Jackson Free Press

Four years ago in London, gymnast Gabby Douglas became a household name when she became the first African American woman to win the gold medal in the individual all-around competition. She won a gold medal in the team competition when the United States won the women’s artistic all-around.

Flash forward to 2016, and Douglas isn’t the top women’s gymnast for the U.S. At the recently held 2016 U.S. Championships, Douglas finished in fourth place overall.

No, Douglas isn’t the top woman to watch in U.S. gymnastics anymore. Simone Biles has taken over that role.

If there is one Olympian you should take time out of your schedule to watch, it is Biles. She is the winner of the 2016 U.S. Championship with a personal best score of 125.000 points. It was the fourth-straight win in the U.S. Championships.

Second place belonged to Aly Raisman, who scored 121.100 points. Raisman won two gold medals and three overall in London.

Without question, Biles was the star of the show as she won the vault, floor and balance beam, in addition to the overall title. She is the first woman in 42 years to win four straight U.S. Championships since Joan Moore Grant accomplished the feat from 1971 to 1974.

Biles isn’t just the best American women's gymnast; she is the best gymnast in the world. She has won the last three World Championship All-Around titles.

The 19-year-old has a tear-jerker story NBC will promote until everyone knows it by heart. Her grandparents adopted her after her mother gave her up.

Finishing third was Lauren Hernandez with a score of 120.500, and Douglas was a distant fourth with a score of 117.800 for the two-time gold medal winner. Madison Kocian finished in fifth with a 116.450 score.

Biles is a lock to head to Rio, but the other four spots on the U.S. team are up grabs. If the same score from the U.S. Championship holds up, the team will be Raisman, Hernandez, Douglas and Kocian.

The U.S. Trials will be held from July 8 to July 10 in San Jose, Calif. to name the official team. Besides just the top five finishers, also in San Jose will be Amelia Hundley, Alyssa Baumann and Ragan Smith earned automatic berths to the trails.

USA Gymnastics added Christina Desiderio, Brenna Dowell, Rachel Gowey, Ashton Locklear, Maggie Nichols, Emily Schild and MyKayla Skinner to compete at the trails. The U.S. looks to defend its all-around medal from London.

The sports world suffered two losses early on June 28 with the passing of legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt and defensive mastermind Buddy Ryan. Summitt was the major factor in the growth of women’s basketball and Ryan built, arguably, the greatest defense in NFL history.

After suddenly being thrust into the head coaching position at the University of Tennessee in 1974, Summitt built one of the greatest basketball programs in American men's or women's basketball history. Her starting salary at UT was just $8,900, but that changed before her time with the Volunteers was finished.

Before becoming the winningest coach between both men and women at the Division I level, Summitt starred on the court at the University of Tennessee-Martin. By the time she left UT-Martin, she was the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,045 points and two appearances in the national championship tournament.

She played for her country in the Pan American Games and the Olympics. While doing that, Summitt had already begun her coaching career.

Summitt built Tennessee in to a national power in basketball by the early 1980s and guided the school to its first Final Four in the 1981-1982 season and finished as runner up during the 1983-1984 season.

Finally, in the 1986-1987 season, Summitt broke through for her first national championship. She won seven more national championships, include three straight from 1996 to 1998.

Tennessee won 16 SEC Championships and 16 SEC Tournament Championships under her coaching. The Volunteers reached 31 NCAA Tournaments and 18 Final Fours with Summitt.

In 38 years with Tennessee, Summitt won 1,098 games, had a .841 winning percentage, coached 21 All-Americans and 12 Olympians, won two Olympic gold medals as a coach, got 112 NCAA Tournament wins, eight SEC Coach of the Year Awards and seven NCAA Coach of the Year awards.

Summitt broke the million-dollar salary ceiling for women’s coaches in 2006 when she signed a contract for $2.125 million a year. After winning her 1,000th game in 2009, Tennessee awarded her with a $200,000 bonus and a contract that ran until the 2014 season.

Before she could finish her final contract at Tennessee, Summitt revealed she was suffering from early onset dementia and stepped away from coaching after leading her team to the Elite Eight in the 2011-12 season.

She was named Sports Illustrated Sportswoman of the Year in 2011 and was honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award in 2012, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 and was put in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Summitt never had a losing season at Tennessee, and every player who finished their eligibility under her when on to earn a degree. She only lost 208 games during her time as a college basketball coach.

At the age of 64, Summitt passed away due to early onset dementia.

While she was breaking glass ceilings and busting down barriers, Buddy Ryan was perfecting defensive …

If the New Orleans Saints are going to fix a historically bad defense, they will need to stay healthy. That was one of the many reasons the Saints struggled in pass defense last season.

New Orleans saw safety Jairus Byrd, cornerback Damian Swann, cornerback Keenan Lewis, cornerback P.J. Williams and others miss time because of injuries. Add the injuries to lack of a pass rushing, and it is easy to see why the Saints were so dreadful on defense.

How dreadful was the 2015 New Orleans defense?

The unit ranked 31st in pass defense and total defense, and tied for 25th in sacks. New Orleans was also tied for 26th in interceptions with just nine.

No matter what the issues were with the Saints defense, former defensive coordinator Rob Ryan got the ax during the season. New Orleans promoted Dennis Allen as the new defensive coordinator for the final six games.

Allen is now the full-time defensive coordinator, and it will be his job to get this defense off the bottom of the statistical categories. It would be easier for him to do that if his secondary can stay healthy this season.

That already looks like a challenge.

Byrd is going to be limited until training camp as he recovers from a torn meniscus that has plagued him since his first season in New Orleans. Swann is back on the field but suffered three concussions during his rookie season.

Williams is coming back from a hamstring tear that ended his 2015 season. Lewis spent most of last season injured before a sports hernia shut him down completely late in the season.

The injuries to Swann and Williams ended their rookie seasons early.

New Orleans added safeties Erik Harris and Roman Harper, and drafted Von Bell. Those players, along with Kenny Vaccaro and a hopefully healthy Byrd, will make the Saints deep at safety.

Some of that depth was lost when Jamarca Sanford went on the injured reserve. Sanford has been with the Saints since 2014 and recently re-signed with the club.

Cornerback depth took a hit after the Saints put Kyle Wilson on injured reserve due to a torn labrum in his shoulder. New Orleans now has to hope that Lewis, Williams and Swan will stay healthy and that Delvin Breaux will continue his rise as a top cornerback.

New Orleans signed defensive tackle Lawrence Virgil after the injury to Sanford and defensive tackle C.J. Wilson to take over Kyle Wilson’s spot.

The Saints might also be looking for a new training camp spot. New Orleans was set to return to the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia until flooding closed it down.

The PGA has already cancelled the Greenbrier Classic because of the flooding. The Saints are set to start training camp on July 27, and the team is monitoring the situation.

This team can’t afford to have injuries in training camp this offseason or …