Saturday marks 1,000 days until the London 2012 Olympic Games, and officials promise the event is on track and on budget.
The torch for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was lit in a ceremony at the ancient Greek site of Olympia on Thursday, less than four months ahead of the games' opening ceremony.
The cities of Annecy, Munich and Pyeongchang will battle it out to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.
One more reason to buy a ticket to Rio in 2016? Tiger Woods.
The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will include rugby union sevens, a shortened version of the 15-player game, and golf as sports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced.
My gracious, but this has been a difficult time for us sports troubadours. We do better with simple games, with the tic-tac-toe offensive and defensive Xs and Os, as opposed to the exes and ohs that refer to past marital tense and current romantic joy. I mean, hardly had I begun to digest the news that Lamar Odom of the NBA had married Khloe Kardashian of reality show fame -- ohhh! -- than comes word that Chris Evert and Greg Norman, America's senior sweethearts, had broken up, potential exes-to-be.
In answering the question of when rather than if, the USOC announced that acting CEO Stephanie Streeter will be on her way out from the top of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Consider it a good start.
Rio's Olympic bid coup on Friday may have the lyrics to "Copacabana" playing on a loop in your head, but it's still too early to squeeze into a Brazilian bikini -- you can't even book a flight to the 2012 Olympic Games in London yet.
Whenever President Obama has traveled overseas and offered pointed and direct assessments of the United States, some of them critical, Republicans have ripped him for criticizing America, saying a president should always defend the United States.
COPENHAGEN -- These are the wee hours of the morning after an IOC vote in Copenhagen and the fun is just beginning. Rio, one of the perceived co-favorites to win the rights to hold the 2016 Olympics, won the vote. No surprise. Chicago, the other perceived co-favorite finished fourth, behind Madrid and Tokyo. Surprise. How did that happen, especially when the buzz around the Marriot hotel where IOC members were staying suggested momentum might be swinging in Chicago's direction?
Saturday marks 1,000 days until the London 2012 Olympic Games, and officials promise the event is on track and on budget.
The torch for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was lit in a ceremony at the ancient Greek site of Olympia on Thursday, less than four months ahead of the games' opening ceremony.
The cities of Annecy, Munich and Pyeongchang will battle it out to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.
One more reason to buy a ticket to Rio in 2016? Tiger Woods.
The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will include rugby union sevens, a shortened version of the 15-player game, and golf as sports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced.
My gracious, but this has been a difficult time for us sports troubadours. We do better with simple games, with the tic-tac-toe offensive and defensive Xs and Os, as opposed to the exes and ohs that refer to past marital tense and current romantic joy. I mean, hardly had I begun to digest the news that Lamar Odom of the NBA had married Khloe Kardashian of reality show fame -- ohhh! -- than comes word that Chris Evert and Greg Norman, America's senior sweethearts, had broken up, potential exes-to-be.
In answering the question of when rather than if, the USOC announced that acting CEO Stephanie Streeter will be on her way out from the top of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Consider it a good start.
Rio's Olympic bid coup on Friday may have the lyrics to "Copacabana" playing on a loop in your head, but it's still too early to squeeze into a Brazilian bikini -- you can't even book a flight to the 2012 Olympic Games in London yet.
Whenever President Obama has traveled overseas and offered pointed and direct assessments of the United States, some of them critical, Republicans have ripped him for criticizing America, saying a president should always defend the United States.
COPENHAGEN -- These are the wee hours of the morning after an IOC vote in Copenhagen and the fun is just beginning. Rio, one of the perceived co-favorites to win the rights to hold the 2016 Olympics, won the vote. No surprise. Chicago, the other perceived co-favorite finished fourth, behind Madrid and Tokyo. Surprise. How did that happen, especially when the buzz around the Marriot hotel where IOC members were staying suggested momentum might be swinging in Chicago's direction?
He just couldn't resist, could he? Sports is always so tempting for the politician: Starry-eyed fans, a docile crowd bursting with civic or national pride, all those softball questions from commentators happy just to get time with the big man ... what's not to like? Best of all, there's that wonderful finality about athletics, so seductive to one used to spending months on the slow, incremental grind of health care reform or the murk of Afghanistan. Sports seems so clear. There's a winner and a loser, a final score. It's kid stuff: Fun.
Very few cities know how to celebrate better than Rio. The party that will climax at the 2016 Olympic Games got underway in earnest on Friday in Copenhagen, where the IOC chose the Brazilian city to be first from South America to host the Games. As the bid members headed over to the Skt. Petri hotel downtown, where balloons and loud music awaited them, their leadership was still coming to grips with the piece of history they earned. It has been a non-stop push from being considered a long shot to win the bid back when Brazil hosted the Pan-Am Games in 2007.
Despite their personal appeal, the Games will be go to Rio de Janeiro instead
From hot dogs in the American heartland to the sexy samba on South American beaches, from traditional Kabuki theater amid high-tech modernity to European culture and sophistication, four international cities hope to showcase what they have to offer the world on the Olympic stage.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee announced Friday.
The announcement that Chicago, Illinois, will not host the 2016 Olympic Games took the hopeful wind out of many in the Windy City.
As Rio de Janeiro celebrated the decision to award it the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, pre-vote frontrunner Chicago was in a state of shock as it was the first of the contenders to be eliminated, despite some influential backing.
Supporters of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics were shocked Friday by news that the city was the first of four finalists to be eliminated from consideration.
Chicago lost its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics Friday to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
After flying through the night for seven hours aboard Air Force One, nobody would blame President Obama for being at least slightly groggy when he arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, for a quick four hours to make the final pitch for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics.
COPENHAGEN -- As Barack Obama was walking out of the Bella Center in Copenhagen following Chicago's Olympic bid presentation earlier this morning, the president stopped before leaving the building and told assembled reporters, "The only thing I'm upset about is that they arranged for me to follow Michelle. That's always bad." Indeed, after much speculation whether the President would come to Denmark, it was the First Lady who gave Chicago's bid to host the Olympics in 2016 the emotional appeal it otherwise lacked.
U.S. President Barack Obama urged the International Olympic Committee on Friday to pick his hometown of Chicago as the host of the 2016 Games, saying the city represents the American dream as well as the Olympic spirit.
The battle to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games appears to be heating up between Chicago, Illinois, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, two sources close to the process said Thursday.
If there was any question about whether President Obama would do anything to bring the Olympics to Chicago in 2016, he's put those doubts to rest.
What are the first thoughts that pop into your mind when you hear the word Olympics? Probably something synonymous with excellence, greatness, excitement, achievement.
On Friday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will choose the city that will host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, the four finalists, will each make a 45-minute presentation before the IOC members Friday afternoon in Copenhagen. They are likely to highlight their bid's assets and address some of the questions raised in the IOC's site evaluation report released earlier this month. The winning city should be announced between noon and 1 p.m. Eastern Time in the U.S.
Like many a transplanted Chicagoan, I'm eager to show off my hometown after spending most of my adult life in New York City. I want my coast-centric acquaintances to know what real pizza looks like; that Chicago has a majestic skyline with the country's tallest building; that one of the world's two outdoor Picasso sculptures stands by City Hall; and that, no, you cannot skip a rock across Lake Michigan. (It's more than twice the size of New Jersey! And three times as clean!) I can't help but get a little tingly when I consider that the International Olympic Committee might award the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago on Oct. 2, when its members meet in Copenhagen to choose a site from a final four that also includes Madrid, Rio De Janeiro and Tokyo. And I'm not the only one. A slightly more famous ex-Chicago resident, President Barack Obama, will be in Copenhagen to schmooze IOC members.
With help from hometown heroes like the Obamas, Chicago is aggressively lobbying to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. But making the games profitable would not be an easy win.
President Obama's decision to head to Copenhagen, Denmark, later this week to make a push to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to Chicago is not without political controversy.
First lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to "take no prisoners" as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.
President Obama will travel this week to Copenhagen, Denmark, to make a big push for holding the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Chicago, Illinois, the White House said Monday.
The announcement this morning that President Barack Obama will go to Copenhagen to pitch the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid to the IOC membership this week is a potential game-changer. If recent history holds, personal appeals from world leaders sway votes. Granted, Rio will bring Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Spain's King Juan Carlos will stump for Madrid. Tokyo is expected to enjoy firsthand support from incoming Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Crown Prince Naruhito, but no drawing card will be stronger than Obama, who only finalized his decision to attend the IOC Session this morning. The 108 IOC members will make their selection from the four finalist cities on Friday and the final choice is likely to come down to a handful of votes.
The first venue to be completed for the 2012 Summer Olympics hosts its first major international sailing competition this week, in what is considered a test run for the Games.
Rio de Janeiro's chances of becoming the first South American city to host the Olympics received a boost when the IOC published its evaluation of the four contenders for the 2016 Games on Wednesday.
CALGARY -- The vox populi in the Calgary Herald decided Monday in a result often associated with Soviet elections that the esteemed Jarome Iginla should be the next Captain Canada, the man with the scarlet letter (on the white uniforms) when a hockey-daft nation plays in the Olympics next February in Vancouver.
Throughout the week, the organizers paid tribute to Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in this Olympic Stadium at the 1936 Olympics. In particular, his victory in the long jump resonates years later because of the story behind it. With two jumps complete in the qualifying round, Owens had fouled twice and was one jump away from failing to qualify for the finals. Luz Long, a German competitor, suggested to Owens to start his jump far behind the take-off board, since he clearly had the distance needed to qualify. Owens took the advice, qualified and later won the event. Organizers invited Owens' granddaughter, Marlene Dortch and Long's son, Kai. The act of sportsmanship remains a highlight from the Games that Adolph Hitler had hoped would propagate the myth of a master race just three years before the outbreak of war.
Usain Bolt completed his hat-trick of sprint titles at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin as he helped the all-conquering Jamaican side power to victory in the men's 4x100m relay final.
South African teenager Caster Semenya won the women's 800 meters gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, just hours after the sport's governing body asked for the 18-year-old's gender to be verified.
American Sanya Richards finally claimed her first global women's 400 meters gold medal with victory in the World Championships in Berlin on Tuesday.
Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele secured his fourth successive men's 10,000 meter world title with another gold medal winning performance at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
The IAAF World Championships in track and field kick off on Saturday morning in Berlin and run through Sunday Aug. 23. Here are five things to look for at the upcoming championships:
Tiger Woods already has 14 major titles. He could be adding an Olympic medal to his collection soon.
BERLIN - The IOC executive board voted Thursday to recommend golf and rugby to the Olympic program for the 2016 Games, rejecting the hopes of five other bidding sports, including baseball and softball. The board also passed over karate, roller sports and squash.
Women's boxing will be included at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the president of the International Olympic Committee announced Thursday.
On Thursday in Berlin, the 15-member IOC executive committee will vote to nominate two sports -- from a field of seven -- for inclusion onto the Olympic program, starting in 2016. When these two nominated sports go to the general membership for a vote in October, they'll need only a simple majority from the 107 voters to be approved, a lower threshold than the two-thirds majority needed in 2005, when karate and squash fell short. Here, then, is a case for and against the seven sports in question.
When Katy Wilson was born with Down syndrome, doctors told her mother that the infant likely would never walk or talk.
An overcast, chilly summer day failed to stem the excitement and pride of Olympic officials and athletes as they showed off their progress three years ahead of the 2012 Games.
Three years from Monday, the eyes of the world will be on London for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Flavio Canto spent most of his teenage years training in judo, in hopes he would achieve Olympic gold. But today, the Brazilian athlete considers his defeat at the 2000 Olympic trials one of his greatest victories.
These lists are not mere compilations of all-time bests in their respective sports but all-time bests at quickening the pulse and evoking a visceral response from those fortunate enough to have witnessed their artistry.
These lists are not mere compilations of all-time bests in their respective sports but all-time bests at quickening the pulse and evoking a visceral response from those fortunate enough to have witnessed their artistry.
NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin is offering his help to organizers of the first Winter Olympics in his native Russia.
Arnold Palmer, one of the greatest players in the history of golf, has exclusively told CNN that the Olympic Games could help to revive the recession-hit sport.
Our underdog soccer team's success last week in South Africa was a sweet surprise till Brazil caught us -- but, in the meantime, in the year's other major international sports competition, we're the heavy favorite. But can we hang on down the stretch this next time against Brazil? Can Chicago beat out Rio for the right to hold the 2016 Olympics?
In his first competition since winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last summer, Michael Phelps came to the Charlotte Ultraswim meet in North Carolina well-rested and with some new style: he debuted a new straight-arm or "windmill" stroke technique for some of his freestyle events, a stroke that allows him to slice throw the water more efficiently.
Michael Phelps -- the Olympic gold-medal swimmer who jumped into hot water over a photo of him holding a bong -- has returned to competition for the first time since the Beijing Olympics.
Leading cyclist Davide Rebellin tested positive for doping at the Beijing Games, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) told CNN on Wednesday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have confirmed on their offical Web site that further analysis of samples taken from the Beijing Games have revealed that six athletes tested positive for blood-boosting hormone CERA.
London's preparations for the 2012 Olympics were scrutinized by International Olympic Committee (IOC) inspectors on Tuesday when they began a three-day tour of the £9.3 billion project.
Battered by the current economic recession, Hawaii's economy could get a strong boost from two key sporting events.
The Olympic torch relay for the 2012 London Games will be confined to Britain, organizers confirmed on Friday.
This article is reprinted from the December 8, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated.
Jim Scherr's abrupt resignation as Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee leaves several questions: Why is he out, what does it mean for the USOC and could his resignation affect Chicago's chances to land the 2016 Olympics when the IOC awards those Games in October? Is an organization that had righted its ship after years of dysfunction now setting itself up for another era of wayward management or merely adjusting its priorities in a tough economy?
Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps admitted to "regrettable" behavior Sunday and vowed it wouldn't happen again after a British newspaper published a photograph of the swimmer smoking from a bong.
Sada Jacobson may be a world champion fencer with three Olympic medals, but dressed in a T-shirt and sweats, she looked like any other student getting a lesson at the gym.
For Sebastian Coe, one of Britain's greatest athletes, the glory of winning Olympic gold medals comes in second to clinching the Olympics Games for London in 2012.
The International Olympic Committee will use newly developed drug testing procedures to retest samples taken from athletes at last summer's Beijing Olympic Games, the IOC said Tuesday.
The first venue for the 2012 London Olympic Games is complete and ready for competition more than three years out from the event.
World record holder Paula Radcliffe will return to run in next year's London marathon on April 26 when she faces five of the first six finishers at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
The party of the year in the swimming world took place not in Beijing's Water Cube in August but in a New York City hotel ballroom the week before Thanksgiving. The occasion was the Golden Goggle Awards, the Oscars of the amphibious set, and most of the 43 members of the U.S. Olympic swim team turned out for the splashy event. With their short skirts, high heels and ripped biceps the women were visions of powerful femininity. The dudes wore their tuxedos ironically, with shaggy hair and bow ties askew. Before the awards show began, there was a rip-roaring cocktail hour. The view of midtown Manhattan from the ballroom revealed the grand old Ziegfeld Theatre, which on this night was hosting a red-carpet premiere for the latest overwrought Hollywood drama. Despite the constellation of paparazzi flashes the assembled actors couldn't match the star power at the Golden Goggles.
Post-Olympics Beijing is a vastly changed landscape from the one that existed in 2001 when the city won the bid.
I have always dreamed of winning a medal at the Olympic Games -- and sailing seemed like a good sport to target.
Greece's former 400m hurdles Olympic champion Fani Halkia, her coach and two more athletes have been charged by Athens prosecutors with doping violations prior to and during last summer's Beijing Olympic Games.
International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge has confirmed his intention to stand as a candidate for a second term in the position.
China opened the 29th Olympic Games on Friday with stunning fireworks as the Asian nation kicked off one of the most heavily scrutinized games in history.
China's Olympic gold medal gymnasts have been officially cleared of lying about their ages.
Sanya Richards turned the tables on Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu to win the 400 meters at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart on Sunday, handing the Briton her only defeat of the year.
Without proper food, shoes, or support from his government, Hem Bunting, the Cambodian Olympic marathon competitor, prepared for the Olympics and hoped for international support in late July.
Pamela Jelimo collected the entire Golden League's $1 million jackpot on Friday, by winning her sixth straight 800 meters at the Van Damme Memorial meet in Brussels, while high jumper Blanka Vlasic lost for the first time in the series.
Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt continued his unstoppable streak of form with a comprehensive win in the 100 meters at the Zurich Golden League meeting on Friday.
The Olympic football tournament was won by holders Argentina, who retained their title courtesy of a 1-0 final victory over Nigeria,
Brits are known for theater, pageantry, music and humor. But if stodgy politicians have their way, none of that may come through in the 2012 Olympics
True to the script, an outstanding Argentina team brushed aside all opposition in Beijing as it successfully defended its Olympic gold medal. La Albiceleste proved far superior to all the teams it faced in China as Sergio Batista's squad cruised to six successive victories, scoring 11 goals (second only to Brazil) while only conceding two (best at the Games).
The record-setting American calls the ceremony a "great start" to the 2012 games
I thought it was absolutely fantastic, the enthusiasm of the people, the logistics. I like it even more because there has been so much doom-saying and criticism in the run-up to these games. There must be a few very frustrated marathon runners who could have set a new world record in the terribly polluted air of Beijing but decided not to compete, not to mention so many journalists that wished the games to end up in a disaster. The people in the cities hosting Olympic events and BOCOG deserve praise. The IOC, in my opinion, deserves even more praise for choosing Beijing and sticking to its decision despite all the criticism.
French legend Julien Absalon took his status to new heights when he became the first rider to defend the men's mountain bike Olympic title.
Grand fireworks and spectacular choreography brought to a close the Beijing Games Sunday as one of the most remarkable Olympics in recent history were declared at an end.
The United States struck gold in Olympic men's basketball with a 118-107 victory over Spain in the championship game on Sunday.
As spectacular as the sports were, the Games in the end had become more of an extravaganza for the Chinese, with the rest of the world tagging along
He predicted the U.S. would win basketball gold in Beijing. Spain came close to spoiling it all, but James came through
BEIJING -- There are no fairy tale endings when a good man dies brutally and senselessly, nothing a victory in an Olympic final can alter.
So-called "age-doping" may be the scandal about to break over women's gymnastics. But are there lab tests to quantify how old you are?
BEIJING -- The gaggle of major-league scouts was seated just to the left of home plate in a section reserved for Olympic family, but no one was getting too comfortable on the hard plastic chairs.
Ukrainian Lyudmila Blonska has been stripped of her Olympic heptathlon silver medal, the highest-profile athlete kicked out of the Beijing Games for doping.
The International Olympic Committee has asked gymnastics officials to look into whether China's women's gymnastics team used underaged competitors, an IOC spokeswoman said Friday.
On Oct. 2, 2009, the International Olympic Committee will convene in Copenhagen to vote on the city that will host the Olympics in 2016. Chicago is one of four candidate cities, along with Rio de Janiero, Madrid and Tokyo. Chicago Bid Chairman Patrick Ryan talked with SI.com about the prospects of the Chicago bid.
As other U.S. women win gold, the one surefire team, softball, was shocked. And now the sport is leaving the Olympics. Superstar Jennie Finch shares her pain
Jamaica's sprint sensation Usain Bolt should show more respect to his beaten rivals says International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge.
SI.com checked in with Sports Illustrated's Selena Roberts shortly after Japan's stunning 3-1 win over the U.S. in the gold medal game in softball on Thursday. It was the first Olympic loss for the U.S. since 2000, and ended its run of three consecutive Olympic titles.
Though rarely asked these days, the question "What is mixed martial arts?" was a common inquiry not too long ago. The best response came from Randy Couture: "Take elements of wrestling, boxing, judo and taekwondo, and you've got MMA."
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