Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Athlete and Olympic Updates - July 2023 - July 2024

Retirements:

Kara Eaker - USA gymnast
Natalie Geisenberger - German Luge athlete
Christine Sinclair - Canadian soccer player
Mack Horton - Australian swimmer
Carissa Moore - American surfer (after 2024 Paris games.)
Lauren Jackson - Australian Basketball player
Matthew Centrowitz - USA 800 runner (after 2024 track season)
Joseph Schooling - Singapore swimmer
Chris Mazdzer - US Luge athlete
Sam Mewis - USA Women's soccer
Dafne Schippers - Netherlands sprinter
Shoma Uno - Japanese Figure Skater
Irene Schouten - Netherlands Speed Skater
Kate Grace - USA 800M runner
Christian Taylor - USA Triple Jumper

South African runner Caster Semenya has won her appeal against the government of Switzerland who denied her 2019 Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal. Semenya will now appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Semenya had to stop competing in the women's 800 because World Athletics has placed testosterone limits on women competing from the 100 meters to the 1500 meters. Semenya has failed those tests and cannot compete at the shorter distances until the rule is changed.

Nigerian sprinter Tobi Amusan was provisionally suspended for missing 3 drug tests in a 12 month period but had the suspension lifted in time for the 2023 World Athletics Championships. 

The USA men's basketball team finished 4th at the FIBA World Cup but did not use all NBA players and had little Olympic experience. The USA lost to Canada in the bronze medal game 127-118 to finish 4th. The USA lost to Germany 113-111 in the semifinals to qualify for the bronze medal game. The USA men's team did qualify for the 2024 Paris games, however by advancing to the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup.

Eugene, Oregon was named the venue for the USATF Olympic trials to be held June 21-30, 2024 at Hayward Field. 

Todd Desorbo has been named USA women's Olympic head swim coach while Anthony Nesty was named the men's head USA Swim coach. 

The USA women's volleyball team qualified for the 2024 Paris games by earning an Olympic spot at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Poland. Jordan Larson has come out of retirement to help the USA women's team qualify for the Olympics.


2024 Wanda Diamond League schedule:

April 20 - Xiamen, China
April 27 - Shanghai/Suzhou, China
May 10 - Doha, Qatar
May 19 - Rabat/Marrakech, Morocco
May 25 - Eugene, Oregon
May 30 - Oslo, Norway
June 2 - Stockholm, Sweden
July 7 - Paris, France
July 12 - Monaco, Monaco
July 20 - London
August 22 - Lausanne, Switzerland
August 25 - Silesia. Poland
August 30 - Rome, Italy
Sept. 5 - Zurich, Switzerland
Sept. 13-14 - Brussels, Belgium 

Warsaw, Poland plans to bid on the 2036 summer Olympic games. Brisbane, Australia will host the 2032 summer Olympic games. 

The USA men's volleyball team has qualified for the 2024 Paris games by clinching an Olympic berth at a Tokyo round robin tournament. 

USA beach volleyballers Kelly Cheng/Sara Hughes won gold at the 2023 World Beach Volleyball championships held in Mexico. Cheng/Hughes beat Ana/Duda of Brazil 21-16, 24-22. 

The IOC has added several sports to Los Angeles 2028. The sports added are: cricket, baseball, softball, lacrosse, squash and flag football. These sports are currently only added for 2028 Los Angeles.

Another country will host several winter Olympic sports at the 2026 Milan/Cortina, Italy winter games. Bobsled, luge and skeleton events will not take place in Italy in 2026 due to abandonment of a proposed sliding venue in Italy. Lake Placid, NY, USA has proposed to host the sliding events for Italy/

Los Angeles will host the 2026 Pan Pacs swimming championships. It was originally scheduled to be held in Canada but moved to the USA.

USA basketball and legendary Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight has passed away on November 1, 2023 at the age of 83. Knight won 3 NCAA titles with Indiana in 1976, 1981 and 1987. Knight won 902 NCAA college games and won gold as the coach of the 1984 Olympic basketball team.

USA basketball coach Steve Kerr will coach the USA Olympic men's team through the 2024 Paris games and then step down.  USA basketball coaches usually stay on for one Olympic cycle.

An ankle injury has sidelined USA figure skater Bradie Tennell for the entire 2023-2024 figure skating season. Tennell broke her ankle during training and is now out for the season.

USA soccer has named new women's soccer coach Emma Hayes to take over from Vlatko Andonovski. Hayes is the current coach of the Chelsea soccer club. Hayes will begin coaching the USA women's soccer team in May 2024.

USA ski slopestyle athlete Nick Goepper has unretired as of December 2023 and now wants to compete in ski halfpipe. Goepper won ski slopestyle medals in 2014 - bronze and 2018 - silver and 2022 - silver. Goepper wants to compete in the ski halfpipe at the Milan-Cortina 2026 games.

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA has applied to host the 2034 Winter Olympics and France (unknown city) has applied to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. The IOC has recommended these cities be awarded the games as "preferred hosts."  The 2030 France host will be officially awarded at the IOC session prior to the 2024 Paris games.

USA sprinter Allyson Felix has applied for IOC membership with the athletes commission and will be decided if she is elected at the 2024 Paris games. Felix is an 11 time medalist for Team USA in the sprints.

Former USA swimmer Klete Keller was sentenced to 6 months of house arrest after participating in the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol.  Keller was sentenced to 3 years of probation and 360 hours of community service. Keller won 5 medals and relay gold. Keller competed at the 2000 Sydney games, 2004 Athens games and 2008 Beijing games.

USA women's soccer nemesis Sweden will not qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics by losing in a qualification tournament to Spain. 

USA bobsledder Kallie Humphries will skip the 2024 sliding season because she is pregnant and is due in June 2024. Humphries plans to compete in 2025 with plans to compete at the 2026 Italy games.

Due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, started by Russia, Russian athletes who qualify for the Paris games will be "neutrals" and have conditions placed on their eligibility that they don't support the war in Ukraine. Russian athletes can't compete with their flag, or their colors. the Russian national anthem will not be played at the Paris games.  11 athletes have qualified so far. Belarus also will compete as neutrals.

South African 400 runner Oscar Pistorius was released from prison on January 5, 2024 after spending 9 years out of a 13 year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius sentence official ends in December 2029 as he is now on parole. 

USA Ice dancers Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean Luc Baker will not compete in the 2023-2024 figure skating season due to a fall in the previous season due to a concussion suffered by Baker and Hawayek in previous seasons.

Canadian Pole Vaulter Shawn Barber has passed away in January 2024 at age 29 due to unknown medical problems. Barber competed at the 2016 Rio games and was the 2015 world champion in the pole vault.

Russian figure skater Kamila Valiyeva was suspended for 4 years from December 2021 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Valiyeva had all of her 2022 Beijing games results stripped. Valiyeva faled a drug test in December 2021 but was allowed to compete at the 2022 Beijing games. the Russian argument was that Valiyeva was under age 16 so punishment should be a lesser offense. CAS said that the Russian Doping Agency did not differentiate based on age. Valiyeva was treated as an adult by CAS. 

The International Skating Union has disqualified Russian skater Kamila Valiyeva because of a failed 2021 late year drug test. The USA now gets the 2022 Beijing games team gold, Japan wins silver and Russia dropped to a bronze medal in the team event minus Valiyeva score.

The National Hockey League will send players to the Olympics starting in 2026 and at least through the 2030 games. NHL stars last competed at an Olympics at the 2014 Sochi games

USA Olympic qualifers in the Marathon are: Connor Mantz, Clayton Young and Leonard Korir (came in 3rd but may not qualify). For the USA Women: Fiona O' Keefe, Emily Sissson and Dakotah Lindwurm. 

Retired USA figure skater Alyssa Liu has decided to come back and compete in the 2024-2025 Figure skating season. Liu won the 2019  and 2020 USA Figure skating Championship in singles and placed 6th at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games. Liu retired at the end of the 2021-2022 figure skating season.

2016 Olympian 1500M runner Matthew Centrowitz will retire at the end of the 2024 track and field season. Centrowitz won gold in the 1500 at the Rio games.


AVP 2024 Schedule - Heritage Series

May 17-19 - Huntington Beach Open
August 16-18 - Manhattan Beach Open
August 30-Sept. 1 - Chicago Open

AVP 2024 Schedule - Contender Series

July 6-7 - Denver Open
July 11-12  - Waupaca Open
Aug. 3-4 - Virginia Beach Open

AVP 2024 Schedule - AVP League

Sept. 14-15 - Los Angeles
Sept. 21-22 - South Florida
Sept. 28-29 - San Diego
Oct. 5-6 - Austin
Oct. 12-13 - Palm Beach
Oct. 19-20 - San Diego
Oct. 26-27 - Los Angeles
Nov. 2-3 - Dallas
Nov. 9-10 - Los Angeles - League Championship

NBC has announced its Paris opening ceremony broadcast team which consists of Mike Tirico, Kelly Clarkston, Peyton Manning, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb.

The USA men's basketball team will face Serbia in its first Olympic opponet, while the USA women's team will play Japan in its first Olympic game.

USA women's soccer draw for 2024 Olympics include Australia and Germany while the USA men's team, which qualified for the first Olympics since the 2008 Beijing games draw includes France and New Zealand.

The Wanda Diamond League will move from NBC to Flotrack beginning with the 2025 season. NBC will still televise USATF meets to include Los Angeles/New York Grand Prix.

The USA Beach volleyball team of Alix Klineman/April Ross are competing again for the 2024 AVP beach volleyball season. Both missed previous seasons due to starting families.

American Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin is engaged to Norwegian Alpine skier Alexsander Aamodt Kilde on April 4, 2024.

Triple Jumper Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela injured her Achilles tendon and will not be able to compete at the Paris games. Rojas win gold at the 2021 Tokyo games and silver at the 2016 Rio games.

USA long distance runner Alicia Monson suffered a knee injury and will miss the entire 2024 outdoor track season to include the Olympic trials and Paris Olympics. Monson competed at the 2021 Tokyo games in the 10000 and finished 13th.

Emma Coburn, USA steeplechaser suffered a broken ankle in late April 2024 and will miss the Paris Olympic games. Coburn won bronze at the 2016 Rio games.

Emma Hayes was named USA women's soccer head coach in May 2024.

Gabby Douglas withdrew from the 2024 US women's gymnastics championships due to an ankle injury. Gabby Douglas last completed at the 2016 Rio Games.

Brazilian Pole Vaulter Thiago Braz tested positive for ostarine glucuronide in July 2023 and is suspended through November 2024. Braz won gold in the pole vault at the 2016 Rio games.

USA steeplechaser Courtney Frerichs suffered a knee injury during practice and will miss the 2024 Paris Olympics. Frerichs won silver at the 2021 Tokyo games.

Mike Sullivan was named head coach of the 2026 men's Olympic hockey team.

Breezy Johnson, USA Alpine skier was suspended for 14 months from October 2023 for missing 3 drug tests in a 12 month period. Johnson will be able to compete again  in December 2024. Johnson competed at the 2018 Pyeongchang games.

The French Alps were awarded the 2030 Winter Olympic games and Salt Lake City, Utah was awarded the 2034 winter Olympic games at the IOC Session held just before the Paris games.

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