Christian Taylor proves again the class act he is.
Kai Kazmirek prepares a throw.
Christos Volikakis gets intense.
En Garde, Marcus!
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce dresses up.
Champion Simone Biles is the star of the show as she debuts a Yurchenko pike in her return to gymnastics competition. Can Uche Eke make history as the first-ever Olympic gymnast for Nigeria? Katinka Hosszu is the most decorated female European Championships swimmer in history after a silver medal last Thursday. Spaniard Sandra Sanchez wins her sixth European championship in karate this weekend, cementing her status as medal-favorite for Tokyo 2020. Olympic swimmer Elizabeth Beisel plans a historic swim in Rode Island supporting cancer awareness. Mozambique's Joaquim Lobo is surprised but ready for a return trip to the Olympics in canoe sprint. Those looking for a feel-good story should find footage of Tomas Paul and Zuzanna Paulova winning Beijing 2022 qualification in curling... Nikolaj Majorov takes his family's figure skating legacy in Sweden toward Beijing 2022. Attitude Magazine catches up with diver Tom Daley as he balances fatherhood with this season's training for Tokyo 2020. Can Alys Williams become the first water polo player to make an "American team after she was cut when the roster was finalized for the previous Games"?
At age 23, Taylor Knibb will be the youngest U.S. woman at an Olympic triathlon ever this summer. Based on an adjusted pandemic-induced training regimen, three-time Olympic track cyclist Christos Volikakis has high hopes for a Tokyo 2020 podium. More cycling: count Australian road cyclist star Richie Porte as confirmed for Tokyo 2020, as he looks to banish memories of Rio 2016. ABC.net looks at Kirsten Kinash and Australia's artistic swimming's goals for Tokyo 2020, and recognition at home. Coco Gauff makes a late charge to close in on an Olympic spot in tennis, in a tight race for U.S. women. Will snowboarding Olympic medalist Ayumu Hirano make it to Tokyo 2020 in skateboarding? New Zealand hammer thrower Julia Ratcliffe sees her coming Olympic experience as a shared one with her coach and father. Get to know the full-strength U.S. squad of weightlifters headed to Tokyo this summer, led by Rio 2016 medalist Sarah Robles.
Nikola Karabatic gets down to basics. (ad)
Perseus Karlstrom is a champ (again).
Liu Shaolin is looking royal.
Lourdes Mohedano retro-styles.
Two speed skaters celebrate an anniversary.
Can Scotland's Bruce Mouat qualify in two curling events for Beijing 2022 for Team Great Britain? Such is the depth if Chinese table tennis that a 2019 world champion can be left off the Tokyo 2020 singles roster, as she isn't even in the top two of the sport. Victory at the recent World Relays has given sprinter Akani Simbine a boost of confidence leading up to Tokyo 2020. Megan Rapinoe hits Harper's Bazaar as the latest cover girl feature, discussing childhood, pandemic life, and looking ahead to another Olympics. Team USA gold medalist from Rio 2016 basketball, Kyle Lowry weighs another Olympic run while at a key NBA career junction, too. Can diver Jack Laugher battle back "panic and pressure" to find repeat success at Tokyo 2020? Get to know Erin Sterkenburg, South African sport climber readying for an Olympic debut this summer. Olympic gymnast hopeful Morgan Hurd wades into current social issues as a U.S. team representative. "I never lose. I either win or learn": Frenchwoman Marie-Eve Paget strives to emulate Nelson Mandela in her approach in 3x3 basketball. Australian swimmer Mack Horton is trying to put his public feud with Sun Yan behind him as he focuses on own qualification.
Lucija Lesjak has high hopes for the sport as a hometown representative as the European Karate Championships take place in Croatia this week. After a strong season opener in finishing second, triathlete Jelle Geens recounts the event with Triathlonlive.tv. Double Olympic equestrian medalist Eric Lamaze of Canada steps away from Tokyo 2020 consideration to focus on his health. Can Thrasher Magazine's 2017 "Skater of the Year" Jamie "Big Boy" Foy make it onto Team USA for skateboarding this summer? Good golf news: Count superstar Rory McElroy in for Tokyo 2020, despite other big names holding back. NFL star Nate Ebner chats with Team USA on balancing his rugby sevens and football experience as he looks to return to the Olympics this summer. John John Florence and Carissa Moore help The New York Times present the Hawaii vs United States sensitive distinction in competitive surfing. The Stand: How One Gesture Shook the World (2020) A Quick Film Review The recent reiteration by the International Olympic Committee of its controversial Rule 50 - in effect prohibiting podium protests - inspired a look at last year's The Stand: How One Gesture Shook the World, a retrospective documentary on the famous original Olympic protest. With the passing of years, it's hard today to understand the moment. But The Stand does frame Tommie Smith's and John Carlos' gestures within attempt the societal context for United States athletes when Mexico City 1968 took place. Ahead of the Games, civil rights activism in the U.S. was at a fever pitch. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination had occurred, and a new generation of Black and allied citizens were inspired to have their voices heard against injustice. In The Stand, select perspectives of discrimination from U.S. athletes are presented, including track & field teammates Ralph Boston, Mel Prender, and Patty von Wolvelaere. Packaged with the protagonists' own voices, it's a look into the heightened tension in the air. Enter Harry Edwards from San Jose State University, a vocal activist who realized the potential that athletes, and Olympians in light of the approaching Games, could be instrumental in promoting activism. The resultant Olympic Project for Human Rights pushed for a blanket boycott by Black athletes at the Games, supported as a strong symbol of "protest and struggle against racism and injustice", and was seen as the first time a group of athletes took a stand together. Eventually, the boycott movement fizzled but individual athletes were encouraged to contemplate individual actions - perhaps refusing to take a place on the podium? With that backdrop, Smith and Carlos enter the Games and medal in the 200 meters (Smith gold, Carlos bronze). We know the moment on the victory stand: wearing beads (Carlos) and a scarf (Smith), and walking shoeless, they shared a single pair of black gloves, they bowed their heads, and led by Smith - and fatefully - raised a fist both during the national anthem and on the walk back from the podium. But hearing directly in retrospect from the two, we gain insight into the spontaneity of the fists gesture. Interestingly, Smith posits the raised it as a sign of "solidarity and strength" rather than specific alignment to the "Black Power Movement" - a label very hard to disassociate since. The immediate aftermath is well-known: led by IOC president Avery Brundage's indignation, Smith and Carlos are thrown out from the Olympic Village and banned by the U.S. Olympic Committee. What a juxtaposition to the USOC's stance now....with recent Black Lives Matter activisim as inspiration, today's USOC has expressed direct support for athletes who may protest. Just as surreal, World Athletics commemorates the moment as "iconic". But at the time, Smith and Carlos were certainly outcasts. What The Stand nicely shows, however, is the under-reported support the two received from other athletes. In a particular revelation, the U.S. men's eights rowing team, led by Cleve Livingston and Paul Hoffman, were vocal in their backing. And, most notably, Peter Norman, silver medalist in the 200 meters, wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights button in support as the third man on that podium. An unexpected strength of the film is the recounting, complemented by great archival footage, of the fateful 200 meters race itself. Smith's world record victory came after a pulled muscle in the semifinal just hours earlier, setting extra drama into the final. The Stand indicates a direct line to current activism, including Colin Kaepernick's kneeling, which could have been enhanced with comments from later athlete activists and their perspectives on 1968 to provide a fuller circle back. In fact, the next Olympics at Munich 1972 had its own podium protest, an obvious direct result of Mexico City. But in all, The Stand offers a sympathetic look back at the protest and at what Smith describes as a "responsibility to stand up for humanity". Rower Livingston contemplates in admiration that Smith's and Carlos' protest was a "piece of performance art". It's also an indelible moment in Olympic history that reverberates today, as the discussion on podium activism continues, no matter how the IOC attempts to brush it aside. |
Above: Athens' Kallimarmaro, the site of the 1896 Summer Olympics
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