Olympics Page 26 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Gabriele Grunewald, Who Defied Cancer By Racing At The Highest Level, Dies At 32
Former U.S. track and field champion Gabriele Grunewald died yesterday at 32 years old, a decade after she was first diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Despite her diagnosis, Grunewald competed professionally in the middle distances at the highest level for six years after she graduated college i...
Simone Biles Reminds Us How Deep Every Gymnast's Bag Of Tricks Really Is
If I had been drinking something when I clicked play on a video Simone Biles tweeted out on May 28, I would have spat it out. The video in question shows Biles during a training session, once again challenging what I thought I knew about gravity:...
Caster Semenya Appeals To Swiss Supreme Court To Stop IAAF's Discrimination Against Her
South African runner Caster Semenya is officially appealing the discriminatory regulations put in place to stop her from competing in her best event, the 800 meters. ...
Figure Skater Says Former Partner John Coughlin Sexually Abused Her For Years
Former figure skater Bridget Namiotka wrote a series of Facebook posts last weekend, accusing her ex-skating partner John Coughlin of sexual abuse. Coughlin killed himself in January one day after the U.S. Center for SafeSport placed him on interim suspension after he was reported for sexual miscond...
Japanese Government Wants Evacuees To Return To Fukushima In Time To Make Olympics Look Good<em></em>
One of the few things that the Olympics do well, aside from putting cities in significant debt that can take decades to pay off, is symbolism. It was on display last year in Pyeongchang when the North and South Korean delegations marched into the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics, and if th...
SafeSport Says It Found Culture Of "Grooming And Abuse" In Figure Skating
The U.S. Center for SafeSport declared on Monday to USA Today that it had uncovered “a culture in figure skating that allowed grooming and abuse to go unchecked for too long” while it was investigating sexual misconduct allegations against national pairs champion John Coughlin, among other cases....
Olympic Athletes Are Trying To Get A Seat At The Bargaining Table
Athlete representatives in the U.S. Olympic movement recently met in the basement of an airport hotel in Chicago to discuss the next step in mobilizing against their respective chartered national governing bodies and the USOC—creating a union....
2024 Olympics Set To Become Much Cooler With Inclusion Of Breaking
After its successful trial run at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires this past October, Paris 2024 organizers have decided to put breaking into the program for the Summer Games. In addition to breaking, Paris 2024 voted to add skateboarding, climbing, and surfing to the program. (The last ...
SafeSport: Why Would Anyone Expect Our Paid Employees To Investigate Abuse?
Four women are suing USA Taekwondo, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the U.S. Center for SafeSport for their roles in ignoring repeated reports of sexual abuse by Taekwondo star coach Jean Lopez and his brother, Olympic medalist Steven Lopez, going back to 1996. SafeSport has asked to be dismissed f...
Japanese Sports Official Worries That Olympic Excitement Will Decrease Because Star Swimmer Was Diagnosed With Leukemia
This week Japanese swimming star Rikako Ikee announced that she has been diagnosed with leukemia and is starting treatment for the cancer. Ikee, 18, won six gold medals at the 2018 Asians and was expected to contend for several medals at the 2020 Olympics, which are being hosted in Tokyo....
Does Figure Skating Really Need Age Minimums?<em></em>
This weekend in Detroit, Alysa Liu won the senior ladies national title. Yet despite that, Liu won’t be competing at the 2019 world championships in Saitama, Japan. Those berths will go to second and third place finishers, Bradie Tennell and Mariah Bell. Disqualifying Liu is the fact that she’s 13 y...
The <i>New York Times</i> Can't Bring Itself To Hold The USOC Accountable
In my time as a journalist, stories about child abuse have always been the one genre that everyone, even internet commenters, agree are bad. But preventing child abuse—which costs money and takes long-term dedication of resources—who has time for that? ...
Reports: Former U.S. Figure Skating Champion John Coughlin Dies By Suicide After Receiving Suspension From Sport
John Coughlin, a two-time U.S. pairs champion, died Friday by suicide just days after U.S. Center for SafeSport and U.S. Figure Skating suspended him from the sport, according to multiple reports. He was 33....
The IOC Graciously Takes Credit For Improved Relationship On Korean Peninsula
The international sports cartel better known as the IOC released its annual statement about the year that was and what’s to come in 2019 and it’s very much like the IOC itself: bloated, self-congratulatory, and devoid of substance....
Olympic Boxing Is In A Mess Of Trouble
The global sporting administrative elite are gathered in Tokyo this week to discuss issues facing the Olympic movement. These went beyond the usual “how to extract millions of dollars from a few new host cities” concerns to encompass recognizing new sports like kickboxing and the Russian martial ar...
Audit Shows USA Gymnastics Estimates It Will Pay $75 To $150 Million To Larry Nassar Survivors
USA Gymnastics released a series of financial documents yesterday, including tax filings and financial statements from the past two years. According to an auditor’s report dated Aug. 20, settlements and payouts to survivors of Larry Nassar likely will cost the organization a sum pretty close to its ...
United States Olympic Committee Gets Closer To Putting USA Gymnastics In The Trash Can
A few short days after Simone Biles found historic success at the World Gymnastics Championships, the United States Olympic Committee announced this afternoon that it was in the process of revoking USA Gymnastics’ status as a national governing body. The revocation isn’t official though and will tak...
Skateboarder Says Former Pro, USA Skateboarding Executive Abused Her With "Sex Lessons" When She Was 14
Julie Lynn Kindstrand Nelson was 14 when she first met Neal Hendrix in 2006. She was a talented amateur skater, and he was an X Games medalist. Kindstrand Nelson, who goes by Julz Lynn, said she idolized Hendrix from the start. He was a famous skater since his X Games days, and took jobs as an execu...
Report: Former USA Gymnastics CEO Cozied Up To FBI To Save Face During Nassar Investigation
A day after former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny was arrested following a grand jury indictment for tampering with evidence in the investigation of Larry Nassar, the New York Times has a new report detailing how Penny behaved with the FBI as its agents looked into reports from gymnasts about the fo...
SafeSport Bans Swimming Coach Sean Hutchison For Sexual Abuse
The U.S. Center for SafeSport banned swimming coach Sean Hutchison on Friday for what its documents called a violation of policies by “digitally penetrating a minor, receiving oral contact from a minor, and engaging in sexual intercourse all with an athlete whom he coached.” That swimmer is Ariana K...