USA and AVP Beach Volleyball star Phil Dalhausser has now won 100 beach volleyball tournaments in his career. Dalhausser has won 59 AVP tournaments. Dalhausser's partner is Nick Lucena. Karch Kiraly leads all time with 148 tournament wins in his career.
The 2021 Tour de France will not overlap the 2021 Tokyo games. The Tour de France starts on June 26, 2021 and will end on July 18, 2021. The Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo games begins on July 23, 2021. The start of the event was moved up by one week to avoid overlapping with the Tokyo games.
More fallout from the USA Gymnastics Larry Nassar sex scandal: USA 2004 Olympic gymnast Terin Humphrey said she was sexually abused by Larry Nassar in 2002. Humphrey is one of hundreds of gymnasts who are survivors of Larry Nassar's abuse over a period of 2 decades.
Six time US men's gymnastics champion and two time Olympian Sam Mikulak will retire from gymnastics after the 2021 Tokyo Olympic games due to a wrist injury and other factors.
Even more fallout from the USA gymnastics Larry Nassar sex scandal: Kathie Klages was sentenced to 90 days in jail in February 2020 for lying about knowledge of Nassar's abuse before 2016. Klages testified she did not remember being told about sexual abuse by Nassar and apologized to the victims of Larry Nassar. Klages was a gymnastics coach at Michigan State University.
Norway's 400M hurdles champion Karsten Warholm clocked the second fastest 400M hurdles time ever at 46.87 seconds at the Stockholm, Sweden Diamond League event. The world record is held by American Kevin Young at 46,78 seconds in 1992.
Former Georgetown and USA Olympic basketball coach John Thompson has passed away on August 30, 2020 at age 78. Thompson coached the 1988 USA basketball Olympic team to a bronze medal and that team only had college players.
Altenberg, Germany is the new host of the 2021 World Bobsled and Skeleton Championships replacing Lake Placid, NY due to coronavirus travel concerns.
Swedish Pole Vaulter Mondo Duplantis pole vaulted 20 feet 2 inches(6.15m) at the Rome Diamond League meet on Sept. 17, 2020 to break the outdoor pole vault record of Sergey Bubka of Ukraine(20 feet 1 1/2 inches) set in 1994.
The NBA has not specified if there will be a break in play for the 2021 Tokyo games or if NBA players will compete at the games due to their schedule which begins in January 2021 and may not finish until after the games begin. Update: the NBA approved a 72 game schedule with the NBA Finals starting July 8, 2021.
A sweeping US Olympic and Paralympic Committee reform bill has been passed by congress and will be signed into law. This bill will provide additional funding to US Safesport and has the power to replace the USOPC Board of Directors in response to the Larry Nassar sex scandal. This bill will protect USA athletes from sex abuse and provide accountability to the USOPC.
Figure Skating's second biggest event has been canceled due to Coronavirus concerns. The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships was to be held in Sydney, Australia in February 2021. Skate Canada and the Grand Prix finals were also canceled. Skate America will be held in Las Vegas, NV without fans.
USA Ice Dancers Chock/Bates have withdrawn from Skate America to prepare for US Figure Skating Championships in January 2021.
USA Para 400m track athlete Blake Looper cannot run against able bodied men the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled. CAS ruled that the prosthetic legs give him an unfair advantage against able bodied men. Leeper's attorney's call the ruling racially motivated and vows to press on..
French Ice Dancers Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron will step away from skating for the entire 2020- 2021 skating season and will resume competition in 2021-2022 due to coronavirus travel concerns . Both Ice Dancers had coronavirus in July 2020.
USA athletes will now be able to market themselves with cooperation from the USOPC's sponsors either by merchandise royalties, a $1250 payment for signing up with the marketing program or separate endorsement deals with sponsors. This should be a relief for USA athletes struggling to find sponsors or have no sponsors at all. The IOC's rule says that athletes cannot market themselves to competitors of their sponsors during the Olympics. This marketing program is designed to combat the IOC rule and is only for elite athletes who finish in the top eight of championship events.
Salt Lake City is stepping up its bid for hosting the 2030 or 2034 winter Olympic games. Salt Lake City is the USA favorite bid city to submit to the IOC to bid on the 2030 Olympic games and has contacted IOC President Thomas Bach regarding the bid. The only city to officially bid on the 2030 winter Olympic games is Sapporo, Japan. The other city interested in hosting in 2030 is Barcelona, Spain. Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 winter Olympic games.
NBC Sports has extended its contract with World Athletics through 2029. All major Track and Field Championships will be televised on the Networks of NBC, which includes the World Indoor and outdoor Track and Field Championships, the USA Track and Field Championships, the Wanda Diamond League, World Cross Country championships, World Relays and World Half Marathon Championships.
The NBC Sports Network will shut down at the end of 2021. Charter Spectrum will not carry the network after this year. Some of the sports will be picked up by the USA Network and some sports will will be steamed on the Peacock streaming service. NBC will still have sports programming on the Olympic Channel.
Despite the IOC's ruling on no social and racial justice protests at the 2021 Tokyo games, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee(USOPC) will not punish US athletes who protest social and racial justice at the Tokyo games and will advocate for rules changes to the Olympic charter that ban protests.
USA World Champion figure Skater Nathan Chen plans to step away from figure skating after the Beijing 2022 winter Olympics to complete his Yale education. Chen will evaluate how long the break from figure skating will be.
The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships to be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 20 and 21 has been canceled due to the coronavirus. Also the Millrose games usually held in New York City in February has been canceled. This years edition was scheduled for February 13. Also the World Indoor Track and Field Championships held in Nanjing, China has been rescheduled for March 2023.
1960 Olympic Gold medal winning decathlete Rafer Johnson has passed away on December 2, 2020 at age 86. Johnson lit the Olympic cauldron at the 1984 Los Angeles summer Olympic games.
A breakup in USA pairs figure skating: Tarah Kayne and Danny O Shea split up in December 2020. They have been paired for nine seasons and were US Champions in 2016.
Three USA Pairs teams and one Ice Dance team withdraw from the USA Figure Skating Championships due to coronavirus concerns. The pairs teams are McIsaac/Sadusky, Deardorff/Johnson and Burden/Rounis. Carreira/Ponomarenko was the Ice Dance team that withdrew. Carreira/Ponomarenko will now be coached by former Canadian Ice Dancer Scott Moir. Each of these teams came in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID 19. All tested negative for COVID 19.
Brianna Rollins McNeal has been temporarily suspended from track and field competition for tampering with the process of doping control. Update: McNeal has been suspended from track and field competition for five years. The ban started August 15, 2020. While appealing the ban, McNeal can compete at the US Olympic track and field trials in June 2021. July 2021 update: McNeal's suspension has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport(SAS). McNeal's trials results do not count. McNeal will not be able to compete at the Tokyo and Paris Olympic games.
2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympian swimmer Klete Keller was charged with three federal offenses(Obstruction of law enforcement, entering a restricted building without consent and violent entry) and then arrested and then released for taking part in the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol. Keller won gold in 2004 and 2008 in the 4 by 200M relay for the USA.
The USA Swimming Olympic trials will have a second meet for lower seeded swimmers on June 4-7, 2021. The main Olympic trials will occur between June 13-20, 2021. This second "earlier" trials are due to coronavirus concerns.
The USA men's Olympic basketball team will face France as its first game in the Olympic tournament on July 25, 2021. The USA men's team will be grouped with Iran, France and another team in Group A. The women's Olympic basketball team will be grouped with Nigeria, Japan and France in Group B. the USA women's basketball team will face Nigeria on July 27, 2021.
Former USA 1980's gymnast and first black gymnastics champion Dianne Durham has passed away at age 52 on February 4, 2021. Durham was one of the first gymnasts coached by the Karolyi's. Due to injuries, Durham did not make the 1984 Olympics team in gymnastics and retired from competitive gymnastics shortly after. Durham was recognized at the 2021 USA gymnastics championships held in Fort Worth, TX on June 6.
USA Hurdler Lolo Jones and former Canadian bobsledder turned American Kaillie Humphries win gold in two women bobsled at the World Bobsledding Championships held in Altenberg, Germany in February 2021. The World Championships were supposed to be held in Lake Placid, NY but were relocated to Germany because of US and New York Coronavirus restrictions. American Kaillie Humphries won gold for her first ever monobob world title. Monobob will be contested at the 2022 Beijing games for the first time.
USA Olympic boxer Leon Spinks has died at age 67 from prostate cancer. Spinks competed for the USA at the 1976 Olympic games and won a gold medal.
NBC will show the Tokyo 2021 Opening Ceremony on Friday July 23 live for the first time ever. The opening Ceremony will be broadcast on NBC and will be shown live across all time zones. The opening ceremony will last four hours and will be broadcast from 7 am to 11 am eastern time and then will be rebroadcast that evening from 7:30pm to midnight. An overnight rebroadcast of the opening ceremony will take place from 12:35 am to 5 am on Saturday July 24.
USA Speed Skater Brittany Bowe won gold in the women's 1000m and silver in the women's 1500m at the World Single Distances Speedskating championships held in the Netherlands. American Joey Mantia won gold in the men's mass start and was 5th in the men's 1500m.
The President of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee Yoshiro Mori was forced to resign in February 2021 after he made a comment about women talking too much. Mori was replaced by Seiko Hashimoto(a 56 year old woman) who was appointed by the Organizing Committee's executive board. Hashimoto has competed at seven Olympic games(4 winter games/3 summer games)
Russia will go by the term "Russian Olympic Committee" and will have another anthem played because Russia was banned from the 2021 Tokyo games and 2022 Beijing games for state sponsored doping. This is part of a two year ban imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Russia's flag will be an "ROC" symbol. The ban will end on December 16, 2022. The ban was originally fours years but after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, its now a two year ban.
Two former USA women's gymnastics team members are trying to make a comeback, Chellsie Memmel and Laurie Hernandez. Hernandez won gold in the 2016 women's gymnastics team competition and hasn't competed since then. Memmel last competed at the 2008 Beijing games and is 32 years old. Memmel will compete at the US Classic gymnastics meet on May 21-22 in Indianapolis. Memmel will compete on the balance beam and vault.
The Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal fallout continues as former USA women's gymnastics coach John Geddert committed suicide on February 25, 2021. Geddert was charged with sexual assault crimes and was supposed to show up for a court appearance. Instead, Geddert killed himself. Geddert was the 2012 gold medal winning women's gymnastics head coach.
IOC President Thomas Bach has been re-elected for another four year term ending in 2025. Bach won unopposed. This will be Bach's final term as IOC President.
LA 2028 will partner with Comcast for the next 7 years, through the LA 2028 games. Comcast will be a founding partner of LA2028.
The USA men's baseball team will participate in an Olympic qualifying tournament in June in Florida. This tournament was postponed in March 2020 due to the Coronavirus.
The first two USA Olympic qualifiers for the 2022 Beijing games are biathletes Susan Dunklee and Clare Egan.
The IOC and Tokyo Olympic Committee ruled there will be no overseas spectators at the Olympic and Paralympic games due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo recently declared a state of emergency due to a third and fourth wave of Coronavirus cases.
The IOC and Tokyo Olympic Committee have devised a playbook for athletes safety at the games including being tested within 96 hours of their arrival in Tokyo with regular testing of athletes every four days and athletes must live in a bubble between the competition venue and athletes village. Athletes cannot freely move around Tokyo to go to restaurants and bars. Also any fans that may attend should refrain from loud cheering. Also the Pfizer vaccine will be donated to the Olympic committees of all the Olympic athletes/coaches to be administered by each country in time to be fully vaccinated for the Tokyo games. The agreement was reached between the IOC and Pfizer. a secondary agreement was reached between China's vaccine manufacturer and the IOC to vaccinate athletes for the 2022 Beijing Olympic games.
The USA men's soccer team did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics by losing to Honduras 2-1 in a Olympic qualifying tournament in Mexico. The USA men's soccer team last appeared at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Japanese men's swimmer Kosuke Hagino will not compete in the 400IM in Tokyo. Hagino did not enter the 400IM at the Japanese Olympic trials.
Retirements:
Justin Olsen - USA Bobsledder
Meghan Duggan - USA women's hockey player
Polina Edmunds - USA Figure Skater
Andrew Bogut - Australian and NBA basketball player
Sarah Hendrickson - USA ski jumper
Sadie Maubet - USA cross country Skier
Sophie Caldwell Hamilton - USA cross country skier
Simi Hamilton - USA cross country skier
Jasmin Stowers - USA 100 meter hurdler
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson - USA women's hockey player
Monique Lamoureux-Morando - USA women's hockey player
Ted Ligety - USA Alpine skier
Frank Molinaro - USA Olympic wrestler
Seimone Augustus - USA women's basketball player
Kacey Bellamy - USA women's hockey player
Aliya Mustafina - Russian Gymnast
Breeja Larson - USA Swimmer
Lia Neal - USA swimmer
Georganne Moline - USA 400 Hurdles runner
Veronica Campbell Brown - Jamaican sprinter
Amy Cragg - USA women's distance runner
Arielle Gold - USA Halfpipe Snowboarder
Phil Dalhausser - USA Beach Volleyball player(retired from international play)
Jake Gibb - USA Beach Volleyball player (retired from international play)
Carli Lloyd - USA women's Soccer player
American 2019 World Champion 110M Hurdler Grant Holloway set an indoor world record in the indoor 60M hurdles in Madrid in February 2021. Holloway ran the 60M hurdles in 7.29 seconds beating the world record set by Colin Jackson of Great Britain in 1994.
The USA women's beach volleyball team of April Ross/Alix Klineman have qualified for the Tokyo Olympic games. The second USA women's beach volleyball team to qualify is Sarah Sponcil/Kelly Klaes. On the men's side, the two teams that qualified are Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena and Jake Gibb/Taylor Crabb.
Kerri Walsh Jennings/Brooke Sweat failed to qualify for the Tokyo games.
1980 Ice Hockey gold medalist Mark Pavelich died in March 2021 and it was ruled a suicide.
North Korea has decided not to compete at the 2021 Tokyo games because of Coronavirus concerns.
Simone Biles former gymnastics coach Amiee Boorman will now be a coach for the Netherlands gymnastics team.
The FINA Diving World Cup was rescheduled from April 18-23 to May 1-6, 2021 due to inadequate COVID protection. The USA qualified for all Olympic spots at the FINA diving World Cup and 2019 World Diving Championships except for the men's 10 meter platform synchro. At the Fina Diving World Cup, American Sarah Bacon wins silver in women's 3 meter springboard. No other Americans medaled at this event.
The USA men's soccer team failed to qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics losing to Honduras 2-1 in a CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament held in Mexico.
USA sprinter Christian Coleman has had his suspension reduced from two years to 18 months. Coleman will miss the Tokyo games as his suspension ends in November 2021 for missing three drug tests in a 12 month period.
The 2021 World Athletics Diamond League schedule has been released:
May 23 - Gateshead
May 28 - Doha
June 10 - Rome/Florence
July 1 - Oslo
July 4 - Stockholm
July 9 - Monaco
July 13 - Gateshead
August 21 - Eugene
August 26 - Lausanne
August 28 - Paris
Sept. 3 - Brussels
Sept. 8-9 - Zurich
South African runner Caster Semenya will now run the 5000 and will try to qualify for the Tokyo games in the 5000. Semenya was told to decrease her testosterone levels by World Athletics and cannot run any sprinting events from 100 to the mile until her testosterone levels decrease to a level acceptable to World Athletics. Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba will also run the 5000 to try to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics for the same reason as Caster Semenya.
Six USA boxers have qualified for the Tokyo games. The USA women selected are.. Rashida Ellis, Ginny Fuchs, Naomi Graham and Oshae Jones. For the USA Men those chosen are Delante Johnson and Richard Torrez, Jr.
The last two USA fencers qualified for Tokyo.. Alen Hadzic and Khalil Thompson. The USA now has 24 fencers that have qualified for the Tokyo games.
The USA women's curling team won bronze at the 2021 World Championships beating Sweden 9-5. The USA team was skipped by Tabitha Peterson. the rest of that team is Nina Roth, Becca Hamilton, Tara Peterson and alternate Aileen Geving.
NBA star Grant Hill has been named USA men's basketball team director. Hill succeeds Jerry Colangelo who took over the job after the 2004 Olympics. Hill is a NBA Hall of Famer and his career lasted 19 years.
Kenyan 2016 800M gold medalist David Rudisha will not compete at the 2021 Tokyo games due to injuries. Rudisha set the world record in the 800 meters at the 2012 London games at 1 minute 40.91 seconds.
USA 1968 Olympian Lee Evans died on May 19, 2021 at the age of 74. Evans won gold in the 400 meters in 43.86 seconds. Evans also won gold in the 4 by 400 meter relay in Mexico City.
USA triple jumper Christian Taylor will not compete at the 2021 Tokyo games due to an achilles injury. Taylor won gold at the 2012 London games and the 2016 Rio games in the triple jump.
The USA men's 3 by 3 basketball team failed to qualify for the 2021 Tokyo games by losing a 3 on 3 quarterfinals tournament game to the Netherlands 21-16. The USA women's 3 by 3 basketball team did qualify for the 2021 Tokyo games by finishing third in a qualifying tournament in Austria.
The USA baseball team qualified for the 2021 Tokyo games by winning an Olympic qualifying tournament from teams from North and South America.
USA gymnasts Morgan Hurd and Laurie Hernandez will not compete at the 2021 Tokyo games and were not named to the US senior national gymnastics team who will compete for four spots at the 2021 Olympic trials from June 24-27 in St. Louis, Mo. Hernandez withdrew from the 2021 USA Gymnastics championships after the first day due to a knee injury. Hurd finished near the bottom in the balance beam and floor exercise.
The IOC will consider Brisbane, Australia as the host of the 2032 summer Olympic games. The IOC will vote on the 2032 summer Olympic games host on July 21, 2021. Queensland, Australia was to bid on the games but Brisbane is the choice of the IOC now.
USA 10M Platform diver Steele Johnson will not qualify for the 2021 Tokyo games. Johnson withdrew from the USA diving Olympic trials due to a foot injury that has not healed properly. Johnson won silver with David Boudia in the 10M platform at the 2016 Rio games. Johnson had switched to 3M Springboard at the trials. Other USA divers not qualified for the 2021 Tokyo games in diving: Kassidy Cook/Sarah Bacon in women's 3M synchro, Murphy Bromberg/Katrina Young in 10M platform. Sarah Bacon in women's 3M Springboard and David Dinsmore in men's 10M platform, David Boudia did not qualify in the 3M Springboard.
2021 AVP schedule:
August 13-15 - Atlanta
August 20-22 - Manhattan Beach
Sept. 3-5 - Chicago
USA 1500M and 5000M runner Shelby Houlihan has been issued a four year ban by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) for testing positive for nandrolone in December 2020. Houlihan said the positive test came from eating a tainted pork burrito. Houlihan appealed to Court of Arbitration for Sport(CAS) and lost her appeal. Some meats do contain traces of nandrolone. Houlihan has never tested positive for any banned substances going back to 2016. Houlihan will be banned through the 2024 Paris games, this includes the 2021 Tokyo games as well.. Houlihan's ban started in January 2021. Update: Houlihan will not be allowed to compete(was allowed at first) at the US Track and Field Olympic trials in Eugene, OR while she is appealing her case.
USA men's Steeplechase runner Evan Jager will not enter the Olympic trials and cannot make the 2021 Tokyo games due to injury. USA long distance runners Molly Huddle, Kori Carter and Shannon Rowbury did not enter the track and field Olympic trials also due to injury.
USA gymnast Eddie Penev has pulled out of the USA gymnastics Olympic trials being held in St. Louis from June 24-27, due to a knee injury.
The Tokyo Olympic Committee has decided that each venue can be at 50 percent capacity for the games up to a capacity of 10,000. There is talk of letting 20,000 Japanese spectators at the opening ceremony. Only Japanese spectators will be allowed at the games,
USA track athlete Colleen Quigley pulled out of the Olympic trials in the women's 3000 steeplechase due to injury.
USA Shot Putter Michelle Carter won't compete at the Olympic trials because she is recovering from surgery on her right ankle to remove a benign tumor.
USA tennis star and 4 time Olympian Serena Williams has decided not to compete at the Tokyo Olympic games.
USA sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson has been suspended for 30 days by USADA for out of competition marijuana use effective June 28, 2021 and will be in effect through July 27, 2021. All of Richardson's Olympic trials records have been nullified. Richardson will likely miss the women's 100 at the Tokyo games and could be a part of the 4 by 100 relays after the ban is over. Update: Richardson was left off of the Olympic team completely.
There are several changes to the medal ceremonies at Tokyo 2021. Athletes will have to put the medals around their own necks and there will be spaces between the gold, silver and bronze podiums. There will be no contact between the athletes on the podium and no pictures will be taken of the athletes on the podium.
Team USA has 613 athletes going to Tokyo. 329 are female athletes and 284 are men athletes. The last time the USA had over 600 athletes was in 1996 for the Atlanta games. Baseball/Softball has been added for the Tokyo games and these sports give the USA more athletes to compete at these games.
USA women's Olympic alternate gymnast Kara Eaker has tested positive for Covid 19 and has quarantined in a Tokyo hotel. Eaker had no symptoms and is fully vaccinated.
USA women's 3 on 3 basketball star Katie Lou Samuelson has tested positive for Covid 19 and will miss the Tokyo Olympics. Samuelson has been replaced by Jackie Young. Samuelson is fully vaccinated.
USA women's tennis star Coco Gauff has tested positive for Covid 19 and will not compete at the Tokyo games.
USA men's beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb has tested positive for Covid 19 and will be replaced by Tri Bourne. Bourne will pair with Jake Gibb during the games.
Brisbane, Australia has been selected by the IOC to host the 2032 summer Olympic games. The games will take place from July 23 to August 8, 2032.
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