Daily Archives: October 6, 2022

The assembled guests were eager to hear Peter Ueberroths words of wisdom, hoping hed extend a pleasant hour of reminiscing about the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics to tell stories about the vision hed conceived and executed to make the Games so profitable, inclusive and entertaining that theyve remained an unattainable standard for every Summer Olympics that has followed.

Standing in tribute as Ueberroth stood at a stage set up near the Coliseums Court of Honor where a plaque with his likeness was one twitch of cloth away from being unveiled to the world his friends, family, and admirers prepared to take their seats to savor his speech. Dont sit, the former chairman of the L.A. Olympic Organizing Committee cautioned them.

I just want to thank everybody, he said. You heard a lot of nice comments. Some of them were true, some of them were exaggerated, but the fact is in this society that we all live in, everybody that I can see and everybody behind us or in front of us, we can make a difference. And we can all make a difference. And God bless you all.

He spoke for less than a minute. At 85, hes still very much a man of action, not words, more inclined to look toward the possibilities of the future than waste time recounting what he did decades ago, even if those feats have become part of the fabric of life in Los Angeles and part of Olympic history.

If theres anyone entitled to give long-winded speeches and brag about the great things he has done, its Ueberroth. Successful businessman. Baseball commissioner. Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The man who saved the Olympics and thats no exaggeration.

I think thats a true statement, to be honest with you, said Mark Spitz, almost unnoticed in street clothes and without those nine Olympic swimming gold medals arrayed around his neck. He created a financial model theyre desperately trying to emulate.

The Olympic movement was faltering badly in the 1980s. The terrorist attack that killed 11 Israelis at Munich in 1972 was tragic and shocking. Montreal took on so much debt to stage the 1976 Summer Games that the bills lingered for three decades. Then-president Jimmy Carter ordered a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games in response to the Soviet Unions invasion of Afghanistan. Nobody but Tehran, Iran, and Los Angeles bid for the 1984 Games.

Ueberroth, supported by then-mayor Tom Bradley, created a private financing plan that relied on media rights and corporations. The Games were commercialized as never before, yes. They also turned a profit of about $225 million, some of which went to the U.S. Olympic Endowment for athletes use and some back to Los Angeles to whats now the LA84 Foundation, a nonprofit that helps give kids sports equipment, facilities and coaching.

Without Peter Ueberroth, without the 84 Games being as successful as they were, I believe its very likely that the Games could have sputtered and, like a match, gone out, said John Naber, a five-time Olympic swimming medalist. He added the fuel and the flame, and he increased the stakeholders.

A happily large group of former L.A. Olympic committee staffers attended the long-overdue ceremony at the Coliseum on Monday and posed for pictures with Ueberroth and his wife Ginny. Ueberroths plaque was placed across from Bradleys and near that of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, whos considered the father of the modern Olympics. Perfect placement. DeCoubertin brought the Games back to life. Ueberroth ensured theyd continue for generations.

A plaque is unveiled during an event to honor 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee President Peter V. Ueberroth at the Coliseum on Monday.

(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

You gave us a new narrative for our city and for our world when we needed it most, said mayor Eric Garcetti, who joked that his second action as mayor after paving a street to prove his commitment to city services was to inquire about hosting the 2024 Summer Games. That bid wasnt successful, but L.A. will get a third turn as host in 2028.

This is a city not just of dreamers but of doers, Garcetti said. Its wonderful that you had a dream, Peter. But I think what we recognize is that you were able to bring a team together to enact that dream.

Ueberroths Games expanded opportunities for women, with events including the first womens Olympic marathon, and for disabled athletes. L.A. 84 was the first Games to include wheelchair racing exhibitions, a milestone moment that spurred the growth of the Paralympics.

The negative bias and stigmas that surrounded disabled people at that time were peeled back on that day, said Candace Cable, a bronze medalist in the womens 800-meter wheelchair race. Those few minutes in the worldwide broadcast took us from discarded, dehumanized disabled people out of the dark shadows of worthlessness and brought us into the bright light of truth, that we are all human beings with value and deserve access and inclusion to all that life has to offer. Using sport for inclusion and access messaging was perfection.

Short as his speech was, maybe Ueberroth said all he needed to say. I wanted to tell the truth. It takes a few hundred people to make a difference and they did, and I was one of them, he said.

Im just proud of the quality of people in this community and in this country so Im thrilled with that. The rest, thats in the past. And we live in the present and future. So, Im looking forward to the future.

That includes rooting for the success of the 2028 Olympics.

The people that are running those Games, theyre darned good. Theyre going to surprise the world how great those Games will be, he said. The Olympic movement is now pretty darned strong. The [2028] people are sensational and a lot of them have experience with our Games and so theyre going to be terrific.

He will be just short of 91 when the Olympics return to Los Angeles. But save him a seat.

Yeah, for sure, he said.

Just dont expect him to make a long speech.

See the original post here:

How Peter Ueberroth saved the Olympics, revolutionized the Games - Los Angeles Times

The Ironman Kona World Championships return after a three-year hiatus with a new format, live on Peacock on Thursday and Saturday at 12 p.m. ET.

The Ironman, held annually in Hawaii since 1978, and in Kailua-Kona since 1981, was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The world championships made a one-time-only stop in St. George, Utah, on May 7 to make up for the 2021 cancellation. The winners were Norways Kristian Blummenfelt, the Tokyo Olympic triathlon champion, and SwissDaniela Ryf, who bagged her fifth Ironman world title.

Both are entered in Kailua-Kona, where the races are now split between two days Thursday for the women and Saturday for the men.

An Ironman includes a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and a marathon totaling 140.6 miles of racing. It takes top triathletes eight hours to complete. Very arguably, it crowns the worlds fittest man and woman.

WATCH LIVE: Ironman Kona, Thursday, 12 p.m. ET STREAM LINK

Ryf, 35 and a 2008 and 2012 Olympian, can tie retired countrywoman Natascha Badmann for second place on the womens list at six Ironman world titles. Only Zimbabwean-turned-American Paula Newby-Fraser has more with eight.

The field also includes German Anne Haug, the 2019 Kona champ and only woman other than Ryf to win since 2015. Brit Lucy Charles-Barclay, the Kona runner-up in 2017, 2018 and 2019, returns after missing the St. George event due to a stress fracture in her hip.

Blummenfelt, 28 and in his Kona debut, will try to become the youngest male champion in Kona since German Normann Stadler in 2005. His top challengers include countryman Gustav Iden, the two-time reigning Half Ironman world champion, and German Patrick Lange, the 2017 and 2018 Ironman Kona winner.

Also racing Saturday is Dallas Clark, a retired All-Pro NFL tight end with the Indianapolis Colts, and Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 champion who completed the 2011 Kona Ironman in 12 hours, 52 minutes, 40 seconds.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

See original here:

LA 2028, Delta unveil first-of-its-kind emblems for Olympics, Paralympics - Home of the Olympic Channel

The Canadian province of Alberta is entertaining proposals to bring the Olympic Winter Games back to Calgary in the near future, a government official revealed Tuesday.

Rendering of upgraded McMahon Stadium with Olympic overlay for failed Calgary 2026 Olympic Winter Games bid

During a ceremony marking a CAD $17.5 million (USD $13 million) provincial investment in Canada Olympic Park a legacy of the Calgary 1988 Winter Games Albertas Minister of Culture Ron Orr revealed that a potential project to host the Games has emerged.

There is a small group of individuals who have put together some proposals for a future opportunity and we will certainly be looking at those as they come and as it becomes appropriate to talk about details, Orr said.

The City of Calgary has almost all of the amenities it would need for a Games at this stage and, of course, this kind of redevelopment would obviously add to that, Orr added, according to Calgary Herald.

Orr did not elaborate on the nature of the plans being put forward.

Calgary mounted a contentious campaign to host the 2026 edition of the Games that divided City Council and polarized public opinion in 2018. The bid was later quashed by 56.4 percent of voters in a hard fought city-wide plebiscite.

Now, four years later a Vancouver centered project led by four hosting First Nations and targeting 2030 has been put forward by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC). British Columbia hopes to reprise the 2010 Games by building on its legacy. But Vancouver may have to face a public vote of its own should one Mayoral candidate, who has promised to let taxpayers have their say on the issue, win an October 15 municipal election.

Under International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules a national Olympic Committee must choose a single interested bidder to enter an ongoing dialogue process for any future Games. The COC selected Vancouver last year and has since been involved in discussions that could see the bid chosen for targeted dialogue for the 2030 Games Olympic-speak for shortlist by the IOC as early as December or as late as next Spring. The final election will take place next Fall.

Vancouvers rivals include Sapporo in Japan and Salt Lake City in the United States. Bids not successful for 2030 could end up back in the mix for 2034. Calgarys opportunity would be for the 2034 Games at the earliest but backers would have to wait for Vancouver to be withdrawn from dialogue before that becomes possible.

Certainly any plans emerging for a Calgary bid are at the very early stages and perhaps only an opportunistic tease to justify the Canada Olympic Park investment. Reportedly Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who was city councilor when the 2026 bid was in debate, was not aware of any new plans.

Neither was the COC, the only entity in Canada with the authority to officially launch a bid.

We have heard the reports of comments made yesterday [about a Calgary bid], but we are not aware of any other proposed bid, in Alberta or elsewhere in Canada, a COC spokesperson told GamesBids.com.

The COC is currently focused on supporting an Indigenous-led process to assess the feasibility of Canada hosting a 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Games in British Columbia, working under the leadership of the Lilwat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

The next Winter Olympics will be held in Northern Italy by Milan-Cortina 2026.

Like Loading...

Read this article:

Alberta primed for new Calgary Winter Olympics bid amid focus on Vancouver in 2030 - GamesBids.com

Los Angeles World Airports and Delta officials take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at he Terminal 3 concourse, featuring eight new gates and seating areas, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Los Angeles World Airports and Delta officials take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at he Terminal 3 concourse, featuring eight new gates and seating areas, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Los Angeles World Airports and Delta officials take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at he Terminal 3 concourse, featuring eight new gates and seating areas, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Los Angeles World Airports and Delta officials take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at he Terminal 3 concourse, featuring eight new gates and seating areas, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Floriana Dua, and her daughters Ava and Isabella from Sydney, Australia, wait to board their plane for New York at the newly renovated Terminal 3 concourse on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Passengers wait to board their plane at the newly renovated Terminal 3 concourse, featuring eight new gates and seating areas, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Los Angeles World Airports and Delta officials take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at he Terminal 3 concourse, featuring eight new gates and seating areas, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Passengers wait to board their plane at the newly renovated Terminal 3 concourse, featuring eight new gates and seating areas, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Ava and Himanshu Dua, from Sydney, Australia, wait to board their plane for New York at the newly renovated Terminal 3 concourse on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Los Angeles World Airports and Delta officials take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at he Terminal 3 concourse, featuring eight new gates and seating areas, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Los Angeles International Airport officials opened a new concourse at Terminal 3 on Wednesday, Oct. 5, marking the completion of the third phase of construction on a new terminal.

The terminal, built in 1961, was torn down in 2020 to make way for a new facility. Eight out of nine gates have been completed, with the ninth scheduled to be ready by early next year. The project is ahead of schedule by 18 months, according to airport officials.

Keeping pace is vital. Looming on the horizon for LAX managed by Los Angeles World Airports, which is owned by the city of L.A . are the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

The airport is in the midst of a $15-billion modernization program encompassing all nine of the airports terminals and including an Automated People Mover rail system and a consolidated car-rental facility.

On Wednesday, LAX showed off another section of its revitalized terminal, the latest step in the $2.3 billion project in partnership with Delta Air Lines. This part of the airports facelift is expected to be completed by fall 2023 with a connector bridge from Terminal 3 to Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Elevating the guest experience is pivotal in our ongoing work to build a better LAX, and we are thrilled to see the next major phase of this project completed in partnership with Delta Air Lines, said Justin Erbacci, CEO of Los Angeles World Airports. The new Terminal 3 concourse includes best-in-class passenger amenities and technology, and showcases our vision for a fully modernized airport.

The project has involved more than 4.5 million work hours, according to officials.

Construction at LAX is speeding along at a fever pitch, as officials aim to keep the promise of a brighter, streamlined, easier to navigate airport by the time athletes arrives in town for the third L.A. Olympiad.

In May 2021, the $1.7 billion, 15-gate West Gates at Tom Bradley International Terminal debuted. In October that year, the $294 million LAX Economy Parking facility like the Automated People Mover, its part of the LAMP initiative opened to the public.

A month later,United and Los Angeles World Airportscut the ribbon on the airlines new $352 million technical operations center.

And in March, LAX, Los Angeles and Delta Air Lines officials cut the ribbon on the first phase of a multi-billion-dollarmakeover of Terminals 2 and 3.

Construction on the Automated People Mover has also moved swiftly and is on pace to be ready within about four years of the project getting underway.

The airports long-awaited Automated People Mover will eventually allow the airports growing throng of post-pandemic travelers to forego the congestion that is currently the hallmark of flying out of the City of Angels.

The new Maintenance and Storage Facility, unveiled in August, will act as the operational hub for the new rail line.

The Automated People Mover will be so much more than another way to get to LAX, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. Its the piece of the puzzle that will curb the congestion that has been plaguing our airport for decades.

The system, which is set to open in 2023, is meant to reduce congestion around Los Angeles International Airport while also connecting folks to the countrys fifth-busiest travel hub via regional public transportation, including LA Metro.

Earlier this year, workers finished pouring 69,700 cubic yards of concrete for the systems 2.25-mile elevated guideway structure.Five of six bridgesover World Way have also been completed, with the last one set for completion later this year.

The Automated People Mover is part of the $5.5 billion Landside Access Modernization Program, which also includes a consolidated Rent-A-Car facility, intermodal transportation facilities and roadway improvements, according to Los Angeles World Airports.

Once operational, the driverless train cars boasting large windows, multiple hand rails and 12 seats each will arrive at each of the six stations every two minutes during peak travel times, LAWA said. A roundtrip will take 10 minutes.

Half of the stations will be inside the Central Terminal Area and half will be outside. The latter stations will connect to the new LAX Economy Parking, light-rail transportation and the Rent-A-Car facility, LAWA said.

The train cars will also be environmentally friendly, officials said.

Innovation, sustainability and state-of-the-art technology are integral to our ongoing modernization, Erbacci said. These Automated People Mover train cars will set a high standard for environmentally sustainable transportation, having shells made of recyclable materials and achieving zero emissions. We look forward to seeing the cars in action when we begin testing them in 2023.

Just last week, officials announced the completion of the final Automated People Mover pedestrian bridge structure over World Way, moving one step closer to connecting the Tom Bradley International Terminal with the future West Central Terminal Area station.

The construction on the sixth and final bridge closed some roads at LAX, but work was finished ahead of schedule on three out of four nights, according to officials.

The work included assembling four steel trusses weighing over 270,000 pounds above World Way and bolting them together to create the bridges structural frame. The six bridges together include more than 3,600 tons of steel, with the project total at more than 9,000 tons.

The bridges are all in various stages of construction. The next step in the project is to establish the Automated People Mover systems and test train cars, according to Sam Choy, project director for LINXS Constructors.

Erbacci said the result of the project is coming into view and called the walkway a remarkable achievement on our journey to reimagine the travel experience at LAX, while continuing to operate the fifth-busiest airport in the world.

All this work is aimed to ease record-breaking increases in travelers at the worlds fifth-busiest airport.

LAX reported more than 1.8 million international travelers passing through the airport in July, a 97% increase compared to the same month last year. That contributed to a nearly 14% total increase in passengers in July compared to a year ago, with 6.3 million people passing through the gates.

The strong rebound in international travel that we have seen during the peak summer months is very encouraging and adding to our overall growth in passenger numbers this season, Erbacci said.

Erbacci added that LAX is poised to enter the fall and winter holiday travel seasons in the strongest position since the start of the pandemic.

Through the first half of 2022, overall passenger traffic at LAX is up 57% compared to the same time period last year, with international travel up by 142%.

The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report

More:

LAX improvements racing along on road to 2028 Olympics - The Mercury News

Press Release

Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2022 Today, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Special Olympics North America announced a national partnership to provide inclusive programming in Clubs for young people with and without intellectual disabilities during out-of-school time. The goal is to combat the obstacles they face and realize new opportunities for social inclusion, leadership, and healthy lifestyles.

Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools is a strategy in more than 8,000 schools Pre-K through university across the U.S. that intentionally promotes social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities. Working in partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, whose mission is to enable all young people to reach their full potential, Special Olympics will harness the powerful work being done at the grassroots level to create inclusive spaces using the Unified model. The melding of these two leading organizations will create new opportunities for systemic change for present and future generations of young people.

At Boys & Girls Clubs of America, we know safety and a sense of belonging are essential to a young persons success, said Jim Clark, President and CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Were excited for our partnership with Special Olympics working together to expand opportunities for young people of all abilities to feel welcome and accepted as peers, teammates and friends, as part of a more accepting and inclusive future.

Through this collaboration, Boys & Girls Clubs and Special Olympics Programs will work together to provide training and supporting resources to support local partnerships. This will in turn aid in Special Olympics athletes becoming fully integrated Club members and communities becoming more inclusive and accepting.

Young people today face many challenges, from achieving personal and academic success to feeling emotionally and physically healthy and safe. Often, the school and social environment for young people is fraught with obstacles, impeding positive development. That is what we strive to overcome with the work we do, said Andrea Cahn, Vice President of Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools. It is truly an honor to partner with a like-minded organization that is also committed to empowering and supporting young people as they work to address these barriers and build inclusive schools and communities.

Get a firsthand look at the impact in Greenwood, Mississippi.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of AmericaFor 160 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA.org) has provided a safe place for kids and teens to learn and grow. Clubs offer caring adult mentors, fun and friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Boys & Girls Clubs programming promotes academic success, good character and leadership, and healthy lifestyles. In a typical year, nearly 5,000 Clubs serve 3.6 million young people through Club membership and community outreach.Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more about Boys & Girls Clubs of America on Facebook or Twitter.

About Special Olympics Unified Champion SchoolsSpecial Olympics Unified Champion Schools is a strategy in more than 8,000 schools Pre-K through university across the U.S. that intentionally promotes social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities through Special Olympics Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership opportunities, and whole school engagement. The three-component model offers a unique combination of effective activities that equip young people with the knowledge, skills, tools and training to create classrooms and school climates of acceptance, respect, and meaningful inclusion. These are school climates where students with disabilities feel welcome and are routinely included in -- and feel a part of -- all activities, opportunities, and functions. The Unified Champion Schools program is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. Engage with us on: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Learn more at GenerationUnified.org.

Eliza LynchBoys & Girls Clubs of America203-522-7010elynch@bgca.org

Kendra CummingsUCS Media Relations ManagerKCummings@SpecialOlympics.org

Excerpt from:

Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Special Olympics Partner to Provide Inclusive Programming for Youth Across U.S. - Boys & Girls Clubs of...

BRATTLEBORO As a Special Olympics Unified Champion School, Brattleboro Union High School is receiving national banner recognition for its efforts to provide inclusive sports and activities for students with and without disabilities. Special Olympics Vermont says BUHS meets national standards of excellence in the areas of inclusion, advocacy and respect.

BUHS will be celebrating the Special Olympics National Banner School status on Friday, from 1:20 to 2 p.m. at Natowich Field.

We know the power of the work done through our Unified Champion Schools, because we see it, said Special Olympics Vermont President and CEO Missy Siner. Brattleboro Union High School has provided a wonderful example of the incredible benefits that UCS programming can bring to a school community. At 2022 USA Games, Brattleboro represented Vermont in the Youth Leadership Experience, and were role models to others participating in the program. The efforts made by Brattleboro to create a safe space of inclusion and acceptance for all students are exceptional and we are so glad they are receiving this deserved honor.

Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools is a strategy for schools Pre-K through university that intentionally promotes meaningful social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting school environments, utilizing three interconnected components: Special Olympics Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement. BUHS currently participates in Unified basketball, bocce, snowshoeing and soccer, and is looking to expand offerings this school year. Brattleboro has also hosted numerous statewide events, including VPA Unified Basketball and recreational bocce tournaments.

When I first started at BUHS, I was so impressed by the organization and school-wide support of our unified sports teams, said Interim Principal Cassie Damkoehler. Previous administrators worked to incorporate unified games into the daily schedule when possible. This helped to create the amazingly inclusive culture that we have here at BUHS. This award is really a testament to the hard work of our staff and student body.

Read the rest here:

BUHS recognized by Special Olympics for Achievements with Inclusion - Bennington Banner

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, The Last Dance producer Jon Weinbach, and NBA Entertainment team up for a fully authorized but thoroughly absorbing Netflix documentary about the 2008 United States mens Olympic basketball team and their quest to recapture the gold medal glory that our country had once taken for granted. That long and arduous process became the stuff of a classic American sports movie, as the NBAs biggest stars brought together by a reserved but militaristic coach put aside their individual egos to play for each other and the people back home.

The Redeem Team is that movie to a tee. Its every bit as candied and superficial as you might expect from such a self-mythologizing stroll down memory lane, but its subjects bring some occasional edge to it (I cackled at James recalling the moment when he realized we about to beat the shit out of Spain), and the documentarys slickness befits the story of a team that had been created to promote the NBA on the world stage.

If Weinbachs film hadnt felt like a feature-length commercial for its players, it probably wouldnt have amounted to such a lucid portrait of how they learned to stop selling themselves against each other. And thats really all The Redeem Team wants to be, to the point that it refuses to explicitly acknowledge the elephant in the room: The 2020 death of Kobe Bryant.

RelatedRelated

Bryant is one of the first voices we hear in Weinbachs film, which opens with the late NBA legend sitting next to LeBron James and insisting that winning Olympic gold was more important to him than any league championship. Its one of those things that superstar athletes say whenever theyre allowed to play for their country and one of those things that sounds particularly forced when coming from someone who had a reputation for selfishness but The Redeem Team convincingly argues for the sincerity behind Bryants sentiment.

That process starts with some much-needed context, as Weinbach retraces the history of Americas Olympic basketball teams, which lost a grand total of two games between 1936 and 1988. It was that second defeat in Seoul that led the NBA to allow its players to participate in the games and inspired the creation of the ridiculously overpowered Dream Team, whose domination at the 1992 tournament has always reminded me of the Civilization II cheat code that allowed you to use nuclear weapons against rival villages that were still fighting with sticks and stones.

But Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson (et al.) did such a good job of promoting David Sterns basketball to international markets that people all over the world soon wanted to play at the most elite level; it wasnt long before many of the NBAs top draft picks were coming from outside the United States, and the national teams that countries like Spain and Argentina sent to the Olympics started to become recurring nightmares for the Dream Teams that America cobbled together during the off-season. James was just coming off his rookie season when the U.S. lost to Argentina in 2004, but no one has ever looked more disgusted to have a bronze medal hanging around their neck.

And so, with oodles of excellent archival footage courtesy of NBA Entertainment, along with talking head interview testimony from just about everyone involved in the 2008 Redeem Team including Bryant, who plays such a prominent role in the film that it seems like he was alive for its production Weinbach begins assembling the story of how Americas best all-stars were sewn together under the same flag. Its the story of how this country nationalized its basketball team rather than just relying on individual talent. The undercurrents of patriotism and national pride run deep, but the Redeem Team was created to disabuse basketballs notions of American exceptionalism, and so Weinbachs documentary sidesteps the question of who deserves to win (and the top dog/underdog dynamic that goes with it) in favor of focusing on the personal commitments required for these players to win together.

It helps that the 2008 team was a ridiculously charismatic group, and that most of them seem eager to share candid memories of their time together. James and Wade are naturally front and center the latters need to keep proving himself despite a hall of fame career makes for a poignant wrinkle after he sustains a season-ending injury just a few months before the trip to Beijing but its supporting players like Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Carlos Boozer (who appears to have been interviewed in a zillion-dollar suit on a yacht dock somewhere) who really bring the movie to life. Their memories of the practices and games are sharper than their insights regarding how they felt about each other off the court (it might have been nice to see more of the players interviewed together), but its fascinating to see how legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski motivated them to be all that they could be.

The tenor of the documentary shifts rather dramatically, however, when Bryant is drafted onto the team at a precarious moment in his professional career. Notorious for bouncing Shaq out of LA and causing all sorts of related chaos for the Lakers, Bryant swoops into the picture at a moment when his veteran experience seemed at odds with his juvenile self-interest. He was the volatile X factor of an Olympic team that needed something to galvanize them together, and his arrival on the scene has a similar effect on Weinbachs film about them.

For reasons that are obvious but never stated aloud, the surviving members of the Redeem Team speak about Bryant with far more candor and personal detail than they do when talking about each other. They talk about the baggage he brought to the table, the wall that he put up around people, and the work he put into getting over himself; one story, about how a night out in Vegas ended with the rest of the players coming home from the club at the same time as Bryant was hitting the gym, is positioned as one of the most crucial moments on the teams path to the podium.

By the time we see Bryant plow through NBA teammate Pau Gasol on the first play of the gold medal game James, Boozer, and everyone else reflecting on that sequence with ear-to-ear smiles its clear that he found a way to let the rest of the Redeem Team share in his single-minded determination. That Gasol agreed to be interviewed for this movie, wearing a t-shirt honoring Bryants memory no less, is a powerful testament to how these players made the game bigger than themselves. And if that message is merely in service to a glorified commercial for the NBA, well, their product has seldom done a better job of selling itself than it does here.

The Redeem Team will be available to stream on Netflix starting Friday, October 7.

Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.

View original post here:

The Redeem Team Review: A Fully Authorized (but Still Absorbing) Look at 2008 Olympics Champs - IndieWire

Leading up to the 2022 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame ceremony on Dec. 13 at the New York Hilton, SVG is profiling the nine inductees in this years class. For more information, CLICK HERE.

There is no sports production on the planet larger than an Olympic Games, and no broadcaster does as much as NBC Olympics in terms of content creation and innovation. Since the 2000 Sydney Summer Games, Terry Adams, retired VP, IBC engineering, NBC Olympics, was at the center of the effort, overseeing the technological infrastructure of NBCs footprint at the International Broadcast Center. It was a run that saw multiple changes in technology and workflows and a massive expansion of programming.

According to David Mazza, SVP/CTO, NBC Sports and NBC Olympics, in more than 25 years as engineer-in-charge (EIC) in mobile units, Adams worked on some of the biggest sports and entertainment shows and had a knack for executing big shows flawlessly.

He also had a great eye for both picture and sound quality and never compromised either, Mazza adds. He could get along with almost any client and remained calm no matter how big the show or how big the challenge.

From the very beginning of his time at NBC Olympics, Adams was involved with driving innovation. The 2000 Sydney Olympics featured a technological advance that transformed the Olympics technical setup: the Rack in a Box, or RIBS, which then-director, technology, Matthew Adams (no relation) conceived after communicating with some Department of Defense logistics folks.

The whole issue with the Olympics is scale, says Terry Adams. When you deal with manufacturers, they can have a product working on the bench with, say, 20 nodes on it. Then you tell them you need 250 nodes, and the whole thing collapses. The demands of an Olympics are just massive scale.

The purpose of RIBS is to have racks of equipment pre-assembled, connected, and tested prior to leaving the U.S. When the equipment arrived at the IBC, it would be easily up and running.

Prior to the first Games in Sydney, we did all the pre-configuration at Sonys facility in San Jose, CA, says Adams. We had to leave with it all done because, while we had time to hook it all up again, we didnt have time to build or invent it all again. Its basically 20 racks of stuff that is all wired, so you plug the power in, get interconnection, and youre done.

Growing up in Cleveland Heights, Adams fit the classic young-engineer profile: he enjoyed taking things apart to see how they work. And the AV club in junior high and high school sparked his interest in TV. But it wasnt until he got to Ohio University and began working at WOUB Athens, the PBS station affiliated with Ohio University, that he had a sense of a career path.

When I first went to school, I wanted to be an architect and then a structural engineer, but then I got bit by the TV bug working at WOUB, a real PBS affiliate with real cameras and 2-in. tape machines, he recalls. It was a group of die-hards, who kept the station operating over the summer; with fewer people around, we did everything.

Doing everything led to a skill set that allowed him to interview for a full-time position at Television Production Center (TPC) in Pittsburgh.

People talk about karma and planets aligning, Adams says. At that point, the whole remote business was just in its infancy, and TPC had an amazing roster of talent like Ron Sutzman, John Luff, Bill Lorenz, Terry Kulchar. It was trial by fire, but the industry was in its infancy, so everybody made up the techniques as we went.

TPCs acquisition by Unitel gave Adams a chance to take the next step in development. The shows were bigger, including high-end entertainment shows like the Grammys, Live From the Met, Live From Lincoln Center, and Inaugural Galas.

In 1996, Adams got his first taste of Olympic operations, working on the host-broadcast production of the Atlanta Games, for which Unitel provided facilities.

I was still at Unitel, he says, and we had one truck doing the host feed and another truck in the same compound doing the NBC show.

In 1998, Adams joined the NBC Sports family and settled into a role with NBC Olympics ahead of the 2000 Sydney Games.

Mike Sheehan, coordinating director, NBC Olympics, says he had the pleasure of working with Terry as a truck EIC prior to their working together at NBC Olympics.

He was magical, says Sheehan. What every remote-production person looks for is a smart, engaged truck technical leader who can see what the production people are trying to accomplish and help the team do what is best for the show. Terry was a great truck EIC in his early years, and he was a great partner at NBC.

Moving to NBC allowed Adams to experience having the momentum of a huge broadcaster behind him when working on arguably the biggest sports event in the world. It was especially helpful when it came to discussions with manufacturers, who saw the opportunities and challenges of meeting a literal Olympic-size challenge. And being at NBC placed him at the center of major transitions in broadcast engineering and technology.

In 2005, Adams led the transition to HD, which was made in two steps during the 2006 Torino Games and the 2008 Beijing Games. With 2016 Rio and 2018 PyeongChang, NBC started experimenting with 4K HDR, and he oversaw the conversion to enable the NBC IBC to simultaneously handle 4K HDR, 1080p HDR, and 1080i SDR, in both 50 Hz and 60 Hz. At the same time, the IBC was converted to an IP infrastructure, a monumental task in itself and both these transitions were made in the middle of the pandemic.

The biggest challenge of his career, Adams says, was the move to HD. All the bandwidth went up, and the picture shape changed, which had such an impact on the production folks. Everything was new, and we werent even sure all the gear was going to work together.

The move to IP was his next major challenge, and it involved a lot of backup plans and incorporating the IT pros with the broadcast veterans. Lots of learning going on.

Mazza says that most of our job is to manage risk because, frankly, nothing is allowed to fail, Adams says. When we went to the IP router the first time, we had a whole backup coax router that could get the show to New York. Now IP provides a built-in backup if youre doing two networks, but it took a lot of convincing to get us all on board.

Working on an Olympics broadcast has historically been one of the best ways to see the world in a meaningful way. The stress is high, but a months-long effort offers a unique opportunity to see how the rest of the world works and lives.

The nice thing about this job, at least my part of it, Adams says, is that, when you went to the host city, you went to live there for four or five months. Its not like a tourist coming to Beijing and saying, Okay, lets go to the Forbidden City. Instead, you find a grocery store or a place to get your clothes washed, and you become a local. That was the fascinating part to me, and I still have really deep friends in all those countries.

As for the evolution of technology, Adams considers the solid-state camera, with CCD-based imagers instead of tubes, was the leap that made the biggest difference.

Before that, he explains, we would spend a lot of time aligning the tubes and testing the camera. And, if you dropped it on the ground, you had to start all over again.

His favorite Olympics? I keep coming back to Sydney. Not just because of the Games but because it was our first time out with the RIBS system. We were in a bit of the we so got this coupled with the stunning people and beautiful attitude, and its on the water. We all bonded with Down Under quickly. I would live in Sydney if I could.

Adamss influence extends beyond sports. He was instrumental in getting the low-light-level Live From Lincoln Center and Live From the Met series on the air, with some of the most magnificent images on TV at that time. He also designed and supervised construction of mobile units and oversaw the transitions from tube-based to solid-state cameras and from analog composite NTSC tape recordings to digital component HDTV files.

Ive been extraordinarily lucky with things lining up, he says. From TPC to Unitel to NBC it all just kind of lined up. Im obviously proud of the work, and I think we did really great work.

Im also proud, he continues, of work weve done with a forward-looking high school teacher in Pennsylvania who was putting together a TV studio for morning announcements and whatever. We had a bunch of donated professional-level equipment, and coming out of that have been two or three kids that are stars. Theyre going to be the next generation of the business, and they will do things totally differently, but Im really proud of being a mentor to them.

Mazza says a calm, pragmatic way of solving problems allowed Adams to have such a long and successful career with the Olympics unit.

In such a highly charged environment, Mazza says, with all the pressure that builds up on the two-year planning cycle, it can be overwhelming. But TA always handled it with ease and gave those around him a great sense of confidence.

Go here to see the original:

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame 2022: Terry Adams, the Calm at the Center of Olympics Tech - Sports Video Group

Vern Taylorarrived at the Riverside Skating Club in Windsor, Ontario, on Sept. 15 to do what he has done at that rink for the last three decades: coach figure skaters. But this day was different.

Taylor, who in 1978 became the first man to land a ratified triple Axel in competition, was told that 17-year-old American Ilia Malinin performed the first quadruple Axel the previous night.

When we heard that he landed it, I said, Oh my goodness, thats terrific,' Taylor said by phone.

He was then shown video of Malinins feat.

Anythings possible, Taylor said. 43 years [later], thats something. Its knowing that you can perform the jump that makes it challenging.

Malinin, the world junior champion, landed the most difficult jump in skating and checked off the only remaining quad yet to be performed.

At the 1978 World Championships in Ottawa, a 20-year-old Taylor broke through a similar barrier in hitting the last remaining unchecked triple jump. But while Malinins senior career seems to be just getting started, and many medals appear in his future, Taylor is largely a forgotten man outside of ardent figure skating followers.

He finished 12th at those 1978 World Championships. Taylors 1980 Olympic prospects were dimmed by the fact that Canada had just one mens singles spot, and he had taken runner-up at nationals in 1978 and 1979 to Brian Pockar, who also outscored Taylor at those years world championships. So Taylor stopped competing a year before the Lake Placid Games.

I didnt have a reason, he said. I just decided to take a break.

Taylor will always have that day at the world championships in Ottawa. He can still remember the nervousness, knowing that two other skaters also planned to attempt a triple Axel. They were unsuccessful, though Taylor didnt know it.

I didnt see their jumps, he said. I didnt want to know what was ahead of me.

AmericanDavid Jenkinslanded a triple Axel in Movietone newsreel footage reported to be from 1957, but that was not in competition.

Taylor, skating to music from Rocky, put the triple Axel as the third jump of his program, according to reports at the time. The one YouTube video of it, published two years ago, has 32,000 views. It shows Taylor landing the three-and-a-half revolution jump on one foot and spinning out of it while managing to stay on that single skate blade amid a crowd roar.

During that program, it was like a rock concert, Taylor said. I got the energy from the audience.

TheMontreal Gazettereported at the time that the jump was ratified three hours later. Italian Sonia Bianchetti, the mens referee at the 1978 Worlds, said she met with the assistant referee, the ISU president and a technical delegate.

During this short meeting it was recognized that Vern had completed the first triple Axel Paulsen jump [Norwegian Axel Paulsen was the skater who landed the first Axel jump in 1882, getting it named after him] in an officially recognized figure skating competition, she wrote in an email last month. The triple Axel was fully rotated and landed on one foot.

One of the people inside the Ottawa Civic Centre that day was 16-year-old Canadian Brian Orser. Orser, inspired by Taylor, later became synonymous with the jump labeled Mr. Triple Axel and landing it en route to silver medals at the Olympics in 1984 and 1988 and the 1987 World title.

Orser remembered Taylor visiting his skating club for an exhibition. Orser saw Taylor doing an Axel takeoff exercise off the ice, incorporated it into his own routine and began teaching it to his skaters after becoming a coach.

Yet another Canadian,Kurt Browning, was the first man to land a ratified quadruple jump of any kind in competition a toe loop at the 1988 World Championships.

For me, personally, it was huge, he said, because I was promised a car if I could land it.

Through an agreement with an Edmonton car dealership, Browning was handed the keys to a Quattro quad/Quattro after hitting the toe loop. The skater was unaware that the dealer was merely leasing it to him. About six months later, Browning received a call asking to bring the car back.

Browning was inspired by American Brian Boitano, whom he previously saw land a quad outside of competition. Taylor motivated him, too.

[Taylor] gave me permission, even at a young age, to start thinking bigger, he said.

Browning also pointed to Jozef Sabovk, a 1980s skater for then-Czechoslovakia who many believe was the first man to land a quad in competition, Browning included. Sabovk was initially given credit for a quad toe loop at the 1986 European Championships, but weeks later it was invalidated because he touched down with his free foot, according to reports.

I never want to come off as arrogant, but despite what ISU [International Skating Union] decided in the end, I do know that I landed the jump on that day, Sabovk, who said he performed a quad jump on his birthdays through age 44, wrote in an email. The fact that most of the people in the skating world believe the same thing, it means everything to me that Kurt is one of them. It would have been nice to have my name in the Guinness Book of Records, but I am also not trying to change history.

Sabovk, now 58 and coaching in Salt Lake City, attended Marchs world championships in Montpellier, France, where Malinin finished ninth. There, he spoke with Malinins parents, Russian-born Uzbek Olympic skaters Tatyana Malinina and Roman Skornyakov, whom he calls friends.

They told me that he was already doing a quad Axel on a fishing pole harness [in practice], and that it was coming, Sabovk said.

Less than two months after that talk, the first video surfaced of Malinin landing a clean quad Axel at a U.S. Figure Skating jump camp.

I did not think [a quad Axel] was possible, Sabovk said. It really has to be an athlete that can combine the technical ability with jumping ability with the speed of rotation. When Kurt and I jumped, we had a relatively speaking slow rotation, but we jumped really big compared to these kids. But Ilia, he has the vertical lift, but he [also] has an unbelievably fast rotation.

The recent proliferation of quads in mens and womens skating can be attributed to several factors, including better boots, better ice conditions and improvements in technology that can aid coaching. Still, there are concerns about if and how the pounding of training quads can wear down a skater physically.

Its a lot of pain you dont feel at first, but you know it comes later, said Frenchwoman Surya Bonaly, who started training a quad in 1989 and attempting it through the mid-1990s. Bonaly had two hip surgeries after her competitive career.

Even Taylor faced those questions.

People said, Arent you worried about injuring yourself?' he said. I would say, No, I want you to know it can be done.'

Sabovk never tried a quad Axel in his skating days, but Browning did for less than a week in the early 1990s after winning four consecutive world titles.

Just playing with it, said Browning, who never tried it in competition. Ilia has that special ability to not only get up in the air, but then he has that beautiful rotation that doesnt look hurried. Its fast, its quick as lightning, but it doesnt look hurried. Its so easy. Like a good golfer swings easy, and the ball goes 400 yards.

Browning recalled a conversation he had with two-time Olympic championYuzuru Hanyu, who in recent years made the quad Axel his quest. Hanyu attempted it in competition last season but did not land it cleanly before retiring in July. He said upon retirement that he still hoped to master the jump for his non-competitive show career.

I asked Yuzu one day, When you do quad Axel, does it just feel like youre up there forever?' Browning said. And he kind of looked at me funny, and he goes, Yeah, like it never ends.'

The skating world awaits the reserved Hanyus thoughts on Malinins quad.

Knowing Yuzu, I would think hed be very supportive, said Orser, who coached Hanyu for nearly a decade. He appreciates that kind of athleticism.

Orser also noted what comes with being the first and so far only skater to land a rarefied jump. Malinin, who headlines Skate America in two weeks, will be asked about the quad Axel in just about every interview for the foreseeable future. For some skaters, they may feel a responsibility to land it all the time.

But I dont think [Malinin] thinks too much about it, Orser said. His technique is perfect, so hell be fine.

The inevitable topic after that is the next progression in skating: the first quintuple jump. Orser said that Hanyu did five-rotation Salchows in practice with the aid of a harness.

Its just a little bit more rotation than the quadruple Axel, so its not that far off, said Sabovk, whose unratified quad toe loop came eight years after Taylors triple Axel. Now that Ive seen the quad Axel, I dont think its impossible.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Read more from the original source:

Ilia Malinins quadruple Axel sheds light on first figure skater to land triple Axel - Home of the Olympic Channel