The Latest: US swim team introduced at end of 8-day trials
The Latest on the Olympics ahead of the Rio Games (all times local to Rio de Janeiro):
___
10:35 p.m.
The U.S. Olympic swimming team was introduced to the crowd in Omaha at the end of the eight-day trials.
The swimmers and coaches wore shirts resembling something they might sleep in. The casual white shirts with a red band around the neck have blue sleeves with white stars, making the team appear as though it was wearing pajama tops.
A couple of the coaches slipped the shirts over their regular shirts.
The shirts will be worn at the team's upcoming training camps in San Antonio and Atlanta and are part of the swag provided the team. They will later receive their official clothing from the U.S Olympic Committee.
___
10:25 p.m.
Much has been made of all the newcomers on the U.S. Olympic swimming team.
But really, the makeup of the team is not that much different than four years ago.
In 2012, the Americans had 28 first-time Olympians in London. This time, 30 rookies will be heading to Rio.
National team director Frank Busch says the issue was probably more striking at these trials because several top-name swimmers missed out in the events they swam four years ago. Missy Franklin will have only two individual races at Rio after swimming five in 2012. Ryan Lochte sustained a groin injury and qualified for just one individual event at the Olympics.
___
10:05 p.m.
Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky didn't race on the final night of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, but they still picked up two more victories Sunday.
Phelps was named the top male swimmer of the eight-day trials after winning the 200-meter individual medley, 100 butterfly and 200 fly. Ledecky claimed the honor on the women's side after three wins of her own in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle.
Dave Durden of California was named top coach of the meet. He'll be an assistant on the staff at Rio.
___
10:05 p.m.
Justin Gatlin is on the road to Rio after posting the fastest time of the year - 9.8 seconds - to win U.S. Olympic Trials at 100 meters.
Joining Gatlin will be first-timers Trayvon Bromell (9.84) and Marvin Bracy (9.98).
___
10 p.m.
English Gardner, Tianna Bartoletta and Tori Bowie will represent the U.S. in the women's 100 meters.
Gardner won Olympic Trials with a personal-best time of 10.74 seconds.
Bartoletta will have a chance for medals in both the 100 and the long jump, where she qualified a day earlier.
Bowie won bronze last year at world championships in Beijing.
___
9:40 p.m.
Ashton Eaton will have a chance to defend his Olympic title.
Eaton finished the final event of the decathlon, the 1,500 meters, in 4 minutes, 25.15 seconds to win the Olympic Trials going away, with 8,750 points.
A world track official tweeted earlier in the day that nobody eligible for the Olympic field has ever scored more than 8,749. Eaton holds the world record, at 9,045 points.
Also heading to Rio for decathlon: Jeremy Taiwo and Zach Ziemek.
___
9:35 p.m.
Connor Jaeger used a powerful finishing kick to pull away from Jordan Wilimovsky in the final event of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, winning the 1,500-meter freestyle Sunday night.
It was a two-man race all the way. By the end, no one was within a half-lap of the leaders.
Jaeger got a strong kick off the next-to-last wall and began to get some separation on his only challenger. Pulling away on the final lap, he finished in 14 minutes, 47.61 seconds.
Wilimovsky touched at 14:49.19 - more than 17 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Michael McBroom.
Jaeger and Wilimovsky had already locked up their berths in Rio before they dove in the pool. Jaeger also won the 400 free, while Wilimovsky will compete for the U.S. in the open-water event at Rio.
Now, he's got a chance for a unique double.
___
9:25 p.m.
QUALIFICATION ALERT: Connor Jaeger has qualified for the Rio Olympics in the 1,500-meter freestyle.
___
9:15 p.m.
Abbey Weitzeil added a second individual event to her Rio program by winning the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Sunday night.
Weitzeil touched first after a furious dash from one end of the pool to the other. Simone Manuel claimed the second Olympic spot - a repeat of their 1-2 finish in the 100 free.
The winning time was 24.28 seconds. Manuel was next at 24.33, knocking Madison Kennedy out of a trip to Rio by 15-hundredths of a second.
Four other swimmers who already earned spots on the Olympic team were farther back.
Olivia Smoliga finished fourth, while Dana Vollmer, Lia Neal and Amanda Weir brought up the back of the pack.
___
9:05 p.m.
QUALIFICATION ALERT: Abbey Weitzeil has qualified for the Rio Olympics in the 50-meter freestyle.
___
9 p.m.
No one could catch LaShawn Merritt.
Merritt finished the 400 meters in 43.97 seconds - the fastest time in the world this season - and breezed to the title at the U.S. Track and Field Trials.
Gil Roberts finished a distant second and David Verburg third.
Like Allyson Felix, who won the women's 400 moments earlier, Merritt is entered in the 200 meters as well.
___
8:55 p.m.
High jumper Chaunte Lowe made her fourth Olympic team by holding off teenager Vashti Cunningham, the daughter of longtime NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham.
Lowe and the 18-year-old Cunningham staged quite a show for the fans Sunday at the U.S. Track and Field trials.
Inika McPherson wound up third.
___
8:45 p.m.
That bad ankle sure didn't slow down Allyson Felix.
Felix ran the year's fastest time at 400 meters - 49.68 seconds - to pull away for the victory at Olympic Trials and secure her spot in Rio.
Phyllis Francis and Natasha Hastings will also be on the U.S. team.
Next, Felix gets a few days off to nurse her aching right ankle before starting qualifying for the 200 meters, her best distance. If she's successful there, she'll try to become the first woman to complete the 200-400 double at the Olympic Games.
___
8:35 p.m.
Justin Gatlin ran the year's fastest 100 time - 9.83 seconds - to easily qualify for the 100-meter final at Olympic Track Trials.
Trayvon Bromell won his heat in 9.86, followed by Tyson Gay, who will also be among the eight men seeking three spots in the sprint.
Mike Rodgers won the day's last semifinal in 9.98 to also make the field.
___
8:35 p.m.
Tori Bowie breezed into the final of the 100 meters with a fast semifinal time Sunday at the U.S. Track and Field Trials.
Bowie won her heat in 10.74 seconds.
The final later Sunday will feature a heavy Oregon presence, with three of the eight women having ties to the Ducks. That includes Ariana Washington, who won NCAA titles for Oregon this spring in the 100 and 200.
___
8:25 p.m.
Ashton Eaton is a little less than one mile away from wrapping up his trip to the Olympics in decathlon.
With 7,973 points, the world-record holder is in the lead and nearly 400 points clear of fourth place heading into the final event, the 1,500 meters.
The top three finishers qualify.
___
5:55 p.m.
USA Swimming has filled out its coaching staff for the Rio Olympics.
Bruce Gemmell, Greg Meehan and Ray Looze will serve as assistant coaches for the women's team, while Jack Bauerle, Dave Durden and Mike Bottom are going to work with the men's team.
The head coaches were announced months ago. They are David Marsh (women) and Bob Bowman (men).
Gemmell is coach of the Nation's Capital Swim Club and works with Katie Ledecky, expected to be one of the biggest stars of the Rio Games. Meehan coaches at Stanford, while Looze runs the swimming program at Indiana.
Jack Bauerle is the longtime coach at Georgia, Dave Durden works at Cal, and Bottom coaches the Michigan Wolverines.
The assistant coaches are picked largely on which swimmers qualified for the team at the U.S. Olympics trials, which end Sunday night.
___
3:45 p.m.
Four of America's most-decorated track and field stars will try to secure their spots in Rio on Sunday.
Allyson Felix, Justin Gatlin, LaShawn Merritt and Ashton Eaton already have a combined 13 Olympic medals between them.
Felix and Merritt are trying to qualify in the 400 meters, while Gatlin looks to punch his ticket in the 100.
Eaton is well on his way to earning a spot to defend his Olympic decathlon title. Through seven events, he was more than 500 clear of the fourth spot. The top three finishers in each event will go to Rio next month.
___
3:10 p.m.
Ashton Eaton is off and running on Day 2 of the decathlon at U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Aided by a strong tail wind, the world-record holder ran the 110-meter hurdles in 13.60 seconds. He had a 2.1 meter-per-second wind at his back.
Eaton finished the sixth event with 5,587 points. His record is 9,045 points, set at last year's world championships.
Trey Hardee, the Olympic silver medalist, is watching on the infield in street clothes after hobbling to the finish of Saturday's 400-meter run. Hardee came into trials dealing with foot and hamstring issues.
___
2:40 p.m.
Svetlana Kuznetsova says politics is behind the ban on Russia's track and field athletes from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The 13th-seeded Russian beat American Sloane Stephens on Sunday in the third round at Wimbledon.
Asked at a post-match news conference about the IAAF ban on Russia's track and field team for widespread doping in the country, Kuznetsova says: "This is, for me, politics."
She adds: "Suddenly everything has to go against Russia. Somebody in Russia, they're all bad, and all the world is good."
The IAAF last month upheld the ban that was first imposed in November on Russian athletes following a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency panel that alleged state-sponsored doping.
Russia is appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, contending the ban punishes athletes who haven't done anything wrong.
Kuznetsova says: "I hope they resolve it and the clean athletes who deserve to go to Olympics, they will go."
Kuznetsova is one of four women entered for Russia's team for the tennis tournament at the Rio Games.
___
8:30 a.m.
The Russian Olympic Committee says it has appealed a ban of its athletics team from next month's Olympics over doping.
ROC spokesman Konstantin Vybornov confirmed to The Associated Press by e-mail that a case had been filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and would be heard July 19.
If Russia wins, the Olympic application deadline "will be extended" to let Russian athletes apply, the ROC's legal department head Alexandra Brilliantova told the Tass news agency.
The case is being brought jointly by the ROC and dozens of top Russian athletes.
The IAAF, track's world governing body, suspended Russia in November after a World Anti-Doping Agency report detailed widespread, state-sponsored doping in Russian track and field. The ban was upheld by the IAAF in a vote last month.