The Sports Moment

This Saturday, the two best teams in the National Women’s Soccer League face off in the championship. The NWSL is booming after years of scandal and struggle. Today on this special episode of "Post Reports," how the league became so successful and what it shows about the potential for women’s sports.

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Just a few years ago, the National Women’s Soccer League was a relatively small business. Now, it’s becoming a financial juggernaut with multimillion-dollar investments, a big TV deal and huge attendance. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to tune in this weekend for the big game: the championship match between the Washington Spirit and the Orlando Pride.

Guest host and sports writer Ava Wallace speaks with soccer reporter Steve Goff and sports editor Ella Brockway about how the NWSL emerged from years of scandal and underinvestment. 

Today’s show was produced by Bishop Sand with help from Lucas Trevor. It was edited by Maggie Penman and Alison MacAdam and mixed by Justin Gerrish.

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After two-plus weeks of the Games, the Closing Ceremonies arrive today. Between the Parisian backdrop, the incredible athletic performances and celebrity buzz, these Olympics will stand apart – especially from the pandemic-era ones that preceded it.

The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace speaks with reporter Rick Maese and columnist Jerry Brewer about their favorite moments covering the Games.

This is our last episode from Paris. There will be more to come from The Post, so stay tuned to this feed, and to Ava’s Sports Moment newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.

Thank you to everyone who’s followed along these last couple of weeks. If you want to show your support for shows like this, please subscribe to The Washington Post.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.

The Paris Olympics have been an incredible success story for the southern Caribbean islands of Dominica, Saint Lucia and Grenada. Most of those wins came on a single night in track. 

The meaning of the Olympics from Grenadian bronze-medalist Lindon Victor. Plus: Host Ava Wallace gives a rundown of the latest news from Paris.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.

It was a blockbuster day at the track on Thursday, and it was supposed to begin with Noah Lyles being anointed with his second gold medal – this time in his signature event, the men’s 200 meters. But as the sprinters turned the corner on the track, it was clear something was wrong.

The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace speaks with Post reporter Adam Kilgore and Post columnist Barry Svrluga about the atmosphere at yesterday’s meet and its significance as the Games near their end.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.

Snoop Dogg, Flavor Flav, pins: The Paris Games are a bounty of cultural weirdness. And for people attending the Games in person, you can add to the list “hospitality houses” – party houses where people can pay a fee to watch sporting events with their countrymen.

The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace talks with Post features writer Dan Zak about his experience of covering the Olympics as a cultural event.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.

Lauren Scuggs remembers being the only fencer in her Queens neighborhood: “It was a very weird thing for me to do.” In a sport that has been historically dominated in the United States by White people, Scruggs became the first Black American woman to win an individual fencing medal at the Olympics.

The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace sat down with Scruggs to talk about her journey to the Olympics and what it took to make Olympics history.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.

The U.S. women’s basketball team is a dynasty – and it didn’t need Caitlin Clark. Host Ava Wallace talks with columnists Candace Buckner and Jerry Brewer about that and drama on the track. Plus: How NBC brings the sounds of the Games to your living room.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.

Yesterday, Noah Lyles defended his title as fastest man in the world by winning the men’s 100-meter dash. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic bested Carlos Alcaraz, to whom he lost in Wimbledon just a month earlier. No matter where you turn, the Paris Olympics are packed with redemption stories.

The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace speaks with Post reporters Rick Maese about some of the best games from over the weekend and how they’ll go down in Olympic history.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.

Correction: A previous version of this episode misidentified Josh Kerr, the British middle-distance runner, as Sam Kerr, the Australian soccer player. The audio has been updated to remove the error.

At the last Summer Olympics, not a single American man won gold in track. This year, track superstars, including Noah Lyles, are trying to set the record straight on Paris’s purple track. The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace speaks with reporter Adam Kilgore about the start of track and field and which men and women to watch.

Check out this Post story about how the Swedish-American pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis keeps setting new world records in his sport.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.

Many of the superstar athletes at the Paris Olympics are older than their peers have been in the past. Superstars like LeBron James, Katie Ledecky and Simomne Biles are forcing people to rethink how old is “too old” to be competing at the Olympics. 

Ava Wallace talks with Post sports reporter Emily Giambalvo and Post sports columnist Jerry Brewer about the significance of Biles’s gold-medal win last night at the gymnastics all-around, and whether it might signal a seachange for the Games moving forward.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone.