Francisca Crovetto Chadid Wins Women’s Skeet Final to Give Chile Its First Gold of the 2024 Paris Games

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

It’s the golden hour for Francisca Crovetto Chadid.

The 34-year-old Chilean sport shooter won the Women’s Skeet Final on Sunday to give Chile its first medal of the 2024 Paris Games and become the nation’s first-ever female Olympic champion in any sport.

It’s only the third gold medal in Chilean Olympic history and the first gold for the country in 20 years. Additionally, it is Chile’s first medal of any kind in any sport since 2008 Beijing Games.

Crovetto won the gold in a shoot-off, hitting her last two targets for the win after a disputed call to give Great Britain’s Amber Rutter a miss for a shot that television replays showed had seemed to clip the target.

Crovetto and Rutter had finished equal on 55 out of 60 to force the shoot-off.

Crovetto prevailed 7-6 in the tiebreaker.

“This is way sport goes, unfortunately. l truly believe I did hit that last target. I just don’t want it to take away from any of the other girls’ performances,” Rutter said, calling for video reviews at future competitions to ensure “a level playing field.”

USA’s Austen Jewell Smith clinched the bronze.

Crovetto represented Chile at the 2012 London Games, where she competed as the nation’s lone shooter in the women’s skeet. She placed eighth in the qualifying rounds of her event by one point behind Sweden’s Therese Lundqvist, with a total score of 66 targets.^[6]

At the 2016 Rio Games, she was again Chile’s lone representative in the sport shooting, finishing in 19th.

She represented Chile at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Rafaela Silva Wins Twice to Help Lead Brazil to Mixed Team Judo Bronze at 2024 Paris Games

Posted on August 3, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Rafaela Silva wins twice to put Brazil on the Olympics podium at the 2024 Paris Games…

The 32-year-old Brazilian judoka, the first Brazilian woman to become a world champion in judo, won the decisive match to lead Brazil to victory against Italy (4-3) on Saturday to secure the bronze medal in the mixed team judo competition.

It’s the eighth medal that the South American country has won at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Silva defeated Veronica Toniolo in the 57KG category, giving the victory to the ‘verde-amarela’ team by.

In the process, Silva became the oldest Olympic judoka to win a medal. She also has two bronze medals from the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Games.

Brazil quickly took a 2-0 lead, with matches won by Rafael Macedo against Christian Parlati in the -90 and Beatriz Souza against Asya Tavano.

Italy cut the lead with a waza-ari by Gennaro Pirelli against Leonardo Goncalves in the +90. Silva, in the -57, increased the lead to 3-1 by defeating Veronica Toniolo.

On the brink of elimination, the Europeans tied the duel at three, thanks to the victory of Manuel Lombardo against Willian Lima (-73) and Savita Russo against Ketleyn Quadros.

With a 3-3 tie, the draw to decide which category would dispute the last match established that it would be in the -57 category, Silva against Toniolo.

The Italian, who was injured from her previous match, conceded in just 14 seconds by a waza-ari.

Juan Celaya & Osmar Olvera Win Silver to Give Mexico Its First-Ever Men’s Synchronized 3M Springboard Medal

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Celaya and Osmar Olvera have made a splash at the 2024 Paris Games.

The 25-year-old Mexican diver and his 20-year-old compatriot have claimed the silver medal in the men’s synchronized 3M springboard to give Mexico their first-ever medal in the event and third medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

In a close and frenetic competition for Olympic glory, Mexico, China and Great Britain took their spirits and emotions to the limit.

After five dives, China’s Long Daoyi and Wang Zongyuan took the gold with a score of 446.10.

But Olvera and Celaya, who finished with a score of 444.03 points, didn’t make it easy for them and with a “heart-stopping” finish and dives that bordered on perfection, they were 2.07 points away from first place.

In the process, the Mexican diving duo gave Mexico its 16th medal in Olympic diving history (eighth silver). While it’s the first in the synchronized springboard event, it’s the 12th in men’s diving.

Although diving is a very fruitful discipline for the Mexican delegation, they hadn’t won a medal in men’s synchronized diving since the silver won by Germán Sánchez and Iván García at the 2012 London Games.

Celaya and Olvera will now compete individually in the 3-meter springboard diving event.

Adriana Ruano Wins Women’s Trap Event at the 2024 Paris Games to Give Guatemala Its First-Ever Olympic Gold

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Adriana Ruano is celebrating a golden first for her country…

The 29-year-old Guatemalan former-gymnast-turned-sports-shooter, who’s chances of competing at the Olympics as a gymnast ended with a spinal injury, set a new Olympic record in the women’s trap event at the 2024 Paris Games on Wednesday, giving Guatemala it’s first-ever Olympic gold medal.

Ruano was training for the 2011 world championships in gymnastics, a qualifier for the 2012 London Games the following year, when she felt pain in her back.

Scans showed she had six damaged vertebrae — a career-ending injury at age 16 — and she spent a year recovering, wearing a brace.

Ruano’s doctor recommended she take up shooting if she wanted to stay in sports without aggravating her injured back.

“When I had my injury, I didn’t have anything. I started to get desperate, and I was frustrated. Then the door opened for me with this sport,” Ruano said.

More than a decade after Ruano swapped the balance beam and vault for a shotgun, her doctor’s advice paid off at the 2024 Summer Games when she won the women’s trap with an Olympic-record score of 45 out of 50.

Ruano closed her eyes and took a deep breath before hitting her 43rd target to make sure Italian silver medalist Silvana Stanco couldn’t catch her for the gold. She missed her next two shots after that, but it didn’t matter.

It was a stint volunteering at the 2016 Rio Games that put her on the path back to elite-level sports.

“I said to myself, ‘If I can’t be there as an athlete, maybe I can be there as a volunteer’, so I applied,” she said. “They put me on shooting, and I was able to watch my teammates. I could see the competition, and that was the moment that inspired me to think, ‘OK, maybe if not in gymnastics, I can do it in shooting.’”

Ruano placed 26th at the 2020 Tokyo Games, shortly after her father had died.

Coming into Paris, though, she was the defending Pan American Games champion.

Now she has given her country an Olympic gold medal, a day after Jean Pierre Brol won bronze in the men’s trap to claim Guatemala’s first Olympic medal since race walker Erick Barrondo’s silver at the 2012 London Games.

Stanco won the silver on 40 and Australia’s Penny Smith took the bronze.

Sebastian Fundora to Defend WBC/WBO Belts Against Errol Spence Jr. in October

Posted on May 25, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Sebastian Fundora has secured his next opponent.

The 26-year-old Mexican American professional boxer and unified light middleweight champion and Errol Spence Jr. have agreed to a deal for a junior middleweight title fight in Dallas this October, per ESPN.

Fundora will defend his WBC and WBO belts, which he won in a split-decision upset over Tim Tszyu in March.

PBC‘s hope is to stage the Prime Video PPV event at AT&T Stadium if the finalized date fits into the Dallas Cowboys‘ home schedule.

Spence, 34, has competed there twice, with wins over Mikey Garcia and Yordenis Ugas.

Following Fundora’s victory against Tszyu, Spence stepped into the ring and called him out, saying, “It’s time to get it on. He got a pretty good height, but we’ll see. We’ll break him down like we always do.”

Indeed, Fundora possesses uncanny height for a 154-pounder at 6-foot-5½ with an 80-inch reach. The 26-year-old’s first title victory came on the heels of his lone defeat, a seventh-round KO loss to Brian Mendoza in one of 2023’s most surprising results.

One year later, Fundora (21-1-1, 14 KOs) is ESPN‘s top junior middleweight after he replaced the injured Keith Thurman on 11 days’ notice to outlast Tszyu.

Known as “The Towering Inferno,” Fundora and his sister Gabriela are the first brother and sister to be full-fledged champions in boxing history.

Spence, meanwhile, will make his 154-pound debut after July’s ninth-round TKO loss to Terence Crawford for the undisputed welterweight championship. Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) was a mainstay of ESPN‘s pound-for-pound list before the setback.

He recently parted ways with Derrick James, who trained him since his amateur days that culminated in an Olympic run at the 2012 London Games.

Spence and James have sued each other surrounding a disagreement over money.

Mariana Pajón Among 32 Athletes Running for IOC Athletes’ Commission Elections in Paris

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Mariana Pajón is hoping to represent her fellow athletes…

The 32-year-old Colombian cyclist, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and BMX World Champion, is a candidate in elections at the 2024 Paris Games to represent their fellow athletes at the IOC.The International Olympic Committee announced the list of 32 candidates this week for elections to be held during the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris from July 26-August 11, when about 10,500 athletes are eligible to vote.

After being the flag-bearer for Colombia during the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Games, Pajón’s first participation in the BMX event resulted in the first gold medal for Colombia during the 2012 games and the second overall in Colombia’s participation in the Olympics.

In the 2016 Rio Games Pajón defended her title and won her second Olympic gold medal and fifth overall for Colombia. With this victory, Pajón became the first Colombian athlete to win two gold medals.

In the 2020 Tokyo Games, Pajón won silver.

But Pajon isn’t the only Latinx athlete in the running…

Kahena Kunze, a 32-year-old Brazilian Olympic sailor, is also a candidate. Together with Martine Grael she won the 49er FX class at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships and a gold medal in the inaugural 49er FX race, during the 2016 Rio Games, a feat both repeated at 2020 Tokyo Games.

Other Latinx candidates include Salvadoran sailor Enrique Arathoon, who competed at the 2016 Rio Games and 2020 Tokyo Games; Mexican pentathlon athlete Emiliano Hernandez Uscanga; Puerto Rican judoka Melissa Mojica Rosario, who competed at the 2012 London Games, 2016 Rio Games and 2020 Tokyo Games; and Argentine judoka Paula Belén Pareto, who won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games.

Four positions are up for election.

Ryan Lochte’s Six Olympic Silver & Bronze Medals Up for Auction

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Ryan Lochte is parting with some of his Olympic medals for a good cause…

The 37-year-old half-Cuban American swimmer has put all of his Olympic silver and bronze medals up for auction, with the proceeds going to a charity benefiting children.

Lochte earned 12 medals over four Olympics, including six gold that he plans to keep for now.

“I’m not one to be all sentimental about medals,” Lochte told The Associated Press. “My medals are just sitting in my closet collecting dust. The memories that I have is what means the most.”

The medals are being sold in three lots by Boston-based RR Auction. The sale ends July 21.

The first lot is Lochte’s first individual Olympic medal, a silver in the 200-meter individual medley from the 2004 Athens Games in which Michael Phelps won gold. It has an estimate of $10,000 or more.

The second lot is a pair of bronze medals from the 2008 Beijing Games, in which Lochte finished third in the 200 IM and 400 IM. The estimate is $12,000 or more.

The third lot features three medals from the 2012 London Games. Lochte finished second in the 200 IM, second in the 4×100 freestyle relay, and third in the 200 backstroke. The estimate is $60,000 or more.

Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of RR Auction, said the medals were consigned by a person who received them from Lochte and wishes to remain anonymous.

“They’re in perfect condition. They have beautiful ribbons,” Livingston said. “Ryan’s are obviously extremely interesting to people who collect medals.”

Lochte confirmed he is not the direct seller.

“I gave them to a third party,” he said. “Everything we earn is going straight to the charity.”

Also for sale is a 14-karat white gold Olympic ring and a Breitling watch with black diamonds. Lochte bought both items for himself after the London Games.

His selected charity is Jorge Nation Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money to send children with a terminal illness and their families on a dream trip from South Florida to a destination of their choice. Lochte said he has worked with the foundation for over 10 years. His agent is on its board of directors.

“This year I really wanted to focus on giving back. I’m loving it,” he said. “I’ve been teaming with my dad doing swim clinics and I’m coming out with my own sunscreen.”

During his career, Lochte routinely gave away his medals from national competitions to kids in the crowd.

Lochte hasn’t competed at a major meet since last year’s U.S. Olympic trials. He didn’t make the team for Tokyo. Last month, he raced in an ocean swim in the Cayman Islands and finished 14th.

“One mile in the ocean is a lot different than in the pool,” he said. “I swear I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

He’s contemplating shedding some of his six golds in the future. He wants to keep his first individual gold from the 200 back in Beijing and another for his dad, Steve.

“Those medals mean a lot to me; I worked my [rear] off for them,” Lochte said, “but helping other people out is more important to me, especially because I have kids of my own.”

Lochte’s 12 medals are tied for second most among swimmers, trailing only Phelps’ Olympic record of 28.

Fernanda Garay & Brazil Claim Silver in Women’s Volleyball at Tokyo Games

Posted on August 8, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a silver lining for Fernanda Garay…

The 34-year-old Brazilian professional volleyball player and her Brazil teammates lost to Team USA in the gold medal match of women’s volleyball tournament at the 2020 Tokyo Games, settling for the silver.

Brazil lost the match in straight sets to the Americans, 21-25, 20-25,- 14-25.

Garay was a member of the Brazil team that won the gold medal at the 2012 London Games.

It’s the first-ever Olympic gold for Team USA.

After the match, Garay recognized the strategic superiority of the Americans on the court, but asserted that the Brazilians gave their all.

“I think our preparation was the best possible, we knew the difficulty of this game, as it is an Olympic final. We knew that they would give their all, I have no doubt that we also gave our all. Maybe strategically they were able to play better than us, they were very aggressive on the serve, and we had to keep holding and behind the score many times. I’m very proud of our group, of what we’ve done so far,” she told TV Globo.

“They had more adversity than us, who managed to impose themselves in more games, this may have strengthened them at this time. We had no doubt that we could have a great game, they were better, and that’s what sport is all about. One hour is gained, another is lost. Unfortunately, today was our turn to feel defeat, and it hurts like hell, but I’m really proud of what we’ve done. We fought a lot and left everything on the court”, she added.

Garay confirmed that this final was her last Olympics, taking the opportunity to exalt the group with whom he lived in recent years.

“It’s terrible now, because we couldn’t win. But the sport is like that, it was great to be with this group all this time. I enjoyed every moment with these girls, I am very proud of them. A group that came discredited and strengthened in times of difficulty, I return home proud of everything we’ve done and where we’ve come from”, she concluded.

Justine Wong-Orantes Helps Lead Team USA to First Olympic Gold in Women’s Volleyball at Tokyo Games

Posted on August 8, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s the golden hour for Justine Wong–Orantes…

The 25-year-old half-Mexican American professional volleyball player, widely regarded as one of the world’s best female return specialists (libero), and her Team USA mates defeated Brazil in the women’s volleyball competition to claim historic gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

The Americans dispatched their rivals 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 to win Olympics gold for the USA women’s volleyball for the first time.

Wong-Orantes was named Best Libero at this year’s Games.

Wong-Orantes and Jordan Larson were stars for the American team as they ripped through the tournament in Tokyo, saving their best for last, with Larson finishing it off with 12 kills against Brazil, which had stood in America’s way on past attempts to stand atop the medal stand.

Larson had won silver at the 2012 London Games and bronze at the 2016 Rio Games. Now she has the complete set, while it’s a first gold for Wong-Orantes in her Olympic debut.

On June 7, 2021, US National Team head coach Karch Kiraly announced Wong-Orantes would be part of the 12-player Olympic roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

With very minimal international Team USA experience, Wong-Orantes would lead the Olympics in serve reception percentage, on the way to helping the USA capture a first-ever gold medal in dominating fashion.

Juan Francisco Leads Dominican Republic to Country’s First-Ever Baseball Olympics Medal

Posted on August 7, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Francisco is the Domincan Republic’s new hero…

The 34-year-old Dominican former professional baseball first baseman homered to help give the Dominican Republic a four-run, first-inning lead, then hit a tie-breaking, two-run double off Seunghwan Oh in a five-run eighth inning to help lead his team to a 10-6 victory over South Korea to claim the bronze in men’s baseball at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Melky Cabrera had four hits for the Dominicans (3-3), who won a baseball medal for the first time, and the country’s first-ever team medal.

South Korea (3-4), the 2012 London Games gold medalist, took a 6-5 lead in a four-run fifth inning against five pitchers. Kang Baek-Ho hit a go-ahead single.

Oh (2-1), a 39-year-old right-hander who pitched in Major League Baseball blew a save for the second time in the tournament.

Kansas City farmhands Jeison Guzman and Erick Mejia singled in the eighth, Seattle Mariners prospect Julio Rodriguez walked and Oh threw a wild pitch that tied the score.

Francisco, a six-year big league veteran whose last major league at-bat was in 2014, had struck out in his three previous plate appearances and nine times overall. The 34-year-old doubled to the left-center gap for an 8-6 lead, and Boston Red Sox prospect Johan Mieses followed with a long two-run homer to left.

Francisco hit .208 (5 for 24) with two homers and five RBIs during the tournament, the last for baseball in the Olympics until at least 2028.

Cristopher Mercedes (1-0), who pitches for the Central League‘s Yomiuri Giants, threw 3 1/3 shutout innings through the eighth as the fourth reliever out of the Dominican bullpen.

Jumbo Diaz, four years removed from his last big league appearance, relieved with two on in the ninth and got three straight outs for the save.

Rodriguez, a 20-year-old at Double-A Arkansas, put the Dominicans ahead 2-0 on an afternoon of intermittent rain when he sent a 0-1 pitch well over the left field wall. Francisco drove the next pitch in the last row of the right-field seats for his second Olympic homer and a 3-0 lead.

Mieses walked, and that was it for South Korea starter Kim Min-woo, who allowed four runs, three hits and a walk in one-third of an inning. Charlie Valerio added a sacrifice fly.

Dominican starter Raul Valdes, a 43-year-old left-hander who was the oldest player in the tournament, gave up five runs and nine hits in four-plus innings. Valdes’ last big league appearance was for Houston in 2014.

Rodriguez was hit on the right hand by a pitch from Park Se-Woong in the sixth but stayed in the game.

Jhan Marinez‘s first attempt to relieve was foiled when the bullpen cart started to the mound when he had just one leg on it, causing him to stumble. He got back on and walked his only batter.

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