(NEW YORK) — Suni Lee is wrapping up her college gymnastics career early in order to shift her focus to a health issue, she announced Monday.
“I have been dealing with a non-gymnastics health-related issue involving my kidneys. For my safety, the medical team did not clear me to train and compete over the last few weeks,” the Olympian shared on Instagram and Twitter. “I am blessed and thankful to be working with the best specialized medical team to treat and manage my diagnosis. My focus at this time is my health and recovery.”
Lee did not specify what kind of kidney issue or condition she has.
The Auburn University sophomore first announced that she would be ending her collegiate career ahead of time last November, when she revealed she was planning to return to professional gymnastics in the hopes of competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Paris next year.
“As an athlete that has competed at the highest level, on the world’s biggest stage, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience that once-in-a-lifetime feeling and the indescribable emotion when a gold medal is draped around your neck. But I don’t want it to just be once in a lifetime,” the 20-year-old wrote at the time.
Lee has been competing for Auburn’s women’s gymnastics team, the Auburn Tigers, since fall 2021 after she returned with three Olympic medals – a gold, silver and bronze medal – from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which were held in 2021 following a yearlong delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In her Monday announcement, Lee thanked her school and said she felt “forever grateful” for her community.
“I am so proud of my team and the way they showed determination and resilience this season. Auburn, thank you for the best 2 years of my life and for giving me the opportunity to make history alongside this amazing group. I am forever grateful for this community,” Lee wrote.
She added, “It’s been challenging to end my Auburn career early, but I am thankful for all of the love & support. I will not stop pursuing my dreams for a bid to Paris in 2024. In fact, this experience has sharpened my vision for the future.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
NY Yankees 6, San Francisco 0
St. Louis 9, Toronto 4
Texas 2, Philadelphia 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 5, Detroit 1
Boston ,9 Baltimore 5
Minnesota 7, Kansas City 4
Chicago White Sox 6, Houston 3
LA Angels 6, Oakland 0
Cleveland 6, Seattle 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington 4, Atlanta 1
Cincinnati 3, Pittsburgh 1
NY Mets 5, Miami 1
Milwaukee 9, Chicago Cubs 5
San Diego 3, Colorado 1
Arizona 2, LA Dodgers 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Toronto 128, Charlotte 108
Chicago 128, Memphis 107
Portland 107, Minnesota 105
Brooklyn 111, Utah 110
New York 118, Washington 109
San Antonio 142, Sacramento 134 (OT)
Atlanta 132, Dallas 130 (OT)
Orlando 128, Detroit 102
LA Lakers 134, Houston 109
Phoenix 128, Oklahoma City 118
Milwaukee 117, Philadelphia 104
Cleveland 115, Indiana 105
Denver 112, Golden State 110
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
NY Rangers 5, Washington 2
Boston 4, St. Louis 3 (SO)
Columbus 4, Ottawa 3 (OT)
Carolina 2, NY Islanders 1
Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 2
Winnipeg 6, New Jersey 1
Detroit 5, Toronto 2
Los Angeles 4, Vancouver 1
Calgary 5, Anaheim 4
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
NY Yankees 5, San Francisco 0
Texas 11, Philadelphia 7
Toronto 10, St. Louis 9
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Oakland 2, LA Angels 1
Baltimore 10, Boston 9
Tampa Bay, 4 Detroit 0
Minnesota 2, Kansas City 0
Chi White Sox 3, Houston 2
Final Seattle 3 Cleveland 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
LA Dodgers 8, Arizona 2
Final Atlanta 7, Washington 2
Chi Cubs 4, Milwaukee 0
NY Mets 5, Miami 3
Pittsburgh 5, Cincinnati 4
Colorado 7, San Diego 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Boston 140, Milwaukee 99
New Orleans 107, Denver 88
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
San Jose 4, Vegas 3 (OT)
Florida 5, Montreal 2
Pittsburgh 2, Nashville 0
New Jersey 2, NY Rangers 1
Tampa Bay 5, Washington 1
Boston 2, Columbus 1 (OT)
Ottawa 5, Philadelphia 4 (OT)
Detroit 3, Carolina 2
St. Louis 5, Chicago 3
Edmonton 2, Los Angeles 0
Seattle 4, Anaheim 1
Ashan Singh, John Kapetaneas, Stephanie Fasano, Jaclyn Skurie, and Ivan Pereira, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Student-athletes across the country are cashing in on their talents through ads, social media posts and other media, thanks to a 2021 Supreme Court decision.
Now some athletes have found a place in the spotlight through business agreements related to their “name, image and likeness,” known as NIL deals.
Hanna and Haley Cavinder, twin sisters who play for the University of Miami’s basketball team, reportedly pull in more than $1.6 million a year combined due to their sponsorships, according to On3, which tracks NIL deals among student-athletes.
“Impact x Nightline” takes a look at the debate over this trend among student-athletes in an episode now streaming on Hulu.
“We’re Champs athletes, and then we have WWE,” Haley Cavinder told “Impact x Nightline’s” Ashan Singh.
“And then, we have LifeWallet, Cigarette Racing,” Hanna Cavinder added.
“Then we also have a company called Baseline, which is college streetwear. We have equity in that,” Haley Cavinder said.
But as more young athletes continue to collect on their names and likenesses, some sports experts and coaches question if the trend is moving too fast.
“I think high school athletes, or even college athletes who want to monetize their NIL, need to understand that just highlighting your sport and those, like, action shots of you on field isn’t going to be enough,” Kristi Dosh, a sports attorney and founder of Business of College Sports, told “Impact.”
A key component that has set apart NILs from other sports earnings is the idea that the athletes still remain unpaid by their schools, but they are able to earn money on their popularity outside of games. This includes advertisements, sponsorships and promoted social media posts.
ESPN’s Ryan Smith told “Impact” that NIL sponsorship offers can come in all shapes and sizes — from local car dealerships to major corporations. In some cases, the athletes can make the brand deals themselves, according to Smith.
“When the Supreme Court handed down that decision, it changed everything,” he told “Impact.” “What it is…the student athletes, being able to go out and say, ‘Hey. I’m willing to lend my name to this particular product, and you can sell it, and you pay me for that.'”
The Cavinder twins already had a large following on TikTok prior to the Supreme Court decision and they said they decided to jump on the NIL bandwagon.
“We heard about NIL eventually being a thing. Maybe we could take advantage of the opportunity,” Hanna Cavinder said.
The twins scored a major partnership with Boost Mobile and soon other companies wanted to tap into their social media star power.
Another component of NILs is “NIL collectives,” which are usually founded by wealthy donors who are alumni and super fans who pool money together to give benefits to college athletes coming to the university they champion.
Billionaire lawyer, businessman and University of Miami alum John Ruiz has signed deals with the Cavinder twins through his companies, LifeWallet and Cigarette Racing. He dismissed critics who argued that businesses like his are buying athletes and brushed off concerns that the deals put too much pressure on them.
“That’s what life is about, right? You’re not going to have Mommy and Daddy there around you when you have to deal with real life. So you have to, you know, become a big boy or big girl real quick,” Ruiz told “Impact.”
Weeks after their interview with “Impact,” the first punishment of the NIL era was handed down to the University of Miami centered around an alleged dinner between Ruiz and the Cavinder twins when the twins were transfer prospects.
Such a meeting with someone the NCAA deems a booster prior to a student athlete’s acceptance to a school violates the association’s rules.
In February, the NCAA issued sanctions on the school’s women’s basketball program for its recruitment of the twins, claiming Ruiz provided an impermissible meal. No sanctions were imposed on the Cavinders or Ruiz.
At the time, a photograph, tweeted by Ruiz, showed the twins and their parents at Ruiz’s home prior to their commitment to the university.
The University of Miami’s women’s basketball Coach Katie Meier was suspended for three games during the NCAA investigation, which said Meier inadvertently facilitated the meeting.
Meier released a statement saying, “collegiate athletics is in transformation, and any inadvertent mistake I made was prior to a full understanding of implemented guardrails and the clarification issued by the NCAA in May.”
Ruiz told ABC News in a statement that the twins didn’t have an impermissible meal at his home and that any meal took place after the twins transferred to the school.
“The facts contained in the NCAA’s findings were incorrect in several ways,” he said in a statement. “Coach Meier did nothing more than express her excitement about the fact the twins were coming to Miami. No one ever attempted to entice the Cavinders into attending UM.”
A representative for the Cavinders told ABC News “the twins were found to have done nothing wrong” and they did not want to comment on other’s infractions.
Dosh, a former ESPN analyst, said there is even more debate about the use of NIL deals at the high school level.
“Now we have more than half of the states that have changed their rules at their state high school athletic association to allow NIL,” she said.
Bronx teen Johnuel “Boogie” Fland, who plays basketball for Archbishop Stepinac, a private school in White Plains, Westchester County, became one of the first New York City high school athletes to receive a NIL deal.
Fland said he couldn’t tell “Impact” how much he’s raked in with his sponsorships, but said he estimated it was “six figures.”
“It changed my family. It changed the way we looked at things, you know?” he told “Impact.” “Being from the Bronx, we aren’t that wealthy, it definitely changed my life.”
The landscape for NIL has potentially changed financial outcomes for some student-athletes and families, some of whom may have may come from lower income communities, according to a 2020 study by the Hope Center at Temple University.
Researchers found that nearly 14% of Division 1 athletes had experienced homelessness in the previous year… and nearly a quarter were food insecure in the prior 30 days.
Al Crosby, who has been coaching high school football in Philadelphia for 20 years, told “Impact” he has had players come from low-income households and acknowledged that they are looking for ways to help their families.
However, he said he was concerned that NIL deals may cause issues for athletes from inner city neighborhoods. Crosby noted that a lot of inner-city student-athletes are already targets of violence and harassment.
“All of a sudden this guy gets this deal, this NIL deal, that says, ‘You got a NIL deal for $500,000.’ Well, now, all of a sudden, he’s not only a target, but he’s got a price tag with him, too,” Crosby told “Impact.”
Crosby maintains that proper management and education is needed for high school athletes to thrive in the NIL era.
On Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing about NILs, the first in more than two years. Up for discussion was a potential federal NIL law that would provide clarity and transparency for athletes.
“In short, we must strike a delicate balance between the rights of college athletes to profit from their own NIL while keeping the amateur status for all college athletes,” Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), the subcommittee’s chairman said.
ABC News’ Kevin Rochford and Kyle Rollins contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Milwaukee 149, Indiana 136
New York 101, Miami 92
Brooklyn 123, Houston 114
Philadelphia 116, Dallas 108
LA Lakers 121, Chicago 110
LA Clippers 141, Memphis 132
Oklahoma City 107, Detroit 106
Sacramento 120, Portland 80
Utah 128, San Antonio 117
Phoenix 107, Minnesota 100
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Minnesota 4, Colorado 2
NY Islanders 2, Washington 1 (SO)
Florida 3, Toronto 2 (OT)
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SPRING TRAINING
INTERLEAGUE
Washington 3, NY Yankees 0
Philadelphia 6, Toronto 5
Minnesota 7, Pittsburgh 5
Atlanta 7, Boston 5
Chi Cubs 8, Chi White Sox 5
Arizona 3, Cleveland 1
LA Angels 13, LA Dodgers 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Texas 5, Kansas City 3
Houston 5, Sugar Land 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Milwaukee 8, Colorado 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Golden State 120, New Orleans 109
Washington 130, Boston 111
Toronto 106, Miami 92
Atlanta 120, Cleveland 118
Memphis 113, Orlando 108
Charlotte 137, Oklahoma City 134
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Edmonton 7, Vegas 4
San Jose 3, Winnipeg 0
Philadelphia 3, Montreal 2
NY Rangers 6, Columbus 2
Tampa Bay 4, Carolina 0
Nashville 2, Boston 1
Detroit 7, Pittsburgh 4
St. Louis 6, Vancouver 5 (OT)
Dallas 4, Chicago 1
Calgary 2, Los Angeles 1
(NEW YORK) — America’s pastime will look slightly different this season with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred saying fans are the reason the sport is working to evolve the action of the game.
“What underlies the rule changes is you want a game that moves along, has a lot of action and is entertaining for people,” Manfred told ABC News’ Good Morning America Tuesday about the changes to the sport. “Our research showed that the game had evolved and changed in a way that fans didn’t like and we decided it was time to intervene to make sure we put the best form of baseball on the field.”
In an effort to make baseball games more fast-paced, one of the new rules by MLB for the 2023 season is putting pitchers on the clock. When the bases are empty, a pitcher will have 15 seconds to start their throwing motion and 20 seconds if there are runners on base. Previously, they could take their time on the mound with no pressure to throw the pitch by a certain time.
Manfred explained that despite the addition of a pitch timer, baseball is “still a game with no clock in the sense that the end of the game isn’t determined by any timing. The game ends naturally just like it always has and I see the pitch timer as a small change to move things along.”
“I think fans will notice that the game has a brisk pace to it and the games will be shorter,” he said.
Shaving off those seconds has already resulted in quicker games — on average, spring training games were played 25 minutes faster in 2023.
The league is also outlawing defensive shifts — a trend that has increased dramatically in recent years — to yield more offense. Two infielders must stay on either side of second base and all four need to have both feet in the dirt before the pitch.
According to MLB, “shift restrictions increased batting average and decreased strikeouts in Minors while giving players more opportunity to show off their athleticism.”
“The attention span of fans we know is limited,” Manfred explained. “The game historically was played in a window — 2 1/2 [hours] to 2:45 — and in a lot of ways we’re restoring baseball to when it was the most popular.”
A third major rule change sees the size of the bases getting bigger, from 15 square inches to 18. The larger bags at first, second and third base are expected to have a positive impact on player safety as well as reduce the distance of the base path. It will be 3 inches shorter from home base to first and third to home, while the path from first to second and second to third was reduced by 4.5 inches.
This slightly shorter base paths could also lead to more stolen bases.
“Nothing stays in exactly the same form,” Manfred told critics of the changes. “And the fact of the matter is the game had evolved naturally and has changed dramatically and it got to the point where it was important to intervene and make sure that we were putting the best product on the field.”
Overall, he said MLB wants to maintain “the atmosphere in our ballparks” and said that their “live product is a family-friendly product … our clubs price in a way that encourages families to come to the ballpark.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SPRING TRAINING
INTERLEAGUE
Chi White Sox 6, Chi Cubs 6
LA Angels 5, LA Dodgers 4
Arizona 7, Cleveland 6
Oakland 12, San Francisco 6
Atlanta 6, Boston 1
St. Louis 8, Baltimore 2
Philadelphia 5, Toronto 2
San Diego 4, Seattle 2
Minnesota 8, Pittsburgh 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City 4, Texas 4
Houston 3, Sugar Land 1
NY Yankees 8, Tampa Bay 4
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Colorado 12, Milwaukee 8
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Dallas 127, Indiana 104
Milwaukee 126, Detroit 117
New York 137, Houston 115
Phoenix 117, Utah 103
Denver 116, Philadelphia 111
Minnesota 119, Sacramento 115
New Orleans 124, Portland 90
LA Clippers 124, Chicago 112
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Ottawa 5, Florida 2
Montreal 4, Buffalo 3
NY Islanders 5, New Jersey 1
Minnesota 5, Seattle 1
Colorado 5, Anaheim 1
Edmonton 5, Arizona 4
After this past weekend’s match-ups, we now know which teams make up the Final Four in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament: San Diego State, University of Connecticut, Florida Atlantic University and University of Miami.
The semifinals in the competition will tip off on Saturday, April 1, with the Florida Atlantic Owls facing off against the San Diego State Aztecs, and the Miami Hurricanes duking it out with the Connecticut Huskies for a spot in the final.
The final game in the tournament will then be held on Monday, April 3, when a new champion will be crowned. The No. 1 seed defending champion Kansas Jayhawks were eliminated earlier in the competition.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SPRING TRAINING
INTERLEAGUE
Houston 24, St. Louis 1
Baltimore 4, Philadelphia 2
Chi Cubs 5, Kansas City 0
Colorado 4, Chi White Sox 2
Cleveland 3, Cincinnati 2
Final San Francisco 9, Oakland 5
LA Dodgers 3, LA Angels 0
Seattle 5, San Diego 5 (Tie)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 6, Toronto 2
Minnesota 7, Boston 2
Detroit 11, Tampa Bay 10
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta 8, Pittsburgh 1
Cincinnati 7, Colorado 5
Washington 2, Miami 2 (Tie)
Arizona 4, Milwaukee 4
Miami 3, N.Y. Mets 3 (Tie)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Charlotte 110, Dallas 104
Chicago 118, LA Lakers 108
Boston 137, San Antonio 93
Toronto 114, Washington 104
Cleveland 108, Houston 91
Orlando 119, Brooklyn 106
Memphis 123, Atlanta 119
Oklahoma City 118, Portland 112
Minnesota 99, Golden State 96
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Los Angeles 7, St. Louis 6
Colorado 4, Arizona 3 (SO)
Boston 4 Carolina 3 (SO)
Toronto 3, Nashville 2
Vancouver 4, Chicago 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Miami 88, Texas 81
San Diego St. 57, Creighton 56
