Team USA Wins Basketball Gold, Beats Spain, Gets Mike Krzyzewski To Do Something He's Never Done Before [Video]

Aug 12, 2012 1:31 PM  

Gold for the 2012 Dream Team proved to be a bit more elusive than expected, as foul trouble and a pesky Spanish team led to a 107-100 win, one locked up by a clever Chris Paul drive that led to coach Mike Krzyzewski leaping into the air as if he'd just purchased a Toyota. He's stepping down after today to allow someone else to lead Team USA.

Kevin Durant scored 30 and LeBron James poured in 19 in joining Michael Jordan as the only basketball players in history to win an NBA MVP, NBA Championship, and Olympic gold medal in the same year. Pau Gasol paced Spain with 24 points and suffered a nasty gash on the face after being fouled hard by LeBron James.

This is a Deadspin Video, in which strange sports moments are slowed down to ridiculous speeds and matched with indie music. This video features "Very Peculiar Feeling" by Allen Clapp. See previous episodes here.

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Everything You Never Needed To Know About Rhythmic Gymnastics [Video]

We love gymnastics. It gets the highest ratings of any summer event. Every four years we fall in love with a new "America's Sweetheart." They get the Wheaties box. The team goes down in history.

But that's artistic gymnastics, which we're totally not talking about here. We're talking rhythmic gymnastics, which is something you've probably never watched.

In the family tree of gymnastics, rhythmic is that distant cousin you're not really sure how to act around, because they're always lugging around their favorite toys, and doing stuff like stretching their legs over their head to pick their teeth with their toes. Like this—weird, right? To prepare for this piece I asked 10 real live people the first thing that came into their minds when I said the words "Rhythmic Gymnastics." Everyone said the exact same thing: "Ribbons." Well done, highly scientific survey sample. There is a ribbon, but there's also hoops and clubs and glitter-bombed unitards and group numbers that resemble off-brand Cirque du Soleil acts. It's like Branson on ketamine.

Rhythmic gymnastics, which may not actually be nicknamed "R-Gym," but we'll pretend it is, is taking place in London RIGHT NOW. Here's what you should know, beyond ribbons.

* * *

Rhythmic gymnastics is made up of both individual and group routines to music that incorporate dance, acrobatics, and sick flexibility with the use of multiple apparatuses: a ribbon, a ball, a hoop, and a pair of clubs. There also used to be a rope, but we'll get to the rope's misfortune in a bit.

Paradoxically, "artistic" gymnastics has roots back in the pure athletic competitions of Ancient Greece. But rhythmic is the ice-dancing to artistic's figure skating—it's always been about aesthetics. The sport has its origins back in the early days of ballet, and began to take its modern shape around 1900 with the Swedish School of Rhythmic Gymnastics. The Swedes combined exercises for dancers called "eurhythmics," developed in the 1800s by Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, with the practices of French polymath George Demeny, who pioneered the idea of routines set to music that would focus on graceful movement, flexibility, and good posture. What started as one of those weird turn-of-the-century fads managed to stick around, and once apparatuses were incorporated in Germany 1929, "Modern Gymnastics" was born.

After the war, when the Soviets were basically inventing sports to be good at, they caught wind of modern gymnastics (still mostly performed as exhibitions) and set about making the sport competitive. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) officially recognized the sport in 1961, though not without an identity crisis. Originally it was called "Modern Gymnastics," then "Rhythmic Sportive Gymnastics" and then finally "Rhythmic Gymnastics." We've stuck with that name ever since, though we're still pushing hard for "R-Gym."

The first world championships in 1963 in Budapest, and only ten European countries participated. The United States didn't send its first delegation until 1973. And yet, a sport developed and popularized by the Russians only made its Olympic debut in the games where the USSR was nowhere to be found. After being included as an exhibition sport, R-Gym was formally introduced at the 1984 Olympics, where a Soviet boycott made for weak competition. How bad was it? An actual Canadian won the first gold medal. Since then, the Soviets/Unified Team/Russians have won every single all-around title except for one that went to Ukraine, which is basically the same thing. In 1996 a group competition was added, and the Russians have won all but one of those.

I know what's on everyone's mind: These chicks are crazy flexible, right? Yes, here's some shots of things they do that few athletes can:

Impressive.

The sport was originally judged on the 10.0 scale we know and love. That obviously wasn't complicated enough for the FIG, so they switched to a 30-point scale in 2003, then to a 20-point scale in 2005, then back to the 30-point scale in 2008. (Got that?) The 30-point scale requires three panels of judges that deliver scores for technical elements, artistic expression, and execution. In R-Gym, dropping an apparatus during a routine is the deduction equivalent of falling off the uneven bars, albeit less fun to watch.

And dropping happens. You can't just keep a death grip on your clubs the whole time. These things must remain in constant movement throughout the routine, and many moves involve gymnasts tossing the apparatus way up into the air and doing a series of acrobatic dance movements before catching it again. What happens if you're so amped you throw it too high…maybe it gets stuck in the ceiling? Haha, I'm joking! Except I'm not. The Code of Points has a section just for this problem:

5.4. BROKEN APPARATUS OR APPARATUS CAUGHT IN THE SMALL BEAMS OF THE CEILING
5.4.1. If the apparatus breaks during an exercise or gets caught in the small beams of the ceiling, the gymnast or the group will not be authorized to start the exercise over.

You read that right. Hit the ceiling, tough shit. Rhythmic gymnastics may look like it's wrapped in glitter and Swarovski crystals, but these judges are not messing around.

That includes the uniforms too. When it comes to the very strict rules on apparel, rhythmic gymnastics doesn't want to acknowledge its ballet roots. In the "Dress of Gymnast" section you'll find this passive-aggressive rule in parentheses:

"(The look of 'ballet tutu' is forbidden)"

Put those tutus away, ladies. This ain't The Nutcracker.

Which reminds me, rhythmic gymnastics is one of just two Olympic sports where only women take part. (Synchronized swimming is the other.) Men's R-Gym does exist, but it's far from widespread enough to earn IOC inclusion.

For the individual competition, the women try their hand with each of the apparatuses. But the groups only perform two routines, with the apparatuses rotating every two years. In London, they'll complete a routine using five balls (hold the giggles please), then a second one with both ribbons and hoops. No clubs for the groups this year, and no rope for anyone, ever again.

If rhythmic gymnastics is the black sheep of the gymnastics family, then rope is the black sheep of the apparatuses. Poor rope is currently in the process of being phased out of the sport altogether. Word on the street is "Scarf" will be taking its place. So if you were looking forward to seeing some rope manipulation in these games, you're outta luck. If you get off on scarfs, just wait a couple Olympiads.

* * *

Who's good at this?

For starters—America is NO good at rhythmic gymnastics. As a former artistic gymnast, I don't even know where you would go to learn this sport . The USA didn't qualify a single athlete for Beijing. This year we managed to squeak one in, a 22-year-old named Julie Zetlin who spoke to Time about what it's like to be an American in a sport dominated by the Russians.

"In Russia you see rhythmic gymnasts on billboards because they're the most famous athletes."

So what's the logical next step when a sport gets super-huge in a country? Juicy gossip. Gymnasts of all kinds are mega-celebs in Russia, and are followed by rumors like movie stars are here. In 2008 reports emerged that Russian President Vladimir Putin was having an affair with 26-year-old Olympic rhythmic gymnastics champion Alina Kabaeva. Putin denied the rumors and in no way overreacted when he closed down the paper that broke the news. Kabaeva went on to be Vogue Russia's first cover girl, holds a cushy government job, and allegedly gave birth to Putin's love child. Awesome.

She also happens to be one of the most successful rhythmic gymnasts of all time, with two Olympic medals and 14 world championship medals. Here she is in action:

At its best, this is what you can expect to see from rhythmic gymnastics: peerless artistry, jaw-dropping choreography, and unreal body control. At the very least you'll see Russian girls fight to hold off tears after they drop their ribbon. Everybody wins.

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Everything You Never Needed To Know About Modern Pentathlon [Video]

Here's a great way to make some extra cash:

1. Go into a bar.
2. Bet people $5 that they can't name three of the five events in modern pentathlon.
3. Collect your money.

Even better: Show them this logo of the sport and make them guess from there.

Believe it or not, modern pentathlon is NOT a bunch of athletes escaping on horseback from the Predator's gunsights. It's five different disciplines, all meant to represent the duties of a 19th century cavalry officer. Seriously. Here's what you need to know about modern pentathlon to win yourself some easy bets.

* * *

To get it out of the way, yes, this is the event with the laser gun shooting. But it also includes: fencing, freestyle swimming and show jumping(!), all topped off with a nice little 3k run. You're probably saying to yourself, "Self, none of these things go together and none of them are modern." You're right! (It's also, with four events, not strictly a pentathlon. But we'll get to that.)

The modern pentathlon isn't modern because of its state-of-the art-events. It's modern because it replaced the stodgy old pentathlon that was good enough for more than 2,500 years. In ancient Olympic times there was a pentathlon that comprised discus, javelin, long jumping, running and wrestling. After founding the modern Olympic games in 1896, Pierre de Coubertin felt the event needed to be updated too, so he tossed out those crusty disciplines and replaced them with exciting new ones, plus a horse. It was introduced with this thrilling narrative:

"A soldier is ordered to deliver a message on horseback. When the horse went down, he was forced to defend himself with both a sword and pistol. He completed his mission by swimming across a river and running a long distance through the woods."

(That's right, "the woods." That's why the 3k run goes cross country.)

Officially debuting in 1912, the modern pentathlon is the only event created specifically for the Olympic games, and world championships have been held annually since 1949. But Olympic modern pentathlon has fallen on hard times, and needs your support. The event has struggled in our modern-modern era to gain momentum and enthusiasm outside of Eastern Europe, where they probably still fight off bandits on horseback and tend to dominate the sport. Many changes have been made to try and give it a boost. In 1996 they changed the competition format from a four-day event to a one-day event, and went from a point system to a combined system in which whoever crossed the finish line first would win. All this to try to drum up some excitement, which has proven difficult given that the women's competition in Beijing took twelve hours to complete.

At the IOC's 2005 session, modern pentathlon was on the chopping block to be cut from the Olympic program altogether. It narrowly received a stay of execution, but only through this year. In 2008, in another attempt to make the sport more watchable, the governing body of modern pentathlon combined shooting and running into one superdiscipline.

It "completely changes the ethos of the sport that was formulated by Baron de Coubertin," said Jan Bartu, now the head coach of Britain's modern pentathlon team. "But whatever we feel or would like to do, we need to move on and adapt to the changes."

* * *

Some sports are fine being simple. Put the ball in the basket. Get to that end of the pool first. Jump really far. Modern pentathlon don't play that game. The competition breaks down like this:

1. Fencing – Each athlete fences every other athlete. The first to achieve a good touch is the winner. They need to keep this show moving, so each bout must produce a winner in one minute, or both will be declared losers. Every time you lose, you also lose points equal to a seven-second delay in your starting time for the final run.

2. Swimming - After tense sword fighting it's time for a relaxing dip in the pool. Athletes swim 200 meters freestyle and aim for the "par for the course" time of 2:30. Every second slower than 2:30 and you get hit with a three second delay on the running. You get hit mega-hard for failures like false starts.

3. Show Jumping - You don't just have to ride a horse in modern pentathlon. The rules state that you must ride an "unfamiliar horse." No bringing your own mount, one you've spent half your life training. The organizers assign you a horse at random (presumably a trained one) and you get 20 minutes to bond like hell with that thing before taking it out to jump over twelve obstacles. Hit something and get docked points. Fall off your mighty beast more than once and you get eliminated. Exceed the time limit by more than a minute and you're eliminated. Rough.

4/5. Combined Event – Time handicaps are tallied up from the previous events. The leader goes first, and everyone else starts based on how many points they're behind. About 20 meters down the way you'll come upon a shooting range. It's there that the most modern part of modern pentathlon takes place. You must hit five targets with a LASER GUN, "reloading" after each shot. Then you run 1000 meters. Then you hit another shooting range. Then you run 1000 meters. Then you hit another shooting range. In the end you've should have hit 15 targets and run a 3k. If you finish first, you win.

Modern pentathlon has had difficulty adjusting to its new modern laser gun, introduced in 2010 to save money and improve safety, at the expense of the old air pistol. At the last year's European championships, four top athletes failed to hit their five targets within the 70-second time limit.

"These are athletes with proven ability in the combined event who don't take 20-plus shots to hit five targets down," said Great Britain's Sam Weale, a medal contender this year. "This is athletes' careers and lives at stake, with Olympic futures in jeopardy."

The laser guns seem to have the most problems on sunny days—direct sunlight on the target can cause shots not to register. The sport's governing body promised to have these issues worked out by the Olympics, but the only concrete step they took was to make sure the shooting event takes place in the evening. So we'll see.

* * *

Who's good at this? The Swedes and Eastern Europeans have largely dominated the sport, with the last three men's gold medalists hailing from Russia. Women's pentathlon has only been an Olympic sport since 2000, and the competition has been much more wide open, with only the Brits medaling each time.

Modern pentathlon is also a sweet matchmaking sport. 1988 bronze medalist Vakhtang Iagorashvili of Georgia fell in post-Cold War love with USA pentathlete Mary Beth Larsen in the mid ‘90s. After they married, she finished fourth in Sydney, while he went on to compete for his adopted country of America in 2004.

Since the modern penthathlon is only guaranteed Olympic inclusion through these games, this could be your LAST chance to experience the strange disconnected greatness. So watch this badass promo video…and get psyched.

Lindsey Green is an Olympic obsessive. (Nearly a decade as a gymnast will do that to a person.) You can keep up with her Olympic thoughts and general sports pondering here and here. If you want to employ her for real reasons, then you should be a startup looking for PR.

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Michael Vick Just Did The One Thing You Never, Ever Want To Do In A Preseason Game (UPDATE) [Video]

Aug 9, 2012 8:57 PM  

Don't get injured. For any NFL player reasonably assured of a starting job, the last thing anyone ever wants to do in the preseason is get injured. That's why Eagles fans, in lieu of any more reliable information at the moment, are collectively holding their breaths after seeing Michael Vick slam his left thumb smack into the back of center Jason Kelce's helmet. NFL Network is reporting that Vick was sitting on the sidelines with his hand in a cup of ice water. More on this to come.

UPDATE (9:13 pm): NFL Network is now reporting that X-rays on Vick's hand came back negative. He should be fine.

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Everything You Never Needed To Know About Racewalking [Video]

Remember watching When Harry Met Sally, and thinking to yourself "What the hell are they doing?" as you watched Billy Crystal in spandex walking fast and funny through Central Park with Bruno Kirby? That was racewalking, son.

Racewalking isn't just for RomComs. It's a real-deal, throw-down, God-honest Olympic sport. The athletes just as elite and devoted as in any other event. The golds just as gold, the silvers just as silver, the bronzes just as, um, copper. Things just move...slightly slower.

You may have some questions.

What is Racewalking?

It's walking really fast.

Isn't that called "running?"

It's different from running because there are two limitations. You must keep at least one foot on the ground at all times. And your front, supporting leg must stay completely straight from the moment it touches the ground until your center of gravity passes over it. Failure to do so is called a "lifting infraction." You do not want a lifting infraction.

Here are some guys doing it right:

Try this, right now, in your office. Go on. You will look like a fool, but you will see that racewalking, despite being the exercise of choice for 40-something women wearing tracksuits and sweatbands, is decidedly not easy. But how did something with such seemingly arbitrary rules become an Olympic sport?

Racewalking traces its roots back to a 19th century pastime called "Pedestrianism," which was described as "competitive long distance walking events." Like most sport crazes of the time, working-class British and American folk loved it because it was ripe for betting. In 1876 the New York Times was ON IT and reported an epic Brooklyn pedestrianism battle between two dudes who walked 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours. These guys had "backers" whom the Times couldn't identify who urged them to push on for "the continuation of the match at any sum." It should also be noted that one of these guys fell ill due to "the effects of some drug mixed with a small quantity of brandy which he swallowed." Nevertheless, the men racewalked onward.

Pedestrianism was taken back from the gambling degenerates and made over with official rules by England's Amateur Athletics Association, and racewalking saw its Olympic debut in 1904 as part of the decathlon. Four years later, the sport got its own stage to shine with 1,500 and 3,000 meter walks. In 1932, racewalking started to take its current Olympic shape when the 50-kilometer walk was contested for the first time. The Men's 20K walk followed in 1956.

Today men compete in both 20K and 50K walks. Hey! Where all the ladies at? Well, apparently walking is a man's sport, because the chicks weren't given their own racewalking event until 1992. 1992! It took the Olympics 88 years to figure out that maybe women can also walk really fast without running. And even now, the 50K is only for dudes.

***

I know what you're thinking. You're all, "Whatever, it would be so easy to cheat at this." NOPE. Because in racewalking there are judges that follow you around, watch you like a hawk, and hand out RED CARDS that will crush your racewalking dreams by disqualifying you for breaking form. Three red cards and you're out of the race.

Disqualifications are a pretty common part of the sport, because as I would imagine it's wicked difficult to NOT BEND your knees when you're walking. Think those judges made a mistake? TOO BAD. As the USATF racewalking handbook states,

The Judges of Race Walking [Ed note: the sport can't quite decide if its own name is one or two words] shall have the sole authority to determine the fairness or unfairness of walking, and their rulings thereon shall be final and without appeal.

In addition to judges being infallible gods, athletes aren't able to jam out to their favorite tunes while walking either. It's just you and your thoughts in the racewalking world. Your CD-ROM player is specifically prohibited.

Athletes shall not use video or cassette recorders or players, TV's, CD or CD- ROM players, radio transmitters or receivers, mobile phones, computers, or any similar devices during the competition.

There's an out. The judges can't watch a walker's every step. There are only so many of them, and the course is many, many miles long. They know the competitors are cheating, but they acknowledge there's nothing they can do about it:

Some race walkers—novice and experienced—make special attempts to be 'super clean' when in a Judge's vicinity, and then their legality may be questionable in the areas between the Judges. Any decisions made should be based on observations within the Judge's "viewing area" and cannot be based on speculation, guess or hearsay.

In case you're wondering what disqualification looks like: Here you go.

Olympic racewalking history is littered with epic disqualifications, but perhaps none more gut-wrenching than what Jane Saville suffered in 2000. The hometown Sydney girl was leading in front of a roaring crowd. As she entered the tunnel toward the final stretch, a judge called her third and final lifting infraction. Disqualified on the spot. Saville collapsed in tears. When a reporter asked after the race what she wanted, Saville replied, "A gun to shoot myself."

Well, that's intense. Saville went on to win two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze in Athens in 2004. But those facts won't stop her Sydney story from haunting my dreams.

***

Now, Let's get down to business. Who's good at this?

Eastern Europeans have largely dominated the sport. Russia holds a vast amount of the world records. Poland's Robert Korzeniowski accomplished a first in Sydney by winning gold in both of the men's events. The old Iron Curtain nations probably do well because of that centralized-training, win-or-it's-the-gulag thing the Soviets had going on for a while. This is a theory, but it's the Olympics so I'm sure it's true.

You know who isn't good at racewalking? America. Only one American has ever won an Olympic racewalking medal: Larry Young scored bronzes in 1968 and 1972. And because America is usually good at everything, it brings up a question that appears on the FAQ page for the Race Walking Association: "Why Not Simply Run?" The RWA has an answer:

"Running is certainly faster, but one of the interests of sport is in achieving good performances within the restriction of the rules."

The Race Walking Association FAQ Page also addresses some other very pressing questions, such as: "Don't You Get Laughed At?" Their answer is gold-medal worthy:

It can't be denied that there are some idiots (usually overweight people in cars) who think that race walking looks funny... If other "athletes" mock, invite them to try it; remember to show proper sympathy when they collapse after fifty yards.

Before you go saying "This shouldn't be an Olympic sport!" Here's a fact that may cause you to think twice about the athletic prowess of these walkers:

Stride length is reduced, so to achieve competitive speeds, racewalkers must cadence rates comparable to those achieved by Olympic 400-metre runners-and they must do so for hours at a time since the Olympic events are the 20 kilometre race walk and 50 kilometre (31 mi) race walk.

That's actually kind of hardcore.

***

Race Walking in Action!

Check out this cute Russian chick dominate for a world racewalking title! As the BBC commentator states, it really is a "brilliant display of walking!"

This dude wins by nearly a minute! Sets a world record! Thrilling!

Racewalking!

Lindsey Green is an Olympic obsessive. (Nearly a decade as a gymnast will do that to a person.) You can keep up with her Olympic thoughts and general sports pondering here and here. If you want to employ her for real reasons, then you should be a startup looking for PR.

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NBCmetrics: Through Wednesday, South Korea Had 14 Medals, And NBC Had Never Mentioned It In Primetime [Nbc]

During the Olympics, we'll be analyzing NBC's primetime coverage sort of the way we analyze SportsCenter in Bristolmetrics. We'll break down what countries the Peacock is talking about, and which athletes are getting the most attention.

Data for Wednesday, August 1; 8 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Twenty most-mentioned athletes:

Misty May-Treanor (USA, beach volleyball): 59
Michael Phelps (USA, swimming): 56
Kerri Walsh Jennings (USA, beach volleyball): 49
Ryan Lochte (USA, swimming): 47
Danell Leyva (USA, gymnastics): 46
Troy Dumais (USA, diving): 28
Missy Franklin (USA, swimming): 24
Allison Schmitt (USA, swimming): 24
Nathan Adrian (USA, swimming): 22
Doris Schwaiger (Austria, beach volleyball): 21
Rebecca Soni (USA, swimming): 21
John Orozco (USA, gymnastics): 20
Stephanie Schwaiger (Austria, beach volleyball): 20
Kristian Ipsen (USA, diving): 19
Daniel Gyurta (Hungary, swimming): 16
Kohei Uchimura (Japan, gymnastics): 15
Kathleen Hersey (USA, swimming): 13
Kosuke Kitajima (Japan, swimming): 13
Shannon Vreeland (USA, swimming): 13
James Magnussen (AUS, swimming): 13

Countries, by number of mentions:

USA: 143
China: 42
Australia: 35
Russia: 19
Austria: 18
Great Britain: 16
Japan: 16
France: 15
Ukraine: 9
Canada: 6
Hungary: 5
Cuba: 3
Denmark: 3
Malaysia: 2
Belgium: 1
Brazil: 1
Italy: 1
Lithuania: 1
Netherlands: 1
Nigeria: 1
Poland: 1
Spain: 1
New Zealand: 1
Colombia: 1
South Africa:1

Cumulative prime-time mentions and number of Olympic medals won, through August 1

USA: 409 mentions, 37 medals
China: 139 mentions, 33 medals
Great Britain: 74 mentions, 15 medals
Russia: 68 mentions, 16 medals
Australia: 61 mentions, 11 medals
France: 57 mentions, 16 medals
Japan: 43 mentions, 19 medals
Ukraine: 28 mentions, 6 medals
Mexico: 21 mentions, 4 medals
Austria: 20 mentions, 0 medals
Canada: 18 mentions, 7 medals
Romania: 14 mentions, 6 medals
Hungary: 6 mentions, 5 medals
South Africa: 5 mentions, 3 medals
Germany: 4 mentions, 17 medals
Lithuania: 4 mentions, 0 medals
Cuba: 4 mentions, 3 medals
Denmark: 4 mentions, 2 medals
Brazil: 3 mentions, 4 medals
Tunisia: 2 mentions, 0 medals
Italy: 2 mentions, 0 medals
Netherlands: 2 mentions, 5 medals
Poland: 2 mentions, 1 medal
Malaysia: 2 mentions, 0 medals
Colombia: 1 mention, 3 medals
Spain: 1 mention, 2 medals
Morocco: 1 mention, 0 medals
Serbia: 1 mention, 1 medal
South Korea: 0 mentions, 14 medals

For a handy master schedule of every Olympic event, click here.

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Here's A First-Hand Account Of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s Olympic Triumph That You'll Never Forget [London Olympics]

Jul 31, 2012 11:00 PM  

The third set today between France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Canada's Milos Raonic featured 257 points, 91 winners, and 45 unforced errors. Tsonga won the third set, 25-23 — the longest in Olympic history. The National Post's Bruce Arthur was there, watching the entire match and becoming more incredulous by the point. Here is his account, preserved for posterity. Enjoy.

Bonus: If you've never read the Guardian's Xan Brooks and his live-blog of Isner/Mahut at Wimbledon 2010, drop what you're doing and go read it. (Even if you've read it before, check it out again. It holds up extremely well.)

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Denver Post Writer Says He Never Meant To Tweet About How "Horny" He Got While Covering The Olympics [Media Meltdowns]

Jul 31, 2012 6:05 PM  

So what prompted John Henderson of the Denver Post to tweet that on Sunday? Denver Westword noted that it appeared in Henderson's timeline not long after he had written separate blog items about a pair of teenage swimmers. Which is ... awkward.

The tweet remained posted for more than 24 hours, but it has since been taken down. So was Henderson guilty of leering in the press box? Well, sort of. He responded to Denver Westword to say it was all a big misunderstanding, see. Henderson had intended for the tweet to be a direct message to a woman with whom he had been, um, conversing. But, you know, he's a newspaper guy still getting acquainted with this whole Twitter thingamajingy concept, and—whoops!—the comment got shared with the entire world by mistake:

"Her comments made me horny. Not any athlete," he stresses, adding, "Good Lord, that came on the heels of a blog about a 16-year-old girl? I really hope nobody made that connection."

Oh, OK. That clears that up. Though now we can't help but picture Henderson sitting there along press row at the pool deck, just sex messaging away in between occasional glances at the 4 x 200 free relay. But at least he never tried to claim he was hacked.

[Denver Westword]

For a handy master schedule of every Olympic event, click here.

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Free Download Justin Bieber Never Say Never + 3 New Windows 7 Theme

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