Olympics

Simone Biles is giving the judge who signed Larry Nassar's "death warrant" a big, public thank you ... telling her, "YOU ARE MY HERO" for sentencing the ex-Team USA doc to 175 years in prison.

Simone -- who earlier this month revealed she was sexually assaulted by Nassar -- thanked judge Rosemarie Aquilina in a tweet just hours after Nassar learned his fate in a Michigan courtroom.

In the same message, she also gave a shout-out to all of Nassar's victims who gave impact statements in court "for being so brave and speaking like the queens that you are while looking at that monster."

9:40 AM PT -- Larry Nassar is going to spend the rest of his life rotting in a prison cell.

The judge in Nassar's sexual assault case says she just signed his "death warrant" ... sentencing him up to 175 years behind bars.

Before the judge sentenced the disgraced ex-Team USA doc, Nassar gave a statement to his victims.

Disgraced ex-Team USA doctor Larry Nassar will be sentenced Wednesday in his sexual assault case after his final victims give their impact statements ... and we're live streaming the proceedings.

Through 7 days, we've heard from over 150 women and girls who Nassar assaulted -- including former Team USA gymnasts Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber.

Of course, the 54-year-old was already essentially going to be behind bars for life ... after getting 60 years in a separate child porn case. This time, he's facing a minimum of 25 to 40 years.

At least 3 powerful members of the Team USA gymnastics board of directors have resigned ... just days after Aly Raisman BLASTED the organization for its role in the Dr. Nassar sexual assault scandal.

Board of Directors executive leadership chairman Paul Parilla -- along with vice chairman Jay Binder and treasurer Bitsy Kelley have resigned, USA Gymnastics has confirmed.

By the way, all traces of the three board members have already been scrubbed from the Team USA gymnastics website.

All three members have been on the board for years -- Parilla has been on the board since at least 2009.

In addition to Binder's duties as V.P., he also served as the national team physician for acrobatic gymnastics since 1989. He served on the Team USA gymnastics board on-and-off since 2002.

8:45 AM PT -- Raisman just addressed the court with her impact statement ... and took Nassar to task for his years of abuse.

"You are so sick, I can't even comprehend how angry I feel," Aly said ... adding that he's "pathetic" for begging the judge to stop his victims' statements.

Raisman also went after Team USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee for their negligence.

"It's clear if change is left up to these organizations, history will repeat itself."

Aly Raisman and her former Team USA teammate, Jordyn Wieber, are facing Larry Nassar on one of the last days of his sentencing ... with Jordyn bravely addressing the disgraced doctor she says abused her "time after time, appointment after appointment."

Jordyn gave her impact statement before taking a seat next to Raisman in the front row of the Michigan courtroom ... revealing she too was abused by Nassar, just like the other Olympic champions -- Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles.

"I thought that training for the Olympics would be the hardest thing I would ever had to do," Wieber said, while fighting back tears.

"But in fact, the hardest thing I ever had to do was process that I was a victim of Larry Nassar."

Over 100 women in total are expected to give statements ... before the judge decides Nassar's fate.

Scumbag convicted sexual predator Larry Nassar wrote a letter to the court begging to end the witness statements ... saying the terrible stories of sexual assault are damaging his mental health.

Don't worry ... the judge shot his pathetic ass down.

The former Team USA gymnastics doctor was convicted on 7 felony sexual assault charges -- and his victims were invited to share impact stories to the court before the sentencing phase.

So far, 50 women shared their stories about how Nassar molested them while telling the women he was performing routine medical exams.

Some women have told Nassar he broke them emotionally. Some women shared how they considered killing themselves. There are still 51 more women scheduled to speak.

But Nassar wants out ... and wrote a letter to the court begging officials to make it stop -- calling the whole thing a "media circus" that was "detrimental to his mental health."

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina fired back in open court -- telling Nassar, "This isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, there’s no truth in there, it’s delusional" -- noting he agreed to hear the witness statements as part of his plea deal.

"I didn't orchestrate this, you did," she told Nassar.

"Spending four or five days listening to them is significantly minor considering the hours of pleasure you’ve had at their expense and ruining their lives."

The victims of Larry Nassar are continuing their impact statements on Friday ... telling the disgraced ex-Team USA doctor to his face why he's a piece of human garbage.

Nassar sexually assaulted more than 100 girls -- the majority of them in his capacity as the team doc for Olympic Women's Gymnastics and Michigan State University. His victims include McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles.

Nassar is scheduled to be sentenced on 7 first-degree sexual assault charges -- but first, his victims are getting the opportunity to address the court and lobby for whatever punishment they see fit.

No surprise, his victims want the judge to throw the book at Nassar. A maximum sentence would essentially ensure he spends the rest of his life behind bars.

Simone Biles says she was also sexually assaulted by Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar -- and is now ready to go public with her story.

The 20-year-old phenom -- who was a key member of the 2016 gold medal winning Olympics team -- issued a statement saying, "I too am one of the many survivors that was sexually abused by Larry Nassar."

"Please believe me when I say it was a lot harder to first speak those words out loud than it is now to put them on paper."

"There are many reasons that I have been reluctant to share my story, but I know now it is not my fault."

"This behavior is completely unacceptable, disgusting, and abusive, especially coming from someone whom I was TOLD to trust."

"As I continue to work through the pain, I kindly ask everyone to respect my privacy. This is a process, and one that I need more time to work through."

Biles is the latest athlete to come forward with allegations against Nassar -- joining stars like McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas. There are reportedly more than 100 victims.

Back in November, Nassar pled guilty to 7 counts of criminal sexual conduct. The sentencing phase of the case begins on Tuesday. He has already been sentenced to 60 years in prison for child porn.

Ryan Lochte's officially touched the wall ... of matrimony -- he and Kayla Rae Reid just got hitched.

According to the marriage license, obtained by TMZ, Ryan and Kayla had a courthouse wedding Tuesday in Gainesville, Florida. Ryan's dad, Steven, was a witness to the ceremony.

We broke the story ... the 6-time Gold medalist picked up his marriage paperwork last week and we were told "marriage is imminent." Turns out, it was very imminent.

The couple got engaged in October 2016 on top of a mountain and had their first child together -- their son, Caiden -- in June.

Congrats!

Usain Bolt definitely knows how to get a party going ... so it's only fitting Steve Aoki enlisted the fastest man alive to get the crowd LIT at his Vegas show Wednesday night!!

Aoki brought the Jamaican track superstar behind his booth to showcase his killer moves ... and you can tell Bolt's dancing hasn't lost a step in retirement.

FYI -- Bolt's dabbled in the DJ industry in the past, and has expressed interest in pursuing a career on the 1s and 2s ... so it's very possible he was getting some solid pointers from Aoki as well.

Hollywood can forgive Tonya Harding if they want ... but Johnny Weir says that's NEVER gonna happen with him and the rest of the figure skating community.

We spoke with Weir the day after Harding got a shout-out at the Golden Globes ... and he told us why the inspiration for "I, Tonya" doesn't deserve a pass.

"She did a horrible, horrible thing," Johnny told TMZ Sports. "She's a pariah in our sport and she shouldn't be forgiven for basically, possibly having the opportunity of ruining somebody's life."

Of course, Weir's referring to the 1994 scandal where Harding's ex-husband hired a goon to attack rival Nancy Kerrigan before the Olympics.

Harding was subsequently blacklisted from ice skating -- and Weir says it should stay that way.

On a lighter note, Johnny told us Team USA looks great this year -- and name-dropped the one American skater we all gotta watch at the Games!

Australian high jumper and model Amy Pejkovic is about to steal your heart ... and we're not just talkin' about her amazing bikini shots.

The 24-year-old got some rays with her friends at Bronte Beach in Sydney on Friday ... and the pics will make everybody in the U.S. forget all about the "bomb cyclone" -- but there's more to the story.

Pejkovic's journey is incredible ... she was misdiagnosed TWICE with a middle ear infection back in 2012. Turns out it was a life-threatening brain tumor ... and Amy believed she was days from dying.

But Amy fought like hell after brain surgery, and she's now gunning to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games!

Ryan Lochte just went into his last flip turn before marriage, and he's racing toward the finish line ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the 6-time Gold Medal-winning swimmer tell us ... Ryan and his fiancee, Kayla Rae Reid, picked up their marriage license paperwork together last week in Gainesville, FL.

We're told "marriage is imminent" ... but it's unclear exactly how soon the couple will be walking down the aisle. Although the license is good for 60 days, from what we're told, they'll get it done long before that deadline.

As we reported ... Ryan proposed to Kayla on top of a mountain in October 2016, and they announced she was pregnant a couple months later.

Lindsey Vonn says she won't be representing Donald Trump at the Olympics ... but is she gonna let her actions speak louder than words, a la Colin Kaepernick??

Billy Baldwin posed the question at LAX -- telling TMZ Sports Lindsey has a chance to REALLY stick it to POTUS by taking a page outta Kaep's book at the 2018 Games.

"She wins a gold medal, and as the flag is ascending, does she take a knee on the podium?"

Billy wouldn't say whether or not he thought Vonn would go all-in ... but either way, the Baldwin bro says he's proud of the superstar skier for joining all the athletes exercising their freedom of speech.

"She doesn't agree with Trump's agenda and she's taking a stand. I totally admire that and respect that."

In case you weren't already impressed by Simone Biles' cheerleading debut for the Houston Texans, get this -- it took the gymnast just DAYS to master the squad's whole routine!!

"She learned everything for that game in literally 2 to 3 days," Texans cheerleader Mallory told TMZ Sports.

Simone was such a badass on game day, Mallory says the Olympic legend now has her own locker ... and can come through anytime she feels like bustin' out her boots and pom-poms.

"Once you're a part of the team, you're a part of the sisterhood."

Here it is ... video of Simone Biles' DEBUT as a Houston Texans cheerleader -- and it's awesome!!

The Team USA gymnastics superstar grabbed her pom-poms and hit the sidelines with the team on Sunday as the very first "honorary" member of the squad.

Biles did pretty well outside of missing a couple of steps ... but given the fact she only had a few days to practice, it's super impressive.

And get this ... Biles trained with the team AFTER gymnastics practices, where she's putting in work for the 2020 Olympics.

Russia's ban from the 2018 Winter Olympics is the "best thing that happened" to the games ... so says Mohamed Hadid, who tells TMZ Sports it's the most effective way to keep athletes clean.

We spoke with the ex-speed skiier -- who represented Jordan in the 1992 games -- about the International Olympic Committee dropping the hammer on Russia earlier this week, and Hadid says athletes will learn their lesson to prevent doping in the future.

Bonus -- we did some digging and found a pic of Mohamed from the '92 games ... and we must say, the dude looks glorious.