Category Archives: Olympics

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

This is an opinion column.

For about as long as I can remember, I have loved watching the Olympic Games. I have dreamed of competing in them, but to my knowledge, shooting marbles was never one of the events. I was never good enough to compete in any of the other events. I probably wasnt good enough to compete in marbles either, but since that isnt an event, we may never know.

My family and I did have the pleasure of attending the Mens Gymnastics events at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, back in 1996. I have never done gymnastics a day in my life. In elementary school, the swings were about as daring as I got. I could barely climb the monkey bars on the playground without falling off! Our daughter did gymnastics for several years as a child, so we knew she would enjoy going.

I never imagined that one day I would finally get the opportunity to compete in the Olympics. I certainly didnt think I would be this old when my chance would finally come. If you had told me that my team partner and I would win silver medals, I might have asked, Have you been drinking? I have not been drinking, but for about a year now, I have been dinking. A dink is a pickleball shot that barely clears the net and lands just on the other side. Pickleball has become the fastest growing sport in America. No, it is not played with a pickle. It has now become an Olympic event, and the Olympic Games have come to Opelika.

Okay, I do need to tell you the whole truth. You probably didnt see any of these matches on television, unless a friend of family member of yours videoed them for you. Thats because this was not the regular Olympics, but the Alabama Senior Olympics. The regular Olympic games are mostly for young people. Once an athlete reaches their 30s, many of them may be too old to compete. In the Senior Olympics, those athletes are too young to compete. The Senior Olympics are for those 50-years-old and older. Now, if you are a young whipper snapper, first of all, thank you for reading the newspaper. Secondly, I do realize that younguns are probably wondering what a bunch of 50-plussers can compete in. Well, todays senior adults are not our grandparents senior adults. We do far more than rock in rocking chairs on the front porch, sipping iced tea, and playing checkers. We sit in the swing on the back porch and play Wordle! No, really, we play golf, racquetball, walk, run, swim, and other things, now including pickleball.

The Sportsplex, in Opelika, hosted this years Alabama Senior Olympics Pickleball Tournament. In October, they will also host the racquetball tournament and cornhole tournament. The Sportsplex is the home courts of the Opelika Pickleball Club. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I play there with a group called The Dinkers. We dont always dink, but we try. Of the 211 players who competed in the tournament, 27 of them were Dinkers. Im not sure how many total medals The Opelika Pickleball Club won, but those 27 Dinkers won a total of 35. The youngest player was 50, 11 were over 75, and 3 were over 80. I dont mean to brag, but for a bunch of Been around the blockers, we are not over the hill yet.

Just because you are old enough to receive free coffee at certain restaurants, that doesnt mean you should stay home and sit down. Keep moving, keep doing, keep going, keep praying, and keep playing!

Bill King is an author, musician and native of Rainsville. Visit brobillybob.com for more.

More:

Bill King: When the Olympics Games finally came to Alabama - Sand Mountain Reporter

COVID-19 and small business: A message of hope during a pandemic

This hair salon owner takes each day, one day at a time after surviving cancer and pandemic, all while supporting her Black community.

Andrea Kramar, Kenneth Eng and Andri Tambunan, USA TODAY

A swimming cap designed for Black swimmershair has been approved for competitive races after it was banned from the Tokyo Olympics last year.

The International Swimming Federation, orFINA, on Friday said the Soul Cap is on its list of approved equipment.

Promoting diversity and inclusivity is at the heart of FINAs work, executive director Brent Nowicki said in a statement, and it is very important that all aquatic athletes have access to the appropriate swimwear.

British brand Soul Cap, which sellsthe swimming cap that can"fit people with braids, locs or afro hair," according to its website, applauded the decision, calling it a success that affects the entire swimming community.

We want to thank all of you in the swim community for coming together to share your voices and raise awareness about accessibility and inclusion in the sport, the company said in a statement.

Soul Cap explained that it submitted the swimming cap for approval ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, but its application was rejected.

For a long time, conventional swim caps have been an obstacle for swimmers with thick, curly, or volume-blessed hair. They cant always find a cap that fits their hair type, and that often means that swimmers from some backgrounds end up avoiding competitions, or giving up the sport entirely, the company said.

'Banking while Black': Woman wins casino jackpot, but Michigan bank won't cash check

AP: Paris Olympics cut costs with fewer cars, more subway rides

Alice Dearing, the first Black female swimmer to represent Britain at the Olympics was refused permission to wear a Soul Cap for the 10-kilometer marathon swim at the Tokyo Olympics.

She said in an opinion piece in the Guardian last week that she is relieved and excited to hear that Fina has now overturned its original decision.

Having the option to wear a swim cap that properly fits gives people the chance to feel confident when going swimming, and reduces the potential for stressful moments in the changing rooms or poolside, she wrote.

Crucially, the caps embrace all hairstyles, from afros, locs, braids and curls to wavy and straight hair as being appropriate hairstyles to swim in, and by implication, they challenge a narrow view of what a swimmer of any standard should look like, she added.

Contributing: Associated Press

Continue reading here:

Soul Cap, a swimming cap designed for Black hair, approved after ban from the Olympics - USA TODAY

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Shavez Hart, a Bahamian sprinter who represented the country in the 2016 Olympics, was shot and killed trying to break up a fight outside a Bahamas nightclub. He was 29.

The deadly incident occurred in Mount Hope on Saturday at around 2 a.m. local time when a group of men got into an argument and one of them went to his car, grabbed a gun and fired, striking Hart in the chest, TMZ Sports reported, citing a Royal Bahamas Police report.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Shavez Hart of the Bahamas (C) reacts after a false start in the Men's 100-meter heat on Day Four of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games at Carrara Stadium on April 8, 2018, on the Gold Coast, Australia. (Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

He was transported to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

"The Olympic family is saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Shavez Hart, a proud native of Abaco," the Bahamas Olympic Committee said in a statement. "He was always very humble, yet proud and determined to offer the very best of himself for the sake of country."

For the Bahamas, Hart won a gold medal in the 4x100 relay at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in 2013. He also picked up a silver in the 4x400 relay in the 2016 World Indoor Championships.

Shavez Hart, of the Bahamas, and Ameer Webb, of the U.S., compete. (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)

OLYMPIC RUNNER DINA ASHER-SMITH WANTS MORE FUNDING TO STUDY HOW PERIODS AFFECT ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE

Hart was also a sprinter star for Texas A&M University. He was a 10-time All-American and won a gold medal as a member of the Aggies 4x400 relay team at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships.

"This is so tragic. Shavez Hart was of course one of our finest athletes ever, but he was one of the kindest people I have met, and such a soft-spoken man," Texas A&M coach Pat Henry said in a news release. "Words can't describe the loss that the Aggie track & field family is feeling. My thoughts and prayers are with his family."

Antoine Adams, of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Shavez Hart, of the Bahamas, and Akani Simbine, of South Africa, compete in the Men's 100-meter heats during Day One of the 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships Moscow 2013 at Luzhniki Stadium on August 10, 2013, in Moscow. (Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

According to TMZ, police arrested a suspect in the shooting and an investigation was still ongoing.

Ryan Gaydos is the sports editor for Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to Ryan.Gaydos@fox.com.

The rest is here:

Olympic track star Shavez Hart, 29, shot and killed in the Bahamas - Fox News

Fifty years ago this week, two African American athletes, Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett, won gold and silver respectively in the 400m at the Munich Olympics. At the medal ceremony they threw themselves into the maw of history.

During the US national anthem, the athletes shared the top tier of the podium which would usually have been reserved for Matthews alone as the winner an act of unity that broke Olympic protocol. They angled their backs away from the American flag and chatted casually, looking uninterested. Matthews rubbed his chin pensively before folding his arms. Collett stood barefoot, jacket open with hands on hips. As they departed, Matthews twirled his medal on his finger while Collett thrust a clenched fist into the air.

The International Olympic Committees response dripped with venom. In a letter to the US Olympic Committee, IOC president Avery Brundage excoriated the athletes disgusting display before handing down a lifetime ban from the Olympics. The IOC allowed Matthews and Collett to keep their medals, but Brundage warned that: If such a performance should happen in the future the medals will be withheld from the athletes in question.

It is past time that the IOC rights its historical wrong and apologizes to Matthews, Collett, and their families for the draconian punishment that Olympic powerbrokers meted out at the time.

Harry Edwards, the civil-rights stalwart and sport sociologist at San Jose State University, told me, Its never too late to apologize and to honor people who not only tried to reflect the Olympic ideals but to live by them, to be willing to sacrifice, to project and make real the ideals of the Olympic movement.

Brian Lewis, the president of the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees, went further. He told me that the athletes should be given the Olympic Order, the IOCs highest honor bestowed upon people who have enlivened the Olympic spirit. Lewis called the IOCs treatment of Matthews and Collett a travesty and an injustice, adding that the ban should be rescinded.

The lifetime expulsion from the Olympics was extreme. But what in 1972 was a drastic penalty looks more like a blatantly racist double standard today. After all, only a few days before Matthews and Collett took action, middle-distance runner Dave Wottle inadvertently wore his hat on the medal stand after winning the 800m race. Wottle, who is white, was not rebuked by the IOC. Matthews was 24 at the time and Collett just 21, they had the potential to win more medals if not for the ban.

When I asked Edwards why he thought the IOC issued such a stiff penalty, he said, The whole history of the Olympic movement is rife with antisemitism and racism. The IOC has always fought any kind of protest or demonstration that would tend to highlight and challenge racist activities or actions.

In the 1960s, Brundage was dubbed Slavery Avery for his anti-Black racism. When Edwards teamed up with top-flight athletes to create the Olympic Project for Human Rights in 1967, their demands included the removal of the antisemitic and anti-Black personality Avery Brundage from his post as chairman of the International Olympic Committee and the curtailment of participation of all-white teams and individuals from the Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia in all United States Olympic Athletic events.

To be sure, the IOCs decision to issue a lifetime ban for Matthews and Collett occurred in the eye of a political hurricane. The Munich Olympics were meant to erase the painful memories of the 1936 Berlin Games, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis used the event to spread white-supremacist propaganda. But Munichs Olympic Park was constructed mere miles from the site of the Dachau concentration camp and then, brutally, Jewish blood was once again spilled on German soil when Black September, a Palestinian terror group, took hostage numerous members of the Israeli Olympic delegation. In the end, 11 Israeli coaches and athletes were killed, as were five Palestinian militants, and a German police officer.

Avery Brundage insisted that the Games must go on. And after a 24-hour and nine minute pause, they did. In Brundages official statement, he conflated the horrific attack with a successful campaign to keep the Rhodesian Olympic squad from participating in the Berlin Games because of the countrys racist policies. Under pressure from numerous African nations, Black athletes and their allies, the IOC withdrew its invitation to Rhodesia on the eve of the Games. The Games of the XX Olympiad have been subjected to two savage attacks, Brundage stated. We lost the Rhodesian battle against naked political blackmail.

Two days after the Munich massacre, amid this pianowire-tense, politicized context, Matthews and Collett won their medals and climbed the podium.

In his memoir, Matthews wrote, For me, not standing at attention meant that I wasnt going along with a program dictated by Number One: those John Wayne types my Country right or wrong. Although the athletes suggested they were not carrying out a protest just like Wottle when he accidentally wore his cap on the medal stand both expressed dissatisfaction with the way Black people were treated in the US. Collett said of the national anthem, I couldnt stand there and sing the words because I dont believe theyre true. I wish they were. I think we have the potential to have a beautiful country, but I dont think we do.

Matthews and Collett have slid silently into the folds of history. This contrasts sharply with the unforgettable protest at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics when John Carlos and Tommie Smith stood atop the medal stand and stabbed their black-gloved fists skyward to protest injustice. Although both athletes experienced significant struggles in the wake of their action, they are widely celebrated today. Barack Obama honored them at the White House. In 2019, they were inducted into the US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame. Even the official Olympic Channel praised Carlos and Smith as legends, calling their act of dissent one of the most iconic moments in the history of modern Olympic Games.

When it comes to Matthews and Colletts action, Edwards emphasized that protest timing can be more important than messaging. He noted that because social movements were on the decline in 1972 and a racial backlash was in full force, There was no broader context for protest that they could use to frame up what they were doing, making their act of dissent largely illegible to journalists of the time, especially because so few of them were African American.

Although Collett died in 2010 and Matthews is famous for avoiding the press and not looking backwards, the 50-year anniversary of their medal-stand action is the perfect time for the IOC to express regret and to make amends.

The rest is here:

Fifty years on, Matthews and Collett are owed an apology for their Olympic expulsion - The Guardian

Suni Lee became a household name after the Tokyo Olympics. Sunisa Lee popularly known as Suni Lee stunned the world by winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. She was just 18 back then. Her successful campaign at the Olympic games ended with two medals, a gold, and a silver. However, due to her medal-winning performance, her popularity skyrocketed overnight.

The youngster started training at the Midwest Gymnastics Center in Minnesota at the age of six. After gaining a considerable amount of experience over four years, she qualified for the elite at eleven. Sunis gold medal-winning performance in the finals while competing against Simone Biles was astonishing.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

The Champion gymnast,Suni Leerose to worldwide fame after winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the womens all-around. At the beginning of the event, Simone Biles was expected to win the gold medal. However, she dropped out of the Tokyo Olympics sighting mental health concerns.

Sunis life turnedcompletelywhen she returned from the Olympics. A student at Auburn University in Alabama, Suni Lee prefers to keep a low profile in contrast to the popularity that she got.

Speaking on that she said, If you know me, you know Im a pretty shy person. I dont love the spotlight, so its been a balance between pushing myself out of my comfort zone to take advantage of the opportunities I have been afforded since the Olympics and wanting to be the homebody I am.

DIVE DEEPER

WATCH: Suni Lee Saves Herself From a Major Fall in an Incredible Display ofComeback

5 months ago

The Olympic gold medalist admitted that she would disguise herself to avoid getting recognized. Opening up on issues with the spotlight in her college life after the Olympics victory she said, I like to dress in a disguise at Auburn!

Suni embarked on a remarkable victory at the Olympics at such a young age. However, her journey is what shaped her into the champion gymnast that she is today. Notably, she is the first Hmong Olympian. During her initial training day, her coach sensed great potential in her. She was selected for the US gymnastics team at the age of 14. Since then, she never looked back.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Tokyo 2020 Olympics Gymnastics Artistic Womens Individual All-Around Medal Ceremony Ariake Gymnastics Centre, Tokyo, Japan July 29, 2021. Gold medallist Sunisa Lee of the United States kisses her medal in front of the Olympic rings REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Suni won the gold medal at the National Championships in 2018 and missed beating Simone Biles at the world championship trials by four-tenths of a point.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

WATCH THIS STORY:Suni Lee Pulls Another Perfect 10 to Advance Auburn to First NCAA Championship Since 2016

There were many mishappening in her family as well in the last few years. Just two days before the national championships in 2019, her father fell from a ladder which caused him to be paralysed. Despite that, she performed remarkably.

Read more:

I Like to Dress in a Disguise: Suni Lee Opened Up on Issues With Spotlight in Her College Life After Olympics Victory - EssentiallySports

Former Oregon basketball star Sabrina Ionescu had success in her third season in the WNBA, taking the New York Liberty to the first round of the playoffs. There is no offseason for Ionescu, who starts practice this week with Team USA.

Ionescu is no stranger to working and playing with Team USA. She did it when she was at the University of Oregon. This time, it is for an opportunity to compete in the 2024 Olympics in France,

In her third season with the New York Liberty, the former number one overall pick played lights out. Most nights she was unstoppable hitting double digits in scoring. She had more than a handful of triple-doubles throughout the season and hit some key benchmarks in just her third year as a pro.

She averaged 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per game pushing her way to her first All-Star game and scratching and clawing her team into the WNBA playoffs.

The Team USA list was released on Monday and included several other key players on their respective teams including Ariel Atkins, NaLyssa Smith, and Diamond Deshields. As the WNBA Playoffs wind down, the list will continue to fill out with some who are currently helping their team push toward a WNBA Championship.

It is a positive to have Sabrina Ionescus name on the list this early along with her past experience with Team USA. Her experience in the league and her accolades from both the college and professional level shows that she clearly belongs among the elite after playing just three seasons. More importantly, it shows her potential.

As Team USA looks for someone to showcase on their 2024 Olympic team, Ionescu now has the chance to continue this season and push toward representing her country in France in 2024.

The WNBA is currently playing the semi-final rounds as they make their way to crowning the 2022 WNBA Champion. The best of five game WNBA Finals begin on Sunday, September 11th.

Visit link:

Sabrina Ionescu shifts gears from WNBA to Team USA, eyes 2024 Olympics - Autzen Zoo

BEIJING, Sept. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --As an important part of the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services, Olympic Cities Development Forum 2022 is hosted by the Beijing Olympic City Development Association and organized by the Beijing Olympic City Development Center and ADG Expo Group Co., Ltd., which was officially held in Beijing Shougang Park in the afternoon of September 1st. Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, Vice President of International Olympic Committee delivered a keynote speech. Liu Jingmin, Executive Vice President of Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Association delivered an address. Fu Xiaohui, Secretary General of Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Association delivered a keynote speech. Marie Sallois, Head of Corporate and Sustainable Development of the International Olympic Committee; Gnther Platter, Governor of Tyrol, Austria; Gianluca Lorenzi, Major of Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy; Ingunn TROSHOLMEN, Mayor of Lillehammer, Norway; Liu Haifeng, Vice Mayor of Zhangjiakou Municipal People's Government; Zhu Yuetao, Deputy Secretary of Qingdao Olympic Sailing City Development Association; Zhang Xiaoqi, Chairman of Nanjing Sports Industry Group delivered keynote speeches. Zhang Li, Executive Vice President of Asia Digital Group; Li Guohong, Director of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Chaoyang District Committee of Beijing Municipality;Ren Jianghao, Vice Governor of Yanqing District Government, Beijing; Wang Shihong, Vice Mayor of Jilin Municipal People's Government andWang Daming, Deputy General Manager of Beijing Shougang Construction Investment Co., Ltd held a roundtable dialogue.The moderator of the forum is Gao Yunchao, Deputy Secretary General of Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Association. Wang Kun, Deputy Bureau Chief of Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Center; Wang Shuxian, Director General of Beijing Olympic City Development Foundation, and Zhu Dongfang, CEO of Asia Digital Group attended the forum.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jrexpressed in his address that, as the world's first city to have held both Summer and Winter Olympics, Beijing has set an example for the world in the sustainable utilization of Olympic legacy. As an international platform for exchange and cooperation among Olympic cities, the Olympic Cities Development Forum has enhanced friendship and mutual trust among Olympic cities around the world, strengthened exchanges and cooperation in sports culture, pooled experience and creativity in the inheritance and utilization of the Olympic legacy, and promoted the development of the ice and snow industry and the popularization of ice and snow sports. He expects the Olympic Cities Development Forum to continue to be held as a legacy of the Winter Olympics, play an important role in promoting the integrated development of Olympic cities around the world, and develop into a branded world-class event for the exchange and mutual learning of Olympic legacy.

Liu Jingmin stated in his address that the successful conclusion of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics has presented to the world a streamlined, safe, splendid and unparalleled Winter Olympics and fulfilled its solemn commitment to the international community. The Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics is a vivid demonstration of the concept of hosting a green, sharing, open and corruption-free Olympic Games, and a success story of implementing new development concept, building new development pattern and promoting high-quality development. The rich legacy of Winter Olympics is a valuable asset for the Dual Olympic City. He also gave a profound summary of the legacy from Beijing holding two Olympic Games, which set the direction of sustainable, green and people-oriented city development for Beijing. He also said that as an organization carrying on the Dual Olympic legacy, Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Association will fully implement the deployment of the Beijing municipal Party committee and government, implement the people-centered development thinking, inherit and make good use of the Dual Olympic legacy, and allow the people to share the achievements of the Olympic Games.

Fu Xiaohui pointed out that innovation is the driving force of development in our time, and sustainability is the key to continuous development. Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Association was conceived and developed in the process of innovation, and has been committed to innovation since its establishment, constantly exploring ways to effectively carry on the Olympic legacy, and striving to realize the sustainable development of the Olympic legacy. Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Association will stay committed to "the main position of spreading Olympic spirit and inheriting Olympic legacy; serving as a unique window to help build Beijing into an international exchange center; a high-end think tank serving the organization of international large-scale sports events; an effective force promoting the building of Beijing-Zhangjaikou sports culture tourism belt". These four functions are reflected in efforts in four aspects, namely, inheritance and innovation, meaning effectively inheriting the "Dual Olympic legacy"; stay committed to our duties, meaning strengthen the publicity of the "Dual Olympic legacy"; extensive cooperation, meaning comprehensive sharing "Dual Olympic legacy"; serve the city, meaning make good use of the "Dual Olympic legacy". In the next step, Beijing Olympic City Development Promotion Association will work with all sectors in the society to deliver solid outcomes in the post-Olympic era, to do a good job in inheriting and utilizing the "Dual Olympic legacy", continue the glory of "Dual Olympic city", to await the successful opening of the 20th National Congress of the CPC with practical action.

In addition, representatives from Olympic cities at home and abroad delivered keynote speeches on the theme of "innovation" and "sustainability", shared valuable experience of Olympic cities leveraging Winter Olympics legacy to promote cities' sustainable development, winning rounds of applause from guests.

At the end of the forum, with Zhang Li as the moderator, representatives from Chaoyang District, Yanqing District in Beijing, Jilin City and Shougang Park had a roundtable dialogue on issues including the sustainable development of regions in the post-Olympic era.

Themed "Carry on Olympic Spirit, Build a Better City - Innovation and Sustainability", this forum combined offline forum and global livestreaming, pooling experts and scholars in the field of Olympic cities development from home and overseas, to discuss various topics such as Olympic opportunities and urban development, urban planning of host cities and venue utilization after sports events, international cooperation and exchange among host cities, and experience in the inheritance and utilization of Olympic legacy to offer suggestions for the future development of Olympic cities. It is worth mentioning that this forum also presented an Olympic-themed Picture Exhibition on-site to demonstrate the charm of Olympic cities with beautiful pictures, and open a visual window for the public to know more about Olympic cities.

Since the Olympic Cities Development Forum was first held in Beijing in 2009, it has invited the president of the World Union of Olympic Cities, mayors or city representatives of Helsinki and Lahti of Finland, Lillehammer of Norway, Sapporo and Nagano of Japan, Lausanne and St. Moritz of Switzerland, Pyeongchang of South Korea, Tyrol of Austria, and Cortina d'Ampezzo of Italy to attend and deliver keynote speeches, and has played an important role in promoting exchange in the experience of Olympic legacy inheritance, pooling great ideas for the sound development of the ice and snow industry, boosting the popularization and development of ice and snow sports, publicizing and demonstrating the concept of Beijing Winter Olympics.

dg.com

SOURCE Asia Digital Group

See the original post:

Innovation and Sustainability: Olympic Cities Development Forum 2022 Held in Shougang - PR Newswire