Olympics

Apparently, someone farted on Kerri Walsh's pillow ... 'cause the U.S. beach volleyball superstar has come down with a case of the pinkeye at the Olympics.

Walsh talked about her eye issue at a media event in London yesterday -- wiping the tears and gunk as she told reporters the conjunctivitis won't stop her from dominating in the sand.

"It's super minor ... it looks worse than it is."

Kerri's pro-volleyball playing hubby Casey Jennings also has the pinkeye ... but, according to Kerri, it's much worse than hers.

"It looks like his eyeballs got their butts kicked."

**Sidenote -- the chances of getting pinkeye from someone farting on your pillow are very low ... it's just an urban legend perpetuated by the movie "Knocked Up."

Still, don't fart on anyone's pillow, it's just mean. **

U.S. Olympic volleyball badass Destinee Hooker knows people are amused by her name ... she knows some people laugh ... but she doesn't care ... she believes it's a "blessing."

Hooker -- who's CRUSHING it in London right now (indoor team is undefeated!) -- tells TMZ, "When it comes to my name, I honestly find nothing wrong with it. I love my name."

Still, Destinee admits she's not deaf to the jokes ... "I have been dealing with it since I was a child. People can be childish."

There was almost no Destinee Hooker at all ... the 24-year-old tells us she nearly died at birth, and when she survived, her father was inspired to give her the name "Destinee."

"Since I was a blessing, [my father] spelled it uniquely. So I am thankful to be here and glad my Dad gave me the name."

Michael Phelps has officially won more Olympic medals than ANY OLYMPIAN IN HISTORY -- winning his 19TH MEDAL moments ago during the 4x200m relay.

Phelps and his team -- Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens, and Conor Dwyer -- picked up gold for the United States, with Phelps beating out France in the final stretch by almost a body length. China took bronze.

Phelps won his 18th earlier today -- a silver -- during the 200m butterfly.

In addition to the all-time Olympic medal record, Phelps also holds the all-time record for most gold Olympic medals (15), and the record for most gold medals in individual events (9).

The previous all-time Olympic medal count was held by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who won 18 total medals over 3 Olympics.

Not to gloat, but ... THE USA IS BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET IN WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS!!!!

The U.S. women's gymnastics team didn't just win GOLD in the team competition ... they CRUSHED the competition ... slaughtering Russia by a whole 5 points.

Just to compare, China beat the US back in 2008 by 2ish points ... in what was then considered to be a pretty dominant performance. So, 5 points is HUUUUUGE.

It's a big deal ... the team -- made up of Jordyn Wieber, Gabrielle Douglas, Alexandra Raisman, Kyla Ross, and McKayla Maroney -- was favored to win ... and they didn't disappoint, scoring 183.596 today. Russia came in at 178.5 (suck it).

Romania won bronze.

The last gold medal was won at the Atlanta Games in 1996 -- with the team of Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps ... and of course ... Olympic hero Kerri Strug.

It's a beautiful day for America. Now excuse us while we set off some fireworks, wrap ourselves in the Declaration of Independence, and drive our Chevy into the sunset.

The parents of newly-minted gold medalist Missy Franklin had such bad seats last night, they nearly had to watch her record-breaking swim through binoculars -- but TMZ has learned, NBC upgraded them BIG TIME ... at the very last minute.

A rep for the US Swimming Team tells TMZ, Missy's parents had purchased tickets to watch their daughter dominate the 100m backstroke -- but they were all the way in the nosebleed section.

We're told NBC producers noticed -- and not wanting to miss their emotional reactions on TV, they hooked Missy's parentals up with some sweet seats right near the front.

NBC wasn't disappointed either -- 17-year-old Missy eked out a victory over Australian favorite Emily Seebohm for the gold medal ... and her parents went NUTS!

Go USA.

Ryan Lochte's unexpected grill flash during his Olympic medal ceremony was courtesy of none other than the grill-master himself ... rapper Paul Wall.

If you recall ... Lochte flashed a ruby and diamond studded American flag grill when he accepted his medal for the men's 400-meter IM event on Saturday ... but the genius behind the bling was "The Peoples Champ" himself.

Wall told XXLmag.com he was psyched to create the mouth piece, saying "Everyone’s talking about it ... it’s just an incredible thing to be part of. There’s not too many world-class swimmers wearing our grill."

The grill was hand crafted by Wall who boasted to the mag, "Every diamond is set by hand ... one by one, prong set and all custom red rubies."

Wall wouldn't specify how much he charged Lochte for the grill ... but says it's worth between $15k and $25k. Wall added "Of course we gave him an Olympic discount."

Kobe Bryant's wife has some serious questions about his judgment after seeing pics of him partying with women last week -- but that didn't stop her from flying to London to watch him play in the Olympics.

Sources close to Vanessa Bryant tell us she is "furious" and "embarrassed" over the photos -- one of Kobe chatting up 2 women at an afterparty last week in Barcelona ... the other showed him hanging with 2 different women in a nightclub.

But we're told Vanessa's anger is NOT because she thinks Kobe cheated ... instead she's mad that he put himself in situations where the photos could be taken.

As we previously reported ... a source close to Kobe says someone had spilled a drink on him, and he was only briefly shirtless -- while he sent for a cleaner, dryer shirt.

We're told Vanessa had planned to go to London -- and seeing the pics didn't change her mind. She flew to London over the weekend with their 2 daughters.

We're told Vanessa feels things have been going well with Kobe since she passed on filing final divorce docs last month.

Former NBA star John Amaechi came out of the closet after his playing career was over, but with the recent announcements by celebs in other fields ... Amaechi doesn't feel we'll see an active athlete come out any time soon.

Amaechi, who is in London covering the Olympics for the BBC, told the world he was gay three years after he retired ... in his autobiography.

With the recent announcements by Anderson Cooper and Frank Ocean, we asked him if any pro atheletes would come out DURING their careers. Amaechi told us, "I definitely don't think you should hold your breath at this point."

So we ask ...

Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton will always be a golden girl.

Here's the 16-year-old gold medal winner back in 1984 (left) -- and 28 years later, the 44-year-old at an event in NYC earlier this year (right).

Tens across the board.

Michael Phelps' Olympic reign has come to an end -- he finished in fourth place in the 400 IM, not even getting a medal.

American Ryan Lochte took the gold, the first for the U.S. so far in this Olympics.

Phelps barely qualified for the event after securing the eighth and final spot in the race by out-touching Laszlo Cseh by .07 seconds.

Phelps has 16 Olympic medals to his name and holds the all-time record for most gold Olympic medals, 14, and the record for most gold medals in individual events with nine.

We shot Lochte a few months back at the airport ... and we might have called him a d-bag once or twice. No hard feelings?

The Olympics is a pretty safe place to be, but in case there's no security around when something bad goes down ... there's a Latvian judo champ wandering the streets ready to spring into action.

Our guy in London met Gasan Eldarov, a weightlifter/fitness model/trainer/judo star from Latvia ... who told us that if he saw a crime being committed, he'd handle things himself.

Gasan explained, "I just break the neck, ya know? No problems."

One small problem ... we can't find any mention of Gasan on any Olympic website.

Before they start passing out gold at the 2012 London Olympics, can you guess which super stud athletes are behind these historic heavy-medal photos?!

U.S. Olympic swimmers Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps are teammates and rivals at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Question is ...

As if he couldn't get any hotter, soccer stud David Beckham just cruised into the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in London on Friday ... driving a speed boat with the Olympic Torch on board.

No one can light up a room an Olympic Stadium like Beckham.

Being the fastest man in the world requires Usain Bolt to undergo a vigorous stretching regimen for the Olympics.

During a practice session in London on Thursday, the 25-year-old Jamaican three-time Olympic gold medalist got all the kinks worked out by being pulled, prodded and manhandled by trainers.