Category Archives: Olympics

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will feature a record number of publicly out LGBTQ athletes, and Outsports will be covering them all the way.

The Olympic Games will run Feb. 4 to Feb. 20, 2022.

In addition, issues of human rights and inclusion will also be front-and-center as part of the Olympic conversation. The host country of China has a record of human-rights abuses, and the country has no legal recognition for same-sex couples, and being transgender is considered a mental illness in the country.

China edged out Kazakhstan no better in regards to LGBTQ rights in the final vote to host these Games. There will be a record number of events 109 at these Winter Games.

The 2018 Winter Olympics featured 15 publicly out LGBTQ athletes, and there will be more than that in Beijing.

Incidentally, for those in the United States, it will be the first time the Winter Olympics overlapped with the Super Bowl.

Link:

LGBTQ athletes at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing - Outsports

In a little over two and a half years, the Summer Olympics will come to Paris. Organizers recently announced plans for what should be a visually stunning opening ceremony, and the blend of thrilling athletic competition with one of the worlds most iconic cities is decidedly appealing. Then theres the fact that if youre planning on attending the 2024 Olympics, you might be able to get around the city via flying taxi.A new article at Freethink notes that the city is planning to use electric flying taxis during the Olympics to more easily get competitors and attendees from one venue to another. Testing is set to begin within the coming months.

Groupe ADP (an abbreviation for Aroports de Paris) announced the plan last month, detailing two potential routes. The first would take passengers between the Issy-les-Moulineaux heliport and the Saint-Cyr airfield, while the second would run between Charles de Gaulle and Le Bourget airports.

According to Groupe ADPs release, 30 manufacturers are involved in the next stage of testing. Once thats complete, we should have a better idea of what to expect in terms of vehicles and capacity. This could be a bold shift in how some people get around cities; it might also be a temporary maneuver that doesnt scale outside of special events.

If this does come to fruition, however, well be one step closer to the reality depicted in SNLs Space Olympics. Heres hoping we can have electric flying taxis and space swords.

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We're Getting Electric Flying Taxis at the Paris Olympics - InsideHook

The Beijing Winter Olympics are fast approaching in February, and the buzz around who may or may not be selected for their countrys national team has already begun. Rudolfs Balcers is a lock for Latvia, and Timo Meier for Switzerland, but theres plenty of top-end talent to choose from when it comes to the North American national teams.

In my heart, Jonathan Dahlen and Erik Karlsson make Swedens roster (the Swedish scout has been in attendance for at least one San Jose Sharks game), but part of the fun of the Olympics is speculating who will be called up to represent their country.

With COVID cases rising, the ever-present risk of injury and the NHL already falling behind schedule with postponed games, its still possible that the league changes their mind and forbids players from participating in the Olympics.

In fact, the NHLs Board of Governors met on Dec. 9 and 10 to discuss NHL participation in the Olympics, among other docket items. For now, the league is still allowing players to report to their national teams, which means its the perfect time to flex my intuition and give my ideal rosters for the USA and Canada.

Forwards

Kyle Connor Auston Matthews* Blake WheelerBrady Tkachuk Patrick Kane* T.J. OshieJason Robertson Vincent Trochek Matthew TkachukAnders Lee Jack Eichel Joe Pavelski

Defenders

Seth Jones* Adam FoxJaccob Slavin Brett PesceCharlie McAvoy Alec Martinez

Goaltenders

Jack CampbellThatcher DemkoAlex Nedeljkovic

Forwards

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Connor McDavid* Mitch MarnerJonathan Huberdeau Sidney Crosby* Nate MackinnonBrad Marchand Patrice Bergeron Mark StoneZach Hyman Steven Stamkos Brendan Gallagher

Defenders

Cale Makar Alex Pietrangelo*Mackenzie Weegar Shea TheodoreMario Ferraro Dougie Hamilton

Goaltenders

James ReimerJordan BinningtonMackenzie Blackwood

*denotes confirmed players

Let us know in the comments what your Olympic roster projections are (and which Sharks players are on your teams).

No NHL games were scheduled for Dec. 13.

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San Jose Sharks News: Olympic mens hockey roster projections - Fear the Fin

Protesters hold placards and flags outside the Chinese embassy in London, on Dec. 9, 2021, after an independent, unofficial body, set up to assess evidence on Chinas alleged rights abuses against the Uyghur people, concluded that the Chinese government committed genocide and crimes against humanity. (Alberto Pezzali/AP)

Chinas treatment of its Uyghur minority could come before the courts in Argentina at about the same time that the Winter Olympics open on Feb. 4 in Beijing.

Michael Polak, a British lawyer representing the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghur Human Rights Project, is preparing a universal jurisdiction criminal complaint to submit to the criminal courts of Argentina in February.

We think what we are doing in Argentina is the natural next step for moving towards justice, Polak told the Associated Press in an interview.

Last week, an unofficial body set up in Britain to assess evidence on Chinas alleged rights abuses against the Uyghur people concluded that the Chinese government committed genocide and crimes against humanity.

Additionally, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to soon release a report on human rights in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China. In a statement, the U.N. said it had similarly identified patterns of arbitrary detention, coercive labor practices and an erosion of social and cultural rights. It also said it had been unable to gain unfettered access to the region.

Argentina agreed last month to hear a case against the Myanmar military involving the treatment of the minority Rohingya under the principle of universal jurisdiction. This principle holds that severe crimes can be tried in any jurisdiction.

There are universal jurisdiction provisions in different jurisdictions around the world, Polak said. But the Argentinian one is the most realistic because the courts are actually able to use it. And they are very keen on using it because of their own history. Realistically, the aim would be to bring these people before the Argentinian courts and for them to answer the allegations.

The internment of an estimated 1 million or more Uyghurs and other largely Muslim minorities in what China described as vocational training and education centers has also put the focus on Chinas treatment of Tibetans, the loss of civil liberties in Hong Kong, and restrictions on use of the Mongolian language in Chinas Inner Mongolia region.

The U.S. government and parliaments in Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada have declared that Beijings policies against the Uyghurs amount to genocide and crimes against humanity.

For the Uyghurs to swear their evidence in an Argentinian court is a huge moment, Polak said. We think it is realistic that arrest warrants can be issued and people can be arrested.

During the tribunal, about 30 witnesses and experts gave evidence at a series of public hearings in central London earlier this year, alleging torture, forced abortions, rape and beatings by authorities while in state detention centers. The hearings also reviewed numerous documents detailing other policies including the separation of young children from their families and widespread destruction of mosques.

The panel of lawyers, business people, and academics concluded that Chinas General Secretary Xi Jinping and other senior officials had primary responsibility for acts in Xinjiang.

The Chinese Embassy in London called the tribunal a political tool used by a few anti-China and separatist elements to deceive and mislead the public. The embassy said in a statement that the policies in Xinjiang were aimed at fighting terrorism and preventing radicalization.

A spokesperson for the Xinjiang region on Monday, anticipating the U.N. report, said we will absolutely not accept the so-called human rights investigation report.

We will not allow interference in Xinjiang affairs and Chinas internal affairs in the name of the so-called Xinjiang issues, spokesperson Xu Guixiang added.

Polak said he expects China to use political leverage and financial pressure in Argentina to stop the court case. The court has to first agree to hear the case. If it declines, there is an appeal process.

We think because of the strong evidence in our case, the Buenos Aires court should accept it and should investigate, Polak said.

Everywhere weve taken the Uyghur case around the world, China tries to step in and stop it from happening, Polak added. What weve seen of the Argentinian courts and their decisions, we think the courts are independent and will look at this and look at the evidence properly.

Polak said the Argentine government was sensitive to these cases, given what happened in Argentina during the 1976-83 military junta. Thousands were tortured, killed and forcibly disappeared in a government-sponsored crackdown on leftist dissidents during Argentinas so-called dirty war.

We hope that the politicians in Argentina and civil society will see the parallels and some of their struggles and support what we are doing, Polak said. Argentina has demonstrated this by prosecuting people within their own country.

Continued here:

As Beijing Olympics open, Uyghurs set to take rights case to court in Argentina - Stars and Stripes

Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Heavyweight wrestler Gable Steveson won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.

He attributes part of his success to the absence of any maxing out in his workout routine.

Maxing out is when a lifter will lift the highest possible weight they can for just one or two reps.

Heavyweight wrestler Gable Steveson credits his workout routine for his gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics, but he credits a workout he didn't do just as much.

The 21-year-old wrestler said he doesn't believe in maxing out in the weight room, which involves lifting the highest amount of weight possible for just one or two reps.

"There's really no point besides telling your friends that you lifted a certain amount," Stevenson told Insider, who was promoting his partnership with combat sports fitness brand Kill Cliff Fight Club. "Stuff like that is pointless and it could injure you."

Steveson, who wrestles as a student athlete at the University of Minnesota, said he used to max out, but quit the practice with his teammates two years ago.

The last time Steveson maxed out, he said he hit one rep of 375 pounds on the bench press. But he says maxing out with lower-body lifting is a much more dangerous practice.

"If your form is messed up then your back can get blown out," Steveson said. "We didn't want to risk, if I messed up my form or something, if I did mess up all the way, I could get a herniated disc. There's so much more that goes into it. We go heavy, but we try to stay away from excessive amounts of weight."

These days, Steveson said he and his teammates do their heavy weight lifting in sets of four reps, and not just two or three.

Celebrity sports trainer Mike Boyle agrees with this philosophy, and doesn't instruct any of his own clients to max out either.

"My philosophy is that as the number of reps goes down the injury risk goes up," Boyle told Insider. "We rarely do less than three reps and probably spend 80% of our time between 5 and 10 reps."

Story continues

Even former World's Strongest Man Hafthor Bjrnsson disagrees with a philosophy similar to maxing out.

Bjrnsson previously told Insider's Rachel Hosie that no on should train to failure when they workout, which is when you keep going until you physically cannot complete a rep.

"I never ever almost failed a lift in training sessions, you should always leave something in the tank in the gym," he said.

Read the original article on Insider

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A heavyweight wrestler who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics says he never maxes out in the weight room he can do everything he needs with lighter...

The opening ceremonies for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are less than two months away, and some potential guests have already said theyre not showing up. Were talking about US officials.

President Joe Bidens administration said this week that it would not send US government officials to the Beijing Games in protest of Chinas human rights violations, including its abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and anti-democratic crackdown in Hong Kong. The United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada also said this week that they will keep their delegations home.

This diplomatic boycott isnt a full-on protest of the games, and wont prevent athletes from participating in the 2022 Olympics. It wont affect the spectacle of the event all that much, although lots of skiers will probably be asked about it. And despite some pressure from activists and human rights advocates, corporate sponsors a.k.a. the money behind it all have been largely silent.

All of this makes the US diplomatic boycott more symbolic than substantial, Zhiqun Zhu, a professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University, wrote in an email.

That symbolism can still needle the Chinese government, especially now that countries beyond the US have joined, and even more so if others follow suit. The Olympics matter to Beijing maybe not as much as its coming-out party in the 2008 Summer Games, but President Xi Jinping still wants to signal international prestige to the world and to his domestic audience, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chinese government has pushed back pretty hard against the boycotts. Before they became real, China warned of resolute countermeasures, without specifying what those might be. Since the boycott announcements, Chinese officials basically said thats cool, but you actually werent even invited anyway.

Those politicians who clamor to boycott for political self-interest are showing off and hyping things up, no one cares whether they come or not, Chinas foreign ministry said in a statement following reports of Australias possible boycott. It has no influence on Beijings success in hosting the Olympics.

Yet its pretty heated rhetoric, and this diplomatic boycott could serve to deepen tensions between the United States and China, and for something that wont reverse Chinas abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet, or Hong Kong. It also might make it even harder to work together on things Beijing and Washington do need to cooperate on, whether its climate change or North Korea or the Iran nuclear deal.

This relatively minor diplomatic boycott could still have geopolitical consequences, even if the message it sends to China ultimately wont alter the governments policies, or really change the course of the Olympic Games at all. As Dan Chen, assistant professor of political science at the University of Richmond, pointed out: Once the competition starts, the peoples attention will probably be on how many gold medals and things like that.

Olympic boycotts are tricky things. The last time the US tried it in earnest with no diplomats, no athletes, no presence at all was during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, to protest the Soviet Unions Afghanistan invasion. Washington got some allies to go along, and Moscow registered Americas displeasure, but the effort did little to sway policy. It also kind of backfired: It very publicly denied some athletes their one shot at a medal, and it meant the Soviets absolutely cleaned up in the medal count, a nice propaganda win.

The things that motivate nation-states are far more significant than how many gold medals you win, Nicholas Sarantakes, an associate professor of strategy and policy at the US Naval War College and author of Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War, told me earlier this year. Its been tried several times. And it fails every time.

What the US is doing isnt a full-on boycott, of course; its basically just keeping a Cabinet secretary or two and some other officials stateside in February. This avoids the messiness of pressuring the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (which is an independent body) and its athletes, while at the same time taking a public stand against Chinas egregious human rights abuses. It doesnt go as far as some advocates wanted, which was a relocation or full boycott of what they call the genocide Olympics.

It also doesnt go as far as some lawmakers wanted. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton called the diplomatic boycott a half-measure, and wanted to pull athletes, too. His colleague Sen. Marco Rubio has called on sponsors to pull advertising and acknowledge the genocide in Xinjiang, and to pressure the International Olympic Committee to move the games out of Beijing, even if that means postponing them something that, if it hasnt happened already, is not going to happen now.

Experts said some of this domestic pressure at home may have forced Biden to act, and the administration has split the difference between full-on boycott and nothing at all. A diplomatic boycott is maybe politically necessary for the Biden administration, given the bad state of the relationship, and also the very anti-China atmosphere in Washington, said Mary Gallagher, a professor of political science and director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan.

Bidens move was also bolstered by US allies, like Australia and Canada (which have their own disputes with China), joining in. But France, for example, has said it will not do the diplomatic boycott. Still, the bigger the cohort protesting, the more China is to likely take notice and it will show, to some degree, that the US can still get allies and partners to come along with it.

China, again, is not going to change its policies in response to external pressure, especially not around the Olympics. And even though Beijing is brushing this off very publicly, the boycott could still disappoint them, experts said, and it will likely reinforce the notion that theres no room for real cooperation with the United States, especially since the announcement comes as the US is hosting its Summit for Democracy, which is really a counter-China conference.

At the same time, as experts told me, China is not blindsided by this reaction. In 2008, human rights criticism around the Olympics caught the Chinese Communist Party off-guard. Now theyre prepared, and know how to respond: by spinning it for the domestic audience and pushing back against critics abroad. The bigger point that [Chinese officials] make in responding to the boycott is that they perceive this as another American effort to try to contain China, especially when China has become more powerful, wealthier and Americas using human rights, hypocritically, to try to contain China, Chen said.

In lots of ways, the back-and-forth around the boycott shows the challenges of responding meaningfully to Chinas human rights abuses. The United States and other governments have credibly called the Chinese Communist Partys internment and forced labor of Uyghurs a genocide, and have sanctioned Chinese government officials for actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The US has passed legislation to protect democracy in Hong Kong, and the House recently passed a bill to limit imports from Xinjiang tied to forced labor. China, so far, has largely resisted the pressure.

The boycott barely adds to the pressure, but it also comes with the sense that countries cant just do the Olympics as usual. Its striking, of course, with 1980 in comparison, Gallagher said. Because both the Trump and the Biden administration use the g-word ... to label the what the Chinese government is doing in Xinjiang. But at the same time, even genocide doesnt earn a full boycott.

Some advocates say that just talking about any kind of boycott in connection to the Olympic Games may raise visibility of Chinas atrocities a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. It may also put pressure on sports bodies, in this case, the International Olympic Committee, to rethink these decisions in the future. (The IOC has said it respects the diplomatic boycotts.) This feels especially poignant in the wake of the disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai and the Womens Tennis Associations decision to pull out of China; it may not alter Chinas authoritarian policies, but it is stating, at least, that they are unacceptable.

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2022 Beijing Olympics: What the USs diplomatic boycott does and doesnt mean - Vox.com

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A model displays the Olympic uniforms for Russian athletes in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. Russia presents its Olympic kit for the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, which shouldn't depict any symbols of the country. Russian athletes will compete at the Tokyo Olympics as neutral after the Court of Arbitration for Sport last December banned Russia from using its name, flag and anthem at any world championships because of state-backed doping. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

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A model displays the Olympic uniforms for Russian athletes in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. Russia presents its Olympic kit for the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, which shouldn't depict any symbols of the country. Russian athletes will compete at the Tokyo Olympics as neutral after the Court of Arbitration for Sport last December banned Russia from using its name, flag and anthem at any world championships because of state-backed doping. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

MOSCOW (AP) Russias uniform for the Beijing Winter Olympics was unveiled on Friday without Russias name, flag or coat of arms on it as the uniform was at the Tokyo Games.

Some clothing, however, will feature Russias national colors.

Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov said at the presentation our athletes will be the most beautiful and stylish at the upcoming games.

A Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in December 2020 barred Russia from using its name and symbols at events as punishment for failing to turn over accurate data from the Moscow drug-testing laboratory.

The team in Beijing, just like at Tokyo, will be known as ROC for Russian Olympic Committee.

Russian athletes are allowed to participate in the Olympics under a neutral flag, and as long as they have not been implicated in the doping scandal.

The CAS ruling is in place until Dec. 16, 2022.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Russia unveils Beijing Olympics kit with national colors - Associated Press

2:33 PM ET

Greg WyshynskiESPN

MANALAPAN, Fla. -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics is "ultimately going to have to be a players' decision."

The NHL and NHLPA negotiated to have players participate in the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympic men's hockey tournament, per their latest collective bargaining agreement. But concerns about COVID-19 protocols in Beijing, along with other political and safety considerations in China, has left participation in the Olympics this coming February somewhat in question.

"We have concerns. We've expressed those to the players' association. We see that a number of players are now also expressing concerns, and we'll have to see how this all plays out," Bettman said Friday after the second day of the NHL's board of governors meetings.

Bettman said that a decision not to go to the Olympics would require a joint agreement with the NHLPA. The league's main caveat remains if the 2021-22 regular-season schedule is impacted by COVID-19 postponements. So far, there have been five games postponed amid mini-clusters of outbreaks on the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders.

The NHL's agreement with the players states that any material disruption of their season could result in pulling out of the Olympics. "If it became clear that we couldn't reschedule without doing something else, including some portion of the break," Bettman said.

The NHL board of governors discussed what to do with the Olympic break if the players do not go to Beijing. The challenge is that NHL arenas have used those dates to book other events despite having been advised not to do so. There was no discussion of any sort of domestic-based "replacement tournament" if player participation in Beijing doesn't happen.

The NHL said it doesn't yet understand what the duration for quarantine is for a player who tests positive for COVID-19 in Beijing, nor whether that player will need to quarantine in China.

"We don't have certainty on either of those issues yet," said deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who said the Beijing Organizing Committee is expected to issue a finalized athletes' handbook with updated protocol information.

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Bettman indicated that the political aspect of the Beijing Games is among the league's concerns, including the Peng Shuai case and what the White House called the "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity" by the Chinese government in the Xinjiang region against Uyghur Muslims. The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representatives to Beijing for the Winter Olympics.

"We have concerns on a whole host of issues. But we made a promise to our players. And short of COVID messing up our break ... in good faith we made a promise to our players, and this is ultimately going to have to be a players' decision, unless we jointly agree with the players' association to the contrary," Bettman said.

The NHL said it will continue to see how things evolve, including the release of the new handbook from the organizing committee and the NHLPA response to it. Daly said that the widely reported Jan. 10 date is not a deadline for participation and that a decision can be made beyond Jan. 10. That deadline "has to do with financial reasonability for costs at that given point and time."

Bettman said that if the players still decide to go, it will have to be on terms where the NHL and the NHLPA feel the players will be "taken care of" with regard to potential COVID exposure in China.

"I don't think this is going to be the ideal Olympic experience, from the lockdowns in the Olympic Village to everything else that's going on. But again, we made a promise and I'm going to do my best to adhere to it, understanding there may be consequences that nobody is going to like," Bettman said.

While the current concern is whether players will participate in the upcoming Olympics, Bettman is preparing to have a conversation about when the next World Cup will even take place.

The NHL and NHLPA are expected to speak about the next World Cup of Hockey in the near future. The last one was held in 2016. Bettman theorized that a World Cup could be played between Olympic seasons or "instead of" the Winter Olympics. "Who knows?" he said.

NHL revenues up

The NHL is tracking to bring in more than $5 billion in revenue this year, and revenues are up from pre-pandemic levels. The league's expansion to Seattle as well as broadcasting rights deals with Disney [parent company of ESPN] and Turner Sports have helped fuel the recovery from the revenue hit the league took during its pandemic-shortened seasons.

The NHL salary cap will increase to $82.5 million for the 2022-23 season, as the league remains under a "flat cap." Bettman said he believes it will take "three more seasons, including this one" before the NHL is fully repaid under escrow and will have the salary cap rise with linkage to revenue.

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Commissioner Gary Bettman says NHL participation in Beijing Olympics is players' decision - ESPN

New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton has been having a fabulous season. His first year with his new team shows why hes worth every penny of his $9 million per year salary. The Devils finally have a top defenseman. Hes been one of the better defenders in the league all year. His offense is right up there with Cale Makar, and hes lifted Ryan Graves up another level.

The Olympics are right around the corner, and with Hamilton playing this way at a premium position of right defenseman. It seems obvious that he should make the roster. Then, things start to come out. Rumors start to swirl, and it looks like Dougie Hamilton is on the outside looking in.

So, this might just be a projection, but its based on real rumors inside the organization. After this came out, more reporters said they are hearing Tom Wilson could be the choice over Mitch Marner, which is a topic we will let Editor In Leaf handle, but its also insane.

The teams should be bringing the best collection of talent to Beijing, China next year. They are overthinking things if they think that Hamilton doesnt deserve to go over Morgan Rielly. Rielly is a fine player, but hes not one of the best defensemen in the world anymore. And its not like he has a lot of playoff success. Hes on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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There has been talk about Dougie Hamiltons attitude for his entire career. People say hes not the most vocal guy, and there is the talk of his love for museums. Somehow, that equates to him being a bad teammate and someone you dont want in the locker room. Maybe he wont be the guy who goes to the after-hours party, but there is nothing saying hes not someone who will play a role the team needs from him.

There could be a lot of snubs for Devils players in the Olympics. Yegor Sharangovich is snubbed because he couldnt carry his Belarus team past qualifiers. Jack Hughes might be left off the list if hes not able to have a breakout in the next few weeks since hes likely slotted as a fourth-line center. Mackenzie Blackwood might not make Team Canada as the goalie despite probably being one of the three best at this time. However, leaving Hamilton off the team is just preposterous.

There is still time before Team Canada has to make a final decision, but what would Hamilton have to do from now until then to prove himself? Theres not much else he can do, and Canada likely wants the good Canadian boy playing for the good Canadian team to go to China for the 2022 Olympics. Its a mistake, and as Americans, we are happy they are making this mistake. We are not happy for Hamilton, who is missing a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but this definitely makes it easier for Team USA to win the gold medal.

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Is Devils Defenseman Dougie Hamilton Really Going To Be Snubbed From Olympics? - Pucks and Pitchforks

Basketball legend Bill Russells gold medal from the 1956 Olympics sold for $587,500 as part of an auction of hundreds of his personal memorabilia items that ended Friday.

Russell, then 22, scored a team-leading 14.1 points per game as the U.S. won all eight games in Melbourne by an average 53.5 points per game.

Russell could have skipped the Melbourne Olympics, which were held during the NBA season in November and December, but instead delayed the start of his Boston Celtics career.

Ever since I was a kid, there were social and physical icons that I always heard about. And you think of these things in awe. And when I got to the age where I qualified for the Olympics, I wanted to go, Russell said, according to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum. Then, the honor of The Olympics was to compete. Not to win, but to compete. I really wanted that. If I hadnt made that Olympic basketball team, I was going to participate in the high jump. I was ranked second in the country in the high jump [Editors Note: Track and Field News ranked Russell third in the U.S. and seventh in the world in 1956], so either way, I was going to Melbourne. I wanted to be a part of that Olympic experience.

The record price for an Olympic gold medal was set in 2013, when one of Jesse Owens four golds from the 1936 Berlin Games went for $1,466,574.

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Bill Russells Olympic gold medal auctioned for $587,500 - Home of the Olympic Channel