Michelle Carter Wins Historic Shot Put Gold
With a final, herculean hurl, Michelle Carter scored a gold medal in the women's shot put final Friday night in Rio — a first for any U.S. woman in the event.
"I knew I had more in the tank," Carter told reporters. "And to be able to go out there and put the pieces together and pull it out, I'm just really excited."
Taking advantage of that reserved energy, Carter truly saved her best for last.
Her winning throw, and a personal best, came in her last attempt at 20.63 meters, upsetting the favorite, Valerie Adams of New Zealand, who delivered 20.42 meters on her second throw. Adams' shortfall ended her three-time consecutive gold medal run.
The 30-year-old busted another record at her third Olympics: She and her father, Michael, are now Team USA's first father-daughter combination to medal at the Games.
"I'm numb right now," said Michael, who's both her first coach and coached her for Rio, Carter told IAAF.org.
Michael Carter won silver in the same event at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, which also happens to be the year the women's competition began. Since then, American Earlene Brown, who took bronze in 1960 in Rome, had been the country's only female to medal in shot put until now.
"Of course, I can't wait until I get the medal and I can walk around the house and say 'Daddy, I got you,' " said Carter, who will receive her gold in a ceremony on Saturday.
USA Men's Basketball Narrowly Defeats Serbia
The U.S. men's basketball team managed a close 94-91 win over Serbia, sealing their 48th consecutive international game win, and bringing them closer to notching a fourth consecutive Olympic gold.
USA's Kyrie Irving put up 15 points, DeAndre Jordan added 13 and Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George all scored 12.
Expected to handily dominate Rio, Team USA instead has been showing a weakness in defense for the past two games, as Yahoo's Chris Mannix pointed out.
These Games, they've struggled with bypassing screens to guard opponents. But they survived Friday's game with some luck.
In the remaining two seconds, Serbia's top shooter Bogdan Bogdanovic, left wide-open, missed a three-pointer that would've forced the game into overtime to break the tie. Miroslav Raduljica's fourth-quarter foul out might've helped give the U.S. an edge as well.
Serbian center Nikola Jokic, who plays for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, came off the bench to lead Serbia with 25 points, six rebounds, ahead of Miroslav Raduljica, who finished with 18.
USA's Kim Rhode Medals In Sixth Consecutive Olympic Games
Californian Kim Rhode became the first woman to win medals in six consecutive Olympics Games as she claimed the bronze Friday in skeet shooting.
Rhode defeated China's Wei Meng in a shoot-off during the bronze medal match. We could easily see Rhode go for seven in Tokyo in 2020. She told Olympic.org she just might continue.
NPR profiled Rhode before the Summer Olympics, and she talked about how she hoped her ascent as one of the top sport shooters in the world could help her dispel certain myths on the politics of guns.
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