TOKYO The leader of Japan’s bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics and other Japanese officials on Monday said the company at the center of questions raised about payments by the bid committee was a legitimate firm and not a paper company. The Guardian newspaper rep... More »
WELLINGTON Fiji’s Olympic committee see no impediment to Jarryd Hayne joining their rugby sevens team for the Rio Games, even though he has not been subject to World Anti-Doping Agency accredited testing procedures while playing in the NFL. Hayne, who played o... More »
SYDNEY Australian pharmaceutical company Starpharma Holdings Ltd said it is teaming up with world No. 2 condom maker Ansell Ltd to supply Zika virus-proof condoms to the Australian Olympic team ahead of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games. Starpharma said it is givi... More »
CAPE TOWN Kirsty Coventry could become the first female Olympian to win eight individual medals when she competes at the 2016 Games this summer, but recent doping scandals have made the Zimbabwe swimmer wonder if her races in Rio will be clean. The 32-year-old... More »
The Olympics are such a television ratings juggernaut for NBCUniversal that rival U.S. networks have always watched from the sidelines, airing reruns and other cheap programs that are not going to attract many eyeballs. But not this year. With a growing number... More »
MOSCOW Russia’s sports ministry said on Monday it was “certain” about the transparency of its doping controls during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and that independent observers had managed the testing operation daily. The ministry was responding to alleg... More »
Whistleblower Vitaly Stepanov told Reuters on Monday he nearly aborted his plan to expose widespread doping in Russian athletics when the World Anti-Doping Agency was slow to act on information he provided them. Stepanov, who previously worked for Russia’s ant... More »
MELBOURNE The “arrogance” of senior officials brought corruption-related turmoil to world soccer but important governance reforms could restore its credibility, according to influential sports administrator Kevan Gosper. Former International Olympic Committee ... More »
TOKYO Tokyo 2020 organizers unveiled a new Olympic logo featuring traditional Japanese designs on Monday, seven months after they were forced to scrap the original motif over accusations of plagiarism. The new logo, chosen from more than 14,000 candidates, ado... More »
SEOUL South Korea’s former short track world champion Noh Jin-kyu has died of cancer, the Korea Skating Union said on Monday. He was 23. Noh’s sister, Olympic speed skater Seon-yeong, wrote on her Facebook page that he had passed away at 8 p.m. local time on S... More »
SOFIA Bulgarian triple jumper Gabriela Petrova has tested positive for the banned substance meldonium, joining the long list of athletes, including tennis champion Maria Sharapova, who have recorded positive tests for the drug. The 23-year-old, who won the sil... More »
SEOUL Olympic vault champion Yang Hak-seon, South Korea’s first gold medal winner in gymnastics, looks set to miss out on the chance to defend his title at Rio de Janeiro Games after suffering an Achilles injury. Yang, also vault world champion in 2011 and 201... More »
BRASILIA Brazil’s National Development Bank will provide 500 million reais ($136.6 million) in funding to fight mosquito-borne illnesses, including the Zika virus, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday. The funds are to help bolster the prevention, diagnos... More »
WELLINGTON Life as an equities trader had its attractions for New Zealand Olympic rower George Bridgewater. Financial security for his young family, the ‘excitement’ of trading and living in exotic climes like Hong Kong and Singapore, both far removed from the... More »
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif Organisers of the Rio Olympics are confident they are in “good shape” to guarantee the health of competitors in the sailing events after taking several measures to cope with the polluted water of Guanabara Bay. The cleaning of Guanabara Ba... More »
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif Even as U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump raises concerns among world leaders, the mayor of Los Angeles is confident that whoever reaches the White House will not hurt his city’s chances of landing the 2024 Olympics. “This is somethin... More »
Pregnant women should consider not traveling to the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil due to the risk of Zika virus infection, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. CDC also said women considering becoming pregnant, and their male part... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO Even as athletes grow increasingly concerned about the outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil, the organizing committee for the August Olympics in Rio de Janeiro said it will charge national delegations to have mosquito screens on athletes’ rooms.... More »
Tall Jamaican diver Yona Knight-Wisdom hopes he has inspired others to break down barriers and banish stereotypes after becoming the first male diver from the Caribbean island to qualify for the Olympics. The British-born university undergraduate stands 190 cm... More »
MELBOURNE Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes has described Australia’s Olympic committee as a “source of aggressions” against Brazil after it banned the team’s athletes from visiting the city’s favelas during the Games in August. Australia’s team chef de missio... More »
BRASILIA World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan said on Tuesday Brazil is doing a good job tackling the Zika virus and ensuring that the Olympic games it will host in August will be safe for athletes and visitors. Chan said Brazil’s gov... More »
NEW YORK The United States Olympic Committee told U.S. sports federations that athletes and staff concerned for their health over the Zika virus should consider not going to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in August. The message was delivered in a conference call i... More »
RECIFE, Brazil For scores of women in the epicenter of the Zika outbreak in Brazil, the joy of pregnancy has given way to fear. In the sprawling coastal city of Recife, panic has struck maternity wards since Zika – a mosquito-borne virus first detected in the ... More »
KRAKOW, POLAND Germany qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games men’s handball tournament after winning their second European championship with an impressive 24-17 victory over favorites Spain in Sunday’s final. Beaten by the Spaniards 32-29 in the preliminary gro... More »
Rio de Janeiro Last January, long lines formed outside health clinics in Recife, a city in Brazil’s northeast hit hard in recent years by outbreaks of dengue, a painful tropical disease. Doctors were on guard because federal health officials and the World Heal... More »
Companies and scientists are racing to create a Zika vaccine as concern grows over the mosquito-borne virus that has been linked to severe birth defects and is spreading quickly through the Americas. Zika is now present in 23 countries and territories in the A... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO As Rio de Janeiro prepares to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors for upcoming Carnival festivities and the Olympic Games in August, the city is scrambling to expel one unwelcome new arrival: the Zika virus. It will be an uphill battle. Zi... More »
SOFIA Bulgaria’s retired double Olympic wrestling silver medalist Stanka Zlateva said on Sunday she was once offered cash to lose a world championship final but had refused to do so. “I was offered money at a world championship but for me, it’s much more impor... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO Olympic and tourism officials in Brazil downplayed risks for foreign visitors from the mosquito-borne Zika virus on Monday, even as the health ministry warned pregnant women to consult doctors before visiting the country amid a widening scare. A... More »
SEOUL The doctor who administered injections which caused decorated South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan to fail a doping test was found not guilty of causing injury through professional negligence on Thursday. The doctor, identified only by her surname Kim, had... More »
BERLIN Hamburg’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics collapsed on Sunday after the majority of the city’s residents voted against the multi-billion euro project in a referendum, killing off the candidacy and leaving officials in shock. Hamburg’s withdrawal reshuffle... More »
TOKYO As Japan struggles to get its Olympics plans on track, the construction start of its new national stadium has been further delayed to early 2017, officials said on Monday. The delay to build the centerpiece of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games comes at a time ... More »
BEIJING A television cameraman and his Segway succeeded in doing what none of Usain Bolt’s rivals could in the 200 meters final at world championships on Thursday — knock the Jamaican off his stride, and his feet, during his lap of honor. Bolt was taking the p... More »
KUALA LUMPUR The head of world athletics vigorously defended the IAAF’s anti-doping record on Monday, as global sporting bodies called for a thorough probe of the latest allegations to plunge international sport into crisis. Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper an... More »
KUALA LUMPUR FIFA President Sepp Blatter was relieved of his International Olympic Committee ex officio membership on Monday, seven months before he will be replaced as the head of soccer’s governing body, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Monday. Blatter woul... More »
KUALA LUMPUR As the candidates hoping to succeed FIFA’s outgoing president Sepp Blatter continue to lobby for support, the political kingmaker who could have a big influence on who gets the job says world soccer has more to worry about than picking its next bo... More »
KUALA LUMPUR The head of world athletics said on Monday that any suggestion his organization had been negligent in drug testing of athletes was “laughable”. “There are allegations made, no evidence,” IAAF president Lamine Diack told Reuters in the Malaysian ca... More »
SEOUL South Korea’s Park In-bee had once hoped to win all the top tournaments in women’s golf before her career came to an end. After winning the British Open on Sunday, the 27-year-old now finds herself searching for new goals. Park’s three-shot win over comp... More »
KUALA LUMPUR Olympic chiefs must pump more content to mobile devices, and extend the allure of the Games outside its 17-day window to stay relevant to young people, marketing guru Martin Sorrell said on Sunday. “You need to evolve to new consumption behaviors ... More »
TORONTO Canada swept the Pan American Games gold medals in both the men’s and women’s rugby sevens and mountain bike events on Sunday, to fight off a challenge from the mighty Americans at the top of the medal table. The hosts have enjoyed a stunning start to ... More »
TORONTO Canada’s Jennifer Abel and Mexico’s Ivan Garcia won gold medals in their diving events at the Pan American Games on Sunday to earn automatic qualifying spots for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Abel, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, led the w... More »
TORONTO When Courtney Donovan arrived for her Pan American Games roller figure skating short program and saw people in the stands an hour before the competition she was sure they were lost. It was an understandable reaction for an athlete who has spent her ent... More »
