Sports
USWNT overcomes a year of change to win Olympic gold again: 'I'm just in awe'
PARIS — When the final whistle came, mercifully, Crystal Dunn collapsed forward onto her knees and pounded her fists into the grass. The bench emptied onto the field, the stadium — fans long eager, and waiting, for a fifth Olympic gold medal — erupted. But in that moment, Dunn was alone and thinking of her own journey to this point.
“You think about all the sacrifices you made,” she said. “Yeah, this game is hard but it’s not just this game. It’s everything you went through. It’s the whole tournament, the buildup.”
For Dunn, it’s not just the buildup of the last year after this program went through a historically disastrous early departure from the 2023 World Cup. It’s not just the last three months, when new head coach Emma Hayes was finally installed at the helm of the U.S. women’s national team program. For Dunn, the player who has the longest history with the senior national team, it’s everything she has gone through since 2013. The rosters she made, the rosters she didn’t. The tournaments they won, and more often, the tournaments they didn’t. The highs and lows. The injuries. The comebacks. All of it.
And on Saturday evening in Parc des Princes — sacrifices and buildup behind her, a 1-0 win against Brazil on the scoreboard, 106 minutes under her weary legs — Dunn finally stood atop an Olympic podium, a gold medal across her chest.
As the team waited to be honored, they talked amongst themselves: What should they do when they stand up there? They should do something as a team, right? Not just step up there and stand? The Germans were introduced as bronze medalists. Then the Brazilians with the same treatment for silver. Finally, 12 minutes and much discussion later, the gold medalists were asked to take the podium. The Americans held hands, threw them into the air and took a bow. It wasn’t quite in unison, a subtle and fitting reminder that this is a team and group of players that isn’t necessarily practiced in the act of standing on podiums and accepting medals. They turned and waved to the fans behind them and then back to the front where their names were being read. One by one, the players had the gold medals awarded.
Off to the left, Hayes stood and watched. The field was finally fully shaded from the sun that had scorched it all day and Hayes, in her black suit, couldn’t take her eyes off her team.
Hayes led the U.S. to gold after 10 games in charge. (Photo by Justin Setterfield, Getty Images)
Seventy-nine days ago, she named this Olympic roster. Seventy-two days ago she had her first Olympic practice. And now, they were back on the podium, a space that had eluded more experienced, more cohesive, more famous American rosters than the one she had put together. But none of those teams, since 2012, had finished the job like this team.
She raised her fist to her team.
That American women’s soccer being back here is perhaps not a surprise to anyone. But that it was this group, this coach, and most impressively, this fast is nothing short of incredible. In Hayes’ 10th game leading the group, they are Olympic champs once again.
The last time the Americans stood atop the Olympic podium — at the London Games in 2012 — there was no NWSL in the United States. Women’s Professional Soccer, the most recent league in the states, had announced its suspension eight months earlier. The team’s youngest member — 19-year-old Jaedyn Shaw — had just finished kindergarten. Captain Lindsay Horan had just opted to forgo her college career, a rare decision for American women at that point, to sign with Paris Saint Germain. And Hayes, during that Olympic break, had been named the new manager for Chelsea Women.
A year and four days before this team reclaimed Olympic gold, the Americans had their earliest exit in any international tournament ever — a round of 16 loss to Sweden on penalty kicks in the World Cup. After the game, Horan said the team didn’t get the best out of each individual. They weren’t fully prepared, players were tense and “just not enjoying their football or they weren’t enjoying individually playing,” she said on “The RE-CAP Show” last year.
A year after their World Cup heartbreak, the USWNT has shown how far they’ve come. (Photo by Quinn Rooney, Getty Images)
Then Megan Rapinoe retired, as did Julie Ertz. Two rocks of the national team were gone. When Hayes announced her Olympic roster last month, it didn’t include other cornerstones of the team; neither Alex Morgan nor Becky Sauerbrunn made the cut. The group was turning over, and the 18-player roster included just three players — Dunn, Alyssa Naeher and Rose Lavelle — who had previously appeared in a major tournament final. Those three helped lift the U.S. to a 2019 World Cup win.
Amid the major tournament victory drought that followed, they were criticized. They went through three head coaching changes, which led to more criticisms. And when Hayes entered, the players said they began to play with and exude more joy. They have been criticized even for that.
“This team has gone through a lot,” Trinity Rodman said. “Different coaches, losses, just off the field stuff. And to be here right now — such a great group, such a great coach. I’m just in awe of how hard everyone’s worked to get here.”
Rodman, 22, was one of the youngest to be named to this final roster and a part of the three-headed scoring machine along with Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson — nicknamed “Triple Espresso” — who re-sparked an offensive energy that the USWNT had missed in recent iterations. The trio scored or assisted on 11 of the team’s 12 goals in the Olympics with each taking their turn to star in the knockout rounds.
First, it was Rodman in extra time against Japan in the quarterfinals. Smith was next in extra time against Germany in the semifinals. Finally, it was Swanson in the finals. In the first half, she had a chance and didn’t capitalize, so when the perfect ball came through in the 57th minute she screamed to Smith (who was offsides) to get out of the way. (“It was scary,” Smith joked, “I didn’t see her coming until she shouted”).
Rodman had told herself she wouldn’t cry if they won, and she broke that promise almost immediately. She said she was mostly just so happy for everyone else — for Naeher, who despite her incredible play, often goes overlooked because of her quiet nature; for Swanson, who 18 months ago suffered an injury that kept her out of commission for 11 months, including the World Cup; for Naomi Girma, whose steadiness on the backline has made everyone else look better for the entire journey.
It was tears of joy for the U.S. after defeating Brazil in the Olympic final. (Photo by John Todd, Getty Images)
They cried. They cheered. They hugged one another and Hayes. They outran even their own security to bullrush their families in the front row of the stadium.
The American women are champions once again. In journeys both long and short, in struggles both made known and kept hidden, they made it to the top of the Olympic podium.
“I always believe this team can do absolutely anything,” Dunn said. “If we are at our best, if we are clicking, if all things are firing on all cylinders, I truly believe this team can be unstoppable, but it’s not easy. It’s about showing up every day and really believing in the system and believing in the players.”
When they all stood on top of the podium, gold medals in tow, they danced and laughed. Perhaps some did not see them landing here, did not see this kind of turnaround. But they’re here now on a journey that is entirely and uniquely, and joyfully, their own.
(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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An MLB prospect is under “intensive medical care” after a car crash in the Dominican Republic that killed three people.
Antonio Jimenez, a 24-year-old pitcher in the San Francisco Giants farm system, fractured his femur and spine and suffered “several” lacerations as a result of the Monday morning crash.
An SUV collided with two scooters in front of an Altice office building in San Pedro de Macoris, according to a local outlet.
Antonio Jimenez of the San Francisco Giants throws a bullpen session at Scottsdale Stadium on Feb. 12, 2025 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Andy Kuno/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images)
“We are aware of the tragic car accident involving one of our players, Antonio Jiménez, and are in the process of gathering more information,” the team said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Out of respect for everyone affected and due to the ongoing investigation, we will refrain from further comment at this time.”
“Our prayers are with our pitcher Antonio Jiménez, who suffered several injuries in a regrettable traffic accident,” Jimenez’s Dominican Winter League team, Toros del Este, said on X. “We extend our condolences and prayers to the families of the victims who lost their lives in the incident.”
Antonio Jimenez of the Montgomery Biscuits pitches during the game between the Montgomery Biscuits and the Birmingham Barons at Rickwood Field on Tuesday, June 18, 2024 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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Prospect Savant lists Jimenez as the Giants’ 31st-ranked prospect.
Pitching for the team’s Triple-A affiliate this season, he recorded a 3.55 ERA with opponents hitting .217 off him in 45.2 innings pitched. He struck out 27.9% of the batters he has faced but walked 17.3% of them.
Antonio Jimenez of the Montgomery Biscuits looks on during the game between the Montgomery Biscuits and the Birmingham Barons at Rickwood Field on Tuesday, June 18, 2024 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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Jimenez has been in the minor leagues since he was 18, beginning as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays organization. He joined the Giants ahead of this past season.
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Sports
Spitting on Steelers’ Jalen Ramsey to cost Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase $500,000 for 1-game suspension
It was a spat — or a spit — between two All-Pro NFL players: Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Jalen Ramsey.
And it’s going to cost Chase a half a million dollars unless the appeal he filed goes his way.
Chase was caught on video spitting in Ramsey’s direction during Cincinnati’s lopsided loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday. Ramsey retaliated by throwing a punch at Chase and was ejected.
The NFL suspended Chase for one game, which would cost him a week’s pay plus a bonus for being on the active roster totaling $507,156.
After the game, Chase denied spitting and referee Bill Vinovich told pool reporters “We did not see anything that rose to that level at all.” However, video captured the mid-air saliva.
Ramsey, a 10-year veteran who helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI, responded violently and had to be restrained.
“I’m always going to be all for trash talking … stuff like that,” Ramsey told reporters after the game. “I actually enjoy that part of the game. I think people know that. But as soon as he spit, it was like ‘f— that.’”
Ramsey, 31, said that Chase snatched his mouthpiece earlier in the game, which prompted a scuffle that resulted in offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Chase had been guilty of that behavior before against the division rival Steelers, grabbing the mouthpiece of defensive back Ahkello Witherspoon and flipping off safety Minkah Fitzpatrick during a game in 2022. Chase was fined for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Ramsey, who played for the Rams from 2019-2022, is a seven-time Pro Bowl and three-time All-Pro cornerback on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
Chase, 25, has been an elite receiver since being drafted out of LSU in 2021. He was Rookie of the Year and an All-Pro in 2021 and last season again was an All-Pro selection after leading the NFL with 127 catches, 1,708 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns.
This season he already has 79 receptions, including 16 for 161 yards in the Bengals’ 33-30 victory over the Steelers on Oct. 16. Last Sunday, however, he had only three catches for 30 yards in the 34-12 loss.
Despite the appeal, Bengals coach Zac Taylor made no excuses for Chase’s actions Monday.
“Obviously what happened is crossing the line, and we can’t have that,” Taylor said. “I know he’ll own up to that.”
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Shedeur Sanders made his regular-season debut for the Cleveland Browns during the team’s 23-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, and it wasn’t the outing he would’ve hoped for in his first real action in the NFL.
Sanders went 4-of-16 for 47 yards, was sacked twice and threw an interception. The Ravens ultimately saw tight end Mark Andrews score a rushing touchdown in the 23-17 victory.
Sanders was critical of himself after the game, but former NFL quarterback Cam Newton said this game backed up an opinion he’s had for quite a while.
Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns warms up before the game against the Baltimore Ravens at Huntington Bank Field on Nov. 16, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I do not think Kevin Stefanski wants Shedeur Sanders to succeed in Cleveland,” Newton said on ESPN’s “First Take”. “The reason being is, don’t tell me what he said, don’t tell me what he’s saying. I’m going off of actions – alright? Let’s go off actions.
“The actions is, if I’m Shedeur, or if I’m a Shedeur Sanders fan, I would not want him to take the field because that’s going to consistently be the display we’re going to see. It doesn’t matter if it’s Deshaun Watson, it doesn’t matter if it’s Shedeur Sanders, it doesn’t matter if it’s Dillon Gabriel, it doesn’t matter if it’s Dan Orlovsky, it doesn’t matter if it’s Cam Newton. You need help in Cleveland. When you have a quarterback that’s still making $46 million on your roster, and he’s not healthy, that impacts the talent that’s around him. They are not a good team.”
The Browns are 2-8 this season, and Sanders marks the third quarterback change since the regular season began. At first, 41-year-old journeyman Joe Flacco was leading the way in Stefanski’s offense, but he was benched, leading to rookie Dillon Gabriel taking over.
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After Flacco was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals, Gabriel became the full-time starter with Sanders backing him up. It’s been a struggle for Gabriel, who went 7-of-10 passing for 68 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions Sunday before Stefanski turned to Sanders after Gabriel suffered a concussion.
Newton believes Sanders is being set up to fail, saying the Colorado product and son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders isn’t being given a fair chance to make his mark in Cleveland.
“But this is the thing that really irks me the most… because [Sanders] doesn’t get any reps,” Newton said. “Circa 2015, circa when Cam Newton was the MVP, circa when, hey, my backup for [the] majority of my career was probably the biggest blessing of my career, to have a veteran in Derek Anderson. Ron Rivera still knew, ‘We’re one play away, kid, from you not being available.’”
Cam Newton attends the BET Awards Media House on June 29, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Robin L Marshall/Getty Images for BET)
Sanders was blunt in his postgame press conference while discussing his performance in his first regular-season action.
“I don’t think I played good,” Sanders said. I think there’s a lot of things we need to look at during the week and go and just get comfortable with even throwing routes with Jerry [Jeudy] and throwing routes with all those guys.
“I think that was my first ball to him all year,” he continued. “But other than that, I just think overall, we just got to go next week and understand, so that we have a week to prepare stuff I like to do.”
To Newton’s point, Sanders hadn’t received any first-team reps in practice before this game. He started the season as the team’s third-string quarterback before moving to Gabriel’s backup after the Flacco trade.
Despite the poor outing, Sanders’ confidence isn’t wavering as the Browns move on to next week’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders on the road.
Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns walks off the field after losing to the Baltimore Ravens 23-16 at Huntington Bank Field on Nov. 16, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
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“I still have the same confidence. I’m still me,” he said. “I’ll never go anywhere. You know, just going out there, seeing daylight, that’s all I needed to see how they move out there. Playing against a great defense. You got guys from the Pro Bowl out there, so it’s exciting to see. Okay, this is what it’s like? Alright. This is what it’s like? I’m excited for it. So, you know, I just got to take this one and build on it.”
Stefanski has not named a starting quarterback for the Raiders matchup, though an announcement is expected later this week.
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