Thursday to re-establish relations after two years following the

How can words do justice to the most incredible sports upset of the year? But more on Helen Maroulis Olympic wrestling triumph in a minute.When I was in ninth grade, I made my way through a wrestling bracket of very good wrestlers only to run into a kid I knew I couldnt beat. In Pennsylvania, we called those kids hammers, and Pennsylvania produces more hammers than anywhere in the nation. Hammers walked onto mats aware of the outcome before the anklets even went on. They WANTED cauliflower ears.This kid was a hammer.When we got to the center of the mat, he gave my hand a death-lock and the match was over before it even began. As he wiped the mat with me, my spirit was broken. He smashed my face and cranked my neck in ways I didnt think were possible. At one point, he clamped me in a cradle and chipped my front tooth... with my own knee.I lost 17-2 that day, but the score didnt matter. When someone grabs ahold of you and dominates the way he did, a little piece of your soul takes a hit. He owned me.Helen Maroulis ran into the ultimate hammer at the Rio Olympics. Saori Yoshida had won 13 straight world championships and three consecutive Olympic gold medals. She basically had been untouched since before the flip-phone era. Yoshida was probably the greatest, most dominant Olympic wrestler ever at that point. Think about how many wrestlers lost to Yoshida at weigh-ins, or the first time she grabbed ahold of them.Whats amazing is that Maroulis walked onto the mat that day and she hadnt accepted the outcome. She withstood the first time Yoshida squeezed her head and her wrists, a moment that had crumpled hundreds of opponents over the years. Maroulis fell behind in the match, 1-0, but then roared back to win, 4-1. As the clock wound down, it looked to me like Yoshida finally had that feeling of knowing the inevitable had arrived -- shed run into someone who would not bend. When the match ended, both wrestlers stayed on their knees, heads buried on the mat, one in agony, one in joy. The ref eventually came over and patted Yoshida on the back. It was time to shake hands and anoint Maroulis as the new world champion.And just in case youre wondering, I ran into that same hammer two years later in a crucial dual meet for my high school team. He took me down twice in the first period and was rag-dolling me for the first two minutes of the match. But when the second period began, I lined up on bottom and he gripped my elbow and my waist, and I felt his chest heave in and out. He was running low on gas, and I wasnt.When the whistle blew, I worked to escape and then felt an opportunity to flip him. I rolled him over and he went to his side. I pushed hard and he slowly eased onto his back, before I felt him mentally pack it in. He felt like I had two years earlier, and like Yoshida must have as the clock wound down at the Olympics. The ref slapped the mat -- Id pinned him.My high school pin was, obviously, exactly like Maroulis Olympic title. Except, you know, not in the Olympics, or on TV, in front of a crowd chanting my name. Shed done something that hundreds of wrestlers couldnt have even imagined, let alone pull off.In that moment, she wasnt just a hammer -- she was The Hammer.More on Helen Maroulis? What it feels like to win a gold medal -- finally?Video ?? Life after making wrestling history?Story ?? The day Helen Maroulis beat an invincible legend?Story ?? Top 10 girl power moments from Rio?Story ?? Five women fighters we want to see in the UFC?Story ?The IMPACT25 is espnWs annual list of the 25 athletes and influencers who have made the greatest difference for women in sports. Explore the 2016 list and more content at espnW.com/IMPACT25. Nike Air Vapormax Flyknit Greece . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. Nike Air Vapormax 2019 Skroutz . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. http://www.vapormaxgreece.com/ . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. nike vapormax plus Προσφορες . Siddikur, whose previous win on the circuit came in Brunei three years ago, finished his bogey-free round with a birdie on the 18th for a total of 17-under 199. Indias Shiv Chowrasia, who has finished runner-up in this tournament twice, was in second place after a 66. nike air vapormax προσφορες . -- Aaron Murray threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score, and led No. ZURICH -- Sepp Blatter has been expelled from FIFA but not eradicated from its headquarters.A swift left turn after entering FIFAs slate-walled lobby in Zurich still takes visitors to the place where footballs disgraced self-styled godfather is forever president. A plaque of infamy commemorates the FIFA leadership on the day their gleaming global base opened in 2007. Now it provides a snapshot of a sullied era in soccer governance, with six of seven vice presidents serving under Blatter on that May day since implicated in wrongdoing or banned outright from the sport.FIFA is still trying to shake off the toxic legacy of Blatter, whose 17-year presidency was abruptly halted last October as the extent of his financial misdemeanors started to unravel. The first seven months of Gianni Infantinos presidency have seen the charge sheet against his predecessor grow even as the new leader embarks on a mission to clean up the organization and rebuild trust.And yet Infantino shuffles in his seat when Blatters name is raised during an Associated Press interview, seemingly reticent to join the chorus of those condemning the man revered for so long by soccer leaders globally.Thats not my job to do that, Infantino responded when asked to assess how damaging Blatter was to FIFA. There is an ethics committee looking at this.Asked whether the 80-year-old Blatter should face jail, Infantino responded: I dont want to comment on the past. The facts speak for themselves.Already serving a six-year ban for authorizing an improper payment of 2 million Swiss francs to Michel Platini (one of those now discredited former vice presidents), Blatter is under further investigation for bribery and corruption by the FIFA ethics mechanisms he created. He is also a suspect in a Swiss criminal case but denies wrongdoing.FIFAs own lawyers said in June that Blatter and two colleagues gained improperly through annual salary increases, World Cup bonuses and other incentives exceeding 79 million Swiss francs over five years.Infantino, a Swiss-Italian law graduate, is more guarded than FIFAs own lawyers, withholding a verdict on Blatter until a forensic and financial audit is complete.There will be conclusions of this audit on what went wrong and why things went wrong and on what we have to do to improve things here in the future, Infantino said during an exclusive 30-minute interview -- held in a subterranean lounge at FIFAs Swiss fortress-like HQ where his finger print was required for entry.What concerns the past, there are people are dealing with. I have to make sure in the future wrongdoing doesnt happen anymore in FIFA and around FIFA.That isnt easy when Infantino in February inherited a workforce inevitably packed with Blatter loyalists, staff resistant to change or those still disgruntled at being cut out of the decision-making process. Some executives were dismissed as Infantino cleared out the old guard.When you have to embrace such significant reforms, its obviously normal you get some blowback and turbulence, Infantino said. The worst for a human being is to change his habits. Its obvious some people were not happy but we have to move on.Infantino feels ready to declare: There is a change now in the culture.The vast majority is embracing the change, he added, for a more flat organization where discussion and debate is not prohibited but is open.And yet for months, while striving to instill a new adherence to ethical business practices, Infantino was himself under investigation by FIFAs ethics prosecutors.Infantino has dismissed as orchestrated hysteria claims of excessive spending billed to FIFA for rental cars, a private driver, a tuxedo, flowers and a mattress for his FIFA-owned apartment in Zurich, and a step machine for his office. A FIFA ethics court, which looked into Infantinos use of private flights to visit Pope Francis at the Vatican, Vladimir Putin in MMoscow and the Emir of Qatar, found that no rules had been broken.ddddddddddddThe damaging leaks, which emerged in early June after a shaky first congress in Mexico for Infantino, seemed intended to paint him as unscrupulous as the old regime.The perception was also fed by those who did not want change to happen -- you cant make omelets without breaking eggs, he said. You learn always from everything you do. Im certainly not someone who has never made mistakes. I am certainly not immune from making mistakes. What is important is to always do things with conviction.The 46-year-old Infantino is FIFAs accidental president. His campaign was only launched on the back of Platini being suspended with Blatter last year, emerging from the shadow of his former boss at European soccers governing body to lead the global game.As UEFAs top administrator, Infantinos moments in the limelight came when hosting Champions League draws while his day-to-day work was in the background, implementing Platinis policies. The two men ended up on the same plane from Switzerland to the UEFA Congress in Athens this week, when onlookers were quick to spread word of their lack of interaction.Before the plane we shook hands, said Infantino, who occupies the job that Platini, the former France captain and coach, craved for so long.Assuming the leadership of the worlds most popular sport and World Cup organizer hasnt been comfortable for Infantino.One other thing that did surprise me, beside the tough opposition, was the public scrutiny that you are faced with, Infantino said. You learn to deal with this, to be maybe a bit more sensitive.Apart from swelling the World Cup by eight teams to make it a 40-country competition and taking about changes to the Olympic football competition, Infantino is still short of detail about his plans for FIFA -- beyond overseeing its clean-up.And there is wariness not only about condemning Blatter but also Russia, host of the 2018 World Cup, over a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation which exposed a state-sponsored doping scheme that included football,Its not my job to judge this report, Infantino said.Lets work in a positive sense in this direction rather than trying to undermine the World Cup, he added, while backing Russias sports minister, Vitality Mutko, implicated in the doping program. Mutko denies any wrongdoing.When it comes to threats by Europes elite clubs to form a breakaway Super League or world competition, Infantino sidestepped the chance to assert FIFAs authority and warn them to remain in the existing structures.Instead, Infantino has prioritized enhancing FIFAs relations with clubs, hosting Barcelonas president in Zurich on Thursday to re-establish relations after two years following the Spanish champions transfer ban in 2015.Asked if the tax fraud conviction for Barcelonas star player, Lionel Messi, should prevent him being crowned world player of the year again by FIFA, Infantino said: It has nothing to do with his performances on the pitch. Messi has said he is appealing the Spanish courts deicsion.Infantinos public replies and actions ooze caution in marked contrast to the shoot-from-the-hip Blatter, whose staff would be on tenterhooks, fearing a gaffe or controversial statement, when he faced the media.I dont work with threats, Infantino says of his leadership style. I work much more on dialogue and finding common solutions with everyone.Infantino cannot afford to offend the global game. He is only completing Blatters ill-fated fifth, four-year term that started in May 2015 and has to seek re-election in less than three years.The time is not enough to do all the things I would like to do, Infantino said.---Rob Harris at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports ' ' '