Olympics

Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner is looking to make it back to the Summer Games at age 51.

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Gardner said he's been training with the goal of competing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

"I still wanna give more back to the sport, the sport that I love and that's wrestling. When you have a goal like wrestling it makes you get into shape so I've lost a substantial amount of weight, getting healthy again, getting back after it, and now it's getting on the mat. Every day it hurts like heck but it's so fun to be able to get out there and throw with these young kids. It's crazy 'cause I'm wrestling kids half my age."

Gardner said he's lost about 150 pounds in training, with the goal of being able to show he "can still compete with the top-level wrestlers of the world."

This isn't the first time Gardner has attempted to make an Olympic comeback. He was training for the 2012 Games, but he missed the maximum weight limit allowed before the U.S. Olympic Trials.

It's not unheard of for an athlete over age 50 to compete at the Olympics, though it's often in sports that don't require the same type of physical ability as wrestling.

Laura Kraut, 55, became the oldest U.S. woman to medal since 1904 when she won a silver as part of the equestrian jumping team with Jessica Springsteen and McLain Ward at the Tokyo Games.

Sweden's Oscar Swahn is the oldest athlete to compete and medal at the Olympics. He won silver at age 72 as part of the 100-meter running deer shooting team double shots at the 1920 Games in Stockholm, Sweden.

More recently, Dara Torres was 41 years old when she won three silver medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Chris Campbell is the oldest American wrestler to medal at the Olympics. He won bronze in the freestyle 90-kilogram weight class as a 37-year-old in 1992.

Gardner became an Olympic legend for his performance during the 2000 Games in Sydney. The Wyoming native upset Russia's Aleksandr Karelin, who was the reigning three-time Olympic champion and had a 13-year unbeaten streak, in the finals of the 130-kilogram Greco-Roman event.

Four years later, Gardner won bronze in the 120-kilogram weight class. He will be 53 years old when the Paris Games begin.

The qualification period for wrestling at the 2024 Olympics runs from September 2023 through May 2024.

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Steve Kerr hopes to coach Kevin Durant once again during the 2024 Olympic cycle.

Speaking to reporters before the Brooklyn Nets defeated the Golden State Warriors 143-113 on Wednesday night, Kerr was asked about Durant possibly playing for Team USA during the Paris Games.

"That would be nice," the Warriors head coach said. "I mean, he's been so dominant with Team USA and like I said, he's a guy who just, he loves to play. So we're hoping he decides to keep going.

Kerr also joked he would "most likely" pull Durant aside to pitch him on the idea.

Kerr was named USA Basketball head coach in December. He is taking over for Gregg Popovich, who led the Americans to an Olympic gold medal during the Tokyo Games.

The Warriors head coach was an assistant on Popovich's staff during the 2020 Olympics. He played for the Team USA squad that won the FIBA World Championship in 1986.

Durant has not committed to playing for the U.S. team in 2024. The 12-time All-Star told reporters after Wednesday's game he's open to representing the United States in the Olympics again, but it's too early to make a decision.

The 2020 Olympics marked the third time Durant won a gold medal with Team USA. He averaged 20.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in six starts during the run in Tokyo. The Americans defeated France, 87-82, in the gold medal game.

Durant is tied with Carmelo Anthony for most Olympic gold medals won by an American men's basketball player. He will be 35 years old during the Paris Games.

If Durant does play for the United States, he will be reunited with Kerr as his head coach for the first time since leaving the Warriors after the 2018-19 season.

Golden State played in the NBA Finals in each of Durant's three seasons with the team. The Warriors won back-to-back titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18, with Durant being named Finals MVP both times.

Mikaela Shiffrin claimed her first win in the Super G World Cup in nearly three years when she hit the slopes in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Sunday.

The American crossed the finish line in 1:13.62 to edge Italian Elena Curtoni and claim the victory. France's Romane Miradoli finished third.

The win also marked Shiffrin's 77th World Cup victory overall, and she is now just five wins shy of Lindsey's Vonn's record for most wins by a female skier.

Shiffrin finished fourth and sixth in the downhill competitions over the last two days.

"I felt very good the last days, but you never know, with super-G especially, you have to push so hard. It's always on the limit. Actually, you're pushing so hard, maybe you're not going to finish," Shiffrin said, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN).

"I knew what my tactics should be, I was not thinking about what's going to happen in the finish until I got there. I had a very, very good run, so I'm happy with that."

The women's Alpine skiing World Cup resumes in Semmering, Austria, on Dec. 27 with two giant slaloms and a slalom.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist David Rudisha said that he is lucky to be alive after surviving a plane crash in his home country of Kenya on Saturday.

According to TMZ Sports, Rudisha detailed the scary experience to the Nation local newspaper. He had been flying with five other people after attending an annual Maasai Olympics event at a wildlife sanctuary in Kimana, Kenya.

Rudisha said the engine malfunctioned "seven or eight minutes into the flight," causing the plane to go down in the Imbirkana area in southern Kaijado County. He added that the pilot was able to navigate the plane until one of its wings hit a tree and caused it to spin before landing in a rocky field.

"It was a scary episode where you hold your heart in your hand as you pray to God," the 800-meter world record holder said. "The pilot did an incredible job to keep the plane afloat and stable for long."

Rudisha and the rest of the passengers managed to escape the crash without any serious injuries. They were all evacuated to Makindu Hospital for treatment. Kenya Masters Athletics chairperson Stephen Ole Marai was later transported to Nairobi West Hospital with a rib injury.

"We thank God we all came out alive with some soft tissue injuries that were treated before all were discharged save for one," Rudisha said.

Rudisha, the 800-meter champion in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympic Games, has endured a near-death experience before, as his SUV crashed into a bus in a Kenyan village in August 2019. He sustained only minor injuries in the accident.

Rudisha has not officially announced his retirement from running, but he hasn't competed internationally since 2017. Last month, the 33-year-old said he was considering making a transition to coaching.

Albanian long jumper Izmir Smajlaj is facing a ban from competition after being accused of submitting false information to help secure a spot in the Tokyo Olympics.

Per the Associated Press, the Athletics Integrity Unit said Friday that Smajlaj, along with Albanian track federation president Gjergj Ruli and general secretary Nikolin Dionisi, has been charged with disciplinary offenses stemming from a competition held in the country in May 2021.

"It is alleged that false information was submitted to World Athletics and the AIU in support of this competition result," the AIU said.

According to the AP, Smajlaj won the competition with a jump of 8.16 meters, a national record in Albania.

Smajlaj didn't qualify for the Olympics based on the result, but was given the opportunity to persuade officials through the "universality" rule that allows countries to send one male and one female athlete to Olympic track events.

"Those athletes still have to apply with evidence of their 'technical level' and experience of international events to persuade officials to grant them a place," per the AP.

Smajlaj failed to qualify for the final with a jump of 7.86 meters in Tokyo.

Friday's announcement from the AIU comes after the organization published its competition manipulation watch list in September. Albania, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia were the seven countries on the list after being cited for reports of suspicious competition results during the Olympic qualifying period.

Smajlaj, Ruli and Dionisi have all been provisionally suspended until the case is resolved.

The 29-year-old Smajlaj finished tied for 17th in qualifying at the Tokyo Games. He previously won the long-jump competition at the European Indoor Championships in 2017.

Albania had a total of nine athletes compete at the 2020 Olympics in athletics, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, weightlifting and judo.