Tuesday, January 26, marks one year since the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the life of NBA star Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others, including Christina Mauser<\/a>.
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Kobe Bryant, with (l-r) Olympic swimming champions Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt – Photo Courtesy: Katie Ledecky, Twitter<\/p><\/div>\n
When Michael Phelps<\/strong> was chasing the record for gold medals in Beijing in 2008, Bryant was in the stands. He and Phelps made an appearance together at the 2018 U.S. National Championships.<\/p>\n
Numerous Olympic swimmers have taken photos with Bryant, and they came flowing out on social media one year ago as the sports world grieved the loss of one of the world’s greatest living athletes.<\/p>\n
With the Lakers, Bryant won five NBA titles and is the fourth-highest scorer in NBA history. He won two Olympic gold medals, part of Team USA in 2008 and 2012.<\/p>\n
He retired in 2016 and won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Bryant was around the water more than watching swimming in the Olympics.<\/p>\n
In 2017, he presented at the Golden Goggle Awards, and jokingly \u2014 or not \u2014 tried to coax Phelps into coming back<\/a> from retirement.<\/p>\n
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Kobe Bryant tries to coax Michael Phelps out of retirement at USA Swimming’s Golden Goggles last night. pic.twitter.com\/23KZsICBaF<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) November 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n