Gidabuday Sports Tourism Foundation (GSTF)

Russia's Yulia Efimova, silver medalist, was jeered by some in the crowd at Rio. CREDIT:  BARCROFT IMAGES   Tom Morgan ,  rio   10 AUGUST 2016 • 1:54AM A Russian swimmer claimed the West was launching a new Cold War over  Olympics drug-cheating allegations  on Tuesday as a bitter row between athletes intensified in Rio. Finger-wagging,  boos from the crowds  and fierce criticism from rival athletes greeted the first Russian medal-winners after the country escaped a blanket ban for state-sponsored cheating. However, Yulia Efimova, allowed to compete at the 11th hour after appealing a ban, claimed criticism was part of a new propaganda war as her silver medal in the breaststroke was met with jeers. "In the Olympic Games, usually all wars stop, but now they can’t find a way to beat Russia and now they try to make use of athletes,” said Efimova, who is believed to be the first Russian to hit back over the scandal. Lilly King,...

Michael Phelps has 21 gold medals   PHOTO: GETTY The United States took over the lead in gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics with big performances on Day 4. Breaking a tie in first-place finishes with China, the U.S. extended its lead in overall medals, as well. As of publication time Wednesday morning, Team USA leads the way with 27 total medals, holding a 10-medal lead over China. The U.S. has 10 gold medals to China’s eight entering Day 5, thanks to the best Olympian of all time. Michael Phelps is up to 21 career gold medals, winning gold in the 200-meter butterfly and anchoring Team USA’s first-place finish in the men’s 4x200-meter freestyle. The swimmer now has more than twice as many gold medals as anyone that’s ever competed in the Summer Olympics. Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz, Larisa Latynina and Paavo Nurmi all won nine at the Summer Games. While Phelps has been winning gold medals since 2004, Simone Biles is competing at the Games for the first time. But even though...

Malaysian divers Cheong Jun Hoon and Pamg Pandelela Rinong compete in the final of the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform final Tuesday.   Credit James Hill for The New York Times An unsettling thing happened at the Olympic diving pool on Tuesday: the water inexplicably turned green, just in time for the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform diving competition. Officials said they did not know what caused the trouble, exactly. But they declared the water had been tested and was not dangerous. It was an unsettling sight, appearing to become greener and murkier as the day went on, having been a lovely light blue on Monday. The British diver Tom Daley, who won a bronze medal in the same pool the day before, posted a photograph on Twitter showing the contrast between the colors of the pools. “Ermmmm – what happened?” he said. The adjoining pool at the aquatic center, used for synchronized swimming and water polo, remained its normal blue color, which made the extrem...

Send-Off Ceremony shortly before flying to Rio  As Tanzania officially starts a medal hunt campaign in Rio de Janeiro today, the athletes' hopes for success received a huge boost from the Tanzanian envoy to Brazil. The country's Acting Ambassador, Nathaniel Kaaya, visited the camp in Rio de Janeiro to motivate the athletes ahead of their tough mission, with a judoka Andrew Thomas Mlugu, to open the country's medal chase. According to the team's Physician Nassor Matuzya, the Acting Ambassador was forced to travel for 12 hours from capital Brasilia to Rio de Janeiro to see the athletes' camp. Mlugu, who, will be making a debut to the world's biggest multi-sports event, faces an experienced Australian Bensted in Rio de Janeiro The Tanzanian faces Australian Jake Bensted today in 73kg judo bout to begin the country's medal hunt in 31st Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The bout is one of the 16 bouts to be held today in the Judo's round of 32 sta...

 "I have to make this special": Cerullo's partner surprises her on the rugby pitch. (AP: Themba Hadebe)   Brazilian rugby player Isadora Cerullo has been surprised with an on-field wedding proposal following Australia's win in the first women's rugby sevens event in Olympic history at Rio's Deodoro Stadium. Cerullo's partner of two years, 28-year-old Marjorie Enya, walked onto the pitch as the crowd were dispersing following the final, and popped the question. Enya, who is a manager at the venue, grabbed a microphone and delivered an emotional speech before embracing her partner to the cheers of onlookers, the BBC reported. "I know rugby people are amazing and they would embrace it," Enya told reporters. The couple live in Sao Paulo, where Cerullo has been focussing on training for the inaugural Olympic event. Cerullo, who is a dual US and Brazilian citizen, was reportedly studying medicine in the United States before she was sel...

Kim Brennan of Australia Kim Brennan has her Olympic rowing gold medal hopes back on track with an emphatic win in the quarter-finals of the women's single scull. Brennan posted the fastest times of the three races at Lagoa Stadium on Tuesday, pipping American Genevra Stone and Kiwi threat Emma Twigg. It was a return to form for Brennan, who faltered in the wind and waves in the heats on day one of racing to finish third, which was her first loss in the event since 2014. Brennan, who celebrated her birthday on Tuesday, led from start to finish. "It was good to get a solid row out and it didn't end up being too hard in the end," Brennan said. Earlier Australia's men's single sculler Rhys Grant finished second in his quarter-final to also move through to Thursday's semi-finals. The men's pair of Spencer Turrin and Alex Lloyd booked their berth in the medal race, crossing second in their semi-final with their final on Thursday. The wome...

Part of Team Kenya receiving the flag from Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta a few days before the Olympics begun Kenyan athletes will kickstart their event at the Rio Olympics on Friday under a dark shadow after team manager Michael Rotich was sent home following bribery allegations. Kenyan police have arrested Rotich in Nairobi. A report released on Sunday by the British newspaper, the Sunday Times and German broadcaster, ARD, alleges that Kenya's athletics team manager, Michael Rotich, solicited bribes amounting to $13,000 (KSh 1,325,180). The investigation, carried out between January and February this year at a training camp in Iten, in Rift Valley, Kenya, alleged that Rotich offered to warn undercover journalists posing as athletics representatives, when drug testers from the world Anti-doping Agency were going to visit. In the video recording released by the German broadcaster ARD, Rotich is seen telling the investigators that he could easily get the dates for the...

Kenya National Olympic Committee PRESS RELEASE Nairobi, August 8 2016 Athletics Kenya is concerned by the turn of events in Kenya and Rio affecting our athletes ahead of the start of the athletics programme on Friday. It is therefore important to set the record straight and place the blame where it lays then Kenyans can understand the role of athletics Kenya in these Olympics games. 1: Athletics Kenya is one of the affiliates of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK), a body which is solely responsible for preparing and entering competitors in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Our mandate is only to prepare athletes and hand them over to NOCK for the Residential Training Camp, subsequent travel, accommodation and competition in host countries. Any confusion as we have seen with athletes travel is solely a mistake of NOCK. The top leadership is in Rio and Athletics Kenya had to work throughout the weekend to sort out the travel hitch which affected most athletes...

Spectacular Day: Rio de Janeiro lights up during the Opening Ceremony of 2016 Rio Olympic Games Gymnast Simone Biles is the smallest member of the U.S. Olympic team at a compact but powerful 4 feet, 8 inches tall. By the time the Rio Games end, she might tower above her peers as the biggest star of the Olympics — and might lead Team USA to a medals bonanza. Biles, who has won the last three world all-around championships, is expected to contend for five gold medals when the gymnastics competition begins Saturday. The U.S. men’s and women’s gymnastics teams combined to win six medals at the 2012 London Games as part of Team USA’s 103 medals. Photogenic and dynamic, Biles could triumph in the all-around and team events as well as in individual competitions on vault, floor exercise and balance beam. Some of her toughest rivals might be her teammates, specifically Aly Raisman and electrifying floor-exercise specialist Laurie Hernandez, 16. Biles said she and her teammates are pr...