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A Little Roundup 01.07.21

1/7/2021

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Here's a story hard to resist: siblings Uta and Hifumi Abe will both be headed to Tokyo 2020 with judo gold in their sights.
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FINA.org takes a look at Joe Kayes, a New Zealander who "crossed the Ditch" and found water polo success in - and with - arch rival Australia.

Kento Momota: Just when he overcomes injury, now Covid-19 hits the badminton star.

Turin 2006 figure skating medalist Sasha Cohen is the host of "Sasha Sessions: A Team USA Podcast", featuring interviews with numerous fellow Olympians.

​Who is the "World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time"? Olympic champion rhythmic gymnast Evgeniya Kanaeva and Tokyo 2020-qualified sport climber Iuliia Kaplina are two of the 24 nominees.

Irish Central shares the "incredible true story of an Olympic athlete turned cop, turned kingpin criminal mastermind", Melbourne 1956 rowing medalist Murray Stewart Riley.

Golfer Adam Scott "considers" playing at Tokyo 2020. Wasn't the attraction of including the sport in the Games the fact that its stars would all appear?

More Ireland: Cycling star Sam Bennett admits question over an Olympic appearance due to a less than ideal course setup for his speed style. Maybe the time trial is the goal?
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A Muguruza-Nadal pairing is just one of many that would certainly be exciting, in what could be a "mouth-watering" mixed doubles tennis event, considering possible pairs of Bencic-Federer, Sakkari-Tsitsipas, Osaka-Nishikori, or Andreescu-Shapovalov. None are regular doubles players these days, though...

Can Australia secure American-born Bryce Cotton citizenship in time for an Olympic appearance this year in basketball?

Two-time gold-medalist Carli Lloyd is looking to make one last Olympic run this year in women's soccer.

Meanwhile, Brazilian soccer star and two-time Olympic medalist Marta announced her engagement to professional teammate Toni Pressley. Congratulations!
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Mystery pops up around star gymnast Oleg Verniaiev's "provisional suspension". Even Team Ukraine head coach is tight-lipped.

Happy Birthday to the world's oldest living Olympian, Agnes Keleti! The former gymnast turns 100 on January 9, and celebrates a new biography, "The Queen of Gymnastics".
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Athletes Worth Watching 01.06.21

1/6/2021

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A.J. Edelman rode skeleton at Pyeongchang 2018, but now is looking at Beijing 2022 in bobsled, despite consussion concerns - and teammates new to the sport.
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Racheal Nazula is poised to return to the Olympics 13 years after her Beijing 2008 appearance as a sprinter. But this time, she's leading Zambia's soccer team.
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Sport climber Akiyo Noguchi looks forward to a home debut Olympics as a "symbol of home" before heading to retirement.
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Happy New Year!

1/1/2021

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Olympic Sports Athletes Look Forward to 2021

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A Little Roundup 12.22.20

12/22/2020

 
Still thinking about last week's Court of Arbitration for Sport decision on Russia's punishment for its Olympic-sized doping scheme. Here's a good piece speaking to the, well, head scratching that the outcome has produced. I'll Also let Emma Coburn sum up the immediate frustration many athletes feel..

Tara Geraghty-Moats wins a historic Nordic Combined, the first-ever World Cup event for women.
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I think sport climbing is the first individual sport to have its Olympic field for 2020 complete, after the remaining continental championships concluded this weekend. Congrats to Australians Tom O'Halloran and Oceania Mackenzie and South Africans Christopher Coffer and Erin Sterkenburg who round out the competition for Tokyo.

Larisa Iordache makes a statement in her return to elite gymnastics, after an injury-filled last few years. Iordache led the Romanian women to a team silver in the European Championships this weekend, and won three individual medals to become the second-most medaled female in the event ever. Unfortunately, her comeback is too late for the Tokyo 2020 field, but perhaps she can spark a welcome Romanian team comeback of its own at the senior level.

"Wee Rooster" Brendan Irvine is eager for his second Games in boxing, after becoming the last to qualify for Tokyo 2020 before the pandemic shutdown this year.

Ever wonder what Olympian Gus Kenworthy's home looks like? Architectural Digest has you covered. (p.s. check out his patio, too)

Modern pentathlete Gintare Venckauskaite is ready for her second Games, after her strong debut at London 2012.

Track cyclist Felix English interviews with the Olympic Federation of Ireland on the drama of Olympic qualification for Tokyo 2020.

​Tennis legend Roger Federer still has Olympic dreams, hoping for the elusive singles gold.
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Covid-19 strikes Japan's leading medal hope in karate's kata event at Tokyo 2020, Ryo Kiyuna.

U.S. basketball standout Diana Taurasi - four-time Olympic gold medalist - tells ESPN that she doesn't have any plans to retire anytime soon.

More basketball: Star player Ramu Tokashiki tears her ACL, and likely sinks Team Japan optimism for a good Tokyo 2020 run. (Was my feature last week of Tokashiki as an athlete worth watching a curse??)

Mission Accomplished: world record holder Kevin Mayer meets the Olympic qualifying standard in the decathlon event on Reunion Island this weekend. (But what has he done to his hair??)

Marie-Jose Perec is French Athletics' athlete of the century.

New African Magazine names long distance runners Brigid Kosgei and Joshua Cheptegei as two of their "100 Most Influential Africans" for 2020.

Hear from Renaud Lavillenie on an appreciation for athletes' voices and his work to give them profile in the latest feature from Spikes.

She's 57, and on her way to her fifth Olympics as Tokyo 2020's oldest table tennis player, Meet Luxembourg's Ni Xialian.
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A Little Roundup 12.03.20

12/3/2020

 
R.I.P. to athletics legend, Rome 1960 decathlon gold medalist, and Los Angeles 1984 final torch bearer Rafer Johnson, who passed away yesterday at age 86.
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Rafer Johnson via The Los Angeles Times
Sydney 2000 trampoliner Ji Wallace joins the Five Rings to Rule Them All podcast to talk his Olympic medal, coming out, and "his" sporting precinct.

Kaylee McKeown: the recent International Swimming League wasn't the only place to feature a new world record.

The International Ice Hockey Federation profiles Pia Pren, star goal-scorer who is leading Slovenia ahead in women's hockey.

​FIG catches up with gymnastics legend Simona Amanar, and looks back at her signature vault.

Belinda Bencic is hoping for a Roger Federer-pairing for Switzerland at Tokyo 2020's mixed doubles in tennis. I'm with her! So many fun possible pairs out there...how about Stefano Tsipitas and Maria Sakkari for Greece...?
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Belinda Bencic and Roger Federer via Essentially Sports
Tokyo 2020 looks at how most Olympic-bound athletes balance training with work and "regular jobs", through a profile on Nicolas Navarro, French marathoner qualified for Tokyo 2020.

Find out what freestyle skiing aerialist Noe Roth has been up to ahead of this season's opener.

Outspoken on social justice issues, hammer thrower Gwen Berry is a humanitarian award winner.

Two Team USA athletes named to Forbes' "30 Under 30" sports list for 2020: basketball player A'ja Wilson and sport climber Kyra Condie. Congrats!

And more basketball...Australian stalwart Andrew Bogut decides to call it a career after three Olympics and the Tokyo 2020 postponement.
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Andrew Bogut via NBC Sports
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