by tyler | Mar 25, 2023 | CNN, sport
Players for the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, Eric and Marc Staal, declined to participate in the team’s Pride Night on Thursday, citing “religious beliefs.”
The brothers did not participate in warm-ups where players wore Pride-themed sweaters before the team’s home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“After many thoughts, prayers and discussions we have chosen not to wear a Pride Night jersey tonight,” the brothers said in a statement released by the Panthers. “We carry no judgment on how people choose to live their lives, and believe that all people should be welcome in all aspects of the game of hockey. Having said that, we feel that by us wearing a Pride jersey it goes against our Christian beliefs.”
“We hope you can respect this statement, we will not be speaking any further on this matter and would like to continue to focus on the game and helping the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup.”
The Staals did play in the 6-2 loss to Toronto.
Eric Staal, 38, told reporters he would like to “stick to the statement made and released” when asked for further comment after the game.
The jerseys, posted to the official Florida Panthers Twitter account, feature rainbow accents and an LGBT flag patch on the sleeve.
Teammate and All-Star forward Matthew Tkachuk had a different view on participating in Pride Night, saying that the players in the locker room have the “right to their opinion” but that he was “excited” to be a part of the event.
“For myself personally, obviously being out there and wearing the jerseys, and kind of enjoying and embracing a night like tonight — we only have so many of these nights throughout the season, whether it’s ‘Military Night’ or ‘Hockey Fights Cancer Night,’ or whatever,” Tkachuk told reporters after the game.
“A night like tonight, for me, is really about including everybody,” he went on. “In my opinion, it’s by far the greatest game in the world, and everyone’s invited in my locker room and our locker room as an organization.”
The Pride Night event includes fundraisers for LGBTQ+ non-profits and a ceremonial puck drop featuring Stuart Milk, nephew of civil rights leader Harvey Milk, according to a news release from the Florida Panthers.
The Staals are the latest example of NHL players and clubs declining to participate in Pride Night activities.
Last week, San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer decided not to participate in the team’s weeklong Pride Night festivities which included wearing pregame warm-up sweaters, citing his Christian faith.
The Chicago Blackhawks opted not to wear Pride warmup jerseys this weekend when the team holds its Pride Night. However, rather than religious beliefs, the team cited security concerns regarding Russian players.
In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill that expands a ban on so-called LGBTQ “propaganda” in Russia, making it illegal for anyone to promote same-sex relationships or suggest that non-heterosexual orientations are “normal.”
CNN has reached out to the Panthers and NHL for comment.
by tyler | Mar 25, 2023 | CNN, sport
Bowling Green State University basketball player Elissa Brett was struck by University of Memphis player Jamirah Shutes while the two walked through the traditional post-game handshake line following Bowling Green’s 73-60 win in the Women’s National Invitation (WNIT) postseason tournament on Thursday.
Video of the incident shows the confrontation, with Shutes reaching out towards Brett, and Brett immediately falling to the ground. Shutes was quickly ushered away by a Memphis team member. The episode occurred on the Falcons’ home court in Bowling Green, Ohio.
During the post-game press conference, Falcons head coach Robyn Fralick was asked about Brett’s condition and if any words were exchanged between the two players to which Fralick responded, “We’re still kind of figuring all those things out, what happened.”
On Friday, Bowling Green’s Athletic Department released a statement which said it was reviewing the incident and that the Bowling Green State University Police Department “has charged a member of the Memphis Women’s Basketball team with assault.”
CNN has reached out to the Bowling Green State University Police Department for comment.
“Violence is never acceptable and our priority remains the health, safety and support of our student-athlete, who is recovering and doing well. This is an active investigation in conjunction with the City of Bowling Green Prosecutor, and no further comment is available at this time,” the statement continued.
A Bowling Green State University attorney shared Thursday night’s campus police incident/investigation report with CNN. The report says “a member of the Memphis basketball team had struck a member of the BGSU basketball team in the face with a closed fist.” The victim, Brett, suffered “swelling in their right eye due to this strike.”
The report continues, “Through the use of video, witness statements, and interviews it was determined that the identified Memphis basketball player did strike the BGSU basketball player. After review of this evidence, the identified Memphis player was charged with assault.”
CNN has reached out to the University of Memphis and Shutes, through the school, for comment. It is unclear if Shutes has retained legal representation.
Shutes, a fifth-year senior, is 13th all-time in career points in program history according to Memphis’ team website.
by tyler | Mar 24, 2023 | CNN, sport
Trans rights advocates have warned sports governing bodies that “blanket bans” on transgender women from competing in women’s categories risk “violating fundamental human rights principles.”
This follows World Athletics (WA) President Sebastian Coe’s announcement of new regulations around transgender women athletes on Thursday, which come into force on March 31 and prohibit athletes who have gone through what WA called “male puberty” from participating in female world rankings competitions. WA said the exclusion would apply to “male-to-female transgender athletes.”
“Such policies risk violating international human rights principles of non-discrimination, which require such policies to start from a place of inclusion unless an exclusion can be justified as proportionate to any risks identified,” Anna Brown, CEO of Equality Australia, said in a statement.
“World Athletics has failed to meet that standard.”
Meanwhile, retired Australian transgender athlete Ricki Coughlan said she was “disappointed” by what she feels is a “fundamentally discriminatory” decision.
“When leaders make decisions which divide and exclude us, we see this reflected in community,” Coughlan wrote on Twitter.
“The voices of hate are amplified on one side and fear on the other. Our communities become divided and we miss the opportunity to achieve what we can only achieve when we come together, each of us working in a spirit where we can all strive to reach our full potentials.”
Coe said the decision had been made to “maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations.”
He explained that WA – the global governing body for track and field – would set up a working group to evaluate the issue of transgender inclusion over the next 12 months.
“We’re not saying no forever,” Coe said.
In a statement to CNN on Friday, WA said: “The science shows that anyone who has gone through male puberty retains male anatomical differences that provide an athletic advantage.
“The World Athletics Council was unwilling to compromise the integrity of the female category without evidence that these male advantages can be ameliorated.
“We currently do not have any transgender athletes in elite international competition; therefore, the time is right to consult more widely on this subject. We hope that any transgender athletes who are planning to enter our sport at an elite level come forward and contribute to our new Working Group.”
In recent years, some opponents of trans women and girls’ participation in sport have turned the issue into a political flashpoint. In January, a small group of demonstrators gathered outside the NCAA Convention in San Antonio to protest the inclusion of transgender women athletes in women’s college sports.
Advocates of banning transgender women from women’s sport have argued that transgender women have a physical advantage over cisgender women in sports.
But the mainstream science does not support that conclusion. A 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine that reviewed several related studies found “no direct or consistent research” on trans people having an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers, and critics say the bans add to the discrimination trans people face.
Debate in the scientific community about whether androgenic hormones like testosterone serve as useful markers of athletic advantage remains ongoing.
A World Athletics document obtained by CNN earlier this year states that trans women “retain an advantage in muscle mass, volume, and strength over cis women” after 12 months of gender affirming hormone therapy, while acknowledging that there is “limited existing experimental data” on the matter.
The new policy follows similar regulations introduced by swimming governing body World Aquatics last year, which say that male-to-female transgender athletes will only be eligible to compete in the women’s categories in World Aquatics competitions if they transition before the age of 12 or before they reach stage two on the puberty Tanner Scale.
Some athletes welcomed World Athletics’ decision, including British runner Emily Diamond, who called it “a big step for fairness and protecting the female category.”
Writing on Twitter, Diamond added: “Hopefully this will be the rule across all levels now, not just elite ranking events.”
Save Women’s Sport Australasia, a group campaigning against transgender athletes in women’s sport, also welcomed the move from WA.
“It’s not a ban, it just actually moves to protect the female category to female competitors and it was an excellent decision,” spokeswoman Ro Edge told Reuters.
“So it’s really reassuring to hear (WA) president Seb Coe come out and say they’ve got to maintain fairness of female participation above all other considerations.”
Coe said the decision came after deliberation with groups including World Athletics member federations, the Global Athletics Coaches Academy and Athletes’ Commission and the IOC, as well as representative transgender and human rights groups.
by tyler | Mar 24, 2023 | CNN, sport
New Zealand runner Zane Robertson says he “made some bad decisions in a really dark place” which led to his lengthy ban from the sport for doping, disclosing that the verdict has left him feeling suicidal.
Olympic distance runner Robertson was banned for a total of eight years – four years for a positive test and a further four-year ban after the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand ruled on Wednesday that he had “sought to subvert the doping control process.” The decision backdated his suspension beginning September 2022 from any “competition or activity (organized), sanctioned, or (authorized) by Athletics New Zealand or by any other sporting organization that is a signatory” to the country’s Sports Anti-Doping Rules (SADR).
Robertson – the New Zealand record holder in the marathon, half marathon and road 10km – tested positive for erythropoietin, commonly known as EPO, at a race in Manchester, England, last May.
EPO is a hormone naturally produced in the kidneys which controls the formation of red blood cells. When administered to athletes, it can increase the amount of oxygen delivered to muscles, improving recovery and endurance.
Speaking on the ‘Runners Only!’ podcast with Dom Harvey, the 33-year-old explained that there were many reasons for making the decisions he made, calling Wednesday’s judgment a “depressing, devastating day.”
“I hate it so much and it’s just a one-off hit, and I got caught. It’s been building on me a few years. Frustration and anger at the sport itself,” Robertson said.
“In any elite sport, I believe the top is not a level playing field like they say. I started to ask myself this question: ‘Why do people like myself always have to be the ones to lose or suffer, and in the end lose our contracts, lose our income, lose our race winnings and eventually end up not having the ability to have a family or live anywhere else in the world in the predicaments we’re in?’”
Robertson said that a drop in prize money and contracts amid Covid, as well as a “nasty” divorce, placed increased stress on him.
“After the Olympics, I was told by one of my companies: ‘We thought you would run better,’ and immediately exit from the deal. The other company was holding on for the bare minimum. I had pressure from my management. I was constantly getting injured in the race shoes I was trying to develop. Nothing was seeming to go my way.”
He added: “A lot of stress was placed on me and I made some bad decisions in a really dark place.”
Robertson said he took full responsibility for the attempted cover up of his failed drug test, saying that even with a four-year ban, he felt like his career was over.
According to the tribunal judgment, Robertson claimed as part of his defense that he had attended a medical facility in Kenya to get a Covid-19 vaccine; instead, though, he said he was treated for Covid-19, which he claimed involved the administration of EPO.
He provided sworn affidavits from Kenyan doctors, hospital notes, a hospital report and a witness statement from a Kenyan detective to support his claims, arguing that there was “no fault or negligence” on his part.
However, Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ), the party opposing Robertson during the tribunal, highlighted the “clinical implausibility” of the treatment the athlete said he received.
Robertson spoke of his depression before the ban and his mental health struggles he has suffered since the verdict.
“When I got depressed, I started talking to a psychiatrist in the high-performance sports system. And he helped me through a lot of things,” he said. “I wanted to die, I didn’t want to live anymore.
“And I didn’t know why I was doing the sport anymore. And I think that would have been just the right time to maybe try and find something else to do and retire. Unfortunately, we don’t always make the right decisions. And sadly, as a professional athlete, we’re always really in the public eye and just judged for these decisions and mistakes that we make, and then called out for them in horrible ways. So I’m trying to deal with this in the best way possible right now.”
When asked about his headspace, Robertson said: “Not good to be honest. Today was one of my worst days. If I’m going to be totally honest, coming home from my brother’s place today, I just wanted to go and shoot myself in the head.”
Robertson’s twin brother, Jake, is a professional runner who has competed at the Commonwealth Games alongside Zane.
Robertson said that his brother was “a little bit pissed off,” while also expressing his concern that his ban would affect his brother’s chances.
“It’s very unfair. I mean, if one student in the classroom cheats, are they all cheating? Just because they’re all in that same classroom. It’s bullsh*t. And people want to do that to him. And they’ve already started posting on his wall today and it’s horrible, man. It’s just terrible.”
Robertson explained that although he didn’t use EPO for long enough to feel the full benefits, it made him “move and train in great shape.” He said he decided to try EPO because he kept getting his “a*s handed” to him.
He also apologized to his fans.
When asked what he’d like to be remembered for, Robertson said: “Not just for running fast or not just for running records or anything like that – just for kind of having a dream and giving it a real shot, giving it a go, and giving it 100% despite everyone telling us that you can’t do this, it isn’t possible. That’s what I’d like to be remembered for.”
by tyler | Mar 23, 2023 | CNN, sport
Several National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) players expressed their discontent at the accuracy of their likenesses on Electronic Arts’ (EA) FIFA video game franchise.
EA, the NWSL and the league’s players union (NWSLPA) announced a partnership earlier in March making the stars and teams of the league playable in the 2023 edition of the popular video game. The league made its first official appearance in FIFA 23 on Wednesday.
Sydney Leroux, Jess Fishlock, Janine Beckie and Madison Hammond were among the players who shared messages on social media expressing unhappiness over their in-game appearances in FIFA 23.
Leroux wrote on Twitter: “I know you expect women to just be thankful and grateful that you’ve given us a little sliver of publicity but please stop wasting our time. Some of us are bald.”
Leroux also shared a picture of her appearance from FIFA 16 compared to the current version, noting the older edition of the game had a closer likeness.
Alongside two images of her in-game player wearing an Angel City jersey, Hammond said, “Somebody please lmk when they find me, Madison Hammond #99 from Angel City! Because this … is simply not it!”
Beckie posted a photo of her in-game player alongside an image of her playing in real life, writing, “Found my long lost twin! Fraternal obviously.”
Players also had issues with their attribute valuations in the game, accusing the makers of not having watched the league.
“When @EASPORTSFIFA didn’t put me in the top 10 for speed I was mad but I was like eh we will show them,” wrote Sarah Gorden, a defender for Angel City. “But when they gave me a 48 rating in speed I realized they have never and will never actually watch a NWSL game.”
CNN reached out to EA, the NWSL and the NWSLPA for comment.
When the partnership was announced, Executive Director of the NWSLPA Meghann Burke stated, “Today is a historic day for both our players and fans.”
NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman added: “The NWSL’s integration into EA SPORTS FIFA 23 is a monumental milestone for the league, the players and millions of football fans around the world as we continue pushing boundaries for the women’s game.”
The 11th season of the NWSL is due to kick off on Saturday, with the North Carolina Courage hosting Kansas City in the opening fixture.
by tyler | Mar 23, 2023 | CNN, sport
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has pleaded with politicians to “keep politics and sports apart” while defending the IOC’s controversial plans to include Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Paris 2024 Games.
“If politics decides who can take part in a competition, then sport and athletes become tools of politics,” Bach said during an hours-long speech in German on Wednesday in Essen, Germany.
“It is then impossible for sport to transfer its uniting powers. We must be politically neutral but not apolitical. We know well that politics rules the world. We know well that our decisions have political implications and we have to include that in our thinking,” he added.
“But we should not make the mistake of raising ourselves to referees of political disputes because we will be crushed by these political powers.”
In February, the IOC reiterated its condemnation of the war in Ukraine, one year on from the beginning of the invasion, in a statement.
According to Reuters, Bach went on to say, “Ukraine wants, and this is a direct quote ‘the total isolation of all Russians,’” as some people in the audience applauded.
“It is a dilemma for us and a completely new situation. If we exclude athletes for political reasons, we face the decline of the international sporting system,” Bach said.
“We feel, suffer with and understand the Ukrainian people and athletes. On the other hand, we have, as a global organization, a responsibility towards human rights and the Olympic Charter,” he added, according to Reuters.
In January, the IOC outlined a multi-step plan for Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate at the upcoming 2024 Summer Games in Paris and the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, which was met by criticism from the United States, Canada and most European countries.
Last month, the US and more than 30 other “like-minded” countries backed a proposed ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in international sports, according to a joint statement.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s sports minister said in January the country would not rule out boycotting the Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete at Paris 2024.
On Thursday, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe announced Russian and Belarusian athletes will still be excluded from World Athletics Series Events “for the foreseeable future” due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reaffirming the organization’s March 2022 decision.
The IOC has previously come under strong criticism from Ukrainian tennis player and Olympic bronze medalist Elina Svitolina, as well as former boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, who won a gold for Ukraine at the 1996 Olympics.
“We must stick to banning Russian and Belarusian athletes, sending a strong message worldwide that we are united in the sanctions imposed against Russia and Belarus and that there are consequences for the heinous acts of their governments,” said Svitolina.
