Sport

x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Jeff Gluck looks ahead to the Pennsylvania 400 and the story lines that fans should keep an eye on leading up to this weekend. USA TODAY Sports Kurt Busch, front, won the June Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.(Photo: Matthew O’Haren, USA TODAY Sports) LONG POND, Pa. — It is NASCAR race day at Pocono Raceway, and we’ve got all the information you need…

facebook Share twitter Share Following an absence of 108 years, Ireland’s men’s field hockey team will make a long-awaited return to the Olympic Games at Rio 2016, where they will line up in a 12-team competition featuring six nations that have won gold before. Held in Antwerp (BEL) and Buenos Aires (ARG) in June and July 2015, the FIH…

Bob Bryan, left, and Mike Bryan won the Olympic men’s doubles gold medal four years ago in London. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland) Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, the most decorated men’s doubles tennis pair of all time, have pulled out of the Rio Olympics less than a week before the Games are set to begin. The Bryans made the decision Friday night after their quarterfinals loss at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, citing health…

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A pair of teams playing in the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships’ U18 Girls tournament have been accused of deliberating tanking their match in order to move on. TopDrawerSoccer.com reported Carlsbad Elite and Ambassadors FC entered their Thursday match against each other at the top of their group and would both move on with a draw. When the final whistle blew, that’s exactly what happened with a 0-0 tie. But from video purportedly…

x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Jeff Gluck looks ahead to the Pennsylvania 400 and the story lines that fans should keep an eye on leading up to this weekend. USA TODAY Sports Alon Day will make his debut in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.(Photo: Barry Cantrell for NASCAR) One of the stars of Duck Dynasty may have been the catalyst for NASCAR’s first Israeli driver. On…

1) They are in Rio Doping scandals have dominated the headlines, the construction of the athletes’ village still isn’t finished, there are fears over the Zika virus and Brazilians are yet to embrace the Olympic spirit. Related: Rio 2016: ten things you need to know – from bugs to Bolt | Barry Glendenning We could go on. But we’re looking for reasons to be get excited about a fortnight of…

In July 2005, a few days after London was awarded the 2012 Olympic Games, I took the Docklands Light Railway to Pudding Mill Lane. It was a journey I have repeated at intervals ever since, before and after the Olympics – but not during, when the authorities deemed it helpful to shut the station most convenient for the main stadium. Eleven years ago this was an ugly, forgotten area full…

Triathlete sisters Nada, left, and Najla Al Jeraiwi pose for a portrait in Kuwait City in April. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) MISHREF, Kuwait — On a perfectly breathable Friday near sunset in the spring, you might have spotted what residents say you never would have spotted 10 years ago: women, here and there, on the pathways that twist near a sports park, walking briskly or jogging, in their abayas. Look…

The day before she officially made the U.S. women’s soccer team for the Rio Olympics, Mallory Pugh grabbed Coach Jill Ellis’ attention one more time. The 18-year-old dribbled down the left side, peeked into the box before reaching the end line then swung a cross toward the middle. The pass skipped in front of South African goalie Roxanne Barker and found a wide-open Crystal Dunn, who scored the only goal in a…

The 2016 Rio Olympics are just a week away, so whether you like it or not the bulk of the sports conversation will shift to the games over the next couple of weeks. If you’re like most Americans you haven’t thought about the Olympics in four years, so you might be a little lost right now. Don’t panic. We’re here to help. Here is a quick cheat sheet to Rio…

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Brazilian soldiers make a convoy during the inauguration of the BRT TransOlímpica, an express road that connects Deodoro and Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro on July 9, 2016. (Tasso Marcelo/AFP/Getty Images) RIO DE JANEIRO — The 22-mile trip from the center of Rio to the Athletes’ Village should have taken about 70 minutes. But on a recent Friday afternoon, taxi driver Ricardo de Andrade spent 2  1 /2…

Life imitated art when Brazilian soccer pro Wendell Lira announced his retirement from the sport yesterday (July 28). Instead, the 27-year-old will launch a career playing Fifa soccer videogames. “It is almost impossible to stop playing football to live as a gamer, but God gave me this opportunity,” the striker told Globoesporte.com. Lira isn’t a run-of-the-mill player, either. He won Fifa’s Puskas Award for the best goal of 2015, beating…

Washington Spirit attacker Estefania Banini, who plays for Argentina’s Sky Blue and Whites, has scored four goals in the past six NWSL matches. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Estefania Banini’s parents took her from club to club in Mendoza, Argentina, searching for a place for their 5-year-old daughter to play soccer. No, came the answer. No, again and again. At least 10 times. It was 1995, and in Argentina, as in…

Mangar Makur Chuot – the South Sudanese refugee who rose from a refugee camp to qualify for the Olympic Games – has been controversially de-selected by the South Sudan team, without explanation a week before the Games begin. Chuot has declined to comment, but his coach Lindsay Bunn said South Sudan’s selection process for the Games had been tainted, and that ineligible athletes with inferior records had been preferred. Related:…

Washington Spirit attacker Estefania Banini, who plays for Argentina’s Sky Blue and Whites, has scored four goals in the past six NWSL matches. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Estefania Banini’s parents took her from club to club in Mendoza, Argentina, searching for a place for their 5-year-old daughter to play soccer. No, came the answer. No, again and again. At least 10 times. It was 1995, and in Argentina, as in…

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email print comment Our experts weigh in on four of the biggest questions in NASCAR. This week, we hit Joe Gibbs Racing, solutions for Indy and the mystery surrounding the 88 car: Turn 1: How could Joe Gibbs Racing get this far ahead in what is supposed to be the most competitive era of NASCAR? Ricky Craven, ESPN NASCAR analyst: They have the strongest rotation in NASCAR….

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin is still pretty upset about so many Russian athletes being banned from the Olympics due to doping. While Russia did avoid a straight-up ban, track and field and several individual athletes are still not allowed to compete in Rio. So what’s an angry prime minister who thinks his country has been discriminated against by drug tests to do? Hold his own games, of course. On…

If seeking a benchmark for American Olympic dominance less than a week before the 2016 Games begin, you can’t find a better statistical example than the 1904 edition.  The U.S. cleaned up that year, taking home more than 230 total medals in its first turn hosting. No other country even hit 20 total medals. That’s nuts.  But a closer look reveals the 1904 Olympics to be something else entirely: Deeply…