Olympics Archives - Page 2 of 3

Diana Taurasi’s Friends Call Her ‘Sick in the Head’ as She Returns for 20th Season

Diana Taurasi may never retire. Many expect her to retire after she plays in her sixth Olympics and 20th WNBA season this summer, but who really knows. Last year, as she turned 41, she averaged 16 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 rebounds, which are all numbers very close to her career averages. If she's slowing down, you haven't been able to see it in the box score.

It takes incredible gifts and hard work to maintain such a high level of play for such a prolonged period of time, but it also takes a certain mentality. The kind of mentality that earns you a legitimate comparison to Kobe Byrant. And most of all, in a way that makes loved ones tell you to retire while calling you a "psycho" and "sick in the head." According to CT Insider, those are the kinds of text messages Taurasi's been getting as she prepares for season 20.

Her response? "I am."

It's also the kind of thing you say about someone who is playing in her sixth Olympics. If Taurasi makes the team this summer, she'll break the record for most Olympic appearances by a basketball player. Between 1896 and 2022, only 211 people have made six or more Olympic appearances.

For a true psycho, that's just another milestone. Last August, Taurasi became the first player in WNBA history to eclipse the 10,000 career points mark. That puts her about 2,500 points ahead of second place, held by Hall of Famer Tina Thompson. It could be some time until any other woman matches that mark, let alone catches Taurasi after she adds another season's worth of points to her total.

So go ahead and keep telling her to retire. See how much farther that gets her.

2 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Katie Ledecky Says She’s ‘Definitely’ Planning to Compete at 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles

What does American swimming icon Katie Ledecky have left to prove? Not much.

Her medal record is eye-popping: seven Olympics golds and three Olympic silvers to go with 21 world golds and five silvers. She owns the world long- and short-course records in the 800-meter freestyle and 1500-meter freestyle. No conversation attempting to rank the greatest North American athletes of the 21st century is complete without her.

And yet, not only is Ledecky primed for another big Olympics this summer in Paris, she also indicated to NBC recently that she might not be done after that.

"The (2028) Olympics being in LA is very appealing. Not very many athletes get an opportunity to compete in a home Games," Ledecky said. "I definitely at this point am planning on going through 2028... whether I compete in one event, multiple events, a relay, whatever."

Ledecky turned 27 on St. Patrick's Day, and will be 31 by the time Los Angeles rolls around. Only three women—the United States's Dara Torres in 2000, the Netherlands' Inge de Bruijn in 2004, and West Germany's Ursula Happe in 1956—have ever won a swimming gold past the age of 30.

If there's anyone in swimming unbound by the sport's history, however, it's Ledecky.