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Paris Olympics cut costs with fewer cars, more subway rides

By Graham Dunbar Aug. 31, 2022 12:53 PM EDT
Looking to cut costs in a tough economy, organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics said Wednesday they want officials to use fewer courtesy cars and take more trips on...

Residents look at a gigantic red ribbon 2022 Winter Olympics sculpture on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on Jan. 18, 2022. China has thousands of years of doing things in a really big way, reinforcing its perceived place in the world and the political power of its leaders — from emperors to Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping. None of this bigness is new. It goes back to a dozen dynasties that ruled China for thousands of years, a tradition of projecting power that was adopted by the Chinese Communist Party when it came to power in 1949. It could be termed simply: big, bigger and biggest — and then some. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Home of the huge: China has long history of going really big

By Stephen Wade Feb. 10, 2022 12:27 AM EST

The Chinese national flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
In Beijing, Olympic ideals coexist with authoritarian rule

By Tim Sullivan Feb. 04, 2022 11:26 PM EST

FILE - A 1988 photo provided by China's Xinhua News Agency shows Communist Party Leader Xi Jinping, right, then secretary of the Ningde Prefecture Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), participates in farm work during his investigation in the countryside. Born in Beijing in 1953, Xi enjoyed a privileged youth as the second son of Xi Zhongxun, a former vice premier and guerrilla commander in the civil war that brought Mao Zedong's communist rebels to power in 1949. At 15, Xi Jinping was sent to rural Shaanxi province in 1969 as part of Mao's campaign to have educated urban young people learn from peasants. (AP Photo/Xinhua, File)
President Xi Jinping, China's 'chairman of everything'

By Joe Mcdonald Feb. 02, 2022 08:22 PM EST

FILE - Chinese authorities test fireworks ahead of the Aug 8 start of the Olympic Games on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, Saturday, Aug 2, 2008. Richer, more heavily armed and openly confrontational, China has undergone history-making change since the last time it was an Olympic host in 2008. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
China 2008 vs 2022: Richer, stronger, more confrontational

By Joe Mcdonald Jan. 25, 2022 11:08 PM EST

Hairdressers wearing protected suits cut residents' hair at a residential block which has become under lockdown in Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi province on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. A major Chinese city near Beijing has placed its 14 million residents on partial lockdown after a number of children and adults tested positive for COVID-19, including at least two with the omicron variant. Elsewhere, millions of people are being confined to their homes in Xi'an and Yuzhou, two cities that are farther away but have larger outbreaks traced to the delta variant. (Chinatopix Via AP)
China locks down 3rd city, raising affected to 20 million

By Ken Moritsugu Jan. 11, 2022 02:09 AM EST

Snowboarder Jamie Anderson, left, and bobsledder Aja Evans model the Team USA Beijing winter Olympics closing ceremony uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Ralph Lauren rolls out buffalo plaid for Team USA in Beijing

By Leanne Italie Oct. 28, 2021 09:00 AM EDT

LA28 committee chooses marketing chief Carter as new CEO

By Eddie Pells Sep. 14, 2021 08:00 AM EDT
The organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics elevated its top marketing officer, Kathy Carter, to CEO on Tuesday as it ramps up preparations for...

FILE - In this July 23, 2021, file photo, fireworks illuminate over the National Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The price tag for the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion. Tokyo built eight new venues. The two most expensive were the National Stadium, which cost $1.43 billion, and the new aquatic center, priced a $520 million. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
Tokyo Olympics cost $15.4 billion. What else could that buy?

By Stephen Wade Aug. 06, 2021 10:11 PM EDT

An athlete trains at the weightlifting training hall at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Weightlifting faces uncertain Olympic future after Tokyo

By James Ellingworth Aug. 05, 2021 09:45 AM EDT

A woman wearing a face mask to curb the spread of the coronavirus walks with a parasol on a street in Tokyo Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021. Japan is playing host to the Tokyo Olympics. But the capital, as well as other populous areas, are in the middle of a government-declared “state of emergency” to curb surging COVID-19 infections. (AP Photo/Kantaro Komiya)
EXPLAINER: What Olympic host Japan’s COVID ‘emergency’ means

By Yuri Kageyama Aug. 05, 2021 12:18 AM EDT

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, of Belarus, runs in the women's 100-meter run at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021. Tsimanouskaya alleged her Olympic team tried to remove her from Japan in a dispute that led to a standoff Sunday, Aug. 1, at Tokyo’s main airport. An activist group supporting Tsimanouskaya said she believed her life was in danger in Belarus and would seek asylum with the Austrian embassy in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Court denied Belarus sprinter's legal bid to run in Olympics

By Graham Dunbar Aug. 02, 2021 09:47 PM EDT

Yulimar Rojas, of Venezuela, competes in the final of the women's triple jump at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Olympics Latest: Belarus runner says team forcing departure

Jul. 31, 2021 09:18 PM EDT

A protester stands to oppose South Korean President Moon Jae-in's possible visit to Japan in front of a building which houses Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 19, 2021. Moon has decided not to visit Japan for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, citing a failure to set up a summit with Japan's prime minister that would produce meaningful results in improving relations. The signs on a banner at left read "Expel Hirohisa Soma, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, from South Korea." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
With no summit, South Korean president to skip Olympics

By Kim Tong-Hyung Jul. 19, 2021 05:41 AM EDT

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga responds to a reporter's question after he spoke at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, May 7, 2021. Suga announced an extension of a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas through May 31. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Packed trains, drinking: Japanese impatient over virus steps

By Mari Yamaguchi May. 06, 2021 10:53 PM EDT

Swedish sports body hacked by Russians, officials say

Apr. 13, 2021 07:38 AM EDT
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — The organization that oversees Sweden's national sports federations was hacked by Russian military intelligence in 2017-18, officials...

File-Jamaica's Usain Bolt poses next to a scoreboard after winning the gold and setting a new world record in the men's 200-meter final during the athletics competitions in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008. The Olympics are remembered for the stars. That was true in Beijing in 2008, and the stars were Michael Phelps and Bolt. But Beijing is also storied for its signature venues like the “Bird's Nest” stadium, and the “Water Cube” swimming venue. No Olympics before — or since — have impacted a city the way the Olympics did Beijing. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)
Bird's Nest and Water Cube: Beijing venues were stars, too

By Stephen Wade Aug. 16, 2020 03:39 PM EDT

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 1964 file photo, Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai lights the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Sakai was born in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, the day the nuclear weapon destroyed that city. He symbolized the rebirth of Japan after the Second World War as he opened the 1964 Tokyo Games. Sakai was born in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, the day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city. Just over 19 years later, he ran with the Olympic flame into the national stadium, left the cinder track, and jogged up a long flight of flower-lined stairs to reach the top. (AP Photo/File)
Man born in Hiroshima lights 1964 Tokyo Olympic cauldron

By Stephen Wade Aug. 05, 2020 03:15 PM EDT

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 24, 2020 file photo, a man is seen through the Olympic rings in front of the New National Stadium in Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympics were postponed a month ago. But there are still more questions than answers about the new opening on July 23, 2021 and what form those games will take.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Japan Medical Assn: Tokyo Olympics difficult without vaccine

By Stephen Wade Apr. 28, 2020 04:33 AM EDT

A view of the front pages of Britain's newspapers showing their coverage of the coronavirus, in London, Thursday, April 2, 2020. Newspapers in Britain have criticised the lack of testing NHS staff for the virus. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Outbreak's global cost may top $4T; auto insurers get break

Apr. 03, 2020 04:05 AM EDT