White apologizes for comments on lawsuit
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Snowboarder Shaun White has apologized after referring to a sexual misconduct lawsuit filed against him in 2016 as “gossip” during a news conference following his historic gold medal in the men’s halfpipe.
White issued the apology on NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday. He said he used “a poor choice of words to describe such a sensitive subject” and he’s “truly sorry.”
The snowboarder’s postgold news conference got contentious when reporters questioned him about the lawsuit. Lena Zawaideh, a former drummer in his band, claimed in the lawsuit White sexually harassed her, forced her to watch pornography and refused to pay her after she was fired. The suit was settled last spring.
White was asked if the allegations might tarnish his reputation.
“I’m here to talk about the Olympics, not gossip and stuff,” he said. “I don’t think so.”
Reporters attempted to follow up Randi Heesoo Griffin about the scored at 9:31 of the second lawsuit, but period on the Koreans’ 33rd U.S. Snowboarding shot of the Olympics in their third game. She grew and Freeskiing up in Cary, North Carolina, event director and her mother is from Nick Alexakos shut South Korea. them down. Griffin was set up for the goal by Marissa Brandt, who now lives in a suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota and who is playing for the country where she was born. Her birth name is Park Yoonjung, the name she uses on the back of her Korean team jersey.
U.S., RUSSIA LOSE IN HOCKEY OPENERS
Jan Mursak scored the tying goal in the final minutes of regulation and the winner in overtime as Slovenia came back to stun the United States 3-2.
Mursak, Slovenia’s only player with NHL experience, scored with goaltender Gasper Kroselj pulled for the extra attacker with 1:37 left in the third period and scored the winner 38 seconds into overtime.
It wasn’t the only surprise of the night, though the U.S., like all the other teams, is playing without NHL players for the first time since 1994. Across town, the favored Russians opened Olympic play with a 3-2 loss to Slovakia.
ON THE BOARD
The joint Korean women’s hockey team finally scored its first goal of the Olympics, courtesy of a pair of Americans.
HELLO AND GOODBYE
Harley Windsor became the first indigenous Australian to compete at the Winter Olympics when the pairs skater joined teammate Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya on the ice for their short program.
Windsor and his Russian-born partner were among the first pairs on the ice, and their total of 61.55 points was just off their season’s best. The duo was just shy of making the cut for Thursday’s free skate, though.
Windsor said he started to “feel a bit nervous” the night before competing, but he was happy with the performance. Both of the 21-year-old Windsor’s parents have Australian Aboriginal roots, and his mother Josie was cheering him on from the stands.
MORE MEDALS
— Eric Frenzel of Germany won gold in Nordic combined while Akito Watabe of Japan earned silver and Lukas Klapfer of Austria took bronze. Frenzel erased 38 seconds after the ski jumping stage and surged ahead of Watabe on the last uphill of the 10-kilometer cross-country race to defend his title in the normal hill event.
— Jorien ter Mors of the Netherlands won the women’s 1,000-meter speedskating event. Japan earned both silver and bronze after Nao Kodaira finished second and Miho Takagi was third.
— Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany won their second consecutive Olympic doubles luge gold medal. Wendl and Arlt finished their two runs in 1 minute, 31.697 seconds. They’re the first German team to win two straight doubles golds since Hans Rinn and Norbert Hahn in 1976 and 1980.
The Arizona Western women’s basketball team picked up a big victory Wednesday night against Central Arizona, winning 73-59 to move into a tie with the Vaqueros for fourth place in the ACCAC and for the No. 2 seed in the Region I playoffs.
The Matadors (18-8 overall, 13-5 ACCAC) knocked down 50 percent of their shots and 7 of 16 treys while holding CAC (17-9, 13-5) to just 31.3 percent shooting.
Raven Roberts scored a game-high 21 points, while five others Matadors finished with between seven and 10 points. Gloria Mulumba (6 points, 8 rebounds) and Destiny Gonzalez (10 points, 7 rebounds) led the team in rebounding.
AWC has four games left in the regular season.
JUCO MEN’S BASKETBALL AWC men beat CAC by 25
Arizona Western’s men’s basketball team also took care of business Wednesday night at home, putting on another impressive offensive display in a 106-81 victory over Central Arizona.
For the third game in a row, the Matadors shot better than 50 percent from 3-point land — they knocked down 14 of 26 triples as a team, and are 41for-79 during their current three-game winning streak. Dajuan Beard (25 points), Alfonso Plummer (18) and Daryl Adams (9) provided most of the outside scoring, while Brandon McGhee (14), Lamont Traylor (14 points, 5 rebounds) and Marvin Mapaga (11 points, 12 rebounds) also had productive nights.
With the win, the Matadors improved to 18-8 overall and 13-5 ACCAC.