(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Milwaukee 2, Cleveland 0 Kansas City 8, Cincinnati 1 Seattle 10, Pittsburgh 3 Toronto 1, Chi Cubs 0 Tampa Bay 8, Arizona 7 Atlanta 3, LA Angels 1 San Francisco 4, Oakland 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE Houston 2, Chi White Sox 0 Baltimore 4, Boston 2 Texas 6, Minnesota 5 Detroit 3, NY Yankees 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE Miami 3, NY Mets 2 Washington 6, Philadelphia 4 LA Dodgers 2, St. Louis 1 Colorado 3, San Diego 2
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON Denver 27, Green Bay 2 San Francisco 16, New Orleans 10
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Atlanta 82, Connecticut 70 Indiana 92, Seattle 75 Las Vegas 87, Los Angeles 71 Phoenix 86, Chicago 68
(NEW YORK) — U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles broke her silence over having the bronze medal she won from the floor exercise in Paris stripped by the Court of Arbitration for Sport following a challenge.
“I am overwhelmed by the love I have received over the past few days,” Chiles wrote on Instagram. “I am also incredibly grateful to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, USAG, and the USOPC for their unwavering support during this difficult time.”
She continued, “While celebrating my Olympic accomplishments, I heard the devastating news that my bronze medal had been stripped away. I had confidence in the appeal brought by USAG, who gave conclusive evidence that my score followed all the rules. This appeal was unsuccessful.”
In discussing the unsuccessful results of the appeal, Chiles shared her disappointment.
“I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey,” she wrote.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced on Monday it would not hear Chiles’ appeal to keep her bronze medal from the Paris Olympics despite new evidence, according to USA Gymnastics.
Initially, Chiles finished fifth in the individual floor exercise at last week’s Games, only to be moved up to the bronze medal spot when her coaches appealed the scoring of one of the elements in her routine. She jumped from fifth to third, leaping over two Romanian gymnasts — including Ana Barbosu, who had already begun celebrating bronze.
The International Gymnastics Federation awarded Barbosu third place after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided the appeal made by Chiles’ coach at the event, with CAS saying Chiles’ score was “raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline.” In saying the challenge came too late, the CAS reinstated the incorrect 13.666 score.
Chiles also noted Thursday that since the appeal process, she has received hurtful messages online.
“To add to the heartbreak, the unprompted racially driven attacks on social media are wrong and extremely hurtful. I’ve poured my heart and soul into this sport and I am so proud to represent my culture and my country,” she wrote.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Raygun of Australia in action during the Paris 2024 Olympics in Paris on Aug. 9, 2024. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Rachael Gunn, the Australian breakdancer known as Raygun, is speaking out after her 2024 Paris Olympics performance went viral and was mocked both online and off.
Gunn, a 36-year-old college professor with a Ph.D. in cultural studies, said in a new video posted on Instagram Thursday that the “hate” she has received has been “devastating.”
“I just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me. I really appreciate the positivity, and I’m glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives. That’s what I hoped,” Gunn said in the video, her first since competing in Paris. “I didn’t realize that that would also open the door to so much hate, which has frankly been pretty devastating.”
Gunn did not earn a medal in Paris, where she competed against fellow b-girls in their late teens and early 20s.
After losing her three round-robin battles by a score of 54-0, Gunn’s unique dance moves quickly became the focus of memes and jokes on social media.
On social media, some users dubbed one move by Gunn “the kangaroo,” while others compared her dance moves to when a child asks you to watch their performance.
“I’d like to personally thank Raygun for making millions of people worldwide think ‘huh, maybe I can make the Olympics too,'” one user wrote on X, alongside a photo of Raygun’s Olympic performance.
The criticisms online against Gunn also included unsubstantiated claims that she had manipulated the selection process to make it to Paris, where breaking was included for the first time in Olympic history.
In her new video, Gunn defended herself against those claims, calling them “allegations” and “misinformation.”
“While I went out there and I had fun, I did take it very seriously,” she said. “I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics, and I gave my all, truly.”
She continued, “I’m honored to have been a part of the Australian Olympic team, and to be part of breaking Olympic debut. What the other athletes have achieved has just been phenomenal.”
Gunn also directed her followers to statements made by the Australian Breaking Organization and the Australian Olympic Committee defending her selection and performance in Paris.
In 2023, Gunn won the QMS Oceania Championships in Sydney to earn Australia’s first-ever spot in the b-girl competition at the Olympics, according to her Olympic bio.
“The Oceania Olympic selection event (The QMS 2023 WDSF Oceania Breaking Championships) in October 2023 brought together the top Breakers, both Bgirls and Bboys. A panel of 9 international adjudicators, a head judge and a chairperson who oversaw the competition, using the same judging system at the Paris Games and trained to uphold the highest standards of impartiality. These judges are all highly respected in their respective communities and in the international Breaking scene,” the Australian Breaking Organization said in an Aug. 13 statement shared on its website. “Ultimately, Rachael Gunn and Jeff Dunne emerged as the top performers in exactly the same process, securing their spots to represent Australia in Paris. Their selection was based solely on their performance in their battles on that day.”
Australia’s Chef de Mission, Anna Meares, issued public support for Gunn on Aug. 10, in a news conference.
“I love Rachael, and I think that what has occurred on social media with trolls and keyboard warriors, and taking those comments and giving them airtime, has been really disappointing,” Meares told reporters, according to ESPN. “Raygun is an absolutely loved member of this Olympic team. She has represented the Olympic team, the Olympic spirit with great enthusiasm. And I absolutely love her courage. I love her character, and I feel very disappointed for her, that she has come under the attack that she has.”
The following day, on Aug. 11, the head judge of the breaking competition in Paris defended Gunn, while the head of the World DanceSport Federation said officials are looking out for her “mental safety” after the online criticism.
Gunn said she is taking “pre-planned downtime” in Europe following the Olympics, and asked for privacy for her family and friends.
“I’d really like to ask the press to please stop harassing my family, my friends, the Australian breaking community and the broader street dance community,” Gunn said. “Everyone has been through a lot as a result of this, so I ask you to please respect their privacy.”
When not breaking, Gunn is a researcher and lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, where she studies the “the cultural politics of breaking,” according to her university biography.
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(INGLEWOOD, Calif.) — The Los Angeles Clippers have been playing their home games in downtown Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena, formerly known as Staples Center, which is also home to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Clippers’ NBA rivals.
But the Clippers step out of the Lakers shadow beginning on Thursday as they officially open the Intuit Dome, their new mega stadium in Inglewood, California.
ABC News’ GMA3 got an exclusive look at the Intuit Dome, which spans 26 acres of land and includes close to 18,000 seats. The grand opening will mark the first time in 25 years that the team has its own venue — the multibillion-dollar passion project of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer that is changing the game.
The mastermind behind the new Dome comes from Halo Sports and Entertainment, an umbrella brand that also owns the Clippers, the Intuit Dome, the G League’s Ontario Clippers, and Inglewood’s Kia Forum.
Leading the charge is Gillian Zucker, CEO of Halo Sports and Entertainment, who also serves as the Clippers’ president of business operations.
Zucker and her team spent years designing and figuring out what it would take to create the best arena in the United States.
“I think that you can find pieces of this arena everywhere in the world, because we traveled the world looking at arenas, exploring the types of things that the fans who were at those arenas loved,” Zucker told GMA3 anchor DeMarco Morgan during a tour of the facility.
In the stadium lies a massive video screen known as the Halo Board, which is a double-sided 4K display in an arena setting with approximately 44,000 square feet of digital space.
“Some of the letters on it are over 2 feet tall, so it is massive and I think it’s going to provide a pretty incredible experience,” Zucker said.
The Intuit Dome offers a practice facility for athletes, complete with multiple basketball courts. Fans can enjoy an upscale menu featuring sushi and game-day classics like chicken fingers and hot dogs.
“So we tasted about 20 different chicken fingers before we chose the supplier for it,” Zucker said. “We’ve spent a lot of time making sure that each of these food items is something that you’re going to crave the next day.”
Fans who want to see a game but can’t afford the up-close tickets can buy upper-level seats and still be interactive.
The Halo Board is so large that you can watch the game from anywhere in the stadium. There are also mounted T-shirt cannons all along the top of the Halo Board, and they move up and down so that every single seat in the Dome has a chance to catch a shirt.
Zucker says the Clippers have prioritized community involvement while transitioning into their new arena. For example, inside the arena is displayed a jersey representing every high school basketball team in the state of California, for both girls and boys. This, Zucker said, is so that kids from all over California can come and they can find themselves in Intuit Dome.
“We built this for them,” Zucker said of the community comprised of the team’s fans. “And we wanted everybody to feel like this was a place that enhanced the neighborhood.”
Intuit Dome has already made a name for itself — it will host the 2026 NBA All-Star Game and will serve as the Olympic basketball venue in 2028. The venue earned these bids before even opening the stadium doors.
The Intuit Dome has over 20 concerts scheduled before the Clippers’ inaugural game, which will feature a performance by singer Bruno Mars and takes place on Nov. 22 when they face the Sacramento Kings.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Baltimore Orioles 4, Washington Nationals 1 Cleveland Guardians 6, Chicago Cubs 1 NY Mets 9, Oakland Athletics 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE Kansas City Royals 4, Minnesota Twins 1 Texas Rangers 9, Boston Red Sox 7 Detroit Tigers 3, Seattle Mariners 2 Houston Astros 2, Tampa Bay Rays 1 NY Yankees 10, Chicago White Sox 2 Toronto Blue Jays 9, LA Angels 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE Arizona Diamondbacks 11, Colorado Rockies 4 San Diego Padres 8, Pittsburgh Pirates 2 Philadelphia Phillies 9, Miami Marlins 5 Cincinnati Reds 9, St. Louis Cardinals 2 Milwaukee Brewers 5, LA Dodgers 4 Atlanta Braves 13, San Francisco Giants 2
Silver medalist Simone Biles the U.S. and bronze medalist, Jordan Chiles of the U.S. watch the scoreboard during the women’s artistic gymnastics individual floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Aug. 5, 2024. (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — What began with a miscalculation in the degree of difficulty for Jordan Chiles’ women’s gymnastics floor exercise final routine has led to another new twist in the celebration turned saga over who won bronze at the Paris Olympics.
New documents have revealed that Dr. Hamid G. Gharavi, the head of the three person panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sports that overturned a review, ruled against Chiles and forced her to give the bronze to Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu, has actually represented Romanian interests for years.
Coaches, fellow athletes and fans have cried foul after seeing that Gharavi’s resume has multiple legal cases in which he represented Romania in arbitration cases, accusing the president of the panel of having a conflict of interest.
“I am not allowed to comment on these or any other matters in relation to my role as an arbitrator in this or any other case,” the France-based attorney told ABC News in a statement.
Gharavi’s position had previously been revealed before the panel was created, according to The New York Times.
Chiles’ bronze medal finish happened after a Team USA inquiry into the difficulty of a move that the judges determined was worth an extra one tenth of a point and pushed her from fifth place to third, edging out Bărbosu.
“The sport of gymnastics is a subjective sport, and there are humans, and humans are going to make errors,” four-time U.S. Olympic gymnastics medalist Dominique Dawes told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
What was considered to be one of the best ever Olympic Games with a historic all-Black gymnastics podium, has now been mired in controversy and confusion.
The CAS voided an appeal from Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, stating that it came in too late.
USA Gymnastics fought back, submitting video evidence of the appeal to CAS.
“USA Gymnastics was notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed by the notification and will continue to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process, including to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure the just scoring, placement, and medal award for Jordan.”
Still on a high the morning after her win, the 23-year-old Team USA star appeared on GMA and took time to praise Bărbosu.
“She’s an amazing athlete she’s done amazing things within you know her gymnastics as well, so I’m very proud of myself, but also very proud of her as well,” Chiles said.
Team USA has vowed to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process, including to the Swiss Federal Tribunal. The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution was the first to report the legal ties between Gharavi and Romania.
In a statement to ABC News, the U.S. Olympic Committee said they were “not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision against Chiles,” but they are “committed to pursuing an appeal so that she receives the recognition she deserves.”
Naomi Osaka of Japan walks across the court during her match against Ashlyn Krueger of the United States (not pictured) during Day 2 of the Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Aug. 12, 2024 in Mason, Ohio. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Naomi Osaka is opening up after her loss at the Cincinnati Open on Monday.
The four-time Grand Slam singles champion failed to make the main draw in Cincinnati after losing in a qualifying match against Ashlyn Krueger. On Sunday, she won her opening match in the qualifying tournament against Anna Blinkova.
On Tuesday, Osaka took to Instagram to reflect on the loss and said that what she’s feeling is similar to “being postpartum.”
“In a weird way I’ve come to appreciate losses, you don’t play tennis for 20+ years without your fair share of them,” Osaka began. “You learn from a loss and then eagerly await your next opportunity to put what you learned to test.”
“My biggest issue currently isn’t losses though, my biggest issue is that I don’t feel like I’m in my body,” she continued. “It’s a strange feeling, missing balls I shouldn’t miss, hitting balls softer than I remember I used to. I try and tell myself ‘it’s fine you’re doing great, just get through this one and keep pushing’, mentally it’s really draining though.”
“Internally I hear myself screaming ‘what the hell is happening?!?!'” she added.
The two-time U.S. Open champion went on and acknowledged that Monday’s loss is possibly part of “a small phase from all the new transitions (clay, grass, clay, hard etc),” but said she could only like the feeling that she’s experiencing to “being postpartum.”
“That scares [me] because I’ve been playing tennis since I was 3, the tennis racquet should feel like an extension of my hand,” she said. “I don’t understand why everything has to feel almost brand new again. This should be as simple as breathing to me but it’s not and I genuinely did not give myself grace for that fact until just now.”
Osaka said that she is learning and will continue to put in the work every day — which is something she hopes to teach her daughter.
“I love the process (though the process doesn’t love me sometimes haha), putting in work everyday and eventually having the opportunity to get to where you want to be,” she said. “I know life isn’t guaranteed so I want to do the best that I can with the time that I have, I want to teach my daughter that she can achieve so many things with hard work and perseverance. I want her to aim for the stars and never think her dreams are too big.”
“Nothing in life is promised but I realized that I can promise myself to work as hard as I can and give it my best shot till the very end,” she added.
Osaka ended her message with, “See you in New York ♥️,” noting that she will play again at the U.S. Open at the end of the month.
2024 marks Osaka’s tennis comeback a year after welcoming her daughter in July 2023.
Last month, she competed in singles at the Olympics but lost to Angelique Kerber in the first round.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Washington Nationals 9, Baltimore Orioles 3 Cleveland Guardians 2, Chicago Cubs 1 Oakland Athletics 9, NY Mets 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE Toronto Blue Jays, LA Angels TBD Detroit Tigers 15, Seattle Mariners 1 Houston Astros 3, Tampa Bay Rays 2 Boston Red Sox 9, Texas Rangers 4 Minnesota Twins 13, Kansas City Royals 3 NY Yankees 4, Chicago White Sox 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE Colorado Rockies 3, Arizona Diamondbacks 4 Pittsburgh Pirates 0, San Diego Padres 3 Atlanta Braves 4, San Francisco Giants 3 Miami Marlins 5, Philadelphia Phillies 0 L.A. Dodgers 7, Milwaukee Brewers 2 Cincinnati Reds 4, St. Louis Cardinals 1
Australia’s Rachael Gunn, known as B-Girl Raygun, competes in the breaking competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Aug. 9, 2024. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — When breaking, or breakdancing, made its debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the sport quickly had its breakout star, b-girl Raygun, a 36-year-old Australian college professor.
Raygun, whose birth name is Rachael Gunn, went viral after her performance Friday in Paris, where she took on b-girls in their late teens and early 20s with unique dance moves that quickly became the focus of memes and jokes on social media.
Gunn did not earn a medal in Paris, losing her three round-robin battles by a score of 54-0.
The online criticisms of Gunn’s performance led her to defend her skills, telling reporters that what she brought to her performance was “creativity.”
“I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best — their power moves,” Gunn said, according to ESPN. “What I bring is creativity.”
“All of my moves are original,” she continued. “Creativity is really important to me. I go out there, and I show my artistry. Sometimes it speaks to the judges, and sometimes it doesn’t. I do my thing, and it represents art. That is what it is about.”
On social media, some users dubbed one move by Gunn “the kangaroo,” while others compared her dance moves to when a child asks you to watch their performance.
“I’d like to personally thank Raygun for making millions of people worldwide think ‘huh, maybe I can make the Olympics too,'” one user wrote on X, alongside a photo of Raygun’s Olympic performance.
The online critiques of Gunn’s performance led Australia’s Chef de Mission, Anna Meares, to issue public support Saturday for her performance.
“I love Rachael, and I think that what has occurred on social media with trolls and keyboard warriors, and taking those comments and giving them airtime, has been really disappointing,” Meares said at a news conference, according to ESPN. “Raygun is an absolutely loved member of this Olympic team. She has represented the Olympic team, the Olympic spirit with great enthusiasm. And I absolutely love her courage. I love her character, and I feel very disappointed for her, that she has come under the attack that she has.”
On Sunday, the head judge of the breaking competition in Paris defended Gunn, while the head of the World DanceSport Federation said officials are looking out for her “mental safety” after the online criticism.
According to her Olympics biography, Gunn is a former jazz and ballroom dancer who entered the sport of breaking through her husband, Samuel, who had been breaking for the past decade.
Gunn started breaking in her mid-20s and went on to become the top-ranked b-girl in Australia in 2020 and 2021.
Last year, she won the QMS Oceania Championships in Sydney to earn Australia’s first-ever spot in the b-girl competition at the Olympics, according to her bio.
When not breaking, Gunn, who holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies, is a researcher and lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, where she studies the “the cultural politics of breaking,” according to her university biography.
As both a breaker and a researcher, Gunn told the podcast “The [Female] Athlete Project” that her bag, “always has two main things, my knee pads and my laptop.”
While in Paris, Gunn shared a photo of herself on Instagram in Team Australia’s uniform along with the caption, “Don’t be afraid to be different, go out there and represent yourself, you never know where that’s gonna take you.”
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