The Tokyo Paralympics came to a close on Sunday, marking the end of two weeks of competition featuring roughly 4,500 athletes from 161 nations competing in 539 events across 22 sports. After the year-long delay and ongoing Covid-19 complications, the games finally came to fruition. Though fans and families were not permitted to attend, the unbelievable accomplishments of these amazing athletes were nevertheless on full display. 

Here’s eight of the most memorable moments from the 16th edition of the Summer Paralympics.

1. USA Sitting Volleyball defeats archrival China for gold

The USA and China have met in the sitting volleyball gold medal match at every Paralympics since 2008. China won the first two match ups, taking gold in 2008 and 2012, with the U.S. finally coming out on top for their first gold in the sport in Rio 2016. During pool play in Tokyo, the Americans lost to China 0-3 for what would be their only loss of the tournament. After beating Brazil in the semis to earn a re-match versus China for gold, the U.S. came out strong and took a 2-0 lead in the first two sets. China recovered to take the third set and force a fourth, something neither team had experienced since arriving in Japan. After battling back and forth through most of the fourth, the U.S. pulled away and won 25-19 to repeat as gold medalists against their rivals.

2. Jessica Long. That’s it. That’s the tweet

Jessica Long has been the most prolific Paralympic medalist for Team USA for the past 17 years. In Tokyo, in her fifth Paralympic games, the 29-year-old added six medals, including three golds (100m butterfly, 200m medley, 4x100m medley relay), to bring her career total to 29. Only one American Paralympian, swimmer Trischa Zorn-Hudson, has ever won more.

3. Oksana Masters becomes a four (!) sport medalist

Having previously medaled in the Paralympic sports of rowing, cross country skiing, and biathlon, Masters won two Tokyo gold medals in cycling in the time trial (H4-5) and the road race (H5). With these most recent victories, she has solidified her standing as the most versatile American athlete in Olympic or Paralympic history. After finishing just off the podium in Rio, Oksana won her two cycling golds in back-to-back days just four months after recovering from leg surgery.

4. Kendall Gretsch’s photo finish

When her wheelchair classification was not included in the 2016 Paralympics for triathlon, American Kendall Gretsch took a note from Oksana Masters’ playbook and took up cross country skiing. At the 2018 PyeongChang games, Gretsch and Masters finished one-two in the women’s 6km sitting biathlon event. Making her summer games debut in Tokyo, Gretsch was three and half minutes behind the leader after the swim portion in the PTWC triathlon. She quickly moved to second place during the recumbent hand cycle segment and then began reeling in the leader on the racing wheelchair section. With one kilometer left and a 25 second gap to close, Gretsch sprinted her way to the finish, catching reigning world champion Lauren Parker at the finish line to win the gold medal by one one-hundredth of a second.

GRETSCH GETS IT DONE FOR GOLD 🥇#TokyoParalympics x @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/SfAtRHSJ8l

— #TokyoParalympics (@NBCOlympics) August 28, 2021

5. Avani Lekhara’s historic gold

At just 19 years old, Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal when she matched the world record and set a new Paralympic record in the 10M air rifle standing (SH1) with a score of 249.6. She later added a bronze medal in the 50M rifle 3 position (SH1). History, made. 

6. The Golden Slam dream is alive

Diede de Groot is a 24-year-old wheelchair tennis player from the Netherlands who was born with unequal leg length. She began playing the sport at the age of seven and has gone on to absolutely dominate since making her Grand Slam debut in 2017. Over the past four years she has won 11 Grand Slam titles, including all three slams so far in 2021. After taking the gold medal in Tokyo with a two-set victory over Yui Kamiji of Japan, de Groot is one US Open title away from winning the fairytale Golden Slam of tennis (winning all four Grand Slams plus the Olympic/Paralympic gold medal in a single year).

7. Afghan Zakia Khudadadi’s unlikely arrival in Tokyo

Amid the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and the U.S.’s military exodus, Paralympic athletes Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli were caught in the mayhem of thousands trying to flee the country. A Paralympic volunteer carried the Afghan flag during the opening ceremonies after organizers were told the athletes were not going to be able to leave their home country. Behind-the-scenes efforts to get the athletes safely to Japan never ceased. While specific details of their journey are not likely to surface, they eventually succeeded in getting out of the country with a complex system of assistance from several governments and organizations. After safely arriving in Japan, Khudadadi, a 22-year-old Taekwondo athlete, became the first Afghan woman to compete in the Paralympics since 2004.

Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli flying the flag together 👏

Afghanistan's two #Tokyo2020 athletes representing after being evacuated from their country to compete at the Games 🇦🇫 pic.twitter.com/lyxmshxqPs

— C4 Paralympics (@C4Paralympics) September 5, 2021

8. Changing of the guard in wheelchair basketball

Since 1980, only three countries have won the gold medal in women’s wheelchair basketball. Germany has three of them, Canada has another three, and the U.S. has four. This year, however, Canada went down in the quarters and both the U.S. and Germany lost in the semis, to China and the Netherlands respectively. The Netherlands went on to beat China 50-31 in the final, securing the country’s first gold medal in the sport after earning the bronze in both 2016 and 2012.

Final medal count:

In the overall medal count, China dominated all categories, finishing with 96 golds and 207 total Paralympic medals. Great Britain and the U.S. followed with 41 and 37 gold medals respectively. In total medals, the U.S. came in fourth while Great Britain and the Russian Paralympic Committee placed second and third.

The Tour de France Femmes confirmed its course for 2026 this week, setting up next year's event as the longest iteration of the race in the women's tour history.

The 2026 course will run in nine stages starting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 1st and continuing through the finish line in Nice, France, on August 9th.

Cyclists will cover a total of 1,175 kilometers, with 18,795 meters of climbing.

The course will feature three flat stages and three hilly stages as well as two mountain stages and one individual time trial, with riders tackling Mont Ventoux — an iconic climb from the men's event — for the first time.

Though 2026 will only by the fifth edition of the modern Tour de France Femmes, the race will make its debut in a standalone time slot one full week after the men’s race ends, with recent record viewership fueling the move to separate the races rather than continue the previous tactic of scheduling the two events back-to-back.

"We no longer need men for the Tour de France Femmes to exist,"  said race director Marion Rousse at Thursday's course unveiling. "There's no need to have the men's race as a platform to launch the women's race. Now people are waiting to see us."

"People have embraced us," Rousse continued. "The new dates, separate to the men, prove it."

This weekend's slate of international soccer features more than one blockbuster matchup, as some of the summer's top performers, including England and Brazil, begin the long process of preparing for the 2027 World Cup.

Reigning UEFA Women's Euro champions England will be hosting 2025 Copa América Femenina winners Brazil at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Saturday, when the Lionesses officially kick off their four-game Homecoming Series to close out 2025 play.

The match between world No. 4 England and No. 7 Brazil will serve as the first of the series of friendlies that will span the final two international breaks of the year, with the Lionesses closing out the opening pair of games against No. 15 Australia on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, while England fans will be enjoying the team's victory lap after their second-straight Euro title, other top UEFA competition are honing in on 2025 Nations League play.

Behind a long-range goal from winger Klara Bühl, No. 5 Germany snagged a narrow 1-0 victory over No. 6 France on Friday morning, taking the lead in the pair's two-leg semifinal.

The second Nations League semifinal round kicks off at 2 PM ET on Friday, when No. 1 Spain faces No. 3 Sweden live on Prime.

How to watch England vs. Brazil this weekend

England takes on Brazil at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage streaming on Prime.

The Wings have found their next sideline leader, as multiple reports on Thursday linked longtime University of South Florida (USF) head coach Jose Fernandez to the open position in Dallas.

Fernandez is still finalizing his contract with the WNBA team, with the 53-year-old exiting USF having led the Bulls for 25 years, making 10 NCAA tournament appearances along the way.

Calling his impact "profound," USF athletics CEO Rob Higgins acknowledged that Fernandez is leaving for a WNBA position in a Thursday statement.

"While this is a bittersweet moment for our program, it is a well-deserved opportunity for Jose," said Higgins. "We are incredibly proud of him."

Replacing Chris Koclanes after one year, Fernandez will become the fifth Dallas head coach in seven seasons, with the Wings trying to build a title-contending roster around 2025 WNBA Draft overall No. 1 pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers.

Fernandez will also be the third WNBA hiring out of the college ranks in the last two years, joining Atlanta Dream boss Karl Smesko (FGCU) and LA Sparks manager Lynne Roberts (Utah).

Hoping to improve on a 13th-place 2025 finish — and make the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2023 — Dallas could claim a second straight No. 1 draftee next year, with the Wings entering 2026 with the highest odds to snag the top pick in the league's draft lottery.

The WNBA league office and the Players Association (WNBPA) exchanged escalating public statements this week, as both sides dispute terms surrounding a key issue in the ongoing CBA negotiations: revenue sharing.

"When the players opted out [of their CBA] a year ago, they made it clear they wanted a salary system that values their labor and allows them to grow with the business they are very clearly driving," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told ESPN in a statement this week, citing the vast disparity in revenue sharing percentages between the WNBA and the NBA.

Jackson continued by claiming that the WNBA intends to "run out the clock" and double down on a model that "intentionally undervalues the players."

Days ago, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said publicly that "[Revenue] share isn't the right way to look at it," pushing instead for salary increases in "absolute numbers."

WNBA leadership, however, denied that their current offer to players omits all revenue sharing, with the league calling the WNBPA's claim "incorrect and surprising," while indicating that an uncapped revenue sharing model "directly tied to the league's performance" is on the table.

"It is frustrating and counterproductive for the union to be making misrepresentations about our proposals while also accusing the league of engaging in delay," the WNBA's statement continued. "That is simply not true."

With both parties not seeing eye to eye, a resolution before the October 31st CBA deadline appears unlikely, though a formal request for an extension on negotiations is not currently in the cards.