Olympics

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In a First, All Snow in Olympics Will Be Fake

Beijing practice could be the new norm amid climate change

(Newser) - The Winter Olympics have long been aided by fake snow. As Quartz reports, it began with the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, NY, as officials turned to snowmaking machines to pump out the white stuff in the midst of a dry winter. Over the years, amid warming global temperatures, officials...

FBI Has Ominous Advice for Olympians

Bureau tells athletes to use burner phones, warns of 'malicious cyber activities' in China

(Newser) - The FBI is urging Olympic athletes to use burner phones while in China over fears that they might otherwise be tracked. "The FBI urges all athletes to keep their personal cell phones at home and use a temporary phone while at the Games," the agency says. It adds...

'It Will Be Fire on Ice' in Beijing for Jamaican Bobsled Team

4-man team qualifies for first time in 24 years

(Newser) - For the first time in more than two decades, a four-man bobsled team from Jamaica is heading to the Olympics. The team secured its spot in the Beijing Games on Monday, proclaiming on Instagram , "It will be fire on ice." NBC News reports the island nation’s last...

After Getting Visa Applications, China Questions US Boycott

Biden administration says it's sending help for athletes and coaches, but not diplomats

(Newser) - Given that the Biden administration earlier this month announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, China is asking why it's receiving visa applications for US government employees. That can be explained, the US answered: Those applications are for consular and security officers—not diplomats or high-ranking officials, the...

China to US Execs: Push Back Against Olympics Boycott

'The business community cannot make a fortune in silence,' official says

(Newser) - With the Winter Olympics now just two months away, China seems to be getting worried about calls to boycott the Beijing Games—and it has started putting pressure on American companies with close links to the country. In a video conference Tuesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng urged American...

Brazil's Ex-Olympic Boss Gets 30 Years

Former Rio governor among others sentenced to jail for corruption

(Newser) - Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the head of the Brazilian Olympic Committee for more than two decades, was sentenced to 30 years and 11 months in jail for allegedly buying votes for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics. The ruling by Judge Marcelo Bretas became public Thursday, per the AP...

We're Just 100 Days Away From Another Olympics

'Muted' celebrations mark 100 days to Winter Olympics in Beijing amid travel restrictions

(Newser) - In 100 days, Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics, which CNN reports is "a major point of pride for China." But the marathon relay and musical performances that marked the 100-day countdown to Beijing's 2008 Summer Olympics were missing...

N. Korea Pays Piper Over Its Olympic No-Show

Pyongyang is suspended from Beijing Olympics for skipping out on Tokyo Games over COVID

(Newser) - North Korea was formally suspended from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics by the IOC on Wednesday as punishment for refusing to send a team to the Tokyo Games citing the COVID-19 pandemic. IOC president Thomas Bach said the North Korean national Olympic body will also now forfeit money it was...

Hurdler Who Won Gold Thanks Volunteer Who Got Him to the Race

Hansle Parchment almost missed his chance at Olympic medal after he went to wrong venue

(Newser) - If your mother always told you give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport, or to your Olympic 110-meter hurdling competition, we hope you've listened. Hansle Parchment will likely leave the house way early from now on, after the Jamaican hurdler almost missed his chance to compete...

Odd, Uneven Olympics End
Odd, Uneven Olympics End
photos
Aug 8, 2021 11:10 AM CDT

Odd, Uneven Olympics End

IOC president praises athletes as Paris accepts the challenge of hosting the next Games

(Newser) - It began with a virus and a yearlong pause. It ended with a typhoon blowing through and, still, a virus. In between: just about everything. The Tokyo Olympics, christened with "2020" but held in mid-2021 after being interrupted for a year by the coronavirus, glided to their conclusion in...

Sue Bird Ends Team USA Career With 5th Straight Gold

Team beat Japan 90-75 to cap basketball legend's 17-year Olympic career

(Newser) - US women have won their seventh straight gold medal in basketball , beating Japan 90-75 to cap Sue Bird's 17-year Olympic career. Per the AP , Bird and Diana Taurasi walked off the basketball court together, arm-in-arm, one last time at the Tokyo Games. They started their journey together five Olympics...

Belarus Sprinter Is Latest in a Long Line of Olympic Defectors

Dozens of Hungarians defected in 1956 after Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest

(Newser) - Belarus sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is now officially a political exile—and the latest in a long line of Olympic defectors, many of them from authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe. Unlike many of her predecessors, Tsimanouskaya didn't travel to the Olympics planning to defect, the AP reports. The 24-year-old, who...

Fleeing the Games, Sprinter Made a Last-Minute Switch

Wary of security, Belarus sprinter changed flight plans from Warsaw to Vienna at last minute

(Newser) - Change of travel plans for Krystsina Tsimanouskaya—she's headed to Vienna instead of Warsaw, at least initially. The Washington Post reports on the continuing drama swirling around the 24-year-old Olympic sprinter, who boarded a plane bound for Poland on Wednesday, less than three days after Belarus authorities took her...

Both Beat the World Record, but Only One Could Win Gold

Sydney McLaughlin of the US wins Olympics' 400-meter hurdles event

(Newser) - Sydney McLaughlin broke the world record. Dalilah Muhammad broke it, too. Only one of the world's best hurdlers could win the Olympic gold medal—and McLaughlin came out ahead in the latest installment of the best rivalry in track, the AP reports. The 21-year-old out of East Orange, NJ,...

Hock an Olympic Medal, Bank This Much

Melt down a gold medal and you can expect to pocket $800, and just 5 bucks for a bronze

(Newser) - If you're an elite athlete who's earned the chance to compete in the Olympics, winning a medal at the Games would be metaphorically priceless. But if you had to attach a real, literal price to the coveted hardware, how much could the gold, silver, and bronze versions fetch?...

US Medalist Raven Saunders Does Protest Gesture at Podium

The 'X' arms likely violated Olympic rules, according to reports

(Newser) - After Raven Saunders won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, the US shot-putter raised her arms in an 'X' above her head at the podium following the medal ceremony. The 25-year-old told the AP the X symbolizes "the intersection of where all people who are...

Romania&#39;s Olympians Were Welcomed With a Dracula Pic
Broadcaster Says Sorry for
'Inexcusable' Gaffe at Olympics
in case you missed it
Jul 31, 2021 1:40 PM CDT

Broadcaster Says Sorry for 'Inexcusable' Gaffe at Olympics

Among stereotypical pics used in opening ceremonies: Chernobyl for Ukraine, pizza for Italy

(Newser) - Ukrainians tuning in to the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday were likely looking forward to catching a glimpse of the athletes representing their country, not a photo of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that wreaked havoc within its borders in 1986. If they happened to watch the sporting...

Biles Pulls Out of 2 More Finals in Tokyo

No vault or uneven bars for gymnast as she focuses on her mental health

(Newser) - Simone Biles is opting not to defend her Olympic vault title, pulling out of Sunday's event finals for both vault and uneven bars while she focuses on her mental health. The 24-year-old six-time Olympic medalist removed herself from competition during the team finals on Tuesday and sat out Thursday'...

In Suni Lee&#39;s Story Is the Hmong Story as Well
In Suni Lee's Story
Is the Hmong Story as Well
the rundown
Jul 30, 2021 12:30 PM CDT

In Suni Lee's Story Is the Hmong Story as Well

Gymnast is the first from her ethnic community to compete for America

(Newser) - Sunisa "Suni" Lee was going to make history even if she returned from the Tokyo Olympics without a single medal. The 18-year-old is the first Hmong American to compete, and not only did she compete, she is taking home the gold in individual all-around gymnastics. Lee's victory is...

Things Will Be More Chaotic Than Usual in Pool on Saturday

In an Olympic first, men and women will team up for the 4x100-meter mixed medley relay

(Newser) - Swimming is nothing if not orderly, but get ready for a little chaos. Here comes the 4x100-meter mixed medley relay, making its Olympic debut in Tokyo on Saturday: two men and two women per country doing backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle, per the AP . The teams get to decide who...

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