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For the last two weeks, Paris completely lost its cool. The rain that had doused the opening ceremony had ceased by then, and Paris felt like a city en fête. “What happened four weeks ago — with the election and everything that came afterward — was a real shame. They wanted to forget about it for a while.”It is fair to say they embraced their opportunity. More than anything, though, there have been French tricolors.

Persons: —, Teddy Riner, Marie, José Perec, ”, Anne Brion, Tricolors, Richard Salandre Organizations: Games, Tuileries, United Locations: Paris, French, fête, United States, “

The Olympic medals have come in a flurry for Ukraine in recent days: golds at the track and on the fencing piste, a silver in gymnastics, two other bronzes. “It’s a time to celebrate and think not about the war,” Mykhailo Kokhan, 23, a member of Ukraine’s national guard, said after winning a bronze in the men’s hammer throw on Sunday. The Paris Games have been a welcome respite for a country where at least one bakery sells pastries shaped like anti-tank obstacles and there is now deep uncertainty over the nation’s sporting future. Ukraine’s 140 Olympians have shown remarkable perseverance since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, preparing for the Paris Games either in other, safer nations, or at home to the grim soundtrack of air-raid alerts and missile attacks. Another improvised his weight lifting by attaching car tires to a metal rod.

Persons: ” Mykhailo Kokhan Organizations: Paris Games Locations: Ukraine

☆ Meet the Nations That Have Never Won an Olympic Medal (and Two That Just Did)
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-03 | by ( James Wagner | Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If it feels like the same countries are winning most of the Olympic medals every two years, that’s because it’s largely true. Even though more than 150 countries and territories have claimed a medal since the modern Games began in 1896, the list of winners is top-heavy. Entering the Paris Summer Games, the United States has the most, by far, with 2,975 medals, according to the International Olympic Committee’s research wing. Nearly 70 countries and territories, though — roughly a third of the parade of nations — cannot boast an Olympic medalist in any discipline, summer or winter. “It’s frustrating, definitely,” said Marco Luque, a member of the Bolivian Olympic Committee’s board and the president of his country’s track and field federation.

Persons: ”, Marco Luque Organizations: Games, Summer, Olympic, Soviet Union, Bolivian Olympic Committee’s Locations: United States, Germany, Great Britain, France, South Sudan, Monaco

☆ Olympic Officials Defend Algerian’s Eligibility in Boxing Controversy
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Jeré Longman | Emmanuel Morgan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Olympic officials on Friday tried urgently to rebut what they described as widespread “misinformation” that had turned a 46-second Olympic boxing match at the Paris Games into a forum for fierce debates and complicated questions about biology and competitive advantage in women’s sports. Mr. Adams stressed at a news conference that Khelif is not transgender. “There has been some confusion that somehow it’s a man fighting a woman,” Mr. Adams said. “The answer is yes,” according to their eligibility, passport and history. Khelif won her opening bout on Thursday when her Italian opponent, Angela Carini, refused to continue, and after she was cleared to compete in the Olympics despite being suddenly disqualified during last year’s world championships in a dispute about her eligibility.

Persons: Mark Adams, —, Imane, Adams, ” Mr, “, Khelif, Angela Carini Organizations: Paris Games, Olympic Locations: Algeria

☆ Italian Boxer Quits Bout, Sparking Furor Over Gender at Olympics
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Tariq Panja | Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An Italian boxer forfeited her bout at the Paris Olympics after only 46 seconds on Thursday, refusing to continue to fight an Algerian opponent who had been banned from a women’s event last year in a dispute related to her gender. The Italian boxer, Angela Carini, withdrew after her Algerian opponent, Imane Khelif, landed a powerful blow that appeared to strike Carini square in the face, knocking her head to the left. Khelif was permitted to compete at the Olympics even though she has been barred from some women’s competitions for not meeting eligibility requirements to compete in women’s events. Another athlete also barred from previous women’s events, Lin Yu-ting, has also been cleared to fight in Paris. Their presence in the women’s competition has become the latest flashpoint in the debate over gender and fair play in sports.

Persons: Angela Carini, Imane Khelif, Carini, Khelif, Lin Yu Organizations: Paris Olympics Locations: Italian, Algerian, Khelif, Paris

☆ Fencing Feud Highlights Ukrainian-Russian Animosity at Olympics
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-29 | by ( Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Olha Kharlan of Ukraine shouted in celebration under the vaulted glass dome of the Grand Palais on Monday, after an early round victory in her pursuit of a fifth career Olympic medal in saber fencing. She had reached the semifinals by Monday afternoon. But her mere presence confirmed that this niche sport, perhaps more than any other, illustrates the acrimony and caustic feuding that have resulted from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kharlan, 33, was disqualified from the World Fencing Championships last summer for refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent. But Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee and himself a 1976 Olympic fencing champion, gave Kharlan an exemption to participate in the Paris Games, citing her “unique situation.”

Persons: Olha, Thomas Bach, ” Organizations: Monday, International Olympic Committee, Paris Games Locations: Ukraine, Kharlan

☆ We put Elon Musk's dream to colonize Mars up against Jeff Bezos' vision of living in space — and one is more realistic
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-29 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

ConstructionElon Musk's vision of a Martian city (top) and an artist's concept of Bezos' O'Neill space colony (bottom). Bezos' space stations could be built to resemble Earth more easily — no massive terraforming necessary. "If I had to pick a billionaire's vision of the future, I would definitely go with Elon Musk's Martian colony," Gonçalves told BI. That's why Rachael Seidler thinks Musk's Martian cities are a better bet than Bezos' space stations. Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesThe majority of experts BI spoke with agreed that Musk's Martian colony is more feasible than Bezos' enormous space stations.

Persons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Musk, Bezos, he's, O'Neill, Anthony Longman, Longman, I'm, Rebeca Gonçalves, Gonçalves, Elon, Rachael Seidler, SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI, roaches, we've, Adam Watkins, It's, Watkins, it's, Joe Raedle Organizations: SpaceX, Origin, Business, Elon, YouTube, Space Station, NASA, Wikimedia, University of Florida, University of Nottingham, Elon Musk

By age 13, Neeraj Chopra weighed nearly 190 pounds, making him one of the biggest boys in his tiny farming village. By chance, he saw a javelin being thrown and noticed that, in flight, it seemed to shimmy like a fish through water. A decade after that improbable beginning, Chopra won the javelin competition at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It was the first gold medal ever won by India in track and field, considered the marquee sport of the Summer Games, and only the country’s second in an individual event in more than a century of Olympic competition. Chopra’s triumph inspired athletes across India, the world’s most populous nation.

Persons: Neeraj Chopra, Chopra Organizations: Tokyo, India, Summer, stoke, Games Locations: India

☆ Election Updates: J.D. Vance says he’ll be disappointed if Trump doesn’t pick him as his running mate.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Michael C. Bender | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

And AIPAC’s attacks have galvanized a concerted countercampaign by the left to try to discredit the group, which is bipartisan, among Democratic voters. Mr. Latimer ran up large margins in more moderate suburban communities, including ones with sizable Jewish populations. Mr. Bowman’s opponents churned out an unusually large amount of opposition research against him, including old blog posts dabbling in Sept. 11 conspiracy theories. Mr. Latimer returned to the episode repeatedly to argue that Mr. “He’s making the party look really bad,” said Sandra Altman, citing Mr. Bowman’s fire alarm episode and his left-leaning views, as she voted for Mr. Latimer in Scarsdale.

Persons: Jamaal Bowman, ”, Bowman, George Latimer, Dave Sanders, Israel, Marshall Wittmann, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Gregg Vigliotti, Bernie Sanders of, Ayanna Pressley, ’, Latimer, Cori Bush, Biden, “, Bowman’s, Stephen Colbert, Cash Cobain, Ocasio, Sanders, Reagan, Paul Feiner, “ I’ve, he’s, ” Marsha Gordon, Ms, Gordon, “ Jamaal Bowman, Sandra Altman, “ He’s, ” Molly Longman Organizations: Democratic, Israel, Westchester County, AIPAC, The New York Times, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, ., The New York Times Left, Justice Democrats, Cortez of New York, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Massachusetts, Jewish, Democratic Party, Mr Locations: York, New York City, Gaza, Westchester, Israel, New York, Bronx, Cortez of New, Mount Vernon, Missouri, Yonkers, Latimer, Scarsdale, “, N.Y

☆ Jeff Bezos has a vision to colonize space with a trillion people. We asked experts to put it to the test.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Jeff Bezos's space colonies would look like cylindersAn artist's concept of an O'Neill space colony, which could theoretically emulate Earth-like living conditions in space. O'Neill space colonies would be large enough to host entire cities, 10,000-foot-tall mountains, and millions of people. AdvertisementBezos isn't suggesting that people will be living in O'Neill space colonies by the end of the century. AdvertisementSaving Earth would be far easier than building Bezos' space colonies, he told BI. Even if we never make it to space colonies, the work of researchers studying extraterrestrial colonization could benefit us here on Earth.

Persons: —, Jeff Bezos, podcaster Lex Fridman, Bezos, Fridman, astrobiologists —, Jeff Bezos's, O'Neill, Gerard K, Anthony Longman, Longman, Rebeca Gonçalves, Adam Watkins, we've, Watkins, you've, We've, Martin Rees, Gonçalves, Rees Organizations: Service, Business, Elon, SpaceX, European Space Agency, NASA, University of Nottingham, United, Royal Locations: Antonio , TX, O'Neill

☆ Fencing Rattled by Suspensions and Accusations Ahead of Olympics
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fencing is a niche but fundamental sport in the Olympics, contested at every Summer Games since 1896. Yet despite its genteel reputation and simple objective — touch an opponent with your blade before being touched — the sport has long been rife with drama and suspicion. Two months before the Paris Olympics, international saber fencing is engulfed by questions about the integrity of refereeing, accusations of preferential treatment and concerns among top athletes and coaches that their sport’s tangled connections may be helping decide who gets to compete at the Games. The federation that governs fencing in the United States, USA Fencing, recently suspended two international referees after they acknowledged communicating with each other during an Olympic qualifying tournament in California. And just last week, more than a half-dozen elite fencers demanded harsher punishments and urgent action to protect a sport that they say is “vulnerable to unfair refereeing and match-fixing.”

Organizations: Games, Paris Olympics Locations: United States, USA, California

☆ New Study Bolsters Idea of Athletic Differences Between Men and Trans Women
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A new study financed by the International Olympic Committee found that transgender female athletes showed greater handgrip strength — an indicator of overall muscle strength — but lower jumping ability, lung function and relative cardiovascular fitness compared with women whose gender was assigned female at birth. That data, which also compared trans women with men, contradicted a broad claim often made by proponents of rules that bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports. It also led the study’s authors to caution against a rush to expand such policies, which already bar transgender athletes from a handful of Olympic sports. The study’s most important finding, according to one of its authors, Yannis Pitsiladis, a member of the I.O.C.’s medical and scientific commission, was that, given physiological differences, “Trans women are not biological men.”Alternately praised and criticized, the study added an intriguing data set to an unsettled and often politicized debate that may only grow louder with the Paris Olympics and a U.S. presidential election approaching.

Persons: Yannis Pitsiladis Organizations: International Olympic Committee, Paris Olympics, U.S

☆ How the Wait for Olympic Medals Became an Endurance Sport
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It took Lashinda Demus of the United States 52.77 seconds to run the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the 2012 London Olympics. A year after that decision, and 12 years after the race, she is still waiting to receive her gold medal. One of her American teammates, Erik Kynard Jr., competed in the high jump at the London Games. And like Demus, he had to wait many years before being named the victor. Demus and Kynard are expected to finally receive their medals this summer during the Paris Olympics, according to officials at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee.

Persons: Erik Kynard Jr Organizations: United, London, Paris, United States Olympic, Paralympic Committee, International Olympic Committee Locations: United States, Russian

☆ An Olympic Dream Falters Amid Track’s Shifting Rules
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Jeré Longman | More About Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Maximila Imali, a top Kenyan sprinter, did not lose her eligibility to compete in the Paris Olympics because she cheated. She did not fail a doping test. Instead, she is set to miss this year’s Summer Games because she was born with a rare genetic variant that results in naturally elevated levels of testosterone. And last March, track and field’s global governing body ruled that Ms. Imali’s biology gave her an unfair advantage in all events against other women, effectively barring her from international competition. As a result, Ms. Imali, 27, finds her Olympic dream in peril and her career and her livelihood in limbo.

Persons: Maximila, Imali Organizations: Kenyan, Paris Olympics Locations: Paris

With temperatures threatening to dip below zero in Iowa on Monday, some of the voters preparing to caucus for Nikki Haley have already overcome a different hurdle: a long history of voting for Democrats. At recent campaign events across Iowa, a number of Democrats and left-leaning independents said they saw Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, as a reasonable Republican who could move the country away from bitter partisanship and restore civility in national discourse. Many were drawn to her pledges to unite the country, and to work across the aisle on thorny issues such as abortion. “Now that I have my Republican card, I have to go visit my father’s gravesite here in town and apologize,” said Mr. Brown, who lives in Clinton, Iowa. He added that his father, a staunch Democrat and World War II veteran, always voted a straight party ticket.

Persons: Nikki Haley, Haley, Donald J, Trump’s, Biden, Joseph E, Brown, “, ” Organizations: Republican Locations: Iowa, South Carolina, Clinton , Iowa

☆ Kenyan Runners Set the World’s Pace, Chased by a Doping Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Jeré Longman | More About Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Kelvin Kiptum, of Kenya, broke the world marathon record in early October, he threatened a landmark barrier of human possibility: running 26.2 miles in less than two hours in a competitive race. Kiptum’s time of 2 hours 35 seconds at the Chicago Marathon brought him tantalizingly close to the milestone, a feat achieved once — by a fellow Kenyan in a 2019 exhibition — but only by using pacing and hydration tactics that rendered the performance ineligible for a record. Yet because Kiptum’s triumph came as Kenyan athletics is struggling with an alarming doping crisis, the 23-year-old record-holder — who has not been accused of doping — found himself discussing not only what he had done in Chicago, but what he had not. The record time, Kiptum told reporters when he returned to Kenya, was the product of running 150 miles or more per week at altitude, not the use of banned substances. “My secret is training,” he said.

Persons: Kelvin Kiptum, tantalizingly, —, Kiptum, ”, “ Organizations: Chicago Marathon, Kenyan, New York City Marathon Locations: Kenya, Kenyan, Chicago, East

☆ Australian Punters Are Putting a New Spin on Football
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Jeré Longman | More About Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On a cloudy, gusty morning last month, three dozen students, teachers, construction workers, electricians and bartenders wore helmets and shoulder pads and boomed torpedoes, banana kicks and drop punts. Down the hill from a strip mall outside Melbourne, on a borrowed soccer field, they trained to become the next generation of Australian punters who greatly influence special teams play at the highest levels of American college football and, to a lesser extent, the N.F.L. This season, 61 of the 133 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the top tier of N.C.A.A. football, have Aussie punters on their rosters, according to Prokick Australia, a Melbourne-based academy that converts Australian rules football players and some rugby players into punters (and a smaller number of kickers) for the American game.

Organizations: Football Locations: Melbourne, N.C.A.A, Australia

Ms. Muñoz, who resigned in 2019 after a year on the job, recounted for the first time the reasons for her departure. (Mr. Rubiales has previously denied any wrongdoing in either case). Fifteen of the federation’s 18 board members were men, Ms. Muñoz recalled. Players tried and failed to force change last year over the behavior of Mr. Vilda, the now-fired national coach. Mr. Vilda also required players to keep their doors open at night until he could check that each of them was in bed.

Persons: Muñoz, “, ”, Rubiales, Vilda, Boquete, ” Ms Organizations: Team Locations: Saudi Arabia, Spain

☆ Sweden Ousts Japan, Ensuring World Cup Will Have First-Time Champion
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Jeré Longman | More About Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A Women’s World Cup of change, of unexpected early departures and tantalizing arrivals, has completed its upending of certainty and tradition. No former champion remains in the tournament with two rounds to play. And now Japan, the 2011 winner, has exited in the quarterfinals with a 2-1 defeat to Sweden on Friday in Auckland, New Zealand. It has participated in all nine Women’s World Cups, finishing second in 2003 and third three times. But it has never won a major tournament and longs to be a first-time champion.

Locations: United States, Germany, Norway, Japan, Sweden, Auckland , New Zealand

☆ Is Japan the Best Team Left in the World Cup?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Jeré Longman | More About Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Having wilted after winning the 2011 World Cup in a penalty kick shootout against the United States, Japan has bloomed anew with versatility to play the possession style of short passes known as tiki-taka or to launch searing counterattacks. After a blistering 4-0 loss to Japan during group play, Spain Coach Jorge Vilda said that his team’s defeat had been psychic as well as numerical. “They’re so disciplined and very structured in the way they play offense and defense,” Hansen said. Sweden has scored four of its nine goals on corner kicks, a total that nearly grew last Sunday as it packed the six-yard box against the United States like a crowded elevator. But the Swedes could not manage a goal in 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime before subduing the Americans, finally and microscopically, on penalty kicks.

Persons: Jorge Vilda, ” Vilda, Caroline Graham Hansen, “, ” Hansen, Zecira Musovic, Jonna Andersson, Trinity Rodman, Lynn Williams Organizations: Japan, Norway, Champions League, Barcelona Locations: United States, Japan, Spain, Norwegian, Sweden

☆ For Megan Rapinoe, an Ending Not Even She Could Have Imagined
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Jeré Longman | More About Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It ended in the most excruciating way for Megan Rapinoe: a penalty kick skied over the crossbar, shock, disappointment, a rueful smile to herself. Rapinoe could not remember the last time she missed a penalty kick. It was her penalty kick that provided the decisive goal in the final of the 2019 World Cup. There is more soccer to play for Rapinoe, a National Women’s Soccer League championship to chase in Seattle with the OL Reign. The light of Rapinoe’s renowned and polarizing career as a player and activist has now gone into shadow on the World Cup stage, where she played her best and emphatically spoke her mind.

Persons: Megan Rapinoe, “ It’s, ” Rapinoe, Rapinoe Organizations: Sweden, Rapinoe, Women’s Soccer League Locations: United States, Melbourne, Australia, Seattle

When Vietnam fielded its first women’s national soccer team in 1997, its players wore oversized jerseys made for men. In the years after the Vietnam War — called the American War here — ended in 1975, economic reform took precedence over sports. The Vietnam Football Federation, which governs soccer in the unified country, was not established until 1989. In its early days, soccer was widely considered a game for men, too hard and demanding for women to play. “Society didn’t accept the existence of such a team,” said Mai Duc Chung, 74, Vietnam’s women’s national coach then and now.

Persons: —, didn’t, ”, Mai Duc Chung Organizations: Vietnam, soccer team, Vietnam Football Federation, “ Locations: Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, Vietnam

☆ With War as a Backdrop, a Russian Fencing Drama Plays Out in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Jeré Longman | More About Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fencing is usually among the least visible Olympic events, but a year out from the Paris Games it is providing political, sporting and familial drama related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A top Russian coach has been fired after a star épée couple left three weeks ago for the United States. And a high-profile fencing divorce has touched the upper reaches of the Russian Olympic Committee and even led to the entry of “raspberry frappé” into the lexicon as a sword-fighting put-down. One of the Russian fencers now training and coaching in San Diego, Konstantin Lokhanov, 24, is a former son-in-law of the president of Russia’s Olympic Committee and the ex-husband of a two-time Russian Olympic fencing gold medalist. He won the men’s saber competition at the American summer championships after having competed for Russia at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

Persons: Konstantin Lokhanov Organizations: Paris, Russian Olympic Committee, Russia’s Olympic Locations: Ukraine, United States, Phoenix, Russian, San Diego, Russia

☆ After a ‘Kill Shot’ to the Eye, a Wrestler Restarts His Life
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

After being stabilized in late September 2018, Rich was flown to Philadelphia, where he entered a rehab facility for nearly two months. During the pandemic, when Rich could not attend rehab indoors, Gina improvised at home. She and her husband also lugged foam mats to parks around Philadelphia so that Rich could continue to work with his physical therapist. “She’s really gone to war for me, which I’m so grateful for,” Rich Perry said. The family has grown more hopeful over the last eight months or so, Gina Perry said.

☆ Binance CEO Zhao: Significant interest in crypto industry recovery fund
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Rachna Uppal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ABU DHABI, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Binance Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao said on Wednesday there was significant interest from industry players in a recovery fund his company plans to launch to help crypto projects facing a liquidity squeeze following the collapse of rival FTX. Speaking at a conference in Abu Dhabi, Zhao said he doesn't have an exact figure in mind for the size of the recovery fund. Zhao said Binance has healthy reserves but he did not say how much the company would contribute to the fund. The crypto industry is reckoning with the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's rival exchange FTX, which filed for bankruptcy on Friday after users rushed to withdraw $6 billion in crypto tokens in just 72 hours. "Obtaining this license is a pivotal step in the growth of Binance in Abu Dhabi, and a reflection of the city's progressive stance on virtual assets," Dominic Longman, senior executive officer at Binance Abu Dhabi, said in a statement.

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