London Olympic

London 2012 Summer Olympics

McKayla Maroney falls takes silver in women's vault


The height of her handspring seemed to reach another stratosphere. The amount of air separating the American from her competition was immense, making her fall to earth that much more shocking.
"I didn't deserve to win gold if I landed on my butt," Maroney said after settling for the silver medal in the vault final at North Greenwich Arena.
Maroney scored a 15.866 on her first vault, the best score of the night. But she slipped while landing her second try and plopped on the mat, scoring a 14.3. Her average score of 15.083 put her 0.108 behind gold medal winner Sandra Izbasa of Romania. Maria Paseka of Russia earned the bronze.
On the medal stand, Maroney barely managed a smile, looking more angry than upset. After the ceremony, she received a few comforting words from her coach and her eyes began to fill with tears.
"It's more of shock," she said as she wiped away mascara. "I'm not disappointed about the silver. I'm disappointed about my performance."
Maroney, 16, had performed her second vault without fail for three or four months, she said. She didn't want to blame the rare mistake on the high expectations because there were high expectations entering worlds and she met them.
"I don't want to blame it on anything other than I messed up," she said.
Maroney's hands didn't properly touch the vault.
"It happens; it's gymnastics," she said. "You can't always be perfect. Sometimes, things don't go as planned."
She never considered changing her routine after her first vault landed so well.
"I've hit that (second) vault every single time. It's not going the hard or safe route. That's my vault," she said.
Maroney's first vault is so good several U.S. gymnasts and coaches said it should be renamed in her honor. Called an Amanar, the move is one of the toughest in the sport: a roundoff onto the takeoff board, followed by a back handspring onto the vault and 2½ twists in the air before landing.
Her vault in the team final Tuesday that helped the USA win the gold will be remembered as one of the greatest ever. The Americans started the night on the vault. Gabby Douglas opened with a 15.966. Maroney followed with an eye-popping 16.233. Jordyn Wieber responded with a 15.933 as the USA grabbed the early lead and never looked back in earning its first team gold since 1996.
"McKayla Maroney's was an absolute moonshot," U.S. coach John Geddert said then. "They should rename the vault. They should call it the 'Maroney,' because it's a different league. She does it so much higher and faster and cleaner and more dynamic than the normal human."
Maroney made no excuses Sunday. On most days, pretty much every day, she nails that second vault.
On this day, she was human.
The only other American competing Sunday was Jake Dalton in the men's floor exercise. He took fifth with a score of 15.333. Kai Zou of China won the gold with 15.933, gymnastics legend Kohei Uchimura of Japan took silver and Denis Ablyazin of Russia took bronze.
The final event was men's pommel horse, and the home country took silver and bronze, with Louis Smithand Max Whitlock, respectively. Krisztian Berki of Hungary took the gold.

Megan Rossee bikini photos show


Model Megan Rossee declined to wear sponsored outfits during the Olympics out of respect for her boyfriend, swimmer Michael Phelps, according to a report Tuesday.

She looks like a perfect “10.”
Aspiring model Megan Rossee, the 25-year-old girlfriend of Olympic golden boy Michael Phelps, appeared in fine form during a swimsuit shoot in Southern California last December.
The 5-foot 10-inch blond posed for the bikini pics — including one with her arms covering up her untied top — right before she began dating the swimming phenom in January.
Their relationship reportedly became more serious leading up to the London Games — and the couple attracted serious attention during a red-carpet event for Speedo on Monday.

RAY GUTIERREZ/STRANGEBEAUTIFULART.COM

Model Megan Rossee poses in California. Rosse is dating Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

Rossee, an avid Twitter and Instagram user, has been commenting on her Olympic experience, including cheering on her 27-year-old beau, who won four gold and two silver medals in London.
Gossip website Hollyscoop reported Tuesday that Rossee turned down sponsorships from unspecified fashion lines wanting her to wear their clothes during the Games — convinced she would be identified cheering for Phelps from the stands.
“When Megan asked Michael if he thought it was a good idea he said he didn’t care but that his mom wouldn’t be very happy if she did,” a source told the website.
So out of respect, Rossee reportedly declined.
The pair could be traveling a lot more together once the Olympics wraps up, and Phelps wouldn’t mind Rossee ditching her day job as a cocktail waitress in Hollywood, according to reports.
“He wants her to travel the world with him but she hasn’t made her decision yet to quit,” a source told Hollyscoop. “She's heavily considering it.”

Megan Rossee Is Michael Phelps' Girlfriend

Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in the world -- and recent retiree -- is officially off the market. The Baltimore Bullet's girlfriend is Megan Rossee, a 25-year-old LA-based model and frequent tweeter. She even has a Twitter-friendly nickname for her human-fish boyfriend: Bear. (Why not Mer-man?)
Here are 7 things to know about Megan Rossee, the woman who snagged London 2012's most eligible bachelor. (Ryan Lochte doesn't count since he's too busybacktracking on his mom's "one-night stands" comment to think about a GF.)
1. Michael Phelps isn't the only Team USA swimmer she's gotten close to. 
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(Photo Credit: Getty)
Judging from her Twitter feed, Rossee has also developed a friendship with 22-year-old gold medalist Allison Scmitt.


2. She doesn't want kids ... yet. 
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(Photo Credit: @meganrossee Twitter)
On June 8th, Rossee tweeted a photo (Instagrammed of course) of herself pushing a baby stroller while rollerblading. (Is that even safe?) The tweet read: "Haha.... Maaaybe 5-10 years down the road...." Understandable. Girl's got a successful career and a superstar boyfriend -- who needs babies?

3. She's a former college athlete.
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(Photo Credit: @meganrossee Twitter)
E! reported that Rossee played soccer during her college years and was a scholar athlete. She graduated from Arkansas' Lyon University in 2009.

4. She's not into any NC-17 modeling.
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(Photo Credit: @meganrossee Twitter)
According to Rossee's Model Mayhem profile, she's "super easy going and pretty much down for any type of project (that doesn't involve nudity)." Sounds like she'll avoid any embarrassing scandals like the one Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California who also (briefly) dated Phelps, got herself into.

5. She doesn't neglect her female friends. 
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(Photo Credit: @meganrossee Twitter)
Rossee's Twitter feed is full of words of encouragement to "Bear," but she also sends virtual love to her best girl friends, especially fellow model Kristin Vahl.


6. She appreciates food.
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(Photo Credit: @meganrossee Twitter)
Rossee has made it clear that although she's a model, she does in fact eat. She also seems to have a penchant for red meat -- specifically ground beef. 


7. She takes her horoscope seriously. 
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(Photo Credit: @meganrossee Twitter)
Rossee is an Aries and around mid-July she seemed to get very into her astrological sign, although she also tweeted about her horoscope back in April.

Alex Morgan Becoming America's Darling In London

When Alex Morgan scored what appeared to be the game-winning goal over Japan in last summer's World Cup, she had seemingly had her classic breakout moment. In an instant though, the Japanese tied the game and emerged victorious in penalty kicks. Morgan, while certainly remaining in the media forefront with her TV good looks, didn't leave Germany as a hero or icon. Fast forward just one year later, though, and the 23-year-old is once again a national darling, scoring the game-winning goal against Canada in Monday's Olympic semi-final match and propelling the U.S. women into one of their most important soccer games ever. Even so, the 4-3 extra-time win was only part of the magic; Morgan's rise as the new face of women's soccer is the other.
While goalie Hope Solo and striker Abby Wambach remain two of the most decorated players in the game, it is the fast ascending Morgan -- one of Team USA's youngest players -- who may turn out to be its most recognizable after her 123rd-minute striking header against Canada. That goal, which stands alone as the latest ever scored by a member of the U.S. women's national team, has left the Americans with a dream rematch against Japan in the Olympic final.
"I can't remember ever feeling this way," Morgan said afterward. "I've never wanted to cry on a field after scoring a goal."
Such a statement is important to observe when we consider that Morgan has been scoring goals for a very, very long time. She has only been a member of the women's national team since 2010, but her meteoric rise through the soccer ranks has been a long one. After a marvelous career at the University of California, Berkeley, she was selected first overall in the 2011 Women's Professional Soccer draft, where she has since dominated.
In Thursday's gold-medal game, Morgan will be called upon to provide the United States with her normal dose of magic on the pitch. That shouldn't be an issue. Morgan has likely been eyeing this moment her entire life. She told USA Today: "I watched the Olympics when I was a little girl. I remember watching the Beijing finals and it was about 4 or 5 a.m. our time in California, and I was one of the only ones who woke up to watch the match. And at that moment I knew, I'm going to be on this team next Olympics."
That final in 2008 was a 1-0 victory for the U.S. over Brazil, but the vast array of endorsements simply were not as prevalent as they are now. Remember when we all thought that Morgan, Solo and Wambach had squandered a dream opportunity for sponsorships after losing in the World Cup? Well, if Morgan and company bring home Olympic gold, 2011 suddenly becomes a faint memory.
Some of America's darkest times have been followed by its brightest.
Email me at jordan.schultz@huffingtonpost.com or ask me questions about anything sports-related at @Schultz_Report. Tune in Wednesday night, at 7:00ET on CBS and watch Entertainment Tonight Insider as I talk about former Olympic stars.
Plus, check out my HuffPost sports blog, The Schultz Report, for a fresh and daily outlook on all things Olympics and listen to my radio spot on 1280 The Zone Friday afternoons at 1 ET. Also, tune in at 8:30am ET Thursday mornings on Memphis 56 Sports Radio, right here.
 

Follow Jordan Schultz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Schultz_Report

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings close era of beach volleyball




LONDON — Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor returned to their Olympic home Wednesday night, stepping atop the medal stand to which they’ve held a deed for nearly a decade. It was different this time for the most famous athletes to don a two-piece.
For years, they’ve kicked sand in the eyes of all comers, and in that sense the London Games was just like the others. But this one wasn’t about just gold. It was equal parts coronation, celebration and a tearful, warm goodbye.
The setting sun turned the English sky into a beautiful blend of pastels above Horse Guards Parade, where the event was held. In the shadow of London’s majestic government buildings, with Big Ben and the London Eye looming in the skyline and situated just a bump pass away from 10 Downing Street and the Churchill War Rooms, nothing was more picturesque than Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor again spiking their foes in straight sets. In Wednesday’s gold medal match, they disposed of fellow Americans April Ross andJennifer Kessy, 21-16, 21-16, for their third straight Olympic title.
“It feels like an out-of-body experience,” May-Treanor said afterward. “This one does feel a lot different. Kind of a numbness.”
Walsh Jennings will continue on, hoping for a fourth gold at the 2016 Olympics. But she’ll do it without May-Treanor, the most decorated female volleyball player the beach has ever known. She said Wednesday’s Olympic championship would be her final match.
“It’s time for me to be a wife. I want to be a mom and share time with my family,” said May-Treanor, 35. “All of us as athletes sacrifice more on the family end than people maybe realize.
“My mind says it’s time. My body says it’s time. And it’s the right time.”
So much has changed since the two paired in Athens and won gold for the first time. They’re older now, their last names have grown longer, their families larger. Following the 2004 Olympics, May-Treanor married a baseball player and Walsh Jennings a volleyball player. Walsh Jennings had two sons following the Beijing Games.
“The first two medals, I think was more volleyball,” May-Treanor said. “The friendship we had was there, but it was all volleyball, volleyball. This was so much more about the friendship, the togetherness, the journey. And volleyball was just a small part of it.”
Since that first gold, the two have become celebrities, in the process making their sport more than an Olympic sideshow. Not many Olympians, regardless of discipline, have so closely married longevity with perfection.
In three Olympic appearances, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor have won 21 straight matches. They’ve played 43 sets and lost just one.
No one had to tell the Ross-Kessy duo what their foes have meant to the sport. “They put it on the map, really,” Kessy said. “For women especially.”
“I think everyone in the U.S. knows them,” she continued. “I’m sure everyone in the rest of the world knows them now.”
They’ve been featured prominently on Olympic broadcasts for three straight Games and helped grow the sport. Even Prince Harry came out Wednesday night to see what the buzz was all about. (“We wore our bikinis for him,” Ross said.)
What the prince and the rest of the world saw was a final act — the story ending in the same place it started, really — drawing to close an era for the sport. For Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor, their lives are fuller now, which makes it easier to appreciate this third gold medal. Getting to London was not as easy.
Walsh Jennings had to recover from an Achilles’ tendon injury that sidelined her for a year, and May-Treanor had to delay starting a family, deciding that it was worth one more run with her close friend.
“The past two years that we’ve shared together have changed my life,” Walsh Jennings said. “It really has. That sounds really dramatic and cheesy, but it has. We’ve come so far in these past two years, and we’re so close and so connected.
“Our competitive journey together is done. That’s a big deal. That crushes me a little,” she continued, choking up. “The next stage is going to be so fun. We’re going to be able to be girlfriends, sharing each other’s families and each other’s lives.”
Walsh Jennings, who will turn 34 next week, will continue in the sport with a teammate to be named later. And May-Treanor says she hopes to still help grow the sport, just not from the elite stage.
When Wednesday’s match was over and tears starting soaking the sand, the two players circled the stadium, and Walsh Jennings grabbed her two young sons, Joseph, 3, and Sundance, 2, who saw their mom and Auntie Turtle — May-Treanor’s nickname — win gold together for a final time.
“I don’t know if you can write this script the way that it turned out,” May-Treanor said. “But we believed.”

Kobe Bryant, Team USA and the gold medal

USA's Kobe Bryant celebrates a 3-pointer against Australia during a men's quarterfinals basketball game at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)



Bryant silenced his critics and broke open a tight game with six straight 3-pointers in the second half Wednesday night as the Americans advanced to the semifinals of the London Games with a 119-86 victory over Australia.

On a night when LeBron James had a triple-double, the story was Bryant’s awakening from his Olympic slumber. The five-time NBA champion scored 20 points, flashing three fingers in the air after his third consecutive 3-pointer in the fourth quarter had pushed the game well out of reach and proved that, yes, he would deliver the kind of game that’s expected of him in London.

“I kind of knew what button to push with him. I was talking to him at halftime and in the third quarter and I guess I pushed the button. He woke up and to see that, I’ve been on the other side of the ball and had that situation before,” teammate Carmelo Anthony said.


James finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists for the Americans, who advanced to their third straight Olympic semifinal meeting with Argentina, which beat Brazil earlier Wednesday. Deron Williams added 18 points, Anthony had 17 and Kevin Durant 14.

The Americans beat the Argentines 126-97 on Monday in the final game of pool play, yet another night they didn’t need much from Bryant, who came in averaging just 9.4 points and hearing whispers that something must be wrong with him, though both he and his teammates kept assuring people there was no problem.

This time was different, and he delivered.

“He was a little sleepy out there,” Anthony said. “I guess I woke up the Mamba and he responded.”

Australia scored the first 11 points of the second half, cutting the Americans’ lead to three after back-to-back 3-pointers by Joe Ingles. The U.S. lead was only six before Bryant, who has never gotten in an offensive rhythm in London and just minutes earlier had committed another puzzling offensive foul, finally broke out.

He made a 3-pointer, then batted away a pass, chased it down along the left sideline and pulled up for another 3 that made it 70-58. James followed with a basket that pushed it to 14, and the Americans never let the Australians get much closer.

Not the way Bryant shot, anyway.

He was 0 for 3 in the first half, then made six in a row. He hit three straight in the fourth quarter to blow it open, the crowd chanting “Kobe! Kobe!” before he finally missed on a ridiculously long attempt before calling it a night.

Patty Mills scored 26 points and Ingles had 19 for Australia, which had the misfortune of running into the U.S. in the quarterfinals for the second straight Olympics.

Even the Australian fans were cheering for Bryant as he walked to the locker room after a postgame interview. First, he knocked fists with the Aussies’ kangeroo mascot, wearing boxing gloves on his hands.

Bryant sure knocked out the Australians.

London 2012 basketball: Kobe Bryant Team USA win over Australia

Krzyzewski has known Bryant for almost two decades, after all, and though Bryant blazed a trail by skipping college and going directly to the NBA back in 1996, had he gone to school, it would have been at Duke. And back in 2004, when the Lakers were reeling after the departure of Phil Jackson, it was Bryant who pushed the franchise to make a lucrative offer to Krzyzewski, who ultimately decided to stay in Durham.
Kobe Bryant exploded for 20 second-half points after finishing the first scoreless. Team USA defeated Australia 119-86. (AP Photo)
Having finally been able to work together under the auspices of Team USA in the 2008 Olympics and again now in ’12, the two have confirmed what they sort of knew all along—they have a lot in common.
“We have known each other since he was 16, so I think he trusted me enough at that time that if he had gone to school, he would have come to Duke,” Krzyzewski said of Bryant. “So we have kept up that relationship, and we’re good friends. The other thing he knows we both share is that we both want to win again and again, so there is a commitment to winning championships. When you find other people who want to do that, those are good relationships.”
For those of us—admit it, you were one—wondering what was wrong with Bryant over the five games of pool play here in London, and for more than half of Wednesday’s 119-86 quarterfinal win over Australia, Bryant gave a stretch in the second half that just might put all our fears to rest, and will justify Krzyzewski’s dedication to his starting shooting guard.
The triple-double (11 points, 12 assists, 14 rebounds) posted by LeBron James was the first in Olympics history, and Deron Williams (18 points) kept the Americans afloat while things weren’t going well in the first 20-plus minutes of the game. But this game was more about Bryant finally snapping out of his Olympic doldrums—scoring 20 points to beat the Boomers—than anything else.
This is important, because in the Beijing gold-medal game, when Team USA was flailing against Spain and in need of a bailout, Bryant provided it. Bryant is almost 34 years old now, and though he is in fine shape, he is probably not quite as prepared to play superhero on-demand. For most of this tournament, Bryant has been a nonfactor. He averaged 14.8 minutes per game, in large part because the Americans’ four blowouts allowed Krzyzewski to rest him, but even when he was on the floor in the five pool games, he shot just 38.9 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from the 3-point line.
Bryant has spent much of his time with in London providing fodder for TMZ and London gossip columnists. He has been spotted with his wife and daughters at various Olympic events, but there was also a report of a playful postgame drinking contest with some Olympic volunteers at a casino, as well as chatter about Bryant’s rumored relationship with Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice, who was in the stands for Wednesday’s game, at another event. It’s all tabloid material, but it has created enough of a swirl to raise questions about how completely Bryant was invested in these Olympics.
Of course, there would come a time when the U.S. needed Bryant to take over, and before the U.S. got into that situation, it would have been nice to see that Bryant still had the ability to actually dominate these games. We had not seen that heretofore.
Against Australia, Bryant quelled those worries in, essentially, two stretches that covered a total of one minute and 24 seconds.
“I was just searching for something that would ignite the Black Mamba,” Bryant said after the game, smiling.
Black Mamba ignition came in the third quarter, a few minutes after an offensive foul on Bryant helped Australia trim the U.S. lead to 56-53. Bryant made a 3-pointer, forced a steal, then made another 3, in a span of 18 seconds. That was part of an 11-2 run that pushed the American lead back into double digits.
Then, in the fourth quarter, it was a measly 66 seconds that changed the game. Team USA led by 15 with 5:52 to play, when Bryant stretched the lead with a 3-pointer. Then he made another. And another. And another. That put Bryant on a personal 12-2 run, and spelled the end for the Aussies.
All of this is no surprise to Krzyzewski, even with Bryant’s wayward opening games.
“Kobe’s preparation to win, he is the equal of anybody, probably way ahead of most people,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s what separates him. And he has done it even after having already won five NBA championships and winning gold medals, he wants to do it again. That’s when you become legendary.”
On this night, Bryant was 0-for-4 from 2-point range, but he was 6-for-10 from beyond the arc. And all six of those came in the second half, just when the team needed them most. Legendary, indeed.

Ashton Eaton leads decathlon

  

Ashton Eaton provided the definitive moment of the U.S. Olympic Trials when he broke Czech decathlete Roman Sebrle's world record with 9,039 points, cementing himself as the heavy favorite to win the title of World's Greatest Athlete at the London Games decathlon.

After the first day, not only was Eaton showing himself well again -- he was in first place from the start of the Olympics' most canonical and old-school event. We're tracking his chase here on the blog. Here's an event-by-event, continuously updating look at the 24-year-old's chase for the Olympic gold medal:

Still to come:
Event 8: Pole vault, 8 a.m. ET.
Event 9: Javelin, 1:30 p.m. ET
Event 10: 1500 meters, 4:20 p.m. ET

Event 7: Discus. Eaton is still in first overall despite having the worst discus throw in Group B. His third toss landed out of bounds -- decathletes get three chances at hurling the discus -- meaning his first attempt, a 42.53-meter landing, stood. Germany's Rico Freimuth won discus, throwing a personal-best 49.11 meters.
Hardee, unlike Eaton, fared well. He finished second to Freimuth in Group B, tossing the discus 48.26 meters on his second throw. These transgressions get Hardee within less than 100 points of Eaton overall; he currently sits at 6,310. Freimuth's efforts moved him into fifth.
As for Eaton? Score, place: 6,409, first.

Event 6: 110-meter hurdles. The Americans had to wait for the fourth and final heat, where both Eaton and Hardee easily outran the earlier groups. Hardee needed a new personal best of 13:54 seconds to narrowly edge Eaton, who came home at 13:56. For Eaton, this race also marked his fastest time of the season
Check out the photofinish
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After six events, Eaton continues to pace the field. His 1032 points in the event gives him a 217-point lead over Hardee in second place. Score, place: 5,693, first.

Event 5: 400 meters. Eaton entered London as the world's best decathlete in the 400 meters and lived up to that billing Wednesday, finishing in 46.90 -- more than a full second ahead of any other competitor -- to smash open the race for good. His score of 963 points wasn't quite the 973 he scored at Trials, but it was still 57 more than any other athlete's for the event.

Fellow American Trey Hardee took a strong third in the 400, but still sits a far distant 220 points behind Eaton in second, a gap wider than between Hardee and eighth place. At the end of Day 1, Eaton sits a bit off the blistering pace of his world record, but we doubt he cares--after first-place finishes in three of the five events, his lead is such that only a disqualification in the hurdles or a no-score in the discus or javelin can stop him from becoming the world's greatest athlete. Score, place: 4,661, first.

Event 4: High jump. In an exact replay of his Trials performance, Eaton cleared his first five heights without a miss, going over at 2.05 meters (6' 8 3/4") with relative ease. But Eaton didn't have any luck at the next height, missing all three attempts at 2.08 and falling well shy of his personal best of 2.11 from June. But with 850 points (and with only one athlete clearing anything higher), it did nothing to hurt his standing in the competition: closest competitors Hardee and Oleksiy Kasyanov of the Ukraine each went out at 1.99 meters, allowing Eaton to stretch his lead by 56 points. Score, place: 3,698, first.

Event 3: Shot put. The shot put is one of Eaton's weaker events, and he finished 11th with a throw of 14.66 meters. The throw was within shouting distance of his recent personal best of 14.78 meters, though, and scored him 769 points--only 38 behind second-place Hardee and enough to keep a comfortable lead. It also trumped his 14.20 from Trials and put him within striking distance of his score from Eugene. Score, place: 2,848, first.

Event 2: Long jump. Eaton couldn't reproduce his outrageous, world decathlon record leap from Trials of 8.23 meters, but it didn't matter much where the Olympic standings were concerned--his first-place jump of 8.03 meters was nearly .4 meters further than his closest competitor. (It would have placed him seventh in Saturday's long jump finals--and his Trials jump would have won the silver medal.) The 1,068 points he scored put him in firm command of the competition with a 143-point lead over Hardee. Score, place: 2,079, first.

Event 1: 100-meter dash. After setting a world decathlon record time at the Trials, Eaton was the heavy favorite to come out of the decathlon's opening event with a lead, and he didn't disappoint. Though his time of 10.35 was a step behind his 10.21 from Eugene, it was good enough to set an Olympic decathlon record and score a first-place 1,011 points. Score, place: 1,011, first.
 

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