(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
LA Dodgers 2, LA Angels 0
Toronto 2, Miami 0
Houston 4, NY Mets 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City 1, Detroit 0
NY Yankees 3, Seattle 1
Baltimore 8, Tampa Bay 6
Cleveland 3, Oakland 2
Boston 10, Minnesota 4
Chi White Sox 7, Texas 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Francisco 4, San Diego 3
Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 2
Chi Cubs 4, Pittsburgh 0
St. Louis 9, Washington 3
Cincinnati 8, Colorado 6
Milwaukee 7, Arizona 5
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Connecticut 85, Seattle 79
Minnesota 67, Los Angeles 61
Dallas 85, Atlanta 73
(NEW YORK) — Chris Paul made major NBA headlines on Sunday as part of a reported blockbuster trade between the Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards that includes him and Landry Shamet for Bradley Beal, according to ESPN.
The 12-time NBA All-Star told ABC News’ Good Morning America he was en route to New York City when he got the call about the trade.
“I was surprised, too,” Paul said with a laugh Monday on GMA. “I found out on the plane yesterday flying here. In this league anything can happen, so you just figure out what’s next.”
Three years before he was selected as the No. 4 NBA Draft pick by the New Orleans Hornets in 2005, Paul, then a high school senior, put up some impressive and meaningful points during a high school basketball game in honor of his grandfather Nathaniel “Papa” Jones — lovingly referred to as Papa Chilly — who was killed during a robbery attack at 61 years old.
“It was unbelievable. My grandfather was my best friend. I lost my grandmother when I was 7 to lung cancer, and when you have a best friend like that, it’s everything,” Paul said. “The way he was taken from me, and to score 61 points the day after his funeral, and actually come here [to ‘GMA’] right after — that was the first time I ever did some type of national interview — I was so nervous. I remember I had water and I was shaking. It’s crazy how life has come full circle.”
The two-time Olympian recently penned a new book, Sixty-One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court, dedicated to his late grandfather, who helped raise him and shaped Paul as both a person and a player, he said.
“My grandfather taught me everything. He taught me discipline, taught me about hard work. He had the first Black-owned service station in North Carolina, so I used to change tires, check oil, do all these different things. He just always showed me and my brother the work, right? Regardless what happens, the results, it’s just all about the work,” Paul said.
The 38-year-old future hall of famer was putting in work long before his NBA days and said he’d actually “like to say ‘thank you'” to his high school varsity basketball coach, “because sometimes you can be given things just a little bit too early and it humbled me.”
“I practiced with JV and varsity every day. On JV, I got a chance to hone my confidence, to really build myself up. Then my junior year I was ready. So, Coach Layton, I appreciate you, know that,” he said.
The father of two, who has a 14-year-old son who’s currently at basketball summer camp and 10-year-old daughter who just got into basketball, added, “You just understand so much in life when you have kids — they are everything.”
Paul has also honed his leadership off the court: Last year, President Biden appointed him to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, under the U.S. Department of Education.
“I’m born and raised in Winston Salem, North Carolina, so I grew up around a lot of different HBCUs — I actually graduated from Winston Salem State University back in December,” he said. “And it’s just been really cool for me because as a kid, you only know what you know. So, when I started growing up and learning why HBCU’s are so important and why they are underfunded, I wanted to try to help as much as I could.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Baltimore 6, Chi Cubs 3
Cincinnati 9, Houston 7
Philadelphia 3, Oakland 2
San Diego 5, Tampa Bay 4
Cleveland 12 Arizona 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Boston 6, NY Yankees 2
Boston 4, NY Yankees 1
LA. Angels 5, Kansas City 2
Final Detroit 6 Minnesota 4
Texas 11, Toronto 7
Seattle 5, Chi White Sox 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami 4, Washington 2
Atlanta 14, Colorado 6
Milwaukee 5, Pittsburgh 2
St. Louis 8, NY Mets 7
San Francisco 7, LA Dodgers 3
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
New York 89, Phoenix 71
Washington 77, Chicago 69
Atlanta 100, Indiana 94
Connecticut 83, Los Angeles 74
Las Vegas 93, Minnesota 62
(NEW YORK) — The Olympic torch was lit in Athens and arrived in Berlin for the nation’s first-ever hosting of the Special Olympics World Games where exceptional, inspiring athletes and volunteers have gathered from all over the world to go for gold.
ABC News’ Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts traveled to Germany, ahead of Saturday’s opening ceremony, where nearly 7,000 competitors representing 190 countries for 26 sports have come together to show off their skills.
Special Olympics legend and Chief Inspiration Officer Loretta Claiborne from York, Pennsylvania, trained hard to compete on the global stage.
“Forget being on top of the world. I was up on the moon. I was in the galaxy,” she told Good Morning America of the moment she got the call for the games. “I didn’t think they would choose somebody my age.”
Claiborne, who was born partially blind and unable to walk or talk until age 4, defied the odds as an accomplished runner and has found great purpose through movement. Berlin will mark her ninth World Games and her first competing in tennis.
“I was told I wasn’t going to make it this long in my life,” she said adding, “I think sport has a lot to do with it — mentally and physically.”
She continued, “I’m going to be 70 years old — but I’m going to give it my all whether I win the match or whether I lose. I’ve already won with the opportunity to be able to play.”
Other athletes representing the red, white and blue include The City Hawks, a unified soccer team from New York City.
Joe Stewart, the team’s assistant coach, told GMA, “We want to show that people with intellectual disabilities deserve to play sports that they love side by side with their peers without intellectual disabilities and they’re capable of doing so.”
Unified sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team with a mission of social inclusion.
‘When you watch the City Hawks play, you just see soccer players on the field,” Stewart said. “Everybody has a role, everybody contributes.”
Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics International Board of Directors, and Claiborne joined Roberts live on Good Morning America Friday morning ahead of the games to discuss what it’s like being in a city known for breaking down walls and overcoming borders for this incredible event.
Claiborne, USA Today’s Woman of the Year and a recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award from ESPN, has been part of the Special Olympics since 1970 and is again sharing her passion with more athletes.
“You are who you are, but you can be the best of who you are. That’s what I would tell a young [Loretta] today,” she said. “It’s not how much you have, it’s what you have and how you use it.”
Claiborne said she wants to continue helping people with intellectual and physical disabilities succeed and advises them to, “find an opportunity and seize it, be the best you can be, and never let anyone doubt you.”
Having previously competed as a runner and a figure skater, she is tackling a new event at nearly 70 years old with tennis.
She shared her motto that has kept her going and fired up through the years of athletic accomplishment: “God is my strength, Special Olympics is my joy. That’s what I have on my cross that I always wear — because you can’t do [anything] without God and my joy is Special Olympics.”
Claiborne also shared an example when she fell down and thought, “Faith is taking the first step even though you don’t see the whole staircase — I didn’t see that whole staircase [when I fell], but I had faith to get up and keep doing it.”
The global event was founded by Shriver’s mother, Eunice Shriver Kennedy. Its mission of inclusion, embracing those with a different story and of celebration, has a message for everyone.
“In the world, most of us see through hierarchies,” he said, citing categories like intelligence or wealth. “It’s a big cancer in human life. It invariably leads us to miss what’s going on beneath the surface. My mom saw beyond the appearance, beyond the label, beyond the stigma. That came from her sister. She grew up loving someone that the world didn’t. If you grow up that way, you have to learn how to see beyond what the world sees. You have to learn that the judgments of the world are not true, that they’re a distortion.”
The Special Olympics will run from June 17 through June 25 in Berlin.
(NEW YORK) — As the war rages around them, the Ukrainian Special Olympics team is showcasing their indomitable spirit, staying incredibly focused on the opportunity to compete at the 2023 Special Olympics World Games in Berlin.
ABC News’ partner, ESPN, was given exclusive access to the team as they trained for the big event.
“This is not a normal situation when the training takes place during the war,” said Oleksándr Redozúbov, a gymnastics coach.
The athletes trained in complete darkness with the use of flashlights, practiced routines over Zoom, and even ran drills in bomb shelters during air raids.
“When the air raids begins, everything is buzzing, planes are flying, I immediately run into the corridor. I sit and wait for it to end,” said gymnast Mariánna Akhrárova.
This week, the Ukrainian athletes loaded up on buses to make the over 15-hour drive out of Ukraine, through Poland, and into Germany.
While it’s been over a year since Russia invaded their home country, the war has never dimmed the athlete’s spirits. Now, the team is ready to not only bring home a medal but to represent Ukraine.
(NEW YORK) — A 24-year-old United States Olympic athlete who competed in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games has died after being involved in a motorcycle accident, police say.
Authorities have not released any details about the incident Patrick Gasienica was involved in other than to say the accident happened on Monday night in the village of Bull Valley, located in Chicago’s far northwestern suburbs, according to the Bull Valley Police Department. USA Nordic, the official body of American Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined, confirmed in a statement that the athlete had passed away at the age of 24.
Gasienica, a U.S. ski jumping athlete who was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and trained as a ski jumper at the Norge Ski Club about 40 miles northwest of Chicago, made his FIS Ski Jumping debut in 2015 and subsequently represented the United States at two FIS Junior World Ski Championships in 2016 and 2017 as well as the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships before going to Beijing to compete in the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing off Patrick Gasienica, an incredible athlete, teammate and person,” read a tweet from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team. “Sending love to his family, friends and the entire ski jumping community.”
Gasienica finished 49th and 53rd in individual events in Beijing last year and finished in 10th place in a team competition alongside fellow teammates Casey Larson, Kevin Bickner and Decker Dean.
Said USA Nordic: “Patrick was an incredible competitor, teammate and friend. He will be dearly missed.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Chi White Sox 8, LA Dodgers 4
Minnesota 4, Milwaukee 2
Atlanta 10, Detroit 7
Atlanta 6, Detroit 5
Boston 6, Colorado 3
NY Mets 4, NY Yankees 3 (10)
Houston 5, Washington 4
Cincinnati 7, Kansas City 4
San Diego 5, Cleveland 0
Miami 4, Seattle 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Toronto 3, Baltimore 1
Texas 6, LA Angels 3
Tampa Bay 6, Oakland 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Francisco 8, St. Louis 5
Chi Cubs 10, Pittsburgh 6
Philadelphia 4, Arizona 3
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Los Angeles 79, Dallas 61
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Colorado 7, Boston 6
NY Yankees 7, NY Mets 6
Minnesota 7, Milwaukee 5
Cincinnati 5, Kansas City 4
Houston 6, Washington 1
San Diego 6, Cleveland 3
Seattle 9, Miami 3
LA Dodgers 5, Chi White Sox 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore 11, Toronto 6
LA Angels 7, Texas 3
Oakland 2, Tampa Bay 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Francisco 11, St. Louis 3
Chi Cubs 11, Pittsburgh 3
Philadelphia 15, Arizona 3
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Vegas 9, Florida 3 (Vegas wins 4-1)
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Indiana 87, Washington 66
Atlanta 86, New York 79
Seattle 83, Phoenix 69
