Two months after the for-profit business NewsGuard came under congressional investigation for whether its business relationships with domestic and foreign governments are tantamount to state-sponsored censorship, the self-described “only apolitical service rating news sources” is taking on new targets like the Olympics and a high-profile free-speech lawyer.
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In an interview Wednesday, the president of USA Gymnastics announced plans to boycott states that have limited abortion because pro-life views do not align with USAG’s values.
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Early Tuesday morning, the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Polk County caught fire and was destroyed, according to a Facebook post by The Cherokee National Forest. Although the building is a “complete loss,” no one was injured in the fire, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
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In early November, the Chinese (PRC) tennis star Peng Shuai wrote on her blog that she had been aggressed in 2018 by a Communist Party boss and vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, who made her his concubine. The blog post, on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, was removed in less time than it takes to play a set, 20 minutes.
Peng’s glory days as an athlete were in the mid-teens, when she was the first Chinese tennis player to reach a no. 1 ranking; hers was in doubles. In that format she won Wimbledon 2013 and Roland-Garros 2014, partnering with the Taiwan (Free China) player Hsieh Su-wei (at a time when the Chicoms were offering Hsieh big bucks to defect to their side); Peng was also strong in singles, ranked no. 14.
Peng has not been seen in public or heard from since her blog was censured.
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American gymnast Sunisa “Suni” Lee won gold in the women’s individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, ESPN reported.
Lee received a total score of 57.433, beating out Brazilian Rebeca Andrade’s score of 57.298 and becoming the sixth American to win the women’s individual all-around at the Games, ESPN reported.
“The waiting game was something I hated so much, but when I saw my score came out on top, it was so emotional,” Lee said after winning, according to ESPN. “It doesn’t feel like real life.”
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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX-10) introduced a bill Wednesday to counteract authoritarian regimes’ clout within the United Nations.
The legislation is designed to contravene “malign influence, require transparency, and promote accountability within the United Nations system.…”
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Five U.S. athletes have tested positive for coronavirus prior to the start of the Tokyo Olympics, crushing their dreams of competing in the world’s largest sporting event.
U.S. men’s basketball player Bradley Beal tested positive on July 15 which made him unable to travel to Tokyo, USA basketball announced in a tweet.
U.S women’s tennis star Coco Gauff announced on twitter that she tested positive for COVID on July 18. Gauff, 17, received her positive test in Tokyo, and has been barred from competing in the Olympic games, according to the tweet.
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Despite his team’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets is being hailed as the greatest basketball player in the world. The title of greatest player will always be a matter of debate, like the question of the greatest basketball play of all time.
Candidates could include LeBron James’ block on Andre Iguodala in the 2015 NBA finals, Larry Bird’s steal and pass to Dennis Johnson in the 1987 playoffs, or any number of plays by Michael Jordan. When considering the greatest-play prospects, along with the greatest-ever sports rip-offs, however, Americans should not overlook the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Mike Bantam, Jim Brewer, Tom Burleson, Doug Collins, Kenny Davis, James Forbes, Tom Henderson, Bobby Jones, Dwight Jones, Kevin Joyce, Tom McMillen, and Ed Ratleff formed the youngest team the United States had ever fielded. This pickup squad of collegians faced a more experienced Soviet squad—for all practical purposes, a professional team.
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The NCAA signaled that it may pull championship games from places that stop biological males from competing in women’s sports.
The collegiate sports league released a statement on Monday reaffirming that it supports “the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports,” which is grounded in the value of “fair competition.”
“The NCAA has a long-standing policy that provides a more inclusive path for transgender participation in college sports,” continues the statement. “Our approach — which requires testosterone suppression treatment for transgender women to compete in women’s sports — embraces the evolving science on this issue and is anchored in participation policies of both the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.”
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The 2020 Olympics have been delayed for about a year after an agreement was reached between Japan and the International Olympic Committee.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is asking Attorney General Keith Ellison for an investigation after one of her transgender constituents was barred from participating in a USA Powerlifting competition. In late January, the organization released a statement to explain its policy that prevented JayCee Cooper from partaking in one of its competitions. “Two areas of policy impact such participation: the first has to do with the use of testosterone or other androgens, commonly used to assist in transition from female to male. By virtue of the anabolic nature of these compounds, they are not allowed, nor is a Therapeutic Use Exemption granted for such use for anyone,” USA Powerlifting’s statement reads. “The second area involves the participation of male to female competitors. Through analysis the impact of maturation in the presence [of] naturally occurring androgens as the level necessary for male development, significant advantages are had, including but not limited to increased body and muscle mass, bone density, bone structure, and connective tissue,” the organization said. It is under this second policy that Cooper, a biological male, was prevented from competing as a woman in a USA Powerlifting event in Minnesota. “The IPF [International Powerlifting Federation] Medical Committee, while respecting the rights…
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Kim Jong Un is committed to sending North Korean teams to the next two Olympics, the IOC chief Thomas Bach said Saturday after a rare meeting with the leader of the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, also said the IOC will make a proposal for a “potential joint march” and other shared activities between the North and South Korean teams at the Tokyo games.
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For years, people have argued about what makes a sport an actual sport. Two intensely debated areas that come to mind are cheerleading and fishing — but now an effort is underway to get eSports into future Olympics.
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They may apparently require no more than a comfortable chair, decent knowledge of a computer screen and nimble mastery of controllers, but the International Olympic Committee insisted Saturday that eSports are indeed…sports. An Olympic Summit, under the guidance of IOC president Thomas Bach, meeting in Lausanne hailed the phenomenal growth of video games. In a statement,…
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