RIO DE JANEIRO - They dont necessarily compete for attention, but years from now people will know they passed through here because of the indelible bookmarks they placed in history. Rio will be remembered as the place where American swimmer Michael Phelps said goodbye by finishing his career with a staggering 28 medals, 23 of them gold, yet preferred to talk more about how he spent so much of his career in the shallows, battling unhappiness and resurrecting himself from alcohol issues to become a man of greater depth.Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt did the unprecedented here, too: winning his third consecutive gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes after confirming this will be his last Olympics as well. But the grin Bolt broke into even before he crossed the finish line in the 100 will be remembered just as much because it was so emblematic of him. Exuberance defined Bolt throughout his career, along with his unmatched speed, and long after hes retired hell be remembered for how he brought lightness and joy to a sport so often defiled by doping.American tennis star Venus Williams is as quiet as Bolt is extroverted. But her love of the Olympics runs just as deep. Amid all the jaded mens golf pros who backed out of Rio and blamed their busy schedules, or U.S. mens basketball players who bunked on a yacht and chartered out of town the moment their gold-medal game Sunday was won, Venus stayed in town for more than a week after a virus left her vomiting between the second and third sets of her first-round singles defeat to Kirsten Flipkens -- still too sick to talk to reporters an hour after their 3-hour, 13-minute match.Williams couldve discreetly tanked against Flipkens. She fought. She couldve skipped her doubles match with sister, Serena, the next day. Instead, she played. She couldve dialed up a private jet of her own and hurried back home after she and her sister failed to defend their doubles gold medal, too. She wouldnt hear it. Venus instead teamed up with unsung Rajeev Ram, who wouldnt even have been here in Rio if not for the last-minute withdrawal of the Bryan brothers. Together they won a silver medal in mixed doubles -- her fifth in five Games, tying the record for tennis players.Like Bolt and Phelps, Williams milked every moment here because she loves the Olympics. And at 35, she knows she wont be back to the Games again.All of them provided moments that remind us for all the problems the Games may have, starting at the top with the buffoonery and corruption and lack of transparency in the International Olympic Committee itself -- which is crying for a good FIFA-style fumigation and overhaul -- its the athletes that always save the Olympics.The American team was a juggernaut in Rio, winning 121 medals, more than 50 more medals than Chinas total.Repeat American gold-medal winners Allyson Felix, beach volleyballer Kerri Walsh Jennings, cyclist Kristin Armstrong and members of the unconquerable American womens eight rowing team are all unlikely to be back. The same goes for Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman, two of the best gymnasts America has ever had.All of them are legends in their sports.Four-time Olympians Diana Taurasi, 37-year-old Tamika Catchings, and 35-year-old Sue Bird said their goodbyes here in Rio, too, after the U.S. womens basketball team crushed its way to its sixth straight gold medal with an 8-0 tear that extended its Summer Games winning streak to 48 games.Taurasi said to avoid the emotional elephant in the room -- the knowledge this was her last ride as an Olympian, her last go-round with close friends like Bird, a teammate for so long in the Euro League and the University of Connecticut before that -- she decided to treat this journey as if it was her first Olympics. I made a point to just enjoy every bus ride, every team dinner, every practice we had, Taurasi said Saturday night. And it worked.Bird reminisced about the tone-setting veteran players -- Hall of Famers like Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson -- who taught her, Taurasi and Catchings when they were Olympic rookies about what it means to play for the national team, adding, I hope weve done them proud.Catchings, asked to sum up her own Hall-of-Fame career, smiled serenely and said just one word:Blessed.Womens basketball coach Geno Auriemma and longtime U.S. womens gymnastics national team coordinator Martha Karolyi hit on the same theme -- gratitude -- after their teams won gold in the most impressive ways imaginable.Four years ago in London, it was Taurasi who cried buckets of tears on the medal stand, but this time around she made two-time U.S. head coach Auriemma cry in the postgame scrum by telling her former UConn mentor and alter ego that shed have never become who she is without him.It was an emotional exchange from one ultimate winner to another. And it was a conversation that, in many ways, mirrored what happened to the 73-year-old Karolyi after the U.S. women won the gymnastics team gold medal in a rout. In her 16 years on the job, Karolyi has turned the American program into a dynastic power. When team members Simone Biles, Douglas, Madison Kocian, Laurie Hernandez? and Raisman told her theyd decided to nickname themselves The Final Five, partly as an homage to her since shes retiring after these Games, Karolyi astonished them for a change.She burst into tears.I am not a sentimental person -- I am known as a very tough person, Karolyi told a crowd of reporters afterward, laughing at the enormous understatement along with everyone else. But once the tears started, Karolyi blinked and added, I was like, What is happening to me?The Olympics happened. Thats what. Nike Off White Sverige . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. Nike Air Max 90 Dam Rea . -- Ryan Blaney provided more evidence that Penske Racings No. http://www.reaairmaxsverige.com/air-max-90-rabatt.html . "Theyve both been real good," said Babcock. "Havent changed our minds." A decision has seemingly been made - Sundays Group B-deciding tilt against Finland ahead - but it could not have been an easy one. Price opened the tournament with a sturdy 19-save performance against the Norwegians, yielding just one goal. Nike Air Max Rea . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. Nike Air Max Rabatt . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. The Sydney Kings have announced the signing of promising forward Craig Moller as a Development Player for the 2016-17 NBL season.The 22 year old 202cm (68) Moller will become a part of a select group of athletes to have played both Australian rules football and basketball at the elite level.Head coach Andrew Gaze says he has been impressed by Mollers efforts in proving himself worthy of a spot on the Kings roster.Ultimately Craigs selection on the team has come down to his work on the floor. Hes demonstrated the capacity to play at the highest level and we think he has a lot of upside. Hes a good athlete, has good size and great basketball IQ.?Gaze added, Hes an incredible athlete and Ill certainly give credit to the AFL in regards to his conditioning. His speed, agility and overall fitness is elite.Moller played with the GWS Giants in the NEAFL, before breaking into the AFL with the Frremantle Dockers in 2013.ddddddddddddI grew up playing high level basketball and footy. I had to make a decision when I was 14 and I wouldnt change the path my career has taken and Im really happy to be back playing the sport I really love.Moller says hes in the perfect environment to succeed.Its great learning from Andrew Gaze, his comradery with Lanard Copeland as his assistant, having been in basketball together of so long, combined with Dean Vickerman - a championship-winning coach - its a perfect situation for me at this time.The Sydney Kings this weekend will play in the NBLs new preseason tournament, the Australian Basketball Challenge, in Brisbane.The season opener for the Kings will be against the Brisbane Bullets on October 8th at Qudos Bank Arena. ' ' '