Giving Justin Gatlin what he's due: respect

RIO de JANEIRO — Life can be complicated. To try to make sense of it, all people tell each other stories. For Americans, the story of redemption is arguably the national narrative — the manifest destiny to overcome and make a difference in our world. Think of a jillion episodes of Oprah or Dr. Phil. Or even presidential campaigning: George W. Bush on the campaign trail a few years back, declaring he had been “born again” after years of drinking.

Usain Bolt won the men’s 100m on Sunday night.

But Justin Gatlin — give the man his due. He deserves recognition and respect.

To read the rest of this column, click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2aTscOo

The three-act Bolt carnival, back on track

RIO de JANEIRO — Maybe, in the dawn before time, there was a human specimen who, racing away or toward the likes of sabertooth tigers or wooly mammoths, could run for all he was worth and do it really, really fast.  

For now, we have Usain Bolt.

Adding to his legend, Bolt roared to gold in the men’s 100m Sunday night at Olympic Stadium, crossing the line in 9.81 seconds.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2bwn8p7

Seeing 2020: without Phelps, or so he says

RIO de JANEIRO — Coming into these Rio Olympics, after the U.S. team’s underwhelming performance at the 2015 World Championships, there were concerns far and wide about how the American swim team might do at the 2016 Rio Games.  

Now the answer is as plain as #PhelpsFace.

The 2016 U.S. swim team was, in a word, riveting.

Just excellent.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2b6z8KX

Michael Phelps in Rio: the power of trust and belief

RIO de JANEIRO — Anyone in any kind of relationship — so this means pretty much everyone in the world — knows that there is always a tension, if not a struggle, over power and control. Easy joke: especially if you’re married! (Note: Love you, honey, and it’s 25 years in September!)

The trick is to figure out how to accept direction, guidance, criticism and more from the other, understanding that he or she genuinely wants the best for you — without all of that leading to feelings of being diminished, demeaned or, worse yet, submission.

Draw your chairs closer into this little group therapy circle, please: that acceptance explains precisely why Michael Phelps is swimming unbelievably great at these 2016 Olympics, which he swears — uh-huh — will be his last.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2aPUxp6

Limitless and free, this time - Phelps says - for real

RIO de JANEIRO — If Thursday night’s men’s 200m individual medley final between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte was the end, as Jim Morrison and the Doors once said, it made — in a riff on what Morrison also told us — for no safety yet a big surprise, a race in which two of the best, ever, pushed each other one final time. Each in his own lane, literally and figuratively, Phelps and Lochte have for years been on a similar quest. Their mission: to push boundaries in search of excellence.

As Morrison put it, to be limitless and free.

After London, these words seemed to apply, and in full measure. Phelps said he was done. He was not. He had unfinished business.

At these Rio 2016 Olympics, a Games he repeatedly has declared will be his last, Phelps on Thursday night staggered the field over the final 100 meters to win the 200m IM, and by nearly two seconds.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2bay9rT

Kayla Harrison is a very, very bad woman

RIO de JANEIRO — Kayla Harrison is a very, very bad woman.

Bow in her direction. All her opponents do.

In one of the most thunderously badass performances in Olympic judo history, Harrison on Thursday plundered the women’s 78-kilogram (172 pound) category to win a second straight Olympic gold.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2bjODiB

A really good guy, back on the podium

RIO de JANEIRO — If you had a son, you would want him to be just like Nathan Adrian.

The guy is smart, funny, respectful and humble. He is quiet, steady, a genuine leader.

Oh, he’s tall and handsome, too, the very picture of America’s best pluralistic and tolerant tendencies. His dad, James, is a retired nuclear engineer; his mom, Cecilia, who comes from Hong Kong, is a nurse.

Oh yeah — Nathan Adrian is an incredible athlete.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2b9FSdv

Phelps is the GOAT - don't poke the bear

RIO de JANEIRO — When, oh when, will everyone learn to stop riling up Michael Phelps?

As the U.S. swim star Natalie Coughlin put it Tuesday night on Twitter, “Don’t poke the bear.”

In the latest chapter in a long-running story of what happens when you poke the bear, Phelps, obviously fired up by South African star Chad le Clos’ antics Monday in the ready room, won his 20th Olympic gold medal in the event that has seemingly forever meant the most to him and his family, the 200m butterfly.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2b7fpO2

From the tatami: lessons in respect

RIO de JANEIRO — This is a story about Olympic dreams, though it is not just about that. This is a story about families of all sorts, though it is not just about that.

This is a story about fairy tales, and how sometimes at the Olympic Games, in particular within the extended judo family — and it really is a family — fairy tales really can come true.

Last Friday, at the Opening Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics, judoka Majlinda Kelmendi carried the flag for Kosovo. It wasn’t until 2014 that the International Olympic Committee had even recognized Kosovo as a separate country — a process that had started in the sports world when the International Judo Federation became the first to say Kosovo was real, in 2012.

On Sunday, in the women’s 52-kilogram (114 pounds) category, Kelmendi won gold.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: bit.ly/2aKEko8

Doping and the problem of cheap, easy narratives

RIO de JANEIRO -- Lilly King is a great swimmer. But a good sport? One who lives — in her gold-medal moment — the key Olympic values: friendship, excellence and respect?

Much of the English-speaking media proved all too eager Monday evening to latch on to an easy — and false — narrative that abruptly cast King as a virtuous American hero, striking a blow for drug-free sport in winning the women’s 100m breaststroke while slaying the notorious Russian, the sudden villain Yulia Efimova.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics: bit.ly/2aNToSB