Trey Hardee, Shotput (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
With just over a month to go before the Olympics, countries around the world have begun selecting their teams. This week happens to be both the US Track and Field and the US Diving Trials (probably on NBC, albeit severely edited, this weekend), which are two of my favorite pre-Olympic events: Track and Field because I was raised by a track geek, and diving because it’s just really cool to watch, and you always know when someone REALLY screws up.
Pictures of striving Olympic hopefuls, and a lecture to the wire service caption writers, after the jump.
Amber Campbell, Hammer (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Connor Fields, BMX (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Their trials were last week, but I forgot BMX was an Olympic sport now (and I bet you did, too).
Troy Dumais, 3M Springboard (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
The return of a past Ladies favorite:
Bryan Clay, Decathalon (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
And now, about those captions. It’s bad enough that someone at the Track and Field Trials presser today mangled Sanya Richards-Ross’s name into “Anaya Richard-Ross” so that it got listed that way on every press wire photo.
SANYA RichardS-Ross, Track (REUTERS/Mike Blake) She’s only got 3 Olympic medals already, don’t worry about getting her name right.
But when I went looking for a recent photo of Tyson Gay, US National Record Holder, third fastest man in history, and hopeful star in one of the biggest comeback stories for the US team, the wire services had his name right but listed him as being from Jamaica, only the US’s biggest rival in the sprint events in which Gay specializes. It’s called Wikipedia, caption writers. Look into it.
Tyson Gay, 100 m UNITED STATES record holder (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Happy Thursday! Remember to Fact Check!
Ladies... 