Donors Pay Sarah Burke's Huge Medical Bill: The family of Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke has raised several hundred thousand dollars to cover medical costs incurred after she was injured in a Jan. 10 training accident that ultimately ended her life. Donations on Give Forward have reached $294,000. "Enough funds have been raised to cover the anticipated costs related to Sarah's medical care," the family states. "Future donations will go towards post-hospital arrangements such as services and memorial costs and to establish a foundation to honor Sarah's legacy."

posted by rcade to olympics at 09:46 AM - 10 comments

Sarah Burke passes away: Professional skier Sarah Burke, whose accident was mentioned on here when it happened, has sadly passed away from her injuries.

posted by Drood to olympics at 12:50 AM - 14 comments

Not for the Sheepish ... or is it?: New Zealand produces some of the world's best shearers and its national championship, the Golden Shears, receives substantial media coverage; but the IOC is unlikely to be persuaded that it should be an Olympic demonstration sport. [more inside]

posted by scully to olympics at 06:51 PM - 4 comments

Skier Sarah Burke in Coma After Training Accident: Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke has been hospitalized in critical condition and put in an induced coma after a training accident Tuesday in the superpipe at Park City Mountain, Utah. Burke, 29, is a four-time Winter X Games champion who helped get freestyle halfpipe in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. "Sarah is the top female halfpipe athlete in the world," said Peter Judge of Canadian Freestyle.

posted by rcade to olympics at 10:47 AM - 22 comments

Paralympian Regains Use of Legs, Changes Sports: Dutch Paralympian handcyclist Monique van der Voerst, who won two silver medals at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, was injured last year when struck by a bicycle while training for the 2012 games. She regained feeling in her legs, learned to walk again, was declared ineligible as a Paralympian and is now training as a cyclist for the 2016 Rio Olympics. "I find it medically difficult to explain," said Dr. Christof Smit, her rehabilitation coach.

posted by rcade to olympics at 12:54 PM - 3 comments

Usain Bolt Disqualified from 100-Meter Final: A false start eliminated Usain Bolt from the 100 meters in the world championships Sunday. Bolt's world record of 9.58 seconds wasn't jeopardized by race winner Yohan Blake at 9.92. "I didn't really think they were going to kick him out," said second-place finisher Walter Dix said. "How can you kick Usain out of the race?"

posted by rcade to olympics at 12:44 PM - 11 comments

U.S. Skier Pees on Child's Leg During Flight: Robert "Sandy" Vietze, an 18-year-old skier in the U.S. Olympic development program, urinated on the leg of an 11-year-old girl during a red-eye flight from Portland to New York City Wednesday. "I was drunk, and I did not realize I was pissing on her leg," Vietze allegedly told police. The girl's father, returning from the restroom with another of his children, had to be physically separated from Vietze.

posted by rcade to Olympics at 11:56 AM - 29 comments

Swimmer Fails in Havana-Florida Bid: Long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, 61, has abandoned her bid to become the first person to swim the 103 miles from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. Twenty nine hours into the effort, she was beset by ocean swells, shoulder pain and asthma. "I would be lying to say I'm not deeply, deeply disappointed," she told CNN. "This was a big dream, not just of the last two years but some 30 years ago when I tried it."

posted by rcade to olympics at 01:57 PM - 2 comments

Olympic Blade Runner: Oscar Pistorius has qualified for both the Track and Field World Championships and Olympics in the 400 metre sprints, with a time of 45.07 seconds. Pistorius, who had his legs amputated below the knees at 11 months of age, races on prosthetic carbon fibre "blades". A 2008 court decision ruled his prosthetics did not give him a competitive advantage and made him eligible for the Beijing Olympics, but he was unable to make the qualifying time for those games. It now appears he will be automatically selected for the South African team sent to the 2012 London Olympics.

posted by rumple to olympics at 01:31 PM - 4 comments

The Armless Archer: Matt Stutzman, who was born without arms, has qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in archery. Not the Paralympics; the actual Olympics.

posted by TheQatarian to olympics at 09:07 AM - 2 comments

NBC Sports Chief Dick Ebersol resigns: Dick Ebersol has resigned as NBC Sports Group chairman, an industry giant who helped launch "Saturday Night Live" and built the network into the home of the Olympics.

posted by Demophon to olympics at 06:14 PM - 0 comments

No Shirt No Service: High School Coach Jobless After Boys Track Team Goes Topless: Westwood High track coach Tom Davis was fired last week because one of his runners decided to whip off a shirt during training on a 75-degree day. This wasn't a girl, by the way. It was a boy.

posted by Demophon to olympics at 08:19 AM - 12 comments

Women's Ski Jumping Added to 2014 Games: International Olympic Committee officials have added six new events to the Winter Olympic program in time for Sochi 2014, including women's ski jumping.

posted by skippy to olympics at 11:21 AM - 5 comments

Iran: London Olympics Logo is Racist: Iran is threatening to urge a Muslim boycott of the 2012 London Olympics on the grounds that the official logo spells the word "Zion." "There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the Games, especially Iran which abides by commitment to the values and principles," writes Bahram Afsharzadeh, the secretary general of Iran's National Olympic Committee.

posted by rcade to olympics at 08:36 AM - 81 comments

Illegal Swimmer Breaks Backstroke World Record: University of Texas swimmer Hill "Dolphin Man" Taylor completed a 50-meter backstroke at a competition in an astonishing 23.1 seconds, almost a second faster than the world record, but he was disqualified for swimming the entire race underwater.

posted by rcade to olympics at 10:18 AM - 11 comments

Vancouver Olympic Committee discussed luge track safety issues well before tragedy.:
Eleven months before Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed on a practice run at the 2010 Games, officials with the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee discussed the possibility of an athlete getting "badly injured or worse."

posted by grum@work to olympics at 04:54 PM - 5 comments

Women Ski Jumpers Still Absent from Olympics: "Ski jumping is the only winter Olympic event that doesn't have a female competition," observes Michelle Morris of Ms. Magazine. "[I]t was especially hard to explain to my seven-year-old niece, whose mother was an Olympic rower, why the women ski jumpers couldn't compete. 'Because they're girls?' she asked. That's right, Zara, because they're girls."

posted by rcade to Olympics at 08:43 AM - 10 comments

Teen Runner Crawls Across Finish Line: After collapsing five yards from the finish line at state championships in Fresno, Calif., cross country runner Holland Reynolds, 16, crawled across the line with the encouragement of ailing coach Jim Tracy, helping her team win the title (see the video). "There wasn't really a question in my mind if I should finish," Reynolds said. "But I remember thinking can I finish?"

posted by rcade to Olympics at 06:31 PM - 1 comment

Try 30 Olympic Sports for Charity: The Gold Challenge is a charity effort in the UK encouraging people to try 5, 10, 20 or 30 Olympic or Paralympic sports. Organizers hope to inspire 100,000 people to try the sports, raising money as individuals or teams.

posted by rcade to Olympics at 11:09 AM - 4 comments

Organizer Blames Overexertion for Swimmer's Death: Although the death of American open water swimmer Fran Crippen has yet to be fully investigated, the organizer of the event in which he died has already decided overexertion is to blame. "We are sorry that the guy died, but what can you do?" UAE Swimming Association executive director Ayman Saad said in a statement. "This guy was tired and he pushed himself a lot." The water in the 10-kilometer race Saturday was reportedly 85 degrees. The winner of the race, Thomas Lurz of Germany, said, "There were many swimmers who had serious problems in the water."

posted by rcade to Olympics at 11:18 AM - 6 comments

U.S. Swimmer Fran Crippen Dies During Race: Fran Crippen, a 26-year-old open water swimmer on the U.S. national team, died during the FINA Open Water 10-kilometer World Cup in Fujairah, south of Dubai, Saturday. After he did not finish a race in which he told his coach he wasn't feeling well, Crippen was found in the water two hours later.

posted by rcade to Olympics at 05:04 PM - 4 comments

Runner Banned for Using Penis Enhancer: The bad news? Olympic gold medalist runner LaShawn Merritt has been barred through July 2011 for using a banned substance found in the male enhancement product Extenze. The good news? The arbitration panel admires his candor enough to shorten his punishment by three months. Merritt "was exemplary and demonstrated tremendous character in making what had to be a painful and humiliating confession," they wrote.

posted by rcade to Olympics at 04:15 PM - 11 comments

'Black Power' Olympic Saluter To Sell Gold Medal: But not, he insists, because he needs the money. Tommie Smith, the Olympic sprinter whose political display got him expelled from the 1968 Olympic Games, is selling the gold medal that started the whole controversy.

posted by AaronGNP to olympics at 02:55 PM - 6 comments

Ben Johnson, about to launch his autobiography, is interviewed:: Usain Bolt, however, is spared any insinuations. "I've not got any bad thing to say about Bolt. I'm happy for him. If I was born 22 years later it would've been great to race him. And I don't think he would have beaten me." Johnson laughs, suggesting he could have run faster than Bolt's 9.58 if he had raced on modern tracks – and free of steroid abuse.

posted by rumple to olympics at 06:41 PM - 7 comments

Usain Bolt Wants to Play Soccer: World champion Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt said that when his track career ends he'll attempt to play professional soccer. "I always watch those guys and I think I could be a professional footballer," said Bolt, who believes he has four more years in his current sport. "I'm definitely a good player - a defensive or attacking midfielder."

posted by rcade to olympics at 01:41 PM - 21 comments

Rafer Johnson and the Power of 10: These are some stories of an extraordinary life. No. Wait. They teach you early on in the storytelling business to never set expectations too high. For instance, you don’t want to say, “Oh, I’ve got this hilarious joke I have to tell you.” Let the joke breathe. You don’t want to say, “Here is a story you will not believe.” Let the story speak.

posted by gfinsf to olympics at 07:49 AM - 5 comments

Belly Buttons Linked to Running, Swimming Prowess: Black athletes dominate track and white athletes dominate swimming because of their belly-buttons, according to a study published in the International Journal of Design and Nature and Ecodynamics. "[W]hat matters is not total height but the position of the belly-button, or center of gravity," said lead researcher Andre Bejan of Duke University. "Locomotion is essentially a continual process of falling forward, and mass that falls from a higher altitude, falls faster."

posted by rcade to olympics at 02:46 PM - 9 comments

IOC finally awards gold medals in 1948 cycling event.: "International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge has presented an Olympic gold medal to a Belgian cyclist, 62 years after he won it, London’s Times newspaper reported on Tuesday."

posted by apoch to olympics at 02:17 PM - 3 comments

If You Thought The Logo Was Bad...: London has unveiled the official mascots for the 2012 Olympics.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia to olympics at 10:21 PM - 31 comments

Tyson Gay Breaks 200 Meter Record: At the Great City Games in England, American sprinter Tyson Gay ran the straight-track 200 meters in 19.41 seconds Saturday, breaking an unofficial 44-year-old record set by Tommie Smith in 1966 by 0.09 seconds.

posted by rcade to olympics at 12:56 PM - 10 comments

China Stripped of 2000 Bronze for Underage Gymnast: China has been stripped of a bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics for fielding an underage female gymnast, giving the women's team medal to the United States. Dong Fangxiao was only 14 at the games, the International Olympic Committee determined. The minimum age for gymnasts to compete is 16.

posted by rcade to olympics at 01:19 PM - 4 comments

US Olympian Charged with HIV-Related Offense: A former Olympic equestrian rider faces trial in Florida on a felony charge of having sex with someone without disclosing that he has HIV. Darren Chiacchia, a bronze medalist in 2004, faces up to 30 years in prison. His former lover claims he did not find out about Chiacchia's HIV-positive status until he found medical documents in his home. Chiacchia sent him an email explaining the omission: "I could not share with you and have you leave me with this information about me."

posted by rcade to olympics at 08:50 AM - 6 comments

Profile of Usain Bolt: He's had to work to overcome some of his sloppy starting habits. For example, he has a tendency to brush his left toe along the ground during the explosive burst from the blocks, generating counterproductive friction. He's gotten better, and usually manages to avoid doing that now, but he does it today, the front of his left shoe scuffing the track as he whips his leg forward to take his second stride. The shoe also happens to be untied, a sloppy mistake, no excuse.

posted by rumple to olympics at 12:09 PM - 3 comments

Four seconds: Sidney Crosby's goal like you've never seen it: How a few minor mistakes, barely noticeable acts of brilliance and decades of preparation handed Sidney Crosby -- and Canada -- a golden moment

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 10:33 AM - 7 comments

US Sets Record for Most Medals at Winter Olympics: The final medal count for the Vancouver Olympics is 37 for the United States, the most by any country ever in the Winter Games. It's only the second time the U.S. has led the winter count. The first occurred at Lake Placid in 1932. The Wall Street Journal asks: Does this herald an era of American dominance to rival those of the Soviet Union and East Germany in the past?

posted by rcade to olympics at 09:31 AM - 57 comments

Canada captures gold : Canada is once again on top of the hockey world as they have defeated the United States 3-2 in overtime in the gold medal game at the Olympic hockey tournament.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 06:11 PM - 79 comments

Russia Sees Red at Lack of Success This Olympics: Currently in sixth place in the medal count, Russia is struggling with its lack of success at the Winter Olympics relative to past Soviet glories. "The highest level of sports can raise the prestige of the nation, unite it. Yes, we need victories," three-time gold medalist Russian figure skater Irina Rodnina wrote in a front-page commentary for the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. "But how can we get them if the Olympic team is not in the mood?"

posted by rcade to olympics at 10:34 AM - 13 comments

Geoff Bodine takes NASCAR expertise to bobsled: The story about the "Night Train" and the first gold in 62 years for the USA.

posted by gfinsf to olympics at 09:52 AM - 4 comments

Sisu!: After a devastating 6-0 loss to the US on Friday and a poor second period against Slovakia last night, the Finns find their sisu and rally in the third with four unanswered goals to capture the bronze medal in hockey. This follows Friday's bronze medal win by the Finnish womens' team over their main rivals, Sweden.

posted by NoMich to olympics at 09:25 AM - 3 comments

Team Canada squeaks into gold medal game: Eight years after Canada upended the U.S.A. in Salt Lake City for its 1st Olympic gold medal in men's hockey in 50 years, the North American rivals will meet again. The Canadians hung on for a nervous 3-2 victory in their semifinal against Slovakia on Friday.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 12:19 AM - 9 comments