The lowdown on American archer Mackenzie Brown: She knits, line dances, used to be a competitive swimmer -- backstroke was her specialty -- and shoots arrows while listening to country music to hone her concentration.Then theres this: The 21-year-old from Flint, Texas, may just be the archer to interrupt the dominance of South Korea, the nation thats captured seven of the last eight Olympic gold medals in the womens individual event heading into Rio.Brown certainly has the aim to pull off the feat -- the poise, too.If I go in with the right amount of confidence, Im usually going to do really well, said Brown, whos attempting to become the first U.S. woman to win Olympic gold since Luann Ryon in 1976. Im my biggest competitor when it comes to that.Brown took third at a Rio test event last September at the Sambadrome venue, the iconic stadium designed for the Samba Parade at Carnival. She finished behind winner Choi Misun of South Korea and runner-up Tan Ya-Ting of Chinese Taipei.(The stadium) is really catching to the eye, Brown said. Its going to be a really good venue.Brown will be the lone American woman competing in Rio after teammates Khatuna Lorig and Hye Youn Park narrowly missed making the Olympic squad. Lorig is a big name in archery circles for whats shes accomplished -- she was trying to make her sixth Olympic team -- and for being the one who enhanced the archery skills of actor Jennifer Lawrence for her role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games.Im just going to do my best and feel like thats going to earn me a medal, Brown said.She grew up a swimmer before being introduced to archery in middle school. From the start, she was talented -- winning tournaments in divisions above her age.I grew up in deep Texas, where all I heard of was bow hunting. I had this image of the movie `Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Thats what I knew about archery, Brown said. Soon, I found out it was so much more. It was something I definitely have a passion for.Typically, she will train to music in order to work on tuning out distractions. When shes not listening to country stars like Garth Brooks or George Strait, shes jamming to Meghan Trainor.Being able to push that (noise) away and focus on what I need to focus on, it becomes a benefit, explained Brown, whose hobby is knitting and makes garments to protect her equipment while traveling. Im just really looking forward to how things turn out.The archery competition starts Aug. 5. Here are some things to know:INSIDE SCOOPArchery targets are set up 70 meters away -- about three-fourths of an American football field -- and feature 10 rings with different point values and colors. For scoring purposes, remember this: Gold is great. White, not as much, and missing altogether even worse.KOREAN COMMANDThe South Koreans have such a deep archery program that defending mens individual champion Oh Jin-Hyek didnt make the squad. Also missing from the team is visually impaired archer Im Dong-hyun, who helped the country to a bronze medal in the team event at the 2012 London Games. On the womens side, Ki Bo-Bae will defend her gold. The South Korean women have also won every gold in the team event since it was included in 1988.BRAZILIAN HOPETeenager Marcus DAlmeida of Brazil is sometimes referred to as Archerys Neymar, because his quick rise to stardom -- much like the soccer great. DAlmeida will be one of the host countrys top medal contenders. The 18-year-old captured a silver medal at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games in 2014.AMERICAN MIGHTThe American men have a full team in Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Zach Garrett. Ellison and Kaminski led the U.S. to a silver medal in the team competition at the London Olympics.QUITE AN ACHIEVEMENTZahra Nemati of Iran is scheduled to compete in both the Rio Olympics and Paralympics. The 31-year-old Zahra earned a black belt in taekwondo before she injured her spinal cord in an accident in 2004, according to her profile on Paralympic.org. She took up archery soon after and captured gold at the 2012 London Paralympics in the individual recurve W1/W2. Basketball Shoes 2020 . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. Basketball Shoes Sale . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ . A lawyer for MLB, Matthew Menchel, confirmed Wednesday the league dropped its case against Biogenesis of America, its owner Anthony Bosch and several other individuals. The lawsuit had accused Biogenesis and Bosch of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned performance-enhancing substances. Basketball Shoes Online Store .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Cheap Basketball Shoes China . According the Toronto Star, a knee injury will keep Sundin out of the lineup, which includes former teammates Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi and Curtis Joseph. BOSTON -- The trade that brought Kawhi Leonard to San Antonio was already a success for the Spurs, even before throw-in Davis Bertans began contributing.The Latvian rookie set a career high in scoring for the second straight game, pitching in 15 of the Spurs 56 bench points on Friday to help San Antonio beat the Boston Celtics 109-103 for their eighth straight victory.Our first group was still in bed, Spurs coach Greg Popovich said after watching his team fall behind 14 points in the first quarter in the matinee start. Thats why I took them off the court. It was hard to watch.Leonard had 25 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, but thats not surprising from an All-Star who was second in NBA MVP voting last season. Less expected was the contribution from Bertans, who was selected 27 picks later in the 2011 draft and then dealt to San Antonio with Leonard in the trade that sent George Hill to Indiana.Bertans was amazing, Popovich said. Kawhi is Kawhi, but we start to take him for granted. I think overall the bench was the key.Patty Mills scored 19 off the bench, sinking a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left after the Celtics made it a one-possession game. David Lee had 15 points and 12 rebounds as the Spurs reserves outscored their starters 56-53.The Spurs fell behind by 14 points in the first quarter but scored 12 in a row -- seven from Leonard -- in the second to get back in the game and improve to 9-0 on the road this season.You know what youre getting from Kawhi, and he played great, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. But I thought those guys really changed the complexion of the game.Isaiah Thomas finished with 24 points with eight assists and Avery Bradley had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Celtics. Al Horford had 12 points and 10 rebounds in his second home game since signing a four-year, $113-million contract with Boston this summer.Jae Crowder scored 10 of his 18 points in the first quarter. The Celtics had won three in a row, but they lost to San Antonio for the 10th straight time.Home, road, 20 years, whaatever its been: they finish, Stevens said.ddddddddddddOOKING BACKA 6-foot-10 forward, Bertans spent much of the last five years playing in Europe and recovering from ACL injuries. He signed with San Antonio this summer and has played in 13 of 16 games so far this season.Leonard, who was the No. 15 overall pick by the Pacers in the 2011 draft, said he had no memory of Bertans name from that night.I was just thinking of myself, he said.RUNSBoston used an 18-2 run to turn a two-point deficit into a 24-10 lead. But the Spurs were just as impressive in the second, when they scored 12 straight points to make it a one-point game.We gave up the whole first quarter, and after that we knuckled down and played pretty good, Popovich said. And the starters came back in and played better after that too.The Celtics led 74-69 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter before Bertans hit a 3-pointer and Mills made a 34-foot 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Spurs the lead. Bertans also hit a 3 to start the fourth.TIP-INSSpurs: Improved to 5-0 vs. Eastern Conference teams. ... Bertans, who set his career-high with 11 against Charlotte on Wednesday, broke it in the first three quarters against Boston. ... Tyler Zeller and Danny Green were teammates on the North Carolina team that won the 2009 NCAA title.Celtics: Horford, the Celtics biggest free-agent acquisition of the summer, played just his second home game this season -- his first since the opener. He missed nine games with a concussion and returned for the last three games -- all on the road. ... Crowder scored his 2,500th career point.UP NEXTSpurs: Visit the Wizards on Saturday to end a three-game road trip.Celtics: Visit the Heat on Monday night. Boston swept the 2015-16 series 3-0 against Miami. The Heat are 4-10 and could be headed for a second year without a playoff appearance in three seasons since LeBron James returned to Cleveland. ' ' '