For some, setting a world record is an all-consuming passion – and the weirder the better. Meet the people putting the record books into a spin
Getti Kehayova, 42, Las Vegas, USA. Record: the largest hula hoop spun (female) is 5.188m in diameter, and the spin was achieved by Getti Kehayova in Las Vegas, Nevada on 2 November 2018
Continue reading...The double Olympic champion was denied her bid to escape a coach she says abused and harassed her, exposing a numbingly familiar truth: the system is not set up to support survivors
Kaillie Humphries brought glory to Canada time and again on the world stage, winning a gold medal in the two-woman bobsleigh at the Vancouver Olympics and becoming the first woman ever to successfully defend her title in Sochi four years later. She has challenged gender norms in sport by being one of the first few women to compete in mixed gender racing, then in 2016 drove an all-woman team against men in international competition.
Technically speaking, Humphries is badass, and Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton has adored her. The true north has only started to utter it’s polite disdain since last week when Humphries announced that she wanted to leave the national federation because she had endured verbal and mental abuse from head coach Todd Hays. Humphries declared her intention to switch federations and compete under the American flag moving forward. “I need to be the best athlete I can be and go where it’s safe and where I have an opportunity to continue my career” she said in an interview with CBC Sports. “And unfortunately, that is not with Bobsleigh Canada anymore.”
Continue reading...The former Rangers and Netherlands player Fernando Ricksen has died at the age of 43, six years after revealing that he had motor neurone disease.
“Rangers is deeply saddened to announce that former player Fernando Ricksen passed away this morning following his battle with motor neurone disease,” confirmed the Scottish club.
Continue reading...Ex-British Lions captain believed to be first UK sportsman to go public about living with virus
Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas has revealed that he is HIV positive.
Mr Thomas, who came out as gay in 2009, is thought to be the first UK sportsman to go public about living with the virus, and has revealed that he was driven to suicidal thoughts as a result of his diagnosis.
Continue reading...‘I cannot believe he’s being received by the Queen,’ says French judge
The French judge who convicted Geoffrey Boycott of assaulting his girlfriend has criticised the former England cricketer after he was knighted and says she stands by her decision to find him guilty.
The move to award Boycott the honour prompted outrage this week from a domestic violence charity. He was convicted in 1998 of assaulting Margaret Moore, who was left with black eyes after he hit her 20 times.
Continue reading...At 19, Legler broke the Olympic freestyle swimming record. But she was also an alcoholic and drug dealer who had suffered years of abuse from her trainers. She is surprised she is still alive, she says
One day, when she was a teenager, Casey Legler woke up with a hangover, then jumped into a pool and broke the Olympic freestyle swimming record. The year was 1996 and Legler was in Atlanta, a member of the French team, having a practice session as she awaited the Olympic finals the next day. Legler, at 6ft 2in, was built to swim. She had been groomed to be an Olympian from the age of 12. But when the finals came – the biggest day of her professional life – she bombed, coming 29th in the women’s 50m freestyle. She spent the next day drunk and dealing cocaine – to Olympic teammates and teenage members of other international teams.
That is perhaps the most troubling aspect of Legler’s new memoir, which charts her time as one of the fastest female swimmers in the world. This isn’t just the story of an alcoholic girl who, under the supposedly protective wing of coaches and doctors, was sexually abused and given performance-enhancing drugs. It’s how her experience was not unusual among her female peers. She remembers, for instance, a teenage member of the English Olympic team asking her to buy drugs. Alcohol and drug use, she says, were commonplace among top-level child athletes, not just in celebratory post-competition blow-outs but every night. From the age of 12, “I swam for every chance to get wasted,” she writes.
Continue reading...Charities and opposition parties highlight ex-cricketer’s conviction for domestic abuse
Boris Johnson is being urged to withdraw Geoffrey Boycott’s knighthood over his conviction for domestic violence and the former England cricketer’s response to criticism.
Women’s charities and opposition parties made the call after Boycott said he did not “give a toss” about condemnation of his knighthood from a leading domestic violence charity.
Continue reading...The World Cup-winning South Africa wing Chester Williams has died from a heart attack at the age of 49, South Africa Rugby has announced. Williams was the only black player in the Springboks squad when they claimed the world title in 1995. He scored four tries against Western Samoa in the quarter-finals before tasting glory in the final win over New Zealand.
The Paarl-born player represented Western Province and Golden Lions at province level, as well as Super Rugby side the Cats. After retiring in 2001 he coached the South Africa sevens team - – known as the Blitzboks – and took in spells with the Uganda and Tunisia national teams. He had most recently been working for the University of the Western Cape as head rugby coach.
Continue reading...The two-time Olympic 800m gold medallist Caster Semenya appears to be preparing for a career outside of athletics after joining a women’s football club.
The 28-year-old is currently appealing against a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport which approved the IAAF’s introduction of a new testosterone limit for female athletes.
Continue reading...• Catalonia police confiscate 40 plants in Igualada
• Guardia Civil post footage of illegal plots on social media
Police in Catalonia have seized dozens of marijuana plants from a roof terrace after social media users spotted the plantation in video footage filmed by a helicopter following the Vuelta a España cycling race.
Officers from the regional force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, headed to the town of Igualada, north-west of Barcelona, after video from Saturday’s stage eight was posted on social media.
Continue reading...Saeid Mollaei was told to pull out of world championships to avoid possible fight with Israeli
An Iranian judo athlete could seek asylum in Germany after he ignored orders from his national federation to pull out of the world championships to avoid a potential final against an Israeli.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) said that Saeid Mollaei, the defending champion, was pressurised by Iranian authorities to drop out before his quarter-final at the world judo championships in Tokyo last week to avoid the prospect of fighting Israel’s Sagi Muki in the final.
Continue reading...When the striker called out racism in football, it ended her international career. She explains why the fight was worth it
Eniola Aluko is one of only 11 female footballers to have played more than 100 times for England. She has scored some of the Lionesses’ most memorable goals, was the first female pundit on Match Of The Day, and is a qualified lawyer, having graduated from Brunel University London with a first in 2008. But it is as a whistleblower that she is destined to be best remembered. And, like many whistleblowers, she has spent the subsequent years being rubbished by those she exposed.
Now she has written a memoir. They Don’t Teach This is a fascinating examination of her multiple identities – British and Nigerian, a girl in a boy’s world, footballer and academic, a kid from an estate with upper-middle-class parents, a God-fearing rebel. But the book is at its best when she reveals exactly what happened after she accused the England management team of racism, and the Football Association of turning a blind eye to it. Aluko does not hold back – and few people from the football establishment emerge with their reputation intact.
Continue reading...Skateboarding will debut in the Tokyo Olympics next year. Despite this, those who are part of a growing scene in Shanghai, China, complain of being labelled troublemakers
Continue reading...Gianni Infantino’s efforts have not had much impact and, with World Cup qualifiers soon, the wait to attend games continues
“They think that, if they give up on this, it’s a noose for them,” says Maryam Shojaei. “People will ask for more. If they give in in one area, they fear they will have to give in in others.”
“They” are the Iranian authorities and Iranian Football Association, who have thus far resisted calls for the removal of the 40-year ban on women in football stadiums. And Shojaei, who is the sister of the Iran national team captain, Masoud Shojaei, is one of an increasing number of women campaigning for entry: some have attempted to sneak into matches disguised as men, female sports photographers have had to scale buildings nearby just to do their jobs, and others have suffered brutal arrests and detention.
Continue reading...Sherry Bray and Christopher Ashford admit accessing CCTV of postmortem examination
Two people are facing prison sentences after they admitted accessing footage of the footballer Emiliano Sala’s postmortem examination.
The Argentinian’s body was recovered from a plane wreck on 6 February, two weeks after it crashed into the Channel.
Continue reading...Former professional football player and amateur boxer Miguel Angel Ramirez has set up a small gym under a vehicular bridge in Ecatepec, in the State of Mexico, in order to keep children away from drugs, teach them a sport and prevent them enlisting in the ranks of organised crime
Continue reading...Fifa, Uefa and Premier League ask Saudi government to clamp down on beoutQ
The world’s biggest football authorities, including those who run the Premier League, World Cup and Champions League, have called on Saudi Arabia to take action to stop a sophisticated, homegrown pirate TV and streaming service that is illegally broadcasting matches internationally.
The strongly worded letter from the exasperated sports bodies – including Fifa, Uefa, Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A as well as the Asian Football Confederation – comes after almost 18 months fruitlessly attempting to mount a legal challenge in Saudi Arabia to block the service, called beoutQ.
Continue reading...Jaden Ashman, 15, known as Wolfiez, came second in the video game’s duos competition
A British teenager has won $1.25m (£1m) by coming second in the first Fortnite World Cup in New York on Saturday.
Jaden Ashman, 15, who competes under the name Wolfiez, was placed second alongside his Dutch teammate Dave Jong, 21, in a duos round of the battle royal-style shooting game that has more than 250 million players worldwide.
Continue reading...Two South Koreans killed and athletes from US, New Zealand, Netherlands, Italy and Brazil injured
Two South Koreans have died and several others, including athletes attending the world aquatic championships, have been injured after a structure collapsed in a nightclub in the city of Gwangju early on Saturday, a fire department official has said.
The deaths happened when a two-level structure in the club, which is next to the athletes’ village, collapsed at about 2am local time, hitting and pinning revellers, the official said.
Continue reading...Prosecutors in Las Vegas say that Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo will not face criminal charges over allegations he raped a woman at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
After reviewing a police investigation into the claims, Clark County district attorney Steve Wolfson said on Monday there is not enough evidence to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt, and no charges will be filed.
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