed, Bolt raised the index finger, and then, the real party began.

A few minutes after the finish, Bolt was unlacing those now-famous gold spikes and taking selfies with the fans and the medalists from the heptathlon. He turned his yellow hat backward, kneeled down and gave the crowd what it really wanted. It's that famous, arching, "To the World" pose that he debuted eight years ago in Beijing.

Chants of "Bolt, Bolt, Bolt" rang out from the near-capacity stadium. Yes, the show lived up to its billing.

But this was not Bolt at his fastest. Four years ago, all three medalists broke 9.8. Nobody did this time.

It was not Bolt at his best. Some might argue his gutsy effort at last year's world championships, when he overcame a season's worth of injuries to beat Gatlin by .01, might have been the grittiest race he won.

But it certainly was Bolt at his most entertaining. It was a show from the time he came onto the track, arms to his side, asking for more applause, until 20 minutes after the race, when he was still working the crowd, posing for photos, making the troubled world of track feel fun again.

He turns 30 the day of the closing ceremony and has insisted his Olympic days are over.

"A true, true warrior of the sport," said Yohan Blake, the Jamaican who used to be his main rival. "To come back ... and win it three times. He is a one-of-a-kind sprinter. He really is.

Why Olympic Boxers aren't Wearing Headgear anymore

SOMETHING IS MISSING from Olympics boxing this year. Did you notice? It’s lot easier to see the faces of male boxers—taunting, grimacing, or smiling in all their Olympian glory. This year, the Olympics ditched boxing headgear for the first time since 1984, making it look a lot more like professional boxing.

The decision, according to statements from amateur boxing’s governing organization—the International Boxing Association, or AIBA—came down to safety. Counterintuitively, referees had to stop matches for head injuries (aka likely concussions) more often when boxers were wearing headgear, according to an AIBA study. But whether ditching headgear actually makes boxers safer—especially from non-concussion injuries—is, well, more complicated.

“This rule change was rather surprising for lot of people. There’s still lot of research that needs to be done,” says Cynthia Bir, a University of Southern California biomechanics researcher who has evaluated boxing equipment for USA Boxing. In fact, female Olympians will still be wearing headgear in boxing, due to lack of safety data. (AIBA did not respond to requests for comment.)

What almost everyone can agree on is that foam padding does little to protect against concussions and knockout blows. Punch hard enough, and you overwhelm the foam’s ability to absorb energy. “The headgear becomes less useful and then not useful,” says Blaine Hoshizaki, a head injury researcher at the University of Ottawa.

Plus, the headgear still leaves boxers vulnerable to punches to the jaw, which are most likely to cause concussions because they whip the head around. “Boxers know that to get the knockout, you need to make the head spin,” says Bir. “Jabs aren’t going to do much.” Your brain normally sits suspended in fluid; when your head whips around, the brain whips around too, the tissue stretching and compressing. This causes concussions.
But why would wearing headgear increase the rate of likely concussions? The AIBA’s study has a few theories: Headgear makes it tougher to see, so boxers can’t dodge as well. Or perhaps headgear creates a false sense of safety and boxers take more risks. It also makes the boxer’s head a bigger target.

Another matter to consider though: Concussions aren’t the only head injuries boxers get. “A lot of the long-term consequences of repetitive head trauma may be from many, many subconcussive blows over time,” says Charles Bernick, a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Bernick has been following a group of professional boxers and MMA fighters since 2011, and he’s found that even the brains of fighters who have not reported concussions exhibit damage visible in MRI scans.

These subconcussive blows, which don’t have any immediately obvious symptoms, could also lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, over time. “With concussions, you can see it and you can diagnose it,” says Hoshizaki. “The challenge is the ones you don’t see, don’t feel. This is I think the scary part.” Headgear could mitigate some of these blows. But it’s hard to study because it’s hard to measure how much brain damage these subconcussive blows actually cause; the same punch might cause damage in one person but not another because of the structure of their head or neck musculature.

The AIBA has tried to get more professional in recent years—the extra “A” in the acronym is a remnant from when it had “amateur” in its name. And the group made other changes for the Olympics this year: It changed the scoring system to bring it in line with the pro boxing and allowed professionals to qualify for the games. (Though only three are competing in Rio.)  However unsettled the science of boxing headgear may be, pros have a good reason to not use headgear. “They’re trying to promote their brand,” says Bir. “Their face is their brand.”

Credit: Wired

Nigerians create records at Rio 2016 Olympics

Rio de Janeiro – At least three of the many Nigerian athletes in the ongoing Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games created records of sorts that will be cherished in a longtime to come.

The trio with records are two table tennis stars, Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri as well as Rower, Chierika Ukogu .

Segun  Toriola

Aruna Quadiri

The 41 year-old Toriola had his 7th appearance in the current Games, equaling the table tennis record. This has made him the most capped African Olympian. Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri set another continental record after the 2014 ITTF star became the first African to reach the quarterfinals of men’s singles event at Rio 2016 Olympic Games.


Ukogu on the other hand, qualified for top classification in the rowing event in Rio.

Chierika Ukogu

She is Nigeria’s first ever rower in the Olympics to have got that far, placing fifth in the third quarter final of the Women’s single sculls after clocking a time of 7:54.44 secs. She will now participate in the semi finals C/D 1 event on Wednesday. This is the 23-year-old’s first ever appearance in the Olympics.

Rio 2016: Neymar and Co. hits Blanks again against Iraq in Stalemate

Disappointed yet again, the Brazilian fans jeered their own team and saved their applause for Iraq.
Brazil, which has never won the Olympic gold medal in men’s football, failed to win for the second consecutive game, held to a 0-0 draw by Iraq on Sunday.

The result leaves Brazil tied for second place in Group A. The team needs a victory over Denmark on Wednesday in Salvador to advance and avoid another huge embarrassment at home two years after the 7-1 loss to Germany in the World Cup semi-finals.

Neymar, the tournament’s biggest star, played below expectations for the second straight game, and promising young strikers Gabigol and Gabriel Jesus also struggled.

Voicing their frustration, the fans chanted "Marta, Marta" in reference to the five-time world player of the year who has been thriving with the women’s national team.

And as the Iraqis rejoiced on the field after the draw, the fans applauded the team and broke out into chants of "Iraq, Iraq."
Brazil midfielder Renato Augusto had his team’s best chance for Brazil, but his volley from close range sailed over the crossbar with the goalkeeper already beaten.

Brazil is trying to win its first gold medal in football and it arrived for Sunday’s match under pressure after a disappointing 0-0 draw in the opener against South Africa.

The crowd of more than 60,000 started supporting Brazil but it grew anxious as the team struggled against Iraq, jeering the players at halftime and more and more toward the end of the match.

Gabriel Jesus, who last week secured a multimillion-dollar transfer to Manchester City, missed a few decent chances early and was loudly booed when he was substituted in the second half.
Brazil also had a goal by Gabigol disallowed in the 28th because of offside, and Augusto hit the crossbar with a shot just before halftime.

Flash Back Friday!! Dream Team Triumph over Brazil in Atlanta '96

As Nigerians wish their U-23 football team "Dream Team" luck at the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil, we flashback to that historic outing 20 years ago when Nigeria triumphed over Brazil in a semifinal encounter in Atlanta Olympics.

Oghenakaro Etebo scored four goals last night for the West African country as they kicked off their Rio campaign, but will he emulate the heroics of Kanu Nwankwo and lead the Nigerian team to glory in Brazil?

Watch the highlights of the Brazil vs Nigeria game in Atlanta below: