Olympics

12:38 PM ET Associated Press Dave Wallace will be Mike Scioscia’s pitching coach for Team USA as it tries to qualify for the Olympic baseball tournament. Scioscia’s staff will also include Jerry Weinstein (bench coach), Ernie Young (hitting and first base coach), Darren Fenster (third base coach) and Roly de Armas (bullpen coach), USA Baseball

10:52 AM ET Associated Press GENEVA — Athletes who make political or social justice protests at the Tokyo Olympics were promised legal support Thursday by a global union and an activist group in Germany. The pledges came one day after the International Olympic Committee confirmed its long-standing ban on “demonstration or political, religious or racial

6:23 AM ET Associated Press LAUSANNE, Switzerland — A competitive virtual sports event was launched Thursday by the International Olympic Committee. The Olympic Virtual Series will include five sports — baseball, cycling, auto racing, rowing and sailing — and runs from May 13 to June 23. The Tokyo Olympics open on July 23. Gaming brands

2:54 AM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Tokyo Olympics organizers said Thursday that a policeman tested positive for COVID-19 a day after his assignment last week at the Olympic torch relay. It is the first positive test connected to the relay since it began March 25 from northeastern Fukushima prefecture. Organizers say the 30-year-old policeman

4:24 PM ET Associated Press LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Athlete protests and political messages will remain banned at the Olympics, the IOC said Wednesday, after a survey found that a majority of competitors were in favor of keeping the ban in place. That means raising a fist on the podium — like American sprinters Tommie Smith

1:01 PM ET The 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championships in Nova Scotia have been canceled, a source told ESPN on Wednesday. The tournament was scheduled to take place from May 6-16, featuring strict COVID-19 protocols. Team USA, which had won five straight worlds and eight of its past nine tournaments, was at its pre-tournament camp

12:05 AM ET With the Tokyo Olympics now just over three months away and in a battle against the enormous second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s lone individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra believes the existing testing methodology and quarantine protocols in the Games Playbook might need a science-driven rethink. “The virus is playing

11:53 AM ET Associated Press BRUSSELS — Belgian Olympians traveling to Japan for the Tokyo Games were promised priority treatment for COVID-19 vaccines on Monday. The Belgian Olympic Committee said its 177 Olympic and 55 Paralympic athletes will get vaccine shots while most of the adult population of their age must still wait. The Olympics

2:40 PM ET Jonathan SelvarajESPN Even as Mirabai Chanu went up to make her final attempt at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent en route to setting a new world record, her coach Vijay Sharma noticed something unusual out of the corner of his eye. “I saw that the Chinese coaches were paying attention to

9:40 PM ET Associated Press SYDNEY — A shark sighting temporarily halted competition in the World Surf League event at Sydney’s Narrabeen Beach on Sunday. The second heat of the event was in progress when the shark was sighted, and surfers were called from the water. Competition was delayed for 15 minutes, until organizers were

1:46 AM ET Associated Press Assistant coach Joel Johnson is taking over the United States women’s national hockey team after Bob Corkum abruptly stepped down less than three weeks before the world championships open in Canada. USA Hockey’s director of women’s national team programs Katie Million did not provide a reason for Corkum’s departure in

10:04 AM ET Associated Press OSAKA, Japan — World champion Anna Shcherbakova won the women’s free skate on Saturday to seal Russia’s first-ever victory at the figure skating World Team Trophy. First after the short program, the 17-year-old opened with a quadruple flip and followed with a triple flip-triple toe loop combination en route to

9:21 PM ET Associated Press Skipper Tom Slingsby and the defending SailGP champion Australian crew capsized the U.S. team’s foiling 50-foot catamaran on Bermuda’s Great Sound on Friday during its first training session for the global tour’s season opener. Slingsby said there were only minor injuries and the boat was quickly righted before being towed

3:11 PM ET Associated Press The International Swimming League will fill its rosters via a draft for the first time as a way to improve competitive parity among the 10 teams. The pro league teams signed swimmers individually during its first two seasons. The new draft will attempt to give lower-ranked teams priority in strengthening

10:55 AM ET Associated Press OSAKA, Japan — Three-time world champion Nathan Chen won the free skate at the figure skating World Team Trophy on Friday to continue his dominance of two-time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu. First after the short program, Chen opened with a quadruple flip and landed a quad salchow in the

7:40 AM ET Associated Press MONACO — This year’s Diamond League will open in Britain for the first time, with Gateshead replacing Rabat as the season’s first host city, organizers said Friday. The season will start May 23 at Gateshead International Stadium after the event in the Moroccan capital was canceled because of coronavirus restrictions.

7:09 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com It felt like a dream. After years of questioning her abilities and if she even belonged in the sport, everything went right for Lynnzee Brown at the 2019 NCAA championships. She led the University of Denver to its first team final appearance and tied for first place on floor, becoming

6:18 AM ET Associated Press PRETORIA, South Africa — Caster Semenya won the 5,000-meter race at the South African national championships Thursday in a personal-best time and then said she is likely to focus on long-distance events for the rest of her career. That could be her best hope of running at this year’s Tokyo