Surfing, breakdancing win spots for Olympics in Paris
Breakdancing became an official Olympic sport on Monday.
The International Olympic Committee’s pursuit of urban events to lure a younger audience saw street dance battles officially added to the medal events program at the 2024 Paris Games.
Also confirmed for Paris by the IOC executive board were skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.
Those three sports will make their Olympic debuts at the Tokyo Games which were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic by one year to open on July 23, 2021. Alongside the additions, the IOC made subtractions: The slate of 329 medal events in Paris is 10 fewer than in Tokyo, and the athlete quota in 2024 of 10,500 is around 600 less than next year.
Two sports with troubled governing bodies — boxing and weightlifting — saw the biggest cuts to the number of athletes they can have in Paris.
The IOC stressed its future priorities for Paris, and beyond to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, by claiming it will hit a long-term target of equal participation by men and women athletes, and more urbanized events.
Breakdancing will be called breaking at the Olympics, as it was in the 1970s by hip-hop pioneers in the United States. In Paris, breaking has been given a prestige downtown venue, joining sport climbing and 3- on-3 basketball at Place de le Concorde.
Surfing will be held more than 9,000 miles away in the Pacific Ocean off the beaches of Tahiti, as the IOC already agreed in March.
NBA
LEAGUE TO DOLE OUT $900M TO BUOY TEAMS’ FINANCES >> The NBA is planning to dole out $30 million per team — $900 million total — to bolster each organization’s finances and aid with liquidity issues caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Sports Business Journal reported Monday.
The money was raised from notes issued by the NBA in the private placement market, per SBJ. The league will pay back the notes from “general collective league sources,” and it’s unclear what the interest rate is, per the report.
Each team should receive the funds this month ahead of the 202021 season and can spend it on any need within their organization, according to the report.
THREE MEMBERS OF RAPTORS TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 >> Three members of the Toronto Raptors have tested positive for COVID-19 during the league-mandated testing period prior to training camp, the NBA team reported. The Raptors did not identify the individuals but said all three are self-isolating away from the rest of the organization.
The Raptors, who arrived in Tampa, Florida, last week for training camp, will start the 2020-21 season playing homes games in the U.S. city because of travel restrictions the Canadian government has put in place stemming from the pandemic. SILAS: ‘NO TIMETABLE’ FOR HARDEN TO REPORT >> Houston Rockets coach Stephen Silas said there is “no timetable” for former NBA MVP James Harden to report to camp and join the team.
“He’s not here and he has a reason, but that’s on him to tell whoever what the reason is,” Silas told reporters.
Harden, 31, remained away from the team Sunday on the first day of camp due to what Silas called “NBA protocols” — COVID-19 testing and quarantine measures. But Harden was supposed to go through an individual workout later Sunday, which did not happen.
ESPN reported that Harden informed the team he would be reporting “soon,” leading to Monday’s comments by Silas.
“There is no timetable, as far as I know. It is a setback. You want your best player to be here,” Silas said.
Soccer
TORONTO FC’S POZUELO WINS LANDON DONOVAN MVP AWARD >> Toronto FC midfielder Alejandro Pozuelo has been named the recipient of the 2020 Landon Donovan MVP Award, Major League Soccer announced.
Pozuelo had a league high-tying 10 assists to go along with nine goals this season to help Toronto FC to a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference. His five game-winning goals led MLS.
The 29-year- old Spaniard edged Los Angeles FC’s Diego Rossi, Seattle’s Nico Lodeiro and Jordan Morris and Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake for the award.
College football
INAUGURAL LA BOWL POSTPONED UNTIL 2021 >> The LA Bowl will not play its inaugural game until 2021 after organizers announced that this year’s game was being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The scheduled Dec. 30 matchup at SoFi Stadium was supposed to pair the Mountain West champion with a team from the Pac-12.
The LA Bowl is the 11th bowl game to be postponed this year.
The postponement leaves the Mountain West with two bowl ties — the Famous Idaho Potato and Arizona bowls. The Pac-12 is down to a New Year’s Six game along with the Alamo, Independence and Armed Forces bowls.
OLE MISS AT NO. 5 TEXAS A&M POSTPONED >> Mississippi’s football game at No. 5 Texas A& M scheduled for Saturday has been postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the Rebels program.
FORMER TEXAS COACH FRED AKERS DIES AT 82 >> Fred Akers, who coached the Texas Longhorns football team for a decade, died Monday of complications from dementia, his wife Diane Akers told the Austin American-Statesman. He was 82.
As head coach at Texas, Akers amassed an 86-31-2 record in 10 seasons. His 86 wins rank third on the school’s all-time victory list behind Darrell Royal (167 wins) and Mack Brown (158). He coached the Longhorns’ first Heisman Trophy winner, Earl Campbell.
A native of Blytheville, Ark., Akers played football at the University of Arkansas. He coached at Texas high schools before Royal added him to Texas’ staff as an assistant in 1966.