Olympics

Welcome to Olympic Mettle, a new blog covering the 2012 Olympics games from The Baltmore Sun.  

In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, Joe Flacco was criticized for saying at a news conference that the idea of a cold-weather Super Bowl was “retarded,” something the Ravens quarterback apologized for a day later. This past weekend, Flacco -- and fellow Ravens players Ed Dickson and Gino Gradkowski -- signed a pledge to eliminate the use of the "r-word.” Special Olympics Maryland tweeted out a photo of the players on Saturday. After he was drafted by the Ravens in 2008, Flacco quickly established a relationship with Special Olympics Maryland, hosting several events and even jumping into the frigid Chesapeake Bay at the Polar Bear Plunge.

Kayaking Marylanders Parsons, Queen make Olympics Bethesda's Scott Parsons secured a third straight U.S. Olympic team berth in men's kayaking with a dominant victory Saturday at a world cup event in Cardiff, Wales, and Darnestown's Caroline Queen narrowly secured her first Olympic team slot in the women's event, edging longtime friend Ashley Nee , also of Darnestown. Wrapping up a three-step Olympic trials selection process, Parsons topped two other Americans in Wales with his 11th-place finish in 97.62 seconds.

He's back ... unless he's not. Rumors that Michael Phelps, already the most decorated Olympian, is planning to come out of retirement sent the swimming community abuzz Friday night. Phelps, the Baltimore native who retired with a lifetime 22 medals, 18 of them gold after the 2012 London Games, threw some water on the notion that spread after a blogger and a Florida television station said he was headed back to the pool. "Why do I keep getting texts about coming back? Do [people]

The official Olympics athlete shots are out and let's just say if they offered a medal in rolling out of bed, throwing on last night's clothes and showing up for a photo shoot, Michael Phelps would likely win. His Olympics 2012 photograph looks like a promo poster for "The Hangover. " His beard is straggly. He's not smiling. To call his hair messy would be a cop out -- bed head is more like it. In all, the mugshot looks more like something that would be taken after an arrest than before an Olympics.

Tickets to the 2012 Olympics in London are now available, marking the first opportunity for fans of Michael Phelps and other athletic luminaries to secure their seat for next year's global competition. The Olympics begin in just about 500 days and tickets went on sale about mid-day Tuesday with organizers offering more than 6.6 million tickets - about 58,000 available initially in the U.S. - to some 650 competition sessions. This is just the first phase and people can apply for tickets through April 26. Tickets are not being sold first-come, first-serve, however.

- The giggler who became the sweetheart of the 1988 Seoul Games, Janet Evans, found her situation this week pretty comical. She was trying, quite in vain as it turned out, to recapture Olympic glory at age 40. "There was a 16-year-old," the three-time gold medalist said of a swimmer two lanes over from her, "closer in age to Syd. " The mother of 5-year-old Sydney and 2-year-old Jake, Evans is not the only swimmer watching time pass...

Out-sprinted by swimmers born after she won her first gold medal in 1984, Dara Torres failed in her quest for a sixth Olympic Games Monday night. Torres, 45, of Parkland, Fl., churned down the 50-meter pool in 24.82 seconds, coming in fourth. That was 32/100ths of a second behind first-place finisher, Jessica Hardy, and a mere 9/100th of a second after Kara Lynn Joyce. Hardy, 25, and Joyce, 26, go on to compete in the 50-meter freestyle race in London. Coming in third was Christine Magnuson, also 26. A chagrined but still smiling Torres said it was an emotional and rewarding experience to attempt another Olympics.

It was a swimmer's version of a busman's holiday: During some rare time off last week from her intense training at Baltimore's Meadowbrook pool, Allison Schmitt decided to visit ... the National Aquarium. “When I saw the dolphins,” Schmitt said with a laugh Thursday, “I wanted to jump in.” Such is the single-minded focus of swimmers such as Schmitt, a bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympics, and among those competing here this week in the Indianapolis Grand Prix. It's among the final tune-ups before the qualifying trials in June for the London games in July.

Figure skating is electric Phil Hersh Chicago Tribune Short track speedskating is great if you like roller derby. Anyone can watch terrific hockey eight months a year. But what I like best at the Olympics is figure skating, and the most exciting moments often come during the six-minute warm-up before the last group of singles skaters does its long program. The tension is electric as each skater tests his or her big jumps, and the crowd is very aware when a man tries a quad, a woman tries either a triple axel or a nemesis jump.

Under Armour plans to hire hundreds of workers at its Locust Point headquarters this year, expand facilities on its campus and bring its brand of sports apparel and footwear to new markets in the U.S. and around the world. CEO Kevin Plank outlined the goals Tuesday while promising shareholders more of the rapid growth that has defined the $1.8 billion company in recent years. During an annual meeting in which Under Armour pitchman and record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps made a surprise appearance, Plank said the company is just beginning to make inroads in areas such as athletic footwear, women's sports apparel and international markets, with room to grow.

Syracuse defenseman Brandon Mullins will miss the rest of the season because of a right knee injury that will require surgery, the team announced Thursday. Mullins went down in the fourth quarter of Friday night's 9-8 overtime victory against Virginia, clutching his knee when he hit the Carrier Dome turf. He labored off the field but did not return. Mullins was enjoying a strong start to his sophomore campaign, contributing significant minutes in Syracuse's first three games, including starting two. He garnered attention for his ability to cover skilled offensive players and make plays in the middle of the field.

“I'm 27. I'm retired. But I still want to compete.” That's Olympic champion Michael Phelps talking in “The Haney Project,” a Golf Channel series that stars Tiger Woods' one-time coach taking on a new celebrity student each season. Phelps' words pretty much summarize the premise of this year's edition, which starts Monday night. In the past, Hank Haney's celebrity pupils have included Ray Romano, Rush Limbaugh, Charles Barkley and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine. This season, the student is the swimmer from Baltimore who won 18 gold medals in Olympic competition.

Members of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 116F took part in the 17th annual Special Olympics of Maryland Polar Bear Plunge Jan. 26 at Sandy Point State Park near Annapolis. Lodge members, who are also Aberdeen Proving Ground police officers with the installation's Directorate of Emergency Services, raised $2,015 in support of the event, which supports sports training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. "It is our goal to support the Special Olympics of Maryland annually in this event," said DES Police Officer Jonathan Wight.

1. Phoenix 2. Los Angeles 3. Sacramento, Calif. 4. San Diego 5. San Francisco 6. San Jose, Calif. 7. Denver 8. Washington, D.C. 9. Jacksonville, Fla. 10. Miami 11. Orlando, Fla. 12. Atlanta 13. Chicago 14. Indianapolis 15. Baltimore 16. Boston 17. Detroit 18. Minneapolis 19. St. Louis 20. Las Vegas 21. New York 22. Rochester, N.Y. 23. Charlotte, N.C. 24. Columbus,...

Text of the letter: Dear Mayor: As you may know, the United States Olympic Committee is currently considering a bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As we explore this exciting possibility, we are actively seeking to gauge the interest of U.S. cities that may have the ability to host an event with the scope and scale of the Olympic Games. To that end, we are reaching out to cities that have previously expressed an interest in bidding as well as the cities in the largest 25 U.S. markets.

The Olympic flame may not be extinguished along the Chesapeake Bay. A key organizer of the region's unsuccessful bid for the 2012 Summer Games is gauging interest in making a run at the 2024 Games. Dan Knise, president and CEO of the Washington-Baltimore 2012 Regional Coalition, believes "there's a little bit of a spark" in the region for another try. "There have been some informal discussions with people. The energy the Olympics create, the optimism it creates, I feel that again.

As the Olympics play out in London, there's at least one Baltimorean dreaming about Charm City hosting the world-class athletic event - with the successors to Baltimore's swimming stars Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt racing each other across the harbor. That's right - the trash-strewn waterway that's now so polluted by sewage leaks and storm runoff that the health department warns people against swimming or wading in it, and says even boaters should be sure to wash their hands to avoid becoming sick.

Another swing for softball Philip Hersh Chicago Tribune First of all, wrestling should not be replaced on the Summer Olympic program, in 2020 or ever. But if the International OlympicCommittee keeps its head buried firmly in the sand (or elsewhere), I am conflicted about a replacement because baseball and softball have made themselves a single entity in a bid for readmission. Softball belongs; baseball does not because the sport's top prize is not Olympic gold but the World Series, and getting its top players to compete during the major league season remains a problem.