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PARIS 2024 SUMMER OLYMPICS

Snoop Dogg to carry Olympic torch ahead of Paris opening ceremony​

American rapper Snoop Dogg will be among the torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame in the final stretch before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on Friday. Snoop Dogg, 52, will carry the torch through the streets of Saint-Denis, the northern Paris suburb that is home to the Stade de France Olympic Stadium, the town's mayor, Mathieu Hanotin, said on X. "Saint Denis: last step before the Eiffel Tower. An international cast @SnoopDogg for the last stretch of the Olympic Flame," Hanotin wrote. The rapper, who is also contributing to NBC's coverage of the Games, is better known in the sports world for his Snoop Youth Football League. The championship game is called the "Snooper Bowl." Other carriers of the torch in Saint-Denis on Friday include French actress Laetitia Casta and French rapper MC Solaar.

The identity of the person who will light the Olympic cauldron on the night of the opening ceremony is secret, with less than a dozen people in the know. Paris 2024 organizing committee president Tony Estanguet said on Sunday that the person who will light the cauldron on Friday was not yet aware they had been selected. Candidates include Marie-Jose Perec, a three-time gold medalist in track and field who is widely considered to be France's best Olympian of all time, and soccer star Zinedine Zidane, who led France to the World Cup title in 1998 and the European crown in 2000.

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Paris 2024: Hayes bemoans 'disrespectful' USA expectations​

Two days before taking charge of her first major tournament match as coach of the United States women's national team, Emma Hayes said the age-old presumption of American dominance in this sport that many casual fans may still have is "disrespectful" and outdated. While Hayes agreed that ambition is good, she added there needs to be a recalibration of expectations for these Olympics due to the rise of women's soccer around the world.

While the U.S. enters the tournament as the betting favorite at many sportsbooks to win the gold medal, much of that is likely down to historical name recognition. The U.S. is ranked fifth in FIFA's rankings, the lowest the team has ever been. Many observers regard defending World Cup champion Spain as a stronger team than the U.S., while squads like Germany and France are undeniably stout.

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Olympics 2024: Andy Murray to retire after Paris Games​

Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray announced he will retire from tennis after the Paris Olympics, bringing an end to his 19-year career. Murray, 37, withdrew from the Wimbledon singles championship earlier this month after failing to recover in time from a spinal cyst procedure. However, he did manage to bid farewell to the All England Club with a doubles match alongside his brother, Jamie, before receiving an on-court tribute. Murray had previously said he would not play this season's hard-court swing, meaning his final chance to play would come at Roland Garros at the Olympics. On Tuesday, he confirmed this will be his final appearance. Murray is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, having won back-to-back titles at London 2012 and Rio 2016, each bookending the most successful period of his career. Murray's triumph at London 2012, where he won in the final with a straight-sets victory over Roger Federer, was his first major title. He followed it up by lifting his first Grand Slam title a month later, this time beating Novak Djokovic.

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Durant misses exhibition finale but will stay on Team USA​

Kevin Durant's timeline to play for Team USA keeps getting pushed back as he recovers from a right calf strain. But he will absolutely be on the Olympic roster when it is set later this week. USA Basketball coach Steve Kerr met with Durant on Monday and a decision was made to hold him out of the final exhibition game against Germany. The Americans won 92-88 to finish their pre-Olympic slate 5-0. Durant, who suffered the injury while training in mid-June and had an MRI when he joined Team USA in early July, is being considered day-to-day. Kerr had hoped Durant would play in one of the games in London but said that the new plan is for him to practice with the team several times when it gets to France later this week. USA Basketball has until Saturday to finalize the roster, and Durant will be on it. Kerr was Durant's coach with the Golden State Warriors at that time. Kerr said he knows from that experience that Durant routinely comes back strongly when returning from injuries. "There's no thought of replacing Kevin," Kerr said. "I was hoping he would get a game in here, but it just didn't work out that way."

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Team USA defeats Germany after WNBA All-Star Game struggles​

A'Ja Wilson had 19 points and 14 rebounds to help the U.S. women's Olympic basketball team rebound from a rare exhibition loss to beat Germany 84-57 on Tuesday night. The Americans lost to a team of WNBA All-Stars on Saturday before traveling to London for the exhibition contest against Germany. These two teams are in the same pool in the Olympics and will play again in the Paris Games on Aug. 4. Luisa Geiselsoder scored 13 points to lead Germany. The Americans were without Brittney Griner, who rested. It was her first trip overseas since she was arrested in 2022 in Russia and sentenced to nine years in jail for drug possession and smuggling. Ten months later, she was free after a high-profile prisoner exchange.

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Kevin Durant returns to practice for Team USA, TBD on Games debut​

Kevin Durant practiced Wednesday, and coach Steve Kerr said there will be a "big collaboration" in determining when the program's all-time leading Olympic scorer will make his debut for Team USA. The first Olympic pool play game is Sunday against Serbia. Team USA is planning to have a contact practice Thursday in Paris where Durant can hopefully take the next step in his return. He suffered the calf strain a month ago.

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U.S. Olympic officials call for truce in doping feud​

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee chief on Thursday urged the warring American and world anti-doping bodies to work together while assuring Olympic officials they will support WADA as the supreme anti-doping authority. The USOPC, along with the 2028 Los Angeles and 2034 Salt Lake City Olympic host committees, has been caught in the crossfire in an increasingly bitter feud between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the United States Anti-Doping Agency. The International Olympic Committee has issued a stern warning to U.S. sports officials: support WADA as the global leader in the fight against doping or risk losing the Games.

The WADA and USADA feud had escalated Wednesday when Reuters reported that the global body was taking the U.S. agency to the Independent Compliance Review Committee next month in a landmark move that could jeopardize the country hosting the 2028 and 2034 Olympics. WADA is taking the step as a result of a dispute with USADA over its handling of a case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in 2021. The move would be the first time WADA has taken the U.S. anti-doping body to the CRC and could have huge implications for global sport given the U.S.'s huge commercial influence.

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Appeal denied in Valieva case; U.S. skaters to get gold in Paris​

A Russian appeal against the decision to strip the country of the figure skating team gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday, confirming the U.S. team as the Beijing gold medalists and opening the way for the team to get its medals at the Paris Summer Games. CAS banned teenage figure skater Kamila Valieva in January for four years for doping, effective from December 2021, a decision that also stripped the Russian Olympic Committee of its gold medal in the team event at the 2022 Games. The ROC, the skaters involved in the team event and the country's figure skating federation had appealed that ruling. Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, a drug used to treat angina, at the Russian national championships in December 2021. The result was made known only after she competed in the team event in Beijing. Her team said at the time that the positive test could have been due to a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication. Valieva was 15 years old at the time.

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Steve Kerr: Team USA must raise intensity for Paris Olympics​

After games on three continents and a whirlwind of ceremonies and travel, Team USA has finally arrived in the Olympics' host city. And coach Steve Kerr had a corresponding message: It's time to act like it. After a sobering film session Thursday that showed clips of some lackadaisical play, Kerr put Team USA through its most aggressive practice since coming overseas, hoping to ignite more spirit ahead of its Olympic opener Sunday against Serbia. "That's what today is about. It's the reminder. It's time. We're here," Kerr said. "So it's got to be 40 minutes of force and attention and focus, and we can't let teams outplay us effort- and energy-wise like we did the other night against Germany, like we did against South Sudan."

The Americans are significant favorites in Paris, as usual, but Kerr and the coaching staff are emphasizing how fragile the nature of the Olympic tournament can be. The U.S. could likely afford a loss in the three-game pool play -- it had them in 2004 in Athens and 2021 in Tokyo and advanced to the medal round both times -- but after that, it's single-elimination for the gold. The way Team USA played in London was not the type of energy required for such a reality. Kerr, a four-time champion as NBA coach and an assistant on the gold medal-winning team in Tokyo, and his staff are raising their games and expecting the players to follow.

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Coco Gauff 'grateful' to be 1st tennis player as U.S. flag-bearer​

Gauff was forced to miss the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021 after a positive COVID-19 test result came back just days before the Games were to begin. With pandemic restrictions in effect for those Olympics, she was unable to compete. In Paris, she will compete in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events at famed Roland Garros, home of the French Open. As the reigning U.S. Open champion and the current No. 2 women's tennis player globally, Coco Gauff was already going to be fairly recognizable around the Olympic Village.

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Snoop Dogg to carry Olympic torch ahead of Paris opening ceremony​

American rapper Snoop Dogg will be among the torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame in the final stretch before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on Friday. Snoop Dogg, 52, will carry the torch through the streets of Saint-Denis, the northern Paris suburb that is home to the Stade de France Olympic Stadium, the town's mayor, Mathieu Hanotin, said on X. "Saint Denis: last step before the Eiffel Tower. An international cast @SnoopDogg for the last stretch of the Olympic Flame," Hanotin wrote. The rapper, who is also contributing to NBC's coverage of the Games, is better known in the sports world for his Snoop Youth Football League. The championship game is called the "Snooper Bowl." Other carriers of the torch in Saint-Denis on Friday include French actress Laetitia Casta and French rapper MC Solaar.

The identity of the person who will light the Olympic cauldron on the night of the opening ceremony is secret, with less than a dozen people in the know. Paris 2024 organizing committee president Tony Estanguet said on Sunday that the person who will light the cauldron on Friday was not yet aware they had been selected. Candidates include Marie-Jose Perec, a three-time gold medalist in track and field who is widely considered to be France's best Olympian of all time, and soccer star Zinedine Zidane, who led France to the World Cup title in 1998 and the European crown in 2000.

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Olympics 2024: Snopp Dogg carries torch for Paris Games
Snoop Dogg, 52, has been a hit musician, reality TV star and even Olympics broadcaster. On Friday, he added Paris 2024 torchbearer to that list. He carried the Olympic flame in an area next to the Stade de France stadium in the northern Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis.
 
canadian soccer coach, analyst out of olympics for drone use
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Olympics 2024: Canada coach 'likely' knew of drone spying - COC​

Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker said new information from Soccer Canada showed suspended women's coach Bev Priestman was likely aware of the drone use that has caused a scandal at the Paris Olympics. The COC removed Priestman on Thursday after her suspension by Canada Soccer. The decision followed complaints from New Zealand that Canada flew drones over two of their training sessions before the two sides met in their opening Olympic fixture, which Canada won 2-1. Canadian sports network TSN reported that drone use predates the 2024 Olympics, with two sources with first-hand knowledge telling TSN the team had filmed other opponents' closed-door training sessions, including during the Tokyo Olympic tournament.

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Simone Biles submits new uneven bars element for 2024 Olympics​

Simone Biles has submitted an original skill on the uneven bars ahead of the Paris Olympics that will be the American's sixth move named after her, and the first on bars, if she can successfully complete it. The new skill is a clear hip circle forward with 1.5 turns to handstand, a variation of an element named for Canadian Wilhelm Weiler that Biles has performed for much of her career, the International Gymnastics Federation said. FIG's technical committee awarded it a difficulty value of E on a scale from A to J, meaning it is worth 0.5 in difficulty. USA Gymnastics Teased the move on social media Friday.

The four-time Olympic champion already has five elements named after her: two vaults -- including the Yurchenko double pike -- two tumbling skills on floor exercise and a dismount on balance beam. She would become the only active gymnast to have an eponymous skill on all four events. Only Nellie Kim, a retired Soviet and Belarusian five-time Olympic gold medalist, has more skills named after her with seven. Biles is the fourth woman aiming to have a new element named after her at the Games, which for the women begin Sunday with qualifications.

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