2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

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After Relay Fail, a Big Name Dresses Down Men's Team

Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis calls 4x100m race in Tokyo a 'clown show,' 'total embarrassment'

(Newser) - The US men's relay team was already disappointed they came in sixth in a preliminary 4x100m heat Thursday in Tokyo, losing their chance to take a spot in the finals. Making things worse: a scathing critique from track and field star Carl Lewis, who said online that the team...

US Women Win Bronze in Swan Song for Major Stars

Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe scored 2 each in 4-3 win over Australia

(Newser) - It's been a disappointing Olympics for the US women's soccer team, which won gold in 1996, 2004, 2008, and 2012—but they won't be going home empty-handed. Team USA survived a dramatic late comeback from Australia on Thursday and took the bronze medal with a 4-3 victory,...

Belarus Sprinter Is Latest in a Long Line of Olympic Defectors

Dozens of Hungarians defected in 1956 after Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest

(Newser) - Belarus sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is now officially a political exile—and the latest in a long line of Olympic defectors, many of them from authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe. Unlike many of her predecessors, Tsimanouskaya didn't travel to the Olympics planning to defect, the AP reports. The 24-year-old, who...

Australian Football, Rugby Olympians Partied Too Hard

Australia Olympic Committee fielding complaints about rowdy flight, damaged rooms

(Newser) - Imagine the party that would ensue if the Australian Olympic soccer and rugby teams spent 10 hours locked in a room together. Now imagine that room is actually an airplane from Tokyo to Sydney and you’re just trying to get some sleep. Australian Olympians were already in hot water...

Olympic Riders Say Sumo Statue Is Spooking Horses

Life-size statue is next to obstacle No. 10

(Newser) - Equestrian jumpers aren't keen on surprises. Neither are the horses, and it takes years of training to keep them from getting spooked. But no horse in Tuesday night's Olympic jumping qualifier had ever seen anything like obstacle No. 10. "As you come around, you see a big...

Runner Shares Her Victories, Gets Blocked on Instagram

Elaine Thompson-Herah ran into copyright issues

(Newser) - Elaine Thompson-Herah took gold in the 100m and 200m races, but her attempts to share the victorious runs on Instagram ended up getting her temporarily blocked from the platform. The Jamaican sprinter ran afoul of copyright rules, with the International Olympic Committee telling Reuters , "Rights Holding Broadcasters (RHBs) have...

Fleeing the Games, Sprinter Made a Last-Minute Switch

Wary of security, Belarus sprinter changed flight plans from Warsaw to Vienna at last minute

(Newser) - Change of travel plans for Krystsina Tsimanouskaya—she's headed to Vienna instead of Warsaw, at least initially. The Washington Post reports on the continuing drama swirling around the 24-year-old Olympic sprinter, who boarded a plane bound for Poland on Wednesday, less than three days after Belarus authorities took her...

Both Beat the World Record, but Only One Could Win Gold

Sydney McLaughlin of the US wins Olympics' 400-meter hurdles event

(Newser) - Sydney McLaughlin broke the world record. Dalilah Muhammad broke it, too. Only one of the world's best hurdlers could win the Olympic gold medal—and McLaughlin came out ahead in the latest installment of the best rivalry in track, the AP reports. The 21-year-old out of East Orange, NJ,...

IOC Is Looking Into Mao Pins Worn by Chinese Athletes

They may have violated Rule 50

(Newser) - The image of Communist China's founding leader, Mao Zedong, made an unscheduled appearance at the Tokyo Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday it is "looking into the matter.” The gesture—Mao pin badges worn by two Chinese gold medalists at their medal ceremony—risks being...

Bruce Springsteen's Daughter Makes Her Olympic Debut

Jessica Springsteen falls short in solo qualifier, still has a chance for medal in group event

(Newser) - Jessica Springsteen had no luck going solo in Tokyo. Perhaps, suggests the AP , she'll do better with a band. The daughter of famed rocker Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band wife, Patti Scialfa, failed to qualify for the Olympic individual jumping finals at Tokyo's Equestrian Park on...

This Guy Just Won 'One of the Best Races Ever Run'

Norway's Warholm wins gold, breaks own world record at 400m hurdle event where all impressed

(Newser) - When brash Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm led the field to the starting line on a steamy afternoon at Olympic Stadium, he and his seven opponents had every reason to expect they'd be part of something special. It turned out to be more than that. This gathering of the world'...

After Days in the Stands, Biles Makes the 'Impossible Possible'

Gymnast wins a bronze medal, after she'd earlier pulled out of team competition, 4 individual events

(Newser) - It's been a difficult week for Simone Biles, who pulled out of multiple events at the Summer Olympics to deal with mental health issues after a bout with the "twisties." But the determined gymnast made it back onto the competition floor Tuesday in Tokyo, walking away with...

Poland Grants Visa to Runner Afraid to Return to Belarus

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya's husband has now fled the country

(Newser) - Poland granted a visa Monday to a Belarusian Olympic sprinter who said she feared for her safety and that her team’s officials tried to force her to fly home, where the autocratic government was accused of diverting a flight to arrest a dissident journalist. An activist group that is...

High Jumpers' Unusual Request Is an Olympic Hit

Competitors from Qatar and Italy decide to share gold medal rather than go to a jump-off

(Newser) - It’s the ultimate moment in game recognizing game. Mutaz Barshim of Qatar had been competing against, and making friends with, Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi for years. Both had suffered ankle injuries that took a season away from them. Tamberi was in Barshim’s wedding, the Washington Post reports. Sunday,...

This Olympic Lift Was Both Historic and Controversial
Trans Weightlifter
Makes History
at Games
the rundown
Aug 2, 2021 10:00 AM CDT

Trans Weightlifter Makes History at Games

Laurel Hubbard's participation has been controversial

(Newser) - A New Zealand weightlifter named Laurel Hubbard will not leave the Tokyo Olympics with a medal. However, her very participation has earned Hubbard the unwanted distinction of being one of its most controversial athletes. Why? She's a transgender woman. Coverage:
  • In Monday's competition, the 43-year-old Hubbard failed to
...

Canada Beats US for First Time in 20 Years

Team USA will not take the gold in Tokyo

(Newser) - The US women's soccer team will be hunting bronze, not gold, in their next game. Team USA fell to Canada on Monday in a 1-0 upset in the semifinals, reports NPR . The US couldn't muster a goal despite decent chances, while American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher had to leave...

Looks Like Biles Will Make One More Olympics Showing

Gymnast set to appear in balance beam finals on Tuesday, though she could still withdraw

(Newser) - A week after we last saw her compete, Simone Biles will return to the Olympic stage. After pulling out of team competition finals and four individual events— all-around , floor, uneven bars, and vault —to take care of her mental health, saying she was struggling with the "twisties,"...

US Medalist Raven Saunders Does Protest Gesture at Podium

The 'X' arms likely violated Olympic rules, according to reports

(Newser) - After Raven Saunders won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, the US shot-putter raised her arms in an 'X' above her head at the podium following the medal ceremony. The 25-year-old told the AP the X symbolizes "the intersection of where all people who are...

Swimmer Says Ripped Trunks Cost Him World Record
Swimmer Says Ripped Trunks
Cost Him World Record
in case you missed it
Aug 1, 2021 6:00 PM CDT

Swimmer Says Ripped Trunks Cost Him World Record

But Kristof Milak easily won gold in men's 200m butterfly final

(Newser) - Kristof Milak was aiming for more than a gold medal in the men's 200 meters butterfly final—but he says he was let down by his own swimwear. The 21-year-old Hungarian champ says his trunks ripped around 10 minutes before the final, ruining his concentration, the BBC reports. With...

Belarus Sprinter Refused to Board Flight Home From Tokyo

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya asked the IOC to intervene

(Newser) - A sprinter from Belarus asked police for help at the Tokyo airport, saying she was being forced to board a flight. Earlier, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya made an Instagram post criticizing her coaches’ decision to enter her in a race, the 4x400-meter relay, that she had not trained for. Then, she said,...

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