RIO DE JANEIRO -- Serena. Simone. Solo.It shouldnt come as a surprise that some of the best-recognized names on the U.S. Olympic team belong to women. The Americans brought 292 women to Rio de Janeiro, an Olympic record for a single country. Their first gold medal of the games -- won Saturday by a woman, of course: Ginny Thrasher in shooting. Reporters from The Associated Press predicted the United States would capture 128 medals -- 69 by women and 59 by men.Among those winners could be:-Serena Williams, who already has four gold medals and could win two more -- one in singles and another in doubles, along with her sister, Venus.-Simone Biles, who has a legitimate chance to pull in a record five gold medals from gymnastics.-Hope Solo, the goalkeeper for the soccer team, which is trying for its fourth straight Olympic gold medal.-Katie Ledecky, a medal contender in five swimming events.This is the second straight Summer Games in which women have outnumbered men on Team USA. But when the number reached 292 for this Olympics, the Americans had a record. It was three more than China entered into the Beijing Games eight years ago.Its a surge that has peaked this decade, now 44 years since the passage of Title IX, the law that opened doors for women in college sports around the country. Many competing in the Olympics are either in, or about to become part of, the third generation of women to compete at the college level since the law was passed.We got a great head start in the U.S. because of the support they had in their schools and their colleges growing up, said Scott Blackmun, CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee. You look at 10, 15 years after the passage of Title IX, how great an impact that started having. You combine it with the collegiate structure we have and that helps define the success.No womens sport has become more high profile than basketball since Title IX. The U.S. has won six of seven gold medals since 1984 -- about the time the true impact of the law started being felt. Another win this year would strike a poignant note in the wake of the recent passing of Pat Summitt, the longtime Tennessee coach who pioneered the surge in womens hoops over decades.I look at the younger generation of womens basketball players and there is such a tremendous boat load of talent from, say, 10 years ago, said Geno Auriemma of UConn, who is coaching the U.S. team.He said Title IX led to the full funding of college sports across the board, which has led to the U.S. catching up in a few sports, like volleyball, and dominating in others.Weve talked about water polo, and how much weve had players before us pioneer our sport, said Maggie Steffens of the defending-champion U.S. team. Womens water polo wasnt even in the Olympics until 2000. And we had women who, in 76 and the `80s and `90s, dreamed of being in the Olympics and never got that opportunity, but made sure it happened for us. We want to make sure we do the best we can to represent those women.Womens soccer has enjoyed far more success than the mens game in the United States. The men didnt qualify for the Olympics. The women are favored to win gold for the fifth time since they were brought onto the Olympic program in 1996. On Saturday, Solo became the first goalkeeper to appear in 200 games in international play.Medal-contending women fill the U.S. roster -- young and old and in sports ranging from archery to weightlifting.At 16, hurdler Sydney McLaughlin will be the youngest to compete for the U.S. Olympic track team since 1972.At 30, Natasha Hastings is making her second Olympic appearance and could factor into the 400-meter mix, as well as the relay team. Though plenty of amazing women have run for the U.S. over the years, when Hastings looks for inspiration, she has plenty of choices. Hers happens to be a tennis player.Serena Williams is my sports female hero, Hastings said. Ive watched her and her sister play tennis since they were 12 or 13 and just change the game. What theyve done for womens sports, to me, is just amazing.---AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg contributed to this report. NBA Jerseys Cheap China Basketball Jerseys China . LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. http://www.nbacheapjerseysstore.com/ . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. Wholesale NBA Store . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. Cheap Basketball Jerseys China . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. TURIN, Italy -- Exhaustion is starting to set in at Juventus as the season continues, with cracks appearing in the five-time reigning champion.Like most of the top teams in Europe, Juventus is battling on two fronts -- its domestic league and the Champions League -- while most of its players are also involved with their national teams.The Bianconeri appeared on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages with two matches to spare on Wednesday before conceding a late goal to draw 1-1 at home to Lyon.There was a clear difference in our performance in both halves, Juventus midfielder Stefano Sturaro said. Its down to different factors, not least the fact that were coming off a very intense period, with many direct battles.Its OK for there to be a drop, it happens. We have had six matches in the past two weeks -- and very important ones at that.Juventus won most of those matches, but it surprisingly lost 1-0 at AC Milan on Oct. 22 and struggled at times during a 2-1 victory over Napoli last weekend.Its fans, spoiled by brilliant attacking football over the past few seasons, are beginning to get frustrated. Jeers could be heard toward the end of the match against Lyon.The fans can do what they want, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. I understand them because they always want a spectacle, but if they still want to be in the Champions League in March, they have to accept these moments in which you have to use your heads. Thats what will allow you to fight for your goals until the end.Allegri was more direct on Twitter, where he wrote: You dont win tournaments by playing 100 miles an hour in November: Lets get through the group and then well think about the rest.Not only has Juventus played several intense matches in a short time, but it has had to do so with many of the same players as the squad hass been affected by injuries.ddddddddddddHowever, veteran defender Patrice Evra said the problem was more psychological.We could look for excuses and blame it on the fatigue, but we dont want to do that, he said. The truth is that after controlling the first half, at the end of the match, with a bit of pressure and the desire to win to go through immediately, we backed off a bit and our character dropped.Allegri cautioned that plenty of time remains until March, when the team will have to be at its best, but more was expected of Juventus following its significant offseason.It signed record-breaking forward Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli, playmaker Miralem Pjanic from Roma, winger Dani Alves from Barcelona and defender Medhi Benatia from Bayern Munich.Those additions may be part of the problem: With the new players still settling in, Juventus has failed to play as a team and has struggled to carve out goal-scoring opportunities.And, while Higuain has stood out from the start, scoring seven goals in 11 domestic matches, more was expected from Pjanic, who appears to be struggling to fit in.Juventus, which visits struggling Chievo Verona on Sunday, leads the Italian league by four points. Still, several of those victories have been in matches where the team would have been expected to do better.That success has also carried over to the Champions League. If it wins its two remaining matches in Group H, against Sevilla later this month and Dinamo Zagreb in December, it will qualify for the last 16 as the winner of its group.Juventus doesnt need to look very far for inspiration. It started out worse last season, winning just one of its opening six matches before claiming a fifth consecutive league title. ' ' '
