Olympics

Simone Biles is the greatest gymnastic ever ... and NOTHING from the 2020 Olympics changes her G.O.A.T. status, so says gold medalist McKayla Maroney.

TMZ Sports talked to Maroney at Enso Studio art gallery in Malibu ... where we asked about her former teammates' legacy after her polarizing time in Tokyo.

"Honestly, I do [consider Simone the greatest ever]. When I competed with her back in 2013, I just felt like her gymnastics were so much better than mine."

McKayla continued ... "I mean, we competed with each other in the vault,  and I was kind of head-to-head with her on that, but she blows everyone out of the water on every single event."

Of course, Biles pulled out of the gymnastics team competition and several individual events this Olympics after suffering from the "twisties."

Simone ultimately won a bronze (balance beam) and silver medal (team competition) ... bringing her total medal count to 7 ... and there could be more to come.

Maroney says she wouldn't put it past Simone to return next Olympics as a 27-year-old ... an advanced age for a top-level gymnast.

"I'm 25 and I can't see myself getting back in the gym. I did it for the little Geico commercial, but it is really tough," McKayla says.

But, we're talking about the G.O.A.T. ... so don't be surprised to see Biles kick ass in 2024.

McKayla Maroney is selling an NFT featuring her "Not Impressed" meme -- one of the most memorable moments in Olympics history -- but it could run you 7 figures!!

Sure, it ain't cheap ... but what'd you expect from such an iconic moment?!

TMZ Sports caught up with the gold medalist at Enso Studio art gallery in Malibu ... where we asked Maroney about the release of the NFT.

"There really has been a gap in sports and capturing iconic moments like that. And to put my meme out, I'm just so excited to do that because its something that meant a lot to me and it really changed my life," Maroney says.

Of course, McKayla was photographed looking anything but impressed after winning the silver medal in the vault at the 2012 Olympics. The image went crazy viral.

The 2x Olympic medalist even met then-President Obama ... and they took a picture together doing the "not impressed" pose.

"I think it just stands for being imperfect is okay. And to be not impressed, even the President [Obama] said he is not impressed sometimes."

It wasn't just politicians ... a bunch of A-list stars like Miley Cyrus also hopped on the bandwagon.

Now, you can own the NFT.

But, you won't just get the iconic image ... Maroney says she's also throwing in a private gymnastics lesson AND a copy of her soon-to-be released book.

The auction is currently live at OpenSea ... and has a starting bid of 15 Ethereum (crypto) -- which converts to around $47k.

But, McKayla tells us she expects the NFT to bring in a whole lot more ... saying she could easily see it smashing the million dollar mark.

If you're doing the math at home ... that's about 318 Ether.

Auction ends Wednesday night ... so, fire up that coin base account and happy bidding!!

Jake Paul was so amazed by all the U.S. women in the 2020 Olympics, he's personally inviting one to his Tyron Woodley fight -- pole vaulter and fellow Ohioan Katie Nageotte!!!

Paul took a second to show love for all the U.S women who competed at the Tokyo Games on Twitter Monday ... congratulating the American ladies on their "amazing stats."

"U.S. women won 66 medals, comprising a record 58.4% of the American total ... that’s insane!!," the YouTube superstar said.

Of the 66 medals, 23 were gold ... one belonging to Nageotte.

The 30-year-old won it all in the pole vault after clearing a 4.90 meter on her second attempt ... making her the third woman in U.S. Olympics to win the gold in the event.

Nageotte also happens to be from Northeast Ohio -- just like Paul -- and he's inviting her to come watch him box in the ring against Woodley in The Land.

"Katie if you are reading this I hope you will come to my fight in Cleveland as my guest on August 29th!"

Nageotte noticed the invite and retweeted the post ... so maybe we'll see her front and center rocking the gold at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

BTW -- Nageotte channeled her inner LeBron James after her big moment ... saying, "Cleveland, this is for you!!!"

Kerri Walsh is serving up major good looks!

Here is a 25-year-old version of the professional beach volleyball player showing off her winning looks while receiving a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece back in 2004 (left). Walsh has a total of three Olympic gold medal wins that were won alongside her partner, Misty May-Treanor.

And, 17 years later ... The now 42-year-old is still heavily involved in the sport. Since the retirement of her long-time playing partner, May-Treanor, Walsh has been working alongside Brooke Sweat. Walsh is also a mother-of-three and she was recently seen posting pics of her glowing good looks on her Instagram (right).

Going down in history!

The question is ...

You punch a horse ... you're outta the Olympics.

That's what happened to a modern pentathlon coach when she put hands on Saint Boy during the jumping competition.

Annika Schleu was having big problems controlling Saint Boy ... who appeared spooked. Her German coach, Kim Raisner, was trying to help Annika, but the horse wasn't cooperating.

The way the competition works ... the riders only have 20 minutes with the horse before the competition ... she apparently had never ridden Saint Boy before, and the horse wasn't having it. In fact, the rider before Annika also had big problems ... Saint Boy wouldn't trot on command and even bucked.

Enter Annika, who was the leader in the competition when she entered the arena in tears, clearly knowing the ride would be super difficult.

That's when Kim allegedly punched Saint Boy ... unclear if the point was to get the horse to obey commands or if it was just frustration. Nevertheless, officials disqualified her from the Games. BTW ... Kim competed in the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The race did not go well for Annika ... Saint Boy meandered around the course and refused a couple of jumps.

Annika used her whip to get the horse to comply, to no avail. Saint Boy cleared 4 hurdles but the 5th was a fail, which eventually took Annika from 1st to last.

Caeleb Dressel was winning in 2021 even before the Olympics ... 'cause TMZ Sports has learned the swimming superstar unloaded his quaint Florida home in June for $250K!!

Property records show Dressel listed the place in the leadup to his run in Tokyo ... and it sold just a couple weeks before he won gold 5 times over.

Unclear if Dressel ever lived in the pad ... but he appeared to land some good cash for it nonetheless.

The Gainesville-area home is unassuming -- particularly for an Olympics mega-star -- it's one story with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.

It does sit on a 9,000 square foot lot and is connected to a big park through a back gate ... but seems likely Caeleb's now eyeing something a little bigger after his brilliant summer.

No word yet on the amount of cash Caeleb will rake in from his Olympics performance ... but coupling that money with the $250K from the house sale should be more than enough to get him a cozy mansion somewhere.

A perfect topper to a hell of a last few weeks if we say so ourselves.

Simone Biles faced incredible pressure at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics ... and by overcoming the stressful situation, she'll now be a strong advocate for mental health, according to Dominique Dawes.

Dawes -- a gymnastics icon with 4 Olympic medals -- applauds the 24-year-old for stepping back when she needed to ... telling TMZ Sports Biles was doing "what was right for her mentally as well as for her physically."

"It didn’t matter about having to prove fans wrong or prove the federation wrong or whatever it is, and you know, listen to what those around her are telling her what she should do."

Of course, Biles withdrew from competition last week after dealing with a mental block and "twisties" ... which she explained is when your mind and body don't connect while performing.

Dawes continued ... "But yet, she at 24 was mature enough to know, hey this is not a healthy environment for me to participate in right now."

Biles did recover ... and won the bronze in the balance beam finals on Tuesday -- her 7th Olympic medal (which ties for the most by a female American gymnast).

"She gave herself the time that she needed," Dominique tells us, "and then was able to get back out there and shine and that’s exactly what she did."

Dawes says mental health issues have been more openly talked about in sports over the last few years ... and Biles is now carrying the torch.

"It started with Michael Phelps and Naomi Osaka and it will continue with Simone Biles."

"I know when she comes back to the States she’s going to be a strong advocate for mental health.

We also asked the gold medalist what advice she has for Biles now that the Olympics are over and done with.

"Just enjoy and bask in this moment, and really work on her healing."

Don't let these two almost identical images of Ryan Murphy and Caeleb Dressel have you feeling confused ... take a closer look at both of the photos above and see if you can spot any of the sneaky switches that have been made to the tricky pic!

The Olympic swimmers won gold for team USA earlier this week during the Men's 4 x 100m medley relay final ... and we have made a few changes to the original pic of them! Use your detective skills to see if you can figure out the differences between these two super similar snaps!

U.S. wrestling star Gable Steveson just won Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling with an AMAZING last-second (literally) score ... in one of the most improbable wins in wrestling history.

21-year-old Steveson -- wrestling in the 125 kg. (275 lb.) class -- is an absolute BEAST on the mat. He won the NCAA title this year at the University of Minnesota ... as well as the championship at the Pan American Games. Gable hasn't lost a single match in 2 years.

But, Steveson was down late in the gold medal match against 27-year-old, #1 seed Geno Petriashvili from Georgia (country) -- a wrestler who'd won the last 3 titles in the division -- trailing 8-7 with only seconds remaining.

That's when Steveson -- named after U.S. wrestling legend Dan Gable -- displayed his incredible explosiveness and tenacity ... turning the corner on Petriashvili, scoring a 2-point takedown with .1 SECOND LEFT IN THE MATCH!!

(Video of the full match here)

Winning the way Gable did is so implausible ... and if you don't believe it, take a look at the reaction of Steveson's family and friends.

UFC legend (and former Olympic wrestler) Daniel Cormier couldn't believe the buzzer-beater, tweeting ... Ok wow "@GableSteveson this literally was the craziest finish to a match ever! Congrats my brother!!! Olympic champion"

Don't find the wrestling impressive? Take a look at this 275+ pound man flipping after the dub.

Simone Biles was treated like royalty after making her return from Tokyo ... with tons of fans lining up to get a glimpse of the Olympics superstar in Texas!!

24-year-old Biles touched down in Houston on Thursday ... and was immediately greeted by her biggest supporters at the airport, as well as her beloved French bulldog.

The party continued in parade form ... with the 4-time gold medalist cruising through the streets in a turquoise Range Rover convertible -- naturally, the fans went nuts.

USA Gymnastics teammate Jordan Chiles was also part of the festivities ... popping out of the sunroof of a minivan and giving all the fans a wave.

Once the hype settled down, Biles decided to check out Houston Texans training camp Friday ... of course, we're assuming her eyes were laser-focused on #36 -- her NFL player boyfriend, Jonathan Owens.

Owens previously talked about his boo at Texans practice ... saying he was proud of the way she handled herself and offered advice every day while she was in Japan.

Despite Simone's controversial time in Tokyo, the folks in the Houston area showed nothing but love for their local hero.

Donald Trump just unloaded on Megan Rapinoe and the USWNT ... calling them "leftist maniacs" who cost the United States a gold medal at the Olympics.

The former President went off Thursday morning ... stunningly claiming the women's team's kneeling protests and political comments were the reasons they didn't win gold in Tokyo this summer.

"If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn’t woke, they would have won the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze," Trump said.

"Woke means you lose, everything that is woke goes bad, and our soccer team certainly has."

Trump's rant didn't stop there ... he went on to say the team's protestors should be kicked off the squad, and then criticized Rapinoe for her political statements and her play.

"They should replace the wokesters with Patriots and start winning again," he said.

"The woman with the purple hair played terribly and spends too much time thinking about Radical Left politics and not doing her job!"

As we previously reported, several members of the USWNT took knees prior to the kickoff of the Olympic games this summer ... a continuing effort by the squad to raise awareness for injustice across the globe.

Several members from other national squads also took part in the kneeling protests during the Games as well.

"Completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw!!!"

That's legendary track star Carl Lewis going OFF on the U.S. men's relay team for the sloppy performance that disqualified them from the Tokyo Olympic finals ... holding nothing back after their not so good performance.

The 4x100-meter team had trouble with the baton exchange on Thursday ... with sprinter Ronnie Baker grabbing Fred Kerley's uniform the first time ... and on the second exchange, Baker missed.

The third was the charm -- Baker shoved the baton into Kerley's hands -- but Lewis was clearly not happy with their performance.

"The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay," Lewis said.

"The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership."

Team USA finished in 6th place and fell short of making the Finals, ruining their chances at a gold medal -- something the 4x100m relay team hasn't won since 2000.

Lewis -- who won 8 Olympic gold medals and 10 World Championships during his 16-year career -- set records in the 4x100m and many more ... so the guy knows his stuff.

"It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw."

Simone Biles says the abuse she suffered at the hands of Larry Nassar likely triggered feelings that eventually forced her out of the Olympics.

The 24-year-old gymnast was asked whether her horrific experiences with the Team USA doctor affected her mental health while at the 2020 Tokyo Games, during an interview with the "Today" show.

"Now that I think about it, maybe in the back of my head, probably, yes, because there are certain triggers. You don't even know, and I think it could have."

Remember, Biles backed out of the team competition last week citing issues with her mental health. She eventually returned for the beam event on Tuesday ... winning a bronze medal.

The superstar gymnast is one of more than 150 victims who came forward and accused Nassar of sexual misconduct ... saying back in 2018, "It is not normal to receive any type of treatment from a trusted team physician and refer to it horrifyingly as the 'special' treatment."

Biles said she wanted to compete so the Nassar scandal would not be forgotten.

"I knew that still being the face of gymnastics and the USA and everything we brought, it's not going to be buried under the rug, and it will still be a very big conversation," she said Wednesday.

The scandal has taken a toll on the 4x gold medalist, recently revealing on her "Simone vs Herself" Facebook series that she would constantly stay in bed because "sleeping was better than offing myself."

"It was my way to escape reality. Sleeping was like the closest thing to death for me at that point, so I just slept all the time."

57-year-old Nassar was convicted and sentenced to up to 175 years ... and is currently rotting in a prison cell.

Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley's knitted jumper is going to good use ... 'cause the uber-famous Instagram dog he made it for will be rocking it at the next fashion week!!

The British diver went viral earlier this week for stitching up the piece right after winning the 10-meter platform event ... saying he was making it for Izzy the Frenchie, a dog that has more than 1 MILLION followers on social media.

TMZ Sports spoke with Izzy about Daley's gift ... and she said, "bark, bark, bark."

Okay, just kidding ... we spoke with Izzy's papa, Rick Hendrix, in Washington D.C. Tuesday about Daley showing some serious love at the world's biggest stage ... and he's got some big plans in mind.

"I think we're gonna include it in her fashion week," Hendrix says. "Maybe walk in New York next time it's all safe and we can get out again!"

BTW -- Izzy is big in the industry ... and has been a guest at fashion weeks in the past.

So, how did the collab come to be? Hendrix said he was talking to Daley about his impressive crochet and knitting skills ... and Tom decided he wanted to make something for Izzy!!

But, Hendrix had no clue the 5-time European champ meant that he was gonna start workin' on it during the most important sporting events of his life!!

"Had no idea he was gonna make it during the Games," Hendrix tells us.

"Then all of a sudden he's going online saying, 'Hey, I'm making this for Izzy the Frenchie. Things just blew up, man!"

The 27-year-old has made jumpers for several dogs during his time in Tokyo -- saying, "learning to knit and crochet has helped me so much through these Olympics and we won GOLD yesterday."

Daley also makes them for humans and charity  ... last month, he raised over $8k by auctioning off a knitted sweater for the Brain Tumour Charity.

Caeleb Dressel says he literally talked to Michael Phelps more than his own wife during the Olympics ... telling TMZ Sports the swimming G.O.A.T. helped the 24-year-old win 5 gold medals.

We talked to Dressel in NYC shortly after he returned to the U.S. ... and asked the new face of swimming whether the old face of swimming reached out to congratulate him after his kickass week in Tokyo.

"I actually texted [Michael Phelps] more than [my wife] Meghan during the games. It was nice being able to lean on him. He helped me a lot throughout. I texted him after a couple of events, he was more than welcome to help me figure out some stuff, but he was great."

Pretty cool of Phelps -- a 23x gold medalist -- to help one of the Games' biggest stars AND best performers.

Dressel won 5 medals -- all gold -- in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay.

We also asked Caeleb -- who has the Olympic rings tattooed on his upper arm -- whether he planned on getting any fresh ink to commemorate his medals.

Caeleb says no new tats ... but he's got some ideas of how he's gonna celebrate.

But, before that ... Dressel's immediate plans after flying over 12,000 miles and winning 5 gold medals??

"Go home. Go to bed."

Simone Biles hitting the pause button on the Olympics and coming back when she was good and ready is getting nothing but praise from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ... who says it sets a new standard for professional athletes.

AOC broke down what Simone's past week means big picture-wise, when we got her on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning. She said a precedent seems to have been set by Simone -- namely, that athletes don't have to put competing first no matter what.

Instead, she says their own well-being is just as important, if not more so ... and ought to be treated that way.

That certainly appears to be the case, as the proof is in the pudding with SB -- who came back and competed Monday in the balance beam final ... and medaled with a Bronze. To the congresswoman, that simply makes the case even stronger -- that stepping aside was exactly what Simone needed, and it worked out for everyone, including Team USA, in the end.

AOC tells us this is a huge step for mental health advocacy, noting Simone has trailblazed yet again ... only in a different and perhaps more meaningful way this time around.

It'll be interesting to see if other pros follow in Simone's footsteps, and if they do ... Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is all for it -- because she thinks performance doesn't come before one's self.