Jackson Free Press

The Rio Olympics enters its final week of competition, and as the games begin to wind down, it is good to look at the medal race, and it’s starting to become a rout.

While it was close the opening week, the U.S. is beginning to run away from the other nations. As of Monday afternoon, Aug. 15, the U.S. has 72 total medals, which is 26 ahead of second-place China.

Second place is where the real race is shaping up, with China’s 46 total medals just six ahead of the 40 medals Great Britain won. Russia, with 32 total medals, isn’t far from Britain, but with several athletes banned from the games, it will be hard for the country to move up.

The U.S. has the most gold medals (26), silver medals (22) and bronze medals (24). No other country besides the U.S. has reached 20 medals in single place yet. The U.S. has done so in all three.

Swimming is where the U.S. has built its lead with 33 total medals. Gymnastics is second with eight medals, and track and field, which started late last week, is third with six medals.

So far, the U.S. has earned at least one medal in 15 sports. The country has won four medals in fencing and three medals in shooting and tennis.

In the 2012 London games, the U.S. won 104 total medals, besting second-place China, which won 88 total medals. China narrowly held off Russia, which finished third with 82 total medals. The host nation was fourth with 65 total medals.

In London, the U.S. finished with 46 gold medals, 29 silver medals and 32 bronze medals. The U.S. finished first in gold and bronze medals, and China and Russia finished first and second in silver medals, with the U.S. in third.

As the U.S. dominates the medal stand in Rio, Japan is looking to move up from its current 27 total medals and fifth place. Italy, France and Australia are tied for sixth with 22 total medals.

Germany is ninth with 19 total medals, and South Korea rounds out the top 10 with 14 total medals. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, is in 11th place with 13 total medals.

Hungary and the Netherlands are the only other countries to have reached double-digits in medals. The Hungarians have a total of 12 medals, and the Dutch have a total of 11 medals.

The host nation only has seven total medals. Brazil won 17 medals in London, so it will have to make a push this final week to get the normal medal bump of being the host nation.

So far in Rio, 68 nations and athletes competing under the Olympic flag have won medals. Four years ago, 85 countries won medals before the closing ceremonies.

The Rio Olympics continue until Sunday, Aug. 21, before Tokyo accepts the Olympic flag for the 2020 games.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Gov. Phil Bryant and MDHS Executive Director John Davis' motions to stay the injunction that blocked House Bill 1523 from becoming law. Bryant and Davis asked the court to expedite their appeal, and that application was also denied.

The 5th Circuit did allow the two HB 1523 cases to be consolidated, but the court will not issue a stay on U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves' injunction or expedite the a hearing for the governor's appeal of the bill.

The conservative legal organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, is providing co-counsel for the governor's appeal in the 5th Circuit. HB 1523 was based, at least in part, on language from a model policy that ADF sent to the governor's office before same-sex marriage was legalized nationally in 2015.

Rob McDuff, one of the lawyers for plaintiffs, called the order a great victory.

"Two and a half months after we filed this challenge to HB 1523, the federal courts once again have held that the bill should not take effect. This is a great victory for the thousands of Mississippians who have opposed this bill in the name of tolerance and fairness and dignity for all," he said in a statement to the Jackson Free Press. "Although the Governor apparently will continue with his appeal, this is an important milestone in the battle against this completely misguided piece of legislation."

“We are pleased with the Fifth Circuit’s summary denial of the governor’s motion and look forward to final resolution of this matter in our favor,” said Beth Orlansky, advocacy director of the Mississippi Center for Justice said in a statement.

Read the motion here. Read more about HB 1523 here.

This post has been updated with statement from the MS Center for Justice and Rob McDuff.

Breaking: Simone Biles wins the gold medal in the women’s all-around final and teammate Aly Raisman wins the silver medal. The event was held today and will be seen in primetime on NBC as coverage starts at 7 p.m.

The members of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team call themselves “The Final Five,” and now, they can call themselves “The Golden Girls” after their gold medal in the team final. They crushed their opponents in a sport where the winners are normally separated by 10ths of points.

Instead, the U.S. women had a score of 184.897 points, winning by 8.209 points over second-place Russia, which had a score of 176.688. China took the bronze with 176.003 points, Japan finished fourth with 174.371, and Great Britain finished fifth with 174.362.

The scores above show just how dominant the U.S. women’s gymnastics team has been in Rio. Just .685 points separated second place and third places, and fourth and fifth place were separated by .009 points.

This is the largest margin of victory in the gymnastics team final since the current points system was put in place in 2006 and replaced the “Perfect 10” scoring system. The U.S. women also broke their own record when the “Fierce Five” won by 5.066 points in the London games four years ago.

By winning in Rio, this is the first time the U.S. women have won back-to-back gold medals in the team finals and the third Olympic gold medal in the event overall. The U.S. has medaled in this event from every Olympics since the 1992 games. Over that period of time, the U.S. has three gold medals (1996, 2012, 2016), two silver medals (2004, 2008) and two bronze medals (1992, 2000).

U.S. women’s gymnastics is working on taking over the sport with back-to-back Olympic gold medals and world championships in 2011, 2014 and 2015. This current team might be the best the U.S. has ever sent to the Olympics.

London holdovers Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman and perhaps the best gymnast in the world, Simone Biles, lead the team. First-time Olympians Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian might not get the headlines of the top-three U.S. gymnasts but are great in their events.

In Rio, the Americans had the highest team score in each event.

On the uneven bars, the U.S. women only held a .333 advantage over the second-best team, but Kocian has the best score of her career, and Douglas matched her best score of the year. Biles finished with the highest score on the balance beam, Hernandez finished third, and the U.S. finished .935 points over the second-place team.

Biles and Raisman both executed an Amanar, which is one of the most difficult vaults, as Biles finished with the top score. The U.S. women were able to start with a lead of 1.133 over the second-best team. The vault was the first event for the U.S. women in the team …

The NFL preseason will officially kickoff tonight with six games on the schedule. That is good news for the league after the Hall of Fame game was cancelled on Sunday.

Tonight is the first preseason game for the New Orleans Saints after a season last year that ended with a 7-9 record and the team missing the playoffs. New Orleans had to watch division rival, Carolina Panthers, reach the Super Bowl.

New Orleans will start the preseason on the road against the New England Patriots. Both teams have spent some time this week holding joint practices before tonight’s game.

While waiting for the game to kickoff tonight, here are five things to watch when both teams take the field.

The Saints backup quarterback job:

New Orleans starting quarterback Drew Brees more than likely won’t play more than four series. It wouldn’t be surprising if he is done after just one series, with this being the first preseason game.

That means the bulk of the work will go to backups Luke McCown and Garrett Grayson. McCown was the man behind Brees’ last season and wasn’t terrible in the spot work he got when the quarterback was out with an injury.

While McCown wasn’t horrible last season, he wasn’t nearly the player Brees is when he is healthy. He looks to have the backup job locked down, but it would be nice if he had a good showing this preseason.

Grayson, on the other hand, is entering his second year after the Saints drafted him in the third round of the 2015 draft with the 75th overall pick. He showed some nice things last preseason, but was nowhere near ready to be backup or looked to be the heir apparent to Brees.

Grayson’s growth will be one of the major things to watch this preseason. He should start to push McCown for the backup job before this season ends.

If he doesn’t show growth as a quarterback as the preseason progresses, then the Saints might have to use another draft pick this spring. It would work out best for New Orleans if Grayson developed to be the next quarterback after Brees’ time with the Saints is done.

The Patriots look to start Jimmy Garoppolo over Tom Brady:

Since Brady is suspended for the first four games of the season, it makes a ton of sense for the Patriots to start the third-year quarterback. Garoppolo was drafted to be the next quarterback after Brady retires.

As he enters his third season in the NFL, it is time for Garoppolo to show he can play. He also might be auditioning for a new job elsewhere.

This game loses some luster, as only one of the two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks will see the field tonight, and limited action as well.

Will the defense improve over 2015?

The New Orleans defense was terrible last season. If this year’s team …