- Mia Brahe-Pedersen runs with the sharks, former Olympian Jenna Prandini and world-leader Sha’Carri Richardson OregonLive
- USATF Outdoor Championships 2023: Five sprinters to watch including Fred Kerley, Sha’Carri Richardson, Erriyon Knighton, Noah Lyles and Aleia Hobbs Olympics
- Schedule & Results for 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships LetsRun.com
- Mia Brahe-Pedersen qualifies for semifinals, finishes sixth in 1st round of the 100-meter dash at USATF Outdo OregonLive
- Mia Brahe-Pedersen Received Encouragement From Sha’Carri Richardson FloTrack
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Tag Archives: Olympian
Brahe-Pedersen runs with the sharks, former Olympian Prandini and world-leader Richardson at USATF Outdoor Championships – OregonLive
- Brahe-Pedersen runs with the sharks, former Olympian Prandini and world-leader Richardson at USATF Outdoor Championships OregonLive
- USATF Outdoor Championships 2023: Five sprinters to watch including Fred Kerley, Sha’Carri Richardson, Erriyon Knighton, Noah Lyles and Aleia Hobbs Olympics
- Schedule & Results for 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships LetsRun.com
- Mia Brahe-Pedersen qualifies for semifinals, finishes sixth in 1st round of the 100-meter dash at USATF Outdo OregonLive
- Mia Brahe-Pedersen Received Encouragement From Sha’Carri Richardson FloTrack
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Bloodied Olympian Kim Glass moments after horror LA attack
The suspect accused of nearly blinding volleyball star Kim Glass was caught on camera getting pinned down after the attack — just feet from the sobbing Olympian on a blood-splattered street.
Good Samaritan Benson Parks posted a clip to social media showing him holding down the suspect in Saturday’s brutal attack, whom the LAPD identified as 51-year-old Semeon Tesfamariam.
“What the f–k is wrong with you?” someone asked as the suspect was held down with a foot on his back in downtown Los Angeles.
Olympic silver-medal-winning athlete Glass, 37, could be seen nearby, clutching her damaged eye as blood splattered the sidewalk between her and the pinned suspect.
“Can you call my mom?” she asked, her voice fighting back tears as a woman tried to tend to her injuries as others called 911.
“He threw it so hard!” she said of the metal pipe allegedly used.
Glass had revealed that she feared she would be blinded after her fractured, blackened left eye was completely shuttered. “Yes I look like ET,” quipped Glass, who has previously appeared in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue as well as ESPN’s The Body Issue.
Parks, who calls himself a “serial entrepreneur” in his Instagram profile, described how he “jumped out” of his truck when he “heard a lady screaming.”
When someone pointed out the accused attacker, he “chased his b—h-ass down and dragged him back, and [stomped] his face 1 time” he said, adding he “held him down while other people was just looking scared.”
Parks shared a screenshot of a conversation with Glass, who saw his video and messaged the Good Samaritan to say she was “so incredibly thankful!!” for his help.
“My heart fills up knowing that so many good people won’t turn a blind,” wrote Glass, who helped Team USA win silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Parks explained that he had only filmed the encounter to warn his fiancée off going alone to downtown Los Angeles, where recall efforts blame woke LA County District Attorney George Gascon for surging crime.
“I hope this pushes LA county government to do something about the homeless crisis downtown and all over the city,” he wrote.
He also said he hopes it “inspires any other man that sees a woman being attacked to go out your way to help her.”
He vowed to do the same thing if he saw another person getting attacked — saying he would “STOMP HIS F–ING FACE.”
Tesfamariam was held without bail after being charged with assault with a deadly weapon, said the LAPD, which did not confirm he was homeless.
Mother of Puerto Rican Olympian Shot, Killed by Stray Bullet from Dispute, Police Say | Bleacher Report
Tom Weller/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
The mother of a two-time Olympian was shot and killed by a stray bullet inside her home in Waterbury, Connecticut, on Saturday, via Dave Collins of the Associated Press.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said there was a drug-related dispute outside the home of Mabel Martinez, which led to the open firing of more than 20 gunshots. The 56-year-old was shot in the head as an unintended victim.
One man involved in the dispute was shot in the hip but survived.
Martinez was the mother of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, who represented Puerto Rico in the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics in rifle shooting. She finished 28th in the 50-meter rifle competition in Tokyo last summer.
“There are so many things I still needed to learn from you,” she wrote in Spanish in a Facebook post (via CBS News). “I was so far away without being able to do anything, I couldn’t even say goodbye to you.”
The athlete was in Brazil preparing for an international competition, but she flew back to Connecticut on Sunday.
Olympian’s mother shot and killed by stray bullet from nearby drug dispute
The mother of a Puerto Rican Olympian killed by a stray bullet in her Connecticut home was an unintended victim of a drug dispute that erupted into the firing of more than 20 gunshots, a police official said Tuesday.
Mabel Martinez, 56, was shot in the head inside her Waterbury home on Saturday afternoon when at least two people opened fire outside on the street, Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said at a news conference. No arrests were announced.
Martinez was the mother of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, a rifle shooter on the Puerto Rico Olympic team who competed in the Summer Olympics in 2021 and in 2016. She and other family members were in Waterbury on Tuesday, but did not speak at the news conference.
Spagnolo said people in two cars, including convicted felons known for drug dealing, got into a shootout outside Mabel Martinez’s home. The reason for the dispute was not clear. A man involved in the confrontation, who was on the street, was shot in the hip but survived. No other injuries were reported.
Officers found 15 9 mm casings and seven 45-caliber cases at the scene. Police said they were trying to determine if one or two 9 mm guns were fired.
Police have found both cars involved in the shooting and one of their owners. The other owner was being sought for questioning. Both men are convicted felons known to have sold drugs, police said, but they have not been charged in the shooting.
Spagnolo said the shooting raises questions about how illegal guns get into communities and how people on parole and probation are monitored.
Yarimar Mercado Martinez, 27, traveled to Waterbury late Sunday from Brazil, where she was to compete in an international shooting competition. She expressed her anguish in social media posts.
“Why you? Why this way? You were just sitting in your little house sewing, as you always did,” she wrote in Spanish on Facebook.
Olympian Yarimar Mercado Martinez’s mother Mabel Martinez killed by stray bullet in Connecticut home
The mother of a Puerto Rican Olympian was killed after she was struck by a stray bullet while sewing in her Connecticut home over the weekend, police and her daughter said.
Mabel Martinez, 56, was struck in the head by a shooter who opened fire on a man walking outside of her house in Waterbury on Saturday afternoon. She died from her injuries the next day, cops said.
The man was shot in the leg and survived.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo told The Associated Press that investigators believe the shooting was drug-related and that Martinez was not the intended target.
Martinez was the mother of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, a rifle shooter on the Puerto Rican Olympic team who competed in the summer games last year in Tokyo. The 27-year-old also competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The daughter posted a heartbreaking message on social media expressing her grief over her mother’s sudden, violent death.
“Why you? why is it like that? If you were just sitting in your house sewing, as you used to do…” she wrote on Facebook in Spanish.
“Two days ago you called me with excitement, asking me to save the date and help you prepare to renew your wedding vows with daddy in Puerto Rico,” she said Sunday.
“There are so many things I still needed to learn from you … I was so far away without being able to do anything, I couldn’t even say goodbye to you,” the daughter continued.
The Olympian flew from Brazil to Connecticut late Sunday, according to Gilberto Hernández, president of the Puerto Rico Shooting Association.
Mercado Martinez said that her mother’s remains were being transported to Puerto Rico so family members could say a final goodbye.
She apologized to her country for not being able to compete as she deals with her loss.
Police haven’t identified a suspect and no arrests were made in the case as of early Tuesday.
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Olympian flashes ‘No War in Ukraine’ sign after competing
BEIJING (AP) — A Ukrainian skeleton athlete flashed a small sign that read “ No War in Ukraine ” to the cameras as he finished a run at the Beijing Olympics on Friday night.
Vladyslav Heraskevych’s sign was printed on a blue-and-yellow piece of paper, matching the colors of his country’s flag. He did not display the message after his second run of the night, which was his fourth and final run of the Olympics.
“It’s my position. Like any normal people, I don’t want war,” Heraskevych said after he finished competing. “I want peace in my country, and I want peace in the world. It’s my position, so I fight for that. I fight for peace.”
The gesture came as Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops near Ukraine, stoking fears in the West that Moscow is planning an invasion. Russia insists it has no such designs but doesn’t want Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to be allowed to join the western NATO alliance.
“In Ukraine, it’s really nervous now,” Heraskevych said. “A lot of news about guns, about weapons, what’s to come in Ukraine, about some armies around Ukraine. It’s not OK. Not in the 21st century. So I decided, before the Olympics, that I would show my position to the world.”
Shortly after the race, the International Olympic Committee said there would be no repercussions for the athlete. There had been a question of whether the body might consider Heraskevych’s act a violation of Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter. That rule, in part, states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
“This was a general call for peace. For the IOC the matter is closed,” the Games’ governing body said Friday night.
Heraskevych earlier said he was not concerned about any possible repercussions.
“I hope the Olympics will (support) me in this situation. Nobody wants war,” said Heraskevych, who was not a medal contender. “I hope it helps … make peace in our country.”
Full Coverage: Russia-Ukraine
The IOC relaxed its rule against protests before the Tokyo Games, allowing athletes to express themselves politically before competitions start.
In the runup to these Games, many braced for potential protests against the host country, China, which has been accused of widespread abuses against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs. It has also come under fire for its polices toward Tibet, its crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong and the near-total disappearance from public view of tennis player Peng Shuai after she accused a former Communist Party official of sexual assault.
Concerns over human rights abuses led some countries to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Games, while Chinese organizers warned foreign athletes that any statement that goes against Chinese law could be punished.
Meanwhile, the heightened tensions over Ukraine cast a pall over last week’s opening ceremony, when IOC President Thomas Bach implored participating countries to uphold the long-running Olympic Truce, which calls for a cessation of hostilities during the Games.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in attendance when Bach spoke, has drawn closer to China and some have suggested he may not want to invade Ukraine during the Olympics so as to avoid embarrassing his ally, Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.
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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Olympian moved to village after tearful video in isolation
BEIJING (AP) — Kim Meylemans thought she was going to the Olympic Village. She wound up in tears instead.
Such was the start of a few confusing hours for the women’s skeleton athlete from Belgium — whose trip into what would have been a second round of isolation underscored the fears many had about the Beijing Olympics and what happens after someone tests positive for COVID-19.
Her tale went like this: A positive test upon her arrival in Beijing led to a three-day stay in isolation, which she thought was ending Wednesday after she returned multiple negative tests. But when the ambulance that she thought was taking her to the village drove past it, panic set in because Meylemans didn’t know what was happening.
A teary social-media post brought immediate attention, and hours later, Meylemans was transported to the village.
“I am now in a wing that’s just isolation, but at least I’m back in the village,” Meylemans said Thursday. “I feel safe and I’ll be able to train a little better here.”
The scenario is one that had many questioning whether coming to the Beijing Games was worth it, with isolation — and for an indefinite period — a very real possibility for anyone testing positive in China, where zero tolerance for the coronavirus is the rule.
“It’s so confusing,” U.S. bobsledder Kaillie Humphries said of all the unknowns surrounding the aftermath of positive tests. “It’s very frustrating. It’s scary.”
Meylemans’ story, at least this chapter of it, has a happy ending. She is where she wants to be and is expected to make the women’s skeleton field on Feb. 12. She has a reasonable chance of contending for a medal if she slides well.
The International Olympic Committee said her brief trip to a second isolation facility was caused by simple logistics, that no room in the village was ready for her. Others, like athlete advocate Rob Koehler, believe her social media post aided her cause.
“Of course, we’re worried,” said Koehler, director general of the athlete-advocate group Global Athlete. “We’re worried about the entire COVID-19 protocol. We’re worried about the quarantine facilities and we’re worried about everything that’s not published, which is the details, and the devil is always in the details. They haven’t been well-informed and it hasn’t been transparent.”
Meylemans put her confusion on display for the world to see Wednesday, her face and eyes red from crying, her words doing nothing to hide her fear and frustration over the unknown. She will still need twice-daily testing for a week before she can leave the isolation wing in the village.
“Our main goal was to get Kim to the Olympic Village in Yanqing as quickly as possible,” Belgian Olympic delegation leader Olav Spahl said. “We are therefore very pleased that this has now been successfully achieved. We understand that the COVID measures are necessary to safeguard the safety and health of participants in the Games, but we believe that the athlete should always be at the center of such an approach.”
IOC member Juan-Antonio Samaranch, who leads the committee overseeing preparations for the Beijing Games, told other members Thursday that “isolation centers’ quality has been dramatically improved” and that more improvements are still needed.
“Relieved to hear that Kim Meylemans is now in the Olympic Village,” IOC spokesman Christian Klaue tweeted. “We are glad that all the efforts led to the successful resolution of this situation.”
Meylemans is considered a “close contact” by the IOC, meaning she can train and compete while living in the Olympic Village but needs to be in a single room, transported by herself and eat alone.
“Since there was no such room directly available, she was temporarily accommodated in a hotel close to the Olympic Village. It is a facility which is dedicated to close contacts in order for them to meet all the criteria to continue to train and compete,” the IOC said.
Humphries can relate to some of what Meylemans is feeling. She tested positive for COVID-19 last month and is staying in a hotel until she gets fully cleared. She can train — her sledmate, Kaysha Love, had to sign a waiver just to be with Humphries for those on-ice sessions — but won’t be allowed in the Olympic Village until next week and will miss Friday’s opening ceremony.
Humphries nearly missed a training session earlier this week because her taxi got stuck in traffic. Another U.S. women’s bobsledder, Elana Meyers Taylor — like Humphries, someone who could be a serious medal contender — remains in isolation after a positive test, though she still has hopes of competing in her two events.
“It’s been very difficult,” Humphries said.
Meylemans finished 14th in her Olympic debut at Pyeongchang in 2018. She has one medal from World Cup races this season, a bronze, and placed no worse than sixth in five of the final six races on the circuit this season.
Official training for women’s skeleton starts next week. At one point Wednesday, Meylemans’ plans to compete seemed in doubt. By early Thursday, the outlook was considerably brighter and Meylemans said she was thankful for the support her teary post generated.
She said she planned to respond to every message, which will take some time.
“Luckily,” she wrote, “I have plenty of time in isolation still.”
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AP National Writer Eddie Pells and AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.
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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Olympian Sydney McLaughlin reveals one key in her gold medal victory: No social media
American track gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin was noticeably absent on social media in the weeks leading up to the Tokyo Olympics. That was on purpose.
McLaughlin’s only interactions on Twitter before Thursday were a few retweets from her cover story with L’Officiel USA. On Instagram, she posted the same L’Officiel cover and a video promoting the Jonas Brothers making an appearance on NBC.
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That was it.
With the talk of mental health awareness heating up in the days before the Olympics, McLaughlin admitted she broke off her social media interactions to focus on what was important.
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“I think when you have a lot of outside voices coming in, it can definitely alter what you have going on internally,” she said, via The New York Times. “The more I can distance myself from that, the more I can stay as calm and as relaxed as possible.”
She added: “A lot of that is outside things I can’t control and I just tried to minimize it. I stayed off social media, stayed in my room, talked to friends and family and stuck to what I knew.”
McLaughlin came from behind to run down fellow American Dalilah Muhammad after the very last hurdle. She clocked in at 51.46 – breaking a world record. Muhammad finished with a 51.58, which also broke the original world record, but she finished behind the 21-year-old New Jersey native.
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It is McLaughlin’s first Olympic gold medal. She had won gold in the 2019 World Championships in the 4×400-meter relay and a silver in the same competition in the 400-meter hurdles.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Inside Simone Biles’ Houston home that’s fit for an Olympian
Simone Biles is taking her bronze Olympic medal home to Texas — and what a home.
The 24-year-old gymnast purchased an almost 4,000-square-foot home north of Houston, Texas last year, the Houston Chronicle reported in July 2020 when the Summer Olympics were originally scheduled.
The home has four bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, according to property records, and a pool Biles had installed after she moved in, according to the Chronicle.
The new construction home has wood and tile floors, a media room and — for her Insta-famous French Bulldogs Lilo and Rambo — a dog wash station, she told the Chronicle.
The stucco home, which was built in 2019, has an open floor plan with a foyer, a family room with a fireplace and tray ceilings, a kitchen and a dining room, according to the listing.
The kitchen has high-end appliances, quartz countertops, custom cabinets and an oversized island, according to the listing.
The primary bedroom suite has dual walk-in closets and a spa-like bathroom with a walk-in shower and a free-standing tub.
The one-acre lot in a gated community has a three-car garage, a small outdoor kitchen and a table with swinging chairs, according to the listing.
The community offers a private park with pathways, woods and landscaping, according to the community’s website.
The house cost less than $750,000, property records show. The famed gymnast with lucrative sponsorship deals has previously opened up about her frugal lifestyle and her “fear of going broke.”
The seven-time Olympic medalist is believed to share with her 25-year-old boyfriend, Houston Texans football player Jonathan Owens and Owens’ English Bulldog Zeus, according to multiple reports.
Biles has been championed as a role model for mental health at this year’s Olympics after dropping out of the gymnastic team final, citing a dangerous case of the “twisties” and the recent death of her aunt.
Fans cheered her on when she won a bronze medal on the balance beam Tuesday.
A representative for Biles did not reply to a request for comment.