athlete

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How to Be an Olympic Athlete
 How to Be an Olympic Athlete 

How to Be an Olympic Athlete

Pointers on what it takes to go for the gold

(Newser) - Before you clear a spot on the mantle for that gold medal, you may need a quick reality check: Forbes runs down the numbers behind the blood, sweat, and tears of an Olympic athlete's training.
  1. Training: 4 to 8 years to maximize lung capacity and heart strength
  2. Sessions: up to
...

At 41, Torres Makes 5th Olympics

Ageless US swimmer makes a splash in the record books

(Newser) - Dara Torres swam her way into the history books with a victory in the women's 100-meter freestyle trials last night, reports the New York Times. The 41-year-old will be the first five-time swimmer in Olympic history. She shot past 25-year-old American record holder Natalie Coughlin to finish in 53.78...

World's Best Athlete? Never Heard of Her

Move over, Bo Jackson: Sheila Taormina has conquered 3 sports

(Newser) - The greatest athlete in the world today is 5'3'', 115 pounds, and named Sheila Taormina. You've probably never heard of her, but you should give this "force of nature" your attention now, writes ESPN the Magazine. Poised to become the first woman ever to compete at the Olympics in...

The Best Athlete on the Planet

WSJ panel picks Czech decathlete Sebrle to represent Earth at Intergalactic Games

(Newser) - If Earth could only send one guy to a galactic Olympics, who would it be? The Wall Street Journal had a panel of sports experts hash it out, and its top 10 might surprise:
  1. Roman Sebrle: Czech decathlon champion wins on versatility.
  2. LeBron James: What can’t the NBA star
...

Dolphin Kickers Sink Swimming Records

Revived technique is propelling swimmers to victory

(Newser) - Dozens of world swimming records have fallen in the last 18 months and many credit the explosion in speed to a technique invented by a scientist who worked on the A-Bomb, reports the Washington Post. Swimmers say the underwater dolphin kick, which has been revived and polished in recent years,...

China's Quest for Glory Pushing Athletes Past Limits

Injured athletes pressured to keep training

(Newser) - China is going all-out in a sometimes destructive push to top the medal table at the Beijing Olympics, the New York Times reports. Athletes are risking their health by training while injured, and potential medal-winners are being pressed out of retirement. Olympic hopefuls are well aware that victory will bring...

City Rebuilds Flooded Gym for Gymnast
City Rebuilds Flooded Gym
for Gymnast

City Rebuilds Flooded Gym for Gymnast

US champion can't let anything distract her in Olympic trials

(Newser) - When storms inundated Shawn Johnson's hometown of West Des Moines, they also left a foot of water in her gym. But the 16-year-old couldn't use that as an excuse to take a break from workouts: The reigning world champion gymnast was preparing for this week’s Olympic trials, the Houston ...

Justices Don't Buy MLB's Fantasy Pitch

Using players' real names in for-profit leagues is free speech, Supreme Court rules

(Newser) - The Supreme Court refused today to hear an appeal by Major League Baseball against a ruling that allowed fantasy sports leagues to use real players' names and stats without paying a licensing fee, the Los Angeles Times reports. MLB contended such leagues shouldn't "exploit players' identity for commercial gain;...

Ex-Olympian Gets 46 Months for Check Fraud

Tim Montgomery, former 100m record holder, jailed

(Newser) - Disgraced Olympic gold medalist Tim Montgomery was sentenced to 46 months yesterday for his part in a check-fraud scam, the Washington Post reports. Montgomery, who still faces heroin-dealing charges, once held the 100m world record but was stripped of it for doping. He has a son with Marion Jones, who...

Road to NFL Often Starts at High School Bowl Game

Small company identifies future stars

(Newser) - For many of the top prospects in this year’s NFL draft, the path to stardom didn’t begin in college. Instead, it started at the US Army All-American Bowl, an annual high-school all-star game that’s been remarkably good at spotting future NFL talent. Since 2005, 69 participants have...

Cheerleading's Brave New World Raises Safety Worries

Injuries on the rise; recent death highlights concerns

(Newser) - As cheerleading has become a spectacle of acrobatic feats with its own events, injuries—some of them deadly—have been on the rise, ABC News reports. In the latest example, a 20-year-old woman died after being accidentally kicked in the chest during a Massachusetts competition last weekend. She suffered damage...

US Athletes Reject Boycott of Beijing Games

Sporting trumps politics, even for sympathetic competitors

(Newser) - Many US athletes aren’t swayed by winds of boycott surrounding the Beijing Olympics, the Christian Science Monitor reports. “What's going on is important and we should pay attention to it,” says a 2004 gold medalist, but “we need to be athletes first.”  Despite a...

Behold the Mighty Medicine Ball
Behold
the Mighty
Medicine Ball

Behold the Mighty Medicine Ball

Weighty exercise aid goes back a lot longer than you'd think

(Newser) - The thunk of a medicine ball may evoke images of football players doing strength and resistance training, but its history reaches far beyond the advent of modern fitness regimens. ESPN the Magazine chronicles the medicine ball through the ages, from gladiators' workouts to Renaissance medical texts to the earliest days...

Track Doping Witness Will Give 2 Dozen Names

Olympians to be mentioned in trial include Greene

(Newser) - Angel Guillermo Heredia, the main witness for the federal case against elite track coach Trevor Graham, is prepared to give the names of about two dozen athletes to whom he supplied performance-enhancing drugs. Among the 12 Olympians on the list is Maurice Greene, a two-time gold medalist who has never...

For Olympians, Conscience Battles Wallet

Protesting could get athletes thrown out of Games

(Newser) - The Beijing Olympics will be rife with protesters, but athletes may be reluctant to be among them, reports the New York Times. Olympic rules forbid protests or propaganda at Olympic sites, and sponsors are sure to frown on such activity. Even Team Darfur, a protest group with many Olympian members,...

Sports Stars Endorse Little League Facebook

Youth sports social site has big-time friends

(Newser) - Want to see Peyton Manning’s Pop Warner games? Derek Jeter playing Little League? They’ll be on WePlay.com, alongside some game film from a lot of other not-yet-famous players. WePlay, which is launching today, is a youth sports social-networking site—a kind of little league Facebook. Athletes, coaches,...

Dykstra Takes A Hack at Publishing
Dykstra Takes
A Hack at Publishing

Dykstra Takes A Hack at Publishing

Former outfielder starts a magazine by and for pro athletes

(Newser) - Once tough-as-nails former baseball star Lenny Dykstra is still as irrepressible as ever, and soon his characteristic voice will be reaching pro athletes across the nation—if they subscribe to his magazine. The Players Club offers personal and financial guidance to its readership, and will be "the world’s...

HGH Builds Muscles, Not Strength: Study

Docs see athletes using bigger doses, drug cocktails

(Newser) - Human growth hormone certainly builds muscles, but it may not make athletes faster or stronger. "What we found suggested that it didn't help—and at some point, it might hurt," said the lead investigator on the Stanford research study. So why, the San Jose Mercury News wonders, do...

Harvard Begins Women-Only Gym Hours
Harvard Begins Women-Only Gym Hours

Harvard Begins Women-Only Gym Hours

Controversial move to make Muslim females more comfortable

(Newser) - Harvard is trying out women-only gym hours at one of its facilities to make exercising easier for Muslim women. Six of the 70 hours a week that the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center is open will be barred to men so that Muslim women feel free to dress appropriately for working...

Star Gymnast Attracts Fans and Sponsors

Coke, Adidas love 16-year-old gold medal favorite

(Newser) - Corporate sponsors like Adidas and Coca-Cola are latching onto a tiny gymnast with a towering talent named Shawn Johnson, the Washington Post reports. The smiling 16-year-old shares "brand attributes" with Coca-Cola like "genuine" and "fun," one exec says. She is also the world's reigning gymnastics champion...

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