Sports
As Paris Olympics near, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, others hail showcase for women's sports
Margaret Abbott, the first American woman to win an Olympic event, died at age 76 without knowing of her pioneering feat.
The 1900 Games in Paris were the first that allowed women to compete, but also so nascent and unorganized that Abbott spent the rest of her life under the impression she’d merely won a local golf tournament. It didn’t help that her prize was a gilded porcelain bowl and not a gold medal.
Paula Welch, now professor emeritus at the University of Florida, unearthed Abbott’s milestone decades later. It was a revelation that even surprised Abbott’s son, Philip Dunne.
“It’s not every day that you learn your mother was an Olympic champion, 80-odd years after the fact,” Dunne wrote in a 1984 Golf Digest article.
There will be no mistaking such epic moments for female competitors at the 2024 Paris Games. If Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, triumphs again, if charismatic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson breaks away from the pack, if world-record holder Katie Ledecky adds to her collection of seven swimming golds, they’ll relaunch as international media sensations by daybreak.
The transformation underscores just how much women have reshaped the Olympics since the fledgling 1900 competition, when only 22 of the 997 athletes were female. The Winter and Summer Games of long ago have emerged into platforms where the women are household names just as much as the men. The 2024 Paris Games are set to be the first to feature as many female athletes as male.
For most of the 1980s and ’90s, few female athletes in the United States were as famous as Jackie Joyner-Kersee. The stylish, personable star of USA Track & Field set numerous world records and won six Olympic medals, including three golds.
She understands the power of this juncture in women’s sports history. And in grand Olympic style, she’s ready to pass the torch.
“What I love is the respect that I see from this generation,” Joyner-Kersee, 62, told The Athletic. “But you also want them to have their moments. I think that’s very important. My era was my era. I did what I did, but what can I pass on to you that can help you?
“With (the) Olympics around the corner, with what Sha’Carri Richardson was able to do becoming world champion, and Sydney (McLaughlin-Levrone) running under 51 seconds in the 400 hurdles, the excitement around women’s athletics (is growing).”
Biles, who has 37 Olympic and World Championship gymnastics medals, headlines an impressive group of U.S. female athletes headed to Paris. There also is Richardson, Ledecky and gymnastics star Suni Lee, as well as the U.S. women’s basketball, water polo and soccer teams.
Joyner-Kersee knows just how life-changing Olympic glory can be.
“Every time I was on the podium,” she said, “I always thought about my community of East St. Louis (Ill.), and then also about the coaches who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”
Jackie Joyner-Kersee dominated in the heptathlon Olympic event in the 1980s and ’90s. (H. Darr Beiser / Imagn Content Services, LLC via USA Today)
Her gratitude extends to an even earlier Olympic sensation. Wilma Rudolph was the breakout star of the 1960 Summer Games in Rome, where she became the first American woman to win three track and field gold medals (100 meters, 200 meters and the 400-meter relay) at a single Olympics. She became a household name in Italy, along with other male U.S. Olympic standouts such as boxer Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), basketball star Oscar Robertson and decathlete Rafer Johnson.
Rudolph made numerous TV appearances and earned a slew of honors, including the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year Award in 1960 and 1961. She retired from competition in 1962 and went on to teach, coach and run a community center, among other endeavors, though her Olympic accomplishments on the track remained her best known.
Her fame put her in a position years later to offer advice to Joyner-Kersee. That conversation took place after the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, after Joyner-Kersee left with a silver medal in the heptathlon and a whiff of disappointment. She narrowly missed out on the gold with which she later would be synonymous.
Rudolph, a broadcaster during those 1984 Games, took Joyner-Kersee under her wing, and the two became close in the ensuing years. Joyner-Kersee said Rudolph’s advice on how to handle opportunities outside athletics helped her grow into a leader on and off the track — though she didn’t fully understand it at the moment.
“I’m hearing this (advice), and in my mind, it’s like, ‘What is she going on about?’” Joyner-Kersee said. “But now that you live it? I realized she was someone who was preparing me for what she knows is going to happen.”
Nearly 30 years later, Joyner-Kersee was able to fill that mentor role for an up-and-coming Olympic athlete. Since falling short of qualifying for the U.S. team in the heptathlon after a fall in the Olympic Trials before the 2020 games, Anna Hall has received regular encouraging calls from Joyner-Kersee while preparing for the 2024 Games. Hall recently qualified for the Paris Games and is considered a favorite to win gold in Joyner-Kersee’s signature event.
Joyner-Kersee is among the seminal figures profiled in a recently published book by Bonnie-Jill Laflin about the trendsetters who paved the way for this watershed era in women’s athletics. “In a League of Her Own: Celebrating Female Firsts in Sports” features chapters based on interviews with tennis star Billie Jean King, basketball groundbreaker Nancy Lieberman, gymnast Mary Lou Retton, race car driver Danica Patrick, former Oakland Raiders CEO Amy Trask and others who broke barriers for women in athletics. Several of the stars look back to their inspirations, citing the impact of women such as Rudolph and multisport athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
For Retton, who in 1984 became the first American gymnast in history to win an Olympic individual all-around gold, her inspiration was Nadia Comăneci. Retton praised the 1976 gold medalist, the first to earn a perfect 10.0 in Olympic history.
“Of course it was Nadia,” Retton said in the book. “That’s when it clicked for me. I was glued to the television set watching this little girl named Nadia from this different country, Romania. She was doing these amazing things with her body, and I’m like, ‘That’s it. That’s what I want to do, and there’s a name for it — it’s called gymnastics.’”
Mary Lou Retton became the first American gymnast to win an Olympic individual all-around gold in Los Angeles in 1984. (Jerry Cooke / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Laflin, a San Francisco native, wrote the book to ensure future generations understood that today’s magazine covers and boffo TV ratings were a long time coming. “I wish I’d had a book like this to understand that it’s not going to be easy,” she told The Athletic. “There are going to be struggles, and you’re not going to be accepted. I think those are the things that women are now able to see and have a little bit of guidance to try to navigate through it.”
Because of Joyner-Kersee’s unique blend of talents, there is arguably no one better positioned to appreciate the current boom of interest in women’s sports, with college basketball dominating the national narrative more than it ever has, the WNBA increasing in popularity, college volleyball matches setting attendance records and Team USA preparing for what might be the most watched Olympics in a decade after the 2020 Games were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Melissa Stockwell grew up wanting to be an Olympic gymnast after being inspired by the biggest star of her era, Retton. She told The Athletic that at youth gymnastics meets, she would envision standing on the floor listening to the national anthem after scoring a perfect 10.0.
Stockwell, who also got a chapter in Laflin’s book, had the chance to represent her country on the podium, but her triumph came as a Paralympic triathlete after she, a former U.S. Army officer, became the first female American soldier to lose a limb in active combat. Stockwell’s vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004.
Six months into her stint at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, she noticed a flyer on the wall promoting an informational session about the Paralympic Games. She attended the session led by Persian Gulf War veteran John Register, a two-time U.S. Paralympian who reinvented himself as a competitive athlete after becoming a leg amputee in 1994.
“There were a few of us in the room, but it felt like he was talking directly at me,” Stockwell said. “I left that room and somehow, some way, knew I wanted to be a Paralympian and represent our country.”
Stockwell eventually became the first Iraq War veteran to qualify for the Paralympic Games, in swimming, in 2008. She later captured a bronze medal as a triathlete at the 2016 Games and stood on the podium with two other Americans — on the profound date of Sept. 11.
“It will go down as one of the greatest moments of my life,” Stockwell said. “Obviously, it’s Sept. 11 and I’m wearing that Team USA uniform. … Being on that podium is a moment that I will never, never forget.”
Joyner-Kersee’s thoughts of her times on the medalists podium centered on those who supported her journey to Olympic glory. Since her retirement from competitive athletics, she has tried to pay back those who helped her reach her dreams, dedicating her life to training the next generation of athletes and leaders through her Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. She also supports athletes trained by her husband, legendary track and field coach Bob Kersee.
“Through sports, you learn a lot about leadership, the teamwork and how all these skills are transferable beyond the playing field,” she said. “You learn to appreciate one another, but you also learn a lot about what it is you want to do. You learn about your own self-confidence, but also, how can I get someone else to feel that same way?”
The 2012 Summer Games in London were the first in which women competed in all the sports on the program. Since 1991, any new sport seeking to join the Olympic program must have women’s competitions.
Many Olympic champions feel compelled to keep the momentum going. Joyner-Kersee believes the growth of women in sports has made an impact well beyond the playing field.
“You look at women in athletics from the standpoint that you look at the leadership role — they aren’t just players now,” she said. “You are looking at them as leaders of universities — athletic directors — and being at the table to brainstorm.
“You bring other people in to really understand that someone might not be the best athlete, but they bring something that’s very tangible, that is going to make a company a huge success.”
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photos: Jamie Squire and David Madison / Getty Images)
MLB faces DOJ investigation over Pride hats controversy
Major League Baseball is under a DOJ investigation following controversy over Pride-themed hats. The San Francisco Giants pitchers wrote Bible verses on rainbow caps, prompting an MLB warning and a DOJ statement questioning a ‘double standard’ for ‘Black Lives Matter’ patches versus religious inscriptions. This follows the York Revolution forfeiting a game due to players refusing Pride jerseys, highlighting free speech and religious liberty issues within sports.
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I’m glad we didn’t take the run line yesterday in the baseball game. We had the under eight for the game between the White Sox and Tigers, and it ended 4-3. The Tigers did pull off the win, but as I mentioned, it wasn’t justified that Detroit should be -250, even with Tarik Skubal on the mound. Today, we shift to the Chicago National League team as the Cubs host the Blue Jays.
The Toronto Blue Jays are a team I’ve written about probably more than most squads in the league. That’s not a complaint or anything, it just happens that I see a lot of value in their games. Most of that is because when they are favorites, they aren’t big favorites given their 37-39 record and rash of injuries to their pitching staff. When they are dogs, they are usually pretty small pups, offering little value, but that means the opposing favorite isn’t too high of a price.
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Pete Crow-Armstrong #4 of the Chicago Cubs rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the eighth inning during the game between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Saturday, May 30, 2026 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Ali Overstreet/MLB Photos via Getty Images) (Ali Overstreet/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The Jays were blitzed by the Cubs yesterday, and they will need a strong start today from Patrick Corbin. The once highly touted hurler is just 2-3 with a 4.57 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. He had a decent year with the Rangers, but seems to be struggling again, as he did in his time with the Nationals. Corbin is a little more reliable on the road, given that he has pitched 10 more innings and has allowed three fewer runs on the road than at home, leading to a 3.57 ERA. He hasn’t given the Blue Jays much lately, going just 11.2 innings in three starts and allowing 11 runs on 17 hits. Cubs hitters are very strong against him, batting .316 against him.
The Cubs are one of the more frustrating teams to watch this season. Perhaps that is me just saying that as a fan of the team, but they’ve had two 10-game winning streaks, and also a losing streak of 10 games. Since May 9, the team has gone 13-24. Sure, some of that can be attributed to injuries to their pitching staff — they have only two healthy starters from the beginning of the year. But, most of this needs to be placed on the hitting of the club. Nico Hoerner is batting .238, Ian Happ is at .228, and Dansby Swanson is a pathetic .177.
Toronto Blue Jays’ Ernie Clement hits a three-run home run during the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles in Toronto on June 6, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)
Still, the Cubs broke out the bats yesterday, and Pete Crow-Armstrong looks like the five-tool player from the first half of last season. If they can get some pitching, maybe they will be the dominant team we saw earlier this year. Today’s starter is Colin Rea, who has not been very good this month. He has made three starts, allowed 19 hits, and 13 earned runs over 14.2 innings pitched. He has, however, been much better at home with a 3.03 ERA in five starts (six appearances). Blue Jays hitters haven’t seen much of him, but are hitting .176 against Rea in 17 at-bats.
There is a clear player prop to play in this one. However, the bad news is that he is not on the list of options, so you might need to request or find him in a different book other than DraftKings. Michael Conforto is 12-for-36 against Corbin with seven extra-base hits, including five homers. I’d play him at 2+ total bases and at one homer as long as you can get +200 or better for the bases, and +700 for the homer prop.
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Pete Crow-Armstrong #4 of the Chicago Cubs reacts after getting hit by a pitch in the eighth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on May 17, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Michael Hirschuber/Getty Images)
If you can’t find it, or they never post it (but I have to imagine they will give options once he is added to the lineup, and he absolutely should be, given his history), I still have a play. I’m taking the Cubs at -130 here. Rea isn’t the most reliable, but he should at least be decent here, and the Cubs will have the fresher bullpen. Give me the Cubs to win this one.
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For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
Dalton Rushing was frustrated. He just chased a slider in the dirt — again. And this time, the game was on the line. The Dodgers were down to their last out. He was down to his last strike.
So he took a moment, took a breath, and looked to the Dodgers dugout.
The first person he spotted was Mookie Betts, who had just cut the Orioles’ lead to a run with a solo homer. Betts was locked in with Rushing, brimming with confidence, cheering him on.
“For a guy like that, a guy that’s lived in that moment, he’s succeeded in that moment, he’s failed in that moment, he knows what it feels like, it’s pretty special,” Rushing recounted.
Rushing’s eyes traveled along the railing, noting his teammates all on the top step, all relying on him.
He dug into the box, expecting the slider that Baltimore’s Ryan Helsley threw next — it was high, for a ball. Then Rushing got a fastball he could drive. And he did not miss.
The next moments in the Dodgers’ 6-5 walk-off win Friday were chaos.
Rushing lined a tying single into right field, giving Alex Call time to score from second. Call slid across the plate as the throw from Orioles right fielder Tyler O’Neill took for a long hop to catcher Samuel Basallo.
Basallo misjudged it, taking an unhurried shuffle up the line, before the ball glanced off his glove and rolled toward the Dodgers dugout.
Third base coach Dino Ebel waved home Ryan Ward, who scored standing up.
Manager Dave Roberts, who looked down at his card when the throw was in the air, was already thinking through extra innings when the crowd erupted again. He heard field coordinator Bob Geren shouting something like, “The run counts.”
The Dodgers (49-27) ran onto the field and swarmed Rushing, who had just reached second. They jumped and yelled as the Dodgers Stadium lights flashed around them.
“It was good to get Freddie [Freeman] a night off for being the guy in the middle for a change, you know?” Rushing said with a grin. “No, it’s a great feeling, and I think it honestly just feels great that we won that baseball game.”
For several innings, it looked like they wouldn’t.
Dalton Rushing celebrates after hitting a run-scoring single in the ninth to help lift the Dodgers to a 6-5 walk-off win over the Baltimore Orioles at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers had jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, on a two-run single from Max Muncy in the first inning and an RBI double from Andy Pages in the second. Then their scoring dried up.
Rushing was having as frustrating of a night as anyone, with a line out and three strikeouts.
His first strikeout was part of a brutal sequence. The Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs in the third. Then Ward, Rushing and Alex Freeland, all went down swinging.
Rushing struck out on a slider in the dirt. And Orioles starter Trey Gibson got him to bite on the same putaway pitch in the fifth.
Rushing’s reactions steadily grew more animated, on the field and in the dugout.
Mookie Betts celebrates as he runs the bases after hitting a solo home run in the ninth inning Friday against the Orioles.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Alex Freeland signals safe after sliding past Baltimore catcher Samuel Basallo to score on a double by Andy Pages in the second inning Friday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“He plays with a fire under his ass,” Freeland said. “He gets after it. He expects nothing but the best for himself day in and day out, and that comes with it.”
Said Roberts: “After he … vents, he does a good job of collecting himself to get back into the next play, the next at-bat, catching.”
On Friday, he was catching Roki Sasaki, who faced just one batter over the minimum through five innings. But during the third time through the order, the Orioles finally figured him out and hit back-to-back home runs.
With two outs and a runner on, Sasaki yanked a splitter to the inside edge of the strike zone to Gunnar Henderson, who lifted it over the wall in right field. Pete Alonso then homered to left-center field on an inside fastball about belt high to tie the score.
“I thought he threw the baseball really well,” Roberts said. “I liked the way he competed. The fastball command was good. He was fantastic tonight.”
The Orioles (35-42) pulled ahead against the Dodgers bullpen. Will Klein surrendered a seventh-inning single to Jackson that sent two baserunners, including one inherited from Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer, across the plate.
Kyle Hurt and Blake Treinen threw clean eighth and ninth innings.
Finally, in the bottom of the ninth, Betts ended the Dodgers’ scoring drought. Then Muncy — later replaced by the pinch-running Call — and Ward drew walks.
With two outs, Rushing stepped up to the plate, fell behind in the count 0-2 and reset.
“I look in the dugout, and all those guys care about is that next pitch, and the next pitch after that, and the next pitch after that,” Rushing said. “They just want you to win one pitch at a time.”
So, that’s what he did.
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The referees have been active at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
It took only 27 games across seven days for officials to allocate more red cards than they did during the entire 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. The record for red cards in a single World Cup stands at 28 in 2006. These moments led to penalty kicks, set pieces outside the box and offenses capitalizing on shorthanded opponents.
FOX Sports rules analyst Mark Clattenburg weighed in on the increase in red cards.
“Players are well-behaved, but they’re just making mistakes in and around the penalty area, in maybe a panic,” Clattenburg said. “And not saying the players getting inside the penalty area and conceding the penalties are more than happy to commit a foul and commit a red card, knowing that they miss the next match, but now that they have 26 players on the roster, there are plenty of players to certainly cover [those] positions.”
The record for red cards in a single World Cup is 28 in the 2006 edition of the tournament, and nine of those were straight red cards.
- 2026: 6 red cards (all 6 straight reds)
- 2022: 4 red cards (1 straight red)
- 2018: 4 red cards (2 straight reds)
- 2014: 10 red cards (7 straight reds)
- 2010: 17 red cards (9 straight reds)
- 2006: 28 red cards (9 straight reds)
Here’s a look at every red card and the impact they’ve had on the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Miguel Almiron was sent off right before halftime in Paraguay’s match against Türkiye after a VAR check determined that he said something while covering his mouth to an opposing player.
Madibo made an ill-timed tackle in the midfield on Canada’s Ismaël Koné. Koné was ultimately stretchered off the pitch as Qatar was reduced to nine men.
With Canada taking an early 2-0 lead, Homam Ahmed’s desperate tackle on Tajon Buchanan just outside the box only made matters worse. Canada scored moments later against a 10-man Qatar side to increase the advantage to 3-0.
Tarik Muharemović tackled Swiss striker Breel Embolo on the precipice of the 18-yard box, preventing a one-on-one between Embolo and the goalkeeper. Switzerland didn’t convert the ensuing set piece, but with Bosnia and Herzegovina down to 10 men, the Swiss went on to score three late goals and close out a 4-1 victory.
As tempers boiled in the opening match, Mexico made it a three-red-card affair. César Montes took down Khuliso Mudau in an attacking position in the second minute of injury time. South Africa couldn’t capitalize on the set piece, and the match ended with a 2-0 Mexico victory.
Themba Zwane was sent off for making contact with Brian Gutiérrez in the head during a South African attack. He put his team in a stick situation, down to nine men. Zwane’s suspension was extended from the normal one game to three after FIFA ruled it fell under Article 14’s rule for violent contact.
In the 2026 FIFA World Cup opening match, Sithole took down Mexico’s Brian Gutierrez just outside the box, earning a red card as the last line of defense between Gutierrez and the goalkeeper. Sithole’s red card led to a free kick from a threatening position, but Mexico couldn’t convert. However, in the 67th minute, Mexico capitalized on the one-man advantage as Raúl Jiménez scored his first World Cup goal.
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