k Zig Shao: Maybe lagging a bit behind the other four rookies mentione

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Away from the games, some Olympians are looking for a different kind of match.Athletes increasingly are using apps like Tinder as they look to have fun and escape the pressures of competition inside the Olympic Village. Profiles from athletes of nearly every sport can be found on Tinder with updates like Got plenty of time to kill, or Looking for fun in Rio!Hookups among athletes have long been part of the games but using mobile apps has made these Olympic flings a lot easier. A surge in mobile dating first appeared during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi after Olympic organizers loosened strict social media guidelines that had been in place during the 2012 Summer Games in London.Since then, the market for hookup apps has only grown more popular. Tinder, which allows users to swipe right on a profile picture to approve and left to reject, is among the most widely used in the growing market that includes Grindr, Hinge and others.Tinder spokeswoman Rosette Pambakian said usage has skyrocketed in Rio de Janeiro. Matches in the Olympic Village increased by 129 percent over the weekend, and the company expects that trend to continue, she said.Marcus Nyman, a judoka in the mens 90-kilogram division from Sweden, said he got 10 matches on Tinder in the first day or so after he arrived in Rio.A lot of the athletes here are using this app, said Nyman, 25.These Summer Games may be a perfect environment for hook ups. About 10,000 athletes are living in a 31-building compound far away from Rios iconic beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. The village is secluded among the misty lush mountains of Rios west borough with only a few shopping centers and high-rise towers are nearby.The Olympics is a very sexually charged time, said Julie Spira, an online and mobile dating expert. Young athletes and attendees have been using dating apps heavily in prior Olympics, but now the popularity of an app like Tinder continues to grow and grow.Olympic organizers have noticed. Some 450,000 condoms have been allocated for athletes, more than three times as many as in London.Countries committees do not seem too concerned with athletes sparking romance off stage. Though there is tight security, Australian teams are free to use Tinder and other apps, committee spokesman Mike Tancred said. And U.S. athletes have not been told they cant use them.On Tinder, there are plenty of athlete profiles to choose from. Many updated their status to reflect they are in Rio with a photo of them shirtless or in a bikini next to the pool or a beach.Yemi Apithy, a 27-year-old French-Beninese fencer, said he used Tinder just for distraction.We meet people from a lot of nationalities, he said.Has he found anyone?For sure, he said. I am a pretty boy.-----Adriana Gomez Licon on Twitter: http://twitter.com/agomezliconMauricio Savarese on Twitter: http://twitter.com/msavarese Cheap Custom Twins Jersey . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Authentic Custom Twins Jersey . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. http://www.customtwinsjersey.com/ . Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. Cheap Twins Jerseys . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Custom Twins Jerseys .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. Are we sure this guy is even a rookie, Riot Games? All right, well, if hes on the list of eligible candidates for the award, I guess we have a winner!When Bora YellOwStaR Kim left Team SoloMid last offseason to return to his old club Fnatic in Europe, there was a definite impact on the seven-time North American League of Legends Championship Series finalists. TSM had lost its last two finals to longtime rival Counter Logic Gaming, and then YellOwStaR, one of the best supports the game had ever seen, decided to depart instead of sticking it out for another split. With a majority of the bigger support names already signed to yearlong deals, the pool of available support talent left a lot to be desired.Who could live up to YellOwStaRs legacy? Promising young talent Lee IgNar Dong-geun from South Korea? Netherlands Glenn Hybrid Doornenbal, perhaps?When the dust settled, TSM picked an unsexy choice, Vincent Biofrost Wang. Not an import. Not an unknown player out of nowhere. Biofrost, for all intents and purposes, was a solid minor league player who had bounced around different teams in the Challenger scene before finally getting his chance with TSM.Although he had good experience, the new teammate was a steep drop-off from a support player who had gone to every previous World Championship.YellOwStaR was, well, a star. Biofrost was seemingly putting on shoes five sizes too big for him.As the heat picks up in Southern California with the beginning of August, we now know the truth: You could bring Biofrost the shoes of Shaquille ONeal and theyd still fit him.Beyond his stellar play and partnership with my MVP choice, Yiliang Doublelift Peng, its Biofrosts demeanor that separates him from noteworthy rookies before him. We saw the maniacal play of future MVP winner Lee Rush Yoon-jae when he was a newcomer, but the South Korean jungler was unrefined in his first split. Usually when an elite rookie makes his appearance known, hes a strong player in most categories but lacks in certain areas. Hes either too aggressive or hes too passive. It generally takes upward of a year for a rookie to finally start finding a balance between the two and become an all-around player.Biofrost is already at that point after just a single split in the NA LCS. From his interviews to his movements in-game, it doesnt feel like this is Biofrosts first season. If you covered up his ID during games while hes on his trademark Bard, youd think you were watching one of the better, more experienced supports in League of Legends Champions Korea. There have been times when he has faltered, and it hasnt affected him in the slightest. He doesnt shy away from making a big play even after failing the first time, and Doublelift, the best AD carry North America has ever produced, shows enough confidence in the rookie to follow his lead at times.ddddddddddddIts not only that Biofrost is a great player, which he most certainly is, but its also how he plays the game that makes him one of the best Rookie of the Split winners weve seen in the history of the LCS. Its easy to say his success solely comes from playing alongside an exceptionally talented core of players on TSM, but you dont make it to a 17-1 record in a best-of-three format with a substandard player in the support role.If the same issues that plagued TSM last year were still prevalent on the team, Immortals would have finished first in North America and TSM would have settled around the same area where Team Liquid and CLG currently sit heading into the playoffs. On a team with four mature players who knew what it takes to make it through an LCS season, Biofrost didnt feel out of place once; sometimes he actually became the factor that won TSM games through his pivotal Bard ultimates or Karma sped-up engages.Playoffs could be an entirely different story. With the heat on him to win a championship and the matches transitioning into a best-of-five, we might see Biofrost sweat, or maybe even slip up for the first time. Until that happens, though, Biofrost is as cool as you can be in the bottom lane, ready to prove that ice truly flows in his veins.Honorable mentionsRami Inori Charagh: In a world where visa issues hadnt plagued Phoenix1, Inori might have won this award. Its sad that a Rookie of the Split runoff for the ages was nullified due to Inori only being able to play a little over half the season. Inoris play since joining P1 has been phenomenal, and he was the ace of a team that would have been a playoff side if it had had its starting five from the beginning of the split.Jovani Fabbbyyy Guillen: Fabbbyyy had a good split as a rookie for playoff squad Team Liquid, but he unluckily was a rookie in a season where Biofrost and Inori stole all the Rookie of the Split headlines. Well see if he can have a breakout performance in the quarterfinals for TL as they go up against back-to-back defending champions CLG.Jeon Ray Ji-won: Glass cannon is the best way to describe Apexs carry-oriented rookie top laner. It looked like Ray would be a top contender for Rookie of the Split in the early weeks of the season, but his kills shrank and his deaths skyrocketed as the season went along.Derek Zig Shao: Maybe lagging a bit behind the other four rookies mentioned, Zig had a solid season after his almost-five-year odyssey to make it into the NA LCS. If Phoenix1 can requalify for the LCS, Zig should have a better season next time in a full split alongside Inori. ' ' '