Sport

Chicago’s Washington Park was nearly empty on a recent Friday afternoon as Bronzeville resident Rosemary Jarrett power-walked her usual five laps around the perimeter of the graceful meadowland where a temporary Olympic stadium could have risen this summer. The 52-year-old crossing guard shook her head at the memory of the city’s failed bid for the 2016 Summer Games. She had opposed it back then, she says, because she found everything…

The Olympics have never really been about sport. As David Goldblatt shows in this bracingly debunking history, from the outset the Games have been a way to project a view of the world, usually based on ugly politics and bogus science. When politics takes a back seat, it has been to commerce, not athletic competition. The early Games were attached to trade fairs – Paris 1900, St Louis 1904, London…

Katy Perry unveiled her first new song in three years with “Rise,” the singer’s theme for NBC’s broadcast of the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Perry also shared the single’s video, a riveting montage of memorable moments and athletes from Olympics’ past. Related 9 Great Songs You Didn’t Know Katy Perry Wrote Listen to 10 great songs written by Katy Perry for everyone from Britney Spears to Nicki Minaj. Produced…

Rio organisers are hoping that this year’s Olympics will create the same buzz as London 2012. If ever sport needed its most illustrious event to provide some inspiration, escapism and relief from its various troubles, it is now. With just three weeks until the start of the Rio Olympics, the focus should be firmly on the squad selections, the venues, the spectacular backdrop that the city will provide, the medal…

A southeast Houston teen is recovering in the hospital after a freak accident on the soccer field. Edwin Saldivar, 17, had to undergo surgery for a perforated small intestine he sustained during a summer soccer league game in southeast Houston on July 10. The J. Frank Dobie High School senior tells Eyewitness News he took the ball away from an opposing player. Then they both fell. “He just happened to…

In a conference room at city hall, a framed photograph from the 2012 Olympics shows then-London Mayor Boris Johnson passing the Olympic flag to Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro. Paes, all smiles, waves the flag proudly. He’s not smiling much today. A lot has changed in Brazil over the last few years — mostly for the worse — and Paes is on the defensive as the Games approach….

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email print comment Our experts weigh in on four of the biggest questions in NASCAR: Turn 1: Did NASCAR make the right call on Martin Truex Jr. for passing on pit road? Ricky Craven, ESPN NASCAR analyst: By the letter of the rule, yes. But the primary concern all drivers will have headed into this weekend’s drivers meeting is this: Where is the line of judgment when…

Image copyright AP Image caption Brazil has beefed up security ahead of the Olympics France was informed of a planned terror attack on its team at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the head of French military intelligence has said. Gen Christophe Gomart told a parliamentary commission in May that a “partner agency” warned of the plot by a Brazilian Islamist militant. No further details were given. Gen Gomart…

x Embed x Share With the Rio Olympics 50 days out most of the headlines have been negative. But there’s always more than meets the eye in this fascinating, mysterious city. USA TODAY Sports Rory McIlroy would rather watch the Olympics than play in them. Will he regret that?(Photo: Thomas J. Russo, USA TODAY Sports) Honesty got the best of Rory McIlroy the other day when he became just another…

x Embed x Share Zika, pollution, political turmoil, muggings, doping, floating corpses among concerns Time The Christ the Redeemer statue is an iconic symbol of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which will host the Olympics in August.(Photo: Mario Tama, Getty Images) The 2016 Olympics are highly unlikely to spread Zika worldwide, federal officials said, noting that the 500,000 people expected to travel to Brazil for the August games account for less than 1% of…

Even now, eight years later, I’m not completely over it: The US softball team lost in the gold medal game of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was the first time in Olympic softball history that the US didn’t win gold. It was horrible. I felt that we’d let down the tradition of USA softball. That we’d fallen short for all the women who’d paved this golden tradition for…

After finishing my last race at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, I went back to the arena and climbed the highest tower overlooking the pool. I sat there and looked out at all those empty seats, thinking, “What’s next?” I was 17. I’d already competed in two Olympic Games, winning two gold medals. Over the course of my career I’d set 18 fastest times and world records. And…

Photo via: Morry Gash/AP Images The Rio Olympics formally begin August 5th with the opening ceremony from the Maracanã stadium. Proceedings start at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, only you won’t be able to watch them on NBC until at least an hour later. At a press conference yesterday, NBC execs announced plans to broadcast the ceremony at 8 p.m. Eastern Time and 7 p.m. Central Time, each on one hour…

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ENLARGE On a Friday in October 2009, a delegation of golf executives and players arrived at the Copenhagen Marriott hotel to make one last pitch to members of the International Olympic Committee. Already, golf luminaries from Tiger Woods to Jack Nicklaus had sent video testimonials expressing their support for the sport’s return to the Summer Games. Now, on the day the IOC would vote on golf’s fate, two prominent professionals—Padraig…

Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn will not be in attendance at the summer games in Rio this year. “I was going to, but I think with the Zika and everything, it’s probably just better that I watch from home,” Vonn, 31, told PEOPLE while celebrating Under Armour‘s debut of the UA Crossback Bra in West Hollywood on Tuesday. The Under Armour athlete says other Olympians she has spoken to have mixed…

The U.S. women’s soccer team has named its official Olympic roster for the 2016 Rio Games.  The team is led by co-captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn. Lloyd will be appearing in her third Olympics, while Sauerbrunn will be making her second appearance. Of the 18 players on the roster, 11 will be making their Olympic debut.  The biggest storyline around the team’s roster selection is the inclusion of Megan Rapinoe. When…

Paul Christesen, Dartmouth College “The Olympic Games in Rio are an unnatural disaster,” The New York Times recently declared. As someone who has spent two decades studying and writing about the ancient and modern Olympics, I’m not surprised by the pronouncement. It simply fulfills a prophecy many foretold in the months (and years) leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games. While Rio has its own particular challenges, such as the…

Russia’s only athlete allowed to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics has been branded a traitor on social media and told to compete for Ukraine instead. The country’s track and field athletes were banned from competing in the upcoming Olympics in Brazil over allegations of mass doping. Long jumper Darya Klishina was granted permission by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to compete, as they announced she met…