GALLIVARE, Swe–

Norway won both the men’s and women’s relay competitions at the season-opening World Cup cross-country  Sunday afternoon.

The men’s team of Eldar Roenning, Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Sjur Roethe and Petter Northug finished the 4×7.5-kilometer race in 1 hour, 1 minute, 59.3 seconds to beat Sweden by 6.4 seconds. Russia was third.

Vibeke Skofterud, Therese Johaug, Martine Ek Hagen and Marit Bjoergen led the 4x5K women’s race throughout before finishing in 45 minutes, 32.2 seconds.

Sweden took second, 19.4 seconds behind, and the United States was 28.2 back in third earning its first ever medal in competition.

The cross-country World Cup continues in Kuusamo, Finland, next weekend.

(Written by Andrew Mitchell for Woodlawnpost)

twitter@woodlawnpost

Other finalists for the month of August in order of how the NSSA voters ranked them included: Allyson Felix (track & field), Felix Hernandez (baseball), Kevin Durant (basketball), Rory McElroy (golf), Alex Morgan (soccer), Mike Trout (baseball), Giancarlo Stanton (baseball), Craig Kimbrel (baseball) and So Yeon Ryu (golf).

Usain Bolt’s selection as the Hickok Belt Award winner for August, not only recognizes him as “the best of the best” in professional sports for the month, it also marks another milestone in the return of the award given to the top professional athlete across all sports. As a monthly recipient, Bolt becomes the eighth of twelve finalists for the overall annual award, joining previous monthly award winners including Eli Manning, Jeremy Lin, Lindsey Vonn, Bubba Watson, Josh Hamilton and LeBron James, and Serena Williams. Winners as selected by the NSSA will be announced each month throughout 2012. The overall winner will then be announced in early 2013, as the Hickok Belt Award, the crown jewel of sports, will be presented for the first time in over 36 years.

The Hickok Belt Award was originally presented annually from 1950 – 1976. Past recipients include a list of the 20^th century’s elite athletes including the likes of Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Jim Brown and others who defined their sports. To learn more about the rich history of the Hickok Belt Award and keep up with all the news surrounding the award in 2012, please visit www.HickokBelt.com.

[Techeater]

STOCKHOLM –

London 2012 Olympic Champion  Sanya Richards-Ross stepped onto to the track at DN Galan in Stockholm, Sweden to continue her dominance in the women’s 400 meters. Richards-Ross finished first with a time of 49.89, Amantle Montsho second 50.03, and Christine Ohuruogu third 50.77.

Almost the entire field from the finals in London as well as the European champion Moa Hjelmer competed in the 400 meter competition.

 Men’s 100 Meters

2012 Olympic silver medalist in the 4x100m Relay, Ryan Bailey was on hand to showcase his ability at the DN Gala in the men’s 100 meters. Bailey would capture first place with a time of 9.93, Nesta Carter second 10.06, Michael Frater 10.12.

(Written by Andrew Mitchell for Woodlawnpost)

Follow us on twitter@woodlawnpost

For more results:

 www.dngalan.com

https://www.facebook.com/DNGalan2012/photos

http://www.sanyarichardsross.com

http://twitter.com/SanyaRichiRoss

http://www.youtube.com/user/sani400

http://www.universalsports.com/sanya

http://www.globalathletics.com/Athletes/…

A rematch of the 2008 Olympic gold medal game in Beijing between two well respected basketball countries took place this afternoon in London. The outcome would play out  the same as the U.S. once again took home the gold as they defeated Spain 107-100 on Sunday in the championship in London. The U.S. were led by NBA this year’s NBA final members, Kevin Durant who led the way with 30 points and Lebron James who added 19 points points.

Veteran leader and five time NBA Champion, Kobe Bryant added 17 points for the U.S. In what was a tight knit game throughout the entire match as the US only led by one point after three quarters sought a change of events as Lebron “King” James drove the lane to deliver a monstrous dunk.

Despite Spain’s aggressive attack in the paint, the outside shooting and penetration from Coach K’s team were a bit too much for Spain to handle.
Pau Gasol scored 24 and Juan-Carlos Navarro had 21 for Spain, whom both walked away with silver for the second straight Olympics.
In the final minute, U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski, in his final international game, took out his top stars who came to London determined to keep American basketball on top.

BRONZE MEDAL GAME

Andre Kirilenko and his Russian squad( 20 points) held off Argentina to win the bronze medal in a 81-77 victory on Sunday.
Alexei Shved scored 25 points — 13 in the fourth quarter — and Russia won its first Olympic medal in men’s basketball.

“Feels like gold for us,” Kirilenko said.

Manu Ginobili scored 21 and Andres Nocioni 16 for Argentina.

LeBron James Year

What more can you say about Lebron James entire body of work throughout the entire 2011-2012 basketball calendar. After falling short of an NBA title last season. Lebron James returned to capture the  NBA MVP, Finals MVP, NBA title,  and an Olympic gold medal

(Written by Andrew Mitchell for Woodlawnpost)

Follow us on Twitter@WoodlawnPost

(photos by usabasketball.com)

“It’s always dedicated to Flint, ‘cause that’s where I’m from,” said Shields, who’s a senior at Flint Northwester High. “I dedicate it to my coach. I feel like he deserves it: He’s trained a lot of men at our gym, but none that wanted to dedicate themselves.

“And I feel that USA needs it. I’m just glad that somebody got a gold medal.” Shields said.

LONDON–

Serena Williams won her first ever gold medal on August 4th. The Olympics, however, don’t end until August 12th.

So, what’s an American athlete to do in foggy Londontown when she’s done winning gold medals? Hang out with Team USA at a McDonald’s of course.

After a historical run in the EM this past summer, Women’s Swedish National team basketball assistant coach David Leman traveled to London this past weekend to capture a glimpse of the Olympic athletes in competition. Woodlawnpost was fortunate to get Coach Leman to share his story with us and what it was like over in London.

                                                                “I Was There”

Three words that means so much for so many people. London 2012 is really an event for the spectators as much as it is an event for all the athletes who fight for medals and glory. This was my first Olympics and I am happy I had the chance to see the Olympic Park as well as all the arenas and venues. I had tickets to the basketball games but I did also enjoy just being in the Olympic Park among spectators and fans from all over the world. People united in the beauty of sports.

Being at home watching the Olympics on your tv, computer and Smartphone give you a tremendous chance to follow “everything”. In Sweden our national broadcaster SVT gives everyone a possibility to follow almost all the events on three channels on TV and also additional Play-channels on the Internet portal. When I was in London BBC had about 20 different channels covering everything. Combine all this TV/Video with the Olympic Apps and you got it all.

But for me being in the eye of the hurricane made me feel that I was in a midst of everything, but with very little information. If you are not connected with Wi-Fi and checking the results online you have no clue whatsoever what is happening for example in the Aquatic center, the Copper Box or the Riverside Arena. You may hear the screaming or cheering but you don’t know if someone scored or if a world record was set. The exception in the Olympic Park is the big screen and the “Park Live” where people gather to watch mainly the events and athletes of Great Britain (GB). During the time I was in the Olympic Park waiting for my games the broadcasts was mainly from the Velodrome Arena where GB was in a league of their own breaking world records and collecting gold medals. The GB-fans were of course very happy and proud.

I was in the Olympic Park for three days and watched eight basketball games, four women’s games and four men’s games. The atmosphere in the basketball arena was amazing. Sold out and 12 000 spectators at most games, I want to write all games, but I guess a few people with tickets only went to see one of the two games each ticket package contained and some seats were reserved for the competing athletes. As I understood a lot of people watched basketball for the first time in their lives and the videos before each game on the big screens explained the game, how you play it and the rules in a basic and simple way. This was excellent.

During the games the “crowd entertainers” did a great job making the crowd cheer for the teams in a positive way. Even if most people weren’t fans of a specific team they cheered and enjoyed the games with all the intensity and excitement each game offered. In the time-outs and the breaks between quarters the crowd sang along to famous songs of Oasis, Robbie Williams and the Beatles, did the wave around the Arena or just enjoyed the different shows or competitions on the floor.

But maybe I should return to the games. My overall feeling was that it was high level basketball being played with a lot of honor at stake. Different styles of basketball meet each other in a way you don’t see in a European Championship for example. The Olympic basketball tournament is world basketball right now, the summer of 2012, today. The game of basketball is under continuous development (more than any other team sport in my opinion) and the previous Olympics basketball looked different than today’s basketball and in Rio 2016 it will look different again.

There are five things during the games I had a chance to attend to that stuck to me and I will share them below:

1. Elisabeth Cambage, Australia, made the first slam dunk in an Olympic Women’s Basketball game. She caught the ball on the Free-throw line and instead of making a layup she made a one hand dunk! I sat behind the Australian bench in exactly the line of the basket and the sight of her going up dunking the ball will be a memory I will never forget.
2. USA Men’s team broke the record of most points scored in an Olympic Basketball game when they scored 156 points, against Nigeria. Every time a shot was taken everyone felt “this one is going in” and there was a special energy in the Arena.
3. The atmosphere in the Basketball Arena when Great Britain put big pressure on European Champions Spain. The home team was getting closer and closer and the crowd was crazy. Spain got away with a one-point win and they should be more than happy for that.
4. France Women’s player Celine Dumerc made two game winning 3-pointers against Great Britain. The first one was when France was down in the end of regulation and Celine Dumerc’s 3-pointer took the game to overtime. In the overtime she made the same shot again from the same spot with 0,2 seconds to go. Amazing!!!
5. Russia Men’s team was down with 22-2 against Spain and they were totally swapped off the floor. But they fought back and minute-by-minute they got closer and finally won the game after a game winning dunk by Mozgov. The Russian team put a face on the message of “never give up”.

I am really happy to say it – I was there.

// Written by

David Leman
Assistant Coach Sweden Women’s National Team

Follow me on twitter @coachleman

“I think we did a great job of responding from last game,” Durant said. “It was a tough game and so was the first half tonight. Guys played together. That second half is how we want to play.”

The Americans (5-0) will play Australia (3-2) in a quarterfinal game Wednesday.

LeBron James added 18 points and Chris Paul finished with 17.

“We’re great shooting team, but in close games sometimes you’ve got to go down and get some easy ones, and I wanted the ball, whether it was layups or in the post,” James said. “Once you get a couple easy ones at the rim, then the 3-pointers open up and you saw what KD was able to do.”

(Written by Andrew Mitchell for Woodlawnpost)

Follow us on twitter@woodlawnpost