2016 ATP YEC Final: Djokovic-Murray XXXV To Decide Year-End #1 Ranking

The race for the year-end #1 comes down to a historic meeting between world #1 Andy Murray and World #2 Novak Djokovic in the very last  tour match of the year! After playing against each other in two major finals (2016 Australian Open and 2016 French Open) this year the two will play their 35 career ATP match in the final of the 2016 ATP year-end championship. Murray is playing in his very first ATP Tour Finals final while Djokovic is trying to win his 6th year-end championship and for the fifth consecutive year!

Murray has won his last 23 matches in a row, which has led him to a career-high #1 ranking but in the last six months where he has been ascendant (winning Wimbledon, the Rio Olympics singles gold medal and multiple Masters shields) he has not had to face any other members of the big Four (Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were injured and Djokovic was curiously  unproductive this fall). However, in his semifinal match, Murray played an intense 3-hour-38-minute match with Milos Raonic (who will end the year at World #3), saving 1 match point in the third-set tiebreaker and winning 5-7 7-6(5) 7-6(9) in what some are calling one of the best matches of the year. (It was the longest match ever at the year-ending championship, a record that Murray had set just a round before when he won another epic match in 3-hours-21 minutes against Nishikori. In contrast, Djokovic dismantled World #5 Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-1 in just over 66 minutes to get the right to retake the World #1 ranking and end the year at the top for the third consecutive year.

I'm glad that this is a 3-set match. Despite the fact that Djokovic has a 24-10 head-to-head record and appears to be playing some of his best tennis right now I still think this is Murray's best chance to beat him in a long time. It should be noted that 2 of the 3 major finals Murray has one he did it over Djokovic. But it will not be easy. I think the more likely result is a straight sets win by Djokovic. If Murray wins the first set, then I think he has a slightly better than 50% chance to win the match. But Djokovic has beaten Murray in all 4 indoor hard court matches they have played and leads him 3-1 in the four finals they played so far this year.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

2016 CINCY: Pliskova Denies Kerber's Bid For #1 Ranking

Angelique Kerber is having an amazing year. She has reached two major finals (2016 Australian Open and 2016 Wimbledon and won one of them). She also reached the Gold medal match of the 2016 Rio Olympics, losing to Monica Puig.

However, today was not one of them. She was two sets away from ending Serena Williams near-record 183-weeks-long hold on the #1 ranking on the WTA tour but was blown off the court in the finals of the 2016 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati  by Karolina Pliskova. Pliskova, who has a surprisingly tepid 5-9 record in tour finals, was able to play calm, powerful tennis to win in straight sets, 6-3 6-1.

With her loss Kerber will remain #2 and guarantees that Serena Williams will be #1 for 3 more weeksm thus tying Steffi Graf's record of 186 consecutive weeks at #1. Analysis shows that if both Kerber and Serena reach the women's final on Saturday September 10th, the winner will be the new #1.

2016 RIO OLYMPICS: Usain Bolt Completes Triple-Triple (9 Gold Medals In 3 Olympics)

Usain Bolt of Jamaica proved (again) that he is one of the greatest track and field athletes of all time by winning his 9th Gold medal on Friday, anchoring his country's 4x100m Olympics relay team to a 3rd consecutive win. Bolt earlier won the Olympics 100m for the 3rd time (in a time of 9.81s) and the Olympics 200m for the 3rd time (in a time of 19.78s).

Bolt is tied with American Carl Lewis and Finland's Paavo Nurmi for the most gold medals in track and field. Of course, American swimmer Michael Phelps has the most Gold medals (23!) of any Olympic athlete (plus 2 silver and 3 bronze).

2016 RIO OYLYMPICS: Murray Outlasts Del Potro For 2nd Gold; Nishikori Beats Nadal For Bronze

The tennis is complete at the 2016 Rio Olympics and Great Britain Andy Murray became the first player to defend his singles Gold medal (from the 2012 London Olympics) by outlasting a spirited challenge from 2012 Bronze medalist Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in a four-hour 7-5 4-6 6-2 7-5 victory. Del Potro had beaten 2008 Gold medalist Rafael Nadal and World #1 Novak Djokovic in two very high quality matches (featuring three tiebreaks all won by the Argentine) to reach this point. Nadal captured the Rio Olympics Gold medal in men's doubles with his longtime friend Marc Lopez. But Nadal was unable to win a medal in singles when Kei Nishikori of Japan defeated him in 3 sets in the Bronze medal match 6-2 6-7(1) 6-3.

Venus Williams became the first tennis player to win 5 Olympic medals when she earned a silver medal in the Mixed Doubles with partner Rajeev Ram as they lost to another American duo: Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock. Sock won a Bronze medal in men;s doubles by partnering with Stevie Johnson, defeating his usual doubles partnerVasek Pospisil of Canada (partnering with Daniel Nestor) along the way. Both Venus and Serena have four Gold medals (3 doubles together and 1 singles each).

2016 RIO OLYMPICS: Puig Wins Singles Gold Over Kerber; Kvitova Beats Keys For Bronze

Monica Puig of Puerto Rico pulled off one of the incredible upsets in sports by defeating not one or two major champions but three on her way to winning the women's singles Gold Medal in Rio. Puig, rated in the mid 90s at the beginning of the year defeated 2016 French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, 2-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and 2016 Australian Open champ Angie Kerber.

By winning the Gold medal match 6-4 4-6 6-2, Puig won the very first Gold medal for Puerto Rico. Kvitova won the Bronze medal match by outlasting American Madison Keys 7-5 2-6 6-2.

2016 RIO OLYMPICS: Murray Faces Del Potro(!) In Gold Medal Match

Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion and 2012 bronze medalist, is playing some of his best tennis in years. After dismissing World #1 Novak Djokovic in the very first round, the tall, gentle Argentine outlasted 2008 Gold medalist Rafael Nadal iof Spain n the semifinals, winning a 3rd set tiebreaker. He becomes the first player in the last five years to defeat Djokovic and Nadal in the same tournament.

Del Potro will face 2012 Gold medalist Andy Murray who defeated Kei Nishikori in the other semifinal. Nishikori escaped a 2-6 3rd set tiebreak deficit (4 match points!) to beat Gael Monfils in the previous round. Murray will be vying to be the first man to defend the singles Gold medal while Del Potro is trying to win his 3rd match against a member of the Big Four in the same tournament.

2016 RIO OLYMPICS: Djokovic, Serena, Venus, Aga, Muguruza All Out Of Olympics Early

The Rio Olympics have been beset by shocking upsets. All four #1 seeds (in Men's singles, Women's singles, Men's doubles and Women's doubles) have lost early! Novak Djokovic lost 2 tight tiebreak sets against 2012 bronze medalist Juan Martin del Potro in the first round of play on Sunday.

World #1 and defending Gold medallist Serena Williams lost in straight sets 6-4 6-3 to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, revealing what appears to be a troubling shoulder injury (she had 5 double faults in one service game!) The other defending Gold medalist Andy Murray is still in the tournament, as is 2008 Champion Rafael Nadal.

The women's quarterfinals are set, and the only major champions remaining in the draw are Petra Kvitova (who faces Svitolina) and Angelique Kerber (who faces Johanna Konta of Great Britain). American Madison Keys is only two matches away from playing for a medal, and she would have to beat Daria Kasatkina and then the Kerber/Konta winner to do so.

In doubles, both the Murray brothers and the Williams sisters lost their first round match.

2016 RIO OLYMPICS: 5 of Top 10 Not In Men's Draw; Venus and Serena in Same Half

The Rio Olympics has begun and half of the ATP top 10 is not there: Switzerland's Roger Federer (out with injury for 6 months) and Stan Wawrinka, Canada's Milos Raonic, Czechia's Tomas Berdych and Dominc Thiem of Austria. Rafael Nadal is playing all three events in Rio, but he is coming off a wrist injury which caused him to withdraw from Roland Garros and skip Wimbledon.

World #1 Novak Djokovic and World #2 Andy Murray are in Rio with Nadal. Murray was selected to be hold his country's flag in the opening ceremony. He is the defending champion, having won the Gold Medal match against Roger Federer at the 2012 London Olympics. Juan Martin del Potro won Bronze by defeating Djokovic, whom he faces in the first round here. Nadal is in Djokovic's half of the draw.

On the women's side, the draw has placed Venus and Serena in the top half together. The potential quarterfinals are: Serena versus Petra Kvitova (or Caroline Wozniacki), Garbine Muguruza versus Venus, Madison Keys versus Radwanska and Angelique Kerber versus Johanna Konta (or Sveta Kuznetsova).

SHOCK! Federer Out For The Rest Of 2016 Season (Will Miss Olympics & US Open), Returning In January 2017

Tragic announcement from Roger Federer today. He has decided to rehabilitate his knee for the rest of this year's tennis season and will skip the 2016 Rio Olympics, 2016 US Open and the 2016 Year-End Championships.

Federer was within one set of reaching the 2016 Wimbledon final earlier this month but lost to Milos Raonic of Canada. This will be the first year since 2001 that Federer will not win an ATP tour title of any kind. He only played 28 matches in 2016 and had a record of 21-7, although he reached the semifinals of both major tournaments he played in (lost to Djokovic at the 2016 Australian Open) this year.

Here's the official announcement:

Dear Fans,
I’m extremely disappointed to announce that I will not be able to represent Switzerland at the Olympic Games in Rio and that I will also miss the remainder of the season. Considering all options after consulting with my doctors and my team, I have made the very difficult decision to call an end to my 2016 season as I need more extensive rehabilitation following my knee surgery earlier this year. The doctors advised that if I want to play on the ATP World Tour injury free for another few years, as I intend to do, I must give both my knee and body the proper time to fully recover. It is tough to miss the rest of the year. However, the silver lining is that this experience has made me realize how lucky I have been throughout my career with very few injuries. The love I have for tennis, the competition, tournaments and of course you, the fans remains intact. I am as motivated as ever and plan to put all my energy towards coming back strong, healthy and in shape to play attacking tennis in 2017.

Thanks for your continued support.
 

I'm devastated! The opportunities to see Federer play live are becoming fewer and fewer...

TENNIS TUESDAY: Vika Pregnant, Davis Cup Semis Set, Rio Withdrawals, Sharapova Appeal Postponed

DAVIS CUP SEMIFINALS SET: CROATIA V FRANCE, GREAT BRITAIN V ARGENTINA
The United States started their quarterfinal David Cup tie with a surprising comeback win by Jack Sock over 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic and led 2-0 after the first day after John Isner bludgeoned Borna Coric with his big serve. Unfortunately, it was all down hill from there. The Bryan Brothers were unable to beat the doubles team of Cilic and Ivan Dodig, so then on the final day either Isner had to beat Cilic, or Sock had to beat Coric, and neither happened. France defeated Davis Cup stalwarts Czech Republic 3-1 when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated young gun Jiri Vesely. Defending Davis Cup champions Great Britain defeated Serbia without either Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic playing for their respective countries. Argentina outlasted Italy as the South American country made it to the semifinals for the 11th time but still has never won the Cup. The semifinals will be played the week after the US Open.

AZARENKA ANNOUNCES PREGNANCY, EXTENDED ABSENCE FROM WTA TOUR
2-time major champion (and current World #6) Victoria Azarenka announced via Twitter last Friday that she found out after Roland Garros that she is pregnant and that she intends to have the baby and then resume her tennis career afterwards. Interestingly, Kim Clijsters returned to tennis after having a kid and came back a much more mature player, and ended up winning three major titles as a parent (and had only 1 major win before getting pregnant).

ZIKA EMPTIES THE FIELD IN RIO: RAONIC, HALEP, BERDYCH ARE OUT
2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic joins the long list of highly ranked tennis players who will skip the 2016 Olympics in Rio due to fears of the Zika virus. In addition to Raonic,  fellow elite players Tomas Berdych and Simona Halep have also announced that they will not be making the trip down to Brazil for the prestigious sporting event. Previously, Nick Kyrgios, Bernard Tomic and John Isner have also said they are skipping the Olympics.

SHARAPOVA APPEAL OF TWO-YEAR DOPING BAN POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER
The decision on Maria Sharapova's appeal of her two-year ban for her use of the banned substance of meldonium has been postponed to September 19th, which means the 5-time major champion will miss two huge events: the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2016 U.S. Open.

EYE CANDY: Donnell Whittenburg

Donnell Whittenburg is a member of the 2016 United States Olympic Committee Men's Gymnastics team. He is on Snapchat as DonellW and Twitter as @D_whittenburg and Instagram as @donnell_whittenburg. Donnell is 21-years-old (born 8/18/1994) and according to the USOC, he is 5-foot-4 and 165 pounds. The Rio Olympics will be held from Friday August 5 to Sunday August 21, so hopefully he will celebrate his 22nd birthday with a great performance.

I think if you look up "built like a fireplug" you'll probably see a picture of Donnell!

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Sharapova Suspended For TWO YEARS Over Doping Violation

Maria Sharapova was banned from participating in professional tennis for 2 years, starting in January 2016, due to her March announcement of a positive drug test for meldonium and her subsequent admission that she had been taking the substance for over  a decade.

Here is a useful summary of the Sharapova saga from tennis.com:

In 2005, an 18-year-old Sharapova was suffering from various cold-related ailments and upper-abdomen pain. Her father, Yuri, took her to Dr. Anatoly Skalny in Moscow. Dr. Skalny prescribed “a detailed medicinal and nutritional regime which at the outset comprised about 18 medications and supplements” to boost her immune system. One of those medications was Mildronate—whose active ingredient is Meldonium—which he said should be taken before competing.  

For six years, Sharapova followed his regimen. By the end of 2012, though, having “found the taking of lots of pills overwhelming,” she hired a nutritionist and left Dr. Skalny’s care. Sharapova continued to use three of the substances he recommended, one of which was Mildronate, without telling her nutritionist, her coach, her trainer, her physio, her doctor in California, or any WTA medical personnel. 

“Nor was the use of Mildronate disclosed to the anti-doping authorities on any of the doping control forms which Ms. Sharapova signed in 2014 and 2015.” According to testimony, only Yuri and Sharapova’s agent, Max Eisenbud, knew that she took 500 mg of Mildronate on match days.  

The tribunal, in its boldest statement, flatly contradicted Sharapova’s assertion that she took the drug for medical reasons. 

“The manner in which [Meldonium] was taken,” it concluded, “its concealment from the anti-doping authorities, her failure to disclose it even to her own team, and the lack of any medical justification must inevitably lead to the conclusion that she took Mildronate for the purpose of enhancing her performance.”

I suspect  the World Anti-Doping Agency  (WADA) will reduce the ban from two years after Sharapova's appeal but WADA has definitely made a statement by going big on penalizing the most prominent female athlete in the world for a doping violation. Sharapova turned 29 on April 19th so if she served the full ban she would not be able to compete again until she is almost 31. Already she has ceded her longtime title as the world's highest-paid female athlete to Serena Williams. Would Sharapova retire if her appeal is unsuccessful at reducing the length of the ban? Marin Cilic was initially banned for 9 months and then it was reduced to the four months he had already served. When he came back from his suspension he was very motivated to play his best tennis and went on to win his first and only major (2014 US Open). Only time will tell how the Sharapova saga will unfold....

TENNIS TUESDAY: Sharapova Stuns Tennis World With Admission Of Failed WADA Test

5-time major champion Maria Sharapova piqued the attention of the world press when she announced over the weekend that she would be giving a press conference in Los Angeles on Monday, just hours after football legend Peyton Manning was scheduled to confirm his retirement from the world's most lucrative sport. This led to speculation that perhaps the 28-year-old Russian would announce her own retirement from tennis on Monday.

Instead, the highest paid female athlete in the world announced that she had recently received a letter from the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) that she had failed a drug test at the 2016 Australian Open. Apparently she had tested positive for the substance meldonium from a sample provided to WADA on January 26 (during the Australian Open), which had been added to list of banned substances on January 1, 2016.

Sharapova gave a press conference where she took full responsibility for the failed drug test and said that she had been taking meldonium since 2006 and that although she had received an email with a link to the new list of unapproved substances she did not personally look at the new list. Meldonium is not a drug that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (it is manufactured in Latvia).

There are many more questions raised by Sharapova's press conference. Here are just a few:

1. How long will she be banned from tennis for this infraction? (She has already been officially banned from professional tennis starting March 12, 2016.)
2. How did the most highly paid female athlete in tennis not have someone on her staff who regularly checks the list of substances the athlete takes and compares it to the current list of banned substances maintained by WADA?
3. Does Sharapova take the drug every day? What is the half-life of meldonium? Depending on how long meldonium remains in the system, perhaps 25 days after she stopped taking it, she tested positive for it. After all, if she had smoked marijuana on December 31st, it's very possible she could have tested positive for THC 3-4 weeks later.
4. Why has Sharapova been taking this drug for the last 10 years, and what effect does this have on her legacy as a player if she used a now-banned substance to (presumably enjoy an) advantage in tennis competitions for the vast majority of her professional career?
5. Will she be able to play in the Rio Olympics?

Sharapova is 28 (turns 29 next month) and an extensive ban at this time could push her into announcing her retirement for real this time, a reality she herself acknowledged when she said "I don't want to end my career this way, and I really hope I will be given another chance to play this game."

2016 AUS OPEN: Kerber Shocks Serena To Win 1st Major Title

Defying my predictions and confounding history, Angelique Kerber outlasted Serena Williams 6-4 3-6 6-4 to win her first major title, at the 2016 Australian Open. Serena was aiming to match Steffi Graf's career total of 22 major titles while Kerber was aiming to become the first German player since Graf to win a major title. Serena was 21-4 in major finals and had only ever lost to three women in major finals (Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Samantha Stosur). Kerber was match point down in the very first round of the tournament but after coming through that she was able to play her very best tennis calmly and effectively and after getting a dream draw was able to come back from a huge deficit against Victoria Azarenka and continue that momentum to reach her first major final against Serena and win it! Now that's two consecutive majors where we have had first time slam winners. First Flavia Pennetta did it in New York last September and now 28-year-old Kerber is the champion in Melbourne.

How The Match Was Won
Serena had not dropped a set going into her 7th Australian Open final, the first time she had ever done that, and since she had won all previous six finals in Melbourne this was viewed as a positive omen. However, what happened when the final began was that Serena started nervously and was broken quickly. This was a slight surprise, but since it had also happened against Maria Sharapova most fans didn't worry and fully expected Serena to right the ship quickly. She did come back and evened the set at 3-all. Then surprisingly, Serena got broken again and Kerber's improved serve was able to carry her to take the first set in the face of  nearly two dozen unforced errors from her opponent and (ominously) no aces.

Surprisingly, we then discovered that Serena has only won 2 of 6 grand slam finals where she loses the first set, although she had never previously lost a 3-set major final (8-0). So, the key thing to do is win the first set when playing Serena in a final (because it usually means that she is having a very bad day and may actually go down in straight sets).

Serena finally started serving a bit better in the second set, but she never really punished Kerber's second serve like it deserved. However, she was able to get a break early and rushed out to a 4-1 lead, which she was able to maintain to take the middle set 6-3. (Kerber did well to hold after being down 2-5, 30-all to force Serena to serve out the second set and earn the right to serve first in the 3rd.)

The third set was one of the most compelling sets of tennis on the women's game in a really, really long time. Kerber hit 12 winners and only 3 unforced errors while Serena hit 19 winners and 18 unforced errors. Serena fell down 0-2 but was able to battle back to even the score at 2-all and after Kerber held the two played an intense 10-minute, 5-deuce game that Serena lost to go down 2-4 in the final set. Kerber was again able to hold despite not serving well (she was 56% first serves in for the match and won 60% of first serves points and 58% of second serve points, all stats in which she surpassed Serena today.)

Amazingly, despite being down 2-5 in the final set, Serena was able to come back and get back on serve, and she had a game point serving at 4-5, 40-30 but she missed that first serve and hit a very weak second serve which Kerber pummeled down the line for a winner to get to deuce. After a long rally, Serena went for a crosscourt winner but hit the top of the tape and set up championship point. Serena lost this point on a volley error (it was an easy volley that sailed well over the baseline).

Overall, a really great match. Serena was nervous, and frankly had the wrong game plan to come to net in an attempt to win points. Kerber was too fast and her lefty spin makes volleying difficult and it showed with Serena only making 15 of 32 net points. However, I'm happy to see Serena so fot so early in the year and I'm confident that if she stays healthy all year Serena will still reach Steffi's total of 22 titles this year (and probably end her career with 24 or 25). It takes the pressure off the rest of her year, so she should be extra motivated to get 22 in either Paris, Wimbledon (more likely) or New York (in addition to more Gold in Rio).

Kerber will move up to World #2 when the rankings come out on Monday, bumping down Simona Halep to #3 and elbowing out Sharapova out of the Top 5 as Radwanska and Muguruza round out the top 5. Amusingly, Pennetta is still in the Top 10 at #7 even though she retired at the end of 2015! I think it will be tough to end the year at #2 but I do expect her to remain in the Top 5 and to see Azarenka return to the Top 5 by the end of the year.

TENNIS TUESDAY: WTA Awards Announced, Fedberg Ends, Swiss Sweep Doubles In Rio?

WTA AWARDS ANNOUNCED AND WILLIAMS SISTERS WIN BIG
The WTA Awards were announced today and for the seventh time in her career Serena Williams was named the WTA Player of the Year. Other big awards announced were Doubles Team of the Year (Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza), Most Improved Player of the Year (Timea Bacsinszky), Newcomer of the Year (Daria Gavrilova) and Comeback Player of the Year (Venus Williams).

ROGER FEDERER ENDS COACHING RELATIONSHIP WITH STEFAN EDBERG
Roger Federer announced that Stefan Edberg will not be part of his coaching staff in 2016. Former ATP pro (and Federer friend) Ivan Ljubicic will join the team, with Severin Luthi remaining as head coach of Team Federer. Ljubicic had been coaching Milos Raonic for the last two years,

DOUBLES PAIRINGS FOR 2016 RIO OLYMPICS COMING INTO FOCUS
Federer has agreed to play Mixed Doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics with Martina Hingis, who is part of the current Best Doubles Team of the Year. Federer famously won the Men's Doubles With Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, so one would think that they would have a good chance in 2016 now that the team has 19 major singles titles between them. Additionally, the Women's Doubles team of Belinda Bencic (or Bacsinsky) with Hingis would be hard to beat. Could Switzerland sweep the doubles medals next year?

2013 BEIJING: Serena d. Jankovic To Win 56th WTA Title

Serena Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-2 for her 10th title of the year and 56th of her career. She now has 73 wins and only 4 losses in 2013. Despite the lopsided score the final was not without drama as both players appeared to be struggling with injuries in the second set, with Jankovic calling for the trainer after the third game even though Serena was the one who was grimacing in pain and had just been broken. However when she returned to the court with her hip taped Jankovic was unable to trouble the World #1 and the match was soon over with Serena winning the last five games.

Serena is now 7th on the all-time list of WTA titleholders:

Additionally, Williams now has 56 WTA titles to her name, separating herself from Virginia Wade and Lindsay Davenport for standalone seventh place on the all-time list of most WTA titles - she now trails only Martina Navratilova (167), Chris Evert (154), Steffi Graf (107), Margaret Court (92), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (68) and Billie Jean King (67). She had been tied with Wade and Davenport at 55.

I think it is pretty likely that Serena will end her career at #5 on the list. She should be able to win a dozen more titles in the next two years and she has said that she wants to play until the Rio Olympics.

Rio de Janeiro Enacts Marriage Equality

Followers of this blog know that I love lots of things from Brazil (such as handsome, muscular, scantily clad Brazilian male models) and am following marriage equality developments around the world closely as well.

These two interests combine with the news that the state of Rio de Janeiro (which contains the city of the same name) has become the 11th state in Brazil to enact marriage equality.

In 2011, the federal Supreme Court ruled that all gay couples in Brazil should have the right to enter into civil unions but stopped short of a same-sex marriages. The ruling gave “stable” couples the right to benefits enjoyed by straight married people, relating to benefits, inheritance and tax.

The decision to allow gay couples to marry is one taken by each of the 26 of the states that make up the country.

In some states, same-sex couples have to apply to a court to have their civil unions converted to a marriage.

Today’s decision means that 15 days after the publication of a union of a gay couple in Rio de Janeiro, they will be legally considered as married, with the agreement of a judge.

Last year I blogged about Sao Paulo, the most populous state in the country, enacting marriage equality which had an impact on 41 million people. So far, only 11 of Brazil's 26 states have said that civil unions can be treated as civil marriages. Brazil has a population of nearly 200 million so it is very likely that it is the country which has the most number of people where marriage equality is available.

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0

Olympiad XXX: 10 Out LGBT Athletes Win Medals

The London  Olympics are now over but Outsports.com is reporting that 10 LGBT athletes were able to win Olympic medals!

They are:

• GOLD: Seimone Augustus, USA, Basketball. The U.S. women's basketball team was arguably the most dominant team in any sport at these Olympics.
• GOLD: Carl Hester, Great Britain, Equestrian. Hester and his two teammates won Great Britain's first-ever Team Dressage gold. Hester finished fifth overall in the individual competition.
• GOLD: Marilyn Agliotti, Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel, Kim Lammers, Maartje Paumen, Netherlands, Field Hockey. The Dutch women beat Argentina, 2-0, in the gold medal match. Paumen and Dirkse van den Heuvel scored the team's two goals.
• GOLD: Megan Rapinoe, USA, Soccer. The Americans beat Japan, 2-1, in the gold medal match. Rapinoe had a key pass in the game. She also had two big goals in the semifinal match. Coach Pia Sundhage is also openly lesbian.
• SILVER: Judith Arndt, Germany, Cycling. Arndt was the first out athlete to win a medal in London, taking silver in the road race time trial.
• BRONZE: Edward Gal, Netherlands, Equestrian. Gal was on the bronze-medal team for Team Dressage; He finished ninth overall in the individual event.
• BRONZE: Lisa Raymond, USA, Tennis. Raymond and partner Mike Bryan won the mixed doubles bronze medal.

I love this observation by Cyd Zeigler, the co-founder of outsports.com:

If Team Gay was a country, it would have finished 31st overall with seven medals, tied with Mexico, Ethiopia and Georgia. They would have beaten the medal count of such countries as Jamaica, Ireland, Argentina and India. They would have finished 21st overall for most golds (four), tied with Iran, Jamaica, Czech Republic and Korea.

Go Team Gay! See you in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016!

Olympiad XXX: Bolt Wins 200m Gold, Cements Iconic Status

Usain Bolt became the first man ever to win the 100m and 200m races in two consecutive Olympics, proving his iconic status as the greatest sprinter of all. His time of 19.32 beat out his countryman Yohan Blake's 19.44, who beat another Jamaican Warren Weir's time of 19.84. Thus Jamaica swept the 200m and only an American bronze medal performance by Justin Gatlin in the 100m prevented a double sweep of the most prestigious (and lucrative) races in athletics.

Former Olympic medal silver medalist for Trinidad and Tobago Ato Boldon was quoted by the New York Times as saying that Bolt's win "end[s] the debate about who is the  greatest sprinter in history."

Bolt has now won gold medals in the 100m (9.69s) and 200m(19.30s) at the Beijing Olympics and at the London Olympics. Might he continue his reign in Brazil at the Rio Olympics in 2016? He will only be 29 years old them. He currently holds the Olympic (9.69s) and world record (9.58s) in the 100m as well as the Olympic (19.30s) and world record ((19.19s) in the 200m. The 200m is widely considered his stronger event for the 6'5" phenom.