Olympics

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As Olympics Loom, Eyes on France's Mystery 'Invader'

Street artist's mosaics have appeared in more than 4K locations around the globe

(Newser) - For the Paris Olympics, it could almost be a new sport: Score points by hunting down mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself "Invader" has cemented to walls across France's capital, the world, and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. Vincent Giraud, one of...

Paris' Olympic Medals Feature a Little Something Special

Yep, that's an actual piece of the Eiffel Tower going home with victorious athletes

(Newser) - An Olympic medal with an inlaid piece of the Eiffel Tower. How's that for a monumental prize? A hexagonal, polished chunk of iron taken from the iconic landmark is being embedded in each gold, silver, and bronze medal that will be hung around athletes' necks at the July 26-Aug....

Paris Just Made Your SUV a Lot Costlier

City of Lights votes in favor of eye-popping parking fees for SUVs ahead of Olympic Games

(Newser) - Parisians voted Sunday to muscle SUVs off the French capital's streets by making them much more expensive to park, the latest leg in a drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to make the host city for this year's Olympic Games greener and friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists. More...

Disqualified Russian Skater Means US Earns Olympic Gold

Teen Kamila Valieva's doping case caused 'turmoil' at 2022 Games in Beijing

(Newser) - Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified from the 2022 Olympics on Monday, almost two years after her doping case caused turmoil at the Beijing Games. The verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport means the Russians are set to be stripped of the gold medal in figure skating'...

Paris Olympics Hit a Surfing Snag
Paris Olympics
Hit a Surfing Snag

Paris Olympics Hit a Surfing Snag

Construction of a new tower apparently caused problems before it even began

(Newser) - Tahiti's Teahupo'o "is one of the most powerful and deadly waves on the planet for surfing," in Surfer Today's view, a place that has only been surfed since 1985 but one that now features on the World Surf League's championship tour. It's also...

LA Wants These 5 Sports Added to the 2028 Olympics

Flag football will likely be included at the games in 2028

(Newser) - Flag football took a key step toward becoming an Olympic sport in 2028, a victory for the NFL and organizers in Los Angeles who want to bring a distinctly American sport to the Summer Games as they return to the United States for the first time in 32 years. Two...

Ahead of Paris Olympics, a Pesky Issue: 'No One Is Safe'

Bedbugs are overrunning France, with the Games less than 10 months away

(Newser) - The Summer Olympics kick off in Paris in a little under 10 months, but France is now contending with a pesky issue it hopes it can contain before then. NPR reports on a nationwide "resurgence of bloodsucking bedbugs," six-legged insects about the size of an apple seed that...

Olympics Booze Ban Has an Elite Exception

VIPs will get to swill alcohol, while the masses will drink water, soft drinks

(Newser) - Paris has deemed that the hoi polloi will not be getting a buzz on at its 2024 Olympics—but there's a notable exception to its booze ban, and that is the folks in the VIP section. As the Guardian reports, VIPs can swill champagne to their hearts' content under...

Caught in Payment Dispute, an OIympian Takes Off His Clothes

Mexican diver Diego Balleza has started an OnlyFans to help pay for Olympic training

(Newser) - As a prominent 10-meter diver, Diego Balleza is used to wearing small swimsuits that show off his body. Now, desperate due to a lack of financial resources ahead of next year's Paris Olympics, the Mexican is making a leap to a different platform in which he also wears few...

Ralph Boston Made First 27-Foot Long Jump
Ralph Boston Broke
Jesse Owens' Record
obituary

Ralph Boston Broke Jesse Owens' Record

Olympian tied or topped world records six times in the 1960s

(Newser) - Ralph Boston, the Olympic long jump champion who broke Jesse Owens' world record then later had his own mark eclipsed by Bob Beamon's record-shattering leap at the Mexico City Games, died Sunday. He was 83. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee confirmed that Boston died Sunday at his home...

'Fosbury Flop' Remains a Lesson in Innovation
'Fosbury Flop' Remains
a Lesson in Innovation
obituary

'Fosbury Flop' Remains a Lesson in Innovation

Dick Fosbury changed high jumpers' technique

(Newser) - Dick Fosbury, the lanky leaper who revamped the technical discipline of high jump and won an Olympic gold medal with his "Fosbury Flop," has died. He was 76. Fosbury died Sunday, the AP reports, after a recurrence with lymphoma, his publicist said. Before Fosbury, many high jumpers cleared...

Track Dad Who Helped Son Finish Memorable Race Has Died

Jim and Derek Redmond participated in 'one of the most inspirational moments in Olympic history'

(Newser) - Jim Redmond wasn't supposed to be on the track at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. He wasn't even an athlete, yet he played a key role in what the Olympic Committee calls "one of the most inspirational moments in Olympic history." Per NPR, Jim Redmond died...

Twice a Survivor, 86-Year-Old Takes Family to Germany

Shaul Ladany was held in Bergen-Belsen and on Israeli Olympic team attacked in 1972

(Newser) - Shaul Ladany lived through a Nazi concentration camp and escaped the massacre of 11 fellow Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Decades later, the 86-year-old is back in Germany to visit the two places where he narrowly avoided death. On Saturday, Ladany, who was born in 1936...

IOC Reinstates Wins of 'Most Remarkable Athlete'

Jim Thorpe is now in the record books as sole winner of 2 golds at 1912 Games

(Newser) - Jim Thorpe, one of history's greatest and most versatile athletes, has finally been restored as the sole winner of two events at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The Native American athlete was stripped of the two gold medals more than six months after the Games when it emerged that he...

Skater in Doping Scandal Has Disastrous Performance

Russia's Kamila Valieva finishes in 4th in a stunner

(Newser) - It might be the biggest surprise of the Beijing Olympics: Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian skater embroiled in a doping controversy , had a disastrous free skate on Thursday and finished out of medal contention in fourth place. "Stunning" is the word used by Christine Brennan of USA Today, and...

He Had Gold in His Sights After COVID. Then a 'Silly Mistake'

Wrong turn likely cost Jarl Magnus Riiber a medal in Nordic combined

(Newser) - Expectations were high for Jarl Magnus Riiber going into the Winter Olympics. "He's probably going to go down as the best Nordic combined skier ever," NBC analyst Johnny Spillane said, per the Wall Street Journal . "If he has a good day, he's pretty much unstoppable....

More on Figure Skating's Medals Hold-Up Emerges
More on Figure Skating's
Medals Hold-Up Emerges
the rundown

More on Figure Skating's Medals Hold-Up Emerges

Doping hearing to decide fate of Kamila Valieva, who could nab another gold

(Newser) - Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's right to compete as the heavy favorite in the women's event at the Beijing Olympics will be decided at an urgent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport after a failed doping test, per the AP . The International Testing Agency (ITA) confirmed...

16 Years After 'Galling Mistake,' Snowboarder Finally Wins Gold

Lindsey Jacobellis brings home first gold for US at Winter Games in Beijing

(Newser) - It took 16 years and five Olympic appearances, but Lindsey Jacobellis finally has her gold medal. NBC News reports that the world-champion snowboarder, who first competed in the Games in 2006 in Turin, took top honors Wednesday in the women's snowboard cross, earning the US its first gold at...

NBC: Leslie Jones' Olympic Commentary Can Continue

Network says it resolved third-party error causing comedian's videos to be blocked

(Newser) - Update: NBC says Leslie Jones can continue sharing her colorful Olympics commentary after a "third-party error" caused her videos to be blocked. "We have resolved the situation. She is free to do her social media posts as she has done in the past," a rep says, per...

China Freaks Out as Eileen Gu Wins Gold

Praise of the US-born Olympian temporarily crashed Weibo

(Newser) - One gold medal down, two to go for Eileen Gu. The US-born athlete from China nabbed victory in big air, her first Olympic event, on Tuesday, after pulling off her first ever 1620 with a perfect landing. That earned her a 94.5 score on her third and final run,...

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