Favorite Alysa Liu withdraws from U.S. figure skating championship due to COVID-19

Two-time U.S. champion Alysa Liu might still make the Olympic team despite having COVID-19.

Sixteen-year old Alysa Liu had to pull out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships after testing positive for COVID-19 Friday.

Liu, a two-time national champion for women's figure skating, is considered one of the favorites to make the U.S. team for the Beijing Winter Olympics. 

After the short program, Liu was in third place behind Mariah Bell and Karen Chen. Liu was expected to move up with the final event, the free skate, or long program. There are three slots for the women's figure skating team.

Liu wasn't the only skater to come down with the virus. The 101` pairs champions, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, withdrew Wednesday night after Frazier tested positive. Another women's skater, Amber Glenn, also withdrew later Friday after testing positive.

US Skating will select the team members Saturday afternoon and base their decisions on skaters' performance over the last two years, not just this year's national championship.

Any skater who tests positive for COVID-19 this week can still petition to be on the 2022 Olympic team.

The fact that Liu was the U.S. champion the last two years will help her case.  Liu's agent, Yuki Saegusa said that Liu will petition to be added to the team. 

Liu, a resident of Richmond, CA, is the only American female skater to perform a quad in her routines and if she performs at her best, is considered the U.S.  best chance of getting a medal in a sport dominated in recent years by Russian skaters.

In Friday's final competition, Mariah Bell came out on top, followed by the Karen Chen, who is from Fremont, CA. and 14-year old Isabeau Levito.

Earlier Friday, Hawaii resident Madison Chock and her partner Evan Bates came from behind by edging rivals Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donahu to win the rhythm dance competition with the free form dance competition still to go later Saturday.

The men's long form featuring favorite Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou is slated to start for on NBC Saturday to help determine who will be going to the Olympics. The men's finals will be held on Sunday.

In the pairs' competition, Sacramento's Jessica Calalang with partner Brian Johnson are likely to make the Olympic team after winning silver at the U.S. championship the last two years.

Right behind them, the team of Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov could find their way to the medal podium after the withdrawal of Knierim and Frazier.

Today's Doodle spotlights Olympic gold medal weightlifter Tommy Kono

With the Olympics just under a month away, Google has replaced its homepage logo with a Doodle celebrating Tommy Kono, a Japanese American weightlifter and Olympic gold medalist.

Tamio “Tommy” Kono was born on June 27, 1930 — 91 years ago, today — in Sacramento, California. In 1942, at the age of 12, Tommy and his family, all being of Japanese descent, were moved to one of the United States’ Japanese internment camps.

While living there, Kono’s neighbors introduced him to the sport of weightlifting. From then on, he put his efforts into athletics, at least in part as a way to strengthen his body to compensate for his childhood asthma.

In the years after World War II, Tommy Kono began competing in weightlifting competitions, overcoming discrimination to become a critical member of the U.S. national weightlifting team by 1952. In both 1952 and 1956, Kono earned a gold medal for the United States in the Summer Olympics.

During his weightlifting career, Tommy Kono set a total of 26 world records. This fact is made even more impressive by the fact that he set records across four different weight classes, something that no other weightlifter has accomplished. 

Hand-in-hand with his weightlifting, Tommy Kono was also an accomplished bodybuilder, winning the title of Mr. Universe in 1954, 1955, 1957, and 1961.

Kono’s career came to an unexpected end in 1964, when he suffered a knee injury that prevented him from competing in that year’s Olympic Games. However, he passed on his insights to rising athletes as a coach to various Olympic teams through 1976. For his contributions to the sport — including the popularization of elbow and knee bands — Tommy Kono was inducted into the Weightlifting Hall of Fame in 1993.

RELATED: Google Doodle fetes Olympic diver Victoria Manolo Draves

The Doodle’s artist, Shanti Rittgers had this to say about this project:

"Although my main passion pursuit in life has been art, physical activity and sport have always been quiet passions that have rescued me from mentally and emotionally dark times. So when I started researching Mr. Kono's story and learned he began weight lifting as an asthmatic child in a U.S. internment camp, I felt an instant wave of awe ands personal connection to his journey. The more I learned about him, saw his photos, and listened to second-hand interviews, the more he grew in my mind as someone who always pushed himself to be his best, and wanted to be a positive light to others. He was like a shining star."

In today’s animated Google Doodle, Tommy Kono is depicted in action. More specifically, he performs the “clean and jerk” — a move that involves lifting a barbell and holding it directly overhead with straight arms and legs. To make it a proper Google Doodle, each side of the barbell has three weight plates, appropriately colored and labeled with a letter of “Google.”

"My father would always say weightlifting was 30% physical and 70% mental and his ability to stay focused with a positive mental attitude was his greatest strength throughout his weightlifting career," said his son in a statement to Google.  "He always encouraged positivity and growth and used phrases he felt would help you through life.  “Do what you should before you do what you want” was one of his sayings. That holds true for me still today."

Three Asian American gymnasts finish among the top five at US championships

USA GYMNASTICS

Sunisa Lee is one of three Asian Americans who are vying for the 2020 US Women's Gymnastics Team.

ASAM NEWS contributed to this report.

If the US women's Olympic gymnastics team was to be chosen right now, three of the top five would be Asian Americans.

The top five all-around women based on their performances on the four catagories: floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, balance beam; 2016 Olympic champion Simone Biles would lead all competitors. However, rounding out the top five would be three Asian American gymnasts Sunisa Lee, Morgan Hurd and Leanne Wong. Grace McCallum joins the top five all-around.

However, the competitors still have to perform at the US Olympic Trials next June in St. Louis before the final selection. 

Like the men’s team, the five-member Olympic women’s team is selected by  by committee. The committee weighed the performance of each gymnast at nationals and Olympic Trials, her strengths on each apparatus, and her past experience.

Senior Women All-around

1. Simone Biles –118.500
2. Sunisa Lee — 113.550
3. Grace McCallum — 111.850
4. Morgan Hurd — 111.700
5. Leanne Wong — 111.250

Sunisa Lee of Minnesota surprised herself by coming in second in the all-around, behind Biles dominating performance.

The 16-year-old placed second at the US Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, MO. this weekend, behind first place finisher Simone Biles, who sealed her position by doing the first-ever, astounding triple double during her floor exercise.

Lee is the first Hmong American to make Team USA in gymnastics and could become the first Hmong American to make the Olympic team in 2020 in Tokyo.

“It’s crazy. I never thought that I could be that good,” Lee admitted to Team USA.org. “So when I saw that (finishing 2nd), I was just shocked and I didn’t know what to do. My coach, he always says, yeah, you can be second, but I never believe him. I guess he’s right this time.”

“She moves so fluidly – sequential movement for her is so beautiful,” team coordinator Tom Forster said . “She’s a really beautiful gymnast.”

According to Team USA, Lee began in the sport at age 6 and had Olympic aspirations once she made an elite program in her pre-teen years.

This was her first time ever competing in Nationals and the 2020 Olympics is within her reach.

“It adds a lot of pressure,” Lee said on realizing how capable she is of making it to an Olympic Games. “It’s really nerve-wracking; I try not to think about it a lot just because it gets me going a little bit, but it’s always in the back of your head.”

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10-year-old Fil American breaks Michael Phelps' record

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Salinas' Clark Kent Apuada broke a 25-year old swimming record Sunday.

I CAN'T WAIT until the 2024 Olympics! Clark Kent (Yes, that's his real name!) Apuada broke one of Olympic legend Michael Phelp's swimming records at the Far Estern Long Course Championship in California last Sunday (July 29).

Did I mention that Clark, whose friends call him Superman, is only 10-years-old?

The Salinas fifth-grader swam the 100-meter butterfly in 1.09:38, besting Phelp's record by more than a second. Phelps' record has stood for 25 years.

Phelps went on to compete in the Olympics at age 15 and by the time his Olympic career was over, he won 28 medals, the most of any Olympian - summer or winter.

CLARK KENT APUADA

As if that accomplishment wasn't enough, Clark won first place for all seven swimming events he competed in at the Far Western Championships held in Moraga, Calif. this year.

The determined young man isn’t resting on his laurels, however. Clark said he has an even bigger goal in sight ― the Olympics.

He'll still be too young to compete in the 2020 Olympics that will be held in Japan.

“Paris 2024 or Los Angeles 2028,” he told HuffPost. “This record has motivated me to keep swimming, to keep striving and do everything I can to get to that elite level.”

Cynthia Apuada, Clark’s mother, said that her child seems to be “living by his name at this point.”

She explained the origins of her son's name. She always liked the name Clark and her husband, was a Superman fan so Clark Kent was a logical outcome. Of course, the nickname of "Superman" was a natural result -- especially considering his exploits in the pool.

"He's a musician, he's a scientist, he's an artist, he's a martial artist, and he's an incredible human being," said his coach, Travis Rianda. "He's what I strive to achieve."

Today, as word of Clark's feat began to spread, he received a message from his hero:

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