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The revelation that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned drug seven months before the Tokyo Olympics but were secretly cleared and allowed to continue competing has exposed a bitter and at times deeply personal rift inside the sport, and brought new criticism of the global authority that oversees drug-testing. An American Olympian who took home a silver medal from Tokyo said she felt her team had been “cheated” in a race won by China. A British gold medalist called for a lifetime ban for the swimmers involved. The sports minister in Germany, where a documentary on the case was broadcast Sunday, demanded an investigation. And a simmering feud between officials at the World Anti-Doping Agency, the global regulator known as WADA, and their U.S. counterparts burst into the open in a flurry of caustic statements and legal threats.

Persons: “, ”, WADA Organizations: New York Times, Tokyo Games, China, Doping Agency Locations: Tokyo, China, American, British, Germany

☆ Pro Sports in Las Vegas Aren’t Cheered by Everyone
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Ken Belson | Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The history of Las Vegas has been marked by a relentless churn of hotels, casinos, theaters and restaurants. The Golden Knights of the National Hockey League were the first to start play here in 2017. The Aces of the Women’s National Basketball Association started in 2018, and the National Football League’s Raiders arrived from Oakland in 2020. Last year, Major League Baseball’s Athletics were given the go-ahead to make the same Oakland-to-Las Vegas move, and the National Basketball Association is expected to add a team in the coming years. Las Vegas’s transformation into a pro sports town reflects not just the leagues’ interest in the city and their general embrace of sports betting, but also the power of the region’s primary economic driver, tourism.

Organizations: Golden Knights, National Hockey League, Aces, National Basketball Association, National Football League’s Raiders, Major League Baseball’s Athletics, Allegiant, Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers Locations: Vegas, Oakland, United States

☆ N.F.L.’s Rapid Embrace of Gambling Creates Mixed Signals
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Over the next week, the National Football League’s players, coaches, fans and executives will gather for an event that was virtually unthinkable just 10 years ago: the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the United States. Now it even has a team in Las Vegas, which the league shunned for decades because any affiliation was seen as a threat to the integrity of the game. Yet the embedding of sports gambling so quickly into the culture of the league has resulted in jarring contradictions. is pushing to popularize and benefit from sports betting while still guarding against the potential pitfalls that it long condemned. While the league donates money to promote responsible gambling, its broadcasts are peppered with advertisements for sports betting companies.

Persons: ’, Roger Goodell —, —, ”, Marc Edelman Organizations: National Football, Baruch College Locations: Las Vegas, United States, Nevada, New York

☆ Often Dismissed, Sideline Reporters Now Deal With Fabrication Fallout
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | Kevin Draper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Young women just beginning careers in sports journalism asked one another in group chats if the kind of practice Ms. Thompson was describing was OK. Veteran journalists who have held prominent sideline reporting roles said they carefully crafted statements to post on social media, their impulse to defend their profession overriding their reluctance to criticize another woman. It is a role that centers on establishing trust with both the teams and leagues being covered and with the viewing audience. It is dismissed by some viewers, who say the questions asked of players and coaches are often banal, leading to generic answers. And for female sideline reporters, that disrespect can often be coupled with the sexist trope that the most important thing they can do on air is look good.

Persons: Charissa Thompson, Young, Thompson, Andrea Kremer Locations: N.F.L

Mr. Goodell will be 68 when his current contract runs out. Mr. Goodell is the most powerful executive in American sports, and the N.F.L. Mr. Goodell will be older when his new deals ends than two predecessors were when they retired. “We’ll see what the future holds,” Mr. Goodell said about his plans after this current extension. “It’s a healthy discussion to have,” Mr. Goodell said in July.

Persons: Roger Goodell, Goodell, Art Rooney II, Goodell’s, “, ”, Daniel Snyder, Josh Harris, Jerry Jones, Jones, Brian Rolapp, Kevin Warren, Pete Rozelle, Paul Tagliabue, ” Mr, I’m, Jim Irsay, Mr, It’s, I’ve Organizations: Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, Carolina Panthers, Washington, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears ’, Minnesota Vikings, Indianapolis Colts Locations: New York, Egan, Minn, Minneapolis

☆ An N.F.L. Stadium Brings Sports Betting Inside
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | More About Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Since a Supreme Court ruling in 2018 opened the door for more states to greenlight sports gambling, the N.F.L. issued its most extensive set of penalties for violations of its gambling policy. Nine players in the past four years — including one Commanders player — have received at least season-long bans for betting on N.F.L. This diverges from other professional leagues such as Major League Baseball, which prohibits only betting on baseball games or illegal betting. Commanders left tackle Charles Leno Jr. said he doesn’t like talking about the gambling policy because he’s wary of saying something that could get him in trouble.

Persons: Roger Goodell, —, Charles Leno Jr, Leno, “, ” Organizations: Caesars Entertainment, MGM, Harbor, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, N.F.L, Major League Baseball Locations: FanDuel

☆ 11 Things You Forgot About the 2023 N.F.L. Season
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | More About Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

off-season has gotten shorter since the regular season was extended to 17 games, and it certainly feels shorter, too, given that once-mundane calendar entries, such as the start of off-season workouts, are now treated like red-carpet events. Yet the down time between last season and this one is still long enough that impactful free-agent signings, un-retirements and rules changes made months ago have receded to the background. happenings to keep in mind as the regular season begins in earnest on Sunday. Eight months after Hamlin, a Buffalo Bills safety, went into cardiac arrest during a “Monday Night Football” game, he made the team’s 53-man roster and will backup starters Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. Buffalo’s Week 1 game is a return to “Monday Night Football,” against the Jets in East Rutherford, N.J.

Persons: Damar Hamlin, Hamlin, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, “, ” Hamlin, he’s Organizations: Buffalo Bills, Bengals, Jets Locations: Cincinnati, Buffalo, East Rutherford, N.J

☆ England, the World Cup’s Great Survivor, Runs Out of Lifelines
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | More About Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Until Sunday night, England met every tough situation it fell into during the Women’s World Cup the same way: It found a way out. So it was understandable when, in the 70th minute of the World Cup final against Spain on Sunday in Sydney, Australia, England Coach Sarina Wiegman thought her team had found an escape hatch yet again. Surely, Wiegman thought, it would find a new way out. “I thought, ‘Now we are going to score a goal,’” Wiegman said. “‘Now we are going to score a goal and get to 1-1.’ But we didn’t.”

Persons: Sam Kerr, Sarina Wiegman, Mary Earps, ’ ” Wiegman, “, ” Organizations: England, Colombia, Australia, Spain Locations: Sydney, Australia, Spain

Nobody was surprised that Megan Rapinoe took the Golden Ball, for the tournament’s best player, in 2019, or that Lionel Messi did the same in 2022. Some World Cups are, after all, very obviously dominated by one central character. This has not been one of those World Cups, though. Several Spain players might be contenders: Aitana Bonmati, Mariona Caldentey, Teresa Abelleira. Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa will likely win the tournament’s Golden Ball, the award handed out to the most prolific goal-scorer.

Persons: volubly, Nobody, Megan Rapinoe, Lionel Messi, Aitana, Mariona Caldentey, Teresa Abelleira, Millie Bright, Kosovare Asllani, Sam Kerr, Mary Fowler, Australia’s, Hinata, Lauren, Alessia Russo, Lauren James, Alba Redondo, Jenni Hermoso, Bonmatí, Mary Earps, Zecira, Salma Paralluelo, James, Fowler Organizations: FIFA, Spain —, Spain, Nigeria Locations: Sydney, Spain, Georgia, Sweden, England

☆ Australia Loved the Matildas. Will It Continue to Love Women’s Sports?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | More About Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The morning after Australia’s dream run at the Women’s World Cup ended one win short of the final, Denisse Lopez, 34, found a quiet spot to sit in Darling Harbour. She was still wearing the Sam Kerr jersey she had put on for Australia’s semifinal loss to England the night before. So strong was her belief in the team that she had secured tickets to the final but not the third-place match in Brisbane, where Australia will play Sweden on Saturday. “It just came out this morning,” Lopez, who lives in Melbourne, said of her tears. “The players started posting about the loss, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m sad.’ Mostly, I feel flat and disappointed for the girls.

Persons: Denisse Lopez, Sam Kerr, puffy, Lopez, ” Lopez Organizations: Sweden, ” Locations: Darling Harbour, England, France, Brisbane, Australia, Melbourne, New Zealand

☆ Kerr Scored. The Crowd Roared. But England Wasn’t Done.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | More About Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“I don’t think anything fazes us,” said midfielder Ella Toone, who scored England’s first goal before halftime. In their early matches, the Lionesses relied on strong defense and Earps’s steady goalkeeping as they struggled to score. Bronze referred back to England’s 2-1 quarterfinal win against Colombia, when the Lionesses fell into an early deficit in front of another crowd that also heavily favored their opponent. The carnal release inside the stadium after Kerr’s goal was at a different level. The only way through, England knew, was to stick to the game plan, and hold its nerve.

Persons: ”, Ella Toone, England’s, “ We’ve, we’ve, Kerr —, Jess Carter, Wiegman, Kerr, Earps Organizations: Colombia Locations: England

The rights of Indigenous peoples was one of the social causes FIFA chose to highlight at this year’s World Cup. He and the other members of Indigenous Football Australia, a council that supports his initiative, John Moriarty Football, have called for meaningful support of Indigenous-led grass-roots programs from soccer’s Australian and global governing bodies. John Moriarty Football says it has received less than 20,000 Australian dollars, or about $13,000, from its country’s soccer governing body, Football Australia, since Moriarty launched the program in 2012. “If it wasn’t for programs like JMF, the pathways for children in Tennant Creek to get to elite football, let alone a World Cup tournament, would be nonexistent — an impossible dream,” Moriarty wrote in an email. Courtney Fewquandie, a Butchulla and Gubbi Gubbi woman who serves as Football Australia’s general manager of First Nations, said the advisory group has agreed to a meeting with Indigenous Football Australia after the World Cup that she hopes will be “the first step to moving forward together.”

Persons: Moriarty, John Moriarty, John Moriarty Football, ” Moriarty, Kyah Simon, Courtney Fewquandie, Gubbi, ” Organizations: FIFA, Australian, Indigenous Football Australia, John Moriarty Football, soccer’s, Football Australia, ” Football Australia, Indigenous Advisory Group, Australia, Nations, Football Australia’s, First Locations: Australia, New Zealand, Tennant, New South Wales

☆ England, Bruised but Unbowed, Reaches World Cup Semifinals
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-12 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | More About Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

England entered the World Cup knockout stages still waiting to look like the dominant team it had hoped it could be. England had arrived in Australia last month without three of the country’s best players, all ruled out because of serious knee injuries. Another star was hurt in the group stage and missed a game and a half. Then the Lionesses lost their best player at this World Cup, the young midfielder Lauren James, to a suspension after she was sent off for stamping on a Nigerian player in the round of 16. Overcoming an early goal with one of their own just before halftime, the Lionesses delivered the kind of performance they had been saying was just around the corner, beating Colombia, 2-1, to advance to the semifinals for the second straight World Cup.

Persons: Lauren James, nation’s Organizations: England Locations: England, Australia, Nigerian, Colombia

☆ N.F.L. Increases Penalties for Sexual Misconduct in Light of Deshaun Watson Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | More About Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

has changed its personal conduct policy, expanding the offenses that warrant more serious penalties to include sexual assault “involving threats or coercion” and including “a pattern of conduct” and “offenses that involve planning” as factors that could increase punishment. These changes come one year after a disciplinary officer cited limitations of the league’s policy in issuing initial discipline to Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who was accused of sexual misconduct and harassment by more than two dozen women. Watson, 27, denied the accusations. He was not charged criminally and has settled 23 of the 26 lawsuits filed against him; one was withdrawn (“in light of privacy and security concerns,” according to a court filing) and two others are still active. They spoke under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Persons: Deshaun Watson, Watson, Sue L, Robinson Organizations: Cleveland Browns, The New York Times

Daniel Snyder was fined $60 million, by far the largest penalty ever levied against an N.F.L. team owner, after he was found to have sexually harassed a woman who was both a former cheerleader and a marketing employee for the Washington Commanders. According to the report, her account was supported by evidence and contemporaneous witnesses. The findings were reported by Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor and chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who spent 17 months looking into allegations of widespread sexual harassment against executives at the team, including Snyder, as well as claims of financial improprieties. released White’s report immediately after the 31 other clubs unanimously approved the sale of the Commanders to an investment group led by Josh Harris for $6.05 billion, a record for an American pro sports team.

Persons: Daniel Snyder, Tiffani Johnston, Snyder, Mary Jo White, Josh Harris Organizations: Washington, Securities and Exchange Commission

☆ A Champion Swimmer Returns, Slowly but Determinedly, to Competition
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

During the eight months Caeleb Dressel spent not swimming, he was surprised by the things he came to miss. Some were simple, like blowing bubbles in the water or the feel of his toes on the grip tape of the starting blocks. But he also missed the chlorine — a swimmer’s nemesis — and the dry skin that comes with hours spent in the pool. But last June, he abruptly withdrew from the world championships because of an undisclosed health issue and disappeared from the sport and the spotlight. His best finish in four events was third place in the 50-meter butterfly, not good enough to qualify for the upcoming world championships.

Persons: Caeleb Dressel, —, ” Dressel, Dressel, hadn’t Organizations: U.S, Tokyo Olympics

☆ Jim Brown Piled Up Yards, but Never Wavered an Inch
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Ken Belson | Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

His rushing records — most notably his 12,312 yards on the ground — were eventually broken by Payton, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith and others. His 104.3 rushing yards per game average still stands as a league record. awards, and owning the N.F.L.’s career rushing record. “There isn’t a man who played running back in the NFL who didn’t see Jim Brown as an iconic legend on and off the field,” Tony Dorsett, one of 10 running backs to surpass Brown’s total rushing yards, wrote on Twitter. As exceptional as he was on the field, Brown was far from a perfect human being.

PinnedQuarterbacks, top-10 trades and a bull market for running backs headlined the first round of this year’s N.F.L. The Carolina Panthers chose Alabama quarterback Bryce Young at No. After the Texans picked Stroud, they struck again, leaping from pick No. One unexpected development was the move toward running backs, a position that has been devalued in the N.F.L. But teams picked other quarterbacks or filled other needs, this year’s reminder that pre-draft speculation is just that.

rushed to embrace a lucrative line of business it had denounced for decades as bad for the sport. The league on Friday handed down some of the strictest penalties it has ever issued, banning three players for at least the 2023 season for betting on N.F.L. games and suspending two others for six games for other violations of the league’s betting policy. The scale of the latest scandal and the terse verdict from the league rekindles questions about the precarious line the N.F.L. This week’s investigation ended with two more Lions players, receivers Stanley Berryhill and Jameson Williams, suspended for six games for lesser gambling violations that did not include betting on N.F.L.

☆ N.F.L. Suspends Five Players for Gambling
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Jenny Vrentas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

suspended five players on Friday for violating the league’s gambling policy, including three who were banned for at least the entire 2023 season, in the biggest group of penalties for gambling violations in 60 years. After a league investigation, receiver Quintez Cephus and safety C.J. Moore of the Detroit Lions and defensive end Shaka Toney of the Washington Commanders were suspended indefinitely for betting on N.F.L. The players can petition the league for reinstatement after the 2023 season. Two other Lions players, receivers Stanley Berryhill and Jameson Williams, were each suspended for six games for other gambling violations, which the team said included betting from an N.F.L.

MethodologyThe 3-D scene was created using photographs of the venue for reference. The positions of the players were determined from a photograph taken at that moment during the play. The player models were created using a machine learning model called ICON, which was created by Yuliang Xiu, Jinlong Yang, Dimitrios Tzionas, Michael J. Black and the Max Planck Institute. The models were refined manually using photographs as reference.

☆ The New York Times is bracing for a historic mass walkout as union negotiations go down to the wire
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The historic work stoppage is set to go in effect at midnight on December 8 and last for an entire 24 hours. In effect, the public will get a glimpse of a world without much of The Times’ hard-hitting and informative journalism. And it is possible an agreement will somehow be struck before the work stoppage goes into effect. But NewsGuild spokesperson Wen Zhuang said there are no more planned sessions on the schedule, which would make it far more difficult to hammer out a last-minute agreement. And as Vanity Fair’s Charlotte Klein reported Tuesday, management is also working to find content to fill the paper during the day of work stoppage.

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