COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The prime ministers of the three Baltic countries urged the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian athletes from next year’s Paris Games because of the war in Ukraine, saying Friday a boycott was a possibility. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said athletes from her country could be put in a situation […]
MARSEILLE, France (AP) — The Olympic flame is going for a sail. Instead of arriving overland, the symbolic flame alighting the 2024 Paris Games will take to the seas from its birthplace in Greece, arriving aboard a three-mast tall ship in the French port of Marseille. Paris organizers announced the flame’s journey on Friday at […]
GENEVA (AP) — The IOC stepped up efforts Thursday to explain its position on trying to help Russian athletes qualify for next year’s Paris Olympics amid a backlash from Ukraine and its allies. The International Olympic Committee’s move last week to map a pathway to Paris for athletes from Russia and Belarus who have not […]
U.S. Figure Skating has largely taken the high road when it comes to allegations of Russian doping at last year’s Beijing Olympics, which have left its team without any sort of medal after finishing second nearly a year ago. Not anymore. In a strongly worded repudiation of the investigative process, which has dragged on from […]
The new leader of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee reiterated the federation’s support for exploring a way for Russian athletes to compete at the Paris Olympics as neutrals, while insisting the current sanctions against the country remain in place. Gene Sykes, who took over for Susanne Lyons as USOPC chair on Jan. 1, wrote […]
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese company embroiled in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic corruption scandal said Thursday it would strengthen oversight to prevent further wrongdoing. Kadokawa “seriously betrayed public trust,” company president Takeshi Natsuno said. He bowed deeply with two other executives to show remorse in a news conference. Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, the son of the founder, […]
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia has threatened to boycott next year’s Paris Olympics if Russian athletes are allowed to take part during the war in Ukraine and is calling on other countries to form a coalition to pressure international sports bodies. The Latvian Olympic Committee is the first national Olympic body other than Ukraine to […]
GENEVA (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Wladimir Klitschko has joined Ukraine’s fight against IOC plans to let some Russians compete at the 2024 Paris Summer Games. The former heavyweight champion suggested in a video message published Monday that sports leaders will be accomplices to the war if athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus […]
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Freestyle skier Alex Hall’s happy place this winter has been sliding down hand rails outside of offices and schools all over Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and other midwestern spots. The steeper and twistier, the better. Last winter, he found happiness at the Beijing Olympics on a run that nobody mistook for […]
GENEVA (AP) — The question of if and how Russia competes at the Olympics hangs over the 2024 Paris Summer Games. Just as it has now for five straight Olympics during Thomas Bach’s leadership of the IOC, whose support this week for some Russians to compete in Paris was publicly challenged Friday by Ukrainian President […]
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Russia’s path to sending a team to the Paris Olympics next year became clearer on Thursday amid fierce objections from Ukraine. The International Olympic Committee indicated on Wednesday it favors officially neutral teams from Russia and its ally Belarus at the 2024 Olympics despite a plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy […]
GENEVA (AP) — The IOC made clear Wednesday it wants Russians to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics as neutral athletes, in defiance of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call to exclude them entirely. Citing a “unifying mission” during a time of war, the International Olympic Committee said no athlete should face discrimination based only on […]
PARIS (AP) — Paris is rushing to finish construction work in time for the 2024 Olympics, with just 18 months to go. Delays are being experienced in part because of the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine on the steel industry. A venue which was due to be finished this summer won’t be completed until […]
MILAN (AP) — Speedskating for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics might be moved to the Turin oval or a temporary facility elsewhere after the IOC rejected plans to build an expensive roof over the outdoor track at Baselga di Piné. Costs for the roof were initially slated at 50 million euros ($54 million), according to a […]
The Belarusian track coach who tried to force a sprinter to return home from the Tokyo Olympics after she was critical of the team has been charged with breaching the sport’s integrity standards. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees disciplinary actions in track and field, announced the charges against Yury Maisevich on Thursday, alleging he […]
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — European state broadcasters were brought back into the heart of Olympic business on Monday when the IOC announced a rights deal through 2032 with the European Broadcasting Union. Rights covering 49 countries for four Olympics from 2026-2032 were awarded to both the EBU and Warner Bros. Discovery, the International Olympic Committee […]
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Men can compete in Olympic artistic swimming for the first time at the 2024 Paris Games, World Aquatics said on Thursday. Approval from the International Olympic Committee means a maximum of two men can be selected among eight athletes in the team event that is due to include 10 nations. Adding […]
TOKYO (AP) — The cost of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics is 20% higher than organizers said when they announced officials figures more than a year ago, according to a report by the Board of Audit of Japan. The report, which was released this week, said there was a lack of full disclosure and transparency […]
MONACO (AP) — Russian 400-meter hurdler Natalya Antyukh will lose her gold medal from the 2012 London Games due to doping, putting American Lashinda Demus in position to be named the champion more than a decade after the race. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping cases in track and field, announced Wednesday that Antyukh […]
TOKYO (AP) — Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto and the Japanese Olympic Committee say they will “discontinue for some time” their effort to land the 2030 Winter Games because of damage done by the Tokyo Olympic bid-rigging scandal. Akimoto suggested at a news conference on Tuesday that the bid was not being scrapped, just being paused. […]
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is encouraging individual sports to consider “category qualifiers” — classified in some sports as “open” categories — to ensure transgender athletes will have events to participate in once they reach puberty. The USOPC finalized its so-called position paper at its board meeting earlier this month and released it Monday, […]
MILAN (AP) — Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malagò is confident everything is on track for the country’s first Olympics in two decades but admits that the past few years have been akin to “running a marathon with a backpack.” Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will stage the 2026 Winter Games and the country’s preparations have […]
To hear the world’s Olympic leaders tell it, the bidding for future Winter Games has been jumbled by internal disputes at India’s Olympic committee, a newfound affinity for streamlining the bidding process and, most recently, a long-overdue nod to the impact of climate change. Left unsaid might be the biggest reason of all: It’s becoming […]
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — A second bronze medal will be awarded to end a dispute over third place in women’s skicross at the Beijing Olympics. Under a settlement reached 10 months after the race — and following a second change in the result — both Fanny Smith of Switzerland and Daniela Maier of Germany will […]
