MICHAEL PHELPS

Naomi Osaka has returned to the U.S. Open for the first time in about a year to participate in a panel about mental health in sports, a topic she helped focus a spotlight on two years ago.

Legendary swimming coach Bob Bowman keeps turning out winners.

American swimmer Katie Ledecky's legacy keeps growing.

Katie Ledecky has won the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle with ease at the swimming world championships on a day that saw fellow American Ryan Murphy triumph in the men’s 100 backstroke.

When Bob Bowman was coaching the world’s greatest swimmer, he’d be the first to concede he was not a very nice person at the pool.

Chase Kalisz has become the seventh American swimmer to make six world championship teams.

Katie Ledecky has joined an elite club, earning her sixth trip to the world championships with a dominating victory in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. nationals.

Caeleb Dressel has finished 29th in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. nationals to fall far short of qualifying for the world championships in an event he won at the Tokyo Olympics.

Reaction to Serena Williams' loss in the third round of the U.S. Open.

Katie Ledecky has extended her record haul of medals from the world swimming championships to 22 with her latest 800-meter freestyle win.

Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh has won the women’s 200 butterfly for her first title at the world swimming championships.

Hungary’s Kristóf Milák has set a world record in the men’s 200 butterfly at the swimming world championships.

Italy’s Thomas Ceccon has set a world record in the men’s 100 backstroke and Katie Ledecky has claimed yet another gold at the swimming world championships in Budapest.

Around the world, athletes are throwing their support behind political and social causes, part of a wave of sports activism that has flourished in the years since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began taking a knee during games to protest police brutality against Black people.

Mental health was the breakout star at the Tokyo Olympics.

Ireen Wüst can’t really explain it.

Ireen Wüst skated into the record books at the Beijing Games by becoming the first athlete to claim individual gold medals at five different Olympics.

Somewhere under the four sheets of curling ice being used for the Beijing Olympics is the swimming pool where Michael Phelps splashed his way to history in the 2008 Summer Games.

John Shuster will become the first curler to carry the American flag in an Olympic opening ceremony at this year's Beijing Games.

Being a young Black woman in American life comes with its own built-in pressure to perform, and entails much more than meets the eye.

Simone Biles stuck the landing and won a bronze medal.

Caeleb Dressel and Emma McKeon earned milestone medals at the Olympic pool before Italian runner Marcell Jacobs was the surprising winner of the race to determine the fastest man in the world.

Caeleb Dressel capped one of the greatest performances in Olympic history with his fourth and fifth gold medals of the Tokyo Games.

American star Caeleb Dressel still has a shot at five gold medals.

For all the focus on Caeleb Dressel, Australia’s Emma McKeon could leave the Tokyo Olympics with more swimming medals than anyone.

The willingness of athletes, led by Simone Biles, to talk about the pressures they face as elite athletes on the Olympics stage, has forced a look at how NBC presents the Games to the public.

Caeleb Dressel has won his third gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a world record in the 100-meter butterfly.

Caeleb Dressel has a shot to win six gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics.

László Cseh outlasted longtime rivals Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

Caeleb Dressel tossed his gold medal from a winning relay at the Tokyo Olympics to a teammate in the stands.

Mental health has been a discussion in sports the past year but became the topic of these Olympics when gymnast Simone Biles chose self-care over sporting success.

Caeleb Dressel got his first individual gold medal, the Chinese women put together a record-setting relay and American Sunisa Lee won the women’s all-around gymnastics gold.

Simone Biles cited mental health struggles for pulling out of the gymnastics team competition and the individual all-around, highlighting the discussion that’s been coursing through sports for the past year.

Kristof Milak is the dominant force in swimming's butterfly event and the man who broke Michael Phelps' 10-year-old world record in the 200-meter fly at the world championships in 2019.

For the first time in more than a century, Britain claimed relay gold at the Olympic pool.

Finally, a gold medal in Tokyo for Katie Ledecky.

Ariarne Titmus and Luka Doncic made memorable Olympic debuts.

Caeleb Dressel got started on his quest for six gold medals in swimming, while Katie Ledecky found herself in a very unusual position: Second place.

The Americans will try to add to their impressive first day haul of swimming medals on Day 3 of the Tokyo Games when some of their top competitors get back in the pool Monday.

Michael Phelps is now in a broadcast seat, a mere observer rather than the driving force of U.S. swimming.

The Yoyogi National Stadium was the architectural jewel of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are known for their towering drives but they won’t make it to the tee box at the Olympics.

Chase Kalisz won the first American medal of the Tokyo Games with a gold in the men’s 400-meter individual medley.

Two of America's biggest stars begin their Tokyo Games on Sunday.

Caeleb Dressel could win as many as seven medals in the pool at the Tokyo Olympics.

There won’t be any reaction shots of excited, shocked or crying family members in the stands at the Tokyo Olympics.

Bryson DeChambeau grew up watching the Olympics and wishing that someday he would be able to take part.

Simone Manuel is going back to the Olympics.

The stars shined on the next-to-last night of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha.

Katie Ledecky’s most grueling night at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials resulted in two more victories.

The Lilly King Show is headed to Tokyo.

Michael Phelps is back at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials just to watch for the first time since 1996.

Chase Kalisz is heading back to the Olympics after winning the 400-meter individual medley on the opening night of the U.S. swimming trials in Omaha.

A few years ago, a star athlete dropping out of a major tennis tournament over mental health issues might have been seen as a sign of weakness.

The title of the most-decorated athlete ever belongs to United States swimmer Michael Phelps, who won 28 medals competing in five different Summer Olympics from 2000 to 2016. But there are so many highly decorated female Olympians, too.

Ever since the Olympics were postponed nine months ago, local organizers and the IOC have been biding their time. Ever since the Olympics were postponed nine months ago, local organizers and the IOC have been biding their time. The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo organizers will have to start getting specific in the next few months. “The fact that you're going to put 10,000-plus athletes, plus all the volunteers, plus all the coaches, plus, plus, plus, plus plus. There is just too much unknown.”Q: Despite the uncertainties, what do we firmly know about staging the Tokyo Olympics?

“This is probably going to go down as my worst meet that I’ve ever had,” he said by phone from Sarasota, Florida. When I get back (home), I’m going to start turning it up again.”At 36, Lochte is taking aim at making a fifth U.S. Olympic team. I know I’m physically tired,” he said. Lochte said he’s still in touch with Phelps, who retired after Rio and has three boys of his own now. It’s still fun.”Lochte still has his supporters, whether it’s his fans who know he’s always willing to accommodate their requests or those in the sport.

“Empire” star Taraji P. Henson has enjoyed wealth, celebrity, a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination. “It’s OK to not be OK," Henson, the latest recipient of the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion, told The Associated Press via email. In 2018, the Washington, D.C., native started the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation to stop those with mental illness from being stigmatized — especially Blacks, who she says are less likely to seek treatment. This year, with the coronavirus pandemic complicating people's mental health struggles, Henson's foundation has been helping African Americans — who've been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 — access free online therapy. “We need more people like Taraji to continue to eliminate the stigma around mental health across all our communities in America.”___Follow AP New England editor Bill Kole on Twitter at http://twitter.com/billkole.

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2004, file photo, the Olympic Rings are shown in flames in a pool of water during the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)When the Olympics returned to Athens in 2004, they also returned to antiquity. They finished in central Athens at the Panathenian Stadium, the marble venue used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the inaugural 1896 Games. Irina Korzhanenko of Russia became the first woman to win a gold medal at the ancient site that birthed the Olympics. The gold medal instead went to Argentina, a team led by Manu Ginobili.

That was true in Beijing in 2008, and the stars were Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. But Beijing is also storied for its signature venues like the Bird's Nest stadium, and the Water Cube swimming venue. Here are some of the highlights of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. That was true in Beijing in 2008, when the stars were Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. But Beijing is also storied for its signature venues like the the 91,000-seat Bird's Nest stadium, and the nearby swimming venue called the Water Cube.No games before or since have impacted a city the way the Olympics did Beijing.

Here are some of the highlights of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. The Cold War made for decades of tense Olympic battles between the United States and the Soviet Union. Four years later, the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles as retaliation. The Soviet war in Afghanistan rumbled on through the 1980 Olympics. Barely a decade later, the Soviet Union would be a thing of the past as it fractured into 15 newly independent countries.