Lightning's Jon Cooper Finalizes Team Canada's Coaching Staff for 2026 Olympics
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Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China prodigy takes on swimming world aged 12
Yu Zidi discovered swimming as a small child in order to cool off and now aged just 12 the Chinese sensation will showcase her prodigious talents at the world championships from Sunday. The school girl with the cartoon dog themed swimming cap stunned the sport in May with a series of eye-popping times at China's national championships. Yu, who turns 13 in October, clocked a blistering 2min 10.63sec in the women's 200m individual medley, the fastest time in history at that age. She then romped to victory in the 400m medley in 4:35.53, which would have been enough for fourth place at the Paris Olympics last summer. Yu also triumphed in the 200m butterfly in another scarcely believable swim that would again have only narrowly missed out on a medal in Paris. Her performances easily qualified her for the world championships in Singapore. Yu, who trains in the northern province of Hebei and juggles swimming with her school work, took up the sport as a means of escaping China's searing heat. "The summer that year was too hot, so I went to the water park with my dad," she told the state news agency Xinhua. "I often went to cool off at swimming pools... (and) a coach discovered me." Swimming, homework and coping with the pressure of being China's latest big sporting hope makes for a hectic schedule for the youngster. "I am very busy every day and I don't have much time, but it's also very fulfilling," Yu said, according to Xinhua. Yu first came to national attention last year and drew comparisons at home to Ye Shiwen, who at 16 in London became the youngest Chinese swimmer to win a medal at the Olympics. As well as her speed and stamina, Yu's Hebei coach Li Chao has praised her "good sense" and said her focus "far exceeds her peers". Michael Bohl, China's storied Australian swimming coach, went much further. "I've never seen a 12-year-old that could swim like this," he told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in May. - Team doping shadow - Perhaps with an eye on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, China have named their youngest squad for a swimming world championships, according to expert website SwimSwam. Along with Yu, the headline acts in the squad are men's 100m freestyle world record holder and Olympic champion Pan Zhanle, and Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei. Qin cleaned up in the breaststroke at the worlds in 2023, only to fail to win a medal in individual events at the Paris Games last summer. He did though win gold and silver in medley relays. "Butterfly Queen" Zhang has won 10 Olympic medals, among them 200m fly gold at Tokyo in 2021. China entered the Paris Olympics under a doping cloud following revelations that 23 of its swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Games. In April 2024, The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD said they had tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) at a domestic competition in late 2020 and early 2021. Chinese anti-doping authorities determined the 23 had ingested trace amounts of the drug unwittingly from tainted food at their hotel. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted that explanation and did not sanction the swimmers, which led US anti-doping authorities to accuse WADA of a cover-up. WADA denies this. Nine of the swimmers who failed doping tests are competing in Singapore, including Qin and Zhang. mya/je/pst
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
"You guys are out having a good time, I'm in the gym working" - Grant Hill said the encounter with Larry Bird in 1992 taught him how to be a pro
"You guys are out having a good time, I'm in the gym working" - Grant Hill said the encounter with Larry Bird in 1992 taught him how to be a pro originally appeared on Basketball Network. Before Grant Hill stepped foot in the NBA, he had the opportunity to rub elbows with not just ordinary professional ballers, but the supreme legends of the sport. In the summer of 1992, the Duke standout, along with college stars Chris Webber, Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, Jamal Mashburn and others, were selected to play a scrimmage against the original Dream Team. Meeting Larry Legend Hanging out with the likes of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, Clyde Drexler and other legends taught Hill a lot about the sport, from a technical, tactical and physical standpoint. Among all his encounters with the 1992 Dream Team, his random meeting with Boston Celtics Larry Bird was the most unforgettable. In just a few words, Bird taught them what it took to be a legend in basketball. "The thing that I saw was just the competitiveness and the work ethic. I remember, we had practice one day and then we all went to the beach -- we did something as players -- and we got back and we were getting on the elevator, and Larry Bird gets on the elevator," Hill recalled, per ESPN. "He's the oldest guy on the team. But he just came from the gym. He was shooting. And he was talking trash. He was like, 'You guys are out having a good time, I'm in the gym working.' And the next day he came and put on a clinic. He just was on fire," Grant stated. Hill and the others understood the assignment. Bird was at the tail end of his career then. He had back problems and all sorts of injuries. But this did not stop him from putting in the work. It didn't matter if he was expected to play limited minutes. Larry Legend stayed ready by warming up his hand every chance he the Dream Team Hill said their encounter with Bird boosted their confidence. It was what powered them to defeat the Dream Team in that infamous scrimmage that sent the nation into a frenzy. Americans expected the Dream Team to annihilate every foe placed in front of them. And so they were nothing but disappointed when word got out that a bunch of college kids destroyed them. However, it was revealed later that Jordan, easily the best scorer in the squad, did not play as much in the Dream Team vs Select Team scrimmage. Chuck Daly made a tactical choice to humble his team. Meanwhile, the Select Team's stock plummeted, and many claimed their victory wasn't worth celebrating. Webber clapped back against such arguments. "I thought it was such a disrespect," Webber said. "If I was Scottie Pippen, if I was Karl Malone, if I was John Stockton, it's such disrespect to say, 'Oh, they were winning. But I looked on the side and noticed Michael Jordan was sitting down.'" "Y'all the best players in the world, what Jordan got to do with this? First of all, even with Jordan and if Jordan didn't play, it's still a story," Chris added. Indeed, the Select Team should be properly acknowledged for defeating the 1992 Dream Team. But that alone should not define them as players. Hill, Webber and the other players part of that young squad established their own names later on when they stepped foot in the story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 25, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Canadiens Soaring Goalie Should Hit New Level
The Montreal Canadiens' 2024-25 season had plenty of good stories. One of them was certainly goaltender Jakub Dobes, as the 24-year-old netminder demonstrated plenty of promise after being called up to the Habs' roster in late December.
