Olympic Daily News: 28 September 2020

The first robot Olympic champions?

Well, maybe not, but this curling robot – named ‘Curly,’ of course – just beat two Korean national teams.

Pretty impressive! Now, we just need the Norwegian team to help Curly with its outfit.

Andy Murray after French Open loss: "I need to understand why the performance was like that."

Double Olympic tennis champion Andy Murray of Great Britain lost his opening round match at the French Open on Sunday, falling to Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

Murray has been attempting to return to form after back and hip surgeries in recent years.

"I need to have a long hard think about it. It's not the sort of match I would just brush aside and not think about it," Murray said, according to Yahoo! Sports. "I need to understand why the performance was like that."

"He’s a great example of what a Champion looks like on and off the court!" said Wawrinka on Instagram. "Lot of respect, my friend."

Elsewhere at Roland Garros, No. 1 seed Simona Halep, who did not play at this month’s U.S. Open, won her first round match handily, 6-4, 6-0 over Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo. Later today, Olympic champions Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are scheduled for their first round duels.

Miami Heat will face Los Angeles Lakers in NBA Finals

A 125-113 win over the Boston Celtics gave the Miami Heat the Eastern Conference Finals, and they'll now face the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals for the overall title.

The Heat were led by Bam Adebayo, who put up 32 points and 14 rebounds.

"Bam is one of the great competitors already in this association," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, according to USA Today. "He's going to become one of the great winners in the history just because he's so competitive. He moves the needle in every single day.

Game 1 of the NBA Finals are set for Wednesday evening. Those finals will see two-time Olympic gold medallist and basketball superstar Lebron James seeking his fourth NBA title, and his first with the Lakers, after winning two while playing for the Heat.

Kipchoge heads to London ahead of Sunday’s marathon

Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge is headed to London ahead of Sunday’s marathon.The 2019 winner posted a photo of himself walking out the door on Instagram with the caption “On my way.”

Originally scheduled for April, the London Marathon will feature only elite runners.

"I think the journey that each elite runner has been on has involved different challenges each will have had to overcome or adapt to,” race director Hugh Brasher told Inside The Games.

For Kipchoge, it will be his first competitive race since October 2019. In August, he said he was finding his form with an eye to defending his title in London.

“I have been training very well, with high profile coaching. I am in good shape but I will be in better shape in the next two months to face the other competitors in London,” said Kipchoge. “The rule number one is that I treat myself as the best one, I am going to run there as Eliud Kipchoge to represent Kenya at the London Marathon."

Rhythmic gymnastics Europeans to go head in Kiev

The European Gymnastics Union announced Monday that its rhythmic gymnastics championships would go ahead in Kiev, Ukraine, 26-29 November. Questions still remain as to whether the sport's powerhouse - Russia - will attend after previously saying travel restrictions presented unworkable circumstances.

The UEG was also expected to announce the fate of December's European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, but that decision will now come next Monday, 5 October. The group did, however, suggest that these events cannot stand as Olympic qualifiers.

"FIG will be asked to inform the IOC that due to the current Covid19 situation all over Europe we cannot organise any Olympic qualification at our European Championships this year," a release from the UEG reads. "The conditions in the current situation are considered not appropriate for such an important decision and we do not want to pressure our federations to travel to an event (only due to it being Olympic qualifying event) to which they otherwise might not want to come."

Trivia time

Yesterday, we asked who won boxing light heavyweight gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. That would be Anton Josipović. During the medal ceremony, Josipović shared the highest step of the podium with Evander Holyfield and raised his hand, acknowledging that he thought Holyfield was the real winner and deserved gold.

The United States has won 23 of 30 men’s and women’s basketball Olympic gold medals in history. What country has the second most gold medals in the sport?

1. Argentina

2. Spain

3. Soviet Union

4. Yugoslavia

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