Welcome to The Sports Examiner SPEED READ, a 100 mph (44.7 m/s) review of what happened over the last 72 hours in Olympic sport:
LANE ONE
Monday: The United States Olympic Committee (now U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee) posted its tax return for 2018, with a lot of interesting information. The headlines were about ex-CEO Scott Blackmun’s severance, but the USOC was telling the Federal government that it spent 81.2% of its expenses on athlete-related programs. Most of the money goes to the National Governing Bodies and another $33.2 on direct assistance of varying kinds directly to athletes. Oh yes, the USOC/USOPC makes good money in Olympic years and loses quite a bit in non-Olympic years. And a lot more details to share …
HEARD AT HALFTIME
Friday: Accused of accepting bribes from ex-IAAF President Lamine Diack to vote for Rio de Janeiro in 2009, IOC member Sergey Bubka (UKR) and ex-IOC member Alexander Popov (RUS) heatedly deny former Rio State Governor Sergio Cabral’s testimony of last week. Plus, FIFA steps up with hundreds of millions more to support women’s football, and now the Mayor of Milan – just awarded the 2026 Winter Games – is convicted of pre-dating some documents when he was the head of the Milan World Exhibition.
ARCHERY
Sunday: Young stars were all the rage in Berlin, as Turkey’s Mete Gazoz – age 20 – repeated his 2018 victory at the World Archery World Cup in Berlin (GER), and Korea’s 18-year-old San An won the women’s Recurve division in her first World Cup! American teen Alexis Ruiz won the women’s Compound Division, her second World Cup win this season.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Sunday:The FIVB World Championships crowned new champs, with Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes edging the American pair of Alix Klineman and April Ross, and Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovsky and Viacheslav Krasilnikov beating home favorites Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler (GER) in front of a big crowd in Hamburg (GER).
CYCLING
Sunday: Four more national titles for U.S. track cycling star Jennifer Valente at the USA Cycling National Track Championships in Carson, California! She now has 20 for her career (and she’s still just 24). But there were three other stars who won their third straight national titles in their specialties!
FENCING
Saturday: The U.S. won five of six gold medals available in the individual events at the Pan American Championships in Toronto (CAN). The Pan Ams finished with the team events, and the U.S. picked up five golds there too, meaning five American fencers won two golds!
FOOTBALL
Sunday: Even though the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup was dominated by Europe, no one could beat the U.S. women’s National Team, which managed a 2-0 win over the Netherlands in the final before 57,900 in Lyon (FRA). It’s the second straight win for the American women and their fourth in history, the most for any nation.
Sunday: The U.S. men’s National Team showed that it is improving, but fell short by 1-0 against Mexico at Soldier Field in Chicago in the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Perhaps most amazing was that despite being in Chicago, the crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Mexico!
GYMNASTICS
Saturday: More national titles for America’s top Rhythmic gymnast, Laura Zeng, who won four more titles at the USA Gymnastics National Championships. Although just 19, she has now won five straight All-Around titles and owns 17 national titles!
JUDO
Sunday: All hail the return of France’s 10-time World Champion Teddy Riner, who returned from almost a year-and-a-half off to win the super-heavy division of the Montreal Grand Prix and extend his sensational winning streak to 148 matches! Oh yes, and Japan won seven golds and dominated the rest of the program.
TABLE TENNIS
Sunday: Olympic Champions were in the finals of the men’s and women’s Singles at the Korea Open … but neither won. Instead, these all-China finals pitted the 2016 gold medalists Long Ma and Ning Ding against the no. 1-ranked paddlers of today, and Xin Xu and Meng Chen triumphed and confirmed their status. China won four golds and a Hong Kong duo won the Mixed Doubles.
TAEKWONDO
Saturday: The USA Taekwondo Championships was another step forward for 16-year-old Anastasija Zolotic, who won a World Junior title in 2018, and now won another national titleat the USA Taekwondo Championships. And she wasn’t the only repeat champion!
TRIATHLON
Sunday: Britain’s Non Stanford was the upset winner of the Hamburg Tri for the women after American star Katie Zaferes was slowed by a major bike crash early in the race. Australia’s Jacob Birtwhistle won the men’s race at the tape and the French won their second consecutive World Championship in the Mixed Relay.
VOLLEYBALL
Sunday: The U.S. women won their second consecutive FIVB Nations League final, coming back from 0-2 to defeat Brazil, in Nanjing (CHN). Not just impressive, but it stamps the U.S. as a medal favorite for Tokyo!
UPCOMING
Highlights of the coming week, with previews in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:
● Aquatics: The FINA World Championships finally begin in Korea!
● Athletics: What will Noah Lyles do in this 100 m race vs. Justin Gatlin in Monaco?
● Cycling: Climax of the season, with the men’s Tour de France and women’s Giro Rosa on!
And many more international events coming up this week!
