The U.S. and Europe face off in a Ryder Cup-style track meet three weeks before the world championships from Sept. 9-10. The meet, held in Minsk, Belarus, will be the first of its kind since the 1960s, according to European Athletics. It will include every individual Olympic track event up to 3000m, plus all of the throws and jumps and a mixed-gender relay, one year before the first Olympic mixed-gender relay in Tokyo. Track and field already has the IAAF Continental Cup, where teams from Europe, Africa, Asia/Pacific and North/South America compete in even-numbered, non-Olympic years. OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us! MORE: 2023 World Track and Field Championships get host … [Read more...] about U.S., Europe set Ryder Cup-style track meet before 2019 Worlds
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Olympic taekwondo champion Steven Lopez removed from banned list
By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer Updated 9:36 am CST, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 Olympic taekwondo gold medalist Steven Lopez leads the team onto the field before the first quarter of an NFL football game at NRG Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016 in Houston. Olympic taekwondo gold medalist Steven Lopez leads the team onto the field before the first quarter of an NFL football game at NRG Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016 in Houston. Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 Olympic taekwondo gold medalist Steven Lopez leads the team onto the field before the first quarter of an NFL football game at NRG Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016 in Houston. Olympic taekwondo gold medalist Steven Lopez leads the team … [Read more...] about Olympic taekwondo champion Steven Lopez removed from banned list
Steven Lopez, Olympic taekwondo champion, removed from banned list
DENVER (AP) — Olympic taekwondo champion Steven Lopez won arbitration Monday in a sexual-misconduct case and had his name removed from the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s banned list. Lopez was permanently banned in September for sexual misconduct involving a minor. He has denied the allegations. This marks the first case to be overturned by arbitration in the 21-month history of the center. SafeSport spokesman Dan Hill said arbitration is part of the center’s “code that is built on fairness and has a process for both parties.” Lopez’s brother and coach, Jean Lopez, remains on the interim restricted list. The Lopezes are named as defendants in a sex-trafficking lawsuit filed against the SafeSport center, the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Taekwondo. The lawsuit alleges the organizations were long aware that the Lopezes were sexual predators but kept sending young women with them to competitions and practices. MORE: USOC fires official as Larry Nassar … [Read more...] about Steven Lopez, Olympic taekwondo champion, removed from banned list
Skateboarding, surfing and softball given Government funding for first time ahead of Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Skateboarding, surfing and softball will receive Government funding for the first time ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Wheelchair rugby - which previously had its funding cut - has also secured investment from a new £3 million Aspiration Fund outlined in detail last night by UK Sport. British Handball, which previously said the funding package had come over 10 months too late for Tokyo 2020, is not on the list. The fund, initially announced by the Government in October, aims to support minority sports. Skateboarding, surfing and softball are all new additions to the Olympic programme. Mims Davies, the sports minister, said: “This £3 million fund will give more athletes in more sports the chance to compete at the very top in Tokyo. It will help Great Britain and Northern Ireland continue to be a leading Olympic and Paralympic nation and am sure the athletes that will benefit will inspire the nation and help their sports grow.” Climbing and karate, the other new … [Read more...] about Skateboarding, surfing and softball given Government funding for first time ahead of Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Perry Baker crowned World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year again
Stars from powers Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa won the male World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, but only American Perry Baker has won it twice. The speedy Olympian earned the title for a second straight season, despite missing the last two legs of the 10-stop World Series with a shoulder injury. He still ranked fourth in tries and 10th in points. Baker, 32, reverted to rugby after a brief football career, failing a physical with the Philadelphia Eagles but playing two years in the Arena League as a wide receiver. He made the national team in 2014 and in his second tournament scored a game-winning try in an upset of Fiji, which would go on to win the first Olympic men’s rugby sevens tournament in Rio. Baker and the Americans placed ninth in Rio. They were fifth and sixth in the World Series the last two years, including a title in Las Vegas in March. Baker had the highlight of that leg, an end-to-end score in a 19-7 semifinal win over Fiji. The U.S. went on to … [Read more...] about Perry Baker crowned World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year again