Category: Sports, Olympics, World Cup

NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Soccer Defeat Is a Loss for Russia. In place of a flood of U.S. travelers for next year’s World Cup, a trickle of Panamanians.” – Wall Street Journal

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, JRL NewsBlog, Sports, Olympics, World Cup, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Image of Soccer Ball, Field, Stadium with Lights, adapted from image at fbi.gov

“… a fresh setback for U.S.-Russia relations: The U.S. men’s soccer team fell to Trinidad and Tobago … and … failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in three decades. For Russia, hosting the quadrennial event in 2018 … missing out on an influx of rich American tourists …. [A past study by two economists suggests] the tourism boost from […]

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Interfax: Tragic events associated with informers in Russia, this institution must not migrate from sports to other spheres – Putin

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

KRASNODAR. May 23 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for treating the idea of introducing an institution of informers into Russian sports with extreme caution, recalling that tragic events are associated with this phenomenon in the Russian history. Speaking at the presidential council on physical training and sports on Tuesday, Putin warned against this institution the creation which […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Russia Hopes for Swift End to Track and Field Doping Exile” – AP

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, JRL NewsBlog, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

“… Russian track and field exists in limbo, banned since November 2015 as a series of investigations revealed widespread doping and alleged government officials helped to cover it up. … On Monday, track’s world governing body, the IAAF, will hold a council meeting with the stated aim of drawing up a road map for Russia’s return though, in some ways, […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Men, Alexander Novak, Nikolai Nikiforov, Vitaly Mutko at] Meeting with Government members

Budget, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Oil, Gas, Energy, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(kremlin.ru – February 1, 2017) Vladimir Putin met with Government members to discuss possibilities for further developing treasury monitoring of budget spending, the situation with co-funded housing development, and a number of other current issues. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon colleagues. Today, we will discuss the results of work and further development for treasury monitoring of budget spending. […]

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RBTH: Over 1,000 Russian athletes involved in doping scandal – McLaren report

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

In a more detailed version of the report released in July, the head of the independent WADA commission has announced that the international doping scandal implicates over 1,000 Russian athletes, and has repeated accusations of state involvement. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ALEXEY MOSKO, RBTH – December 12, 2016) The publication of the long-awaited second part of the […]

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A Long Jump: Russia Claims Moral Victory From Rio Olympics

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, August 22, 2016) Russia’s medal haul at the Summer Olympics in Rio was the country’s smallest since the 1912 games in Stockholm, but that did not deter various officials and pundits from spinning the result as a victory for Moscow — or a moral one, at the least. With much of its […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Why Russia’s Olympic scandals could benefit Vladimir Putin” – Yahoo

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

If you think the Russian doping scandal has brought shame and humiliation to Vladimir Putin’s nation, perhaps you need to think again. Experts on Putin and Russia tell Yahoo Sports it may be the opposite: that the doping allegations and the Paralympic ban actually has confirmed suspicions widely held – the rest of the world is unfairly biased against Russia. […]

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Will Putin Again Use the Olympics as Cover for New Aggression, This Time in Ukraine?

Georgia, Military, Sports, Olympics, World Cup, Ukraine
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Paul Goble – Staunton, August 8, 2016) Eight years ago today, when the world was focusing on the Olympics in Beijing, Vladimir Putin used this distraction as the occasion to launch his invasion of Georgia. Now, there are both indications and fears that he may use the world’s focus on the Olympiad in Rio to reignite Russian aggression in Ukraine. […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Ban Russia From the Rio Olympics” – New York Times

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, JRL NewsBlog, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

The latest and most comprehensive report on Russia’s cheating at the 2014 Winter Olympics gives the International Olympic Committee all the evidence it needs to ban every Russian team from the forthcoming Rio Games. The report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate a fast-growing body of evidence against Russia, is damning and unequivocal. … it affirms ‘beyond a […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Bar Russia from the Rio Olympics” – Washington Post

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, JRL NewsBlog, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
File Photo of Sochi Olympics Banner Near Highway in Warm Weather with Vehicle and Cyclicsts Nearby

At the Winter Olympics in Sochi … no Russian athletes tested positive for doping, and to much celebration they took home 33 medals, more than any other nation. … behind the scenes, a system was in place that concealed the use of performance-enhancing drugs by … Russian athletes. … doping and coverups have been carried out by Russia across a range […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Statement in response to the report by the World Anti-Doping Agency

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Kremlin.ru – July 18, 2016) President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Recent events and the tense atmosphere that has formed around international sport and the Olympic movement involuntarily recall the situation in the early 1980s. Back then, many Western countries, citing the deployment of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, boycotted the Moscow Olympics. Four years later, the Soviet Union retaliated by boycotting […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s Doping Scandal. A new report finds that Olympic cheating was state policy.” – Wall Street Journal editorial

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, JRL NewsBlog, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

Less than three weeks before the Summer Olympics in Rio … an independent probe … produced the most damning evidence to date of a vast, state-sponsored #doping program run by #Russia’s sports officials that included corrupting the testing lab at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. … the report sets up a choice as delicate as it is momentous: whether to ban […]

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Kremlin: Russia Will Not Boycott Rio Olympics

Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 11, 2016) Russia will not boycott the upcoming Olympic Games in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, Russian media reported. Peskov said that “Russia has always looked down on [Olympic] boycotts,” the Gazeta news website reported Monday. He promised to use “all possible mechanisms” to ensure the participation of Russian […]

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Sharapova to spend disqualification period at Harvard

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
File Photo of Maria Sharapov Carrying Olympic Torch and Waving at Sochi

Maria Sharapova enrolls at Harvard Business School after being banned from tennis for two years. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – NIKOLAI LITOVKIN, RBTH – June 27, 2016) Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, who has been banned from tournament play for two years, will spend her disqualification period at the Harvard Business School. However, what exactly she will study […]

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All Russians Are Tainted by Putin’s Regime

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – June 21, 2016) The International Olympic Committee’s decision to let Russian athletes compete in the Rio Olympics if they can prove that they haven’t used performance-enhancing drugs won’t be popular with other countries. Nonetheless, it was the right call. But it also carries some unpleasant undertones: It formally requires Russians to prove that […]

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Putin’s New Friendship Offensive Won’t Work Abroad or at Home, Shevtsova Says

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Europe, EU, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Russia & the West, Sanctions, Sports, Olympics, World Cup, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Mercator Projection Satellite Image of Earth

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 19, 2016) Vladimir Putin’s “main message” at the St. Petersburg economics conference that Moscow “again wants to be friends” with the West will not work either in the West, which has been transformed by the Kremlin leader’s aggressiveness, or at home among Russians because he depends on continued anti-Western mobilization, Liliya […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Olympic Ban Adds to Russia’s Culture of Grievances” – New York Times

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, JRL NewsBlog, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

When a global governing body for sports barred Russia’s track and field team from the 2016 Summer Olympics on Friday over a wide-ranging doping scandal, it was greeted in Russia, as is so often the case here these days, with a deep sense of victimhood. …Putin …called the decision ‘unjust, of course.’ …. Click here for New York Times: Olympic […]

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Antony Penaud: The Observer, the anonymous Twitter account, and the unnamed official

Britain, Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Rotating Soccer Ball

Subject: The Observer, the anonymous Twitter account, and the unnamed official Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2016 From: Antony Penaud <antonypenaud@yahoo.fr> Antony Penaud received his DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2000. He is French and lives in London. His articles on Russia and Ukraine can be found on www.scribd.com/antonykharms Following three days of violent clashes in Marseille (the first […]

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Interfax: Putin promises fight against doping at state level

Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

ST. PETERSBURG. June 17 (Interfax) – Russia will fight against doping in sports at the state level, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “As for the official Russian authorities, I can say with full responsibility, that we are firmly against any doping,” Putin said at a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). He said if it emerges […]

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Banned Russian Runners Struggle to Keep Their Careers Afloat

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – June 11, 2016) His first international race, the Kanazawa marathon was a special occasion for Viktor Ugarov, 30. Thousands of amateur Japanese runners took part, but none, in the end, provided serious competition for the runner from Irkutsk. Ugarov, who a year earlier had finished fifth in the Russian Championship, ended up […]

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How the reporting of the British media changed during the Marseille cashes

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Rotating Soccer Ball

Subject: How the reporting of the British media changed during the Marseille cashes Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2016 ) From: Antony Penaud <antonypenaud@yahoo.fr> Being French, having lived in England for half of my life, and being Russophile, I followed the Marseille streetfight events and the way they were reported in the British press with a special interest. In the France […]

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Anti-doping rule breakers will be harshly punished – Mutko

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) – The harshest measures will be taken against those who were caught violating anti-doping rules, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said. “If this is established, naturally, we will take the harshest measures against every person. All our correspondence will be examined, and even if anyone participated in this scheme with him [Grigory Rodchenkov, former head of […]

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Interfax: Russia won’t put up with unsubstantiated slander against it on issue of doping in sports – Peskov

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Dmitry Peskov file photo adapted from image at kremlin.ru/wikimedia commons

MOSCOW. June 8 (Interfax) – Russia is against the use of doping in sports, but that does not mean that it is ready to put up with unsubstantiated slander against it on this issue, Russian presidential press officer Dmitry Peskov said. “We all remember that the Russian president has given an absolutely clear signal that the use of any types […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s reported doping is a subversion of the Olympic ideal” – Washington Post

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, JRL NewsBlog, Sports, Olympics, World Cup, Spy Allegations, Spies, Security Agencies

… The latest evidence is a detailed report in the New York Times that Russian officials clandestinely carried out a doping program at the Sochi Games by giving athletes performance-enhancing drugs and then tampering with their urine samples to cover it up. The … account comes from the director of the Russian anti-doping agency at the time, who played a […]

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Interfax: Mutko believes in rebirth of Russian track and field athletics

Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) – After the restoration of its rights, Russian track and field athletics should start with “a clean slate,” Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told Interfax. “The majority of the disqualifications happened in track and field athletics and we will immediately set everything right and, I believe, start with a clean slate. At this stage, if everything […]

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RBTH: Olympic doping scandal: Whistleblower Rodchenkov may face court in Russia

Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

Grigory Rodchenkov’s exposure of Russian Olympic champions’ use of doping contains many unsubstantiated accusations and few facts, say Russian officials and experts. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ALEXEY MOSKO, RBTH – May 16, 2016) Criminal proceedings may be launched against former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov, the man who revealed to The New York Times […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Revelations of State-Backed Doping Should Bar Russia From Rio Olympics” – New York Times/JULIET MACUR

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, JRL NewsBlog, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

Accusations of Russian doping and reported claims of systematic distribution of performance-enhancing drugs and of bribes paid to cover up positive tests would be enough to scare off officials of any event worried about safeguarding its credibility. … you have to wonder what officials from the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee are thinking now, in light of […]

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WADA banned meldonium without studying period of its withdrawal from athletes’ blood – Mutko

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Medical Symbol with Pole, Serpents, Wings, adapted from image at lanl.gov

MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) – Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has said that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) did not publish the results of research on meldonium before banning this substance. “It is necessary to thoroughly examine the problems of this substance’s [meldonium] withdrawal and retention in blood. We have received a reply from WADA that they did not do […]

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Interfax: Putin requests not to promote ‘conspiracy theory’ regarding doping scandal

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Interfax – March 16, 2016) Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the chiefs of the Russian sports to refrain from politicizing the situation related to the meldonium use and from framing a ‘conspiracy theory’ with regard to Russian athletes. “Firstly, nothing should be politicized and no conspiracy theory should be promoted,” Putin said at his meeting with government members, […]

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Who’s to blame for the meldonium: Russia’s athletes, doctors or officials?

Drugs, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

The drug that has been banned since January 2016 may lead to the disqualification of several leading Russian athletes in the wake of the Maria Sharapova scandal. However, Russian officials and athletics insiders disagree on who should take responsibility for the latest doping debacle to engulf Russian sports. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – TIMUR GANEEV, SPECIAL TO RBTH […]

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Interfax: Moscow expects explanations from WADA on meldonium ban – Lavrov

Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Sergei Lavrov file photo

MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) – Russia expects explanations from the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, following the inclusion of meldonium drugs in the list of banned medicines, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. “I don’t want to gibe, I only want to say in all seriousness: those professional opinions about the justifiability of this step of the WADA that […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Meldonium Ban Hits Russian Athletes Hard” – New York Times

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

The fallout from Maria Sharapova’s failed drug test has ensnared her native Russia as it becomes clear that the banned substance found in her system is creating wider problems for Russian sports. … she … tested positive for meldonium during the Australian Open in January, shocking the tennis world …. in Russia, meldonium, also known as mildronate, was a common […]

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Interfax: Mutko anticipating rivalry between Russian and US athletes at Olympic Games

Sports, Olympics, World Cup, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Interfax – January 19, 2016) The Summer Olympic Games cannot be imagined without a rivalry between Russian and American track and field athletes, Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said. “Track and field athletics is the queen of sport. [Athletes] will compete for 47 medals [at the Olympic Games]. I will also say that I cannot imagine any tournament without a […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin at] Meeting with Russian national judo team

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Kremlin.ru – January 8, 2016) Vladimir Putin met with Russia’s national judo team at the Southern Federal Centre for Sports Training Yug-Sport. During the meeting, the President presented the Russian passport to national judo team head coach Ezio Gamba. Earlier, Vladimir Putin took part in a training session with judo players. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends, Thank you very […]

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Quarter of Russians view doping charges against athletes as groundless

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Interfax – November 21, 2015) One quarter of Russians – 25 percent – believe the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) charges against Russian track-and-field athletes are groundless and can be explained by hostile attitudes toward Russia in general, the Levada Center public opinion foundation told Interfax after conducting a poll of 1,600 respondents in 134 populated areas in 46 regions of […]

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Russia’s Doping Scandal: The Main Allegations

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 13, 2015) An independent commission by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has recommended that the Russian athletics federation be declared “non-compliant” with anti-doping code, and be suspended from track and field competition, the report published Monday said. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Sebastien Coe asked that Russia respond to the 350-page […]

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Russia to Consider Criminal Penalties for Doping, Sports Minister Says

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Drugs, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 12, 2015) Russia may introduce harsher penalties for doping, possibly making it a criminal offense, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said at a press conference, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. “There are a number of measures we can take,” Mutko was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti on Wednesday. “We can introduce new kinds […]

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Organizations Host Special Sporting Events for Kids with Special Needs

Disabilities, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Ping Pong Ball and Paddle on Table

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexandra Tyan – August 18, 2015) On Saturday, the organization Sports Dream and Gorky Park hosted a special table-tennis training session for kids with Down syndrome and their families. From 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., 10 children with Down syndrome and their families had an opportunity to attend one-on-one training sessions with professional table-tennis coaches. […]

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Why are we so worried about the Russian doping scandal?

Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Hand Pulling Cash from Envelope

Fresh allegations over doping in international athletics have cast plenty of shame and doubt. They also reveal the west’s political prejudices and ignorance. (opendemocracy.net – Rolf Fretheim, Thomas Rowley – August 14, 2015) Rolf Fredheim is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge, where he works on […]

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