sports
Speed skater Miho Takagi finally strikes gold after 3 silver finishes at Beijing Winter Olympics
- Japanese Olympic speed skater Miho Takagi won her first gold medal in the 1,000-meter speed skating competition on Thursday.
- Takagi finished her performance with a final time of 1:13.19, beating the previous Olympic record of 1:13.56 set by Jorien ter Mors at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
- The 27-year-old had won three silver medals prior to her gold medal win in the 1,500-meter, 500-meter and team pursuit speed skating competitions.
After winning three silver medals at the Beijing Winter Games, Japanese speed skater Miho Takagi set an Olympic record during the 1,000-meter women’s speed skating final on Thursday en route to her first gold medal.
Takagi set an Olympic record during her performance at the 1,000-meter event on Thursday, finishing with a final time of 1:13.19. The previous Olympic record, set by Jorien ter Mors at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, was 1:13.56.
Olympic gold medalist Yuna Kim slams reversal of teen figure skater’s suspension over positive drug test
- Yuna Kim, a former Olympic figure skating champion, criticized the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision to reverse Kamila Valieva’s suspension and allow her to continue competing following a positive drug test.
- Valieva, a 15-year-old Russian figure skater, failed a drug test on Dec. 25 in which she tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart drug.
- The young athlete was initially suspended by the CAS, but the decision was reversed, and Valieva was allowed to compete at Tuesday’s event.
- Kim criticized the decision as unfair in an Instagram post on Monday.
After 15-year-old Russian Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva was permitted to continue competing following a positive drug test, former Olympic figure skater Yuna Kim blasted the decision on Instagram as unfair.
According to Insider, Valieva failed her drug test on Dec. 25 and tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart drug that is often used by athletes as an endurance booster. Fox News also reported that Valieva had tested positive for two other substances: L-carnitine and hypoxen.
Child actor Su Yiming wins China’s sixth Olympic gold medal as the nation’s first snowboarding medalist
- Su Yiming, a 17-year-old snowboarder and former child actor, became China’s first snowboarding medalist after winning the gold medal in the Snowboard Big Air final on Tuesday.
- Su successfully landed a pair of 1800s on his first two runs, securing the gold medal over runners-up Mons Roisland from Norway and Max Parrot from Canada.
- His victory also helped earn China its highest number of medals at a Winter Olympics, with Su’s win delivering the nation’s sixth gold medal and 12th overall medal this year.
- “I had always dreamed about what it would be like to stand on the podium of the Olympics, and today, I did it,” Su told The Wall Street Journal.
Teen snowboarder Su Yiming won gold in the Snowboard Big Air final on Tuesday, claiming China’s sixth gold and 12th overall Winter Olympics medal this year.
The 17-year-old successfully landed a pair of 1800s on his first two runs, one frontside and one backside, in the competition. The spin is considered one of the most challenging tricks in snowboarding.
US-born freeskier Eileen Gu wins second medal at the Beijing Olympics with silver finish in slopestyle
- California-born freestyle skier, Eileen Gu, landed a silver medal on Tuesday’s slopestyle course at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
- The 18-year-old barely fell short of the gold medal, scoring only 0.33 points behind Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud.
- Gu finished the slopestyle course with a final score of 86.23.
- The young Team China athlete is now set up to potentially become the first action-sports athlete to win three medals at a single Winter Olympics game.
Freestyle skier Eileen Gu has won her second medal at the Beijing Winter Games, finishing second in the slopestyle course on Tuesday and falling just short of the gold by only 0.33 points behind Mathilde Gremaud.
Competing in subzero temperatures, Gu was sitting in eighth place after the first two runs but managed to land a big score on her third run, placing second with a final score of 86.23, reported the New York Times. The first-place winner of the slopestyle course, Mathilde Gremaud, finished with a final score of 86.56.
Wisconsin fan booted from basketball game after slant-eye gesture at Northwestern students
- A TikTok video showing a Wisconsin Men's Basketball fan doing a slant-eye gesture at Northwestern students during Tuesday’s game has gone viral.
- The spectator can be seen a few seconds later in the video being escorted out by athletics staff.
- The official TikTok page of the Wisconsin Badgers chimed in under the video, writing: “His actions have no place at our events and run completely counter to our values.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include a statement from a Northwestern University Athletics spokesperson.
A TikTok video of a Wisconsin Badgers fan directing the slant-eye gesture at a group of Northwestern students has gone viral, with many commenters calling out the spectator for his “embarrassing” display of racism.
‘The Shonited States of America’: Shohei Ohtani is the US’ favorite baseball player
The Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani was the most searched Baseball Reference player page in nearly half of the United States.
Showtime fever: A graphic illustrating the results of a Baseball Reference study shows that Ohtani has the most popular player page in 24 states, with noticeably dominance of the West Coast.
Japanese grandfather discovers love for skateboarding after buying his first board for $7
An 81-year-old Japanese man accidentally discovered a new passion for a hobby most people his age don’t typically dabble in.
Sk8r boi: Yoshio Kinoshita, who picked up skateboarding two years ago, continuously gets better at the sport by learning from skaters much younger than him, reported Reuters.
Red Sox announcer facing backlash for on-air joke mocking Asian American general manager’s name
WEEI Red Sox Radio Network announcer Sean McDonough drew criticism online for seemingly mocking San Francisco Giants executive Farhan Zaidi’s name during a wild card game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.
What happened: The issue was first brought to the public’s attention by Reuters tech correspondent Paresh Dave on Twitter on Wednesday, according to SF Gate.
Shohei Ohtani just reached a milestone achieved by only one baseball legend ever
Major League Baseball two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani reached another milestone this year by matching a statistic only the greatest living baseball player has ever accomplished.
One of the GOATs: Ohtani joined Hall of Famer Willie Mays in an exclusive club after scoring back-to-back triples on Saturday to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 14-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners, reported NBC Sports.
US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez and her father give emotional thanks for how Canada ‘opened their doors’ to their immigrant family
After a hard-fought run in the U.S. Open, finalist Leylah Fernandez reflected on her time up until that point and how it “meant the world” to her.
The Journey: On Monday, Leylah, 19, joined the “Today” show to talk about how her tennis journey to the finals impacted her family and why she will continue to fight for her dreams.
Emma Raducanu wanted to win U.S. Open so she could buy herself new AirPods
Emma Raducanu entered the U.S. Open as an underdog and emerged a global phenomenon.
Driving force: Raducanu showed tenacity throughout her U.S. Open campaign, winning 20 consecutive sets in 10 matches, partly because she wanted to buy herself a new pair of AirPods.
Phillipines’ ‘EJ’ Obiena smashes pole vaulting Asian record
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated in order to fix a mistake in the headline.
Filipino athlete Ernest John “EJ” Obiena has set a new pole vaulting Asian record after winning a gold medal at the 2021 Golden Roof Challenge in Austria on Sept. 11.
