(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians POSTPONED Minnesota Twins 3, Chicago Cubs 7 Tampa Bay Rays 3, St Louis Cardinals 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE LA Angels, NY Yankees POSTPONED Baltimore Orioles 2, Toronto Blue Jays 5 Boston Red Sox 6, Kansas City Royals 5 Texas Rangers 4, Houston Astros 2 Chicago White Sox 5, Oakland Athletics 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE Milwaukee Brewers 10, Atlanta Braves 0 N.Y. Mets 3, Colorado Rockies 6 San Francisco Giants 5, Washington Nationals 11 Cincinnati Reds 8, Miami Marlins 2 Philadelphia Phillies 2, L.A. Dodgers 2 San Diego Padres 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 0
Noah Lyles of the U.S celebrates winning the gold medal in the men’s 100m final at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Aug. 4, 2024. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(PARIS) — American sprinter Noah Lyles won the gold in the 100 meters at the Paris Olympics in a photo finish, edging out Jamaican Kishane Thompson for gold and taking the title of the world’s fastest man.
Lyles finished in 9.79 seconds — officially 9.784 — edging out Thompson by just .005 seconds for the gold. Thompson, after cruising through the qualifying rounds, was the favorite in the race.
Fellow American Fred Kerley took the bronze medal in 9.81 seconds.
Lyles set a personal best time of 9.79 seconds in the win. Thompson has a personal best of 9.77 seconds, but couldn’t match that in Paris.
Historically a slow starter, Lyles again had to run down the fastest starters. He had a reaction time of 0.178, tied for worst in the field. Kerley, however, had a race-best 0.108 reaction time, the fastest in the field and a big reason he was able to race onto the podium.
It was the first time an American had won the 100 meters since 2004 when Justin Gatlin took the title in Athens. It’s also the first time since 2004 that two Americans finished on the podium. Jamaica, led by world record holder Usain Bolt, had dominated the sprints for the last two decades.
Kerley, 29, had taken silver at the Tokyo Games and was looking to move up one spot on the podium. Instead, he settled for bronze with a season’s best time.
Lyles may have been the favorite going into Paris, but he’d looked like anything but a sure thing in the heats. He finished second in his opening race and said afterward he’d misjudged the speed of the field. He finished second again in the semifinal to Jamaican Oblique Seville, who cruised to a 9.81, while Lyles had to make up for a slow start as he qualified for the final with a 9.83.
Thompson had run a 9.80 in the semifinals — the fastest time of any of the qualifiers for the final — without even showing max effort.
The defending champion from Tokyo, Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs, finished fifth with a time of 9.85. The time was a season’s best for Jacobs, who was a surprise winner in 2021 and hasn’t reached those heights in the three years since Tokyo.
Lyles was the defending world champion in the 100 meters from last year. He ran a 9.83 in the final in Budapest as he won gold.
It also took a run of just 9.83 seconds to win the U.S. trials earlier this summer.
Lyles, 27, has surged into the best in the world in the 100 meters after already establishing himself as the best at the 200 meters. Lyles has said his goal was to win double gold and the 100 meters was the hardest of those two. He won both 100 and 200 at the world championships in 2023.
The 200-meter heats begin Monday with the final on Aug. 8.
Lyles is also likely to compete in the 4×100 meter relay on Aug. 9 as he tries to complete a sweep of three golds like he did in Budapest at the world championships.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Cleveland Guardians 9, Chicago Cubs 8
AMERICAN LEAGUE Toronto Blue Jays 4, LA Angels 2 Houston Astros 6, Tampa Bay Rays 1 Boston Red Sox 5, Texas Rangers 4 Minnesota Twins 8, Kansas City Royals 3 Chicago White Sox 12, NY Yankees 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE Arizona Diamondbacks 5, Colorado Rockies 4 San Diego Padres 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 Atlanta Braves 1, San Francisco Giants 0 Cincinnati Reds 6, St. Louis Cardinals 1 LA Dodgers 5, Milwaukee Brewers 2
(NEW YORK) — Marion Jones is opening up about her new life as she emerged into the spotlight for a career reboot.
She was once considered the fastest woman in the world and a household name during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
However, in 2008, Jones was sentenced to six months in prison, two years of supervised release and 800 hours of community service after pleading guilty to charges of lying to federal investigators in 2003 over using performance-enhancing drugs. She adamantly denied the allegations for years at first.
Along with the conviction, she was also stripped of the five medals — three gold and two bronze track and field medals — she earned at the Sydney Olympics.
Two decades later, the all-round athlete with a tumultuous journey is now gearing up for her second chance.
During an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, Jones, now a mother of three, reflected on whether she believes she would have been able to achieve the medals without using performance-enhancing drugs.
“The answer’s very easy for me: 1000%,” Jones told Roberts. “And that’s what makes it very hard. I was blessed with just an enormous amount of talent… But knowing that it didn’t need to happen the way that it did always will stick with me as a moment that is hard.”
Jones was released from prison in September 2008 and has since led a quiet life. She told Roberts she needed the time away to reflect on “why certain choices were made.”
“When I was in 49 days of solitary confinement, right, and I was sitting there saying, ‘Okay, Marion,'” Jones said. “Like, again, ‘You could allow all of this to just put you under. Or you can use what your mom has always said about you, that you’re something special, and that you’re unique.’…I was not gonna allow my poor choices to waste her dream.”
Putting those thoughts into fruition, she is now focusing on helping others emerge stronger while overcoming obstacles by embarking on a new coaching initiative.
“Well, I would hope that people would look at my journey, Robin, and ultimately come to the conclusion that failure isn’t forever,” she explained. “That although many people cannot relate to being an Olympic athlete, an Olympic champion, a convicted felon, everybody can relate when it comes to failure in their lives, right?”
“I coach, and teach and mentor entrepreneurs on how to pull themselves up when they’re dealing with stuff,” Jones said, adding, “And I’m loving it. I’m so passionate about it.”
With her renewed spirit, Jones, who is also a mother of three, shared that she has been proudly following and watching the 2024 Paris Olympics with her kids.
“I love sitting with my daughter and watching Simone Biles, and all the rock star female athletes that are there right now,” she said. “I think a lot of people are surprised when I say that when I watch the games — it’s happy moments that I relive.”
Jones added that she is no longer looking back at her past, saying she hopes her journey will serve as lessons to others, moving forward.
“And I would hope that when people see my story ultimately they say, ‘You know what? Yeah, she went through some stuff,'” Jones said. “Lot of it [is] because of her own choices. But she didn’t stay there, and she didn’t allow it all to ultimately consume her.”
“There were poor choices, Robin, that were made along the way,” she continued. “But I put in work and I sacrificed. And the moment for me can never be taken away.”
