Before she could fully dry off and savor becoming the first American female swimmer to earn nine Olympic gold medals, Katie Ledecky was asked to turn her attention to 2028 and whether she would seek to compete in a fifth consecutive Games.

Ledecky will be 31 then, an age that’s considered advanced by most swimming metrics, but it’s hard not to wonder if accepted norms really apply to someone whose 14 Olympic medals are tied for fifth-most all-time and who is only the second swimmer and sixth athlete to earn gold in the same event in four consecutive Games, as Ledecky has in the 800-meter freestyle.

“I don’t feel like I’m close to being finished in the sport yet,” Ledecky said after setting an Olympic record in the 1,500 free last Wednesday in Paris. “I’d love to continue on, and just seeing the kind of support that the French athletes are getting here, I think all the U.S. athletes are thinking about how cool that could be in Los Angeles (site of the 2028 Games) having the home crowd. So, it would be amazing to be able to compete there.”

GO DEEPER

Katie Ledecky, her Olympic legacy secure, seems to have so much left in the tank

Such an occasion could make for a Disney-like ending to what has been a sublime career, with deafening cheers and swaying flags serving as…

Kayla Harrison has been hyped for years as arguably the greatest women’s fighter outside of the UFC, and she proved Saturday night at UFC 300 that she may now be the most feared women’s fighter within the UFC.

Harrison defeated former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm in her UFC debut, submitting Holm with a rear-naked choke in the second round.

The choke is Harrison’s seventh career submission win. Prior to the UFC, Harrison compiled a 16-1 record in the Professional Fighter’s League, winning the PFL’s women’s lightweight tournaments in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

In the PFL, Harrison exclusively fought at lightweight (155 pounds), but the heaviest women’s division in the UFC is bantamweight (135 pounds). Any questions about how the 5-foot-8 Harrison would handle the weight cut were answered Saturday, as Harrison looked dominant in her bantamweight debut.

She looked strong stand-up exchanges with Holm, a former world champion boxer, and executed multiple trip throws to get Holm to the ground. In the first round, that led to multiple minutes of heavy ground-and-pound, with Holm on the receiving end of heavy punches and elbows as she was pressed against the fence.

In the first minute of the second round, Harrison hit Holm with a headkick then shot a double leg…

Claressa Shields is, without a doubt, the best women’s boxer in the world. The two-time Olympic gold medalist was the first undisputed champion in two different divisions — light middleweight and middleweight — in an era with four belts to win. At 14-0 as a professional and atop all pound-for-pound lists, she can continue doing what she’s doing and cruise into the Boxing Hall of Fame.

But that’s simply not Shields’ style.

She’s always wanted more, from the time she was growing up in Flint, Mich. One medal podium wasn’t good enough, she needed a second. One pro division wasn’t good enough, she needed more belts. One sport wasn’t good enough — she decided to join the Professional Fighters League to compete in mixed martial arts with the hopes of becoming the greatest women’s combat fighter of all time, and in hopes of bigger paydays in an industry where the gaps between men and women are often stark.

On Saturday, she’ll make an even bigger mark in combat sports by fighting Kelsey DeSantis, when they’ll become the first women to fight on a professional mixed martial arts card in Saudi Arabia, according to the PFL.

“It’s going to inspire the women there. It’s going to inspire their culture and their country,” said Shields, who will fight on the…

A woman has accused WWE co-founder Vince McMahon, the WWE and former company executive John Laurinaitis of sex trafficking, physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and negligence in a lawsuit obtained by The Athletic.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on Thursday and first reported by the Wall Street Journal, sheds more light on the investigations into McMahon’s misconduct, behavior that allegedly included millions in payments to women to keep quiet about their experiences with him. One of those women, Janel Grant, is the plaintiff in this new lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims Grant was introduced by a mutual friend to McMahon in the summer of 2019 amid her familial and financial trouble. McMahon offered her a job at WWE, which quickly became dependent on a sexual relationship with McMahon. Despite her initial pushback, Grant felt coerced into the relationship due to prospective employment and felt very quickly trapped in it, as McMahon warned of damage to her career and reputation if word got out.

“(I)n her years of experience with McMahon, she knew her requests to stop would be ignored at best or used to destroy her career and reputation at worst,” the lawsuit reads.

The relationship, which continued through January 2022, put…

Amanda Nunes defeated Irene Aldana by decision Saturday to defend the women’s bantamweight title at UFC 289 in Vancouver, Canada. Here’s what you need to know:

• Nunes won via unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-43) to retain her UFC women’s bantamweight championship.
• Following the fight, Nunes announced her retirement from MMA.
• In other fights that happened on the UFC 289 card, Charles Oliveira beat Beneil Dariush via first-round TKO (punches). Canadian Mike Malott was victorious in front of the home crowd, defeating Adam Fugitt via second-round submission (guillotine choke).

“And still forever!”

Amanda Nunes announces her retirement after a dominant bantamweight title defense @ufc | #UFC289 pic.twitter.com/4KeD2eiovV

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) June 11, 2023

Nunes’ legacy in MMA

Nunes is regarded as the best female mixed martial artist of all time. She is the first woman to become a two-division UFC champion. Nunes joins Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier as the fighters who hold UFC titles in two weight classes simultaneously.

With Saturday’s victory, Nunes leaves MMA with 23 wins. Thirteen of them were via knockout, four by submission and six by decision. Nunes has only five losses to her record, the last happening against Julianna Peña on Dec. 11, 2021, at…

The main event bouts for UFC 291 on July 29 and UFC 292 on August 19 were announced by the promotion Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:

• A rematch between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje for the BMF title will be atop UFC 291 card in Salt Lake City. Poirier won the first meeting in 2018 via fourth-round TKO.
• Aljamain Sterling will defend his bantamweight title against Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 292. Sterling is coming off a split decision win over Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 on May 6 and has won nine bouts in a row.
• O’Malley is 4-0-1 in his last five fights. He was given a ‘no contest’ against Pedro Munhoz in July 2022 after an accidental eye poke did not allow his opponent to continue.
• Zhang Weili will defend her women’s strawweight title against Amanda Lemos in the co-main event of UFC 292. Weili reclaimed the belt in November 2022 after a second-round submission of then-champion Carla Esparza.

RUNNING IT BACK!!@DustinPoirier vs @Justin_Gaethje 2 official to headline #UFC291! pic.twitter.com/7qPOcMncG3

— UFC (@ufc) May 16, 2023

What exactly is the BMF title?

BMF stands for “baddest motherf—–,” and the distinction was given out once previously in 2019 to Jorge Masvidal after a win over Nate Diaz. The belt isn’t about supremacy over a…

The first Monday in May belonged to the fashion world.

A who’s who of celebrities all converged on the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for Anna Wintour’s invite-only charity event. The editor-in-chief of Vogue understands that people beyond the fashion world can turn heads on the red carpet — and in recent years, that’s been reflected in more athletes participating in the annual gala.

Regulars like Los Angeles Clippers guard Russell Westbrook, Buffalo Bills receiver Stefon Diggs and two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Patrick Mahomes returned. WNBA star Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle, showed their faces on Monday, as did tennis star Andy Roddick and freestyle skier and Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu.

The theme for the 2023 Met Gala focused on the celebration of the exhibition: “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.” The late fashion icon died in 2019, and invitees were asked to wear outfits inspired by his unique design. Of those in the sports world who participated, The Athletic ranked who got the closest to achieving the theme.

5. Roger Federer (tennis)

RF reporting for red-carpet duties @rogerfederer • #MetGala pic.twitter.com/5Sjriv4MHp

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) May 1, 2023

On first look, the 20-time Grand Slam singles…

Social media star Jake Paul has signed a mixed martial arts contract with the Professional Fighters League, the promotion announced on Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Paul has 21.5 million followers on Instagram, 20.3 million on YouTube, 17.1 million on TikTok and 4.5 million on Twitter.
• The 25-year-old is 6-0 as a professional boxer with wins over former MMA stars in Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.
• Paul will be the first member of the PFL’s Super Fight Division that will compete on PPV. Fighters on those cards will earn at least 50% of the revenue.
• The PFL, unlike other promotions like the UFC, has a season-long format that ends with a tournament. Individual fighters earn points during the season that help their seeding.

What they are saying

“I’ve proven myself in and out of the boxing ring and now I am going to do the same in MMA, and there is no limit to the positive impact I can make on the sport,” Paul said in a press release. “I plan to enter the PFL SmartCage and once again show the world that anything is possible with hard work and dedication. Outside of the cage, equal fighter-pay and advocating for female fighters has been my passion, and I am aligned with PFL to evolve the sport.

“I believe in PFL, their mission, and what they have…