NEU » t goes to athlete s

They were booed for every touch, but Australias female basketballers held their nerve to beat Brazil 84-66 in their opening game of the Rio Olympics.The Opals quelled the hostile crowd and overcame an early deficit that had them on the path to a shock defeat at Youth Arena on Saturday night.They were down 12 points early in the second quarter but came out a different side after the halftime break for their sixth consecutive victory over Brazil at an Olympics.Not since 1988 have they lost the first match of an Olympic campaign - the last time they did not win a medal at a Games.Star centre Liz Cambage led the way with 20 points and 14 rebounds, while effervescent guard Leilani Mitchell had 18 points and six assists. Captain Penny Taylor finished with 17 points.Cambage said the booing only served to pump her up.Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it, she told AAP, quoting lyrics by rapper Kanye West.It was always going to be a loud game. The Brazilians are very known for their energy and such passionate culture.This game has been a big focus all year - the home nation, the first game of the Olympics, and Im so happy its out of the way.It was a real grind but we got there in the end.The five-time Olympic medallists, chasing their first Games gold in Brazil, struggled to find the basket in the opening quarter.They trailed 24-14 at the first change, with 10 of those points coming from Cambage.The seventh-ranked Brazilians were shooting at above 80 percent from the field, compared to the Opals 37 percent accuracy.They were just feeling it. This is their home court, they wanted to put on a show and they did, Cambage added.But we kept our cool, and just went back to our game.Mitchell lent a hand with a scoring spree in the second term to trim the deficit to four points, and then helped turn it into a 57-53 lead at the final break.They outscored Brazil 27-13 in the fourth quarter to seal the win.The Opals have just 24 hours before their second match against Turkey on Sunday night (0630 Monday morning AEST).They beat them two years ago to win bronze at the world championships.So we know them pretty well, added Cambage.In London we lost an early game to France and that was a big lesson for me.We dont want to lose any of these pool games. Were not taking anyone too easy. We scout, we learn everything about every team. Weve got to know them inside out to win. Charlie Garner Jersey . 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That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. RIO DE JANEIRO -- The seeds for many of the 25, maybe 30, medals the U.S. track team hopes to win in Rio de Janeiro were planted at a training center in California with the help of technology originally designed for golf.One of the many tools USA Track and Field makes available to its athletes is called Track Man, a computerized tracking device that sports fans might recognize from watching golf on TV. In addition to golf balls, Track Man can trace the trajectory of shot puts and hammers to allow the athletes who throw them keep track of how high and far they go.Immediate feedback, says Phil Cheetham, senior sport technologist for the U.S. Olympic Committee, when asked about the greatest benefit of the technology. Immediate knowledge of results is proven to help you improve technique much more quickly than if you dont have the feedback.Saddled with restrictive sponsorship rules and less-than-ideal earning potential, athletes have been lashing out for years against organizations such as the USATF for not plowing their profits back into the pockets of the people who put on the show.Track Man and the program at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, are examples of how the federations are, indeed, trying to invest in athletes. Some of the investment comes in the form of direct cash into the pockets of the runners and throwers; other comes in training tools like Track Man and similar technologies that help sprinters and jumpers.Since I got here, Ive improved over four feet, said Joe Kovacs, the 2015 world champion whose first coach was his mother. Its been a combination of great coaching, awesome facilities and the technology we have.Most notable among those who dont think USATF does all it can for athletes is 800-meter runner Nick Symmonds, who boycotted world championships last year over a dispute about what runners can wear in a sport where both athletes and institutions depend on shoe and apparel companies for most of their money. Symmonds was injured and didnt qualify for the Olympics, but hes hardly alone.Theyre basically taking what they make and sinking it back into training, longtime agent Peter Carlisle said about the athletes in an interview last year. And to get that NGB or USOC money, or at least an amount that would make a difference, you almost always have to be pretty well established. Its very hard to pay for a career that way.The USATF tries to help in a number of wayys:Some areas where the USATF spends on athletes:-$850,000 on sports science in 2015, including technology like Track Man.dddddddddddd That figure will be $1.25 million in 2016 and $2 million annually from 2017-2020.-Free medical care for athletes at major competitions, courtesy of a sponsorship deal.-The Talent Protection Program, that involves USATF identifying around 50 graduating college athletes with medal potential and attempting to sign them to contracts that keep them on track with coaching and training after they graduate. Some post-collegians flounder for a year or two, said Duffy Mahoney, USATFs chief of sport performance. Weve got talent. Weve got to reduce the attrition of the talent and get it onto the team.-A pool of money dedicated for bonuses to coaches who help athletes win at the Olympics and world championships.-Finally, there is cold, hard cash. Mahoney estimates that a top-tier, medal-winning athlete such as Kovacs can take home upward of $160,000, including prize money, and bonus money from USATF and the USOC.Roughly half the federations $30 million annual budget goes to athlete support programs in the form of cash, sport science, national teams, athlete travel, insurance and other expenses. The amount of actual cash budgeted to go directly to elite athletes rose from $5.13 million in 2015 to $8.6 million in 2016.Of course, not all athletes benefit equally. The training center in Chula Vista serves around 30 track and field athletes at any given time, all of whom have to show potential to make the podium. Hundreds more can use the medical services USATF provides at meets.The federation has a difficult line to walk, needing to funnel resources to the athletes but with the knowledge that track and field is largely an individual sport, and the priority is making sure athletes are comfortable in their training environment.In Kovacs case, it often means he can train without his coach even being there.I can have a practice, have the practice recorded, he can coach me from a distance, and when he does come, were not making up for lost ground, Kovacs said.More than dollars, though, the number most people will be focusing on how many medals all that money helps produce. The Americans won 28 in London. But last year at world championships, they only won 18. ' ' '