Jacques Rogge
FILE - Then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears as the Nintendo game character Super Mario during the closing ceremony at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Aug. 21, 2016. Despite his fame as a Japan's longest serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe might have had enjoyed his biggest moment at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro. (Yu Nakajima/Kyodo News via AP, File)
Abe impersonated 'Super Mario' to promote Tokyo Olympics

By Stephen Wade Jul. 09, 2022 01:07 AM EDT

Gold medalist Eileen Gu of China celebrates during the medal ceremony for the women's freestyle skiing big air at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
EXPLAINER: Competing for 'another' country is nothing new

By Mallika Sen Feb. 14, 2022 06:31 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

The flag of the United States enters the stadium during the closing ceremony for the 2020 Paralympics at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Paralympic closing marks end of Tokyo's 8-year Olympic saga

By Stephen Wade Sep. 05, 2021 08:31 AM EDT

FILE - In this Friday, July 31, 2015 file photo, Honorary President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge, left, sits along with IOC President Thomas Bach, at the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The International Olympic Committee on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021 says Jacques Rogge who led the organization as president for 12 years, has died. He was 79. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, file)
Jacques Rogge, IOC president for 12 years, dies at 79

By Chris Lehourites Aug. 29, 2021 12:29 PM EDT

Jacques Rogge, who led the International Olympic Committee for 12 years as president, dies at age 79

Aug. 29, 2021 12:25 PM EDT
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Jacques Rogge, who led the International Olympic Committee for 12 years as president, dies at age 79. ...

Elaine Thompson-Herah, of Jamaica, wins the gold during the finals of the women's 100-meter at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 31, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Thompson-Herah breaks Flo Jo's Olympic record in women's 100

By Eddie Pells Jul. 30, 2021 09:55 PM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2016, file photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears as the Nintendo game character Super Mario during the closing ceremony at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Abe was a star of the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, parading before a 70,000 sellout at the Maracana stadium as Nintendo game character Super Mario. It was Abe's humorous invitation to the next Olympics in Tokyo. (Yu Nakajima/Kyodo News via AP, File)
Shinzo Abe -- aka 'Super Mario' -- loses out on Olympics

By Stephen Wade Aug. 28, 2020 08:49 AM EDT

File-Usain Bolt of Jamaica, third right, reacts as he wins the men's 100-meter final with a world record in athletics competitions in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 16, 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/Anja Niedringhaus, File)
One question hung over 2008 Games: Would they change China?

By Stephen Wade Aug. 16, 2020 04:40 PM EDT

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

FIK]LE - In this Oct. 12, 1968, file photo, Mexican hurdler Enriqueta Basilio, the first woman to make the final run of the torch and to light the Olympic flame, carries the Olympic torch up the 90 steps to the Olympic flame cauldron in the Olympic Stadium during opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Mexico City. (AP Photo/File)
1968 Mexico City Games marked by protest, falling records

By Jimmy Golen Aug. 06, 2020 09:57 AM EDT

AP Sportlight

By The Associated Press Jul. 15, 2020 09:45 AM EDT
July 16 1920 — Babe Ruth breaks his own season record of 29 homers with his 30th, and the New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-2....

AP Sportlight

By The Associated Press Jul. 09, 2020 12:42 PM EDT
July 15 1912 — Jim Thorpe wins the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics. At the closing ceremony, Sweden’s King Gustav proclaims Thorpe the...

FILE - In this April 16, 2020, file photo, Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori, left, speaks in teleconference with John Coates, chairman of the IOC's Coordination Commission for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, 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.(Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Tokyo Olympics: Questions, few answers in face of pandemic

By Stephen Wade Apr. 27, 2020 01:35 AM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 1, 1936, file photo, German Nazi soldiers line up at attention during the opening ceremonies of the XI Summer Olympic Games at the Lustgarten in Berlin, Germany. The lighted Olympic torch is in the foreground. The torch relay was not always a fixture of the modern Olympics, which began in 1896. The relay tradition began with Adolph Hitler's 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Games of the XI Olympiad, and was the brainchild of Dr. Carl Diem who was the head of the organizing committee. (AP Photo/File)
Olympic torch relay began in 1936 at Hitler's Berlin Games

By Stephen Wade Mar. 18, 2020 10:08 AM EDT