Olympics

Team USA rugby player Ilona Maher is continuing to ride the high of her 2024 Paris Olympic experience ... as she just posed in front of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cameras with her medal!!

The publication announced the bronze winner was its September digital issue cover model on Wednesday ... sharing the news with a ton of shots from a photoshoot in New York.

Maher joins names like Livvy Dunne, Angel Reese and Naomi Osaka who have shown off their athletic figures for the S.I. photogs in recent years.

Gable Steveson's NFL journey has encountered a setback -- the Buffalo Bills just waived the former two-time national wrestling champion and Olympic gold medalist ahead of the 2024 season.

NFL Network's Mike Garafolo broke the news on Tuesday ... saying the Bills opted to leave the developmental product off their initial 53-man roster, as all 32 teams need to get down to that number by 1 PM PST.

The 2020 Tokyo Games star signed a three-year deal with Buffalo this past May ... after he was released from the WWE, which he joined in 2021.

Flavor Flav's got airline passengers in their full upright position ... 'cause the dude flies so much he's basically a flight attendant -- quite literally.

The rapper shared a video where it looks like Southwest's has him on duty ... 'cause he's walking up and down the aisle handing out snacks to all the other passengers at 30K feet.

Check out the vid ... FF -- fully decked out in his 2024 Olympics apparel, complete with a custom watch hung around his neck -- seems happy to help out the crew, giving a "yeah, boy!"

Another Olympic medal disaster ... USWNT star Lynn Williams broke her gold medal while celebrating Team USA's win, and she's not happy!!!

Williams -- the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) all-time leading scorer -- held story time with her thousands of followers on TikTok, just weeks after USWNT won their fifth gold medal in Paris.

The 31-year-old broke down what happened.

Simone Biles now has some fresh wheels to pair with her new gold and silver ... the gymnastics legend revealed Thursday she copped a G-Wagon to celebrate her triumph in Paris.

The 27-year-old posed for a pic on the hood of the white Mercedes-Benz to show off the big purchase ... after telling her 12.7 million followers she ditched her old matte-black ride for the new car.

Biles captioned the photo with three emojis ... all showing she was stoked to have the new whip. She also revealed it's got some custom red interior ... which cushioned her Prada bag perfectly.

Stephen Nedoroscik is trading in the pommel horse for the dance floor ... the bronze medalist was just announced as one of the contestants on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars!

The U.S. gymnast appeared on Good Morning America to make things official ... where he was introduced while doing a version of a pommel horse routine, and by the looks of it, he hasn't missed a beat since his medal-winning performance!

The 25-year-old won't be the first Olympic gymnast to appear on the show ... Suni Lee, Simone Biles, Shawn Johnson and Aly Raisman have all appeared on the dancing competition in the past.

Katie Grimes admittedly had some things other than her opponents on her mind before hopping into the Seine River at the Olympics earlier this month ... telling TMZ Sports she was actually "nervous" about the water's cleanliness.

Of course, the E. Coli levels of Paris' famed body of water were a huge talking point in the leadup to the Games ... as the city dumped a fortune into making sure it was safe enough for athletes to swim in during the Olympiad.

On race days, officials deemed it was all OK for competitors ... but Grimes says when it was her time to dive in at the Aug. 7 marathon event, it was on her mind.

The gold medal party for LeBron James doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon ... 'cause just days after he was seen clubbin' with Draymond Green -- he was spotted getting cozy with Savannah on a yacht.

The King has been livin' it up ever since winning gold alongside Steph Curry and Kevin Durant on Aug. 10 in Paris ... hitting all kinds of hotspots throughout Europe for a sweet victory tour.

First, he braved the rain in Munich to watch Adele. Next, he got down to a myriad of tunes with Green at a beach club in Cannes.

Noah Lyles poured his heart out on national TV when talking about his fellow track star girlfriend, Junelle Bromfield ... praising the Jamaican athlete for being a "survivor" and a "fighter."

The Team USA hero stopped by the "Today" show to talk all about his Paris Olympic experience on Wednesday ... when at one point, the conversation shifted to his relationship with the 2020 bronze medalist -- who was also at Studio 1A at the time.

27-year-old Lyles -- who explained he first linked with Bromfield after she slid into his DMs -- said they share the same energy ... and she's someone who has a ton of admirable qualities.

A current flag football star quarterback believes he's a better fit to lead Team USA in the 2028 Olympics than Patrick Mahomes ... and he tells TMZ Sports the only way he'll think otherwise is if the three-time Super Bowl champion proves it to him on the field.

The confident signal-caller's name is Darrell "Housh" Doucette ... a 35-year-old righty who helped lead the U.S. national flag football team to gold at the 2022 World Games.

If his name sounds familiar ... it's because earlier this week, he made national headlines -- when he claimed it was "disrespectful" that a lot of NFL stars are currently believing they can displace some flag footballers and go for gold on their own at the Los Angeles Games in four years.

Simone Biles might not be at Chicago Bears games this season a la Taylor Swift to support her man, Jonathan Owens -- but no, it's not because of the Packers coat incident!

The 7x Olympic gold medalist explained why you may not see her on the sidelines, or luxury suite in a TikTok video ... explaining her upcoming schedule is packed, despite just returning from the 2024 Paris Games.

"I don't know how many games I'll be able to make," the 27-year-old said, "because in a few weeks we go on tour."

Michael Johnson launched a new track league that he's hoping will revolutionize the sport, and he tells TMZ Sports he absolutely wants Noah Lyles and all the other biggest stars to be a part of it!

The U.S. Olympic legend formally started Grand Slam Track back in June ... and following all the thrilling action at the Paris Games, he told us he's hoping the league can build on the momentum.

In other words, instead of fans only paying attention once every four years, Michael's aiming to keep the sport relevant among the millions who watched in Paris.

Tyreek Hill might get his wish ... 'cause the NFL said it is "actively" figuring out a way to get its players to compete in flag football at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller was asked the burning question surrounding the new event in a conference call on Monday -- could Team USA orchestrate a team of All-Pros and Super Bowl winners to absolutely dominate en route to a gold medal??

As of right now, it's definitely not a "no."

It's not just swim fans that are in awe of Katie Ledecky's Olympic dominance ... 'cause USA gold medalist Nic Fink tells TMZ Sports he has no idea how she does it, either!!

Ledecky continued to make history during the 2024 Paris Games ... bringing home four medals over the course of the competition to become the most-decorated U.S. female Olympian.

We sat down with Fink while he was working an honorary shift at Raising Canes in Dallas, Texas on Monday ... and the 31-year-old swimmer -- who took home three medals in Paris himself -- gave his take on Ledecky's career thus far.

The USA women's water polo team took the party from Paris to Sin City this month -- jet-setting to Vegas following their run in the Olympics -- and their hype man and sponsor, Flavor Flav, was right there by their side for the festivities!!

Maggie Steffens, Rachel Fattal and the rest of the American squad got back to the States after finishing fourth in the Games ... and one of their first orders of business for some of the women was to let loose in Nevada.

The athletes -- plus Flav -- hit up Resorts World on Saturday night ... and grabbed some grub at FUHU before putting on their dancing shoes at Zouk Nightclub.

Simone Biles ate up the competition at the 2024 Olympics ... and, one restaurant knows it -- giving her a custom championship that's not exactly safe for work.

The 11-time Olympic medalist went out to dinner with her husband Jonathan Owens in Chicago after the Chicago Bears preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals ... and, the restaurant they dined at -- Maple & Ash -- surprised the Olympian.

Scrawled across the front -- over her eating options -- in big letters read "Olympic F***ing Champion" ... something SB loved by the way, 'cause she posted multiple pics and vids about it.