When American gymnast Jade Carey hurdled toward the vault during Sunday’s apparatus final, something was off. She took a little extra shuffle or stutter step as she went into her roundoff onto the springboard. And in the post-flight phase of the vault, we saw the impact of this small misstep: Instead of doing her planned […]
This year, karate finally joins other martial arts like judo, taekwondo and wrestling at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The athletes, called karatekas, will compete in one of two disciplines: the kata or the kumite. In this video, USA Karate Federation referee Cleveland Baxter explains the difference between the two disciplines, how they are judged […]
While Russian gymnast Angelina Melnikova was competing on the balance beam in the women’s Olympic all-around final, her name rang out across the arena, but its pronunciation was decidedly American. The U.S. gymnasts sitting in the stands were cheering her on as she went through her leaps and jumps. And as she set up for […]
History says the U.S. women’s soccer team tends to perform best with its back against the wall. Each of the four times they failed to win a World Cup, the Americans followed by winning the Olympic gold medal the following year. And after their worst finish in a major tournament — a loss to Sweden […]
Before discovering gymnastics, Kathy Johnson ran track and was quite good at it. She was so good, in fact, that for a time she thought she might become a track and field Olympian. It’s not unusual for athletes to explore other hobbies and interests before settling on their specialty. But for most elite gymnasts, the […]