Olympic Games

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Looks Like LA, Paris Will Host 2024, 2028 Olympics

If a 3-way deal with the IOC works out

(Newser) - If they can agree who goes first, Paris and Los Angeles will be awarded the 2024 and 2028 Olympics. International Olympic Committee members voted unanimously to seek a consensus three-way deal between the two bid cities and the IOC executive board, the AP reports. Talks will open with Paris widely...

Rio Closing Ceremony Feels Like Carnival

Brazil bids farewell to the games

(Newser) - Shaking to samba and expressing a sense of longing with uniquely Brazilian words, Olympians and fans said goodbye to the Rio Games with one last big bash that was both revelatory and a sigh of relief. The closing ceremony Sunday celebrated the 16-day spectacle that was the Rio Games, which...

Ellen Insists She's Not Racist After Controversial Bolt Tweet

She tweeted picture of herself riding the sprinter

(Newser) - Ellen DeGeneres is in hot water after tweeting a photo Monday showing her riding on the back of Usain Bolt. The photo of the Jamaican sprinter grinning back at his competitors as he won gold in the 100-meter dash in the Rio Olympics quickly got turned into quite a few...

Irish IOC Exec Wanted for Ticket Scalping

Arrest warrant issued for Patrick Hickey

(Newser) - An International Olympic Committee executive is in big trouble for allegedly scalping tickets to the Rio Games. Brazil authorities issued an arrest warrant for Patrick Hickey, and said Wednesday that he and six others were involved in the illegal ticket sales plot, the AP reports. Hickey, a member of the...

Defending Olympic Pole-Vault Champ Gets 'Quite Ill' in Rio

Jenn Suhr will not withdraw

(Newser) - Jenn Suhr, New York resident and defending Olympic pole vault champion, may not get a chance to win gold for the US again. "Jenn has fallen ill, quite ill in the last two days," her husband and coach, Rick, posted on Facebook Monday from Rio de Janeiro. "...

Michael Phelps Tries to Break 2,168-Year-Old Record Today

He tied the record for individual Olympic gold medals this week

(Newser) - Michael Phelps will try to break an ancient Olympic record this week. The swimmer has won 21 Olympic gold medals, 12 of them in individual events—and those dozen personal medals mean Phelps has tied an Olympic record that had been held for 2,168 years, Deadspin reports. Olympic historian...

Mystery Surrounds the Youngest-Ever Olympian

'The great mystery of Olympic history'

(Newser) - The youngest-ever Olympian may have been an 8-year-old boy who was recruited from the audience to serve as coxswain for the Netherlands in the rowing event during the 1900 games in Paris—but no one really knows for sure, reports the Wall Street Journal in a look at what one...

Woman Raises Cash for Her Uber Driver to Watch Son in Rio

Ellis Hill is scheduled to fly to Rio next week

(Newser) - Ellis Hill's son is competing in shot put in the Rio Olympics next week—and thanks to one of Hill's Uber passengers, Hill will be there to watch him do it. Hill was driving Liz Willock from the Philadelphia airport to her hotel last week when Willock mentioned...

Vietnam Wins Its 1st-Ever Olympic Gold Medal

Thanks to air pistol shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh

(Newser) - Vietnam won its first-ever Olympic gold medal on Saturday courtesy of shooter Hoang Xuan Vihn, the AP reports. Hoang rallied to beat hometown favorite Felipe Almeida Wu on the final shot of men's 10-meter air pistol. Wu trailed by as many as 2.3 points, but moved 0.2...

Olympic Officials Use Bolt Cutters After Losing Stadium Keys

Whoops

(Newser) - Not exactly an auspicious start to the Rio Olympics: Officials couldn't find the keys for one of the Maracana Stadium gates Wednesday, so they had to use bolt cutters to let fans into a soccer game, Fox Sports reports. (As Sports Illustrated notes, competition has already begun for some...

Here&#39;s How to Fix the Olympics
 Here's How to Fix the Olympics 
OPINION
Jul 21, 2016 1:58 PM CDT

Here's How to Fix the Olympics

It's time to 'decentralize,' says columnist

(Newser) - The Rio Olympics have gotten a lot of bad press thanks to Zika's proliferation in Brazil, but it's not just this year's Olympics that are in trouble, writes Paul Christesen in The Conversation . Other host cities have faced problems from funding to environmental impacts. "It seems...

Doping Gets Another Russian Team Booted From Olympics

Rower's urine sample had banned substance in it

(Newser) - World rowing's ruling body says that the Russian men's quadruple sculls team has been disqualified from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for a doping violation, and will be replaced at the games by New Zealand, the AP reports. The World Rowing Federation says that trimetazidine, a banned substance,...

Rio Governor: Olympics Could Be 'Big Failure'

Acting governor warns that federal government payout is needed

(Newser) - Rio de Janeiro's acting governor warned Monday that the Olympic Games could be a "big failure" because of budget shortfalls that threaten to compromise security and mobility during the games. In an interview with Rio's O Globo daily, Francisco Dornelles said the state is still awaiting an...

Rio Declares Financial Emergency Just Weeks Before Olympics

Not to mention looming 'public calamity' and 'social collapse'

(Newser) - With less than 50 days before the Olympics, the state of Rio de Janeiro officially declared financial emergency while warning of a "serious economic crisis" and looming "public calamity," the BBC reports. According to Reuters , Gov. Francisco Dornelles declared the state of financial emergency Friday, requesting federal...

Russian Track Team Banned From Olympics

Doping scandal results in bad news for the nation

(Newser) - In what the New York Times calls "an extraordinary punishment that might be without precedent in Olympics history," the Russian track and field team has been banned from competition at the Summer Olympics. Seven months ago, the World Anti-Doping Agency published a scathing report accusing Russia of a...

Athletes, Coaches Freezing Sperm Before Olympics Over Zika Fears

But few plan on staying home

(Newser) - The Zika virus is adding a whole new wrinkle to the way athletes and coaches are preparing for the Olympics this year. For example, the New York Times reports John Speraw, coach of the US men's indoor volleyball team, is freezing his sperm before traveling to Rio. “My...

Pregnant Savannah Guthrie: I'm Skipping Olympics

She's the highest-profile NBC employee to opt out so far

(Newser) - Today co-host Savannah Guthrie is pregnant with her second child—which means she won't be heading to Brazil to cover the Olympics this summer. "I’m not going to be able to go to Rio, so you’ll have to go to beach volleyball without me," she...

Usain Bolt Could Lose One of His Gold Medals

2008 teammate allegedly tested positive for banned substance

(Newser) - Usain Bolt could lose one of his three gold medals from the 2008 Beijing Olympics thanks to another member of Jamaica's 400-meter relay team from that year. Amid a crackdown during which Olympic officials have been re-testing samples from the past two Summer Games with new technology, Jamaican team...

Expert Says Olympics Should Be Rescheduled Over Zika

He says the lives of many thousands of unborn babies are at risk

(Newser) - "But for the games, would anyone recommend sending an extra half a million visitors into Brazil right now?" University of Ottawa professor Amir Attaran writes in the Harvard Public Health Review . According to the AP , Attaran is calling on the International Olympic Committee to postpone or relocate the Summer...

Rio's Olympic Flame Begins Its 15-Week Odyssey

Officials promise 2016 Games will be a success

(Newser) - The Olympic flame has been kindled at the birthplace of the ancient games in Greece, heralding the start of a 15-week journey leading to the Aug. 5 opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, reports the AP . IOC and Rio organizing committee leaders attended Thursday's flame-lighting at Ancient Olympia, where...

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