Blog

x Embed x Share A resident of Rio’s Marina da Glória at Guanabara Bay, where Olympic sailing and rowing will take place, describes the state of the water quality. USA TODAY Sports Workers gather debris carried by the tide and caught by the “eco-barrier” before entering Guanabara Bay July 20.(Photo: Yauyoshi Chiba, AFP/Getty Images) RIO DE JANEIRO – Luiz Goldfeld was excited in 2009 when he heard the Olympics were coming…

Some things never change. When Baron De Coubertin, founder of the Olympic movement, estimated the costs of the inaugural 1896 games in Athens, he thought that a quarter of a million drachmas should do the job. The final bill, about $10 million in today’s terms, was six times that. The country’s experience of Athens 2004 was not dissimilar in terms of sticking to the budget, but the comparison ends there….

Which nation will field the most doping-free team at the Rio Olympics, due to start on Aug. 5? Russia, the country that narrowly avoided a blanket ban from the games for drug abuse.  On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board decided that Russian athletes will not enjoy a presumption of innocence — in other words, they will all be considered potential dopers and subject to “a rigorous additional out-of-competition…

When you think of the founding fathers of the modern professional soccer in the United States, names such as Clive Toye, Phil Woosnam, Lamar Hunt and Robert Hermann come to mind. They did their own thing to make sure the game gained a foothold. But when William Drought Cox is mentioned, you’re more likely to be met with a blank look. As it happens, he did a lot. Cox had…

In July 2015, one year before the Olympic Games that will begin in Rio de Janeiro next month, the Associated Press conducted a five-month-long investigation into the “chronically polluted” water where some of the events will take place. What the AP described in an impressively reported 2,500 words, the British photographer Giles Price presents in a single image. His aerial photo of Rio’s Guanabara Bay shows water tinged a noxious…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

A Virginia baseball player was saved when his teammate administered CPR moments after he was struck in the chest by a baseball. The Manassas baseball team was practicing for the Southeast Regional Tournament on July 14 when the catcher threw the ball and hit Steve Smith directly in the chest, according to Steve’s father Tim. “His heart stopped immediately,” Smith said, who is also the team’s coach. “When you get…

Archery Has a decision been reached? Yes All three Russian athletes selected for Rio have been cleared to compete by World Archery, which says they have been tested extensively. None of the three has previously been sanctioned for doping. The World Archery president, Prof Dr Ugur Erdener, said: “The World Archery executive board was satisfied that, within the framework established by the IOC, archery’s three qualified Russian Federation athletes should…

The IOC’s ruling against a blanket Olympic ban for Russia was met with disappointment by many.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) Thomas Bach asserted, reiterated and repeated that, yes, indeed, the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics was in the interest of clean sport. In delegating the decisions about the eligibility of athletes in a state-sponsored doping program, the IOC was respecting the rights…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

Jefferson’s Scott Trail, left, catches the ball to get an out on Manchester’s Dan Sepic at second base during Central League baseball action in Manchester on Monday(Photo: Dawn J. Sagert, York Dispatch) Story Highlights Austin Allison and Dan Sepic played key roles for Manchester. Joe Jasinski, Jared Kashner, and Jordan Witmer each had two hits for Jefferson. Manchester is now 17-9-1, while Jefferson is 14-6-3. MANCHESTER — Austin Allison spent last…

Baltimore — Adam Jones scored the winning run in the 10th inning on a low throw to the plate by pitcher Jordan Lyles, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Monday night for their fifth straight victory. Jones reached on a one-out single off the third-base bag and took third on a single by Jonathan Schoop. Manny Machado followed with a comebacker to Lyles, who fumbled…

Few things in baseball make me more uncomfortable as a television viewer than when a pitcher is making his Major League debut and the camera is trained on his parents. It’s not as big a deal when a hitter plays in his first big league game, because if he strikes out, hey, strikeouts happen all the time — get back out there, rook. But when a pitcher takes the mound,…

A Manassas, Virginia, teenager went into cardiac arrest after an unusual play on a baseball diamond in mid-July. His life was saved by the quick actions of a teammate, bringing the two players and friends closer. Steve Smith is fortunate to be able to play ping pong with Paul Dow, a friend and baseball teammate who Smith said saved his life. “I shouldn’t be alive, and I’m just blessed to…

The IOC’s ruling against a blanket Olympic ban for Russia was met with disappointment by many.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) Thomas Bach asserted, reiterated and repeated that, yes, indeed, the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics was in the interest of clean sport. In delegating the decisions about the eligibility of athletes in a state-sponsored doping program, the IOC was respecting the rights…

A Russian whistleblower who helped uncover the biggest doping scandal in decades has told Reuters that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is more concerned about protecting the organization than ridding world sport of drugs cheats. A day after the IOC rejected a request by his wife, former Russian drugs cheat Yulia Stepanova, to run in the Rio Games as an independent athlete, Vitaly Stepanov said an invite to attend the…

x Embed x Share IndyStar’s Curt Cavin and Gregg Doyel discuss Sunday’s Brickyard 400. Kyle Busch dominates, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon have a nice moment and where are the fans? Clark Wade/IndyStar Buy Photo Nearly empty stands on the front stretch at the Brickyard 400, Sunday, July 24, 2016.(Photo: Robert Scheer/IndyStar)Buy Photo Attendance at NASCAR races is down across the country, as are television ratings. While the sport and…

Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Athletes are arriving in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics, and have been greeted at the Athletes’ Village with gas leaks, power outages, and “a small fire.” The Australian Olympic Committee already declared the Village “uninhabitable”, and according to The Guardian, 19 of the 31 apartment towers (all of which are 17 stories tall) that comprise the Village have not passed safety tests. The list…

Few things in baseball make me more uncomfortable as a television viewer than when a pitcher is making his Major League debut and the camera is trained on his parents. It’s not as big a deal when a hitter plays in his first big league game, because if he strikes out, hey, strikeouts happen all the time — get back out there, rook. But when a pitcher takes the mound,…

BASEBALL: Kelsie Whitmore chases dream of being a pro baseball player Share Pin It More Galleries Focus on your game, Kelsie Whitmore told herself. Just play ball. It was a Friday, the first weekend of July, a few hours before Whitmore’s first game with the Sonoma Stompers, an independent-league men’s baseball team in California that plays in the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs. Whitmore, a 5-foot-6 outfielder/pitcher,…