Die Macht » (13.0) and guard Tiffany Mitchell (11.9)

Katie Ledeckys Olympic Games are off to a flying start: The 19-year-old swimmer took gold in her first individual event Sunday night. And she didnt just win -- she blew her competition out of the water, finishing with a nearly 5-second lead and breaking her own world record in the 400-meter freestyle.By holding world records in the 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle, Ledeckys dominance continues to be astounding. During Sunday nights broadcast, as Ledecky quickly pulled ahead of the pack, NBCs Rowdy Gaines proclaimed: A lot of people say she swims like a man. She doesnt swim like a man -- she swims like Katie Ledecky.Indeed, the tendency to compare women athletes to men seems to arise no matter what, in an attempt to contextualize female athletic achievement in the male terms we understand as default.This girl is doing respectable times for guys, 11-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte told USA Today. Olympic silver medalist Connor Jaeger took the comparison beyond her impressive times. Her stroke is like a mans stroke, he told the Washington Post. I mean that in a positive way. She swims like a man.Lochte, Jaeger and most people comparing Ledecky to male swimmers are trying to be nothing but praiseworthy. And the idea that she has a mans stroke isnt entirely hyperbolic. As espnWs?Philip Hersh explains, her coach tweaked her mechanics to employ techniques rarely used by female swimmers:And yet, its easy to see why many on social media reacted strongly to the idea of comparing Ledecky to a man in the first place. Ledecky uses a stroke traditionally ascribed to men, but theres nothing about the skills required to employ that stroke that are uniquely male. Strength and timing can be acquired, and history has shown us that both improved training and increased access to sports helps close the gap between men and women athletes.This is demonstrably true in swimming. In 2012, the Atlantics Robinson Meyer found that womens world-record times in the 100 free have improved at a greater pace than the mens times since 1905. Interestingly, he also compared mens and womens world records across events and found that women come closest to men in longer races, particularly the 1500.Thats noteworthy with regard to Ledecky because, while she holds the world record in the 1500 free, she wont have the chance to swim the event in Rio. The womens mile is glaringly absent from the Olympic program, which has featured the mens 1500 since 1908.The reasons are vague and unconvincing -- everything from a lack of global reach to a dearth of public interest. But while the 1500 requires more patience from viewers than shorter races with more immediate excitement, theres no explanation for why that same reasoning isnt applied to the men -- nor why it also doesnt hold true for the 10K open-water swim, which was introduced to the Olympics for both men and women in 2008. As for the global nature of the womens mile, since the 1500 was added to the FINA world championship program in 2001, the event has hailed medalists from 11 different countries.The International Olympic Committee has thus far rejected FINAs attempts to push for the womens 1500 in the Olympics, citing too many events on the schedule. Thats a very real concern, and has led the IOC to foolishly eliminate other essential events in the past. (Welcome back, baseball and softball.)Having men swim a 1500 while the women swim an 800 harkens back to a time of immense resistance to all womens events, particularly those endurance sports thought to be too physically strenuous for delicate female bodies. And while that might not be the intention, its not happening in a vacuum. Its happening in a sports climate that tells women tennis players they cant play five sets, that belittles womens basketball and soccer players for hypothetically not being able to compete with the men, that delegitimizes womens sports entirely when athletes like Serena Williams or the UConn basketball team are deemed too dominant -- dominance for which Ledecky receives praise when its framed in mens terms.Its a vestige of still seeing sports as inherently male space, and of mostly male fans and commentators unable or unwilling to consider female athletes by their merits alone. Forgetting that half of sports fans are women, the narrative takes shape around terms to which the prototypical mens fan can relate. But when women are derided when theyre not as strong or fast as the men, yet simultaneously scorned when they dominate other women, we miss the point of womens sports entirely. We miss the fact that playing like a girl means something entirely different today than it meant 50 years ago.Its important to remember that Ledecky, who is going for a medal Tuesday night in the 200 freestyle, doesnt swim like a man -- she swims like Katie Ledecky. Mone Davis indeed does throw my curveball like Clayton Kershaw and my fastball like Mone Davis. There isnt a ceiling on womens athletic achievement, and strong female athletes will continue to innovate and evolve their events in terms of womens sports, not mens, even if and when that means competing on the same level.Regardless of comparison, womens sports need to be celebrated and enjoyed on their own merits -- by men and women alike. Whether you watched Michael Jordan as a Knicks fan, Mariano Rivera as a Red Sox fan or Nadia Comaneci as an American, you were still watching greatness, even if you were on the other team.So savor the moments you get to watch Ledecky and Williams and Simone Biles. Theyre not redirecting female athletes into a supposedly superior, male space. Theyre reframing womens sports in terms of potential. Alex Sandro Jersey .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Daniele Rugani Juventus Jersey . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. http://www.juventusfcpro.com/Kids-Rodrigo-Bentancur-Jersey/ . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Andrea Barzagli Jersey . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. Federico Bernardeschi Jersey . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. The Indiana Fever are hoping a lineup change pays dividends for the second game in a row.Indiana, coming off a 92-87 victory at Dallas, plays at Chicago on Wednesday afternoon. The Fever (6-9) and the Sky (6-8) are battling for the last couple of spots in the eight-team playoff as the league nears the halfway point of the season.Indiana coach Stephanie White inserted guard Erica Wheeler and forward Lynetta Kizer into the starting lineup against Dallas on Saturday. Wheeler scored 15 and Kizer added six as the Fever ended the Wings four-game winning streak.Were looking to find a lineup that can start the game really well on both ends of the floor, looking to find players who can give us a punch off the bench, and looking for the consistency to sustain that for a 40-minute ballgame, White said.It was just something that we did because we wanted to see what a different lineup looked like because we needed to find a way to start the game and third quarter better.Despite the win Saturday, Indiana has lost five of its past seeven games.ddddddddddddChicago has dropped four of five, including an 80-79 decision at the New York Liberty on Friday, when forward Elena Delle Donne scored a season-high 31 points. She leads the Sky with an average of 19.7 points per game.Guard Cappie Pondexter is the teams other double-digit scorer, averaging 13.6.The Fever also have two double-digit scorers -- forward Tamika Catchings (13.0) and guard Tiffany Mitchell (11.9).The Sky won the seasons first matchup against the Fever, 73-64 on June 10. Imani Boyette, a 6-foot-7 rookie center from Texas, posted her first career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.Indiana shoots just 27.3 percent from 3-point range -- ranking 11th in the 12-team league -- and that was a factor in the first meeting against Chicago. The Fever was only 4 of 24 from behind the arc in the loss. Guard Briann January led Indiana in that game with 17 points. ' ' '