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Red, White & Trending: July 20-26

By Jamie MacDonald | July 27, 2018, 5:44 p.m. (ET)

What are Team USA athletes — Olympians, Paralympians and hopefuls — up to when they're not competing? They're training. They're practicing. They're traveling to competitions and meets and games and tournaments. They're relaxing. They're getting engaged and married and having children. They're taking hard-earned vacations. Or retiring. Or coping with the raw emotions that come from losing and winning. And they're sharing. Through the reach of social media, we're able to follow along on their often extraordinary journeys. We'll catch you up each week on what's "Red, White & Trending."

 

Worth Thousands Of Words

Melissa Stockwell, mother of two. Two-time Paralympian. Paratriathlon world champion. Her son is still young enough to ride with an extra pair of wheels. But he’s old enough to make the trip that much more memorable for the mother and U.S. Army veteran with the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. So many pictures are worth so many words, and there are so many stories in this singular slice of a remarkable life.


Pool Cue

So, you say you want to be one of the best swimmers in the world, eh? How committed are you? As Team USA's national championships, part of the Team USA Summer Champions Series, presented by Xfinity, roll on in Irvine, California, it certainly wasn’t easy earning a spot to compete against the deepest swimming talent in the world.

Let’s not forget the other #swimmerprobs.

 

On a side note, one of the world’s fastest sprinters has the perfect, if unusual, “pets” to remind her to slow down:


Taking The Plunge

With no snow in sight, Olympic champion snowboarder Jamie Anderson still knows how to wow in the air.

 

Vermont 💙

A post shared by Jamie Anderson (@jamieanderson) on

Olympic cross-country skiing champion Jessie Diggins, on the other hand, is used to keeping her skis on the ground. But she’s clearly conquered any fear of heights.

 

Camp life ❤️

A post shared by Jessie Diggins (@jessiediggins) on

And then there’s Olympic alpine legend Lindsey Vonn. In her case, the degree of difficulty came from her underwater company. Happy Shark Week, y’all.


From Swimming With Sharks To …

On a night out this past week, Vonn managed to find a more convivial crowd, crushing some cotton candy and knocking out a boisterous rendition of a song she very likely has belted out before.


You Can Go Home Again

The most famous product of Pineview Park BMX, Olympic silver medalist Alise Post Willoughby, who is married to Aussie BMX Olympic silver medalist Sam Willoughby, made it back to the St. Cloud, Minnesota, track her father helped launch two decades ago. Olympic stories take so many turns, and so many of the best ones end up back at home — if only for a quick trip.

 


Women Of The Year

When almost all of the candidates for the honor of Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation, the same organization to which Elana Meyers Taylor was recently named president-elect, don the red, white and blue, it’s a pretty good year for Team USA. Upon the news of the announcement — and, yes, voting is now open — many of Team USA’s candidates, because it’s 2018, took to social media …

 

 

 

 

 

 


Kid Stuff

If we’ve learned anything over these past few years, it’s that if you’re invited to one particular awards show, you’re going to have to go green. The show has already made its debut, but a few Olympians’ posts made it out this past week, and they’re too good not to share.

 

 

Haters will say it’s photoshop ⚡️@cp3

A post shared by Ibtihaj Muhammad (@ibtihajmuhammad) on


On The Road Again

Congratulations are in order for Team USA’s newest published author, Olympic fencing bronze medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, who after the slime time, has taken the show on the road.

 

 

And, yes, the tour continues into August.


What You Can Do …

Hangtime: Who wore it better?


Team USA Teamwork

In a heartwarming show of spirit, when 2016 Olympian Courtney Frerichs went out and set an American steeplechase record this past week, and was followed in fourth by Emma Coburn, who won bronze in the steeplechase at the Rio Games, Team USA came out in full support for all these successes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then fellow Olympian Shelby Houlihan goes out and sets an American record in the 5,000-meter.

 

And on Monday? Frerichs was ready to move on to Brussels.


Introducing …

Perhaps there will come a day when Texas-born, 6-foot-1, 185-pound, 19-year-old Weston McKennie needs no introduction at all.

And a bit more from McKennie …


Not His First Rodeo?

Leave it to a bobsledding Olympian to take to rodeo life. Born in Los Gatos, California, Nick Cunningham dressed the part and fully enjoyed Caliornia’s largest rodeo.

 


Hockey Town

Few towns in the country are as tied to a sport as Warroad, Minnesota, is to hockey. So, when the Stanley Cup makes it back through town with Warroad native T.J. Oshie, it’s a natural to find another Olympian in Warroad native Gigi Marvin, a 2018 gold medalist, to add to the event.


Hitting The Pavement

Four-time Olympian and 2014 bronze medalist, not to mention self-proclaimed yoga enthusiast, Erin Hamlin, who competes of the great gravity sports of luge, will be trying her hand this fall at the grueling self-propelled event of marathon. Tick, tock … the first Sunday in November is approaching.


Yes!

No matter what preamble goes into the speech that leads to this sort of life-changing moment, there’s only one word that matters afterward. And 2016 Olympic sprinter Marvin Bracy heard it.

But he wasn’t alone this past week …

 


Team Training

In the heads of so many, the clock is ticking. Destination: Tokyo. And though two years out, that countdown is always on the minds of Team USA athletes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just as the horizon is on the minds of Team USA’s hopefuls and probables, Summer Sanders speaks for all Olympians and Paralympians.

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Related Athletes

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Chris Paul

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Ibtihaj Muhammad

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Courtney Frerichs

Track and Field
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Shelby Houlihan

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T.J. Oshie

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Gigi Marvin

Ice Hockey
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Marvin Bracy

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Natasha Hastings