Run Like a Girl

Welcome to Melanin MVP 👋🏾, where we celebrate minority women athletes making history. I’m looking forward to heading home for a little family vacation as I write this week’s sports highlights. When you reach the last word, let me know! 🥂

Women to Watch 🏅

• Masai Russell gets the gold medal in the 100m hurdles, winning by .01 seconds. She proclaimed her gold medal victory and she got it. Manifest it, whatever “it'“ is, this week and always.

• In addition to Masai Russell, Alaysha Johnson, and Grace Stark qualified for the 100m hurdles final. All 3 are first-time Olympians.

• Triple Espresso and the USWNT bring home the gold for Team USA, their first since 2012, and they celebrated with a top 5 most patriotic song ever. Sophia Smith got the ultimate birthday gift and she gets to share it with her team.

• Brazil Women’s Soccer team won the silver medal, thus marking the last Olympic Games for Marta Vieira de Silva. She is Brazil’s top goal scorer with 119 goals.

• Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won gold in both of her events in spectacular fashion. She won the 4x400m gold while on the second leg, clocking a run time of 47.70 seconds, the fastest split since 1982. In the 400m hurdle race, she won gold with at time of 50.37 seconds, beating her own previous world record to set a new world record for the event. Crown her!

• With Alexis Holmes at the anchor position, Team USA’s 4x400m team won gold by 4 seconds, securing the fastest time for any American team and the 2nd fastest time in the event EVER. This is their 8th consecutive Olympic win in this event. This photo should be hung in the Louvre.

• Anna Cockrell wins silver in the 400m hurdle event. The 2x Olympian pinned a powerful message to her younger self.

• Gabby Thomas is the first American track and field athlete to win 3 gold medals at a single Olympics since Allyson Felix. Winning gold in the 200m, 4x100m, and 4x400m races, she showed up and showed out for Team USA.

• Brittany Brown won bronze in the 200m race, and this photo of her at the end is actual footage of me after any menial task. This is her first Olympic medal.

• TeeTee Terry ended her individual Olympic pursuit as the 5th fastest woman in the world in the 100m race, and her team 4x100m race with a gold medal, celebrating in style.

• Melissa Jefferson rounded out the 4x100m team in their gold medal finish and celebrated with a little time on Sesame Street. 

• After taking home silver in the 100m race, Sha’Carri Richardson came back to help her 4x100m team win in a truly incredible and delightfully disrespectful way.

• Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon wins her 3rd back-to-back gold medal in the 1500m race, setting an Olympic record, and silver in the 5000m race.

• Marileidy Paulino sets the world record with her win in the 400m race with a time of 48.17 seconds, making her the first woman from the Dominican Republic to win an Olympic medal.

• Tara Davis-Woodhall earned the gold medal in the long jump competition and gave us the crossovers, yes plural, we didn’t know we needed (who am I kidding, we definitely knew we needed them). Her reaction to winning to gold and knowing that Simone Biles was watching were perfect. This quote from her is timely for everyone who knows it’s time to own how awesome you are.

• Suni Lee took home 1 gold medal and 2 bronze medals. When she wasn’t doing the best routines we’ve ever seen, she was hanging out with her fellow Olympians Katie Ledecky, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, and Devin Booker.

• Team USA 3x3 women’s basketball team took home the bronze. They are the only country to repeat as medalists in this event.

• Nafi Thiam is the only woman to win back-to-back gold medals in the women’s heptathlon.

• Imane Khelif wins gold in the 66kg women’s boxing event. A beautiful end to an ugly (and unwarranted) beginning.

• Irish sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke is a woman of Nigerian descent who came in 4th in both the 400m and 4x400 relay. She didn’t medal but she’s 21 and just getting started.

• Azerbaijani archer Yaylagul Ramazanova competed while 6 months pregnant. This quote from her is gold.

• Jasmine Moore is the first American woman to medal in both the triple jump and long jump events.

• Winfred Yavi wins her first Olympic gold medal in the 3000m steeplechase, setting a new Olympic record for the event.

• Yemisi Ogunyele, representing Germany, brings home the gold in the shot put.

• Beatrice Chebet of Kenya wins back-to-back gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m.

• While the U.S. women’s water polo team didn’t make the podium, they did compete for the bronze and had a spectacular run. Anchored by goalie Ashleigh Johnson, they are looking forward to redeeming the snap in their winning streak, which dates back to the 2000 Olympic Games.

• Adriana Ruano has gone from last to first in a heartwarming fashion, winning the first gold medal for Guatemala. She started as a gymnast, then became a volunteer at the Rio Games after an injury, where she discovered trap shooting. She placed last in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 for the event and came in first in Paris. Incredible.

• Jordan Chiles won the bronze for her gymnastics floor routine, which is now being contested (and potentially overturned) by Romania. No one can take away these photos and I hope the ruling is scrutinized to the level it deserves for such a prestigious award.

• Camryn Rogers becomes Canada’s first hammer throw gold medalist.

• Annette Nneka Echikunwoke wins silver in the hammer throw, becoming the first American woman to medal in this event.

• The Great Britain women’s 4x400 relay team won bronze.

• Shafiqua Maloney of St. Vincent and the Grenadines finished 4th in the 800m. Truly incredible journey to this global stage.

If you’ve read this far, I’d really appreciate you sharing this post with someone who might also enjoy it. It’s free!

Top Stories 📰

• Kevin Durant surpasses Lisa Leslie as the Team USA basketball player with the most points scored during Olympic play. I can’t wait to see the next woman to pick at that record. Any guesses or predictions?

• The Paris Olympics have been a huge success for NBC. Here’s an awesome thread detailing what they’ve learned as broadcasters and streamers. IOC president Thomas Bach said, "The broadcast and digital figures are going through the roof.... We are on track for more than half the world's population to follow the Olympic Games Paris 2024."

Only Fans 🏟️

• Tom Brady stans Simone Biles, as he should.

• Masai Russell’s high school cheered her on as she advanced to the 100mH finals.

• Tara Davis-Woodhall’s husband and Paralympian sported a Team Tara shirt as he watched her win her first Olympic medal.

• Sophia Smith’s husband sang her praises just before she went into the soccer finals game.

• If you want to see a smaller and younger version of TeeTee Terry do her signature celebration, look at these adorable photos.

• Steph Curry is star-struck by these Black women athletes, and rightfully so.

• Sydney Leroux and Alex Morgan give Naomi Girma her flowers. In honor of the political announcements made in the last week, we’d like to present to you the new Secretary of Defense.

• This Trinity Rodman-inspired hairstyle on this young soccer player is too cute.

The Last Word 🥂

• The 2024 Paris Olympics brought to light several critical issues affecting athletes (and society as we know it because *gestures wildly*). One of the most pressing issues was the impact of mental health on athletes' performance and well-being. Many prominent athletes opened up about their struggles with mental health, seeking therapy, and building sisterhood in a challenging, competitive environment. If athletes at the top of their game can be honest about the need for mental healthcare access, even when they’re not in crisis, hopefully, we (read = the US, humanity in general) can work towards destigmatizing this issue.

• The dichotomy of the US producing the most Olympic medalists yet failing to provide access to healthcare without bankrupting them is not lost on me. Many Olympians reportedly took advantage of their trip to Paris and used it as a time to schedule much-needed medical care visits. Honestly, it’s shameful, to say the least, when an athlete is celebrating their ability to get a pap smear within a two-week window at little to no cost to them. We can and should do better by our athletes and by our country.

Just a few more days of Olympic play, and a few more chances for the US to pass China for the most gold medals. What’s been the highlight for you during the Paris Olympics? I’ll share mine next week!