Olympics Page 37 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

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. ...

Rio Declares Financial Emergency, May Not Be Able To Honor Olympic Commitments
Rio de Janeiro’s state government is declaring a state of “public calamity” and says extreme measures must be taken or this summer’s Olympics won’t happen....

Russian Track And Field Athletes Won't Compete At Olympics After Ban Is Upheld
The IAAF, world track and field’s governing body, voted unanimously Friday to uphold its provisional ban on Russian athletes. Unless something extraordinary happens in the next six weeks, Russian runners, throwers, and jumpers won’t be competing in the Olympics. ...

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. ...

Report: WADA Is Corrupt, Useless, Or Both
One of the big questions that’s come out of the recent spate of reports revealing Russia’s expansive state-run doping program is, “How is the World Anti-Doping Association allowing this stuff to happen?” According to a new report from The New York Times, the answer to that question is that WADA was ...

Study: Rio Olympics Will Expose Athletes To Antibiotics-Resistant Super Bacteria
Athletes and spectators at the Rio Olympics will be exposed to deadly, antibiotics-resistant super bacteria according to two research studies reviewed by Reuters....

It's Boogie Time
Steph Curry decided this week to skip the Olympics, and this afternoon, Russell Westbrook announced he’d do the same. Team USA was already short LaMarcus Aldridge, Anthony Davis, and Chris Paul, and they’ll need the remaining candidates to step up. Who will save Team USA?...

USA Olympics Basketball Players Are Dropping Like Flies
Team USA has dominated international basketball the last decade, but the team they take to the upcoming Rio Olympics might end up being their worst since the disastrous 2002 World Championships....

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...

These 10 Displaced Athletes Will Compete For Refugee Olympic Team In Rio
In an IOC first, a Refugee Olympic Team, consisting of 10 athletes who fled their native countries due to war and persecution, will compete at the summer games in Rio. So, now you’ve got 10 more people to root for....

The 2020 Olympics Will Be Mega Gnarly; Get Ready To Shred, Brah
The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will probably not be a comprehensive shitstorm like these 2016 Games are shaping up to be, but there is a decent chance they will be much more rad, thanks to the new sports that could get added to the program. Five sports have made it through to the final round of w...

Francisco Rodriguez Details Effects Of Zika Virus
Longtime closer Francisco Rodriguez, currently pitching for the Tigers, told ESPN this evening that he contracted Zika virus this offseason while he was in his native Venezuela. The 34-year-old pitcher described what happened to him while he was sick, and it sounds pretty gnarly. The most alarming e...

The Rio Olympics Velodrome Is Just Never Going To Get Built, Huh
The run up to the Rio Olympics has been marred by concerns over Zika virus, a political meltdown, a massive doping crisis, crumbling infrastructure, and a bay filled with human shit. The list of problems is so long and populated with strange issues that it’s easy to overlook another, far more typica...

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...

Anti-Doping Agency Says Kenya Is In The Midst Of A Doping Crisis; No One Cares
The run-up to this summer’s Olympics in Rio have been a disaster, between the prevalence of the Zika virus, Brazil’s political upheaval, and deadly problems with Rio’s Olympic infrastructure. It doesn’t help matters that the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) is in the midst of a meltdown, with all man...

Zika And A Political Crisis Have Made The Rio Olympics A Looming Disaster
Writing in the Harvard Public Health Review, University of Ottawa professor of population health Amir Attaran makes a persuasive argument that the outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil is so dangerous that the upcoming Rio de Janeiro Olympics—scheduled to kick off in 84 days—should be postponed, move...

Report: Russian Olympic Doping Program Was Comically Impressive
For all the very real problems with sports’ war on drugs and the self-serving PED scolds, I can only read this latest report about Russia’s state-run doping efforts at the Sochi Olympic Games with something resembling awe. According to a whistleblower, officials, including those from Russia’s intell...

How Did Lalita Babar Put Up The World-Leading Steeple Time?
Notice anything strange about Letsrun’s listing of the world-leading performances from last weekend?...

Former Olympic Wrestling Champion Vyacheslav Oliynyk Fights A Bunch Of Cops
Ukranian wrestler Vyacheslav Oliynyk won a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Last Wednesday, he celebrated his 50th birthday by fighting cops in Kiev. ...