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Before this pool-lovin' boy -- from Chicago, Illinois -- turned into a three-peat Olympic swimmer, he was just slipping into his float, hangin' in the shallow end and dreaming of going to the Olympics at just 7 years old!

He became known in the college swimming scene from 2014 - 2017 where he competed as a California Golden Bear!

While at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, this dude dominated the backstroke events, taking home gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter races. You may also recognize him from his relay race with Michael Phelps.

Nelly's legal team is firing back at police after the rapper was arrested at a Missouri casino ... they say he was "targeted by an overzealous, out of line officer."

Nelly's attorney, Scott Rosenblum, tells TMZ ... Nelly had won a jackpot at the Hollywood Casino in St. Charles Wednesday morning when the arresting officer falsely told him they needed to run a background check before giving Nelly his money.

Rosenblum says Nelly knew this claim to be bogus because he had won bigger jackpots at the same casino, and in those instances, he received his winnings without a background check and no issues whatsoever.

President Biden is worried about how Donald Trump and his supporters might react if Kamala Harris wins the 2024 presidential election ... and it doesn't sound good.

In his first TV interview since bowing out of the race, Biden sat down with CBS News and was asked straight up if he was confident in the peaceful transfer of power when the next president is sworn in January after the election results are certified.

Biden's response ... "If Trump loses, I'm not confident at all."

Two astronauts stranded in space for more than 60 days may have to keep orbiting the Earth until early 2025 ... because their Boeing spacecraft appears unable to bring them home.

NASA is now saying Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams may need to be rescued from the International Space Station by a spacecraft from a rival company ... Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The pair took a Boeing Starline spacecraft to the ISS in June but the maiden voyage has been a disaster ... with helium leaks and thruster failures preventing them from taking the spaceship home.

Kanye West's former chief of staff is taking Ye's dentist to task, claiming the doctor has been supplying Ye with nitrous oxide for recreational use ... but the dentist says the chief made up the allegations for attention.

Milo Yiannopoulos -- Ye's chief of staff for two years before departing the company earlier this year -- submitted an affidavit to the California Dental Board claiming Ye's dentist, Thomas P. Connelly, provided Kanye with nitrous oxide for recreational use.

Yiannopoulos claims Connelly provided the gas for cash ... taking in upwards of $50K every month, even when the gas led to distressing signs from Ye -- including addiction to the substance.

Taylor Swift's concerts in Austria have been canceled due to government concerns about a planned terrorist attack ... despite TMZ confirming two men were already arrested for the alleged plot.

Authorities aren't fully confident they've caught all the terrorists involved in the planned attack. They say the threat has been "minimized," but there is still an "abstract" threat that looms.

Vienna police say they arrested 2 Austrian citizens after a bomb squad found bomb-making materials in the home of a 19-year-old suspect.

Tim Walz quickly hit pause on his speech at a campaign rally in Wisconsin after noticing an attendee wilting in the heat ... directing staff to get the person some H2O.

The Minnesota Governor was at the podium Wednesday in Eau Claire when things came to a screeching halt.

Kamala Harris' running mate was in the middle of a sentence when he stopped and said, "Can we get somebody to help? Somebody is hot." Walz pointed to someone in the crowd who was apparently dehydrated.

Kamala Harris has been drawing major musical acts to her campaign events ... and now she can add one more to the list -- DJ D-Nice.

The Harris for President Campaign tells TMZ ... DJ D-Nice will perform at Harris' rally this Saturday in Vegas. We're told both the VP and her Democratic running mate, Governor Tim Walz, will take the stage.

D-Nice will be serving up tunes and hyping the crowd during the event. There aren't many people better on the 1s and 2s ... you'll recall, D-Nice's "Club Quarantine" DJ sets on Instagram Live became a massive hit during the pandemic, sometimes drawing more than 100K people at a time.

A recent Appalachian State football practice descended into chaos ... as a player ripped off his teammate's helmet and then beat him with it -- and the entire ordeal was caught on video.

Check it out ... footage from an App State summer workout posted online shows the team in an 11-on-11 play -- when a pass rusher in a black No. 12 jersey gets into it with a blocker in a white No. 73 uniform.

You can see the two get in a bit of a shoving match ... before the guy in the black jersey snaps. He grabs his teammate's facemask and pulls so hard, it removes the dude's headgear. The defensive player then swings the helmet violently at his foe's head.

The man charged with felony murder in the shooting death of rapper PnB Rock has just been found guilty.

A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday convicted Freddie Lee Trone on one count of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, and two counts of second-degree robbery ... stemming from PnB Rock's September 2022 slaying.

TMZ broke the story ... PnB was gunned down inside a Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles restaurant in Los Angeles as he sat and ate with his girlfriend.

OceanGate is facing a lawsuit related to their tragic Titan submersible implosion ... with the family of one victim claiming the company's persistent carelessness, recklessness and negligence led to the fatal implosion.

In documents obtained by TMZ, the family of Paul-Henri Nargeolet -- a French explorer who had traveled to see the Titanic wreck dozens of times before the implosion -- filed the lawsuit ... accusing OceanGate of gross negligence.

The family says OceanGate designed and operated Titan outside the norms of the diving community ... and, ultimately they say Paul's life was lost due to the company's gross negligence.

Kanye West is blaming it on the booze ... saying he was under the influence when he fired off those antisemitic statements in '22 that got him seriously canceled.

The rapper dropped this bombshell on Candace Owens' podcast -- which was filmed in 2022 but just released Wednesday ... saying in his words, "You wanna know what alcohol I had inside me? Hennessy."

Ye acknowledged Hennessy turns people "gray" -- and brought out his demons real quick -- which he says is what happened in this case.

1:33 PM PT -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol tells TMZ the incident occurred at 4:45 AM Wednesday. The agency has a gaming division, with troopers stationed at the Hollywood Casino in St. Charles.

Nelly was asked to show his ID to police and his info was run for verification in accordance with Missouri Gaming Commission regulations.

Police found Nelly had an active warrant for no insurance from a previous traffic stop conducted by Maryland Heights Police.

Tim Walz's experience as a high school football coach and geography teacher is going to translate well to the Kamala Harris campaign ... so says one of his former students and players.

Nate Hood, who played football for Coach Walz and took one of his classes at Mankato West High School in southern Minnesota, joined us on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and told us how the Minnesota Governor's background will serve him well moving forward.

The way Nate remembers it ... Walz was a master motivator who knew how to bring out the best in kids -- in the classroom and on the playing field.

J.D. Vance looked ready to pull a "Captain America: Civil War" Wednesday ... walking around an airport tarmac looking for VP Kamala Harris -- and talking smack to reporters.

Video from a gaggle of reporters on the Eau Claire, Wisconsin tarmac today captured Harris walking toward Air Force 2. That's when the Republican nominee for vice president rolls up and starts in on Harris.

Vance says he wants to speak outside AF2 'cause he's going to fly around in the vice-presidential plane in a few short months -- displaying an abundance of confidence in his Republican ticket's chances in November.

Blake Lively didn't have to break the bank for her Britney Spears tribute ... because TMZ found out how much she paid for a Versace dress the singer famously wore back in the day.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... Blake spent a little more than $10,000 for Britney's iconic outfit from the 2002 Versace fashion show.

We're told Blake purchased the dress through Tab Vintage, a shop in Los Angeles specializing in vintage clothing. The store posted the dress on social media, but didn't include the price -- and when Blake inquired about the cost, she was surprised ... and just had to have the garment.