World Sports

TWENTY-EIGHT sports have been contested in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio. Yet though that number makes it impossible to keep track of all 306 events, it is still not enough to include all disciplines that would like to feature. Despite much vigorous campaigning by the World Squash Federation (WSF), a bid to add the game to the Rio schedule was rejected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2009….

Waisako Naholo scores the All Blacks’ fourth try New Zealand opened the 2016 Rugby Championship by humiliating Australia 42-8 in the Bledisloe Cup at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney. Ryan Crotty, Beauden Barrett, Jerome Kaino and Waisake Naholo scored tries as they led 32-3 at the break. Dane Coles and Julian Savea went over to extend the lead before Nick Phipps scored a consolation try. Police are to investigate how…

x Embed x Share Lochte and three U.S. swimmers said they were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday, with Lochte saying their cab was pulled over by men impersonating police officers. Jimmy Feigen is one of three U.S. swimmers still in Brazil after allegedly being robbed earlier this week.(Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports) RIO DE JANEIRO — The money that U.S. swimmer Jimmy Feigen must pay to resolve his legal cases in…

x Embed x Share Lochte and three U.S. swimmers said they were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday, with Lochte saying their cab was pulled over by men impersonating police officers. Jimmy Feigen is one of three U.S. swimmers still in Brazil after allegedly being robbed earlier this week.(Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports) RIO DE JANEIRO — The money that U.S. swimmer Jimmy Feigen must pay to resolve his legal cases in…

During the 2016 Olympics, the U.S. enjoyed a brief, imperfect glimpse of a rare phenomenon in sports: gender equality. Notable gaffes in sexist Olympics coverage aside, high-profile women athletes like swimmers, gymnasts, and runners were front and center during prime-time viewing hours, and women in sports like rugby, field hockey, and shot put also got airtime. A team of researchers even found that NBC’s primetime telecast of the 2016 Rio…

x Embed x Share Lochte and three U.S. swimmers said they were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday, with Lochte saying their cab was pulled over by men impersonating police officers. Jimmy Feigen is one of three U.S. swimmers still in Brazil after allegedly being robbed earlier this week.(Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports) RIO DE JANEIRO — The money that U.S. swimmer Jimmy Feigen must pay to resolve his legal cases in…

Image copyright EPA Image caption PV Sindhu is the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal On Thursday night, a 21-year-old became the first Indian woman to qualify for a gold medal contest at the Olympic Games. Ninth-seeded PV Sindhu, lithe and lethal on court, routed her higher-ranked Japanese opponent Nozomi Okuhara 21-19, 21-10 in a fast-paced 50-minute game to enter Friday’s women’s badminton final at the 2016 Rio Games….

x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Sam Amick tells you five things to look for during Day 14 of the Games. USA TODAY Sports Usain Bolt reacts as he wins gold in the men’s 200-meter final.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) RIO DE JANEIRO — Usain Bolt has admitted he hopes his remarkable Olympic career will put him down in history as one of the greatest athletes to have ever…

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A star athlete poised to win gold in the women’s 800-meter race at the Rio Olympics has sparked an ethics debate over gender and sex in competitive sports. “Semenya has been nearly unbeatable, prompting speculation that she had been suppressing her testosterone with medication.”—@SITimLayden @SInowe Caster Semenya, of South Africa, has her eyes on the final for the track and field event Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET. Media reports say…

The continuing saga of Ryan Lochte’s robbery/not-a-robbery in Rio continued Thursday, with police in Brazil saying he lied about being held up at gunpoint. You can read all the details here. But Lochte’s story brings to mind some great hoaxes and scams in sports history. A look at few of the highlights: The curious case of Sidd Finch In its April 1, 1985, issue, Sports Illustrated ran a story by…

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In five Olympic sports, with medals in 18 events up for grabs, a net separates players from their opponents. In each case, before a point can get underway, someone has to serve. On a crucial point, as you watch the medal rounds of badminton and volleyball this weekend, would you rather see your team start with the ball or shuttlecock in its court or in its opponent’s? I tried to…

reader comments 35 Technology has changed sports by offering things like instant replay and the ability to determine precisely where a ball is relative to lines on the field and court. But these offerings don’t always sit well with players and fans, who may worry about the loss of some human influence on the run of play. It has been said that no technology is value-neutral, that it will—in undetermined…

Today, swimming has more gender mixing than ever, and most people associated with the sport embrace it. At many colleges (including my own, William and Mary), the men’s and women’s teams now compete at meets together, with the sexes alternating events. Mixed-gender relays—two men and two women—were added to the 2015 swimming world championships, and there’s talk about making them part of the Olympics. And you won’t find a sport…

Two weeks of Olympic coverage are a rare time when sustained coverage of female sports stars hits the headlines. The airwaves are full of women running, jumping, cycling and riding. Yet outside the period of major sporting festivals, evidence from the Women’s Sports and Fitness Foundation suggests that only 5% of total sports coverage relates to activities by women. Women’s sport attracts a tiny proportion of the total sponsorship and,…

Charlie Webster, a television host working with the Team GB Olympic media team, was in an induced coma in a Rio hospital on Wednesday night with a rare strain of malaria. The former Sky Sports presenter, 33, is thought to have contracted the disease on a charity bike ride. She cycled 3,000 miles from London’s Olympic Stadium to Rio to raise funds for the Jane Tomlinson Foundation, and was due to…

ENLARGE Volvo Car Corp. and ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. have signed a $300 million agreement to co-develop autonomous sport-utility vehicles that will either be used as self-driving taxis or sold to consumers. The two companies will announce the joint project Thursday, saying the Swedish auto maker will conduct much of the initial engineering on a platform for an XC90 SUV that is capable of piloting itself. At some point,…

Sports Direct is to undertake an external evaluation of its board of directors, following criticism of the retailer’s corporate governance. The company also revealed in a stock market statement on Thursday that it will publish a report into how it treats its workers before the retailer’s annual shareholder meeting next month. Mike Ashley’s retail group, which is facing a shareholder revolt over the re-appointment of its chairman, Keith Hellawell, at…