recently lost a challenge with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a specialized judicial body in Switzerland, and filed an appeal with the country’s highest court. She has vowed never to take medication, prompting speculation that she might retire or switch to a longer-distance event in mid-career if the rule is allowed to stand. … [Read more...] about Caster Semenya wins temporary stay of new testosterone rule
Olympics
U.S. men’s rugby team qualifies for Tokyo Olympics
More: Olympics David Taylor will not defend wrestling world title Sam Girard, Olympic short track champion, surprisingly retires at age 22 Maia, Alex Shibutani extend break from ice dance competition The U.S. became the first men’s rugby team to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, clinching its spot Saturday during penultimate leg of this season’s World Series. The Americans, ranked No. 1 in the world, mathematically secured a place in the top four of the World Series final standings by advancing out of pool play in London. The knockout rounds are Sunday, but a top-eight finish was all that was necessary for Olympic qualification. Now the U.S. can focus on a goal it didn’t have at the start of the year: winning the nation’s first World Series season title. It entered London with a slim, three-point lead over Olympic champion Fiji, one that would be erased if Fiji and the U.S. advance to Sunday’s final and Fiji wins. Regardless, the … [Read more...] about U.S. men’s rugby team qualifies for Tokyo Olympics
Tom Daley: Meditation can help me win diving world title
Tom Daley has turned to meditation in a bid to become world champion for a third time. The 24-year-old British diver enjoyed what he described as his “most successful diving weekend” in Montreal late last month, winning gold in the men’s 10m platform as well as two silver medals in the synchro events. His performances in Canada place him second in the overall Fina World Diving Series standings behind China’s Yang Jian as he heads into the final two legs of the competition. “I’m really happy with the gold medal. There’s always a lot of room for improvement, sharpening up my entries,” Daley said. “It was the first World Series where I have led from the front all the way through. There is something about doing it for the first time which is a good feeling. “It was my most successful diving weekend because previously I have won two bronze medals and a silver, so it was good to get a gold and two silvers this time.” The … [Read more...] about Tom Daley: Meditation can help me win diving world title
Exclusive: Katherine Grainger reveals vision for Great Britain to host Olympics again and top medal table
Dame Katherine Grainger, the chair of UK Sport, has outlined fresh detail behind an audacious vision that “could transform sport as we know it in this country” and result in Britain’s greatest sporting achievement by topping the medals table at an Olympic Games. Team GB went from 36th in the medals table at Atlanta in 1996, with only one gold medal, to then improve the medal count in each of the next five summer Olympics to finish second behind only the United States in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. UK Sport oversees both the funding and much of the strategy for Olympic sport and believes that, with the right support from government and a potential London games in 2036, there is now the expertise and foundation to realise the ultimate sporting ambition. “It is an amazing, exciting and huge ambition,” Grainger told Telegraph Sport. “Everyone on part of that journey would be able to say, ‘We did something that’s never been done’. It would … [Read more...] about Exclusive: Katherine Grainger reveals vision for Great Britain to host Olympics again and top medal table
Skateboarding at the 2020 Olympics: Alex Decunha
Unlike most of Britain’s 2020 Olympic hopefuls, Alex Decunha does not have the luxury of coaches overseeing a tailored programme or nutritionists ensuring he sticks to a rigid eating regime. Dinner routinely comes from the chicken restaurant Nando’s, where he mans the grill twice a week for extra cash, and training is navigated around angry security guards attempting to clear him off their property. Decunha might be rated as Britain’s leading street skateboarder, but old stereotypes prevail and for many his artform remains a nuisance. “I’ll be skating around in town and security guards will come over and go ‘haven’t you got anything better to do, get a job’ and all that kind of rubbish,” Decunha, 22, told Telegraph Sport. “I can’t even be bothered to argue. “Everyone still looks at us like we’re hoodlums causing trouble, ruining all the ledges that we skate. “Even the other day I was skating in … [Read more...] about Skateboarding at the 2020 Olympics: Alex Decunha