In the latest episode of 1v1 With Kelley O'Hara presented by RBC Wealth Management, O'Hara sits down with US track legend and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Sanya Richards-Ross to discuss all things retirement.
To open the conversation, the four-time Olympic gold medalist delves into how a broken toe helped her decide to retire. She later explains how she began manifesting her future, from becoming a parent to writing books to starting her own business.
Seeing other athletes struggle with the transition, Richards-Ross sought help from a sports psychologist and shifted her perspective on retirement into something positive.
"What is it that I think will help to set me up, help me feel like this transition is not a failure?" the world champion sprinter recalled asking herself. "I'm actually moving on to something where I can be equally as great and find equal fulfillment in it."
Later, Richards-Ross shares her definition of success, the pros and cons of starring in a reality TV show, and more.
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Competing for the first time since Paris, Olympic bronze medalists USA Rugby will feature in Portlands's Premier Rugby Sevens All-Star Tournament next month.
The one-day event will pit Team USA against the PR7s All-Stars across multiple 14-minute matches.
"We anticipate this event to be a record-setting tournament for rugby fans in the US," said PR7s founder and CEO Owen Scannell. "Our PR7s All-Star format ensures high-level competition as the US national teams prepare to return to international competition... We’re thrilled to make history with USA Rugby."
Premier Rugby Sevens leads the sport
The USA Rugby-sanctioned PR7s is a 16-team touring league at the highest level of rugby sevens competition in the US. Since its 2021 launch, the league has also enshrined equal pay into its fiscal model. Boasting the sport's top domestic talent, PR7s next season will kick off in summer 2025.
PR7s was well-represented in Paris as a full 21 of the league's athletes found their way onto the Olympic podium. Five helped New Zealand win back-to-back gold and four boosted silver-medalists Canada to their best Olympic result yet. Plus, a full 12 of the 14 athletes on Team USA's bronze medal-winning roster have played on the PR7s pitch.
Harnessing Olympic success to grow US rugby
Next month's PR7s All-Star Tournament aims to capitalize on this summer's Olympic medal moment in growing the sport.
"This is a great opportunity for fans to see our Olympians back in action and for rugby to continue building momentum in the US with our partners at PR7s," said USA Rugby CEO Bill Goren on Tuesday.
Even before last summer's medal matches, the Paris Games' rugby sevens competition drew sold-out crowds of over 66,000 fans and built celebrity followings.
Team USA's bronze, the first Olympic medal ever won by the US in rugby sevens, sparked instant support for the sport domestically, from fans and investors alike. Only hours after the medal ceremony, the US team received a $4 million investment from women's sports owner and new rugby sevens fan Michele Kang to support a run to LA's 2028 podium.
The PR7s All-Star Tournament is the next step in the sport's domestic growth. Even more, it's the first competition where fans can celebrate their Olympic heroes on home soil.
How to buy tickets to the PR7s All-Star Tournament in Portland
The tournament kicks off at 5 PM ET on November 17th at Portland's Providence Park, with tickets available via SeatGeek.
USWNT icon Alex Morgan announced today that she is retiring from professional soccer, and will lace up her boots one last time for the San Diego Wave on Sunday, September 8th. Morgan, one of the faces of the USWNT's fight toward equal pay, retires a two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, and UWCL and NWSL champion.
The 35-year-old also announced on Thursday that she is pregnant with her second child, growing her family after having her daughter, Charlie, in 2020.
Morgan's off-pitch legacy changed the game
Not only did Morgan help oversee the USWNT’s fight for equal pay, which was ratified in the team's CBA in 2022, she also played a huge part in the NWSL's 2021 watershed change that enacted policies to protect players.
“We're changing lives, and the impact we have on the next generation is irreversible, and I'm proud of the hand I had in making that happen,” said Morgan in a video posted to X.
“Charlie came up to me the other day and said that when she grows up she wants to be a soccer player,” Morgan explained. “And it just made me immensely proud. Not because I wish for her to become a soccer player when she grows up, but because a pathway exists that even a four year old can see now.”
On-field accomplishments made Morgan an international icon
Bursting onto the USWNT scene in 2010, Morgan's legacy includes her "Baby Horse" moniker and crucial goal contributions on the field.
Her most well-known scoring moments include notching the final goal of the USWNT’s Olympic semifinal match against Canada en route to their 2012 gold medal, and her soaring header in their 2019 World Cup semifinal against England — the goal that spurred her world-famous "sipping tea" celebration.
Morgan’s 176 combined international goals and assists ranks fifth all-time in USWNT history. She trails only Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Kristine Lilly, and Carli Lloyd on the national team's stat sheet.
In NWSL play, Morgan's resume includes the 2013 league championship, the 2022 Golden Boot title, and the 2023 NWSL Shield.
Ultimately, Morgan will be remembered as the face of a USWNT generation that excelled during a crucial era of the team's success — though the change she helped usher in off the pitch will arguably have an even bigger impact.
In this week's episode of The Late Sub, Claire breaks down the new NWSL CBA which she thinks will change just about everything about how the league runs — for the better.
Later, she takes listener questions covering struggling NWSL clubs, player contracts, the future of the USWNT, and more.
The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.
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In this week's episode of The Late Sub, Claire welcomes back the WNBA, as teams battle for postseason positioning in the final month of regular season play.
The New York Liberty look like the team to beat, but how are other teams progressing — and are there teams that should be worried about slipping in the standings?
Then, Claire looks at her wishlist for the rest of the 2024 NWSL season, as teams gear up for their first regular season matchups since before the Olympics.
The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.
Subscribe to The Late Sub to never miss an episode.
Decorated defender Tierna Davidson might be both the youngest and wisest veteran on the USWNT.
The Menlo Park, California native has been a fixture on the senior squad since 2018, picking up accolades during the team’s 2019 World Cup, 2021 Olympic bronze, and 2024 Olympic gold medal runs. Throughout her tenure, Davidson's played under three different USWNT coaches — four counting two-time interim manager Twila Kilgore — underwent multiple roster and tactical shifts, fought her way back from serious injury, and witnessed a generation of her teammates pass the baton to a young and hungry new class.
Given all that, it’s almost impossible to believe she’s only 25.
"[It] was so exciting to see all of these young players grow into themselves in this tournament and really express themselves on the field — to see the personalities, to see the styles of play, to see the chemistry building — when I was first on this team, I was just so focused on playing," Davidson told reporters last week during a promotional appearance at Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers in New York. "Being a little bit myopic about it, you don't really see those growth patterns — perhaps I was the one doing that growth — but to see some of the younger players have such a fantastic tournament experience, I think it bodes really well for the future of the team."
Davidson’s former myopathy is more than understandable. Six years ago, the then 20-year-old was the youngest player on former coach Jill Ellis’s 23-player World Cup roster. And with an average age of 28, more than half of that 2019 squad arrived in France with prior World Cup experience. Yet it was Davidson’s first major tournament at the senior level — and, ultimately, her first major tournament win.
Now closer in age to more recent additions like Trinity Rodman (22), Croix Bethune (23), and fellow Stanford Cardinal Naomi Girma (24) but with the same national team experience as players five to 10 years her senior, Davidson is able to serve as a bridge between the USWNTs of the past and today’s iteration. And it’s something she’s tapped into as she’s evolved her own style of play over the years.
"I've tried to take everything that I've learned from some of the older players and then also from myself over the past few years and commit that to my game," she said. "Playing with different players brings out new and exciting things in your game, and as I've made connections with some of the players on the field that I haven't gotten a chance to play with as much, different parts of my game come out."
Ushering in the USWNT's Emma Hayes Era
One person Davidson hadn’t played with much prior to the Olympics wasn’t exactly on the field, or at least not over the touch line. Current USWNT head coach Emma Hayes joined the USWNT in May from London’s Chelsea FC, bringing with her a shining record and high expectations, both from within US Soccer and from the greater public. As a player, Davidson approached the personnel shift with the same open-minded optimism she harnesses on the pitch.
"We all knew that she was a great coach — we'd seen what she had done with Chelsea and knew that she was going to be really great for our group," she said of Hayes. "But we weren't exactly sure, even just the basic things of how she wanted to run a training session or how she coached on the sideline. Those are the things that we had to build into and learn."
The fact that Hayes landed in the States some two months shy of the USWNT kicking off in France wasn’t lost on the team — or on their incoming manager. "Coming into the Olympics, it was something we all recognized and acknowledged, herself included," Davidson added. "I think that was so powerful to just get the elephant out of the room and say, ‘This is weird, it's not normal that you have a brand new coach coming in right before a major tournament, but we're going to commit to each other and we're going to commit to the process.’"
The commitment obviously paid off. The US walked away with the gold medal after going 6-0 on the tournament, greatly improving upon their mercurial 3-1-2 bronze medal performance in Tokyo. The Olympic success also worked to right the ship after the team’s Round of 16 exit from the 2023 World Cup — the USWNT’s earliest departure since the Cup’s introduction in 1991.
Even at the Olympics, Davidson says injury is part of the game
But the team’s Olympic victory didn’t come without setbacks, especially for Davidson. The center-back tore her ACL while training with her then-club team the Chicago Red Stars in 2022, failing to make the Australia-bound World Cup roster in 2023 before working her way back into the lineup over the past year. In France, Davidson left the USWNT’s second group stage match in the 44th minute after suffering a knee-to-knee collision with German player Jule Brand. The knock sidelined the regular starter for the following two games, with fellow defender Emily Sonnet taking over her position while she recovered.
"You wouldn't wish it upon anyone to get injured during a tournament, especially a tournament that you blink and it's over," the Gotham FC defender reflected. "It's just part of the game and it is what it is, [and] people are ready to step in and fill the role that needs to be filled."
As Davidson explained, her previous season-ending injury helped her maintain such a measured mindset under the Olympic lights, one that carried her through all the way to the finish line. "Unfortunately it's something that you agree to when you sign up to be a professional athlete: You agree to the uncertainty, you agree to the possibility of injury," she said matter of factly. "My story is not unique in that sense — people get injured, people get traded, choose to go to a new team, or get left off a roster. I think that that's what makes the moments of triumph so much sweeter."
"There are bits of it that only I will know and only my family will know, and that's why we have to celebrate these moments and appreciate these moments," she added. "Because for us as athletes, they're very fleeting, and there are a lot of darker moments that lead to these ones — [it’s] important for our growth as players and as people. So I wouldn't change it."
To overcome Olympic uncertainty, the USWNT turned to joy
From the first time they took the pitch in the South of France, any onlooker could tell there was something different about this US Women’s National Team. The tensions, miscommunications, and grimaces that hung over the last two major tournaments appeared to have dulled, passes looked more fluid, and goals were celebrated with more unbridled gusto.
While the pressure to take home the title and reclaim their previous spot at the top of the FIFA rankings was definitely there — the USWNT dropped to fifth place after the 2023 World Cup, the lowest they’ve sat since FIFA started ranking women’s teams — it didn’t seem to burden the players for the first time in years.
Perhaps all the recent change helped to simplify the team’s outlook heading into the Games. After all, for Davidson, change has been a constant.
"We had a relatively different roster and a lot of uncertainty with a new coaching staff coming in, so it's really a testament to our commitment to each other [that] we just all walked in and decided we were gonna do it whether it was perfect or not," she explained. "Understanding there were going to be bumps in the road and not expecting perfection from ourselves, not putting ourselves under that kind of unrealistic pressure… to just be okay with that and to be able to turn to each other if we needed. Everyone really bought into that."
After the final whistle blew at the gold medal game in Paris, NBC asked a visibly emotional Emma Hayes how she managed to get the USWNT, after all they’ve been through, to buy into a new coach’s philosophy so quickly and wholeheartedly.
"Just love," she responded. "I come from a place of wanting players to enjoy themselves."
The word "joy" permeated every interview that followed, from striker Mal Swanson’s postgame comments to captain Lindsey Horan, who, when asked when joy had returned to the squad, told reporters "To be perfectly honest, the past two months."
Davidson echoed their sentiment. "Each game that we play is a 90-minute game — in some cases 120 — but we have the same objective that we always do," she said of the team’s mentality under Hayes. "That really released us and allowed us to play with joy and play with each other as teammates but also as friends… This group got a taste of what it's like to win at the international level on a big stage, and I think everybody wants to be back there again."
Throughout the tournament, that joy spilled over into the team’s off-pitch endeavors. Social media posts of players putting the finishing touches on lego sculptures and jigsaw puzzles permeated the internet, while videos of them leading a particularly passionate singalong in the Team USA bus took on a life of their own.
"I mean I'm not one of the avid Cheetah Girls fans on the team but we do have a few," said Davidson when asked how "Strut" by the fictional Disney Channel teen pop group became the team’s Olympic anthem. "We were trying to decide what our new walkout song would be — like the last song we play before we leave the locker room for warm-ups — and a few different options were thrown out and that’s the one that raised the locker room to new levels."
For the USWNT, leveling up has never before looked so fun.
The WNBA is back and better than ever this weekend, with CBS airing big-name matchups sure to set the tone for the final month of the regular season.
First, Minnesota and Washington will face off on Saturday at 2 PM ET, with the Lynx aiming to go two-for-two against the Mystics after securing a tight 79-68 win on Thursday. And in the 4 PM ET game of Saturday's CBS doubleheader, New York and Las Vegas will battle for the second time this season after the Liberty took the first 2023 WNBA Finals rematch back in June.
TV and streaming platforms bet on watching the WNBA
The WNBA has become a fixture of summer weekend viewing, with Prime showcasing games on Thursdays, Ion covering Fridays, and a variety of other national channels hosting the league throughout the week.
Plus, after Team USA won Olympic gold in front of as many as 10.9 million US viewers, expect the league — and the platforms who host the W — to harness that momentum all the way to the season's finish line.
Thursday night on Prime, for instance, saw Olympic gold medalists Kahleah Copper, Diana Taurasi, and Brittney Griner record a monster 85-65 Mercury win over the Sky, successfully marking Copper's first trip back to Chicago since her preseason trade.
The Liberty also notched a massive Thursday win on ESPN, blasting the LA Sparks 103-68 as Olympic medalists Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Dearica Hamby returned to action.
Wings' roster changes take center court tonight
Tonight, attention will turn to Ion as Seattle takes on Atlanta, Phoenix travels to Indiana, and Connecticut matches up against Dallas.
The Wings currently sit at the bottom of the league standings, but the return of Satou Sabally and Maddy Siegrist (from injuries that sidelined them prior to the Olympics) will boost their lineup. However, Dallas had to release Odyssey Sims and Monique Billings from their hardship contracts, infusing the free agency market with talent and catching the eyes of teams looking for midseason pick-ups.
Fever vs. Storm game highlights Sunday's WNBA lineup
On Sunday, ABC will showcase Indiana and Seattle squaring off inside Indianapolis's newly announced 2025 WNBA All-Star Game stadium. While Indiana hopes to solidify their place above the playoff line, Seattle — who won four of their last five pre–Olympic break games — keeps rising toward the top of the WNBA standings.
The WNBA makes its official return on Thursday, after having paused the regular season for the 2024 All-Star Game and the Olympics. When play resumes, the season will be more than halfway over, with regular season games running until September 19th.
Liberty leads league as playoffs loom
With Olympic medals secured and plenty of time to practice, the race to the finish is on as all 12 teams push to claim their place among the postseason-bound top eight.
As the only team to crack 20 wins on the season, the New York Liberty currently hold the number one spot in the league standings. They're followed by the Connecticut Sun, Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Las Vegas Aces, and Phoenix Mercury.
Indiana and Chicago are currently hovering just above playoff contention, still hoping to boost their respective records to .500.
MVP, Rookie of the Year awards up for grabs in late-season push
Individual ambitions will also resume, as now two-time Olympic gold medalist A'ja Wilson reclaims her spot as the frontrunner for 2024 MVP while her Las Vegas club sits in fifth place.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will also continue their Rookie of the Year battle, as both newcomers attempt to propel their squads above the playoff line.
WNBA standings on the line on Thursday
Thursday's trio of games could ultimately impact the overall standings — with a heaping side of history.
Olympic gold medal game hero and Mercury guard Kahleah Copper will return to Chicago for the first time since requesting a trade from the team where she won her first WNBA Championship.
After a historically slow start has them sitting below the playoff line, the Mystics will visit the Western Conference–leading Lynx.
Then, the LA Sparks will host the Liberty, looking to gain an edge on the league-leaders by relying on their developing starting core.
In this week's episode of The Late Sub, Claire talks through the final few days of the 2024 Olympics, a gold medal basketball game that went the distance in ways nobody expected, big winners and losers from the Olympic soccer tournament, and more.
Then, Claire has a lovely chat with Arsenal and Lionesses star forward Alessia Russo — who spent her college days playing for Chapel Hill, North Carolina — about returning to the US for her club’s upcoming friendly series with the NWSL's Washington Spirit and London rivals Chelsea FC.
The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.
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Welcome to the The Gold Standard, hosted by WNBA and Team USA basketball legend Lisa Leslie and NWSL and USWNT great Kelley O'Hara.
In today's final episode, our hosts recap their trip to Paris to see the Summer Games in person! Kelley and Lisa discuss what it was like seeing both the USWNT and USA Basketball win their gold medal matches — plus how it felt to celebrate with the teams at their epic after parties. Later, they wrap up by talking about their favorite Olympic memories from years past.
Watch along for expert insight from gold medalists, exclusive behind-the-scenes stories, and pure enjoyment of the Summer Games.
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