Sports

Simone Biles, the headliner of Team USA gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics has announced that she will be competing in the balance beam final on August 3. This will be the final event she can compete in with Team USA gymnastics. Biles recently withdrew from the all-around and three other events, citing mental health issues being a barrier for the athlete to perform at an optimal level. The USA Gymnastics team took to Twitter to make the announcement, sharing, “We are so excited to confirm that you will see two U.S. athletes in the balance beam final tomorrow – Suni Lee AND Simone Biles!! Can’t wait to watch you both!” The news has been what many Team USA fans have been waiting for since she withdrew from the first event at the team finals. Should Biles wins her balance beam event, the athlet...

In a show of true sportsmanship, high jumpers Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy have decided to share gold. Known for their friendship outside of the sport, both Olympians successfully cleared a 2.37-meter jump but missed the tie-breaking 2.39 meters bar. What happened next warmed the hearts of spectators on an international level. After a brief huddle, the two proceeded to ask the officials if they could tie for gold — which was confirmed possible. Embracing each other, the two went on to celebrate their shared victor with friends, family, coaches, and fans. For Tamberi, this moment was extra special as he carried on to the track his cast from the career-threatening injury that sidelined him from Rio 2016. His cast read, “Road to Tokyo” with “2021” in place of a s...

As coronavirus cases continue to rise at an alarming rate in Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga expanded emergency measures already in place in Tokyo to four additional regions, Associated Press reports. The new areas under the state of emergency are Saitama, Kanagawa, Chiba and Osaka. As the center of the Olympic Games, Tokyo has been placed under strict rules, including banning spectators at the Olympic events. The newly-included prefectures will be under a state of emergency until Monday, August 31. The expansion of the pre-existing state of emergency comes as Tokyo has reported an uptick in cases for three continuous days. On Thursday, 3,865 new cases were reported and there were an additional 3,300 cases on Friday. According to AP, officials have claimed that the surge is n...

The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to a massive NBA trade deal that sees the team acquire Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as well as the No. 22 pick in the 2021 NBA drafts. ESPN also reports that the Wizards have agreed to send their 2024 and 2028 second-round picks to the Lakers to round out the deal. Harrell recently opted into his $9.7 million USD player option, which made way for the deal to happen and include the power forward. Prior to the deal agreement, the Lakers were reportedly in talks with Sacramento Kings in a deal that would have involved Buddy Hield, Kuzma and Harrell. Westbrook is set to join LeBron James and Anthony Davis in Los Angeles to give the team a powerful boost as the team leans ...

In the previous weeks, Aaron Rodgers‘ decision on whether or not he plans to return to the Green Bay Packers or perhaps even retire has kept many sports fans and sportsbooks keepers on the edge of their seats. The highly anticipated answer to the looming question has finally been answered as Rodgers has chosen to return to the Green Bay Packers for the 2021-22 NFL season. The Packers have reportedly agreed to rework the contract for Rodgers, seemingly open to making certain adjustments to their roster to keep the star quarterback. Hours after the announcement of Rodgers’ return, the Packers even brought back wide receiver Randall Cobb. NFL fans know that Cobb and Rodgers have special chemistry on the field. Rodgers has often seen Cobb as one of his favorite targets and teammates between 20...

Just one day after Jalen Green was seen working out with the Houston Rockets, the team has decided that he would be a great fit for the league. Green quickly became the 2021 NBA Draft‘s top prospect as the Rockets decided to go with the young athlete as their No. 2 selection. Green makes his way to the Rockets as his draft class’s projected top two-guard. In the G-League, he averaged 17.9 points and 46 percent shooting from the field in the 15 games he played. The Rockets have paired their top draft pick with Kevin Porter Jr. to give the team its explosive backcourt powerhouse. Green is expected to be a versatile guard who is capable of scoring inside and out. The explosive player has also made history as the NBA‘s highest-drafted Asian American player in all of the league’s history. He is...

Great Britain‘s Tom Daley is an Olympic gold medalist by day and a YouTuber by night. Recently, the 27-year-old hit a career-high and took home a gold medal with teammate Matty Lee in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform dive. In his off-time, Daley took to his YouTube channel to share what the Olympic Village in Tokyo looks like. Daley begins the video by showing the inside of his four-bedroom apartment which overlooks Tokyo Bay. He also debunks the myth that the cardboard beds are given to athletes as “anti-sex” beds. Rather, Daley confirms that the beds are designed to be eco-friendly. Other items in the room using cardboard are the wardrobes. Each athlete is able to take home the Tokyo Olympics-branded duvets. As well, a Sony PlayStation is included in each apartment for any downti...

As interested in skateboarding has reached a new high thanks to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Hong Kong’s K11 MUSEA has introduced its celebration of skate, “STREET/PARK.” In partnership with HK’s first skate shop 8FIVE2 and sneaker collector SOLEADDICTT, the largest indoor harbourview skatepark investigates multiple facets of skate culture. Self-professed sneakerhead and expert collector SOLEADDICTT, Jeff Cheung, has offered his archive of arguably the world’s largest collection of Nike SB Dunks to illustrate Nike‘s evolution from basketball to skateboarding. Valued at over $2.5 million USD worth of Nike Dunks, the lineup highlights close to 20 years of Nike SB. A selection of exclusive SOLEADDICTT exclusive releases inspired by the legacy of the Nike Dunk will also be available online and on ...

For the longest time, Japan has frowned upon skateboarding in public spaces, deeming it to be disrespectful and inappropriate due to its noise levels and disruption and damage to public property. However, since the Tokyo Olympics Japanese skaters have made waves with historic wins in Olympic Street Skateboarding, which saw 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya and 22-year-old Yuto Horigome take home gold wins at women’s and men’s finals respectively. Japanese pro skater Ryo Seijiri hopes that this will change the culture’s perception, “I’m sure skateboarding has a had a bad image up until now, because we do it out in public and people think of it as an inconvenience, but I think that will change now. This moment was the moment they changed their minds.” Other Japanese athletes such as 16-year-old Fun...

When it comes to altercations in the NBA, there’s none that come close to the “Malice at the Palace”. On November 19, 2004, the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons matched up in a regular season game, and with under a minute left to go participated in the most notorious brawl that ever took place on the NBA stage. A hard foul by Ron Artest on a driving-to-the-rim Ben Wallace sparked the series of unfortunate events. From there, tussles broke out between various players on both squads including Rasheed Wallace and Stephen Jackson, but things started to get extremely ugly the moment that Artest made his way into the seating sections and proceeded to beat down a fan who had thrown a beer cup on him. Multiple brawls between players and fans then started to take place, the arena was serenaded wi...

The youngest of the Antetokounmpo squad seems like he might be joining his three older brothers in the NBA league very soon. After the 2021 NBA Finals, Giannis, Thanasis and Kostas, have become NBA champions, leaving just their youngest brother Alex, to accomplish this feat. The youngest of the group is a 19-year-old professional basketball player who previously played for UCAM Murcia of the Spanish Liga ACB. However, it appears that Alex is also chasing his dreams of becoming an NBA player, as rumors sparked when he was seen at a pre-draft workout with the Indiana Pacers. Throughout high school, Alex had impressive stats as a first-team all-state selection in his final two years. Throughout the 2019-20 season, he averaged 20 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 blocks a game. Many co...