FRESH 4RM GIM

Rio Olympics: Inside Brazil's Massive Security Operation 2:02 U.S. intelligence has assigned more than 1,000 spies to Olympic security as part of a highly classified effort to protect the Rio 2016 Summer Games and American athletes and staff, NBC News has learned. Hundreds of analysts, law enforcement and special operations personnel are already on the ground in Rio de Janeiro, according to an exclusive NBC News review of a highly classified report on U.S. intelligence efforts. In addition, more than a dozen highly trained Navy and Marine Corps commandos from the U.S. Special Operations Command are in Brazil, working with the Brazilian Federal Police and the Brazilian Navy, according to senior military officials. The U.S. military, as expected, has placed larger military units on call should a rescue or counterterrorism operation be needed, the officials said. Brazilian soldiers patrol around the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. JEWEL SAMAD / AFP - Getty Images The cla...

  Real Madrid could be without their best player when they start the 2016/17 La Liga season, as Cristiano Ronaldo continues his recovery from a knee injury, per Reuters (via the Guardian). Zidane Willing to Be Patient with Ronaldo's Recovery "Right now he still has his injury," said Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, per Reuters. "Obviously he wants to be back but we need patience and for him to be calm. He will be back with us soon in Madrid." Ronaldo suffered a knee injury at Euro 2016 as he captained Portugal to championship glory in France. The attacker was forced off the field of play after a crunching tackle from Frenchman Dimitri Payet. The player took an extended break in Ibiza after the tournament as he waited for further news of his knee injury, per Michael Gadd of the Mirror.  Ronaldo had his knee strapped as he cheered on his national team from the technical area, breaking down in tears at the final whistle as he achieved international h...

RIO DE JANEIRO — Besides being really, really good at gymnastics, the U.S. women have a good sense of humor. Gymnasts are short, that’s just a fact. And in an Olympic Village where most athletes have at least a foot and 100 pounds on them, yeah, they’re going to stand out. There’s not much they can do about that, so they may as well get a laugh out of it. The U.S. women have been entertaining themselves by taking photos with really tall athletes. The best is the 4-8 Simone Biles standing back-to-back with U.S. volleyball player David Lee to show their 2-foot height difference. (If you haven’t seen it yet, Google. It will make your day.) “I feel like Simone is just so much shorter that it just looks even more ridiculous,” team captain Aly Raisman said, laughing. “When Simone gets up for a photo they’re like, `Oh my God, you’re so tiny!’ ” Added Gabby Douglas, the “tallest” of the group at a little over 5-2, added, “It’s just funny. I think everyone recognizes us when we wal...

Nigerian Olympic male football team, popularly called the Dream Team, on Friday, beat the Japanese U-23 side 5 goals to 4, in a pulsating encounter which held at the Manaus Stadium, in Brazil. The Coach Samson Siasia tutored boys defied all the odds to defeat Japan in the thrilling Group B encounter in Manaus despite arriving in Brazil just hours before their first game in the early hours of Friday. Oghenekaro Etebo was the star of the show, scoring four goals, while the impressive Umar Sadiq added the other goal to secure the win for Nigeria, reports Compelete Sports. Japan had the game’s first chance but Emmanuel Daniel made a point blank save before Sincere Seth cleared away for a corner. The game got off to a blistering start when Sadiq opened the scoring in the fifth minute after imoh Ezekiel’s initial shot was stopped by Japan keeper. A minute later Japan equalised from the penalty spot through Shinzo Koroki after Amuzie fouled inside the box. In the ninth minute, Etebo put N...

GETTY Takuma Asano has told FIFA.com that he is ecstatic to have joined Arsenal, having initially been unsure about a move. It was confirmed last month that the Gunners had agreed a deal to sign the Japanese striker from Sanfrecce Hiroshima. He said: "I had the offer from Arsenal. Of course, I was still not sure whether to go or not. I talked with my family and friends and felt good about the decision after talking with them. “I’m ecstatic about everything! With the Olympics and also for Arsenal - I’m still not sure if I’ll actually play for Arsenal right away in the coming season, but definitely I’ll try my best." GETTYRETURN: Wojciech Szczesny has rejoined Roma on loan Arsene Wenger has told Chuba Akpom he will not leave the club before the season starts, the Daily Telegraph report. Wenger may have to start the 20-year-old in the Premier League opener against Liverpool next week with Olivier Giroud yet to return to training after his exploits at Euro 2016. Akpom spent last...

The Nigerian U-23 National Team returned to training on Friday evening, having skipped their workouts for about two days according to reports by Allnigeriasoccer.com. It should be noted that the squad resuming training Friday was not as a result of the story published by this website, as the players were preparing for training as at the time of writing. The 18 players trained under the guidance of manager Samson Siasia and the session lasted for about two hours. Meanwhile, players and officials remain stranded in Atlanta, don’t know when they are leaving for the Olympic Games in Rio and are praying for manna to fall from heaven.

There's a rush to judgment with everything in today's sports world, and NBA rookies often get the worst of it. No sooner has commissioner Adam Silver announced selections before they're graded and anointed as franchise saviors, busts or anything in between. Truth be told, it takes years to accurately assess how these young hoopers transition to the big stage. But a good chunk of freshmen will provide immediate returns, and a select few could make major contributions in their initial campaign. Starting spots aren't handed out to rookies based on talent alone, though, that obviously plays a major part. Opportunities are also determined by the overall roster makeup and whether a franchise intends on competing or developing young talent. Over the past five seasons, 30 players started more than 41 games as rookies. That's an average of six per year. My crystal ball only sees five freshmen clearing that mark, though, there are a couple who could be surprise me...

Liverpool overwhelmed AC Milan in Saturday's International Champions Cup showdown at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, 2-0. It was the second ICC match for each side, and Divock Origi and Roberto Firmino spearheaded Liverpool's efforts with the two goals. The Premier League team was also impressive on the defensive side, as Milan's offense failed to score despite a handful of solid opportunities.  Milan, which plays in the Serie A in Italy, stayed within striking distance thanks to solid play from goalkeeper Gabriel, but Liverpool's consistent pressure was eventually too much with two second half goals. The Reds finished with 60 percent of the possession and 12 shots compared to seven from Milan, per ESPN FC. Despite the two second-half goals and offensive momentum from the victorious Liverpool, neither team found the back of the net in the first half. However, Liverpool controlled the pace and finished the opening 45 minutes with 62 percent of ...

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored on his debut, as Manchester United thrashed Galatasaray 5-2 in a pre-season friendly at Nya Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden on Saturday.  Ibrahimovic opened the scoring in the opening moments in his homeland; however, United fell behind before the interval after goals from Sinan Gumus and Bruma. The break appeared to reinvigorate Jose Mourinho's troops, who went on to score four unanswered second-half goals through a Wayne Rooney brace, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata. Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/Associated Press It did not take the former Paris Saint-Germain striker long to get off the mark for his new club, as he scuffed an overhead kick into the ground and into the bottom corner inside four minutes. Antonio Valencia was the provider who chipped a cross toward the penalty spot over the head of Rooney. Fortunately, Ibrahimovic was on hand to divert the ball on target. MUTV provided footage of the Swede's first goal in United colours...

Davido and his crew are currently in Congo. The superstar was scheduled to perform at a show last night but unfortunately he could not. He shared the details on his snapchat saying that a riot broke out between the police and his fans and things got really crazy. He also added that one of the people that were supposed to open for him got raped as a result.

Jon Super/Associated Press Liverpool have reportedly settled on a £15 million fee for winger Jordon Ibe and have allowed him to hold talks with Bournemouth. James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo relayed the news on Thursday:

Head coach of Nigeria’s U-23 team, Samson Siasia, has called on the president of the country, Muhammadu Buhari, to come to their rescue, saying “we cannot be going for Gold and we are begging for money.” The country’s team to this year’s Olympic Games, are currently training in Atlanta, USA, but Siasia has spoken out about some of the challenges they are facing.

 How time flies.Twenty years ago, the world celebrated Nigeria here. 24 hours after Chioma Ajunwa won Nigeria’s first and only individual Olympic gold medal, the only Dream Team Nigeria ever had dazzled to Nigeria’s second gold. It was in soccer. It was the first time an African country would clinch such diadem. History was made. Truly, it was a Dream Team. Nwankwo Kanu , Daniel Amokachi, Victor Ikpeba, Taribo West, Uche Okechukwu, Mobi Oparaku, Garba Lawal, Sunday Oliseh etc. The array of stars earned them the name Americans gave their Basketball team that boasted their best ever. Nigeria copied them but subsequent Olympic teams have erroneously been tagged Dream Team.

 Britain’s Andy Murray survived a major mid-match blip to beat France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Kevin Mitchell at Wimbledon The vapour trails of Roger Federer’s extraordinary comeback against Marin Cilicwere still fresh on Centre Court when Andy Murray fought through the gloaming to survive a brutal five-set examination of his resolve by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals against Tomas Berdych on Friday. It was by far his toughest match of the tournament – rightly so, against the highest-ranked player of the five he has faced – before he prevailed 7-6 (12-10), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 in three hours and 53 minutes of high drama.

The Wales defence can only watch as Cristiano Ronaldo heads in the opening goal of the Euro 2016 semi-final for Portugal. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters Gareth Bale had made the point that Wales’s historic run to the Euro 2016 semi-final had somehow not felt real. “In a way it doesn’t,” he said earlier in the week. As the madness swirled on the outside and the national fervour pulsed back at home, they had gone game by game, living inside their bubble. This was the night when it popped, when the brutal reality intervened and when Cristiano Ronaldo decided it was time he made a grand statement at this championship. There had been the fear among the Wales support that, after some erratic performances,