sarahbarker1 Page 3 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Dalilah Muhammad Covers Herself In Gold<em></em>
In 1974, the Iranian national women’s volleyball team competed in the well-recognized volleyball ensemble—shorts and a t-shirt—with their hair uncovered. Today they compete, heads covered, in long-sleeved jerseys and long pants....
The Calculus Of Enjoying Almaz Ayana's World Record
The Olympic 10,000 meters was eyeballs out, hands down the fastest, deepest women’s 25-lap race I have ever seen. But instead of cheers, before the race was even over, half of the commentariat lit up with shouts of “Dirty!”...
Wayde Van Niekerk's Run Was Historic In At Least Four Ways
South African Wayde van Niekerk’s Olympic gold medal and beautiful world record in the 400 meters could hardly get any sweeter. Out of lane eight—few win out of lane eight, much less set a world record, because other competitors are behind the lane eight runner until they hit the last straight, when...
Kenyan Track Coach Learns The Hard Way That There's No Free Lunch In Rio
A Kenyan track coach was caught yesterday using a runner’s accreditation, apparently to get a free meal in the Olympic Village, and booted from the Olympics. He’s an idiot, yes, but he wasn’t the only idiot. This story resonates....
The Complicated Story Of American Olympians And The Hijab<em></em>
This is the story of two Olympians wearing hijabs. One is U.S. fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, who is one of the faces of these Olympics, and a vocal stereotype piercer for black Muslim women. The other is Sarah Attar, an under-the-radar Californian who will cover her head, arms, and legs when she competes...
Chaunté Lowe Demonstrates The High Art Of Balance
Physics figures large in high jump. Converting horizontal energy into vertical energy, torque, angle, and center of mass. But the most important concept, the one that’s helped Chaunté Lowe make four Olympic teams and set the American record, is balance. ...
Inch For Inch, Inika McPherson Might Be The Most Talented Jumper On The Planet
The three priestesses of the high jump—the American reps in Rio—are an unconventional and disparate bunch, whose ability to launch themselves over a 6'6" bar is almost less interesting than how they made it to the Olympics in the first place....
Rochelle Kanuho Came To Distance Running The Hard Way
By any standard, it was warm in Eugene, Oregon on July 2, game-changingly so for the 24 women who shook their legs and jumped at the start of the Olympic Track Trials 10,000 meters. ...
U.S. Olympic Committee Tells Oiselle To Delete Social Media Posts, Ignores Others
The trouble started for Kate Grace, winner of the U.S. Olympic Trials 800 meters, and her sponsor, apparel company Oiselle, when Oiselle posted these photos on their Instagram account. ...
In TrackTown, USA For The Olympic Trials, The Drama Of The Human Spirit, And Other Stuff
Eugene, Oregon is a picturesque college town, sparkly with streams and framed by dark pine-forested hills, with a population equal parts public radio, Dick-and-Perry-with-a-snort-of-Eminem, and hippie. The U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials are happening there right now—bands of backward cap-wearin...
Two Favorites Tangle, Two Fresh Faces Step Up, And A Strong 800 Meter Olympic Team Emerges
What the heck is that, above? It’s years of 24/7 grind going down the tubes in a hundredth of a second. It’s dreams dying and being made. It’s bad luck and dumb luck. And according to USA Track & Field, it’s incidental contact. It’s the sport of track and field....
One Runner’s Quest To Escape From A Nike Contract<em></em>
“Nike ego takes over,” 1500-meter runner Will Leer told me. “They never let something happen on your terms. They want to solidify the power structure—they have all the power, the athlete has none.”...
Attitudes Towards PEDs Can Be Predictive Of Doping Behavior
Banning Russian track and field athletes from the Olympics, raiding coach Jama Aden’s hotel room, busting Kenyan marathoner Rita Jeptoo after a failed drug test—the most visible anti-doping measures happen after the fact. But anti-doping efforts also take place on a quieter front, upstream where dop...
Can Extreme Endurance Races Be Mainstreamed?
Runners competing in the second annual Ultra Fiord 100 trail run in Patagonia waded through a chest-deep glacial stream early on, then faced hours and miles of steep, technical climbs, harrowing descents, freezing temperatures, thigh-deep mud, leg-snapping boulder fields, blowing snow and fierce win...
Boris Berian's Legal Fight Against Nike Could Change Track And Field Forever (UPDATED)
UPDATE: Late on June 23, Nike dropped their breach of contract suit against Boris Berian, not because they were wrong or because the bad PR had reached toxic levels, but as a consideration of the stress the suit was causing Berian. Or Boris, as the congenial Nike spokesperson likes to call him....
Genzebe Dibaba's Coach Arrested For Allegedly Administering And Distributing EPO
Track coach Jama Aden has been arrested after police raided his hotel room outside Barcelona and found traces of EPO and other banned substances, according to the Associated Press. ...
From Refugee To Olympic Hopeful: Biya Simbassa's Excellent Life In The Land Of Opportunity
It was the Galen Rupp show at this past Sunday’s Portland Track Festival 5000 meters, as America’s greatest distance talent executed his signature 4600-meter cruise, capped by a crowd-pleasing shift into turbo for the final lap. Nice, though unsurprising. ...
The Legal Fight Between Nike And Boris Berian Is Heating Up
Nike is steamed that 800-meter star Boris Berian has had the temerity to both reject their contract offer and continue to run very well, all the while wearing New Balance gear. In fact, they’re so riled up over losing Berian—who only two years ago was flipping burgers—they’ve filed for a federal cou...
Should There Be Testosterone Limits For Women In Athletics?
South African sports scientist Ross Tucker and transgender medical physicist Joanna Harper have written a fascinating piece on women’s sports, and the current lack of any limits on testosterone levels in female track and field athletes. This issue is likely to be one of the most controversial and im...
Nike Sues 800-Meter Star Boris Berian For Breach Of Contract
Last night at the Hoka One One Classic, 800-meter runner Boris Berian tweeted that he was being sued by Nike:...