Alex Morgan of the U.S. Women’s National Team looks on before the game against South Korea, on June 1, 2024, in Commerce City, Colorado. (C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — U.S. women’s soccer star Alex Morgan is sharing her disappointment in not being included on the Team USA Olympic women’s soccer team ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Today, I’m disappointed about not having the opportunity to represent our country on the Olympic stage,” Morgan wrote Wednesday in a post on X.
“This will always be a tournament that is close to my heart and I take immense pride any time I put on the crest,” she continued.
Despite the disappointment, Morgan offered her support for Team USA as they take on the world’s top squads, starting with group play on July 25.
“In less than a month, I look forward to supporting this team and cheering them on alongside the rest of our country. LFG,” she finished.
Morgan included a photo of herself in USA gear, walking onto the field of play.
U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Emma Hayes named the roster on Wednesday, selecting eight players from the 2020 Olympics squad that included Morgan (which played in 2021.)
After the announcement, at a news conference, Hayes said it was a “tough decision.”
“I mean first off, I want to talk about what an amazing player and human Alex Morgan has been,” said Hayes. “Her record speaks for itself.”
“It was a tough decision, of course, especially considering Alex’s history and record with this team, but I felt that I wanted to go in another direction and selected other players,” she said.
Morgan has played on four World Cup teams with Team USA, winning the tournament twice, and three Olympic teams, including a gold medal win in 2012.
The roster will include 18 players and four alternates, 10 of which played in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“Making an Olympic roster is a huge privilege and an honor and there is no denying that it was an extremely competitive process among the players and that there were difficult choices, especially considering how hard everyone has worked over the past 10 months,” said Hayes in a statement included in the release.
The team opens group play in France on July 25 versus Zambia.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Philadelphia Phillies 6, Detroit Tigers 2 Kansas City Royals 5, Miami Marlins 1 Houston Astros 7, Colorado Rockies 1 Milwaukee Brewers 6, Texas Rangers 5 L.A. Dodgers 4, Chicago White Sox 0 N.Y. Mets 12, N.Y. Yankees 2 Minnesota Twins 8, Arizona Diamondbacks 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE Seattle 5, Tampa Bay 2 L.A. Angels 5, Oakland 2 Baltimore 4, Cleveland 2 Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox (PPD)
NATIONAL LEAGUE Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 1 Atlanta 6, St. Louis 2 San Diego 8, Washington 5 St. Louis 4, Atlanta 1 San Francisco Giants 4, Chicago Cubs 3
Sunisa Lee of the United States on the podium with her gold medal after winning the All-Around Final for Women at Ariake Gymnastics Centre during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, July 29, 2021, in Tokyo. (Tim Clayton /Corbis via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Olympics stage is almost set for Team USA with a marquee sport days away from securing its final rosters — men’s and women’s gymnastics.
The top American gymnasts will vie for one of of five spots each on Team USA at the Olympic team trials this week, all of them hoping for a chance to compete at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
Prior to their capstone event in Minneapolis on Thursday, ABC News’ Good Morning America caught up with some of the athletes — including Sunisa “Suni” Lee, Kayla DiCello, Yul Moldauer and Brody Malone — at the Team USA media summit in New York City to get to know them a little better and find out about their pre-competition rituals, fondest Olympic memories and more.
Lee, one of the most decorated female gymnasts, who made history as the all-around champion gold medalist at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympic Games, is competing in front of her hometown crowd for the qualifying event after overcoming an unspecified kidney disease.
“I’m so excited, a lot of my family haven’t been able to watch me compete in person, so I think it’ll be super exciting to have all of them there,” the Saint Paul, Minnesota, native told GMA, adding that a lot of her college friends are flying in as well.
Moldauer, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, and was adopted as a baby, growing up on a farm in Arvada, Colorado, said that securing his spot on this year’s roster “would mean the world.”
“Being adopted, I always think of my life now is a blessing — to pursue what I get to do and love it is a dream come true,” he said. “So, to represent the country that has given me that opportunity, it’s just an honor.”
Getting to know Team USA gymnastics hopefuls
What’s your fondest or earliest Olympic memory?
Lee recalled watching a legendary performance from the Fierce Five at the 2012 London Games: “Watching McKayla Maroney stuck vault was something that I will always remember — all my teammates we were having a sleepover and we all were just, like, in shock that she just stuck like this perfect vault.”
DiCello, who traveled to the Tokyo Olympic Games as a U.S. alternate, recalled “being on vacation in Florida and the Olympics were going on, and I was just pointing at the TV [saying], ‘That’s what I want to do one day, I want to become an Olympian — I want to compete at the Olympics for Team USA.'”
Referencing the Beijing Games, in which the men’s team won bronze, Malone said, “As a kid I remember watching the 2008 Olympics and the team finals. That was really good.”
For Moldauer, who made his own Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games and placed sixth in the men’s floor exercise, the 2008 games were also important.
“I actually got to watch my coach now at the 2008 Olympic Games on pommel horse, and he helped his team secure a bronze medal,” he said. “I remember watching him and that entire quad … I was jumping up and down crying, and I said, ‘I want to feel that moment someday in my life.'”
What’s your favorite pre-competition pump-up music?
Lee, who also won bronze for the uneven bars in Tokyo, said she listens to “anything Drake,” while DiCello couldn’t pick just one pre-routine jam.
Malone, 24, selected “Body Bag” by Machine Gun Kelly.
“‘You & Me’ by Flume,” 27-year-old Moldauer said, referring to the Australian DJ’s remix of the hit Disclosure track.
What’s your go-to meal before you compete?
“I am a big soup girly, so I always have to have chicken noodle soup and a Caesar salad,” Lee said.
“The night before,” DiCello said, “I like to eat salmon.”
As for the big day, she said, “I like to have yogurt in the morning and then a Caesar salad later.”
“I normally eat a sandwich before the meet — usually something pretty healthy like turkey and cheese, nothing crazy,” said Malone, who competed in six events at the Tokyo Games.
Moldauer, who previously competed in Tokyo, said he keeps it simple on competition day: “Fruit and at least two eggs,” he said.
Who’s the first person you call or text after a competition?
“Kayla,” Lee said without hesitation, referring to her fellow Paris hopeful, DiCello.
DiCello said she typically contacts her parents.
“Either my mom or dad,” she said.
“My fiancee,” Malone said.
“My dad, mom and then my coaches,” Moldauer said.
Favorite motivational quote or advice from a coach?
“Stay humble and keep your head down and do your job,” Malone said.
“If you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful,” Moldauer said. “As a kid, I would just look up motivational YouTube videos, and I would watch them, and that quote has stuck with me.”
What’s one item you couldn’t travel without?
“Probably my charger so that my phone doesn’t die,” DiCello said with a laugh.
“My pillow, I can’t sleep without my pillow — it’s memory foam,” Malone said.
Moldauer chose the most practical item.
“My grips,” he said of his gym equipment.
What other Olympic sport are you most excited to watch at the Paris Games?
When they’re not supporting their fellow gymnasts, each of the athletes said they’re looking forward to cheering on the competitors at different Olympics events.
Lee said she was most excited to watch the track and field competition, while DiCello said diving and Moldauer picked breakdancing.
The 2024 Olympic Team Trials for gymnastics begin June 27 and run through June 30.
Kansas City Chiefs fans celebrate during an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Oct. 12, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Kansas City, Missouri, will be on full display in Hallmark’s new Chiefs-themed movie: Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.
According to a release announcing the film, the story centers around a member of a Kansas City Chiefs super-fan family, Alana Higman, who develops a connection with the Chiefs fan-engagement director, while the director assesses the family for a “Fan of the Year” contest. Hallmark, NFL, the Chiefs, and Skydance Sports teamed up to produce the film, according to the release.
“The movie begins production next month and will film entirely in Kansas City, Missouri locations, including the iconic GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, marking the first time the loudest stadium in the world has been used as a filming location in a Hallmark movie,” according to the release.
The film will star Tyler Hynes as the engagement coordinator, Hunter King as a super fan, and Ed Begley Jr. as King’s character’s grandfather.
“We are honored to partner with Hallmark on a project as unique as this,” said Mark Donovan, Chiefs president in a statement included in the release. “As a club, we pride ourselves on exploring new ways to grow our brand, as well as connect with new audiences. This partnership unites two passionate fanbases and gives us an opportunity to show Chiefs Kingdom’s energy and tradition on one of the most-watched channels during the holiday season.”
Hallmark, a Kansas City-based brand, will be working with the Chiefs to promote the film which is slated to premiere during their 15th annual Countdown to Christmas programming event.
“This film marks the ultimate celebration of a longstanding collaboration between the two pioneering KC-based brands, officially uniting the Hallmarkies and Chiefs Kingdom like never before,” read the release.
The release also announced that the Kansas City skyline would be lit up purple and red on Tuesday starting at sunset in recognition of the two Kansas City brands’ cooperation.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Detroit Tigers 4, Philadelphia Phillies 1 N.Y. Mets 9, N.Y. Yankees 7 Milwaukee Brewers 3, Texas Rangers 1 Miami Marlins 2, Kansas City Royals 1 Houston Astros 5, Colorado Rockies 2 L.A. Dodgers 4, Chicago White Sox 3 Arizona Diamondbacks 5, Minnesota Twins 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland Guardians 10, Baltimore Orioles 8 Tampa Bay Rays 11, Seattle Mariners 3 Toronto Blue Jays 9, Boston Red Sox 4 L.A. Angels 7, Oakland Athletics 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE Pittsburgh Pirates 9, Cincinnati Reds 5 San Diego Padres 9, Washington Nationals 7 San Francisco Giants 5, Chicago Cubs 1
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Minnesota Lynx 94, New York Liberty 89
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Philadelphia Phillies 8, Detroit Tigers 1 Los Angeles Dodgers 3, Chicago White Sox 0 Kansas City Royals 4, Miami Marlins 1 Milwaukee Brewers 6, Texas Rangers 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland Guardians 3, Baltimore Orioles 2 Tampa Bay Rays 4, Seattle Mariners 3 Boston Red Sox 7, Toronto Blue Jays 6 Los Angeles Angels 5, Oakland Athletics 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE Cincinnati Reds 11, Pittsburgh Pirates 5 St. Louis Cardinals 4, Atlanta Braves 3 San Diego Padres 7, Washington Nationals 6 San Francisco Giants 5, Chicago Cubs 4
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS Florida Panthers 2, Edmonton Oilers 1
Sha’Carri Richardson crosses the finish line of the women’s 100 meter dash semi-final on Day Two of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials Eugene, OR, June 22, 2024. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Sha’Carri Richardson is officially heading to Paris to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time.
The 24-year-old track and field sprinter qualified for the event on Saturday night with a 10.71-second 100-meter run.
Richardson’s feat, which she clocked at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, registered as the fastest women’s time in the competition by any woman this year, according to World Athletics.
Immediately following Richardson’s speedy feat, the runner dropped to her knees before embracing and celebrating alongside Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry, who both qualified for the Paris Olympics alongside Richardson with times of 10.80 and 10.89 seconds, respectively.
Richardson will start her Olympic journey on Aug. 2 in Paris, when the women’s 100-meter run preliminary round kicks off.
In August last year, Richardson notched a 10.65-second 100-meter time in Budapest, Hungary, at the World Athletics Championships.
In 2021, Richardson won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic trials, making her the fastest woman in America and positioning her to compete for gold in the Tokyo Olympics. However, her chances of participating in the 100 meters at the Olympics were erased after it was announced she had tested positive for THC, a chemical found in marijuana.
Richardson told reporters at the time that she used marijuana during the Olympic trials in Oregon, which has legalized the substance for recreational use, as a way to cope with the loss of her birth mother. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended her for 30 days, citing the World Anti-Doping Agency’s ban on cannabis.
(NEW YORK) — Being back at Alabama’s Rickwood Field brought back painful memories for MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who detailed the racism he experienced there in an appearance on a Fox Sports pregame show.
Jackson played at Rickwood Field in the minor leagues in the late 1960s. He said coming back to the area was “not easy.”
“The racism when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled … I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” he said.
He said that he was not allowed to enter restaurants and hotels, threatened with arson and called slurs at the time.
“I walked into restaurants, and they would point at me and say, ‘The n—– can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel, and they would say, ‘The n—– can’t stay here,’” said Jackson. “We went to [Kansas City Athletics owner] Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N-word: ‘He can’t come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out.”
Jackson thanked his team that stood by him despite the discrimination: “Fortunately, I had a manager in Johnny McNamara that, if I couldn’t eat in the place, nobody would eat. We’d get food to travel. If I couldn’t stay in a hotel, they’d drive to the next hotel and find a place where I could stay.”
He also recalled the Baptist Street Church bombing in 1963 in Birmingham, in which KKK members bombed a Black church and killed four Black girls, according to the FBI. No federal charges were filed at the time.
“I was ready to physically fight some — I would have got killed here because I would have beat someone’s a–, and you would have saw me in an oak tree somewhere,” he said, referring to the racist lynchings used to terrorize the Black community in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Jackson was attending the MLB’s tribute to the Negro Leagues, which was created due to segregation and racism in the sport, on Thursday when he shared his experiences.
The MLB tribute also honored Willie Mays, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game.
Mays got his start in the Negro Leagues with the Birmingham Black Barons at Rickwood Field in the 1940s. He died shortly before the tribute at 93.
Coco Gauff is participating in the ecotrans Ladies Open, a WTA 500 tournament, in Berlin, Germany, on June 20, 2024. (Photo by Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Tennis Association has announced its full lineup of American talent set to hit the clay courts of Roland Garros at the 2024 Paris Olympics, led by superstar Coco Gauff.
With just over one month before the Games get underway in France, Team USA tennis has locked in its final roster for singles and doubles, which includes six first-time Olympians.
Team USA Tennis roster set for Paris Olympics
Gauff previously made the team in 2020 but missed out on the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games after testing positive for COVID-19 days before the start in July 2021.
The current World No. 2 will make her Olympics debut alongside No. 5 Jessica Pegula — who missed the French Open this season due to a neck injury — No. 11 Danielle Collins in her final season, and No. 17 Emma Navarro.
The women will be led by coach and USTA Head of Women’s Tennis Kathy Rinaldi, with doubles teams featuring Gauff and Pegula, plus Collins and doubles No. 11 Desirae Krawczyk.
The clay of Roland Garros will be a familiar surface and stadium for the American women, particularly Gauff, who reached the singles semifinals and notched her first Grand Slam doubles title at the French Open earlier this month.
While the 20-year-old from Delray Beach, Florida, is the reigning U.S. Open women’s singles champion, she has won five of her nine WTA doubles titles with Pegula and reached the world No.1 doubles ranking for the first time in the summer of 2022.
The U.S. men’s team headed to Paris includes world singles No. 12 Taylor Fritz making his Olympics debut, as well as No. 13 Tommy Paul, No. 44 Chris Eubanks, and No. 53 Marcos Giron.
There will be two men’s doubles teams representing Team USA including Fritz and Paul, plus world doubles No. 6 Rajeev Ram making his third Olympic appearance and No. 14 Austin Krajicek, coached by 2012 Olympic doubles gold medalist and Davis Cup captain Bob Bryan.
Ram, 40, has four major doubles titles and also won silver in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games alongside Venus Williams.
The USTA said this week that it would announce the mixed doubles team for Paris, which “will be taken from the qualified players,” at a later date.
The U.S. has won 24 Olympic medals, 14 gold, in men’s and women’s tennis since it returned as a full medal sport in 1988, which is more than any other nation, according to the USTA.
