Month: February 2022

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — If you’re a journalist, there are few advantages to working inside the hermetically sealed “closed loop” at the Beijing Olympics. The “bubble” separates reporters, athletes and Olympic staff from the real Beijing public, giving us access only to venues, the media center, or our hotel. But

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP National Writer BEIJING (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin completed the super-G at the Beijing Olympics in a time way out of medal contention. But for the first time in three races at the 2022 Games, she made it across the finish. The two-time Olympic Alpine gold medalist crossed the line at the

By SALLY HO Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — U.S. figuring skating gold medalist Nathan Chen says he’s looking forward to going back to school and is undecided about what’s next for him in the sport. The 22-year-old has been on leave since the fall of 2020 from Yale University, where he’s majoring in statistics and

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Jake Burton Carpenter died in 2019, and his absence is being felt at the Beijing Olympics, the first without him for the sport he created and brought to the masses. Shaun White, Louie Vito and a number of riders said they miss having Burton Carpenter

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Iivo Niskanen of Finland has won gold in the 15-kilometer cross country race at the Beijing Olympics. Niskanen crossed the line and collapsed, spread eagle, with a time of 37 minutes, 54.8 seconds. It was his third Olympic gold. He won the 50-kilometer classic race in

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Japanese rider Ayumu Hirano linked his trendsetting, once-thought-impossible triple-cork trick to four more rock-solid jumps on the Olympic halfpipe. That gave him a score of 96 and vaulted him in front of Australian Scotty James to take the title that has eluded him at the

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — In Shaun White’s farewell performance, Ayumu Hirano of Japan won an elusive Olympic gold in the halfpipe with a boundary-pushing final run. Hirano’s last run featured what is now the new gold standard of halfpipe riding, the triple cork, which is three head-over-heels flips that

By PAUL NEWBERRY AP Sports Columnist BEIJING (AP) — NASCAR and pro wrestling are not sports at the Beijing Olympics. That’s OK. There’s short track. Daring skaters whip around a track set up on a hockey-sized rink. They bump and draft. They dole out an elbow here or a shoulder there. The unfortunate ones wind

By BRIAN CAROVILLANO and TED ANTHONY Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Be it sports, politics, hacking or war, the recent history of Russia’s relationship with the world can be summed up in one phrase: They get away with it. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has perfected the art of flouting the rules. It doesn’t matter whether the

By LARRY LAGE AP Sports Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Nordic combined is a niche sport. That means Olympians who participate in the mix of ski jumping and cross-country skiing must find options to fund their dreams. The U.S. government does not pay Americans to go for gold. That leaves the United States Olympic &