Category Archives: Olympics

The U.S. Olympic Team Curling Trials kick off Friday, November 12 in Omaha, Nebraska, and you can catch the action on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports App.

John Shusteris back at the Trials once again hoping for a chance to compete in his fifth-straight Olympics. Shuster skipped the 2018 U.S. men's team to gold in PyeongChang, leading them past the heavily favored Swedes in the final to win the U.S. its first-ever Olympic curling title.

On the women's side,Tabitha Peterson is also hoping to return to the Games. Peterson served as the third on the U.S. women's Olympic team in 2018, though her quintet, skipped by Nina Roth, was unable to earn a medal.

The U.S. has already clinched its qualification spots for the 2022 Olympics in team curling, which means the winners of the men's and women's tournaments will serve as the U.S. representatives once the Games get underway in February.

Below is a full rundown of the games being shown on NBCOlympics.com and on the NBC Sports App. The finals can also be seen live on NBCSN.

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How to watch the U.S. Olympic Team Curling Trials - NBC Olympics

American high jumper Erik Kynard will finally get his gold medal from the 2012 London Olympics after the IOC on Friday approved reallocating some results from those games because of doping cases.

Kynard's leap of 2.33 meters placed second in London behind Ivan Ukhov, who was proven years later to have taken part in the Russian state-backed steroid doping program.

Ukhov was banned for four years in 2019 at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He went back to the same court last year for an appeal hearing but failed to overturn the ruling.

The International Olympic Committee executive board on Friday signed off on reallocating the medals and final results for five events from the London Olympics, including men's and women's high jump.

With Kynard upgraded to men's gold, the three bronze medalists in 2012 will each now get silver medals: Derek Drouin of Canada, Robbie Grabarz of Britain and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar. Barshim also tied for gold at the Tokyo Olympics in August.

The IOC also reallocated the bronze medal in women's high jump from a Russian athlete. Svetlana Shkolina was disqualified for doping and Spain's Ruth Beitia will get the bronze.

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Nine years later, the U.S. has another Olympic gold - MARCA.com

What would it be like to walk around the ancient religious sanctuary of Olympia when the Olympic Games were held?

An unusual partnership between Microsoft and Greeces Ministry of Culture and Sport is offering visitors the answer, launching an immersive tour Wednesday at one of the worlds major archaeological sites.

The program at ancient Olympia harnesses augmented reality technology that designers say has the potential to transform education, business and entertainment. Critics warn it will extend the invasive power of U.S. tech giants.

The culture ministry helped Microsoft map and build virtual representations at Olympia, a site used for nearly a thousand years to host the games in ancient Greece that served as the inspiration for the modern Olympics.

Its a milestone that helped us bring technology and culture and history together so we can preserve it, Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a video message at the launch event.

Users can tour the site remotely or in person with an online presentation and an augmented-like mobile app at Olympia, seeing a virtual re-creation of temples and competition areas as they walk through the ruins. At the Olympic Museum in Athens, they can use Microsofts mixed-reality HoloLens headsets that overlay visual information on top of what the viewer sees.

Tilt up and a towering statue of Zeus plated in ivory and gold comes into view; turn left and peer into the workshop used by the famed sculptor Phidias at the ancient sanctuary more than 2,400 years ago.

Im absolutely thrilled that were able to present to the world a completely new cultural experience using technology to re-create the ancient world of Olympia, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told The Associated Press after joining a group of schoolchildren using the app for the first time.

Seventh and eighth-graders from a local school pinched, zoomed and rotated the monuments that had been brought to life on their smartphones, flipping between inside and outside views as they toured the site where athletes in antiquity competed in running, javelin throwing, wrestling, boxing, horse racing and other events.

The app is really impressive. I think it can help with teaching in schools, one of the children, Panagiotis Christopoulos, said.

Microsoft started the project 18 months ago, scouring Olympia with drones and sensors, after reaching an agreement with the Greek government to build three data centers in greater Athens in an investment to reach up to $1 billion.

Tech companies are racing to deliver mixed reality platforms and gear that would blend the internet with everyday experience, with glasses doubling as personal projectors to provide extra information like route options for bicyclists, player stats for fans at sports venues, or virtual fitting rooms at home for shoppers.

Its part of whats being called the metaverse, a futuristic online world aimed at merging real and virtual life.

Microsofts HoloLens headset costs around $3,500 and is typically used by people like doctors or those maintaining jetliners but a convergence of cheaper eyewear, ever-shrinking processing power and faster internet connections is starting to put it within mainstream reach, experts say.

I think were very close to a tipping point where we will see the kind of glasses that feel ordinary and that arent abhorrent in terms of their physical size, said David Rose, author of the new book SuperSight: What Augmented Reality Means for Our Lives, Our Work, and the Way We Imagine the Future.

Theyll have a decent battery life, most of the computing will be in the phone. And I think those will jump to tourism and education and other mainstream things like that, certainly within a couple of years, said Rose, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher and tech product designer.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen warned that the metaverse was likely to become addictive and rob people of yet more personal information.

Rose said augmented reality could add cognitive crutches that would erode personal calculation skills and further segment societies, with each user immersed in their own realities. But despite the dangers, he remains optimistic.

They can be empathy machines and the most powerful educational tool ever invented, he said. They can help with training and helping people develop new skills so that theyre not out of the job. There are so many forces of potential here that I think its mostly exciting.

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Augmented reality project brings Olympics birthplace to life - The Indian Express

WAYLAND, Mass. The Olympics puts eyes from all over the world onto sports many have never played and curling is one of them. Its mostly a niche sport but when the winter Olympics come around every four years, more people give it a try.

Curling is older than the United States. Shelley Dropkin, the vice president of Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland, Massachusetts, says it actually started on the ponds of Scottland as early as the 1500s.

Despite the sport's longevity, many people are still unfamiliar with it.

However, every four years, interest explodes, just in time for the Winter Olympics. The closer the Olympics get, the rarity of places like Broomstones becomes clear.

For the last quadrennial, we had a 1,000 person open house," Dropkin said. Weve had a waiting list of close to 200 300 people because theres such significant interest.

Shes on the receiving end of people hungry to give it a try.

What Ive heard from people is they start watching it and they become almost magnetized. I literally cant tell you how many people say, 'I start watching and I cant stop,'" Dropkin said. Its like chess on ice with a bit of bocce and shuffleboard combined, so people are just really drawn to it.

We always call curling a gentlemans sport. You know, its a game of honor. You call your own fouls, you call your own errors," Hoge said.

Every four years, Hoge tends to get more people asking him where they can try the sport.

I think people see it on the Olympics and on TV and they are like, 'I can do that, how hard could that be?'" Hoge said. Everyone can come out and try it and definitely get good and throw a rock but it takes years and a lifetime to master.

Ethan Herbert has been on both ends of the stick.

Its a unique sport so, Im the only one at my school that does it," Herbert said.

Herbert loves that the sport is getting more attention.

In January of 2020 I went to Switzerland for the Youth Olympics," Herbert said. Having curled at the competitive level you understand the sport a lot more and its a lot more fun to watch because you understand whats going on.

This interest isnt specific to a group of people either.

Thats really the great thing about curling you can do it from you know, 9 to 90 I think its a lifelong sport," Hoge said.

It seems that no matter who you are, once people catch the bug, they cant stay away from the ice.

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The popularity of curling; how the Winter Olympics bring attention to the niche sport - The Denver Channel

Allyson Felix reflects on her legacy, Olympic record and being a mother

After becoming the most decorated American Olympic track athlete, Allyson Felix connected with Sports Seriously to discuss what she hopes her lasting impact and legacy will be.

Sports Seriously, USA TODAY

The most decorated U.S. track athlete in Olympic history was in Milwaukee Friday to talk abouther journey as an olympian, her advocacy for working mothers and business.

Allyson Felix headlined Tempo's 16th annual Leadership Event Friday at the Wisconsin Center. The event focuses on empowering people in leadership. Tempo is the largest professional organization for women in Wisconsin with more than 800 members.

More than 1,100 people attended the event Friday the largest audience for a Tempo event in its history.

Felix is an 11-time Olympic medalist. She took home gold and bronze medals at the Tokyo games this summer.

Off the track, Felix has advocated for fair pay for female athletes. She was one of the women who publicly called out Nike for its lack of protection for pregnant athletes and new moms in its sponsorship contracts.Earlier this year, Felix launched her own shoe company, Saysh.

Before the event, Felix answered questions from Tempo President and CEO Jennifer Dirks and reporters. Here are Felix's answers to some of those questions.

I think a lot of times we see athletes as being invincible. You know and that nothing really affects them and I think sometimes as athletes we expect that of ourselves you know not to miss a beat. But there is a lot of pressure. There are a lot of expectations. And I think over the years Ive learned that its OK not to be OK. its OK to have off days. I think oftentimes Ill go to the track and I might feel like Im thriving there, workouts are going well, Im on pace. And then I go home and I feel like oh my gosh Im failing. Im not being who I want to be at home. Understanding that Im going to have days like that. Im not going to have it all together all the time. And thats alright and figuring out what works for me to get back to where I need to be.

I absolutely did not. I have a different story than a lot of other Olympians. I started running track in high school. And so I literally (was starting at a) new school and my brother and my dad told me to go out for the track team to meet people, to find friends. And I did. And I just fell in love with the sport. I love the competition. I love lining up on the starting line and knowing once this race is over were going to know who is the fastest on that day. And it just became my thing. And I also found my closest girlfriends who are still my friends to this day and it was a sport for me. Everything was kind of a whirlwind. But I didnt have those aspirations as a young child. I actually wanted to be a teacher and come from a family of educators. So I feel like this path kind of found me and it gave me a life that I never could have imagined but it wasnt what I set out to do.

Im super proud of Saysh -- a lifestyle brand for women that I launched with my brother not too long ago. And it really came about authentically because I had gone through so much adversity with Nike and parting ways with them and then got to a place where I didnt have shoes to wear for the Olympics. So I was talking with my brother and he was like what if we do this ourselves. And I was like that seems really big. That seems like a lot to take on. How do you even do that? The more I sat with it, I was pretty exhausted in asking for change. I had been up on that fight for quite a while and here was an opportunity to not have to ask anymore but to be that change and to create what I had been searching for. Its been an incredible journey, with a lot of learnings along the way. But I have always had that desire to be able to do something for myself and also just have something be meaningful. I think my experience showed me that theres so much value in that and being proud of what you create and stand behind it. Its an amazing journey that were on.

I think the biggest thing in launching Saysh has been the team. Putting together the right team. We launched during a pandemic. And its really challenging and dealing with factories and shutdowns and COVID and all of that so learning that youre going to have hiccups and theres going to be adversity but having the right people to be able to adapt and pivot and come up with solutions to that is going to be key. Just being really thoughtful in how we craft the team. And I think it was it almost felt really easy because everybody connected with the message. Were really mission-driven and so having people who want to do this and are proud to stand behind the work. I think it made it a bit easier but were really excited. I feel like we have a lot of momentum right now. We just got selected for Oprahs favorite things and were thrilled about that and opened up a pop-up shop and have a lot of community events happening and so a lot on the horizon. It is a lot of work as well. And a lot to come also.

I would say that even though it might scare you, its okay to move forward. I know for me, I was very fearful. You have to be vulnerable to put yourself out there, especially something thats so personal to you. I think when I was coming forward to share my story, I was terrified. But I think on the other side of that fear is freedom. And I think a lot of times we have to just take that little step.

Even if its putting a plan together and starting to put together the little pieces and maybe its something thats not going to come about for three more years or five more years but if you start to slowly get out there and put the pieces together I think youre taking steps in the right direction. So I think my advice is even if it is uncomfortable and scares you a little bit its great to be outside of your comfort zone. And to go for something. if you truly believe in it you have to honor that.

I think its been a long journey but I think its a really special time for women in sports right now. I think we feel that. We see whats happening in womens soccer and how they have been moving forward and I think weve seen it in the WNBA how they have been pushing and I think we feel from each other and were inspired by each other. And all in our own respective sports were trying to continue that conversation and bringing it to the forefront, bringing it to mainstream media and continuing to have it. Obviously, there is still a ways to go but I do feel like we have momentum going in the right direction and we have to keep chipping away.

Its a place of real equality. And as I think about these different topics and issues that Im pushing, thats the motivation because I dont want her to have the same fights that weve been having for far too long and so I would love for her to grow up having no limits and really understanding that. Because I think its one thing to preach that but its another to feel that and to know that you can go after whatever you want is a whole other thing. I think thats why Im working so hard and so many other women are doing that as well so that all of our children can grow up in a world like that.

Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.comor onInstagram @HauerSarahand Twitter @SarahHauer.Subscribe to her weekly newsletterBe MKEat jsonline.com/bemke.

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7 questions with Olympian Allyson Felix about entrepreneurship, pay equity and the future - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Colorado home-grown talent Troy Terry of the Anaheim Ducks is making North American headlines throughout the NHL. In February, he could do the same internationally at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The former Littleton Hawks forward who went on to play for the triple-A Colorado Thunderbirds, U.S. National Development Team, and the University of Denver Pioneers is off to a sizzling start that could lead to him making the U.S. Olympic team for the second time this time with full NHL participation.

Terry, 24, entered the weekend on a league-leading 13-game points streak, producing 11 goals and 19 points in that stretch. Only three other Ducks players have had longer points streaks Corey Perry (19 games in 2009-10) Teemu Selanne (17 in 1998-99) and Ryan Getzlaf (15 in 2007-08 and 14 in 2013-14).

Terry, who had two goals and an assist in Thursdays 7-4 victory at Seattle, is the Ducks top-line right-winger. He leads the Ducks in scoring and entered the weekend ranked fourth in NHL scoring.

The Highlands Ranch native is a big reason why the rebuilding Ducks have won six consecutive games and stand second in the Pacific Division.

He is doing a great job. I mean, hes working, Getzlaf, the Ducks longtime captain, told reporters after Terrys overtime goal that beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Tuesday.

Terry, who was named after former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, became the second Colorado native to play for the U.S. mens Olympic team in 2018 when he was loaned by DU in a year the NHL didnt send its players to Pyeongchang.

At age 19, Terry was second in U.S. scoring with five points in five games. The Americans were eliminated by the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.Denver-born goalie John Grahame was Colorados first hockey Olympian, playing one game in the 2006 Games in Torino.

Terry wasnt projected to make the U.S. Olympic roster before this season, after producing just seven goals in 48 games as a third-line forward for a weak Ducks team last season. But hes now a leader among Anaheims excellent young talent.

Terry produced one of the most remarkable performances in USA Hockey history when he went 4-for-4 in shootouts to lead the Americans to the gold medal at the 2017 World Junior Championship in Montreal. And after being one of the few NCAA players asked to play in the 2018 Olympics, hes become a young household name for USA Hockey.

Terry is already a household name in Colorado. The Ducks visit the Avalanche on Nov. 13 at Ball Arena, and Terrys family and friends will require hundreds of tickets.

Former Ducks GM. Former Anaheim general manager Bob Murray resigned last week amid allegations of workplace misconduct, stemming from the NHL hotline memo each NHL team received last month in the wake of the Chicago Blackhawks wrongdoings with former prospect Kyle Beach in 2010. The hotline is already effective.

Murray promised to seek treatment for alcohol abuse.

If the NHL hotline continues as advertised, bad people will continue to be weeded out of the league.

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Chambers: Highlands Ranch native Troy Terry is red hot for Anaheim Ducks. He might don red, white and blue in upcoming Olympics - The Denver Post

During the 2016 presidential campaign, the Republican Party was embarrassed when a tape ofDonald Trumpwas released in which the then-GOP nominee saw heard bragging aboutsexual assault with the memorable lines "grab 'em by the pussy" and "when you're a star, they let you do it." In 2021, however, what was once a cringe moment for the GOP has now become an ethos, and not just because of Sen. Josh "Make Me aSandwich" Hawley of Missouri's pre-campaign sermonizing on a delusional gospel of masculinity.With a heavy assist from Trump himself, the candidate field for the 2022 GOP primaries is thick with devotees of the Church of Pussy Grabbing.

There hasn't really been a frontrunner in the closely-watched Pennsylvania GOP primary for the state's open U.S. Senate seat, so it was a big deal in September when Trump stepped in to endorse Sean Parnell, an Army vet running to replace retiring incumbentSen. Pat Toomey. In an unsurprising twist, Parnell's ugly divorce has producedsome headline-grabbing testimony from his ex-wife about the their marriage.

"In tearful testimony, Laurie Snell told a family court judge that her husband once called her a 'whore'and a 'piece of s' while pinning her down," thePhiladelphia Inquirer reportedearlier this month. Snellalso testified that Parnell hadhit their children hard enough to leave marks, hadpunched a door into a child's faceand had once chokedher until she bithim to get away.Parnell, of course, denies all of it, but considera segment he once did on Fox Nation, unleashing a misogynist rant toequalanything you'd read one of the many grotesque "incel" or "men's rights" forums on the internet.

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"I feel like the whole 'happy wife, happy life' nonsense has done nothing but raise one generation of women tyrants after the next," Parnell said. "Maybe it is just now there is an entire generation of men that don't want to put up with the BSof a high-maintenance, narcissistic woman."

"I look at women on Instagram, when I stumble across their pages, and the No. 1 thing that turns me off is all the duck-billed selfies. The narcissistic duck-billed selfies," he continued. It's worth watching the video just to capture how angryParnellis, and how his rhetoric directly echoes the "piece of sh*t" and "whore" language his wife has accused him of using.

RELATED:Sorry, Josh Hawley, the left doesn't hate masculinity women just don't want to make you a sandwich

"Once a woman has been strangled by her partner, the likelihood that he will strangle her againrises tenfold. The likelihood that he will murder her risesnearly eightfold," Moira Donegan reports in the Guardian. Trump scheduled a fundraiser for Parnell at Mar-a-Lago in the days after Snell's testimony. And why not? Trump reportedly nicknamedSteve Bannon "Bam Bam," a reference to Bannon's own history as anaccused domestic abuser.

Parnell is just one of a number of candidates Trump is supporting, who faceallegations of violence against women, as Matt Shuman of Talking Points Memo reported Wednesday. Trump is enthusiastically backing former football star Herschel Walker in the GOP primaryfor the GeorgiaSenate seat currently held by Democrat Raphael Warnock, despite accusations by Walker'sex-wife of"physically abusive and extremely threatening behavior," including multiple threats to kill her. Another woman has accused Walker of stalking her. Trump is also backing former White House aide Max Miller in an Ohio House primaryagainst a Republican incumbent who voted to impeach him. Trump's own former press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, has accused Miller of being violent when she was dating him. Multiple people told Politico that Miller had"pushed her against a wall and slapped her in the face."

Missouri Senate candidate and former governorEric Greitens hasn't yet secured the much-coveted Trump endorsement, but Shuman reports he has lined up"Trump contactslike Kimberly Guilfoyle and pollster Tony Fabrizio." Greitens was indicted in 2018 after a woman accused him of tying her up in a basement and forcing her to perform oral sex, but the case as often happens with sexual abusecases fell apart due to what TPM called "prosecutorial errors" and "a difficult-to-prove charge."

It makes a sad kind of sense that Greitens is getting back into electoral politics, despite being accused of a truly harrowing crime that, in more normal times, would have ended his career even without a conviction. It seems misogyny simply doesn't damage Republicancandidates in the eyes of their most loyal voters. On the contrary, a lot of Republicans see misogyny as a positive it'sa way to attract attention and support from a conservative base that wants revenge on liberals for a myriad of insults to male dominance, from the #MeToo movement to letting women have roles like "Speaker of the House" and "presidential candidate."

RELATED:Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan and the Proud Boys: How the fragility of the male ego fuels the far-right

That's why Hawley is trying to gin up enthusiasm for a likely 2024 presidential run with his "sadmen are retreating to video games and pornbecause they can't be the boss no more" shtick. He's also waging war on efforts to de-gender the draft, which serves no realpurpose beyond reinforcingretrograde notions of women as an inferior sex whoneed"protection" instead of equality.Similarly, Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters is reframing a very real problem wage and income stagnation in sexist terms,because it keeps families from having "one breadwinner" while"one parent stay[s] at home with the kids." There are many reasons people should be paid fairly for their work (not that Republicans will ever do anything to make that happen). Thechoice here to make it about a 1950s housewife fantasy, rather than aboutfreedom from damaging debt or opportunities for both sexes to spend more time with family,istelling.And let's not forget all the right-wingsneeringat men who take paternity leave.

In fact, it's unfair to the "Leave It to Beaver" era to suggest this rhetoric is nostalgia for the 1950s. Women had the right to vote duringthe Eisenhower years, after all. The2020 Republicanconvention, however, literally featured a "pro-life" speaker who has called for an end to women's suffrage.

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Perhaps no individual does more toshow how much Republicans are banking on misogynyin 2022 than the perpetually thirsty "Hillbilly Elegy" authorJ.D. Vance, whose strategy for winning the Senate GOP primary in Ohio has been focused on big-money donations and relentless trolling. In April, Vance decided that his main attack on Joe Biden's Build Back Better proposal was to bash the Democrats for offering affordable child care programs, tweeting that "normal Americans" don't want daycare just "so they can enjoy more 'freedom'in the paid labor force."

The scare quotes around the word "freedom" weretruly spectacular apparently women having freedom is a myth to Vance, like unicorns or people who actually got laid in college. There were plenty of robust rebuttals to his claim that the heart of every "normal" womanpulls her to stay at home all day with little kids. But for our purposes, all we need is readily available poll resultsshowing that child care subsidies rankedamong the most popular items, in a bill that is broadly popular across the political spectrum. But perhaps that 64% of folks who support something that's widely available in most other Western democraciesare not "normal" Americans to J.D. Vance.

As I've noted before, there really is a large audience for this"kinder, kche, kirche" rhetoric, as demonstrated by the gross sexism so often visible on Fox News and the "tradwife" fantasies promoted by groups like the Proud Boys. Trump actually did win in 2016 albeit through the antiquated mechanism of the Electoral College despite the "grab 'em by the pussy" moment. So it's unsurprising that misogyny isn't much of an obstacle for Republican candidates, and may even represent value added. (Vance sure hopes so!) Butas the Women's March that directly followed Trump's inauguration showed, as did the 2018 midterms, that stuff canalso fire up angry resistance among women, especially thosewho might otherwise tune out of politics in this post-Trump era. Trump's Bam Bam Caucus might drive the dirtbag turnout he craves he's undeniably good at that.But it might also motivate Democratic women who believe that the number of violent misogynists in the Senate should be reduced as close to zero as possible, rather than increased.

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2022 Republican primaries: Who will take gold in the Misogyny Olympics? - Salon

The policy mirrors Beijings own mandate for all athletes except those who receive a medical exemption from Chinese authorities. Even then, exempted athletes must go through a 21-day quarantine upon arrival that effectively would put them out of the Games anyway.

Flakes are flying

Beijing, which usually is flake-free at this time of year, was blanketed in white stuff last weekend amid sub-freezing temperatures, enough to close highways and cancel flights, buses, and trains.

The snow, which covered the Olympic ski slopes and most of northern China, arrived three weeks earlier than usual because of the La Nina weather pattern. Global environmentalists wouldnt mind a few more blizzards before the Games begin in order to avoid the organizers having to use an estimated 50 million gallons of water to produce artificial snow.

Chen peaking at right time

Midway through the Grand Prix figure skating season Nathan Chen already has qualified for next months final in Osaka, as have US ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donahue.

Itll be a tall order, though, for the American women, who have yet to make a podium and have a Russian logjam ahead of them. Chen, the three-time defending world champion, will be going for his fourth straight Grand Prix title and will be favored to unhorse Japans Yuzuru Hanyu at the Olympics.

Hanyu, whos bidding to become the first man to win three straight Olympic titles since Swedens Gillis Grafstrom in 1928, is dealing with damaged ankle ligaments that forced him to withdraw from this weekends NHK Trophy in Tokyo.

Locals curlers represented

Five local curlers, all of whom learned the sport at Broomstones in Wayland, will be competing at the Olympic trials that begin this weekend in Omaha.

US champion Korey Dropkin will be skipping his rink in the mens competition, while Alex Leichter will be lead for Greg Persingers quartet. On the womens side, Monica Walker will be vice skip and Elizabeth Cousins the lead for Jamie Sinclairs rink, while junior champion Sydney Mullaney will be second for Delaney Strouses group.

John Shuster, who skipped the Americans to their first gold medal in 2018, will be favored, as will Tabitha Peterson, who directed the women to a surprise bronze at this years world championships. Both the mens and womens teams already have qualified for the Games.

Shiffrin taking her time

Though Mikaela Shiffrin hasnt been able to practice since injuring her back while winning the seasons giant slalom opener in Austria last month, she expects to be ready for the first two World Cup slalom races next weekend in Levi, the Lapland resort above the Arctic Circle.

I just need to let it heal, said Shiffrin, who has won there four times, collecting a reindeer as a bonus prize with each victory. It doesnt take that long if I just take the time.

Experienced teammates

Rosie Brennan and Jessie Diggins will be the grande dames on the US cross-country skiing team, which skews in the mid-20s on the A and B rosters. Brennan turns 33 next month and Diggins is 30.

Waltham native Julia Kern and Katharine Odgen are 24, Hailey Swirbul is 23, and Sydney Palmer-Leger is 19.

I just hope I can stay hip enough for the young crowd, joked Brennan.

Diggins was the overall World Cup champion last season with Brennan fourth. Gus Schumacher and JC Schoonmaker, the top two men, are 21, at least seven years younger than their other three teammates.

A long way from home

Due to COVID restrictions that kept out foreign competitors, the North American bob and skeleton sledders and lugers again wont have any World Cup races on home ice this season except for womens solo monobob.

Other than next weekends luge opener on the Olympic track in Yanqing all of the events will be in Europe. Sochi, home of the 2014 Games, will stage the luge races originally scheduled for Whistler, British Columbia, and Lake Placid, N.Y.

Lake Placid, which was supposed to host last seasons bobsled and skeleton world championships before they were shifted to Germany, instead will stage the next pre-Olympic events in 2025.

Driven to succeed

The US bobsled teams will feature three of the five pilots from last seasons lineup in Kaillie Humphries, the reigning world titlist in both two-woman (with Lolo Jones) and monobob, three-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor, and Codie Bascue on the mens side. Previous team members Hunter Church and Brittany Reinbolt are back on the roster. The season starts next weekend in Innsbruck, Austria Brittany Bowe and Joey Mantia will be the Americans to watch at this weekends first World Cup long-track speedskating event in Poland. Bowe, the world champion in the 1,000 meters and silver medalist in the 1,500, and Mantia, the mass start champ, will be the best bets to make the Beijing podium after the US was shut out of the individual medals in 2014 and 2018 While the World Cup biathlon season doesnt start until the end of the month in Sweden, Susan Dunklee (Craftsbury, Vt.) and Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) already have been named to the US Olympic team based on previous results. Itll be the third Games for Dunklee, the second for Egan. Meanwhile, theyll be vying for the silver bib that they came up with last season. Theres an overall bib for the World Cup leader and an under-25 leader bib, said Dunklee, who is 35. We said, we should have a bib for older athletes. So I knitted a silver bib for the top athlete 33-and-older with the most points.

John Powers can be reached at john.powers@globe.com. Material from Olympic committees, sports federations, interviews and wire services was used in this report.

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All US Winter Olympic hopefuls must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 1 if they want to compete in Beijing - The Boston Globe

ANCIENT OLYMPIA. Greece (AP) Three activists protesting human rights abuses in China sneaked into the archaeological site where the flame lighting ceremony for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was being held Monday and ran toward the newly lit torch holding a Tibetan flag and a banner that read No genocide games.

The protesters managed to enter the grounds and attempted to reach the Temple of Hera, where the ceremony was being held. They were thrown to the ground by police and detained.

How can Beijing be allowed to host the Olympics given that they are committing a genocide against the Uyghurs? one protester said, referring to the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Chinas northwest region of Xinjiang.

The flame was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece under heavy police security.

With the public excluded amid pandemic safety measures, and a cloudless sky over the verdant site of Ancient Olympia, the flame was ceremoniously kindled using the rays of the sun before being carried off on a mini torch relay.

Earlier, other protestors were detained by Greek police before they could reach the site. Pro-democracy protests also had broken out during the lighting ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games.

Despite widespread international criticism of Chinas human rights record, the International Olympic Committee has shied away from the issue, saying it falls outside its remit.

In his speech in the ancient stadium of Olympia, where in antiquity male athletes competed naked during a special truce among their often-warring cities, IOC President Thomas Bach stressed that the modern Games must be respected as politically neutral ground.

Only this political neutrality ensures that the Olympic Games can stand above and beyond the political differences that exist in our times, he said. The Olympic Games cannot address all the challenges in our world. But they set an example for a world where everyone respects the same rules and one another.

Tibetan rights activists said in a press release that China was trying to sportswash its human rights abuses with the glamour and veneer of respectability the Olympic Games brings.

Commenting on the protest, the Greek national Olympic committee said that while it respects freedom of expression, it is disappointing that this traditional cultural event has been used by a few individuals for other purposes.

Beijing will become the first city to have hosted both winter and summer Olympics.

In a tightly choreographed performance shortly afterwards, a Greek actress playing the part of a pagan priestess knelt to light the Olympic flame, using a bowl-shaped mirror to focus the suns rays on a fuel-filled torch.

Standing in front of the few remaining columns of the ruined, 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, she offered a symbolic prayer for the ancient Greek god of light, Apollo, to light the flame.

Mountains fall silent, birdsong cease, she intoned as a TV drone buzzed overhead and ranks of photographers clicked their shutters.

Shortly later, the protesters shouts were heard.

Yu Zaiqing, the vice president of the Beijing organizing committee, said the Games brought confidence, warmth and hope during the pandemic, which first appeared in China.

We can and will deliver a streamlined, safe and splendid Olympic Games to the world, he said.

Police were much in evidence at and around the archaeological site where the ancient Games were held from 776 BC and for more than 1,000 years, until the Christians stamped them out. Anyone heading for the venue had to have an accreditation and pass through checkpoints and metal detectors.

On Sunday, two protesters were detained on the Acropolis in Athens trying to raise a banner to draw attention to human rights abuses in China.

The Olympic flame will be taken to Athens and handed over to Beijing organizers on Tuesday at the renovated stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.

The Beijing Winter Games will run from Feb. 4-20. Only spectators from mainland China will be allowed to attend. Everyone at the Olympics including athletes will be expected to be vaccinated, or else have to spend 21 days in quarantine.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Protestors disrupt flame lighting for Beijing Winter Games - Associated Press

A scarf and an artist rendering of a venue from Anchorage's bids for the Winter Olympic Games are part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Photographed on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Curious Alaska is an ongoing feature powered by your questions. What do you want to know or want us to investigate about life in Alaska, stories behind the news or why things are the way they are? Let us know in the form at the bottom of the story.

Question: Ive always heard that Anchorage was once considered to host the Winter Olympics but didnt because of a lack of hotel capacity to accommodate athletes, coaches and staff. Is this true, and if so, how close did it actually get? Is it possible in this lifetime?

There was an era in Anchorages history when the city came close, on multiple occasions, to winning a bid to host the Winter Olympics.

I found myself mulling over these same questions on a recent trip to an Anchorage thrift store, where I happened upon a large photograph in a red frame that made me stop and stare. It was an aerial shot of hundreds maybe thousands of people gathered on the Delaney Park Strip, standing in a neat formation the shape of the Olympic rings.

Archivist Gwen Higgins displays an "Olympic Rings Human Flag" aerial photograph taken by Clark Mishler at the Delaney Park Strip on Sept. 21, 1986 is part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

How close did Anchorage get to hosting the Olympics? And could our city try again?

Rick Mystrom remembers it well. An advertising executive who served as mayor of Anchorage in the 1990s, he spearheaded a campaign for Alaskas biggest city to host the biggest sporting event on the planet.

In the mid- to late 1980s, the effort captured the publics attention, and for a period Mystrom and a group of other Anchorage boosters and businesspeople tried to convince the world that Alaska could host the Olympics.

For the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympic Games, Anchorage won the American bid but lost out in the international phase of competition. Those games were ultimately held in Albertville, France, and Lillehammer, Norway, respectively.

Artist rendering of a ski jumping venue from Anchorage's bids for the Winter Olympic Games are part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Photographed on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Anchorage was a bit of an underdog, Mystrom remembers. The first big presentation to the U.S. National Olympic Committee happened in Indiana.

We got there, and Salt Lake City had eight slide projectors and a bunch of guys with logo shirts on, Mystrom said. We had a long-haired guy looking for an adapter for our two slides.

But Anchorage had the magic of Alaska going for it, Mystrom said: the mystique of the Last Frontier and global name recognition.

Anchorage also had some practical benefits, like being one of the most strategic spots on the planet for live, prime-time television (a 4 p.m. final in Alaska could be broadcast at 8 p.m. primetime in the eastern U.S.) and a convenient location at an air travel crossroads, he said. Anchorage also had undeveloped land primed for potential development, abundant hotel rooms, cold weather and some existing facilities.

The pitch envisioned a main stadium on the land of what is now Alaska Pacific University, with Olympic-sized skating rinks throughout the city and a cross-country ski venue at Kincaid Park, Mystrom said. A ski jump was planned for Eagle River. There was no Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood at the time, but a large hotel there was seen as key to the plan, Mystrom said.

Archivist Gwen Higgins holds a parka from Anchorage's 1994 bid for the Winter Olympic Games is part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

The artifacts of years of Olympic dreams are packed into boxes in an archival collection at the University of Alaska Anchorage/Alaska Pacific University Consortium Library: Theres a hand-bedazzled sweatshirt with Anchorages Olympic logo on it half flame, half snowflake. An Anchorage Olympics kuspuk with a wolf ruff. Renderings of never-built ski jumps and an open-air pavilion on the Park Strip where the opening ceremonies might have been, with snowy Chugach Mountains in the background.

Part of the selling point for Anchorage was how invested and excited residents were about the idea of hosting the Olympics. The bids used no public money, Mystrom said.

In a third Olympic effort, Anchorage lost in the national level of competition to Salt Lake City, which went on to win the international bid to host the 2002 Winter Games.

Mystrom remembers telling Tom Brokaw in a television interview they beat us fair and square, he said. But the fact is, they didnt beat us fair and square.

Salt Lake City officials were accused of offering bribes and gifts to Olympics selection officials. Ultimately, two Salt Lake City delegation officials were criminally charged but later acquitted, members of the IOC were disciplined and ethics rules changed.

After that, Anchorages Olympic dream hibernated until 2013, when then-Mayor Dan Sullivan explored putting a bid together for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Sullivan reasoned that Anchorage had come close in the 1980s and the city had only become a stronger, bigger, more capable city since then.

All the elements just seem to fit, Sullivan told the Associated Press at the time. Sullivan didnt respond to questions for this story.

A committee met monthly at City Hall to discuss the prospect. But the effort never really got off the ground, said Matt Larkin, president of Dittman Research, a polling and public opinion research firm and one of the 2013 committee members.

It lost momentum, he said.

Part of the reason was the 2028 Summer Olympics went to Los Angeles making it unlikely that two games in a row would go to the United States. Milan ultimately won the 2026 games.

Past opinion research showed that Alaskans, by and large, supported an Olympic bid but had questions about costs, Larkin said.

Could Anchorage host the Olympics sometime in the future? The city is still blessed with snow, trails, rinks, hotel rooms, air travel connectivity all the basic ingredients.

But the games have changed, Mystrom said. Hosting has become prohibitively expensive, with cities building massive infrastructure that often serves limited use past the Olympics.

The Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia cost a reported $51 billion.

Putin just poured billions of dollars into putting up the facilities, he said. That kind of took most democracies out of it.

The last Winter Olympics, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, was a relative bargain at $13 billion. That Olympics included a $109 million stadium used for opening ceremonies that was later demolished.

A scarf from Anchorage's 1994 bid for the Winter Olympic Games is part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Most people seem to think its unlikely that Anchorage would launch another bid. But its not out of the question, Mystrom thinks.

It would be hard, he said. But it was hard then!

Trying for the Olympics had a way making people celebrate the best things about Anchorage, Mystrom said. In the current moment of ugly partisan divides in local government and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, we could use a little of that, he said.

Right now, theres not that kind of good feeling about the city ... you hope to have, he said. And so, it may not be the Olympics, but we need something to really bring people together.

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Curious Alaska: Will Anchorage try to host the Winter Olympics again? - Anchorage Daily News