Trump welcomes Olympic athletes
President Trump welcomed Team USA Winter Olympic athletes to the White House on Friday, congratulating them on representing the U.S. at the 2018 games.
“You made us very proud,” Trump said to the rows of young men and women standing on the White House’s north portico in matching windbreakers. “You overcame setbacks, you powered through obstacles. And I will tell you this, because of your hard work and your sacrifice, you were given the greatest honor in sports: to represent the United States as an Olympic athlete.”
Hosting the Olympic and Paralympic athletes has been a decades-old tradition at the White House, and the group included a long list of medal winners, but several of the games’ biggest names were missing.
“I will not stand with people who discriminate against those that they perceive as different,” figure skater Adam Rippon, a champion of gay rights, tweeted Friday.
Baseball: Retired usher Phil Coyne turned 100, and the Pittsburgh Pirates honored him before a game against St. Louis. An usher since 1936, Coyne retired just before Opening Day. The Pirates estimate he worked more than 6,000 games at Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park.
Tennis: Rafael Nadal defeated Martin Klizan in straight sets to extend his winning streak on clay and reach the semifinals as he tries to win his 11th Barcelona Open title. Colleges: Daniella McMahon’s first career hat trick helped push the Stanford women’s lacrosse team into the inaugral Pac-12 Tournament championship game. McMahon scored all of her goals in the second half as the No. 13 Cardinal won 15-14 over
No. 20 USC in a semifinal in Boulder, Colo. Second-seeded Stanford will play host Colorado for the title at 11 a.m. Sunday.
⏩ Stanford scored 10 runs in the second inning, capped by Maverick Handley’s three-run homer as the No. 3 Cardinal beat Cal 14-1 at Sunken Diamond to even their threegame series
⏩ Stanford incoming freshman Jenna Brown was named National High School Senior Girls’ Basketball Athlete of the Year, the latest award for the Marietta, Ga., point guard, including playing in the McDonald’s All American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic. Track and field: The Australian Olympic Committee awarded a posthumous Order of Merit to Peter Norman, the Australian sprinter who shared the podium with Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Norman, who died in 2006, stood by the San Jose State sprinters as they raised gloved fists during their protest on the 200-meter medal podium.
Soccer: Colombian authorities have concluded that fuel shortages and negligence caused a plane crash that killed 71 people in 2016, including most members of Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense. Friday’s report capped a 17-month inquiry into the crash on a mountain a few miles from Medellin.
⏩ Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery is leaving at the end of the season, the latest to pay for failing to lead the team to the glory its owners crave.