Ackelia Smith is through to the final of the long jump at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Smith soared out to a mark of 6.59m to advance to the next round. The performance came on the heels of receiving heartfelt words of encouragement from her coach, Eldrick Floreal, after securing a seventh-place finish in the women's triple jump on Saturday.
Floreal, proud of Smith’s accomplishments, whispered to her after her final jump, "I'm proud of where you are currently, and I know you have the potential to medal. We just have to keep training and perfecting all the small stuff," Smith has revealed.
Smith, who turned professional shortly after winning both the long jump and triple jump titles at the NCAA Championships in June, achieved her best mark of 14.42m on her sixth and final jump. Reflecting on her Olympic debut, she expressed pride in her performance.
"I think it was a great effort," Smith said. "Not the best series, but only one good jump mattered. I was able to get one good jump to get to the finals, one to get to the top eight, and eventually one to get to seventh place. I have one more event here at the Olympics, and we're going to work together to get the most out of it," she said.
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
United States 1-0 Germany (aet): Smith sends Stars and Stripes to Olympics final
Sophia Smith's extra-time strike booked the United States a place in the Olympic Games final with a 1-0 win over Germany on Tuesday.
Mallory Swanson was denied a winner in normal time, and though Germany pushed for a late equaliser, Emma Hayes will take charge of a final in her first tournament as the USA's head coach.
Unlike in the group-stage meeting between these sides, which finished 4-1 to the dominant Stars and Stripes, it was Germany who almost took a first-half lead, with Alyssa Naeher reacting quickly to get down and push Jule Brand's low shot wide.
In the 86th minute, Mallory Swanson thought she had snatched a late winner – she latched onto Trinity Rodman's throughball and drilled her low shot across goal into the bottom corner, but the offside flag denied her.
Swanson turned provider five minutes into extra time, as Smith timed her run to perfection, darting in behind to beat Berger for power with a wonderful effort.
There was late drama though, as Naeher brilliantly smothered Laura Freigang's close-range header before Smith was denied a second goal at the other end by Berger's quick thinking.
Data Debrief: Smith's touch of gold
Smith has been in top form during the Olympics and netted her third goal in the competition as she carried her team into their 11th major tournament final.
She is also the second USA player to score in at least three consecutive appearances against Germany, after Abby Wambach - five straight from 2009-12.
Meanwhile, it was familiar heartache for Germany as they were eliminated in the knockout rounds of a major tournament (Olympics and World Cup) for the 10th time, with half of those coming at the USA's hands.
Swiatek 'hungry for more' after Olympics bronze
Iga Swiatek says she is "hungry for more" after claiming the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
Swiatek has been a dominant force at Roland-Garros, winning four of the last five French Opens, including this year's, after cruising past Jasmine Paolini.
The Pole was the favourite going into the Games too, and looked set to make good on that promise as she picked up where she left off on the clay court.
However, she suffered a shock straight-sets defeat to eventual gold-medallist Zheng Qinwen in the semi-finals, though she recovered to beat Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova in the bronze-medal match to claim Poland's first-ever tennis medal at the Olympics.
Reflecting on her time in Paris, Swiatek acknowledged the rollercoaster of emotions that came with the tournament and how much she has progressed since competing in Tokyo three years ago.
"After a couple of days, I feel ready to sum up this chapter... Joy, happiness, sadness, disappointment, satisfaction, hunger for more, pride and so many other emotions, thoughts... I'm still figuring it out, and I feel how valuable this experience was to me," Swiatek said in a post on social media.
"Maybe in the future, I will assess two weeks with a bigger picture and better perspective, but I already see a lot. First of all, how much progress I've made since Tokyo. How much I can do, how many opportunities I have to become a better player and human.
"But what's most important is how much I've experienced here. It was a special time that wouldn't be possible without my team and my family. Thank you for what you did for me.
"Zheng Qinwen, Donna Vekic, huge congrats to you! I'm grateful I could share the Olympic podium with you two."
Swiatek recently pulled out of the Canadian Open, but she will be back on the WTA Tour next week to compete in Cincinnati as she prepares for the US Open at the end of the month.
The 23-year-old, who is targeting her second grand slam win in New York, also expressed her pride at seeing tennis take the spotlight in Paris.
"When I'm thinking about the Olympics and tennis, I'm so proud how our sport was pictured in Paris.
"So many amazing matches, inspirational stories, amazing pictures from the opening ceremony where tennis players had a special place.
"We should appreciate that tennis plays such an important role in the world of sports. I'm happy that my story is part of it."
Jokic inspires Serbia to overtime victory against Australia
Serbia completed the biggest comeback in Olympic basketball history as they defeated Australia 95-90 in overtime.
Nikola Jokic had 21 points as Serbia overturned a 24-point deficit in Tuesday's quarter-final tie.
Adding to his points tally, Jokic also registered 14 rebounds and eight assists. Team-mate Bogdan Bogdanovic was also on form and finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and six assists.
While Australia had led by 24 points after 13 minutes, a stellar third quarter from Serbia saw them rally to lead.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists Australia edged the fourth quarter to force the first overtime of the competition at 78-78 but Jokic's Serbia proved too strong in OT.
They will face either the reigning Olympic champions United States or Brazil in the semis.
On the other side of the draw, Germany overcame Giannis Antetokounmpo's Greece 76-63 to reach their first-ever Olympic semi-finals.
The World Cup champions remain unbeaten in the competition despite Antetokounmpo's 22 points.
Franz Wagner’s 20 points helped the Germans overturn a 12-point deficit to line up a semi-final with the winner of France versus Canada.
"I think it speaks to our maturity," Wagner said. "We even talked about it at half-time, not everything's going to go perfect all the time.
"So you kind of recover from that and adjust and react. I thought we did a good job of responding."
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