(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Miami 11, Toronto 0
NY Mets 11, Houston 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Detroit 6, Kansas City 4
Boston 9, Minnesota 3
Texas 5, Chi White Sox 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Francisco 7, San Diego 4 (10)
St. Louis 8, Washington 6
Chi Cubs 8, Pittsburgh 0
Cincinnati ,5 Colorado 4
Arizona 9, Milwaukee 1
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(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
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(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.
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(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.
“I am proud to go to Berlin,” said Akhrárova.
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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
LA Dodgers 5, Chi White Sox 4 (11)
Washington 4, Houston 1
Cleveland 8, San Diego 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore 4, Toronto 2
Tampa Bay 4, Oakland 3
Detroit 8, Minnesota 4
LA Angels 5, Texas 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Philadelphia 5, Arizona 4
Atlanta 8, Colorado 3
Chi Cubs 7, Pittsburgh 2
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Atlanta 92, Connecticut 88 (OT)
Indiana 92, Chicago 90
Las Vegas 96, Seattle 63
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(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.”
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(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
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Houston 1, Los Angeles FC 0
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(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
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(DENVER) — The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat Monday night to claim their first NBA title.
The 94-89 win came on Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic led the team with 28 points and was named the NBA Finals MVP.
Watch highlights from the game below:
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(NEW YORK) — Former NFL running back Peyton Hillis, who saved his son and niece from a rip current while swimming at a Florida beach earlier this year, says “it is 100% a miracle” no one died in the incident.
“It is 100% a miracle that somebody didn’t die,” Hillis told ABC News’ Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan in an exclusive interview, his first since the January accident off the coast of Pensacola.
On Jan. 4, Hillis, a father of three, was at the beach with his family when his niece and his son began drowning. Hillis quickly jumped into action, saving first his niece and then his son.
Hillis recounted the “scariest point” of the incident while speaking to Strahan, recalling his decision to rescue his 8-year-old niece Camille ahead of his 9-year-old son Orry.
“I think the scariest point … was when I’m swimming to my son and I have to pass by him because my niece is in more danger,” Hillis said. “I knew that I had to pass him up to get to Camille first. Because, you know, if I didn’t then there’s no way she would’ve made it.”
He added, “And so what happened … I swam past my son, and I got to Camille, and she starts freakin’ out, you know, ‘We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die.'”
The 37-year-old eventually made it back to shore with his son as well, but fell unconscious and began to experience lung and kidney failure. Emergency services arrived shortly after that, and Hillis was airlifted to Pensacola’s Baptist Hospital, where he was sedated and placed on a ventilator.
After about 10 days, Hillis regained consciousness and spent two weeks recovering in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Over the course of his seven seasons in the NFL, Hillis played for the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants, before retiring in 2015.
Tune into Good Morning America Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. ET to watch the exclusive interview.
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