Sports governance
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping tours the National Speed Skating Oval, a competition venue for the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. Competition for the Winter Olympics is scheduled to begin on Feb. 4. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP)
China spends billions on Olympics with longer-term goal

By Graham Dunbar 3 hrs ago

FILE - Fireworks explode over Beijing's Tiananmen Square to help mark the closing of the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing on Aug. 24, 2008. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics open in just over a week. When Beijing held the Summer Olympics in 2008 the International Olympic Committee predicted they could improve human rights, and Chinese politicians hinted at the same. There are no soaring promises this time. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
China less worried about global criticism these Olympics

By Stephen Wade Jan. 25, 2022 12:29 AM EST

Annika Malacinski, left, and Alexa Brabec take part in a roller ski training session for the 2022 U.S. Olympic team for Nordic combined and ski jumping teams at Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid, N.Y., Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. Even before the U.S. teams were set for Beijing Games, 20-year-old Annika Malacinski knew she had no shot at competing in China because she is a woman. Nordic combined, which combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing, is the only Olympic sport without gender equity. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
It's men only in Nordic combined at the Olympics for now

By Larry Lage Jan. 23, 2022 10:51 AM EST

A man poses for a selfie near the Olympic logo at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. The venue will host the opening and closing ceremonies during the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
CAS judges 'lacked anti-doping expertise' at Tokyo Olympics

By Graham Dunbar Jan. 21, 2022 06:31 AM EST

Pennsylvania's Lia Thomas is shown during the playing of the national anthem before a swim meet, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, in Philadelphia. The NCAA has adopted a sport-by-sport approach for transgender athletes, bringing the organization in line with the U.S. and International Olympic Committees. NCAA rules on transgender athletes returned to the forefront when Penn swimmer Lia Thomas started smashing records this year.(AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Penn pledges to work with NCAA, support transgender swimmer

Jan. 20, 2022 08:54 PM EST

A man gets a throat swab for the COVID-19 test at a mobile coronavirus testing facility a residential area in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. With just over two weeks before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, residents of the Chinese capital say they’re disappointed at not being able to attend events because of coronavirus restrictions that have seen parts of the city placed under lockdown. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Beijing residents disappointed Olympics will be closed event

Jan. 19, 2022 04:12 AM EST

A woman looks at her phone as she passes an Olympic logo inside the main media center for the Beijing Winter Olympics Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Report: Chinese Olympic app has serious security flaws

By Alan Suderman Jan. 18, 2022 02:18 PM EST

Student activists wear masks with the colors of the pro-independence East Turkistan flag during a rally to protest the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, outside the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Jan. 14, 2022. Dozens of students staged the rally demanding the cancellation of the Beijing Olympics over alleged human rights violations against Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority in China's region of Xinjiang. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
Olympic athletes urged by activists not to criticize China

By Graham Dunbar Jan. 18, 2022 11:56 AM EST

FILE - Fireworks explode over the National Stadium during the opening ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing on Aug. 8, 2008. Ai is one of China's most famous artists, and many regard him as one of the world's greatest living artists. Working with the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, he helped design the Bird's Nest stadium, the centerpiece of Beijing's 2008 Summer Olympics. The stadium will also host the opening ceremony for Beijing's Winter Olympics on Feb. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
The AP Interview: Exiled artist Ai Weiwei on Beijing Games

By Stephen Wade Jan. 18, 2022 12:01 AM EST

Reporters use smartphones to film Yao Ming, head of the Chinese Basketball Association and Ice Snow Sports Promotion Ambassador, left, as he speaks during a Linjia 7 Salon afternoon tea with journalists at Beijing International Club in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. Former NBA great Yao Ming said Monday he and others had a pleasant talk when they met last month with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, whose disappearance after making a sexual assault allegation against a former government official raised international concern. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Former NBA great Yao Ming addresses Peng Shuai, Olympics

By Ken Moritsugu Jan. 17, 2022 06:22 AM EST

FILE - Germany's Claudia Pechstein competes in the women's 5,000 meters during the world single distances speedskating championships Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in Kearns, Utah. At 49, Pechstein will be the oldest woman to compete at a Winter Olympics and the second athlete — and only woman — to compete in eight. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
'Grandma' Claudia Pechstein skates into 8th Olympics

By Beth Harris Jan. 14, 2022 02:05 AM EST

Blessing Okagbare, of Nigeria races in a women's 200 meter heat at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 30, 2019. U.S. prosecutors charged a Texas man on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022 with providing performance-enhancing drugs to athletes competing in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, including Okagbare. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, file)
Man charged with giving Olympic athletes performance drugs

By Jim Mustian Jan. 12, 2022 12:03 PM EST

FILE - Staff members rehearse a victory ceremony at the Beijing Medals Plaza of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China on Jan. 3, 2022. The Beijing Winter Olympics are fraught with potential hazards for major sponsors, who are trying to remain quiet about China's human rights record while protecting at least $1 billion they've paid to the IOC. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
IOC major sponsors mostly muted in runup to Beijing Olympics

By Stephen Wade Jan. 11, 2022 12:11 AM EST

FILE - Francois Carrard, FIFA Reform Committee Chairman, attends a news conference at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, Dec. 3, 2015. The former longtime IOC director general Francois Carrard has died, the Olympic body said Monday, Jan. 10, 2022. He was 83. The International Olympic Committee said it was “deeply saddened” to learn of Carrard’s death. The cause was not specified. (Walter Bieri/Keystone via AP, file)
François Carrard, legal doyen of Olympic sports, dies at 83

Jan. 10, 2022 04:05 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 said Friday, Jan. 7, 2022 it would skip next month’s Beijing Olympics because of the COVID-19 pandemic and "hostile forces' moves," a largely redundant statement since the country has already been banned from the Games by the IOC. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Banned from the Olympics by IOC, NKorea puts blame elsewhere

By Hyung-Jin Kim Jan. 06, 2022 11:48 PM EST

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping tours the National Speed Skating Oval, a competition venue for the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. Competition for the Winter Olympics is scheduled to begin on Feb. 4. (Shen Hong/Xinhua via AP)
IOC assures teams Winter Olympics in Beijing will go ahead

By Graham Dunbar Jan. 05, 2022 02:15 PM EST

FILE -Russia forward Yevgeni Malkin seals off the puck from USA defenseman Ryan McDonagh in the first period of a men's ice hockey game at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. NHL players will not take part in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing after all. A person with direct knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press the league is going to withdraw from the Olympics after the regular-season schedule was disrupted by coronavirus outbreaks, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
NHL announces players won't be allowed to go to Olympics

By Stephen Whyno Dec. 22, 2021 10:53 AM EST

FILE - Fireworks illuminate over National Stadium during the closing ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Aug. 8, 2021, in Tokyo. Tokyo Olympic organizers on Wednesday, Dec. 22 say the cost of the Games is estimated to be $1.8 billion less than anticipated. Official estimates over the last year said the costs would be $15.4 billion, and organizers now say that number is estimated to be $13.6 billion. Officials said the reduction in costs was because there were no fans and therefore no labor costs. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, file)
Organizers say Tokyo Olympics cost $1.8B less than expected

By Stephen Wade Dec. 22, 2021 09:05 AM EST

Tyrrell Hatton, of England, watches his shot on the second tee on day three of the Hero World Challenge PGA Tour at the Albany Golf Club, in New Providence, Bahamas, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021.(AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Players with Saudi releases have to decide if it's worth it

By Doug Ferguson Dec. 21, 2021 01:26 PM EST

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, center, prepares to present the trophy to Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal midfielder Salman Al-Faraj, left, after winning the AFC Champions League final soccer match against South Korea's Pohang Steelers 2-0, at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
FIFA touts billions to be gained from biennial World Cups

By Rob Harris And Graham Dunbar Dec. 20, 2021 10:36 AM EST