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)
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.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
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.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE
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.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
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.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
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.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
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.
-
Cleveland, OH4 minutes agoCleveland Cavaliers Have Three Clear Options With No. 29 Pick in NBA Draft
-
Austin, TX7 minutes agoThe Biggest Mistake National Media Is Making About The Texas Longhorns
-
Alabama12 minutes agoAlabama’s SEC opponents revealed for 2026-27 season
-
Alaska13 minutes agoAnchorage celebrates Juneteenth with 3-day community event downtown
-
Arizona19 minutes agoTroopers arrest ‘LARPer’ who was running late for competition in northern Arizona
-
Arkansas22 minutes agoJoshua Harris tackles “American Ninja Warrior” and Arkansas health problems
-
California27 minutes agoSmoke advisory issued Saturday as Boyle Heights fire continues
-
Colorado34 minutes agoSouthern Colorado man launches community wildflower project
