United States government
Dionne Koller, co-chair of the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics, speaks at a conference in Colorado Springs, Colo., on May 18, 2023. Koller says the commission has begun work on a report that will be released next spring and could include proposals for radical changes in the way the Olympics work in America. (AP Photo/Eddie Pells)
Olympic reform panel starts work: 'Opportunity to think big'

By Eddie Pells May. 18, 2023 04:46 PM EDT

FILE - Richard Torrez Jr., from the United States, left, exchanges punches with Cuba's Dainier Pero during their men's super heavyweight over 91-kg boxing match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Aug. 1, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. American and British boxing officials have on Thursday, April 13, 2023 launched a breakaway group with the aim of saving boxing’s place at the Olympics, to be called World Boxing. Lauren Price of Britain, a gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and silver medalist Richard Torrez Jr. of the United States are on the board as athlete representatives. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, file)
Breakaway group aims to save boxing's Olympic status

Apr. 13, 2023 08:10 AM EDT

FILE - Fencers compete in the men's individual semifinal Sabre competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics, on July 24, 2021, in Chiba, Japan. Four national fencing federations say the International Fencing Federation has voted to allow athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus to resume competing in international events. They have been excluded for more than a year because of the invasion of Ukraine. The decision appears to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete for qualifying spots for next year’s Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Fencing votes to let Russians compete ahead of Olympics

Mar. 10, 2023 02:19 PM EST

FILE- Olga Fatkulina and Vadim Shipachyov, of the Russian Olympic Committee, carry a flag into the stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, on Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing, where Russian athletes competed under the acronym ROC, for Russian Olympic Committee, for the third time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has previously said any neutral flag for Russia would be “stained with blood,” is set to address a group of sports ministers meeting to discuss Russian participation at next year’s Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Zelenskyy tells summit 'no place' for Russia at Olympics

Feb. 09, 2023 07:55 PM EST

FILE - Visitors watch a simulation of the Parade of Nations exhibit during the opening day of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs Colo., on July 30, 2020. More than 27 months since it was greenlighted by Congress, the panel established to investigate the inner workings of the U.S. Olympic structure has yet to conduct a formal interview because of bureaucratic red tape and slow action from the same lawmakers who had expressed a pressing need for better oversight. The commission was created as part of the bipartisan “Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020,” which itself came out of an 18-month investigation into how the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the sports organizations it oversees mishandled sex-abuse cases in gymnastics and other sports. (Chancey Bush/The Gazette via AP, File)
Probe into US Olympic failings stunted by red tape in DC

By Eddie Pells Feb. 08, 2023 12:54 PM EST

FILE - Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner during the first half of Game 2 of basketball's WNBA Finals against the Chicago Sky, Oct. 13, 2021, in Phoenix. Brittney Griner is easily the most prominent American locked up by a foreign country. But the WNBA star’s case is tangled up with that of another prisoner few Americans have ever heard of. Paul Whelan has been held in Russia since his December 2018 arrest on espionage charges he and the U.S. government say are false. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)
Chicago Sky at Phoenix Mercury 10/13/2021

Jun. 11, 2022 08:04 PM EDT

Ben Loomis, of the United States, soars through the air during a trial round in the ski jump portion of the individual Gundersen normal hill event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Some US Olympians enlist in order to make it to the Games

By Larry Lage Feb. 11, 2022 03:04 AM EST

FILE - North Korea's Hwang Chung Gum and South Korea's Won Yun-jong carry the unification flag during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea on Feb. 9, 2018. North Korea basked in the global limelight during the last Winter Games in South Korea, with hundreds of athletes, cheerleaders and officials pushing hard to woo their South Korean and U.S. rivals in a now-stalled bid for diplomacy. Four years later, as the 2022 Winter Olympics come to its main ally and neighbor China, North Korea isn't sending any athletes and officials because of coronavirus fears. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
'Someone else's festival': No North Korea at ally's Olympics

By Hyung-Jin Kim And Kim Tong-Hyung Feb. 04, 2022 11:29 PM EST

United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland speaks during a press conference at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Nearly 80% of US Olympians signed up for opening ceremony

By Eddie Pells Feb. 04, 2022 03:11 AM EST

A man wearing a hat baring an American flag and face mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks by a masked security guard near lanterns decoration on the remnants of a city wall in Beijing, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. China is demanding the U.S. end “interference” in the Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin next month, in an apparent reference to a diplomatic boycott imposed by Washington and its allies. The Foreign Ministry said Minister Wang Yi made the demand in a phone call with U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday Beijing time. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
China demands US halt Olympics 'interference'

Jan. 27, 2022 01:50 AM EST

Elana Meyers Taylor from USA takes first place at the Bobsleigh World Cup in Winterberg, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 . (Caroline Seidel/dpa via AP)
USA Bobsled reveals 12-person team for Beijing Olympics

By Tim Reynolds Jan. 17, 2022 03:48 AM EST

FILE - Poland's Sports Minister Witold Banka speaks during an interview in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, March 18, 2019. The U.S. government paid its remaining $1.3 million in dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency but delivered a brusque message along with the check. A government official called its absence from the regulator’s decision-making boards a “sorry state of affairs.” WADA president Witold Banka called the release of the funds a sign of support from the U.S. government. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)
US check to WADA comes with memo: 'Sorry state of affairs'

By Eddie Pells Jan. 06, 2022 02:28 PM EST

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2021, file photo, exile Tibetans use the Olympic Rings as a prop as they hold a street protest against the holding of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in Dharmsala, India. A global trade union body has joined a long list human-rights advocates in challenging the propriety of China holding the 2022 Winter Olympics, and has singled out the International Olympic Committee for acquiescing in the face of alleged genocide and crimes against humanity reportedly taking place China. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia, File)
Beijing Olympics get 'gold for repression' in labor report

By Stephen Wade Nov. 09, 2021 12:16 AM EST

Russia's Liudmila Samsonova celebrates after winning a point against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic during their Billie Jean King Cup final tennis match in Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Russia beats Switzerland 2-0 to win Billie Jean King Cup

By Karel Janicek Nov. 06, 2021 01:03 PM EDT

United States Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney testifies during a Senate Judiciary hearing about the Inspector General's report on the FBI's handling of the Larry Nassar investigation on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021, in Washington. Nassar was charged in 2016 with federal child pornography offenses and sexual abuse charges in Michigan. He is now serving decades in prison after hundreds of girls and women said he sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment when he worked for Michigan State and Indiana-based USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)
Biles: FBI turned 'blind eye' to reports of gymnasts' abuse

By Mary Clare Jalonick, Will Graves And Michael Balsamo Sep. 15, 2021 12:48 PM EDT

FILE - In this file photo dated Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, First Vice President of the International Swimming Federation, FINA, Husain Al Musallam, during the FINA World Aquatics Gala in Budapest, Hungary. Documents obtained by The Associated Press show two senior Olympic officials from Kuwait have been targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice for suspected racketeering and bribery related to FIFA and international soccer politics. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah is reputed to be the “kingmaker” of IOC elections. Husain al-Musallam is president of swimming’s international governing body. The documents include details of the DOJ investigation and a formal request to Kuwaiti authorities in 2017 for help to secure evidence. (Attila Kovacs/MTI via AP, File)
Documents show US investigation of 2 Kuwaitis in FIFA case

By Graham Dunbar Sep. 02, 2021 11:43 AM EDT

FILE - In this June 20, 2021, file photo, Jon Rahm, of Spain, waves after his putt on the first green during the final round of the U.S. Open Golf Championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. Rahm has tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time in two months and the Spaniard has been knocked out of the Olympics only a few hours after American golfer Bryson DeChambeau met the same fate. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
Rahm watching Olympics from home and still doesn't know why

By Doug Ferguson Jul. 29, 2021 12:36 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2021, file photo, exile Tibetans use the Olympic rings as a prop as they hold a protest against the holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, in Dharmsala, India. Facing the boycott-threatened Beijing Winter Olympics in just over six months, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday, July 28, that its only responsibility was to “deliver the Games" and not to monitor human rights. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia, File)
IOC sponsors facing heat over Beijing Olympics, human rights

By Stephen Wade Jul. 28, 2021 05:40 AM EDT

Canada's goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, left, and Canada's Quinn, center, celebrate at the end of women's soccer match against Chile at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 24, 2021, in Sapporo, Japan. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
First openly transgender Olympians are competing in Tokyo

By Anne M. Peterson Jul. 26, 2021 03:54 AM EDT

An Olympic flag flies over the top of the bleachers at Ariake Tennis Center, Monday, July 19, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
Seeking reform, US holds $1.3 million in dues from WADA

By Eddie Pells Jul. 21, 2021 08:04 PM EDT