NFL: Ted Ginn Jr. claims he beat Bolt in high school race

Ted Ginn Jr. has been turning heads with his speed throughout his NFL career, and now the veteran wide receiver is doing the same with his recent comments to TMZ.

Ginn, 35, told TMZ that he defeated Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt in a race during high school.

"Well I ran against Usain Bolt. I got him when we was in the 12th grade. All of the top guys that won in the Olympics between 2004 until now, I basically had a chance to race them guys in high school," Ginn said.

When asked to confirm that he indeed defeated Bolt -- who is generally regarded as the fastest human being alive -- Ginn was quick with his response.

"Yeah. I got that. You can go look that up," he said.

Ginn's bragging didn't end there. He said had he not gone to the NFL that an Olympic gold medal "for sure" would have been in his future.

Bolt, 33, is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist.

The Chicago Bears signed Ginn to a one-year contract earlier this month. He caught 30 passes for 421 yards and two touchdowns for the New Orleans Saints in 2019, and has 409 career receptions for 5,702 yards and 33 scores in 187 games with six teams since 2007.

Field Level Media/Reuters

Bolt cements his greatness

RIO DE JANEIRO - After his Olympic sprint double at the London 2012 Games, Usain Bolt declared himself a "legend". After winning both events for a third time he opted for "the greatest".

The 29-year-old Jamaican eased to 200 metre gold in 19.78 seconds in Rio on Thursday to take his tally to eight sprint Olympic golds following Sunday's 100m success in Rio.

"There's nothing else I can do really," said Bolt, who became the first athlete to win the two individual sprint titles in three consecutive Olympics.

"I've proven to the world that I'm the greatest and that is what I came here for and that's what I'm doing.

"This is what I worked for throughout the years. I worked to be the best, to be among the greats."

The Jamaican had made positive noises about an assault on his own 2009 world record of 19.19 but instead his winning time on a chill, damp night was the slowest of his seven world and Olympic 200m victories.

"I knew it was going to be hard to break the record because when I came off the corner my legs decided, 'now listen, we're not going to go any faster'.

"So I wasn't fully happy but I'm happy that I got the gold medal."

HARD WORK

Bolt, who turns 30 on Sunday, confirmed this will be his last Olympics.

If he helps Jamaica win a third successive 4x100m relay on Friday to complete the triple-triple he will tie the record nine athletics golds won by Finn Paavo Nurmi, a 1920s middle and long distance runner, and American sprinter Carl Lewis.

Bolt said he would definitely run the 100 and relay at next year's world championships in London, though fears his coach might yet try to convince him to also go for the 200 title.

If he did it would mark the 10th anniversary of the last time he lost a major international 200m race, when he finished second to American Tyson Gay in 2007. He lost in the Jamaican trials to Yohan Blake in 2012

Since then, his 200m tally is three successive Olympic titles and four consecutive world championships - another first.

"I've just proven to the world that you can do it clean, with hard work and determination," he said.

"I have made the sport exciting, made people want to see the sport, want to watch the sport, I just put the sport on a different level."

He said he wanted to remain connected to athletics but not as a coach, and was confident that he would walk away with the sport in good shape despite athletics suffering a miserable year of corruption and doping headlines.

"It looks good so far," he said. "I think the younger kids are really stepping up. (Christophe) Lemaitre stepped up tonight, Andre De Grasse has been on the right track," he said of the bronze and silver medallists.

"So I think we're in good shape and the sport has been doing better." (Editing by Patrick Johnston)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Bolt continues quest as Taylor, Perkovic retain titles

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Usain Bolt took the next step in his quest for a "triple triple" of sprint golds on Tuesday as American Christian Taylor and Croat Sandra Perkovic both retained their Olympic crowns.

Bolt, fresh from winning the 100m title for an unprecedented third time, safely came through the first round of his favoured event, the 200m.

Running in lane five of heat eight of 10, the 29-year-old coasted home in 20.28 seconds. American rivals Justin Gatlin and Lashawn Merritt also qualified for Wednesday's semi-finals, with the final slated for Thursday.

"It's a morning session and I'm not really a morning person. I just came out to qualify and that's what I did," said Bolt, praising the scheduling.

"I'm surprised it's so settled. Normally we have to do two rounds in one day. It's actually much better for the 200m so we have time to recover over the days.

"For me it's easy I've been doing it for years. You just celebrate on the night, just be happy and then you refocus the next day to go again."

The morning session's two medal events went the way of defending champions.

In the triple jump, Taylor set a season's best 17.86 metres with his first leap, good enough to beat compatriot Will Claye in a repeat of their one-two finish in London four years ago.

"The job is done," said Taylor. "Back to back, it's very special."

Claye celebrated his silver by proposing to long-time girlfriend, hurdler Queen Harrison.

"I woke up this morning and said today is going to be the best day of my life," he said. "It was stressful, man, because I didn't know if she was going to say yes or not."

The women's discus went the way of Perkovic, the Croat in imperious form as she dominated the competition, her best of 69.21m out-distancing France's Melina Robert Michon (66.73m) and world champion Denia Caballero of Cuba (65.34) by some way.

Elsewhere on the track, Ethiopia's newly-crowned 10,000m champion and world record holder Almaz Ayana moved closer to a distance double as she won her 5000m heat in 15:04.35 to progress to Friday's final.

Defending silver medallist and two-time former world champion Vivian Cheruiyot, silver medallist behind Ayana in the longer distance in Rio, Hellen Obiri and Mercy Cherono will make up a strong Kenyan contingent.

Algerian defending champion Taoufik Makhloufi overcame just two hours sleep after bagging silver in the 800m to advance from round one of the 1500m.

Makhloufi, who came in second in the 800m behind David Rudisha late Monday, timed 3min 47.07sec to win his heat.

"I had some massage after the 800m," he said.

"I was in my bed at 4 o'clock in the morning and I slept only two hours!

"This part between the 800m and the heats of the 1500m was always going to be the most difficult part in qualifying for the semi-finals of the latter."

Makhloufi's main rival will likely be Kenyan Asbel Kiprop, 2008 gold medallist and three-time defending world champion, who won his 1500m heat easily in 3:38.97.

Brazilian hopes of an Olympic pole vault double came to an abrupt end when home medal hope Fabiana Murer bombed out of the women's qualifying competition after failing to register a mark.

Rio's Olympic Stadium lit up Monday when Murer's teammate Thiago Braz Da Silva trumped Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie for gold in the men's competition with an Olympic record of 6.03m.

Murer, world silver medallist last year in Beijing, failed to live up to expectations however.

The 35-year-old skipped the three first entry marks of 4.15, 4.30 and 4.45m, coming in at 4.55m.

But she failed with her three attempts at the height, well below her personal best of 4.87m which she vaulted this season.

There was no such drama for current world and Olympic champion Jennifer Suhr of the United States, Cuba's defending Olympic silver medallist Yarisley Silva and European champion Ekaterini Stefanidi who all comfortably vaulted the qualifying mark of 4.60m.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Rio Games unveil 'affordable' ticketing

RIO DE JANEIRO - Rio 2016 Games organizers Tuesday unveiled ticket pricing aimed at making attendance "as affordable as possible," with entry to the blue riband 100m final costing just half of what it did at London 2012.

Athletics fans wanting to see Usain Bolt target a third straight 100 and 200m golden double will pay a maximum 12000 reais ($545) compared to the $1160 London best seats equivalent.

In all, some 7.5 million tickets will go on sale for the August 5-21 event and organizers said sports fans can buy roughly half -- 3.8 million -- for 70 Brazilian reais ($30) or under across 717 events in 28 sports.

There will be a maximum five price categories: A for the most expensive to E for the cheapest, including for the opening ceremony at the Maracana, where the best seats will fetch a cool 4,600 reais ($1980) but the cheapest only 200 reais ($80).

A top category opening ceremony ticket cost £2012 ($3275) for the 2012 Games in London, though the cheapest ones were ten times less.

Top category tickets for the football final in Rio will be 900 reais -- but fans will only have to stump up 70 reais for category A access to women's preliminary games and 100 for the men's. Some of those matches will be played in other cities -- Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador and Sao Paulo.

Watching the beach volleyball on Rio's iconic Copacabana Beach will start at 100 reais, rising to 1200 for the final while tickets to the men's and women's tennis trophy matches will fetch 700 reais.

A category entrance to the basketball final will cost 1200 (350 in category C).

For fans looking simply for a taste of the atmosphere at the first Games ever to be held in South America there are bargains to be had.

Deep pockets will not be required for mountain biking, for example, with entry costing just 40 reais.

Tickets to the field hockey will cost just 60 reias for preliminaries rising to 160 for the final.

Weightlifting will cost initially 60 reais, rising to 100 for the final while wrestling will start at 70 (2010 for the finals).

Another -- initial -- bargain is water polo, with preliminary rounds access 50 reais, though the final will set you back 580 or 140 for a category C, the lowest available for the discipline.

Organizers posted the full price ranges to their website -- (www.rio2016.com) ahead of the unveiling of the full Games program to be published in November along with ways for the public to register and buy tickets.

They said fans could post details to organizers on the events they most want to watch and receive back personalized news and information on sports and athletes they are interested in following.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com