Olympics
South Sudan almost upstage US in Olympic Games basketball warm-up match
It was unthinkable that a team full of National Basketball Association (NBA) stars could lose to an unheralded African side, but coach Steve Kerr has warned that anything is possible if they do not play at their best.
South Sudan’s basketball team nearly delivered a stunning upset to a United States line-up of big-name players on July 20, before narrowly losing 101-100 in a Paris Olympics warm-up game in London.
LeBron James, 39 and the all-time NBA scoring leader, registered a game-high 25 points for the Americans which included the deciding points on a driving layup with eight seconds remaining at the O2 Arena.
Their East African opponents, who led 58-44 at half-time, took a late lead after an 8-0 scoring run and were poised to pull off one of the greatest shocks in international basketball before the Los Angeles Lakers star saved the day.
“The ending was good for us – just to feel that, to feel what it’s going to feel like in Paris,” Kerr said.
“Good experience for us. Good reminder that when we play against teams like that, it’s the biggest experience of their lives and we have to expect everyone to play like that.
“If we don’t play the right way and don’t come with the right energy and focus, we can be beat, no matter who we play. But we have that gear and if we can find it, we can overwhelm teams. It was a great reminder of two things – that, and if we don’t play our best, we can get beat.”J.T. Thor, who has played for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets for the past three seasons, sank a three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining to put South Sudan into a 100-99 lead.
After James made the winning shot, the Africans had one final possession but Carlik Jones missed a jumper with six seconds left and Wenyen Gabriel missed on two put-back attempts before the final buzzer.
“South Sudan was amazing,” Kerr added. “I did not do a great job of preparing my team. We did not focus enough on what they are capable of and that’s on me.
“I think that really allowed South Sudan to gain confidence early. Once we turned it up in the second half, they had already knocked down a bunch of threes and were feeling really good about themselves.”
Besides his winning basket, James also sparked a 23-5 US run from late in the third quarter to early in the fourth.
“We have to continue to take a step forward,” said the two-time Olympic champion and four-time NBA champion.
“A lot of these teams that we’re playing have been practising either one month or months in advance and we have maybe just two weeks together. So every game, every film session, we get an opportunity. We have to try to make the most of it, not taking any steps back.”
Cameroon-born Joel Embiid, who became a US citizen in 2022, added 14 points and seven rebounds for the US, while Anthony Davis came off the bench to produce 15 points and 11 rebounds.
“We’re not 100 per cent together, as we saw tonight. But it’s like I said, everything is controllable,” Davis said.
For South Sudan, ranked 33rd in the world, Marial Shayok scored 24 points, Jones added 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists and Thor had 14 points off the bench.
Shayok plays in China and briefly played alongside Embiid with the Philadelphia 76ers while Jones plays for perennial Serbian power Partizan.
The Americans will face South Sudan again in the Olympics group stage on July 31 at Lille.
–AFP
Athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Games have raced through their free condom supply ahead of Valentine’s Day, leaving dispensers empty on Saturday, with more than a week of competition remaining.
According to a report by Reuters, organisers had distributed around 10,000 condoms across the city and mountain accommodation sites, continuing a long-standing Olympic tradition aimed at promoting safe relationships among competitors living in close quarters.
By Saturday, however, supplies had run out — adding Milan to a growing list of Olympic hosts where demand has comfortably exceeded expectations.
“Clearly, this shows Valentine’s Day is in full swing at the village,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a press conference. “Ten thousand have been used — 2,800 athletes — you can go figure, as they say.”
Adams added with a smile: “It is rule 62 of the Olympic Charter that we have to have a condoms story. Faster, higher, stronger, together.”
Milano Cortina organisers later acknowledged that stocks had been depleted due to “higher-than-anticipated demand,” but assured that additional supplies were already on the way.
“Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all Villages between today and Monday,” organisers said in a statement. “They will be continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.”
The unexpected shortage also surprised some athletes.
Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo said he had only just heard about the situation. “I just saw that this morning. I was, like, shocked as everyone else,” he said.
Mialitiana Clerc, an alpine skier representing Madagascar, noted that boxes once placed at building entrances were quickly emptied.
“There were a lot of boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying, and every day, everything had gone from the boxes,” Clerc said. “I already know that a lot of people are using condoms, or giving them to their friends outside of the Olympics, because it’s a kind of gift for them.”
While medals remain the official measure of achievement at the Games, the empty dispensers suggest that the social side of the Olympics is also proceeding at full pace.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday awarded a top state honour to an Olympic skeleton racer who was disqualified from the Winter Games for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, speaking to Vladyslav Heraskevych on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, said he had great respect for “all the Olympians who supported you and your position.”
“Medals are important for Ukraine and for you, but it seems to me that the most important thing is who you are,” Zelenskiy said while presenting the racer with the Order of Freedom.
Heraskevych told the president the award was “huge” and that the athletes depicted on the helmet “deserve it even more. Because of their sacrifice, we can compete in the Olympics.”
Heraskevych, 27, was disqualified at the Winter Games in Italy on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that the helmet’s depiction of athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 breached rules on political neutrality.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his appeal on Friday.
Heraskevych told reporters after the award ceremony that his disqualification was discriminatory as he had not violated the Olympic Charter, a document he said he “really valued.”
“But at the same time, I understand that this scandal has united people around the world about our problem and about the sacrifice of these great athletes, and I believe this goal is much more important than any medal,” he said.
Speaking before the CAS hearing earlier in the day, Heraskevych said his exclusion and rules imposed by the International Olympic Committee were “an instrument of propaganda for Russia. I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”
-Reuters
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Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Thursday over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee said.
He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue.
His team said they would appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Coventry told reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.
“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry told reporters.
“No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.
“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution” she added, choking up.
“I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”
The IOC offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.
“I am disqualified from the race. I will not get my Olympic moment,” said Heraskevych.
The skeleton competition starts later on Thursday.
-Reuters
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