Sports News Roundup: Olympics-Soccer-China women's revival will take generations, says coach Jia; Olympics-Swimming-Time catches up with Pellegrini and Hosszu and more

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Olympics-Soccer-China women's revival will take generations, says coach Jia

More than two decades removed from the upper reaches of women's football, China continue to look for a way back into the sport's top tier after a disastrous showing at the Olympic Games. After finishing bottom of their group with a solitary point and conceding 17 goals in games against Brazil, the Netherlands and tournament debutants Zambia, hopes of gold medals and World Cup titles look as far away as ever.

Olympics-Swimming-Time catches up with Pellegrini and Hosszu

Two of the defining women swimmers of recent years, Italy's Federica Pellegrini and Hungary's Katinka Hosszu, bowed out of the Olympics on Wednesday with no medals but with their world records intact and a place in the history books assured. Pellegrini, 32, had made it clear that this was her last dance and while Hosszu isn't ruling out continuing to Paris in 2024, she would be 35 at those Games and her participation at this stage looks unlikely.

NBA-Obama joins NBA Africa as strategic partner

Former U.S. President Barack Obama has joined NBA Africa as a strategic partner to help advance social responsibility efforts across the continent, the National Basketball Association said on Tuesday. Obama will have a minority equity stake in the new venture, which over time he intends to use to fund Obama Foundation youth and leadership programs across Africa.

Olympics-Hockey-Netherlands, Britain breeze to wins in women's hockey

The Netherlands secured an easy victory over South Africa in hot, blustery conditions at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, while Britain defeated India and Spain won even as their head coach Adrian Lock remained in COVID-19 quarantine. The Dutch women's team led by a goal at half-time, striker Frederique Matla having scored after picking up a pass by Lidewij Welten from the left side of the striking circle.

MLB roundup: Rangers nip D-backs, end 12-game skid

Joey Gallo slugged a tiebreaking three-run homer to cap a five-run fourth inning and the Texas Rangers snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Arlington, Texas. Nathaniel Lowe hit a two-run double prior to Gallo drilling his 25th homer of the season. Gallo also threw two runners out on the bases from right field.

Olympics-Athletics-Records set to tumble but how do we know what's great any more?

A stack of Olympic and possibly world records will be broken on the Tokyo track over the next two weeks but, such has been the incredible impact of shoe technology on performance lately, that nobody quite knows what constitutes great any more.

It used to be the case the world records on the road and track were edged down by fractions of a second, often untouched for years at a time, before the next generation shaved a couple of hundredths and were rightly feted.

Olympics-Biles out of next Tokyo event, sharpening focus on mental health at Games

Gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, a day after she shocked the world by pulling out of the team event and put a sharp focus on mental health at the Games. American Biles will be evaluated to see if she can take part in the individual apparatus competitions, USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Twitter.

Gymnastics-Biles says gymnastics not everything, 'we also have to focus on ourselves'

In the end, Simone Biles decided to pull out of the Tokyo 2020 team gymnastics finals on Tuesday because things just did not feel right after her vault, saying mental health is more important than sports. Biles, who wrote on her Instagram just a day before about feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders, decided that rather than risk injury - and a medal for the rest of the team - she needed to just stop.

Olympics-Athletics-Seeing's not believing - how doping has tainted athletics

There are a few worthy contenders for the "dirtiest race in history" title but the 2012 Olympic women's 1,500 metres probably takes the gold medal for not only the brazen nature of the cheating, but the sheer depth of it. Athletics is by no means the only Olympic sport to be badly hit by doping cases over the last few decades but due to its premier profile and multiplied by the huge scale of Russian doping and evasion, it has endured a grim time.

Gymnastics-'The Fighting Four' step up to win for Biles

When Simone Biles decided she was dropping out of the team gymnastics competition and told her teammates, for a few seconds they were in shock. Then the remaining three in the team competition - all Olympic novices - pulled themselves together, got out on the floor and the beam and uneven bars, and won a silver medal for the United States and for Biles, the powerhouse and mentor they all looked up to.