AP
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After all his Olympic medals were destroyed in the Los Angeles fires, swimming great Gary Hall Jr. set an unexpected record replacing them at IOC headquarters Monday.

Ten Olympic medals awarded to one athlete on the same day.

“I’ll do a better job of taking care of these,” Hall Jr. quipped receiving the new set of five golds, three silvers and two bronzes earned swimming for the United States at three Summer Games from 1996 to 2004.

The originals burned four months ago at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of the city that will host the next Summer Games in 2028.

‘I thought I had more time’: Former Olympian forced to leave gold medals to burn in wildfires

‘I thought I had more time’: Former Olympian forced to leave gold medals to burn in wildfires

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Replacing them by presenting 10 at the same time was “a unique ceremony,” said International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

“I don’t think that it happened ever before and I hope it will never have to happen again,” Bach told Hall Jr. “We hope also to give you a moment of relief and joy which will help you now in the further process to get over what you had to go through with this tragedy.”

Hall Jr. spoke with emotion about being supported by family, former teammates and old Olympic rivals like Australia stars Ian Thorpe and Michael Klim.

“Having friends and family I am a very lucky man,” he said. “The support that I was offered from the athletic community has buoyed me through the darkest of nights.”

He brought with him to Switzerland a deformed gold medal later recovered from the home he fled with his dog, Puddles, after grabbing his insulin medication.

“It’s got some character,” Hall Jr. said of the burned gold at the Olympic ceremony. “The value of friends outweighs the value of objects. We live in a time of capitalism, consumerism and you realize when you lose everything, how little of it you truly need.

“Character cannot be taken away, it cannot be burned and it cannot be lost.”

Thorpe was among the first people to contact Hall Jr. during the January fires.

“I don’t know how he knew,” Hall Jr. said of the surprise call from Thorpe, who was part of the Australian 4×100-meter freestyle team that took gold ahead of the U.S. at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“That is what this (Olympic) family is about — rivals and friends. I am just so appreciative to all of them. I can’t thank the Olympic movement enough for their support through this very difficult time.”

CNN
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Oscar Piastri continued his blistering form to start the 2025 Formula One season as he claimed a dominant victory at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

Although Max Verstappen led early on after starting on pole position, Piastri was able to overtake the Dutch driver during the 14th lap and never look back.

It was a McLaren one-two in Florida as Lando Norris overtook Verstappen four laps later and the two papaya cars put distance between themselves and the rest of the pack; second-placed Norris finished almost 38 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell in third.

Piastri’s victory – his fourth of the season already – is his third in a row and maintains his lead atop the driver’s championship standings, where he leads teammate Norris by 16 points. He is the first McLaren driver to win three consecutive Grands Prix since Mika Häkkinen in 1997-98.

But despite the excellent run he’s on, the Australian driver said there was plenty for him to work on going forward, specifically highlighting his performance in Saturday’s qualifying.

“I think this weekend was not my best, and a lot of that was yesterday. The race today was pretty solid, but yesterday, I was pretty frustrated with my performance,” Piastri told reporters. “Ultimately, yes, I won the race this weekend, but I think the likelihood of winning many races (after) qualifying fourth is pretty low.

“I did a lot of things right today, but there was definitely some good fortune there as well, and a very quick car. I don’t want to rely on that every single Sunday. Clearly, this is the exception to the pace we’ve had this year. Yes, we’ve always had a strong car, but the pace we had today from lap one, it felt like was unexpected, even for us.”

The only downside for Piastri on Sunday’s result was his post-race celebration, he says.

The 24-year-old performed the Griddy dance after jumping out his car, having made a bet pre-race with Minnesota Vikings star Justin Jefferson – who popularized the dance with his touchdown celebrations – that if he won, he’d do the dance.

Piastri admitted afterwards that his Griddy “might need a bit of work” and said he didn’t practice it after qualifying as he thought winning on Sunday would be a long-shot.

“That was my first attempt at a Griddy live on world TV. I stayed true to the bet, but that’s the one and only time you’ll be seeing me do that,” he told reporters.

Jefferson gave Piastri’s effort the seal of approval, writing on Instagram: “You did just fine. We gone work on the dance moves another time, just keep winning brother!!”

It was a typically star-studded affair in Miami for the Grand Prix, with celebrities such as actor Timothée Chalamet, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and Blackpink star Lisa in attendance.

And it was a unique build-up to the race with each driver participating in the drivers’ parade in a fully drivable LEGO model of their F1 cars rather than the typical truck.

The cars – made of nearly 400,000 LEGO bricks – were modeled on the drivers’ cars, decorated with their unique numbers and liveries, and were driven around the course ahead of the race.

While there was success for his former team, Lewis Hamilton was consigned to an eighth-place finish as his debut season with Ferrari continues to stutter.

The seven-time world champion started 12th on the grid but was able to fight his way back, finishing three seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc and over a minute behind Piastri.

And Hamilton’s early season frustrations – he sits seventh in the drivers’ championship standings, 90 points off Piastri – were evident during the race in a terse exchange over the radio with his Ferrari team.

A mid-race pitstop saw Hamilton find some speed and close in on Leclerc. But, having initially told both drivers to hold position, Ferrari engineers instructed Leclerc to cede his position to Hamilton a few laps later.

Hamilton was clearly frustrated with the delay in the instructions, telling his engineers they could “have a tea break while you’re at it.” After eventually given permission to pass Leclerc, he said the delay was “not good teamwork” and when he was later told that Williams’ Carlos Sainz was on his tail, he sarcastically asked if they wanted him to “let Sainz through as well.”

The British driver said afterwards that the comments were made in the throes of competition, saying that he still has “that fire in my belly.”

“I lost a lot of time behind Charles, and in that moment, for sure, I was like: ‘Come on, let’s make a concise decision really quick, let’s not waste time,’” the 40-year-old told Sky Sports.

“I’m sure people didn’t like certain comments, but you’ve got to understand it was frustrating, people say way worse things than what I say. It was more sarcastic than anything and I’m not frustrated now. We’ll work internally, we’ll have discussions and we’ll keep pushing.”

He added: “Let’s not get emotional about it. We’re here to race, we’re not where we want to be. I’ve still got that fire in my belly. I could feel a little bit of it really coming out there, and I’m not going to apologize for being a fighter, I’m not going to apologize for still wanting it.”

CNN
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Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka has won her first title since becoming a mother, beating Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan 6-1, 7-5 in the final of L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo, a WTA 125 event France.

Osaka, a four-time grand slam champion, returned to competitive tennis at the start of 2024 after giving birth to her daughter in July 2023.

“Kinda ironic to win my first trophy back on the surface that I thought was my worst,” Osaka wrote on X following her win.

“That’s one of my favorite things about life though, there’s always room to grow and evolve. Thanks to everyone accompanying me on this journey, I know it’s turbulent but it’s also really fun and I’m grateful.”

It is the first clay-court title of Osaka’s career and comes after a promising start to the year was derailed by injuries.

Osaka’s win will also push her back into the world’s top 50 for the first time since returning to tennis.

The 27-year-old revealed last year that she was still adjusting to playing tennis following the birth of her daughter, saying she didn’t “feel like I’m in my body.”

Osaka has previously taken extended breaks from tennis to prioritize her mental health.

The Japanese star is next set to compete at the WTA 1000 Italian Open which begins on Wednesday.