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FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, file photo, Saeid Mollaei of Iran, top, competes against Didar Khamza of Kazakhstan during their men's - 81kg final judo match at the18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. A group of athletes and human rights activists is calling on the IOC to sanction Iran's Olympic program for what it says is the country's long-running pattern of ordering athletes to avoid competing against Israelis in international events. Last month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned Iran's suspension from international judo events in a case stemming from former world champion Saeid Mollaei's departure from the Iranian team; Mollaei had claimed he was ordered to lose matches and withdraw from competitions to avoid facing Israelis. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)
Activists call for IOC to sanction Iran Olympic program

7 hrs ago

South African long distance athlete Caster Semenya on her way to winning the 5,000 meters at the South African national championships in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, April 15, 2021. Semenya said she's likely to focus on long-distance events for the rest of her career. (AP Photo/Christiaan Kotze)
'Distance makes sense:' Semenya pins Olympic hopes on 5,000

Apr. 15, 2021 05:40 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 3, 2020, file photo, the New National Stadium, a venue for the opening and closing ceremonies at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, is seen from Shibuya Sky observation deck in Tokyo. Organizers and the International Olympic Committee are pushing on despite COVID-19 risks, myriad scandals, and overwhelming public opposition in Japan to holding the games. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
100 Days: Tokyo Olympics marked by footnotes and asterisks

By Stephen Wade Apr. 13, 2021 09:35 PM EDT

FILE - John Roethlisberger, of Falcon Heights, Minn., hugs his dad Fred after his final event in the men's 2000 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials in Boston, in this Saturday, Aug. 19, 2000, file photo. Roethlisberger was chosen for the U.S. Olympic team. The cutback in NCAA athletic programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt acutely in men's gymnastics. For decades Division I programs have produced an overwhelming majority of the US Olympic team. The number of Division I programs, however, is shrinking. The University of Minnesota and the University of Iowa will stop offering it as a scholarship sport at the end of the month. That will drop the number of Division I schools to 11. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
Olympic Gold: Men's gymnastics struggling to survive

By Will Graves Apr. 09, 2021 12:04 PM EDT

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, next to the mascots of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, speaks to media after a government task force meeting for the new virus measures, at the prime minister's office Friday, April 9, 2021, in Tokyo. Japan announced Friday that it will raise the coronavirus alert level in Tokyo to allow tougher measures to curb the rapid spread of a more contagious variant ahead of the Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
Japan imposes new virus measures in Tokyo ahead of Olympics

By Mari Yamaguchi Apr. 09, 2021 05:29 AM EDT

This undated photo provided by Kameron Jones shows Kameron Jones at an American Track League athletics event in Fayetteville, Ark. Kameron Jones' lasting mark on the Clemson track program may not have anything to do with the times he turns in or the medals he brings home. Jones has a gold-medal mindset when it comes to saving the men’s track and field program — along with cross country — from being cut by the school for budgetary reasons. (Kameron Jones via AP)
Olympic gold: Clemson men's track tries to save its program

By Pat Graham Apr. 07, 2021 02:26 PM EDT

Chinese attendants dressed in winter costumes rehearse the award ceremony of the men's 500-meters race during a test event for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, Wednesday, April 7, 2021. The organizers of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has started 10 days of testing for several sport events in five different indoor venues from April 1-10, becoming the first city to hold both the Winter and Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
China warns Washington not to boycott Winter Olympics

Apr. 07, 2021 06:04 AM EDT

A protester from the Uyghur community living in Turkey holds up an anti-China placard during a protest against the visit of China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Turkey, in Istanbul, Thursday, March 25, 2021. Hundreds protested against the Chinese official visit and what they allege is oppression by the Chinese government to Muslim Uyghurs in the far-western Xinjiang province. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
EXPLAINER: Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and some options

By Stephen Wade Apr. 07, 2021 02:11 AM EDT

Local teams compete in a curling competition during a test event for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Aquatic Center, also known as the "Water Cube" in Beijing, Saturday, April 3, 2021. The organizers of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has started 10 days of testing for several sport events in five different indoor venues from April 1-10, becoming the first city to hold both the Winter and Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
US weighs joint approach to Beijing Olympics with allies

By Matthew Lee Apr. 06, 2021 05:02 PM EDT

Graphic looks at the college sports that have been cut by school due to the pandemic; 2c x 5 inches
Olympic gold: Colleges, Team USA search for new ways to win

By Eddie Pells Apr. 06, 2021 12:47 PM EDT

FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, Feb. 3, 2014, Sarah Lewis, Secretary General and Gian Franco Kasper, President of the FIS, the International Ski Federation, right, visit the finish area of the Aline ski course ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Lewis has declared herself a candidate on Tuesday April 6, 2021, to become the first woman president of the International Ski Federation.(AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati, FILE)
Lewis running to lead the ski federation that fired her

By Graham Dunbar Apr. 06, 2021 05:32 AM EDT

French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu leaves the Elysee Palace after the weekly cabinet meeting, in Paris, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. France’s sports minister Maracineanu, says French society is at a “turning point” for women’s rights within the male-dominated sports world amid a wave of protests from female journalists denouncing discrimination. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Calls for change for women's rights in French sports

By Sylvie Corbet Mar. 27, 2021 06:11 AM EDT

Activists gather in front of parliament before they submit a petition in Tokyo Thursday, March 25, 2021. LGBTQ and other human rights activists submitted a petition with over 106,000 signatures to Japan's ruling party Thursday, calling for an LGBT equality law to be enacted before the Tokyo Games, saying Japan as host nation should live up to the Olympic charter banning gender and sexual discrimination. (Kyodo News via AP)
LGBT groups want equality law in Japan before Tokyo Olympics

Mari Yamaguchi Mar. 25, 2021 06:37 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 2018, file photo, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky speaks during an event in San Francisco. Airbnb Inc. is being asked to drop its sponsorship connections to 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics by a coalition of 150 human-rights campaigners. The coalition is headed by groups that oppose rights violations in China including widely reported genocide against Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region. An open letter sent on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 to Chesky argues that Airbnb is trying to drive tourism in China at the expense of Uyghurs and Tibetans who cannot travel freely in the country. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
Airbnb asked to drop Olympic ties over China rights issues

By Stephen Wade Mar. 22, 2021 10:46 PM EDT

Seiko Hashimoto, center, President of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, delivers her opening remarks next to Kyoko Raita, right, Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member and speaker for a presentation on the Olympic Charter and Gender Equality in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, March 22, 2021. Toshiro Muto, CEO of Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, is seen in left. Hashimoto said they will take all possible COVID-19 countermeasures as the torch relay opens this Thursday from northeastern Fukushima prefecture(Kimimasa Mayama/Pool Photo via AP)
Volunteers from abroad ruled out for Tokyo Olympics

Mar. 22, 2021 09:13 AM EDT

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. Some kind of boycott is almost sure to affect next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics. It’s driven by the widely reported internment of several million Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China, which has been termed a genocide by numerous governments and human rights groups. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia, File)
EXPLAINER: What drives possible boycott of Beijing Olympics

By Stephen Wade Mar. 15, 2021 02:33 AM EDT

The logos for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics are seen at an exhibit at a visitors center at the Winter Olympic venues in Yanqing on the outskirts of Beijing, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. A small core of international lawyers and activists are prodding leading Olympic sponsors to acknowledge China's widely reported human-rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetans and other minorities. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Rights groups and Olympic leaders in Beijing Games stalemate

By Graham Dunbar Mar. 12, 2021 09:49 PM EST

Noriyuki Suzuki, center, a volunteer who lost his 12-year-old daughter in a tsunami in 2011, tells his experience to a group of visitors in front of former Okawa Elementary School where 74 children from the elementary school lost their lives along with 10 teachers by the tsunami in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Suzuki will take part in the torch relay for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Olympic torch relay poignant for Japan tsunami victim's dad

By Haruka Nuga Mar. 09, 2021 10:15 PM EST

Coach, former Olympian Zimmerman suspended by SafeSport

By The Associated Press Mar. 09, 2021 09:36 PM EST
Figure skating coach John Zimmerman has been suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for a coverup of an alleged sexual abuse incident involving two of his...

Seiko Hashimoto, right, president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020), speaks as Toshiro Muto, CEO of Tokyo 2020, stands by her after a five-party meeting at the Tokyo 2020 headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Du Xiaoyi/Pool Photo via AP)
New Tokyo Olympic president tries to assure Japan on safety

By Stephen Wade Mar. 05, 2021 05:19 AM EST