Russians to compete under a neutral flag
The Russian Olympic Committee formally gave its blessing Tuesday for the country’s athletes to compete under a neutral flag at the upcoming Pyeongchang Games.
Under International Olympic Committee sanctions announced last week in response to Russian doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, Russians will compete under the Olympic flag as “Olympic Athletes from Russia.”
“The opinion of all taking part was united, and that was that our athletes need to go to South Korea, compete and win,” ROC president Alexander Zhukov said after the organization held a closed congress on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his backing last week.
Some Russians will formally be invited by the IOC to compete as individual athletes, though the ROC will submit rosters of its preferred teams.
“I think the IOC will make sure that the strongest Russian athletes get the invitations, so that, for example, our hockey team consists of the best players,” Zhukov said, adding that 200 athletes could end up competing in South Korea.
Boxing
FURY FREE TO FIGHT AGAIN >> The heavyweight division just got even more interesting.
Only a few minutes had passed after the news broke that Tyson Fury was free to box again, following his long-running dispute with Britain’s anti-doping agency, when the man himself took to Twitter.
“Guess who’s back?” Fury tweeted.
Next to those words was a video of him grooving to tunes inside a car.
It was a novel way for someone to react to being found guilty of a doping offense. Then again, Fury is one of a kind.
And that’s what makes his imminent return to the ring subject to him regaining his boxing license all the more exciting.
The heavyweight scene has been revived since Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 to win the WBA, IBF, and WBO belts.
Now, the division boasts a new breed of fighters, champions from three different continents in Britain’s Anthony Joshua (WBA and IBF), American Deontay Wilder (WBC) and New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (WBO).
This and that
• A visit by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to New York’s Rikers Island jail facility has drawn a rebuke from the union representing city correction officers.
The head of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association tells the Daily News that Kaepernick’s presence at Rikers on Tuesday encouraged inmates to attack jail guards. Union leaders noted Kaepernick has worn socks depicting police as little cartoon pigs.
Department of Correction spokesman Peter Thorne says the purpose of Kaepernick’s visit was to “share a message of hope and inspiration.”
• Two-time former champion Victoria Azarenka has been awarded a wild card for the Australian Open.
Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, has been involved in a custody dispute involving her son Leo, who was born last Dec. 19.
She hasn’t competed anywhere since Wimbledon, where she lost to Simona Halep in the fourth round on July 10. The dispute with her former partner started shortly after Wimbledon ended.