suspicion that selection is not always entirely on merit.Vince has the gr

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Michelle Carter loves to let the tension build.At the Olympics, she took it to extremes.The American shot putter waited until her last throw Friday night to knock off arguably the best woman to ever compete in the event -- two-time defending champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand.Now, Carter has a gold medal, the first by an American woman in the event and just the second medal all-time. She joins an exclusive club that, until Friday, included only Earlene Brown, who won bronze at the 1960 Games.She also joins her father, longtime NFL defensive lineman Michael Carter, as an Olympic medalist. Michael Carter won silver in the shot put at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.Its not over til its over, said Michelle Carter, who has a fashion line called Shot Diva. I knew it was a good throw, but I didnt know how far it could be.Carters throw went 20.63 meters (67 feet, 8 inches) to overtake Adams and break her own American record. Adams had the final attempt of the evening but couldnt come close to equaling the mark. Anita Marton of Hungary was third.That was a big throw, said Adams, who was going for an unprecedented third straight Olympic title in the event. You can never underestimate anybody, especially Michelle. Shes one of these people that can pop out anything, especially in the last round.You have to expect the unexpected.This shouldnt have been unexpected. Carter won the title at world indoors in March on her last throw. She also won at U.S. trials a month ago on her last throw.Just something they practice, her father said.She has more, too, Michael Carter boasted. I said, If you do what I ask you to, you can throw far. How far is up to you.Im numb right now.Michael Carter was a defensive lineman for the?San Francisco 49ers?on three Super Bowl-winning teams. He said this doesnt compare with all those rings or even his own Olympic medal; its way better.Growing up, Michelle Carter didnt know her dad threw the shot, only that he played football.In seventh grade, Carter expressed a desire to try the shot put. At first, her dad was a little hesitant, thinking she was only trying to follow in his footsteps.She wasnt.He worked with her through a record-breaking high school career and thought his coaching days were done once she went to the University of Texas. But he was asked to help out, so he drove from Dallas to Austin -- some 340 miles roundtrip -- every two weeks to offer some guidance.Carter has blossomed into one of the worlds top throwers. She set the American outdoor record of 20.24 meters (66 feet, 5 inches) in 2013 and broke the nations indoor mark with a throw of 20.21 (66-3) to capture her world title in March.When healthy, Adams has been almost unbeatable in the event. Shes a star in New Zealand, though she might be only the second-best known of her 17 brothers and sisters outside of her country. Her youngest brother,?Steven Adams, is a center for the?Oklahoma City Thunder.It has been a tough road lately for Valerie Adams, who has had five surgeries over the past three seasons, including knee surgery this time a year ago that had her wondering whether she would be ready for the Olympics.She was but couldnt bring home a third straight Olympic title.Its a very hard thing to do and come away with, she said. I want New Zealand to know I threw my heart out there.I gave it my best shot. This is the best I came up with today. Its a little bit disappointing. Nike Vapormax Fake Kaufen .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Vapormax Plus Herren Schweiz . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. http://www.vapormaxkaufenschweiz.com/ . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. Air Max 97 Günstig Kaufen . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Nike Vapormax Damen Günstig . The CFLs leading rusher kept adding to his gaudy numbers this season and scored the winning touchdown with just over two minutes to play. The New Westminster, B.C., native plowed three yards into the end zone for the last score of a heated, see-saw battle between the two teams with the best records in the CFL. The reaction said it all. James Vince stood frozen in horror after steering one to slip. He knew he needed a score here. He knew his career could depend upon it.Instead, after three hours of resistance, he had been drawn into a familiar error. Seduced into feeling at one angled across him against the new ball, he had edged to second slip for the second time in the match and the third time in the series. Like a former smoker who cant resist, the habit he had tried to cut out had done for him once more. The slow trudge off the pitch, head shaking in dismay and disappointment, spoke volumes.But if this was a familiar end, it was not an entirely familiar innings. It felt like a step forward. It wasnt just the score - 42 equalled his best Test effort so far - but the maturity he demonstrated in steering England away from trouble after the loss of Alastair Cook and Alex Hales. He had left more deliveries, he played a little straighter and he picked his aggressive strokes more selectively. Not too many batsmen are dropped after contributing 81 runs in a game. Not under this regime, anyway.There had been some nervous moments along the way, though. On 22, Vince was beaten as he attempted to drive one from Sohail Khan that left him just a touch and, on 23, he pushed at one from the same bowler and was fortunate to see the ball bounce just in front of Mohammad Hafeez at slip. On a quicker wicket - and that is just about every wicket - it would have been a chance.This wicket is unusually slow. While it is not easy to score quickly - it is, in truth, a pretty disappointing wicket which does nothing to sustain the viability of Test cricket - it is the sort of wicket on which dislodging batsmen is tough.That is when bowlers even attempt to dismiss them. But, while Vince was at the crease, Pakistan instead concentrated on damage limitation and attempted to frustrate the England batsmen into making errors as they sought to accelerate the run-rate. Vince faced just one delivery from seamers in his entire innings that would have hit the stumps. Thats one delivery out of 65. So, its hardly surprising he managed to survive for longer; they were hardly blowing to dismiss him. And Vince, for all the runs he has scored, is the only man in Englands top seven not to have made a half-century in the match.All of which leaves Englands selectors with a tricky decision. They have invested heavily in Vince and they may well feel they could see signs of progress here. He clearly has time to play the ball and a wide range of strokes. The raw talent is pretty obvious.But at the same time, Trevor Bayliss has said several times that batsmen will be judged not by how they make their runs but by how many runs they make. Vince has now been given six Tests and nine innings. How would other leading contenders - the likes of James Hildreth, Scottt Borthwick or Ben Duckett - fare if given such a run? Is it unrealistic to expect them to have supplied at least a half-century? A generation of former players - the likes of Paul Parker, Alan Jones, Alan Wells and Paul Terry among them - could only dream of such opportunities.ddddddddddddComparisons with more modern players are no more enlightening. While Sam Robson and Adam Lyth were given 11 and 13 Test innings respectively before they were dropped, both men registered centuries in their second Tests. Such early success naturally extended their run.We are getting to the stage, too, where Vinces issue may become mental as much as technical. The analysts working with the England teams over recent years have conducted research into the importance of players performing well early in their international career. Their conclusions, unsurprisingly, suggested that it becomes disproportionately more difficult to succeed if the early memories and associations of the England environment are not positive.Vince appears admirably calm at the crease and can only benefit for the backing he has received from the management. But it is only human nature that, with every setback, his self-confidence ebbs a little more. He is up against a fine attack in this series, for sure, but he will rarely play on more batsman-friendly wickets. It is probably provocative to point out that Vinces average over his first six Tests - 23.44 - is more than 10 lower than Kevin Pietersen in his final six - 33.83 - but it might also be illustrative of the suspicion that selection is not always entirely on merit.Vince has the great advantage over the likes of Wells, Terry and, yes, Pietersen, that he is playing in a relatively successful side. For that reason, his struggles can be overlooked and the investment period can be lengthened. He hasnt, by any means, looked completely out of his depth and the continuity of selection policy remains, even taken to an extreme, far better than the alternative extreme.But by persisting with him at this stage, the selectors are also denying themselves the opportunity to look at other players. They are denying themselves the chance to see how Adil Rashid could perform as a second spinner or to see how a left-arm spinning all-rounder could manage ahead of the seven Tests England play in Asia before Christmas. They are denying themselves the chance to see how a specialist wicketkeeper could be assimilated within the team or giving another batsman a chance to gain some experience ahead of the winter tours.But in order to experiment, the selectors first have to start coming to some conclusions. Their failure to do so with Vince is starting to look, not so much consistent, but soft. ' ' '