champions retained their share of the league lead with Atleti

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Whatever celebration the U.S. Olympic Committee has planned for its return home after a wildly successful Rio de Janeiro Games on the competition front will likely be short-lived.USOC CEO Scott Blackmun promised Sunday that further action will be coming, perhaps soon, against 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte and three of his U.S. swimming teammates after the story of an armed robbery following a night of partying unraveled and led to Lochte acknowledging he embellished the tale.Blackmun stopped short of suggesting what any discipline might be, including whether Lochte should ever be allowed to swim for his country again.We all understand that they let down our athletes. They let down Americans, Blackmun said. And they really let down our hosts in Rio who did such a wonderful job, and we feel very badly about that. I think we ended up in the right place in terms of being able to shine a light on what really happened there.Blackmun said he did not think that the story involving Lochte and the three teammates -- all were gold medalists in Rio as part of U.S. swimming relay teams -- should be the lasting image of a games where Americans dominated the medal count. Add up all those golds, silvers and bronzes, and no U.S. team ever won more at a fully attended Olympics.But even USOC chairman Larry Probst said the scandal overshadowed some successes.Its really disappointing that this took place, completely inappropriate, said Probst, who also is an International Olympic Committee member. I think the four swimmers are well aware of that now. And unfortunately it has overshadowed some really amazing performances by a lot of great athletes.Lochtes impact on the Rio Games truly started long after his work in the pool was complete. He and teammates Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and James Feigen went out clubbing on the night the swimming competition ended. Police have said the swimmers vandalized a bathroom at the gas station and armed guards confronted them and asked them to pay for the damage; Lochte first offered a very different story.I over-exaggerated the story, Lochte told NBC in an interview that aired Saturday. In a separate interview with a Brazilian network, he blamed the mess on his immaturity.Whatever additional scrutiny U.S. athletes faced after the swimming episode didnt seem to hurt their performance.Hopefully the lesson learned more than anything else is youre representing your country, youre representing your sport, youre representing a movement, Blackmun said. So you need to conduct yourself in a way that makes us all proud.There were plenty of those examples.Michael Phelps won six medals in Rio, sprinting star Allyson Felix increased her Olympic gold collection to six and gymnast Simone Biles won five medals plus got the honor of being the U.S. flagbearer for Sundays closing ceremony. Phelps carried the flag into the opening of what he says will be his final games, and now the bearer role -- as well as maybe the role of being the face of the U.S. Olympic team -- belongs to Biles.Its a huge honor, said the 4-foot-8 Biles, though she noted shes a bit worried about handling the weight of the flag.Stories like hers and many others were the ones the USOC would have preferred to see dominate discussion as the Rio Games end, instead of incessant talk about a mess that could have been easily avoided.The things that you do are going to be magnified and the mistakes that you make are going to have a light shined on them in a way thats going to make it very difficult for you to overcome, Blackmun said.USA Swimming and the IOC both could sanction Lochte. IOC member Anita DeFrantz of the U.S. said its possible that Olympic officials could simply decide to let the USOC handle the matter.DeFrantz made no effort to hide her disdain for the incident.They have forever put themselves on the kind of list that you dont want to be remembered for, she told The Associated Press. I wish I could feel sorry for them. Instead I feel that they should have been honest from the beginning. What they did was wrong, but what was even more wrong, it was ridiculous that they didnt stand up and tell the truth.Who would have it hurt to tell the truth? No one. And who did it hurt not to tell the truth? It insulted a whole nation.---AP Sports Writer Stephen Wilson in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report. Nike Shox Mens Cheap . Jeff Green scored 13 points and Kris Humphries 12 for the Celtics, who nearly blew an 18-point, second-half lead. Sullingers 20-20 was the first by a Celtics player since Kevin Garnetts first game in Boston in 2007. Garnett was dealt -- along with Paul Pierce -- to Brooklyn during the off-season. Discount Mens Nike Shox . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov. http://www.clearancenikeshoxcheap.com/mens-vapormax-cheap.html Nike Shox Clearance Mens Nike Shox Discount . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. TURIN, Italy -- Juventus CEO Giuseppe Marotta has revealed that Paul Pogbas agent will be paid 27 million euros ($30 million) for the players record transfer to Manchester United.Pogba returned to United in August for a world-record fee of $116 million.Marotta was quoted by Italian media as telling Juventus shareholders meeting Tuesday as saying 27 million (euros) will be paid to (Pogbas) agent Mino Raiola. So the total net gain for Pogba was 72 million ($78 million) after other fees are taken intoo account.ddddddddddddMarotta says that Pogba joined Juve from United in 2012 for a bargain price of 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million).Marotta adds that Juan Cuadrados two-year loan from Chelsea costs 5 million euros ($5.4 million) per season and if Juventus wins Serie A this season it will be obliged to buy Cuadrados full rights for an additional 20 million ($22 million). ' ' '