Sports
Janet Evans watches Katie Ledecky and sees Olympic-sized what if
The first time Janet Evans watched her good friend Katie Ledecky swim away with the Olympic 1,500 meter race, she cried her eyes out like a broken-hearted teenager whose first love had run off with someone else.
This was back in 2021, the first time women got to swim “the mile,” as Evans and every American swimming nerd calls it, at the Olympics.
Evans, a gold medalist in the 400 and 800 in 1988 and the 800 in 1992, was Ledecky before Ledecky, so much better at distance races than everyone else it was a joke. On that night in 2021, she watched Ledecky race at the spectator-free Tokyo Games alone at her home in Laguna Beach, Calif.
Why the tears?
For decades, she and every other world-class female distance swimmer had gotten blown off when they pushed to swim the longest race in the pool, just like the men could. Always, there was another excuse. No room in the program. Not enough beds for additional athletes.
They heard something else — a barely veiled message that most women couldn’t race that far within a time worth watching, even though they did it in college, at other international meets and all the time in practice.
There is little doubt that Evans would have won two or three more gold medals had the 1,500 been a part of the Olympic program when she was at her peak, or even after it at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, where she handed the torch to Muhammad Ali before he lit the flame during the opening ceremony, a signature moment of the modern Olympics.
Janet Evans lights Muhammad Ali’s torch at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics opening ceremony. Ali then lit the cauldron. (Lynn Johnson / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“The mile was my best race,” Evans, 52, said Wednesday night at a bar outside La Defense Arena, where she had just watched Ledecky demolish the field to win her second consecutive 1,500 gold in 15:30.02, breaking her Olympic record and finishing 10 seconds and nearly half-a-pool faster than Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, the silver medalist.
“I had that world record for like 20 years,” Evans said.
Evans didn’t cry this time as she watched Ledecky from a few rows up from the deck of the Olympic pool. Her 17-year-old daughter, Sydney Willson — she’s a distance specialist, too, a rising high school senior already committed to Princeton for 2025 — sat beside her, capturing her mother’s ear-to-ear smile and arm-pumping as they watched Ledecky tear through the final lap.
Evans looked up at the scoreboard when it was done and did some quick swimming math. Her best time in the 1,500 was 15:50.
“I would have gotten fifth tonight,” she said at the bar, a little more than 36 years after that world record.
Once a swim racer, always a swim racer.
Janet Evans swims at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She almost certainly would’ve added to her gold-medal haul if a 1,500-meter race had been offered for women in her time. (Dennis Paquin / AP)
Evans is in Paris for a couple reasons.
Reason No. 1: She’s a self-confessed swim freak and an Olympic addict.
This is her 18th Olympics, including the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, which she attended as a fan. She is a true believer. Her daughter chimed in that her mother teared up during the opening ceremony Friday night, as the boats headed up the Seine.
Reason No. 2. She’s working.
Evans, who served on the athletes commission for World Aquatics for 14 years, from 1992 to 2006, chairing the body at one point, is one of the leaders of LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
She is the chief athlete officer, essentially responsible for every inch of the athlete experience in Los Angeles, from the moment they land at the Games, to what they eat, where they sleep, and how they get to and from the competitions.
And making sure women get treated the same as men.
“I’m here to observe, to take it in, to see what we want to do similarly, what we want to do different, what we can do better,” she said.
Her early impressions of Paris? “The backdrops are spectacular, the arenas are great, and the stands are full,” she said.
That last past may be the most important one, because it has been 12 years since there were packed houses at the Games. Tickets cost too much for the vast majority of Brazilians and stadiums were mostly half full at best in 2016 at the Rio de Janeiro Games. Then came Tokyo. Covid. Enough said.
Evans said she wants to withhold judgment on what can be improved until after the Games are over and she can check in with athletes to figure out what could be done better. She noticed that the American track star, Noah Lyles, said he was having some trouble finding a safe and quiet space in the Olympic Village. She made a note of that.
The athletes will live on the campus of UCLA in 2028. Some peace and quiet seems doable there.
As a child of Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that encouraged federal funding for girls and women to play sports in the U.S., Evans is chuffed that at the Paris Games there are finally an equal number of male and female athletes competing.
She’d been a part of the supposed “Games of the Woman” in 1996, when the U.S. women’s soccer team and other female stars broke through. But there was still a long way to go, and there still is.
Recently, her 14-year-old son asked her why women play shorter tennis matches at the Grand Slam tournament than men do. She liked hearing that plenty of boys today think inequity in sports is just plain odd.
As she spoke, her eyes kept drifting up to the television in the bar. Léon Marchand, the French swimming sensation, was ripping through the water for his second individual gold medal of the night. Everyone in France is obsessed with him. Inside the arena, the roars of the crowd and choruses of the national anthem left ears ringing.
An ocean away in the United States, Marchand is still relatively unknown. He trains in Austin, Texas, she noted. The Los Angeles star-making machine will get churning on him soon. “What we’re trying to do is hard and we need athletes to help,” she said.
Katie Ledecky and Janet Evans have known each other since 2012, when they both competed at U.S. Olympic trials — Ledecky at 15, Evans at 40. (Ian MacNicol / Getty Images)
At the top of that list is her friend Ledecky, who at 27 has already said she wants to swim in Los Angeles, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to compete in a home Games.
And why not?
She went wire-to-wire in winning the 1,500 Wednesday, building her lead methodically, about a half body length for every lap of the pool, seemingly cruising through her 41-stroke lap with such ease. She barely kicks, takes in a breath every other stroke, like a weekend warrior out for a workout at the local YMCA. She turned it on during the final lap, blasting a little harder. She slapped the water after she touched the wall, ripped off one of her caps and let out a roar.
Later, she said the win was for all the women who never got to swim in this race.
Women like Evans, who helped land Ledecky a spot on the board of LA28. They have known each other since 2012, when Evans, then 40 and already a mother of two, decided to see if she could qualify for the Olympic trials. She did, and raced in the same events as a 15-year-old Ledecky.
Soon after, they became texting buddies. Ledecky is something of a mentor to her daughter, the three of them a little tribe of distance specialists who understand one another like no one else does.
Evans’ eyes drifted up again to the party unfolding inside La Defense, where more than 20,000 fans had packed into a rugby stadium to watch swimming, and spilling out onto the plaza. At the Los Angeles Games, swimming will take place at SoFi Stadium, the home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers in nearby Inglewood, Calif.
Plans are to have room for 38,000, the largest crowd ever to watch Olympic swimming, but there’s a chance that could grow given the expected demand for tickets in the heart of America’s swim culture.
“Should be pretty great,” Evans said, a little hint of FOMO sneaking into her voice.
Seems like there is a decent chance of that, especially if Ledecky dominates “the mile” once more.
Evans will be there, of course, a true circle of life moment, from fan to star to organizer.
And she’ll no doubt be doing some quick swimming math when the race is finished.
GO DEEPER
Léon Marchand, Katie Ledecky and a night worthy of Olympic swimming lore
(Top photo of Katie Ledecky with her 1,500-meter freestyle gold medal: Ian MacNicol / Getty Images)
Sports
Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America
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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.
But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.
Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.
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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)
He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.
“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.
“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”
Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.
He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.
“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.
Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)
“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”
Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.
“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.
National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)
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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”
Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.
There’s no denying that Loyola’s lacrosse program is best in Southern California and could be that way for years to come with the number of elite young players participating.
On Saturday night, the Cubs (16-3) won their latest Southern Section Division 1 championship with a 14-6 win over Santa Margarita. The Cubs have won three title since the sport was adopted as a championship event in the Southern Section. Defense has been Loyola’s strength all season.
Senior defenders Chase Hellie and Everett Rolph and junior goalkeeper William Russo led one of the best defenses in program history under coach Jimmy Borell.
Senior Cash Ginsberg finished with five goals and junior North Carolina commit Tripp King finished with two goals.
In girls Division 1, Mira Costa upset top-seeded Santa Margarita 12-6.
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Napoleon Solo took home the 2026 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the 151st running of the race.
The favorite in Taj Mahal, the 1 horse, was in the lead from the start until the final turn until Napoleon Solo made his move on the outside and took the lead at the top of the stretch. As Taj Mahal fell off, Iron Honor, the 9 horse, snuck up, but the effort ultimately was not enough.
Napoleon Solo opened at 8-1 and closed at 7-1. Iron Honor, at 8-1, finished second, with Chip Honcho fishing third after closing at 11-1. Ocelli, one of just three horses to run both the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and Saturday’s Preakness, finished fourth at 8-1.
A Preakness branded starting gate is seen on track prior to the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026 in Laurel, Maryland. For the first and only time, Laurel Park is hosting the Preakness Stakes which is the second race of the Triple Crown jewel due to the traditional home of the race of the Pimlico Race Course undergoing complete renovations. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
A $1 exacta paid out $53.60, while a $1 trifecta brought in $597.10. But someone out there is very lucky, as a $1 superhighfive – picking the top-five finishers in order – paid out $12,015.70.
Even moreso, a 20-cent Pick 6 – picking the winners of the six consecutive races, with the final being the Preakness, paid out $33,842.34.
The race was run without the Kentucky Derby winner for the second year in a row. After Sovereignty did not run the Preakness last year – and wound up winning the Belmont Stakes – the training team of Golden Tempo opted to skip the Maryland race.
From 1960 to 2018, only three Derby winners did not run in the Preakness. Three Derby winners have skipped the Preakness in the last five years, and for the sixth time in eight years, for various reasons, the Triple Crown had already been impossible to accomplish by the time the Preakness even rolled around.
“I understand that fans of the sport or fans of the Triple Crown are disappointed, but the horse is not a machine,” Golden Tempo’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.
Paco Lopez, right, atop Napoleon Solo, edges out Iron Honor, ridden by Flavien Prat, to win the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
CHERIE DEVAUX REFLECTS ON MAKING KENTUCKY DERBY HISTORY AS FIRST FEMALE TRAINER TO WIN THE RACE
Only three horses from two weeks ago – Ocelli, Robusta, and Incredibolt, were back at the Preakness. Corona de Oro, the 11 horse on Saturday, was scratched well ahead of the Derby, and Great White, who reared up and fell on his back after becoming startled shortly before entering the Derby gate, took the 13 post on Saturday.
The Preakness went off roughly 24 hours after a horse died following the completion of his very first race.
Hit Zero, trained by Brittany Russell, came into the race as the favorite. However, he finished last in the race, which was won by another one of Russell’s horses, Bold Fact — and upon crossing the finish line, Hit Zero reportedly began coughing, dropped to his knees, then put his head down and died.
The Preakness took place at Laurel Park as Pimlico undergoes renovations. It was the first time ever that Pimlico did not host the race, moving roughly 20 miles south.
Paco Lopez, atop Napoleon Solo, wins the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The Belmont Stakes, the final Triple Crown race, will take place on June 6. The race will return to Saratoga for a third year in a row as Belmont Park continues to be renovated.
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