The Lead

Over the weekend, a tearful Lionel Messi stood at a podium and announced that he would, in fact, be leaving Barcelona -- the team and city that have been his home for the past 21 years. But one of the silver linings of this sad saga is that Messi could very well be reunited with his good friend and former Barcelona teammate, Neymar, at Paris St. Germain. The Athletic’s Jack Lang joined us to back in May to talk about why the Brazilian striker both delights and enrages soccer fans, the role that Messi played in his development, and why it might be time to stop hating the sublimely talented star. (Note: This episode originally aired on May 6, 2021.)

Read Jack Lang's original story about Neymar:

https://theathletic.com/2518636/2021/04/14/seriously-what-is-it-that-makes-you-hate-neymar/

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Trey Mancini's incredible comeback story continues. In March of last year, the Baltimore Orioles first baseman was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, and began undergoing cancer treatment -- right around the time the world was shutting down because of the pandemic. Today, the O's slugger is once again putting up solid numbers, and he even advanced to the final of the home run derby a few weeks ago. The Athletic's Dan Connolly had in-depth conversations with both Mancini and his girlfriend, Sara Perlman, about what life was like before, during, and after the diagnosis, and he joins us today to describe the slugger's strength and struggles along the path to recovery. (Note: This story first aired on March 4th, 2021).

Read Dan Connolly's full story about Trey Mancini:

https://theathletic.com/2413122/2021/03/01/orioles-trey-mancini-cancer-recovery/

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You probably know that Simone Biles withdrew from several gymnastics events at the Olympics last week and then returned this week to win a bronze medal in the balance beam. But did you know that a statue of a sumo wrestler has been terrifying horses at equestrian events? Today on the show, we recap some of the most unforgettable stories of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics -- from Italian announcers absolutely losing it while calling the men's 100-meter finals to a teenage skateboarder accidentally bowling over a cameraman to NBA legend Bill Walton making a perplexing appearance on NBC's Tokyo Tonight. And, you know, some incredible athletic achievements.

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At the Tokyo Olympics, Japan has more or less dominated the competition in a martial art that originated in Japan -- judo. But it turns out, it was actually an American who is responsible for judo becoming an Olympic sport in the first place. The Athletic's Daniel Brown recently sat down with the now 101-year-old Californian, Yoshihiro "Yosh" Uchida, to talk about his incredible life journey -- from growing up on a tomato farm to becoming a judo pioneer and now an Olympic legend (with a whole lot of challenges along the way) -- and why he doesn't plan to let the pandemic stop him from getting back onto the mat or continuing to grow the sport for future generations. Plus, the untold story of Uchida's impact on an NFL coaching legend.

Read Dan Brown's full story about Yosh Uchida's incredible life:

https://theathletic.com/2716391/2021/07/26/2021-olympics-judo-yosh-uchida/

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We have reached the semifinals of the men’s Olympic basketball tournament, and one of the teams still standing is the three-time defending gold medalist United States. Today, we’re joined by The Athletic’s Joe Vardon — who’s in Tokyo — for the latest on Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday and Team USA, their biggest challengers for gold (including Luka Doncic and Slovenia), and what life is like inside the Olympic bubble.

Follow Joe Vardon’s coverage from the Tokyo Olympics: https://theathletic.com/author/joe-vardon/?source=theleadpodcast

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We have already seen a number of new Olympic sports make exciting debuts in Tokyo, including surfing and skateboarding. This week, we’re adding one more to that list, as we watch the first Olympic appearance of sport climbing. Today, we’re joined by Alex Honnold — from the Academy Award-winning documentary "Free Solo" — to look at how climbing finally got into the Olympic Games, and the incredible demands that will be placed on athletes vying for medals this week.

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The college football world was thrown into a tizzy last week when Oklahoma and Texas announced that they planned to leave to their home in the Big 12 for the SEC by 2025. The story took an even stranger turn when Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby accused ESPN of trying to sabotage his conference to expedite the move. Today, The Athletic's Max Olson gives us the inside story of this seismic move that has put the Big 12 on life support and what it could all mean for the future of college football.

Read Max Olson's college football coverage here: https://theathletic.com/author/max-olson/

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New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly trans athlete to qualify for the Olympics earlier this year, and is considered one of the favorites to win a medal in her competition next week. Meanwhile, the South African runner (and two-time gold medalist) Caster Semenya is not competing in the Olympics at all this year, because of a recent ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. So why is one of these athletes allowed to compete while the other is not? And what does that tell us about how the IOC determines sex? Madeleine Pape, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lausanne (and an ex-Olympian who competed against Caster Semenya in the 800-meter) joins us to explain.

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Coming into the Tokyo Olympics, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team was the clear favorite to bring home a gold medal, which would make them the first team to ever a World Cup title and an Olympic title back-to-back. But after dropping their first game to Sweden 3-0, and battling Australia to a tough 0-0 draw, some questions have started to emerge about the squad and head coach Vlatko Andonovski, who is leading the team in a major tournament for the first time. The Athletic's Meg Linehan and Steph Yang join us to break down what went wrong for the U.S. in that opening loss, the journeys that Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd went on to make it to the tournament, and what now stands between the team and a gold medal.

More from Meg Linehan: https://theathletic.com/author/meg-linehan/

More from Steph Yang: https://theathletic.com/author/steph-yang/

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The Tokyo Olympics are in full swing, and already there have been a number of surprising developments from Japan, including Simone Biles deciding to withdraw from the women’s team gymnastics competition and the individual all-around competition, and Katie Ledecky losing for the first time ever at the Olympics — but rebounding to win gold. Today, we break down the stories that have captured our attention for a wide range of reasons, including 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby winning a gold medal for Alaska, a gymnast saying farewell at age 46, and an out-of-place boat derailing the start of the men’s triathlon.

Follow The Athletic’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics: https://theathletic.com/olympics/?source=theleadpodcast

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