Olympics Trending: Lochte, Phelps, Gabby

August, 3, 2012
8/03/12
11:00
AM ET
By Bill Speros | Special to ESPN.com


Make a wish. Blowing out those candles should be a piece of cake:



Lochte, who turns 28, told NBC that this is the first birthday he's had since he was 12 when he didn't have to swim. And there's plenty else celebrate -- even if it's not all gold:

Michael Phelps ended his rivalry with Lochte with a victory in the 200-meter IM. Lil Wayne had tweeted his support of Phelps earlier:



He also lauded Gabby Douglas, whose Olympic gold medal in the women's all-around carried impact far away. She was the first African-American to win an all-around gymnastics gold medal and the fourth female U.S. Olympian:



The American gold medalists were big winners on Facebook, as well. Phelps was the most talked about athlete on the social media platform in the United States, according to NBC/Facebook, and Douglas was fourth on the list. Missy Franklin (second), Lochte (third) and McKayla Maroney rounded up the top five. Phelps and Franklin were tops globally as well, with Brazilian soccer star Neymar in third place. Those figures were released prior to NBC's prime-time telecast Thursday.

How about this admission from former U.S. national team member Carly Geehr -- who fessed up on Quora about how much Olympians pee in the pool. She wrote: "Nearly 100% of elite competitive swimmers pee in the pool. Regularly. Some deny it, some proudly embrace it, but everyone does. ... Just about the only time you can get away with peeing during a race is during a breaststroke pullout."

Now let's jump back into the pool:



Team USA used 29 3-pointers to bury Nigeria 156-73 in the highest-scoring game in Olympic basketball history. Carmelo Anthony had 37 points and 10 3-pointers, in just 14 minutes of playing time:



We can't believe it, either.

LeBron James' hardest work of the day came in the gym before tipoff, as seen in this photo collage on Instagram with the simple caption "Game Day Pilates session."

From LeBron James via Instagram


The track and field competition begins Friday in London. Sanya Richards-Ross was channeling her inner Bart Scott on Facebook. It's safe to say she can't wait. "The wait is FINALLY over! So excited to get on the track tomorrow in round 1 of the 400m. WOOOHOOOO!!!" Her husband, Jaguars cornerback Aaron Ross, had a good a excuse to miss a few days of camp. He practiced with the team on Thursday before heading to London.



Florida Gator Tony McQuay runs for Team USA in the 400-meter event but has to wait until Saturday:




Cheers.

If you see any offbeat and fresh Olympic-related links from your favorite sports site or catchy tweets that might be of interest to others, pass them along to me @billsperos or bsperos1@gmail.com.

Tags:

LeBron James, Ryan Lochte, Lil Wayne, Michael Phelps, Oprah Winfrey, Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Missy Franklin, Erika Wright, Carly Geehr, Tyler Clary, Kevin Perry, Bart Scott, Aaron Ross

SPONSORED HEADLINES

ESPN Conversations


You must be signed in to post a comment

Already have an account?

You are fully responsible for the content you post. Content that includes profanity, personal attacks or antisocial behavior (such as "spamming" or "trolling"), or other inappropriate content or material will be removed. We reserve the right to block any user who violates our terms of use, including removing all content posted by that user.

RECENT UPDATES

SUBSCRIBE:

BLOG ARCHIVE:

CATEGORIES:

SEARCH THIS BLOG

ATHLETES ON TWITTER

ESPN on Twitter »