The brothers Sinkovic show off a peaceful lake.

Johannes Vetter works up a sweat.

Charles Fernandez is back.

Laetitia Guapo strolls autumnally.

Jeremie Mion hangs out.

The Guardian features twin teenage sisters Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova, bronze medal-winning gymnasts from Tokyo 2020.

Closing out Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Team USA presents the awareness work of Olympic high-jumper Chaunte Lowe, herself a survivor.

World Athletics: Shot putter Raven Saunders has seen extreme lows and highs in the last few years, but is excited for where she is going next in her career.

Olympic champion Geraint Thomas is focused on the next generations of cyclists: "It's about getting kids to enjoy riding their bikes".

Team USA wrestler Jenna Burkert has raised her competitive profile - while raising her personal profile as an out athlete as well.

Tokyo 2020 swimming gold medalist Zac Stubblety-Cook won't participate in the International Swimming League this season, but confirms interest in doing so in the future.

How hard is it to maintain a top performing season? Tokyo 2020 golf champion Nelly Korda joins the Fairgame podcast.

Irish modern pentathlete Natalya Coyle is non-committal about a Paris 2024 run between a disappointing last Olympics and a renewed focus on studies.

Bobsled athletes Justin Kripp and Dawn Richardson Wilson speak at Team Canada's uniform unveiling on looking ahead to Beijing 2022.

Seoul 1988 medalist Cecilia Roxana Tait Villacorta is honored to be on FIVB's Board of Administration.

Team Ireland rugby sevens captain Billy Dardis is "keen to make Olympic experience even better" at Paris 2024 after a disappointing debut in Tokyo.

Yale University's own Nathan Chen talks Beijing 2022 and balancing Ivy League studies with figure skating, with Yale News.

Meanwhile, women's leading skater Alexandra Trusova chats winning Skate America with only one quad jump, and more, with Olympics.com.

Olympic gold medalist Ancuta Bodnar is World Rowing​'s Rower of the Month for October.

Also, rower Emma Twig joins field hockey star Kayla Whitelock with seats on the New Zealand Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission.

Rhythmic gymnast Lili Mizuno looks to use her group event appearance at Tokyo 2020 as experience in her World Championship debut as an individual.

If you don't know Team Canada ice hockey stalwart 'Sid the Kid'...here's your chance to learn.

Latvian 3x3 basketball star Nauris Miezis has a new fame...big catch fishing!

"The Loneliest Olympiad in History": Fencer Race Imboden looks back at Tokyo 2020 for Cero Magazine.

Three-time Olympic judoka Joana Ramos has transitioned well into coaching since Tokyo 2020.

The Players' Tribune​: USWMNT star Carli Lloyd says goodbye.

Team Australia's Tokyo 2020 Socceroo Riley McGree is making an impression for Birmingham City.

To commemorate 100 days out from the start of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in February, the Beijing Organizing Committee recently unveiled the design of the gold, silver, and bronze medals for the competitions.

​Named "Tong Xin" ("Together as One"), the medal design is "based on Chinese ancient jade concentric circle pendants", with elements of the five Olympic rings. In a nod to the unique status of Beijing as the first "Dual Olympic City", to have hosted both a Summer and Winter Games, the medals harken back to the Beijing 2008 design.

According to medal designer Hang Hai, "When athletes hold the medals in their hands, they will first touch the details embodying ancient Chinese culture. Then if they look closely, they will see the cloud and snowflake patterns on the reverse side".

The medals will be awarded across 109 events over 15 disciplines in seven sports.

Check out the slideshow below to see Olympic medals from past Winter Games editions, and click on any image to learn about each design details from olympics.com.

Which one is your favorite?

Abrar Choudhary is a new - and rare -  sprint hopeful from India's Jammu and Kashmir region.

Erika Fairweather looks to build upon her surprising Tokyo 2020 breakthrough with more swimming success and recognition.

Team Italy scores its first U20 World Championship in men's volleyball in dominating fashion.

Team Spain continues its strength in women's water polo with a World Junior Water Polo Championship.

Bad Sport, S1E4 "Cold War" (2021)
​A Quick TV Review

Last week, French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron highlighted a "surge of hate" directed towards him, eventually prompting a statement and investigation from the International Skating Union. As an out gay man, Cizeron has been on the surely, unfortunately, been on the receiving end of online abuse, but comments gained steam when a Russian skating official critiqued Cizeron's ability, as a gay man, to properly convey a sense of romance with his skating partner, Gabrielle Papadakis. More on this in a bit...

In the meantime, it was with this backdrop that I watched ​"Cold War", the fourth episode in the first season of Netflix's new Bad Sports documentary series. 

With Beijing 2022 quickly approaching, and with (a) Russian misstep again circling figure skating, it seemed appropriate to revisit "one of the biggest scandals in Olympic history".

​"Cold War" takes us back to Salt Lake City 2002's pairs competition. There, the highly anticipated gold medal duel between Canada's Jamie Sale & David Pelletier and Russia's Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze turned into much more off the ice.

It certainly was a gripping story at the time...even before the scandal set in. Could 2001 world champions Sale & Pelletier win gold, and snap the Russian (and Soviet / Unified Team) streak of pairs titles dating back to Innsbruck 1964?

​Accurately framing that question within the context of North America vs Russia sports politicization chatter around the event at the time, "Cold War" dives in.

In quick recap...the two pairs enter the long program in 1st (Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze) and 2nd place (Sale & Pelletier), where the best performance would (should) win gold. Despite a widely recognized flawless performance vs at least one visible mistake by the Russians, the Canadians finish second for the silver medal, to the incredulity of the vast majority of (North American) fans and pundits. Five judges voted for the Russians, four for the Canadians.

Overnight, the French judge, Marie-Reine La Gougne, seen as the crucial "fifth vote" for the Russians, breaks down with the implication that French authorities above her coerced her vote. Although she would later walk back her statements, the scandal was set. And a sinister plot involving a Russian mob boss and a quid pro quo vote from a Russian ice dancing judge for the soon-to-compete French pair there was outlined. Were Russian mobsters or some other authorities so keen on maintaining pairs gold that they'd resort to bribery? According to the FBI...yes...in "a crime that strikes at, like, the integrity of sports".

In the end, the International Olympic Committee awarded a dual gold to the Canadian pair. Russian officials and supporters, denying any shenanigans, cried foul and railed against the subjective alteration of the original results, which in their eyes was a worthy, though, subjective finish.

"Cold War" admirably gets a strong cast to retell the story, including Sale, Pelletier, Berezhnaya, Tamara Moskvina (the Russian pair's legendary coach), Benoit Lavoie (Canadian pairs judge), and Christine Brennan (USA TODAY Olympic columnist and noted figure skating expert). Particularly insightful is the interview with Sale & Pelletier's agent Craig French, intent on making the most of the opportunity for western media exposure to pressure the IOC.

While, for conspiracy believers, there wasn't sufficient penalty for those responsible, one lasting positive has been the subsequent reform of judging, including a move away from the 6.0 scoring system. Today's scoring rewards documented moves and elements better than the much more subjective system in place in 2002 that could more favor 'artistic impression', and left judges' perception of skill vulnerable to the whims and influences of simple tastes.

​Now back to Cizeron and today's media storm around figure skating. Was the official in question, Alexander Vedenin, simply expressing his own backward view - or was this calculated to help move public opinion, and thus maybe Olympic judges? is it just a coincidence that Papadakis & Cizeron present a real gold medal challenge to Russian world champions Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalapov at Beijing 2022?

According to the largely Western supporters of Sale & Pelletier, 2002 shows it's not unprecedented that a Russian (agent) could attempt to sway a pro-Russian outcome. Russian dominance in certain sports, particularly artistic ones such as figure skating and gymnastics, has seemed to establish a sense of ownership of the sports for Russian supporters; when results don't go their way, accusations of anti-Russian bias fly. We saw that most recently in Tokyo 2020's rhythmic gymnastics, when Israeli Linoy Ashram's victory over Dina Averina had Russians howling.
​
Perhaps today's verbal maneuverings will blow over by the time February's Games arrive. But also perhaps we should keep a vigilant eye on possible motivations. Might more intrigue be coming from Olympic figure skating?