Olympics

U.S. Olympic legend Kayla Harrison -- who won gold in judo in '12 and '16 -- is finally making her MMA debut this week ... and says she's ready to wreck shop.

Kayla is a beast -- and she tells TMZ Sports it was hard to even lock down an opponent because people are scared to fight her.

The good news ... Brittney Elkin has stepped up and will fight Kayla at the PFL event in Chicago on Thursday, and Kayla tells us she can't wait to scrap.

"I have 500 judo matches under my belt," Kayla said ... "I have some experience -- just not with a locked cage behind me."

So, how will she handle taking a live punch to the face for the first time?

"I'm kind of a bull. It's gonna take a lot more than 1 punch to take me down."

Bode Miller's neighbors seemed to do all they could as they worked feverishly trying to save his 19-month-old daughter's life after she fell into a pool.

Orange County Fire released the 911 call that was placed moments after little Emeline was taken out of the water. A woman made the call, and told the 911 operator someone was already performing CPR.

The operator asked if Emeline was breathing, and the woman said no -- however, there was a brief moment of hope when the person doing the CPR said he could feel a "small pulse" on the child. When the operator asked how long Emeline had been in the water, someone said "a couple of minutes," but the caller said she wasn't sure.

Once they had the pulse, they turned Emeline on her side to get water out of her lungs. You can hear someone in the background saying the water just keeps coming out. The woman on the phone kept saying, "c'mon baby girl!"

The call lasted about 5 minutes, and at the end you can hear firefighters arriving.

As we reported, the Olympic skier's wife, Morgan, was at a neighbor's home when the tragic accident happened.

Michael Phelps is about to strike gold again ... this time on his Arizona home, which he's hoping to sell for $1.6 million more than he paid for it.

Phelps bought the house in Scottsdale a couple years back for $2.5 million. The 5-bedroom, 7-bath spread was brand spanking new at the time. It's now listed for $4.125 million.

The former Olympian and his wife, Nicole, welcomed baby no. 2 in February, so it's possible they're looking to expand ... although this pad ain't exactly small at 6k square feet. There are also 4 fireplaces and a 350-bottle wine storage.

6/13 -- We're told Bode was, in fact, not present at the time of the accident -- our sources say there wasn't a party either -- Morgan was simply at the neighbors' with Emeline.

Former Olympian Bode Miller's 19-month-old daughter died after a tragic drowning accident ... TMZ has learned.

The Orange County Coroner's Office confirms Emeline Grier Miller passed away in a hospital. A source close to the family tells us Bode and his wife, Morgan, were attending a neighbor's party on Sunday -- and, somehow, Emeline ended up in a pool.

It's unclear how long she was in the water but, according to Orange County Fire, paramedics rushed to the scene and performed CPR before transporting her to a hospital. They were not able to resuscitate her.

Morgan and Bode said on social media ... "We are beyond devastated. Never in a million years did we think we would experience a pain like this. Her love, her light, her spirit will never be forgotten. Our little girl loved life and lived it to its fullest everyday."

Fitting that Lindsey Vonn and P.K. Subban finally made their long-rumored coupling Insta official in Smashville Wednesday night, isn't it??

There have been rumors about the two for months ... but Vonn and the NHL star finally publicly confirmed their relationship last night ... hitting the red carpet together at the CMT Music Awards.

The two have been spotted hangin' out a lot recently ... taking in a Red Sox game and a Celtics playoff game last month.

They also hit business classes together at Harvard last week ... and Vonn was at one of P.K.'s playoff games last month in Nashville too.

But, they've successfully avoided taking a coupley photo until Wednesday night, when Vonn made sure to caption their selfie with a yellow heart.

Maybe it was the Keith Urban love songs that did it??

Adam Rippon just signed off on LeBron James' interesting pre-Game 1 attire, saying suit shorts are totally acceptable ... all because the King set the trend.

We got the Olympic figure skater Saturday at LAX and asked what he made of Bron's lack of pants heading into Oracle Arena Thursday ahead of his first game against the Warriors. Faux pas, or fashion genius? Adam seems to think LeBron falls into the latter category.

The Olympian has a perfectly reasonable explanation for why shorts on a suit are a-OK -- especially as we start heading into the summer months here. If anything, LeBron's ahead of the curve ... and or maybe just doing what feels good, we guess? Hard to say.

Either way, Adam's definitely the guy to weigh on such matters ... you might recall his Moschino harness suit to the Oscars this year ... which got a lot of people doing double takes.

So ... yeah, LeBron's in good company. At least Adam's got his back on the Urkel-inspired outfit. BTW ... LeBron is rockin' the suit shorts AGAIN for Game 2. Yep, it a thing now.

The Pope is gonna be stoked ... 'cause he just got some serious props from the guy who won "Dancing with the Stars!"

Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon -- the first openly gay U.S. athlete to medal in the Winter Olympics -- says he heard about Pope Francis telling a gay man that his sexuality "does not matter" and thinks it's "so awesome!"

Backstory ... Pope Francis had spent some time back in April with a man who was sexually abused by a priest. When the topic of his sexuality came up, the Pope reportedly said, "God made you like this. God loves you like this."

He added, "The Pope loves you like this and you should love yourself and not worry about what people say."

Usain Bolt decided to go BIG for his restaurant opening in Jamaica this week ... bringing in a big ass statue of himself -- made mostly of real bolts.

Turns out, the Olympic legend is a budding restaurant mogul -- he just opened his 3rd Tracks & Records eatery in Jamaica ... and he's got 15 more spots opening up in the U.K.

So, to celebrate the grand opening of his Montego Bay joint Wednesday night, he threw a massive party ... with the grand unveiling of the famous "Bolt of Bolts" statue.

The artist -- German musician Vita Diedel Kloever -- created the piece back in 2012 ... and said it took FOUR MONTHS to put together.

He installed it at the restaurant late last month.

Michigan State has agreed to pay $500 MILLION to the 332 female athletes who were sexually assaulted by former MSU doctor Larry Nassar.

Nassar is the disgraced piece of human garbage who pled guilty to sexually assaulting hundreds of women and girls under the guise of performing routine medical treatments.

Nassar treated hundreds of women at MSU -- including athletes from the softball, gymnastics, track and field, volleyball and rowing teams. Several of the women sued the university.

Now, Michigan State and lawyers for the victims announced they reached the $500 million settlement.

Kelly Slater invited some huge stars over to his cutting-edge surf park in Lemoore, CA -- where Shaun White murdered a wave session ... and it's all on video.

Slater's wave park has become famous -- it's located 100 miles from the ocean ... and creates an artificial wave that surfers can ride for up to 500 yards. It's insane.

Enter White ... who's not just a snowboarding star but also a damn good surfer -- and he grabbed his board and shredded the gnar like a pro!

Tony Hawk and Eddie Vedder were also at the wave park ... though we haven't been able to find footage of them surfing yet -- but we're assuming it went well.

Slater discussed the park on HBO's 'Real Sports' -- which noted that Slater's machine took 10 years to develop and could change the sport forever.

Pretty cool stuff.

Olympic snowboarding legend Shaun White got all romantic with his girlfriend, Sarah Barthel, over the weekend ... taking a stroll on a beach in Los Angeles.

White and Barthel have been together for about 5 years after meeting behind the scenes of "Saturday Night Live."

35-year-old Barthel is a rocker -- she's one half of the band Phantogram, which is about to kick off a cross-country tour of the United States.

She also looks damn good in a bikini.

Fun Fact: After the two met at 'SNL,' White let Barthel and her bandmate stay at his L.A. home while he was training for the Olympics ... and that's when things heated up.

So you're saying there's a chance!!!

Usain Bolt tells TMZ Sports ... the "door is open" to unretire and compete in the 2020 Olympics -- but right now he doesn't have the urge.

"I don't think so," Bolt said when asked about a return to the track ... "But when I see competition I definitely feel like I want to."

"I don't have the urge right now. Maybe when it comes around to the Olympics you never know ... but right now I don't."

Instead, Bolt says he's dead serious about pursuing a soccer career ... with real hopes of joining a pro team -- possibly in the MLS.

In the meantime, Bolt is also challenging less physically athletic people to a video game war through the Xbox Game Pass Challenge ... and he's talking smack!!!

Shaquem Griffin is gonna become a millionaire overnight when he gets selected at the NFL Draft ... and his confidence is so high, he's even making a play at his dream woman ... Chanice Chase!!

You know Shaquem -- he's the 1-handed linebacker who blew away all the doubters when he crushed it at the NFL Combine.

Now, he's already locked up a sponsor (J.C. Penny), says he's excited to take on Tom Brady and REALLY wants a shot with Chase!

FYI, Chanice Chase is an Olympic sprinter from Canada who competed in the 400m hurdles at the 2016 Games in Rio.

She's also MAD HOT!!!!!!

Best of luck to Shaquem in all he pursues ... and Chanice, if you're seeing this -- HIT HIM UP!!

Lindsey Vonn says women competing against men in sports like skiing is a matter of WHEN, not if ... and it would've happened already if people weren't so opposed to change.

Lindsey -- arguably the GOAT female skier -- has been pushing to race with the bros for years ... but the International Ski Federation still hasn't signed off.

The Olympic gold medalist admits it may not happen during her career ... but says she's hopeful the old heads will eventually get it right.

"No one likes change, you know?" Vonn told TMZ Sports. "It’ll eventually happen -- it’s just, how long will it take?"

Don't worry -- we didn't forget to ask Lindsey about her, shall we say, unique dress at the ACM Awards ... and you could tell she ain't sweatin' the haters even a little.

Ever jump clear over YOUR OWN GIRLFRIEND for fun?

Guessing the answer is, "hell no" -- unless you're Simone Biles' BF, Stacey Ervin Jr.

Here's Stacey -- a former Team USA gymnast -- and Simone having an average day at the office ... seeing if Ervin can box jump the entire height of his boo -- who he's been IG official with since last summer.

Dude clears it with ease -- but says Biles was "only a little impressed." (WHAT!)

Yeah, she's only 4'9'' ... but that's some damn impressive ups.

Usain Bolt says he ain't ruling out the MLS for his budding pro soccer career -- IF their squads show him the money!!

FYI, Bolt's been seriously pursuing footy since he retired from the track last year. Most recently, he was out tearin' up the pitch with Bundesliga's Borussia Dortmund ... and Manchester United is his dream team.

But when we got the World's Fastest Man at LAX, we had to ask if MLS teams like the L.A. Galaxy even had a shot.

Bolt's response -- "Bring the big contracts!"

Guessing MLS can't offer Premier League money ... but there are other perks that come with playing in L.A. (right, Zlatan Ibrahimovic?).