He was 86.

West, nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game exploits as a player, was an NBA champion who went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic Team in 2010. He will be enshrined for a third time later this year as a contributor, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called West “one of the greatest executives in sports history.”

“He helped build eight championship teams during his tenure in the NBA — a legacy of achievement that mirrors his on-court excellence,” Silver said. “And he will be enshrined this October into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor, becoming the first person ever inducted as both a player and a contributor. I valued my friendship with Jerry and the knowledge he shared with me over many years about basketball and life.”

West was “the personification of basketball excellence and a friend to all who knew him,” the Clippers said in announcing his death. West’s wife, Karen, was by his side when he died, the Clippers said. West worked for the Clippers as a consultant for the last seven years.

He was an All-Star in all 14 of his NBA seasons, a 12-time All-NBA selection, part of the 1972 Lakers team that won a championship, an NBA Finals MVP when the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in 1969 — the first year that award was given out, and still the only time it went to a player on the losing team — and was selected as part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

West was general manager of championship teams with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping build the “Showtime” dynasty. He also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers. Among his many highlights as an executive with the Lakers: he drafted Magic Johnson and James Worthy, then brought in Kobe Bryant and eventually Shaquille O’Neal to play alongside Bryant.

His basketball life bridged generations: West played with Elgin Baylor, whom he called “the most supportive and the greatest player of that era,” and Wilt Chamberlain. As a coach and executive, he worked with a who’s-who of NBA stars from the last 40 years: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Worthy, O’Neal, Bryant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George among them.

“I marvel at them, at the joy they brought basketball fans all over the world,” West said in 2019.

Even in the final years of his life, West was considered basketball royalty. He routinely sat courtside at Summer League games in Las Vegas, often watching many games in a day while greeting long lines of players — LeBron James among them — who would approach to shake his hand.

“The game transcends many things,” West said while attending Summer League last year. “The players change, the style of play may change, but the respect that you learn in this game never changes.”

James, on social media, offered his condolences: “Will truly miss our convos my dear friend! My thoughts and prayers goes out to your wonderful family! Forever love Jerry! Rest in Paradise my guy!” the NBA’s all-time scoring leader wrote Wednesday.

West is 25th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, and while the league has never confirmed that West was in fact the model for its logo — a player dribbling a ball, set against a red-and-blue background — the league has never said otherwise, either.

“While it’s never been officially declared that the logo is Jerry West,” Silver said in 2021, “it sure looks a lot like him.”

West is still the NBA Finals’ all-time leader in total points, along with field goals made and attempted as well as free throws made and attempted. He played in the title series nine times with the Lakers; his teams went 1-2 against the New York Knicks, and 0-6 against the Celtics.

“Those damn Celtics,” he often said.

West also hit one of the most famed shots in finals history, a 60-footer at the buzzer of Game 3 of the 1970 series between the Knicks and Lakers to force overtime.

Tributes from across the sports world quickly poured in Wednesday morning. The Los Angeles Dodgers released a statement calling West “an indelible figure on the Los Angeles sports landscape for more than 60 years,” and the NBA was planning a pregame tribute to West before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.

“Jerry West is one of my favorite people that I had the honor to get to know in the NBA,” Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison said Wednesday. “He welcomed me to the league, offered advice from the first day, and asked nothing in return. He will be missed.”

Michael Jordan said he considered West “a friend and mentor — like an older brother to me.”

“I valued his friendship and knowledge,” Jordan said. “I always wished I could have played against him as a competitor, but the more I came to know him, I wish I had been his teammate. I admired his basketball insights and he and I shared many similarities to how we approached the game.”

A native of Chelyan, West Virginia, West was known as a tenacious player who was rarely satisfied with his performance. He grew up shooting at a basket nailed to the side of a shed and often shot until his fingers bled. He became the first high school player in state history to score more than 900 points in a season, averaging 32.2 points in leading East Bank High to a state title.

Basketball, he would later reveal, was his therapy.

In his memoir, “West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life,” West chronicled a lifelong battle with depression. He wrote that his childhood was devoid of love and filled with anger as a result of an abusive father. He often felt worthless, and to combat that, he said he put his energy into playing the game.

West led West Virginia University — where he is still the all-time leader in scoring average — to the NCAA final in 1959, when the Mountaineers lost by one point to California.

A year after he won Olympic gold in Rome, West joined the Lakers, where he spent his entire pro playing career. He was honored as one of the league’s 50 greatest players in 1996 and when the league expanded the polling to 75 players to commemorate its 75th anniversary in 2021, West was selected again.

“You know, it never ceases to amaze me the places you can go in this world chasing a bouncing ball,” West said in 2019, when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — by then-President Donald Trump. “My chase began in Chelyan, West Virginia, where I strung a wire basket with no net to the side of a bridge. If your shot didn’t go in, the ball rolled down a long bank and you would be chasing it forever. So, you better make it.

“I was a dreamer. My family didn’t have much, but we had a clear view of the Appalachian Mountains, and I’d sit alone on our front porch and wonder, ‘If I ever make it to the top of that mountain, what will I see on the other side?’ Well, I did make it to the other side, and my dreams have come true. I’ve been able to see the sides, thanks to that bouncing ball.”

Associated Press Writer John Raby contributed to this report

Titmus finished in 1 minute, 52.23 seconds in the final, taking almost two-thirds of a second off Mollie O’Callaghan’s world mark of 1:52.85 set at last year’s world championships.

O’Callaghan placed second at the Australian titles in 1:52.48.

Titmus, the Olympic champion in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events, now holds the world records in both events.

“Honestly, the world record is a bonus,” she said. “I’m happy to finally put together a swim that I know I’m capable of and it’s exciting to do it in my home town, in front of a home-town crowd.”

Titmus and O’Callaghan both work with the same coach, Dean Boxall.

“We really don’t see what each other is doing in training, we are very separate — she trains for the sprint events, I train for middle distance,” Titmus said. “Looking at a world record, I don’t look at who has it. I look at the time.”

Titmus said a record wasn’t “on my radar” so close to the Paris Olympics, which start July 26.

“I just wanted to put together a great swim and I have the chance to do it again in Paris,” she said.

The 20-year-old O’Callaghan said she experienced pre-race anxiety, entering as the record holder.

“I couldn’t really sleep last night,” she said. “I’m still learning. I am only young and I am not as experienced as the other girls, so I will take anything at this point.”

Titmus and O’Callaghan finished more than three seconds ahead of the rest of the field in a strong final. Lani Pallister placed third, Brianna Throssell was fourth and Shayna Jack tied for fifth with Jamie Perkins.

The top six swimmers are likely to form Australia’s 4×200 freestyle relay squad in Paris. The Australians hold the world record in the event.

Australia’s team for the Olympics will be confirmed on the weekend, after the six-day trials at Brisbane’s Chandler Aquatic Center.

The selection committee didn’t believe the talented Clark had enough of high-level reps to be a member of the group headed to the Paris Games. The team includes seven players from the group that won gold in Tokyo — the seventh straight for the Americans.

The next chapter in The Greatest Dynasty Ever.

The 2024 USA Women's National Team is here.

#USABWNT x #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/BdDki5De5O

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) June 11, 2024

Selection committee chair Jen Rizzotti said the committee was aware of the outside noise and pressure to select Clark, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft who has drawn millions of new fans to the sport from her record-setting career in college at Iowa to now with the Indiana Fever.

“Here’s the basketball criteria that we were given as a committee and how do we evaluate our players based on that?” Rizzotti told The Associated Press in an interview. “And when you base your decision on criteria, there were other players that were harder to cut because they checked a lot more boxes. Then sometimes it comes down to position, style of play for Cheryl (Reeve) and then sometimes a vote.”

Diana Taurasi is back for a record sixth time. Her Olympic career started when she was a WNBA rookie in the 2004 Athens Game, and now the 42-year old will be on the team again. Other returners from the Tokyo Olympics are Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd and Brittney Griner.

Besides the returners, the Americans also added 5-on-5 newcomers Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, who helped the U.S. win the inaugural 3×3 gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Several first-time Olympians will join the team with Alyssa Thomas, Sabrina Ionescu and Kahleah Copper. All three played on the American team that won the World Cup in Australia in 2022.

“It’s a great mix of talent across the board in terms of individual skill sets,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said. “We have veterans, newcomers and those in the middle. Good perspective and continuity is such an important thing and is why we’ve been successful in the Olympics.”

All 12 of those players had senior national team experience. Clark, to no fault of her own, does not.

“She’s certainly going to continue to get better and better,” Tooley said. “Really hope that she’s a big part of our future going forward.”

The selection committee has a set of criteria to pick the team that includes playing ability, position played and adaptability to the international game. Marketing and popularity aren’t on that list.

“It would be irresponsible for us to talk about her in a way other than how she would impact the play of the team,” Rizzotti said. “Because it wasn’t the purview of our committee to decide how many people would watch or how many people would root for the U.S. It was our purview to create the best team we could for Cheryl.”

Clark wasn’t the only talented player left off the team.

Ariel Atkins was on the Tokyo Olympic team. Shakira Austin, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Brionna Jones all played on the World Cup team in 2022. Aliyah Boston and Arike Ogunbowale had gone to nearly every training camp. Ogunbowale has played well to start the WNBA season, averaging 26.4 points a game — second best in the league.

Any of those players, along with Clark, could be taken as an alternate if one of the 12 members of the team is unable to play. There are some questions about Gray’s status. The Las Vegas point guard has not played yet this season while recovering from a leg injury suffered in the WNBA Finals last year.

Clark has said she will use not being selected for the Paris Games as incentive to get better and potentially make the 2028 Olympic team.

“I think it just gives you something to work for,” Clark told reporters after practice Sunday. “It’s a dream. Hopefully one day I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation. You remember that. Hopefully when four years comes back around, I can be there.”

While Clark won’t be headed to Paris, Griner will be playing internationally for the first time since she was detained in a Russian prison for 10 months in 2022. She said she’ll only play abroad with USA Basketball.

“When you represent your country, you’re on the highest stage, it doesn’t get any higher than that,” Griner said. “Anytime you get to put on the red, white and blue, USA across your chest, we’ll get every country’s best shot. … You’re playing for so much more. I can’t wait to go.”

Thomas was excited for her first chance to play in the Olympics.

“It’s a huge honor. I stepped away from USA Basketball for awhile, but it was something I grew up watching with my family,” the 32-year-old Thomas said. “Just an honor to be part of that group of players. It’s a prestigious group.”

Thomas gives Reeve the versatility of being able to guard any position as well as facilitate from the forward spot. The Connecticut Sun forward is currently leading the WNBA with 8.5 assists a game.

“This team fits my style of play. The defense aspect, the way Coach Reeve wants to play, I think I’m a perfect fit for that.”

Taurasi, who turned 42 on Tuesday, will break the record for most Olympics played in the sport of basketball. Five players, including former teammate Sue Bird, have competed in five.

“The thing that Diana does that I’ve never seen anyone else do is that she makes everybody around her confident and play their best,” Rizzotti said. ”Whether she’s scoring a point, whether she starts, whether she plays limited minutes, whether she’s just a voice in the locker room, she infuses people with a level of self-confidence that has been a factor in us winning,”

The U.S. team will train for about week in Phoenix in July. After that, they’ll play an exhibition game against Germany in London before heading to France.

In Paris, the Americans will play Japan, Belgium and Germany in Olympic pool play.

“I’m not sure a crowded pool deck is always the most fun,” she quips, breaking into a grin. “I don’t think any swimmer enjoys that too much.”

Not that she’s complaining.

Not after all she has been through.

The first Black female swimmer to capture an individual Olympic gold medal, Manuel is coming back from a debilitating case of overtraining syndrome, her body breaking down in the leadup to the 2021 Tokyo Games after a starring turn five years earlier in Rio de Janeiro, where she claimed two golds and two silvers.

Manuel struggled just to make the U.S. team for Japan and managed only a bronze medal as anchor of the 400-meter freestyle relay. As soon as the flame was extinguished, she was forced to give up all activity for seven months — even something as mundane as a light stroll — to allow herself to heal both physically and mentally.

“It’s probably the most boring months of my life,” she told The Associated Press. “I spent a lot of time talking about my feelings, what happened, processing what happened, because I think when you’re in it, you’re kind of in survival mode. I really needed to process it and come to terms with everything.”

Heading into the U.S. Olympic trials, which begin Saturday in Indianapolis, Manuel finds herself in a much better place.

She’s as determined as ever to make her third Olympics, but she knows there are things far more important than touching the wall first.

Like making sure she’s taking care of herself.

It’s a lesson that an increasing number of high-level athletes — from fellow swimmer Caeleb Dressel to gold medal gymnast Simone Biles to tennis star Naomi Osaki — are heeding when overwhelmed by the demands of their sports.

“I’ve always been a person who likes to dream big, who has very aggressive goals,” said Manuel, who claimed her historic gold when she tied for the top spot in the 100 freestyle at the 2016 Rio Games. “It would be unfair of me to lower my standards. But at the same time, I do have to give myself grace because this journey is like no other that I’ve ever had in this sport.”

After her long, doctor-ordered layoff — which was accompanied by the inevitable doubts that she ever would be a top-level swimmer again — Manuel looks like herself again in the pool.

The 27-year-old Texan turned in her best time in the 100 free since 2019 at a meet last month to set herself up as one of the top sprint contenders.

“I’m very pleased with where she’s at,” said one of her coaches, Bob Bowman, who is best known for his work with the most decorated Olympian of them all, Michael Phelps. “She’s pretty close to her top level.”

Manuel moved to Arizona State University in suburban Phoenix to work with Bowman and his top assistant, Herbie Behm — a move that had a huge impact on her recovery.

“I just felt like when I met with Bob, I had a really good connection with him,” Manuel said. “He was really understanding of my experience with being overtrained, and that was extremely critical for me. I wanted to be able to talk with my new coach about that experience, what it was like for me, mentally and physically, and have them want to talk about it with me, but also understand what that was like and how they could help me moving forward.”

Bowman’s recognition of Manuel’s condition was in stark contrast to the lack of understanding — outside the sport and even at the pool — when she revealed her condition. Overtraining syndrome is a very real issue, but some felt she was just making excuses for her slumping performances ahead of Tokyo.

She even pondered walking away from the sport.

“I’ve accomplished a lot in this sport and I think that, to an extent, some of the responses to what happened to me weren’t completely gracious,” she said. “I think in my mind I was like, ‘I don’t have to put myself in a position to be vulnerable in front of the world again, just for them to not accept that what happened to me was real and that this is not an excuse.’”

Experts say overtraining syndrome — also known as burnout — is a very real concern for all top-level athletes, who must walk that very thin line between working harder than their competitors without reaching the point of diminishing returns.

Every body, even those that win gold medals, has its limits.

“It’s not giving the body enough time to recover from intense training that presents itself with fatigue and a lack of motivation,” said Dr. Paul Arciero, a professor in the Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh. “One of the tell-tale signs is a decline in performance.”

That’s just what happened to Manuel, who had always figured — like so many of her fellow athletes as well as coaches — that the only way to keep improving was to push her body even more. As the Tokyo Olympics approached, she couldn’t understand why her times kept getting worse and worse even though she felt like she was working harder than ever.

Dr. Robert Trasolini, an orthopedic surgeon and specialist in sports medicine at Northwell Health Orthopaedic Institute in New York, said Olympic athletes — who put in countless hours in pursuit of a goal that can be reached only every four years — are especially susceptible to overtraining syndrome.

“When you start to overreach and see a decline in activity, that should be the bell that says, ‘Hey, I need to stop,’” Trasolini said. “But that’s hard for an athlete who is working toward a goal, especially when there’s not that instant gratification.”

Proper nutrition and adequate recovery time are vital in preventing overtraining syndrome. It’s also imperative to have a coaching and support staff that can recognize the warning signs, which can turn up in everything from resting heart rate to blood pressure.

Arciero also recommends that every top-level athlete, who got where he or she is largely through single-minded focus, look for a pursuit that provides a sense of purpose away from the arena.

“It may be knitting or reading, or doing some art,” he said.

To that end, Manuel has launched her own foundation to help expand swimming to Black communities and other groups that have largely been shut out of a sport that remains mostly white in the U.S.

She’s not trying to find the next Simone Manuel. She simply wants to expose more people of color to a lifestyle, to show them how much fun it is to spend a day in the water.

“We’re not going to see more diversity in the sport if it doesn’t start at the grassroots level,” Manuel said. “Swimming should be something that’s really positive within the Black community, but historically it hasn’t been.”

Bowman, who left Arizona State in April to take over the storied swimming program at the University of Texas, continues to work with Manuel as she prepares for the trials, though it’s now more of a long-distance relationship. She remained in Tempe to do the bulk of her training with Behm, who succeeded Bowman as the Sun Devils’ head coach.

Manuel is in a much better spot than she was three summers ago. She got married late last year. She’s swimming fast again.

“I’ve always been very in tune with my body in regards to swimming, but I’ve just learned it’s really important to take a breath,” Manuel said. “It’s really important to not just be in tune with your body, but really listen to it.”

U.S. Figure Skating, with whom Carroll worked closely for decades, announced his death. It said Carroll died Sunday “after a battle with cancer.”

With a sharp wit and even sharper sense of humor, Carroll was instrumental in the success of American standouts such as Kwan, Lysacek and Linda Fratianne. He retired from coaching in August 2018, not long after his 80th birthday.

“He changed the lives of every skater and parent he came across,” Kwan said at the time.

Carroll, the younger of two children, was born on July 11, 1938, to a shop teacher father and city clerk mother. He was inspired by two-time Olympic champion Dick Button to learn to skate on the frozen ponds near his hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, and later attended Holy Cross, where he graduated in 1960 with a degree in sociology.

Yet it was on the ice where Carroll showed such a brilliant ability to absorb, and pass along, his vast knowledge. Much of it was gleaned from his own first coach, Maribel Vinson-Owen, the two-time world medalist and 1932 Olympic bronze medalist.

“She taught me great discipline, about being on time, always showing up, never backing out, not saying, ‘Oh, I don’t feel well today,’” Carroll recalled later in life. “You go to the rink and you never complain about the ice.”

Carroll won a junior bronze medal at the U.S. championships before turning professional and skating with Ice Follies, a popular touring show at the time that featured elaborate productions. Carroll also dabbled in acting before getting into coaching, despite having been accepted into the law school at the University of San Francisco.

His first big stars were Mark Cockerell, the 1976 world junior champion, and Fratianne, who would win world senior titles in 1977 and ’79. But it was Kwan, the daughter of Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong, who launched Carroll to stardom in his own right. She would win five world championships along with silver and bronze medals at the Winter Olympics.

Carroll also coached Tim Goebel, Gracie Gold and Denis Ten to Olympic medals. His lone champion was Lysacek, the Naperville native whose stirring free skate at the 2010 Vancouver Games was enough to beat out Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko for the gold medal.

Lysacek honored his coach afterward with the Order of Ikkos medal from the U.S. Olympic Committee, which is designed to be a symbol of excellence in coaching as represented by an athlete’s achievement as an Olympic medalist.

“He made me believe that I could skate perfectly in the Olympics,” Lysacek said after the 2010 Games. “When I first heard the results, he was the first person I thought about. … He owns just as much or more of my Olympic gold medal as I do.”

Carroll was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1996 and the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2007.

Funeral arrangements were not available, but donations can be made in Carroll’s honor to the Memorial Fund. It was created after the 1961 crash of a flight from New York to Brussels, Belgium, that killed the entire U.S. figure skating team on its way to the world championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Many of Carroll’s friends and coaches were aboard the plane.

“We’ll need to bring them back to earth, because it can feel like the end of the world after working on this goal for four or five years,” said Jason Nioka, a former judo champion and deacon who’s in charge of the largest contingent of Olympic chaplains, about 40 Catholic priests, nuns and lay faithful.

Ordained and lay representatives from the five major global religions — Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism — have been working together for months to set up a shared hall in the Olympic village outside Paris.

There, they will provide some worship services, prayers and, above all, a non-judgmental listening ear to any athletes or staff in need, regardless of faith.

“We’re not there to have them win,” said Anne Schweitzer, who’s coordinating about three dozen Protestant chaplains, the second-largest group. “My goal is to have a Christian witness there, people who embody the love and care of Jesus, for the athletes who are under so much pressure.”

There’s a history of high demand for Olympic chaplains. Requests exceeded 8,000 in the pre-pandemic Games, organizers say, ranging from mental health concerns to a pre-competition blessing to coping with a sudden death in the family back home.

But this year’s chaplains are training for even more complex challenges, from complying with France’s secularism laws that strictly prescribe the role of religion in public spaces to preparing for any spillover from two major conflicts raging not far away, the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war, especially in an era of increased activism by athletes.

“I see our mission as protecting them in their fragility,” said the Rev. Anton Gelyasov, archpriest of the Greek-Orthodox Metropolis of France, who’s leading more than two dozen Christian Orthodox chaplains for the Games. “Second, it’s to give witness that we are present, not only as ‘my church’ but as ‘religions,’ and that it’s good that we are together.”

Indeed, the behind-the-scenes dealmaking to accommodate different religions as well as different cultural, national and liturgical traditions within each faith reveals podium-worthy teamwork from the all-volunteer chaplain corps.

Each religion got 538 square feet of the tent-like structure that’s being constructed and furnished in the village by the Paris Games organizing committee, with a basic mandate to welcome athletes and provide worship information.

Then, the Jewish and Muslim leaders decided to set up their spaces next to each other, as “an image and example” — in the words of Rabbi Moshe Lewin — that they can coexist even at times of great geopolitical tensions.

Buddhists and Hindus, with the fewest expected adherents, donated half their spaces to the Christians, who will have about 100 chaplains in rotation to serve Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants.

Next comes the interdenominational diplomacy. The Muslim space will be divided by screens so that men and women can perform daily prayers separately, respecting diverging practices within Islam globally, said Najat Benali, president of the organization Coordination of Muslim associations of Paris, who is preparing the Muslim chaplaincy.

Christians compromised on the kinds of crucifixes and icons they’ll bring to the hall — without images of Jesus on the cross, for instance, to respect Protestant sensitivities. Buddhists will have Buddha statues and cushions for meditation, but are striving to strike a balance between the utter simplicity of the Zen tradition and the bright colors of the Tibetan one, said Luc Charles, a Zen monk who’s also a taekwondo instructor and the lead hospital chaplain of the Buddhist Union of France.

Little of that wealth of traditions will be visible from the outside — intentionally in a country where signs of faith are largely barred from public institutions. The hall itself won’t be at the center of the village, and signs pointing to it will be discreet so as not to inconvenience non-believers, said Jeanne Le Comte du Colombier, the Paris Games committee’s project manager for the multifaith center.

While the Olympics are no place for proselytism, several faith leaders said they wish they could do more outreach in the village, especially for athletes from countries without freedom of religion who might hesitate to come to the hall for counseling or a blessing.

Faith leaders are also forming a network of religious institutions from mosques to parishes outside the athletes’ village and in the other French cities hosting competitions, like Marseille and Lyon. These will have special opening hours and multilingual services for athletes, though security won’t be as tight as it will be in the village itself.

France’s Catholic Bishops Conference has launched a nationwide “Holy Games” initiative. Since last September, it has set up the “Our Lady of Athletes” chapel in an iconic downtown Paris church, La Madeleine. The faithful can light candles with inspirational sports-related quotes or enter prayer petitions in a tablet with a direct link to a monastic community.

Holy Games is also working to bring disadvantaged communities like the homeless and migrants into the Olympics festivities that risk pushing them farther to the margins, said the project’s director, Isabelle de Chatellus.

Some teams are also expected to bring their own chaplains. But faith leaders say athletes might still prefer going to the chaplains’ hall for sensitive issues.

They’re preparing for hearing about possible cases of abuse within athletes’ team, by striving to have equal numbers of male and female chaplains present, for example. And while most denominations will offer some form of peace prayer and pledge to welcome all athletes who seek them, they’re readying for possible flareups between those whose countries are at war.

“The geopolitical situation will have an impact on athletes, but the Olympic Games provide the incredible opportunity of meeting the other,” said Lewin, special advisor to the chief Rabbi of France and vice president of the Conference of European Rabbis, who will serve as a Jewish chaplain.

“We do worship, not politics,” Benali echoed him. “We will listen and explain we’re there to accompany the athletes. We’re not good resources to address geopolitics.”

Part of that spiritual accompaniment will stem from how each denomination defines the role of health, the human body and thus sports. Many religious texts describe the body as a temple of the spirit, making it a moral duty to take care of good health.

Many also see a parallel between pews and bleachers in spiritual values like dedication, perseverance and self-sacrifice.

“Sports give values that allow me to live a faith rooted in Christ,” said Nioka, 28, who will be ordained a priest a month before the opening ceremony.

Before a race, athletes might especially benefit from Christian Orthodox tradition, given its emphasis on what Gelyasov called “spiritual combat,” a daily fight against sin.

“If you don’t advance, you go backwards. One has to always make progress,” he explained.

After a race, a Buddhist meditation could help with detachment instead of focusing on the pressure of giving “an almost superhuman performance,” in Charles’ words.

“We have received this body, this life, but in the end it’s a superior energy that decides,” the Zen monk said.

The person, who provided the full roster to The Associated Press, spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday because no official announcement has been made.

The decision was first reported by The Athletic.

Clark does have some international experience with USA Basketball at a younger level, but she couldn’t attend the national training camp in Cleveland after she was invited because she was leading Iowa to the Final Four. Clark finished her career as the NCAA’s Division I all-time scoring leader.

Clark, now a rookie with the Indiana Fever, has drawn millions of new fans to women’s basketball in her college career and also in her young WNBA career.

While Clark won’t be headed to Paris, the U.S. is expected to take five-time gold medalist Diana Taurasi for a sixth Olympics. Taurasi will be joined by Phoenix Mercury teammate Brittney Griner.

This will be Griner’s first time playing internationally since she was detained in a Russian prison for 10 months in 2022. She said she’ll only play abroad with USA Basketball.

Joining the pair will be Olympic veterans Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd and Chelsea Gray. Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, who helped the U.S. win the inaugural 3×3 gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021, also will be on the team.

A bunch of first-time Olympians will join the team with Alyssa Thomas, Sabrina Ionescu and Kahleah Copper. All three played on the American team that won the World Cup in Australia in 2022.

The U.S. women have won every gold medal in women’s basketball since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Taurasi, who turns 42 before the Paris Games, will break the record for most Olympics played in the sport of basketball. Five players, including former teammate Sue Bird, have competed in five.

The U.S. team will train together for a few days in Phoenix in July. Then its off to London for an exhibition game against Germany before heading to France.

The Americans will play Japan, Belgium and Germany in pool play at the Olympics.

The structure of rings, made of recycled French steel, will be displayed on the south side of the 135-year-old landmark in central Paris, overlooking the Seine River. Each ring is 9 meters (30 feet) in diameter.

The Spectaculars!

The Olympic rings are now live in Paris, displayed on our most iconic monument: the Eiffel Tower. Created by ArcelorMittal and coordinated with the Eiffel Tower, this giant installation will illuminate the City of Lights from now until the end of the Games.… pic.twitter.com/tIaeQYkf2V

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) June 7, 2024

Thousands of athletes will parade through the heart of the French capital on boats on the Seine along a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) route in the opening ceremony at sunset on July 26.

There will be no shortage of iconic venues at the Paris Olympics.

The tower, nicknamed La Dame de Fer (The Iron Lady), will feature prominently in the July 26-Aug. 11 Paris Games and the following Paralympics.

Men’s and women’s volleyball players will compete at the foot of the 330-meter (1,083-foot) monument. They will be watched by nearly 13,000 fans at the temporary Eiffel Tower Stadium on the nearby Champ de Mars, where Parisians and tourists like to have picnics on the grass or watch July 14 firework displays.

The Olympic and Paralympic medals in Paris are being embedded with pieces from a hexagonal chunk of iron taken from the tower.

The hugely popular landmark in central Paris has seen soaring visitor numbers in the leadup to the 2024 Games.

Two huge cranes were used overnight Friday to lift the 30-ton structure and mount it between the first and second floors of the tower.

The Olympic rings will be illuminated every night with 100,000 LED bulbs through the Paralympic Games that start Aug. 28, 17 days after the Olympics’ closing ceremony.

The Paralympics will bring together 4,400 athletes from 180 countries in 549 events and 22 sports. Many sports will take place near landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, Versailles and the Grand Palais.

Now the 36-year-old has reached a pinnacle in a different sport.

The United States announced Wednesday that Budinger clinched the final spot on the Olympic beach volleyball team that will compete at the Paris Games this summer. Budinger and playing partner Miles Evans beat out Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb with a late surge in qualifying.

Heading into qualifications, Budinger and Evans ranked fourth in the country but pushed up to earn the country’s second spot. They are ranked No. 13 in the world.

Budinger was a standout volleyball player in high school before focusing on basketball, earning Volleyball Magazine National Player of the Year honors in indoor volleyball.

After playing in the NBA from 2009-17 and one year internationally in Spain, Budinger began making the transition to beach volleyball in 2018.

He will become the first person to play in an NBA regular-season game and an Olympic beach volleyball match. Keith Erickson was an Olympian in indoor volleyball in 1964 before playing 12 seasons in the NBA.

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Brink, Burdick and Van Lith led the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Burdick was also on the squad that won gold in 2014. Howard played 3×3 for the first time with the U.S. at a training camp in Springfield, Massachusetts in April.

“It is an honor to announce the USA Basketball 3×3 Women’s National Team,” said Jay Demings, USA Basketball 3×3 national team director. “It is an exciting process to put a roster together that will represent the country on a global stage. We are thankful for all the athletes who attended training camps or participated in 3×3 competitions on the journey to Paris 2024.”

The sport requires that two of the four members of the team be in country’s top 10 for total points accumulated in FIBA rankings. Burdick, Brink and Van Lith are all ranked that high.

“I’m so grateful to be selected and it’s an honor to represent the United States at the Paris Olympics this year,” said Brink. “The 3×3 training camp experience helped me with my transition into the league, and now I can’t wait to start preparing for the games with Cierra, Rhyne and Hailey.”

Brink plays for the Los Angeles Sparks, Howard for the Atlanta Dream. Burdick isn’t in the WNBA anymore while Van Lith transferred to TCU this past spring.

The U.S. won the inaugural 3×3 title in the Tokyo Games with Allisha Gray, Stefanie Dolson, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum.

The team will be coached by Jennifer Rizzotti, president of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. Tammi Reiss of Rhode Island will assist.

“I say this all the time but there is no greater privilege than to represent the USA at the Olympics,” said Rizzotti. “We understand that challenge in front of us as we face tremendous talent and experienced 3×3 teams. I am confident this roster gives us what we need to compete for another gold medal with experience, versatility and a commitment to USA Basketball excellence. I cannot wait to get started.”

The 3×3 game is played on a halfcourt with a 10-minute clock and 12-second shot clock. Games are played to 21 with 1-point and 2-point baskets. The first team to get to 21 or be leading when time expires wins the game.

“What I remember most is that every game is so unique,” Van Lith told the AP in April about 3×3. “The strategy from game to game is so different. You can’t specialize in one thing and make it as a player in 3 on 3. You have to be able to guard every position for at least a couple of seconds.”

The U.S. hasn’t announced its 5-on-5 roster yet. Howard was in consideration for that team as well, but it would be virtually impossible to play on both teams.