Olympics

U.S. Olympic legend Harrison Dillard -- whom General Patton once called "the best goddamn athlete I’ve ever seen" -- has died at 96.

Dillard was an absolute BEAST of an athlete -- winning 4 Olympic gold medals and smashing more than 11 world and Olympic records during his illustrious career, according to the NY Times.

In fact, Dillard was the "World's Fastest Man" in 1948 after winning the 100-meter dash at the Olympics ... and became "World's Fastest Hurdler" at the 1952 Games.

Dillard is also a military veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 32 months during World War II and after dominating at an Army track meet, Gen. Patton called him, "The best goddamn athlete I've ever seen."

He later worked as a running coach for the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees.

Dillard is a two-time Hall of Famer ... he was elected to the National Track and Field H.O.F. in 1974 and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in '83.

Dillard passed away on Friday after battling stomach cancer.

Alex Morgan truly is a superhero ... the USA soccer superstar says she's still planning to play in the 2020 Olympics -- just months after she has her baby!!!

The 30-year-old striker announced last month she's having a baby girl with her husband, LA Galaxy stud Servando Carrasco ... and the due date is April 2020.

Of course, next year's summer Olympics are scheduled to kick off in Tokyo just weeks after that ... with opening ceremonies slated for July 24.

For all you non-math whizzes out there ... that's just about 3 months!!!

But, in an interview with USA TODAY Sports earlier this week ... Morgan says she's gunning to get back on the pitch with her American teammates despite that tiny time frame.

"After having a healthy baby, I want to get back with the national team and look forward to playing in Tokyo," Morgan said.

It's not exactly unprecedented ... her fellow Team USA squadmate, Sydney Leroux, returned to the field in September for her NWSL team just 3 months after she had her baby earlier this year.

In other sports, it's been done too ... remember, Mackenzie Dern straight-up fought in the UFC just 4 months after she gave birth!!

Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady ... looking for a 6'5" receiver who runs a 4.2 40-yard dash?? Good news -- Usain Bolt says give him a call ... 'cause he's down to play!!!

We got the most decorated Olympic sprinter ever out in NYC this week ... and now that he's retired, we had to ask -- would he be up for an NFL career??

The 33-year-old said yes ... but on one condition -- it's gotta be either with New England or Green Bay!!

"If the Patriots or Aaron Rodgers call me," Bolt says ... "If they call me, I'm ready!"

Think it's crazy?? It ain't ... the former fastest man in the world actually once got offers from NFL teams to tryout for a roster spot back in 2016, but he famously declined.

But, now that the whole track thing isn't in the picture ... seems he's up to give it a shot!!

A famous gold medal-winning Paralympic athlete died Tuesday after taking her own life through euthanasia in Belgium, officials confirm.

40-year-old Marieke Vervoort battled degenerative spinal disease -- yet was able to compete in wheelchair racing at the highest levels.

She won two medals at the 2016 Paralympic games in Brazil and famously clinched a GOLD medal during the 2012 Paralympics in London.

But, when she wasn't competing, Vervoort lived with extreme physical pain which sometimes limited her to only sleeping for 10 minutes a night.

Vervoort also suffered epileptic seizures -- and in one case in 2014, a seizure caused her to spill boiling water on her legs while cooking pasta. She suffered major injuries and was hospitalized for several months as a result.

Vervoort had considered euthanasia for years and began planning for the end of her life back in 2016.

In fact, Vervoort spent her last night surrounded by friends and family, sipping on sparkling wine ... just as she planned.

After her passing, the Belgian royal family issued a statement praising their Paralympic hero -- saying, "Marieke 'Wielemie' Vervoort was an athlete tough as nails and a great lady. Her death touches us deeply."

There's a ton of money in Esports ... and there could be GOLD in video games soon too ... 'cause Fortnite superstar Ninja says gaming WILL be in the Olympics -- it's just a matter of time.

Of course, Esports is bigger than ever -- the prize pool for the Fortnite World Cup was $30 MILLION in July (shout-out to 16-year-old gamer Bugha, who took home $3 milli for winning).

Ninja doesn't think the sport's done growing ... 'cause he says gamers will be representing their country on the sticks VERY soon.

"For me, I just think it's going to be time," Ninja tells TMZ Sports. "I think that obviously, the younger generation enjoys Esports and enjoys watching video games. Eventually, that's what they're gonna want and that's what the TV people are gonna want to show and represent."

"Just give a little bit of time and Esports will be there."

As for how soon it can happen, we ask if it can happen in time for the 2028 Games in L.A. ... and Ninja says he "wouldn't put it out of the question."

The "Dream Team" is the most DOMINANT squad ever assembled ... and you could own the game-worn jersey Magic Johnson donned as Team USA steamrolled their way to a gold medal in 1992 ... IF ya got a few hundred thousand bucks.

TMZ Sports has learned the historic jersey is hitting the SCP Auctions block on Wednesday ... and it's expected to rake in a ton of money.

The '92 Summer Olympic USA basketball team is legendary -- they're literally the GREATEST basketball team of all-time -- and featured HOF'ers Magic, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen and David Robinson.

The jersey on the auction block was worn by Magic -- the squads co-captain -- during the Dream Team's August 4, 1992 quarterfinal 115-77 blowout win against Puerto Rico.

Johnson scored 13 points, and had 7 assists.

SCP tells us they had the Champion-brand jersey -- which was previously in the possession of a private collector in Los Angeles -- authenticated using photo matching ... ensuring it was the actual jersey worn by MJ.

The number 15 jersey -- size 44 -- has a tag that reads "USA Basketball" and "designed and tailored exclusively for 1992 Summer Olympics Games."

The auction house says Team USA jerseys are super rare ... and they say Johnson's jersey is the first and only photo matched Dream Team jersey in existence.

So, a piece of sports history can be yours ... if you're bank account's big enough.

The auction goes from September 11 to the 28.

Good luck!!!

Eyes up!!!

Lindsey Vonn made one helluva fashion statement at a Vanity Fair party in NYC on Thursday -- rockin' the hell out of a see-through top ... and yeah, she stole the show!!!

The Olympic downhill skiing legend definitely turned heads at Vanity Fair's 2019 Best Dressed List party at L'Avenue Sacks. Her NHL superstar fiance P.K. Subban didn't make the event, but the MASSIVE emerald engagement ring he gave her sure did!!!

The two announced their engagement last month. They've been together since 2018. No word on when the big wedding will go down.

34-year-old Vonn definitely ain't shy when it comes to showing off her body -- remember she posed in PAINT (and only paint!!!) for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition a few years ago.

Spanish Olympic skier Blanca Fernandez Ochoa was found dead in the Guadarrama Mountains outside Madrid on Wednesday ... nearly 2 weeks after going missing. She was 56 years old.

The 1992 bronze medalist was last seen on August 23 and was reported missing by her daughter ... sparking a massive search operation with drones, helicopters and volunteers to find the world-class athlete.

There's a lot of questions about her death that have just not been answered yet -- including why she left home without her cell phone and credit cards ... and how she ended up at that location. We'll post more information as it becomes available.

Fernandez Ochoa's abandoned Mercedes vehicle was found on Sunday ... and an off-duty officer found her body early Wednesday morning.

Fernandez Ochoa competed in 4 Winter Olympics in the '80s and '90s ... becoming the first Spanish woman to take home a medal in the 1992 winter games in France when she won the bronze in the slalom.

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles' older brother is in police custody for the murders of 3 people ... after an 8-month investigation into a New Year's Eve tragedy.

Tevin Biles-Thomas was arrested Thursday at Fort Stewart in Georgia, where he is an active duty soldier in the Army. Police say Biles-Thomas opened fired on a group of people when a fight broke out during a New Year's Eve party at an Airbnb in Cleveland.

According to cops, an "uninvited" group of people had entered the house party and during the ensuing brawl ... Biles-Thomas fired the shots that killed three men and injured 2 others.

A Cuyahoga County Grand Jury returned an indictment of Biles-Thomas for 6 counts of murder, 3 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 5 counts of felonious assault and 1 count of perjury. Under Ohio law, "purposely killing" and "knowingly killing" a victim are separate counts for each victim -- and that's why he got 6 murder charges. 

Simone and her family are from the Columbus, Ohio area.

24-year-old Biles-Thomas is still being held in Georgia, but will be extradited to Ohio ahead of his arraignment on Sept. 13.

Ex-U.S. Olympian Michael Barisone -- who competed in Dressage in the 2008 Olympics -- allegedly shot a woman at his upscale equestrian center in Jersey, according to reports.

The 54-year-old reportedly got into a dispute with the woman at the fancy 53-acre Hawthorne Farm in Long Valley around 2:15 PM on Wednesday ... and things escalated.

Barisone reportedly opened fire multiple times -- striking the woman, who was raced to a nearby hospital. According to the NY Post, her condition has been described as "up in the air."

The Morris County Prosecutor's Office confirmed an incident at that farm and said a suspect had been taken into custody ... but they have not officially named Barisone.

According to law enforcement, the suspect was also injured in the incident ... along with a 3rd person.

Cops are still investigating -- but according to the Post, Barisone is expected to be hit with charges in the very near future.

The dispute has been described to the Post as a "tenant/landowner" issue.

Barisone is a monster in the equestrian world -- he was named the 2009 Sportsman International Horseman of the Year and went on to train several Olympic riders ... including Alison Brock, who won a team bronze medal in Dressage in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Usain Bolt is correct ... the United States DOES have a leg up on Jamaican sprinters for now -- so says track legend Sanya Richards-Ross!!!

We got the FOUR-time Olympic Gold Medalist out at LAX ... and seeing as she was born in Jamaica -- we had to ask about Bolt's comments that the new generation of Jamaican sprinters are "spoiled" and lazy.

Richards-Ross wouldn't go that far with her analysis of the situation ... but tells us she agrees with Bolt -- and says the country's love for the legendary sprinter is actually partly to blame.

"When you have a megastar like Usain Bolt," Richards-Ross tells us ... "it kind of suffocates the next generation of stars."

Richards-Ross also says that because Bolt was so dominant in the main sprinting events ... younger runners came up trying to make their way in OTHER events -- leading to an issue now.

But, good news for USA, Richards-Ross says all of that will lead to Americans being dominant in sprinting ... for now.

"Probably in the next four years you'll see a huge Jamaican star. But, right now, I think it's going to be Team USA."

USA Olympic legend Amy Van Dyken has a new sport -- she's a wheelchair crosFfit athlete -- and she just came in 2nd place in the inaugural WheelWOD Open!!!

Amy racked up SIX gold medals during her incredible swimming career -- scoring 4 medals at the 1996 Games and 2 more in 2000. 

But, her life was changed forever in 2014 when she was paralyzed from the waist down in a freak ATV accident that severed her spinal cord. 

Amy -- ever the competitor -- decided to get BACK into CrossFit after the accident ... and now she's become one of the premiere wheelchair athletes in the world. 

In fact, the 46-year-old entered the 2019 WheelWOD Open in Canada earlier this month -- and CRUSHED IT -- finishing in the top 4 in every event ... coming in 2nd place overall!! 

Amy says she wasn't exactly in the best place emotionally after her accident ... but learning to do CrossFit from her chair has "given me my life back."

She trains in Phoenix -- spending 2 to 4 hours in the gym at a time -- and says her competitive fire isn't just relit ... it's burning out of control and she can't wait for the next WheelWOD Open to take that #1 spot. 

"Girlfriend doesn't play to get 2nd. Girlfriend plays to WIN. Have you seen my collection of gold medals?!?!! I'm just sayin'"

The man they call the "Serbian Michael Jordan" has essentially been BLOCKED by the International Basketball Federation from playing the BIG3 -- and Ice Cube is FURIOUS!

In fact, Cube is calling officials "chicken sh*t" for standing in the way of the player's American dream.

The man at the center of the controversy is Dusan Bulut -- AKA Mr. Bullutproof -- the top-ranked 3-on-3 basketball player in the world. He's an absolute stud. He's even got his own signature move, the Shammgod Nutmeg.

Bulut is from Serbia -- but he's currently under contract with a team in Abu Dhabi in a league that's overseen by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Despite the fact Bulut WANTS to play in the BIG3 -- and was DRAFTED this year -- FIBA officials told him if he breaks his contract with the Abu Dhabi team, he'll face a 24-month ban from international competition, which would prevent him from competing for Serbia in the 2020 Olympics.

Earlier today, Bulut withdrew from the BIG3 because of the threat -- and Ice Cube ain't happy about it.

"We want him to play, but FIBA is threatening that he won't be able to be eligible for the Olympics," Cube told us ... "I think they're scared."

Cube says the league is considering its legal options -- but notes, "We want to do whatever Bulut wants to do. We want to get him in the BIG3, but we don't want to mess up his chances to be in the Olympics."

He summed it up this way ... "I think FIBA is being chicken sh*t."

Meanwhile, Cube and the BIG3 are pushing forward with the 2019 season, which kicks off June 22 at the Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit, live on CBS.

Lamar Odom says he went to great lengths to take the court for USA Basketball at the Olympics ... using a prosthetic penis to help him pass a drug test!!!

Lamar comes clean about how he was able to pass the test despite smoking weed on the daily in the summer of '04 in his soon to be released book, "Darkness to Light" -- where he says, "We started googling 'fake penises' and studied different ways to beat a drug test."

"After an exhaustive search we ordered a giant, rubber, black c*** to arrive the next day," Odom writes in an expert first provided to People ... "I unzipped my pants and carefully slid the fake penis through the zipper hole. To get the pee to come out of the tip, I had to squeeze the shaft repeatedly."

Lamar admits he was "paranoid" the fake penis ruse wouldn't work once the official tester took the sample at Odom's home ... but he passed with flying colors and was soon heading to Greece with the rest of Team USA.

Unfortunately, Lamar couldn't help the Americans win the gold medal ... in one of our nation's most embarrassing Olympic moments, a team full of NBA superstars came home with the bronze.

U.S. Olympic legend Michael Johnson -- one of the fastest humans of all time -- says he's fully recovered after suffering a crippling stroke in 2018 ... and even sprinting again!!!

51-year-old Johnson -- who won 4 gold medals in 3 Olympics -- tells TMZ Sports he suffered a stroke on the right side of his brain following a workout in Sept. 2018.

At the time, Johnson said he felt discomfort in his left leg, numbness in his left arm and quickly began to lose balance. So, he rushed to the emergency room to get checked out.

"By the time I got to the hospital, I couldn't walk anymore. I couldn't stand on my left side," Johnson says.

"But, fortunately, I got there quickly and was able to get treated by a team of specialists."

Johnson spent the next several months working his ass off in several rehabilitation programs including physical and occupational therapy ... and says he approached rehab like he was training for the Olympics.

"[Rehabilitating was] a little more difficult on the one hand because no one's standing there clapping there for me when I finish my workout now," Johnson said.

"But, at the same time, this is my livelihood that was at stake."

Ultimately, Johnson was able to get back to the high level of physical fitness he was at before the stroke -- and now he's on a mission to spread awareness along with the American Stroke Association.

Keith Bulluck says his curling team -- comprised of ex-NFL stars -- is grinding like crazy on the ice ... and they're still dead set on making the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The squad? All-Pro Curling with Bulluck, Jared Allen, Marc Bulger, and Michael Roos -- 4 badass ex-football players with 6 All-Pro selections between 'em -- but ZERO pro curling experience.

Allen previously told us the goal was to rep the U.S. at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing ... but that was before the team went up against real deal competition.

So, we asked Bulluck if he still believes they'll make the Olympics.

"I would like to say yes, because we are trying and working our ass off."

"We're venturing into uncharted waters for us. We've been at it a year. We have great coaches. We've been putting our time in. But, these guys are experts, man. It doesn't discourage us. It just makes us work hard. But, we know what we're up against."

Bulluck continued ... saying, "This is not a joke for us. We definitely take it serious. And respect the guys that doing. We've competing against some of the top guys in the country."

That's no exaggeration ... only months after starting the sport, the All-Pros -- minus KB and Roos who were absent -- played the 2018 gold medalists back in November.

They lost 11 to 3.

But, they ain't deterred ... and they still have some time til the '22 Winter Games.

1,015 days to be exact.