Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports There was no hat ceremony or photo op or parade or even a press conference when Missy Franklin named the school she’ll soon be decorating with medals and trophies; instead just a tweet.
“Committed to swim at Cal Berkeley!” the four-time gold medalist posted Saturday. “I am officially a baby Golden Bear… I am so honored to be a part of such a special team! #GoBears.”
Missy will join Olympic teammate Rachel Bootsma and London women’s team Coach Teri McKeever at Berkeley, a school that’s won three of the last four women’s NCAA national team championships (as well as the last two on the men’s side), and won’t be any worse for wear when she arrives next year.
Missy also checked out Georgia and Texas, and considered Southern Cal, but the 17-year-old swim phenom told 9News in Colorado that she “instantly felt at home” in Berkeley.
“[McKeever] had such a way to motivate us and to bring the team together,” Missy said. “She encouraged the veterans to share their experiences with us. It helped us so much and made our Olympic team so close.”
All that said, she can only turn down endorsements for so long: as of now Missy plans to stay in Cal gold and blue for two years before going pro to prepare to defend her titles in Rio.
-
Dozens of Olympic gold medalists, record holders, and world champions are descending on New York’s Randall Island this weekend to square-off at the adidas Grand Prix Diamond League Meet. You can catch all the action Saturday afternoon live on NBC starting at 1pm EST. Here’s a list of marquee match-ups you won’t want to miss:…
-
Amid the ongoing fight against steroids, the World Anti-doping Agency said Thursday it’s planning to administer a record 2,500 tests at February’s Sochi Olympics, which is roughly 350 more than at the Vancouver Winter Games four years ago. Alexei Slautin, the head of the Sochi 2014 doping control committee, told the Russian Sports Ministry’s website…
-
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
An announcement from NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman about whether players will be able to participate in the Sochi Games was expected sometime this month, but May is drawing to a close with no word yet from the league. Now Bettman’s top deputy Bill Daly is saying that talks are still ongoing between the NHL, NHLPA,…
-
Fabrice Coffrini, AFP/Getty Images
The IOC’s recommendation to remove wrestling from the Olympics shocked FILA and the community, but IOC President Jacques Rogge said Thursday that he’s thinks FILA reacted well, and that last week’s meeting in Moscow, which included naming new leadership and making significant rules changes, was good for the sport. “I think they had the good…
-
AP Photo/Steve Ruark
We’ve already got one great Olympic comeback story Thursday with the official return of Coach K to Team USA Basketball. But the rumors surrounding his return were short-lived, and pale in comparison to the questions about whether Michael Phelps will be back for Rio. Fort Myers NBC anchor Peter Busch, gold medalist Rowdy Gaines, and…
-
It’s like he never left. Mostly because he really didn’t. But Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski made his return to Team USA official at a press conference on campus in Durham Thursday. “I really thought I wasn’t going to do it,” Krzyzewski told reporters. “But now that I am doing it, I can tell you…
-
As an eight-year-old in the early-90s, I had a mild panic attack of joy when I heard the first Dream Team was being put together for the Barcelona Games, with personal favorites Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley headlining the team. My life goal immediately became playing for Team USA some day. Which didn’t actually happen.…
-
Reuters
Amateur boxing association president C.K. Wu of Taiwan officially entered his name on the ballot for the next IOC president, becoming the fourth world sports leader to step forward with a bid. Wu made his announcement Thursday afternoon at a news conference in Taipei, saying that the goal of his time spent as the IOC’s…
-
Andrew P. Scott/USA Today Sports
Despite all the rumors that swimming legend Michael Phelps will return to the pool for one more go at the Rio Games, he seems to be pretty content spending his first year of retirement golfing with the likes of his idol, Michael Jordan. But Phelps’s friend and top-rival Ryan Lochte said he thinks it’s just…
-
After spending all of nine months away from his post as the men’s USA Basketball coach, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski will return to the team through the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio Games. Coach K had stepped away from the team after last summer’s London Games, but over the weekend he told SI’s Pete…
-
NYWrestlingNews.com
Any American still looking for a decent reason to support the “Keep Olympic Wrestling” movement need look no further than Cornell wrestler Kyle Dake: The four time NCAA national champ who was also the only USA wrestler to score a win against Iran at last week’s “Rumble on the Rails.” And now, on top of…
-
Scouts, analysts, and casual onlookers have had nothing but good things to say about rookie defensive end Lawrence Okoye, the British Olympian who inked a free agent deal with the team despite having never played American football. Now the rest of the world is starting to notice. Check out Bleacher Report‘s look at Okoye’s early…
-
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Details from a Tuesday summit regarding the role of the World Anti-Doping Agency are scarce at best, but IOC President Jacques Rogge told the AP that the issues with drug testing are seen as qualitative rather than quantitative, and that WADA will do more unannounced out-of-competition testing of athletes in the future. “There should be…
-
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Olympic gold medalist (and occasional NBA scoring champ) Kevin Durant pledged $1 million to the tornado relief effort in Oklahoma Tuesday through his Durant Family Foundation, according to an announcement from the Red Cross. “Mr. Durant’s gift and support to Okla. comes at a time of great need and we’re forever thankful for his generosity,”…
-
In news that would be much easier to report if I spoke another language, two-time London Olympics swimming champ Yannick Agnel is leaving his coach and training facility in Nice, France and will move to Baltimore to train with Michael Phelps’s longtime coach Bob Bowman. The young Frenchman announced at a press conference Tuesday that…
-
AP Photo/Victoria Will, File
Gabby Douglas has had a pretty great year: She won two gold medals including the all-around, was named Sportswoman of the Year and AP Athlete of the Year, wrote a book, met the President, appeared on a Wheaties Box, Vampire Diaries, and Oprah, threw out first pitches in New York and LA, and even led…
-
AP
The “early word” on British discus hurler turned NFL defensive end Lawrence Okoye is good according to ESPN analyst Michael Clayton, who recently noted how Okoye impressed onlookers at San Francisco’s rookie camp last week. “Okoye might have enough pure talent for the 49ers to consider him for the active roster,” Clayton wrote in a…
-
WALDO SWIEGERS/AFP/Getty Images
Even after being spotted on a high school track in April, and being cleared to race at the Paralympic Worlds, South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius has ruled out competitive running in 2013. Instead, he plans to focus on his upcoming murder trial. “We have decided as a team we are not talking [about] any training…
-
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Maybe USA Basketball CEO Jerry Colangelo isn’t satisfied with the list of willing candidates to coach the national team, or maybe Mike Krzyzewski is already getting the itch for another gold medal run, but apparently the two have been discussing the possibility of teaming up again through Rio. “There’s a chance,” Coach K told Sports…
-
Wrestling officials implement significant rules changes at Moscow meeting
May 18, 2013, 10:34 AM EDT
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
FILA, wrestling’s governing body, is spending the weekend in Moscow cleaning house before an upcoming IOC vote will determine if they end up on the 2020 Olympics schedule. And apparently the meeting has been productive. On Saturday, acting president Nenad Lalovic, who took over after the forced resignation of president Raphael Martinetti, was officially elected…
