USA Swimming Taps College Coaches to Lead Team

USA Swimming is turning to a pair of veteran collegiate coaches to oversee the Olympic swimming team in 2020.

Dave Durden of Cal will be in charge of the men's team and Greg Meehan of Stanford will coach the women's in Tokyo, USA Swimming announced Monday.

The U.S. swim team won 16 gold medals and 33 total medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the best showing by the Americans in any sport. Bob Bowman coached the men in Rio and David Marsh guided the women.

"We are joining a list of coaching legends. It's not lost on either one of us," Meehan said. "It's the greatest honor of my professional career."

Durden and Meehan, both 42, have long records of success in the collegiate ranks.

At Cal, Durden works with Olympic champion backstroker Ryan Murphy and veteran sprinter Nathan Adrian. He has guided 24 individual NCAA champions. Besides Murphy and Adrian, the 2016 Olympic team included gold medalists Anthony Ervin and Tom Shields who have Cal ties. Durden is a four-time NCAA coach of the year.

Meehan is five-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky's personal coach. Other Olympic champions he's guided include sprinter Simone Manuel and now-retired Maya DiRado. He is a three-time NCAA coach of the year and led the Cardinal to national titles in 2017 and '18.

Canadian weightlifter Christine Girard received a 2012 London Olympic gold and 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medal in a ceremony on Monday.

She won the bronze medal in London in the 63-kilogram event. Girard was upgraded to gold after Maiya Maneza of Kazakhstan and Svetlana Tsarukaeva of Russia were stripped of their medals after retests of urine samples were positive for a banned substance.

Girard was awarded the bronze medal from Beijing after Irina Nekrassova of Kazakhstan tested positive for a banned substance.

Real Madrid's Modric wins Ballon d'Or

Luka Modric won the Ballon d'Or award for the first time on Monday, ending the 10-year dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Modric won the Champions League with Real Madrid and then guided Croatia to the World Cup final in July. He was voted player of the tournament.

"As a kid we all have dreams. My dream was to play for a big club and win important trophies," Modric said. "The Ballon d'Or was more than just a dream for me, and it is really an honor and a privilege to hold this trophy."

Ronaldo was second in the Ballon d'Or followed by France forward Antoine Griezmann. France's teen star, Kylian Mbappe, was fourth in the polling. Brazil star Neymar, who was third last year, was12th.

Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural women's Ballon d'Or.

Modric, who has won the Champions League four times with Madrid, was fifth in Ballon d'Or polling last year.

Ronaldo missed out on a record sixth award, which would have moved him one ahead of Messi.

Diego Armando Maradona's Dorados team has lost a 4-2 match to Atletico San Luis, quashing the Argentine legend's hopes of a championship in Mexico's second division and prompting a confrontation with fans of the victorious team

The Dorados of Sinaloa had won the first leg of the second-division final series 1-0, but saw an initial 2-0 lead slip away on an own-goal by Diego Barbosa on Sunday.

Maradona watched the game from the stands because he'd been expelled from the first-leg game for arguing. Local news media on Monday published videos of an infuriated Maradona hurling unprintable Mexican and Argentine insults and at one point trying to punch someone, apparently while leaving the stadium in the north-central city of San Luis Potosi.

Los Angeles FC has signed midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye to a three-year contract extension. The extension runs through the 2021 season with a club option for 2022.

Liverpool was drawn away to Wolverhampton Wanderers in one of two all-English Premier League matchups in the draw for the third round of the FA Cup on Monday.

Bournemouth and Brighton were also paired in the draw made at Stamford Bridge, the home of defending champion Chelsea.

The holder will begin the defense of the trophy on Jan. 5 with a home match against second-tier Nottingham Forest, which eliminated Arsenal last season.

Premier League leader Manchester City will also face second-tier opposition in Rotherham as does Manchester United, which is at home to Reading

Arsenal received an away draw against either third-tier Blackpool or non-league team Solihull.

Woking, one of two non-league sides guaranteed to be in the third round, will host Premier League team Watford. The other is Barnet, which is away to Sheffield United.

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