Ethiopia's Birhan Getahun suffered a crushing defeat in the opening heats of the men's 3000-meter steeplechase on Monday. But it wasn't to any of his competitors. No, he was actually mercilessly disposed of by the final hurdle of the race.

After some-odd 2,930 meters, Getahun, one of those runners in the back of the pack, had just one last hurdle to cross before the finish line. Steeplechase hurdles do not give way like those in the sprints do. Understandably gassed at that point of the race, the 20 year old was unable get his legs over the obstacle and instead went crashing into it and fell to the track injured:

Getahun was unable to finish the race. And adding to the disappointment of earning a "DNF" was the deflating experience of having the entire Olympic Stadium watch you helplessly wheelchaired off the track. But if there was ever one of those inspirational, "I have unfinished business" reasons for Getahun to make his way back to the Olympics, this would be it.

Photo: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will have fewer empty seats than the 2012 London Games, according to representatives for the Rio games. Brazilian organizers claimed on Friday that there will be a plan in place to avoid the empty arenas that plagued the first week of the 2012 Games. 

London's organizers tried to avoid empty stadiums by starting a confusing ticket system over a year ago, in hopes of not repeating the huge swaths of empty seats seen in Beijing during the 2008 Games.

But instead, thousands of seats meant for sponsors, international delegations and athletes' families weren't filled during the first few days of this year's games. That led to volunteers and soldiers being called in to fill them. 

Leonard Gryner, Rio's chief executive had the following to say to reporters on Friday:

"We will be able to have a much better result in Rio than London has had so far. We are trying to reduce radically the problem of empty seats...It is not a problem exclusively in London. It's a challenge for all organizing committees."

London has asked people with tickets who don't plan to attend to return their tickets, to make more tickets available to people who really want to attend the Games. But 20 percent of accredited seats were empty on Thursday.

Gryner continued:

"We have a program called 'fill the stadiums.' We have some ideas to keep stadiums full at all times. There are several mechanisms that will be put into place. We hope to be better than London but it is not an easy challenge."

Gryner didn't give any specifics on plans to keep Rio's Games well-attended, but he seemed confident it wouldn't be a problem.

Athens had the same problem in 2004 and Beijing and London have followed suit. So while Rio's organizers seem confident they can fill seats, I'll believe it when I see it.

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

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Liz Cambage became the first woman to dunk at the Olympics when she slammed one down during the third quarter of Australia's 70-66 win over Russia on Friday.

Cambage is a 6'8" center who plays for the Tulsa Shock in the WNBA. Despite her height, she hardly ever dunks.

"Not even in practice," said teammate Lauren Jackson. "That was so exciting.

"That's the first time I've seen it in the Olympics," said Jackson, who is playing in her fourth Olympics. "Even in the WNBA, you see some girls do it, on a fast break but she had the zone around her, she had people around her. She made it look so easy.

"I wish I could do that."

Cambage did make it look easy. She had a wide open lane and went in for the easy dunk.

Cambage had a strong all-around game going for 17 points and 10 rebounds in the win. Both Australia and Russia are 3-1 in Group B play.

Between Cambage at the Olympics and Brittney Griner dunking during NCAA games, we're seeing a lot of dunking firsts in women's basketball this year.

H/T I am a GM

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The youngest competitor on the entire United States Olympic team has won a gold medal. At just 15 years of age, swimmer Katie Ledecky crushed the competition in the 800 meters, becoming the second youngest swimming medalist in Team USA history.

Ledecky led the entire way in the race and won by more than four seconds over the rest of the field, while upsetting Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington along the way. Adlington finished with the bronze.

Ledecky also broke the American record in the event (8:14.10), smashing Janet Evans' mark (8:16.22) that had stood since 1989.

The youngster from Bethesda, Maryland is the youngest of the 529 athletes from the United States competing in London, and is just 77 days older than Beth Botsford, who won gold in the 100-meter backstroke at the Atlanta Games in 1996. Botsford is the youngest swimming medalist in American history.

The fact that Ledecky broke an American record that has stood for 23 years is shocking. She also missed breaking Adlinton's world record by about a half second. Something tells me she'll break that one eventually.

Ledecky, 17-year-old Missy Franklin and 22-year-old Allison Schmitt are all having great showings in London. I think it's safe to say the American women are going to continue to be a force in the pool for years to come.

Photo: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images

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Olympic medals are some of the most prized possessions an athlete can have. When medal-winning athletes return home from competition, they probably work quickly to find a safe spot for their keepsakes. Some probably store the medals in a trophy room, safe, or safe deposit box at a bank. But until they return home from the Olympics, athletes have to settle for some unsecured storage spots for their medals.

Swimmer Ryan Lochte, who has won two golds and one silver in London, has gone old school with his medal-hiding method.

"Right now they're under my mattress in the village in my bed," Lochte told Mike Florio, who was hosting The Dan Patrick Show on Friday.

Lochte assured Florio that the hiding spot isn't as unprotected as it sounds.

"We make sure our door's locked because not only my medals, but in our living area, we have a couple of other swimmers that have Olympic medals too."

The 27-year-old gave himself an A- when asked to grade his performance at the London Olympics and says he always tries for an A. He also weighed in on Michael Phelps' expected retirement, expressing skepticism that his teammate has swam in his final competition.

"He might retire for a year or two, or forever," Lochte said. "But he could also come back at any time. We'll definitely see.

"We've seen plenty of swimmers that retired and just missed it so much that they wanted to come back," he added.

Even though Lochte has been overshadowed by Phelps' extraordinary swimming ability, he would like to have him as a teammate during the 2016 Games in Brazil.

"Oh, of course. He's the toughest competitor that I ever went up against. I always get excited when I have to go up against him because he's one of the greatest in the world," Lochte said.

The interview must have been a relief for Lochte because he didn't have to discuss his mother's one-night stand comment or talk about the sex at the Olympic village. And let's hope his revelation doesn't inspire a thief to sneak into the village and steal all the medals hidden under mattresses.

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Photo credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Yamile Aldama is currently a triple jumper for Great Britain, but it's not her home nation. It's not even the first nation she has competed for in the Summer Olympics.

According to the Associated Press, Aldama is a native of Cuba, the country she first competed for in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Then she tried to move to Britain and play for their team, but her citizenship wasn't completed in time for the 2004 Games. So she joined Sudan's team in Sydney and again in 2008 for the Beijing Summer Games.

She joined the British team for the current Olympics after her citizenship finally cleared all of the legal loopholes. She also cleared the final trial for the triple jump to compete for a medal.

Her country-jumping has raised a new awareness about athletes who constantly change their citizenship to compete for different teams every four years. Critics, of course, say they shouldn't be allowed to do so or should only play for the nation of their natural birth.

Aldama, however, has a unique case. Her husband was imprisoned in the UK for trafficking heroin and she tried to move to Great Britain to be with him and join their team in 2001, but she couldn't get a passport in time for the 2004 Games. So she had to find another team instead. She was not charged or connected to her husband's crimes, according to the Telegraph.

Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images

Swimming is a grueling sport. Not only does the training require an insane amount of calories, intense workouts and endless practices that could reduce a normal man or woman into a cramped ball of flesh-colored jelly, but it also requires a body that's usually reserved for mythological gods.

Swimmers usually have the most muscular frames, thanks to their strict regimens and constant training. However, getting those six-pack abs actually starts way down on a molecular level, according to NPR.

The good news is that the muscle cells that are in an Olympic swimmer's body are the same as the ones in the fat lump of flesh that's sitting on the couch and watching them go for the gold. The difference, of course, is their diet and amount of regular exercise. Those cells can only grow if the muscles are damaged, so they can tell their cells to produce more protein in the muscles' fibers to build them up again.

Of course, genetics also plays a role in this process. The right genes can encourage muscle growth and development from childhood and sometimes into adulthood, produce a certain number of muscle cells over time and increase the ratio of muscle fibers.

So what's the secret to getting those six-pack abs if you don't have the genetic makeup of an Olympic gold medal winner? It's simple. You need a healthy diet, regular "fat-burning" endurance exercise, and "muscle-building" strength training.

I can feel your disappointment.

Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images

Gabby Douglas went from being a relatively unknown gymnast to being one of the most recognizable female athletes in the country in a matter of months. The 16-year-old became the first woman to win gold in the individual all-around and team competition in the same Olympics, and she's already picking up endorsement deals.

Kellogg's announced that they would be putting the gold-medal winner on Corn Flakes boxes in the fall. This is the second major endorsement deal for Douglas, who signed with Procter & Gamble after the Olympic Trials.

Sports business reporter Darren Rovell says a gymnastics all-around gold medal winner generally earns around $2 million a year in endorsements, so Douglas should be financially set for the rest of her life.

Below is an up-close look at the Gabby Douglas Corn Flakes box:

You'll be seeing Douglas many more places other than the cereal aisle at the store in the near future.

H/T Black Sports Online

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Photo credits: Scott Halleran/Getty Images Sport; Kellogg's on Twitter

In its historic manhandling of Nigeria on Thursday, the U.S. Men's basketball team was decidedly impressive: 71 percent shooting from the field, 63 percent from three, a record 156 total points and a U.S. record 37 points from Carmelo Anthony. It was a near flawless performance for the Americans. Key words: "near flawless."

There was one noticeable blemish on the day. It happened in the second quarter when Nigeria's Tony Skinn pulled a nifty move that caused Team USA's James Harden to lose his balance:

By everyone's definition, it looks like Harden was the victim of a slick crossover dribble. Everyone except Harden himself, that is. When New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith called him out, The Bearded One had the excuses ready:

Sounds like Harden is in denial.

But let's settle this once and for all: Skinn quickly switched his dribble between hands. Regardless of bad shoes or a slippery floor, it still caught Harden off balance. Harden subsequently fell to the ground doing the splits.

Harden got crossed over.

End of story.

H/T TBJ

Photo: Getty Images

Don't like defending Olympic men's beach volleyball champions Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser's dynamic duds?

Well, you don't have to worry about seeing them anymore.

The Beijing gold medalists were stunned in the Round of 16 by the Italian team of Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo, 21-17, 21-19.

On the surface, it is a monumental upset. Nicolai and Lupo needed to beat Canada in what is called a "lucky loser" match just to advance to the Round of 16 after going 1-2 in pool play.

In reality, it's not all that surprising. For whatever reason the 21-year-olds have been a tough matchup for Rogers and Dalhausser -- this is the third time the top team in the world has lost to Nicolai and Lupo in their careers.

When interviewed following the match, Rogers and Dalhausser took a pass on the chance to attribute the loss to their various injuries and ailments, heaping praise on a team that's been compared to them.

"People say 'They're the young Phil and Todd.' I guess they just Phil and Todded us to death," Rogers said afterwards.

The Italians were similiarly gracious in victory.

"For me, they are like an idol," Nicolai said. "It's strange to beat them at the Olympics. I don't know how to react."

Perhaps the only appropriate way for the Italians to honor their idols would be by wearing crazy uniforms the rest of the way. Just a thought.

PHOTO: Ryan Pierse, Getty Images