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2024 in pop culture: In a bruising year, we sought out fantasy, escapism — and cute little animals
Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press | Posted Dec. 3 - 7:59 a.m. | Save Story
Did you have a "Brat summer" this year? Were you "demure," and were you "mindful"? Did you enter a celebrity look-alike contest? All these were pop culture trends that emerged in 2024. But most of all, it seemed the theme was escapism. Whether it was the yellow brick road in "Wicked" or the beckoning seas of Oceania in "Moana 2" or adorable fuzzy animals like Moo Deng or even unlikely Olympic heroes making us proud, audiences gravitated to fantasy and feel-good moments.
Olympic skater Tina Noyes, ice dancer Renee Roca among latest US Figure Skating Hall of Fame class
Dave Skretta, Associated Press | Posted Dec. 2 - 10:40 a.m. | Save Story
Two-time Olympic skater and longtime coach Tina Noyes, ice dancer and choreographer Renee Roca, trailblazer Atoy Wilson and judge Robert Horen have been elected to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. The organization announced the class Monday. It will be inducted on Jan. 25 at the U.S. championships in Wichita, Kansas. Noyes was one of the leading skaters of the 1960s. Roca was a three-time U.S. ice dance champion. Horan has been a judge, technical controller and referee for the International Skating Union for more than 25 years. Wilson was the first Black athlete to compete at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1965.
Marchand is 'exhausted' and withdraws from short course swimming worlds
The Associated Press | Updated Nov. 30 - 10:51 a.m. | Save Story
Léon Marchand won't compete at the short course swimming world championships next month. The four-time Olympic champion from France says on Saturday he needs rest after an intense year. The 22-year-old Marchand won five medals at the Paris Olympics this summer. The short course worlds are scheduled from Dec. 10-15 in Budapest, Hungary.
Flag football scours nation with talent camps to uncover next wave of stars
Pat Graham, Associated Press | Posted Nov. 26 - 3:15 p.m. | Save Story
USA Football is holding talent identification camps all over the country to uncover the next flag football stars. It's "America's Got Talent" meets "American Idol" with the stage being the field and the prize being a chance to compete for a spot on a national team. Because it's never too early to start planning for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where flag football will make its Summer Games debut. It's a hard team to make as the men's and women's national team rosters have already approached "Dream Team" status. The men's side has won six of the last seven world championships and the women three in a row.
Olympic flame for 2026 Milan-Cortina Games will go on 63-day journey across Italy
Daniella Matar, Associated Press | Posted Nov. 26 - 12:31 p.m. | Save Story
The Olympic flame for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games will pass through all 110 provinces in Italy on a 63-day journey before the cauldron is lit. Organizers have announced the route for the torch relay at a palace facing the historic Verona Arena, the large Roman amphitheater that will host the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Games as well as the opening of the Paralympics. The presentation of the 12,000-kilometer path took place exactly a year before the flame will be lit in Ancient Olympia, Greece. The flame will arrive in Rome on Dec. 4 and conclude its journey in Milan on Feb. 6 for the opening ceremony.
PWHL New York Sirens' trajectory points up with addition of rookie star Sarah Fillier and new home
John Wawrow, Associated Press | Posted Nov. 26 - 10:36 a.m. | Save Story
The New York Sirens enter their second PWHL season featuring a new star in Sarah Fillier, a new coach in Greg Fargo and have finally landed a permanent home at New Jersey's Prudential Center. These all represent a fresh start for a vagabond team that spent its inaugural season splitting home games out of three sites and finishing last in the six-team league standings with five regulation wins. Fillier was the first pick in the draft and has already established herself after a decorated college career at Princeton, while also winning an Olympic gold medal and three world championships representing Canada.
Ruling in doping case set to give biathlon star Fourcade a gold 15 years after Vancouver Olympics
The Associated Press | Posted Nov. 26 - 6:00 a.m. | Save Story
A ruling by sport's highest court in a Russian doping case is set to give French biathlon star Martin Fourcade another gold medal almost 15 years after the Vancouver Olympics. The International Biathlon Union the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed an appeal by Evgeny Ustyugov, who crossed the line first ahead of Fourcade in the 15-kilometer mass start event at the 2010 Winter Games. The Russian biathlete appealed against an October 2020 ruling that he was guilty of blood doping. The latest CAS verdict upheld his four-year ban and disqualification of results. The IOC can allocate the 2010 gold medal to Fourcade.
14-time Olympic medalist Emma McKeon retires from swimming
The Associated Press | Updated Nov. 25 - 2:12 a.m. | Save Story
Emma McKeon, Australia's most decorated Olympian, has announced her retirement from competitive swimming. McKeon holds the Australian record of 14 Olympic medals _ six of them gold _ won over three Summer Olympics. While the 30-year-old McKeon had previously hinted that the 2024 Paris Games would be her final Olympics she had not said whether she would she would continue swimming competitively. McKeon's seven-medal haul at Tokyo 2020 is the most ever by a female swimmer at a single Games and equal most for any female athlete from any sport at a single Olympics, while her career tally of 14 Olympic medals is tied for most by any female swimmer.
Olympic champion Clement Noel wins World Cup slalom for his 2nd victory in two weeks
The Associated Press | Updated Nov. 24 - 7:12 a.m. | Save Story
Olympic champion Clement Noel has held on to his commanding first-run lead to take a men's World Cup slalom for his second win in two weeks. The Frenchman lost time in the final run but still finished 0.43 seconds ahead of Kristoffer Jakobsen of Sweden. Atle Lie McGrath of Norway finished 0.44 behind in third. Noel also won the season-opening slalom in Finland a week ago for his first World Cup victory in 22 months. Slalom World Cup champion Manuel Feller as well as Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and Marcel Hirscher all straddled a gate and didn't finish their first runs.
Spanish sailors ride wave of $2M win, Olympic gold medal to lead Los Gallos into SailGP's Season 5
Bernie Wilson, Associated Press | Posted Nov. 22 - 1:55 p.m. | Save Story
Spaniards Diego Botin and Florian Trittel experienced an adrenaline rush last summer that's never been seen in sailing. On July 14 on San Francisco Bay, they helped sail Los Gallos' fast, foiling catamaran to a stunning upset over heavyweights Tom Slingsby of Australia and Peter Burling of New Zealand and claim the $2 million, winner-take-all prize as SailGP's Season 4 champions. Just 19 days later, the 30-year-olds won the Olympic gold medal in the high-performance 49er class in Marseille, France. They open their title defense this weekend in Dubai.
Simone Biles to join Snoop Dogg as a guest mentor for an episode on NBC's 'The Voice'
Jonathan Landrum Jr., Associated Press | Posted Nov. 21 - 11:01 a.m. | Save Story
who carried their effortless chemistry from the Olympics to the TV set of "The Voice."
World swim body eases rules on approved Russians competing in relays and some team events
The Associated Press | Posted Nov. 21 - 9:29 a.m. | Save Story
The World Aquatics governing body of swimming has eased rules that now allow approved athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in team events at international meetings. World Aquatics says athletes who have been competing as neutrals in individual events during the invasion of Ukraine can team up and compete in swim relays, artistic swimming and synchronized diving. The neutrality rules included not publicly supporting the invasion and not having ties to the military and state security agencies. One swimmer from Russia and three from Belarus competed at the Paris Olympics as neutral individuals. They won no medals.
Double Olympic champ Alistair Brownlee retires from triathlon
The Associated Press | Updated Nov. 21 - 3:33 a.m. | Save Story
Double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee has announced his retirement from triathlon at the age of 36. Brownlee won gold medals in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. His younger brother, Jonny, made the podium on both occasions. Alistair Brownlee was also world champion in 2009 and 2011 and a four-time European champion. He writes on X it is "time to close this chapter." He adds "This marks my transition from professional triathlon, a moment approached with both dread and excitement in equal measure."
US runner Shannon Rowbury on course for 2012 Olympic medal after Russian disqualified
James Ellingworth, Associated Press | Updated Nov. 19 - 5:47 a.m. | Save Story
The results of the London Olympics are still changing more than 12 years later. Shannon Rowbury of the United States has taken another step toward a long-delayed bronze medal after Russian runner Tatyana Tomashova was officially disqualified from the women's 1,500 meters final at the London Olympics. The Athletics Integrity Unit says Tomashova didn't appeal against a doping ban she was given at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in September. The AIU adds the decision is "final and binding" in the records of World Athletics, and the International Olympic Committee has been informed.
Hans Henken back aboard Team USA catamaran 14 months after he was injured in a crash
Bernie Wilson, Associated Press | Posted Nov. 18 - 3:46 p.m. | Save Story
Hans Henken's sailing career is back at full throttle not quite 14 months after he was knocked unconscious and severely injured when the high-speed catamaran he was controlling in a SailGP race crashed off its foils and nosedived into the Mediterranean waves. The Olympic medalist is back as flight controller for the United States SailGP Team, which announced its lineup for Season 5 of the global league which starts this weekend in Dubai.
Grotheer gets second straight men's win and Tarbit gets first women's win in World Cup skeleton
The Associated Press | Posted Nov. 17 - 8:29 a.m. | Save Story
Olympic and world champion Christopher Grotheer of Germany, followed by British teammates Marcus Wyatt and Matt Weston, took the top three places in a World Cup men's skeleton race on Sunday. It was exact same order as the result of Saturday's season-opening race on the 2018 Olympic track. Grotheer won a World Cup race for the eighth time in his career. In Sunday's women's race, Freya Tarbit of Britain got the first win of her World Cup career. Olympic champion Hannah Niese of Germany was second and Janine Flock of Austria was third.
Olympic ski champion Noel wins season's 1st World Cup slalom; Hirscher fails to qualify for 2nd run
The Associated Press | Updated Nov. 17 - 7:39 a.m. | Save Story
Olympic champion Clement Noel has dominated the first men's World Cup slalom of the season for his first victory in 22 months. The Frenchman protected his opening-run lead to beat Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway by 0.80 seconds. Swiss allrounder Loic Meillard placed third. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen came fourth having missed by one tenth what would have been the first ever World Cup podium result in Alpine skiing for Brazil. Record eight-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher failed to qualify for the second run in his first slalom since coming out of retirement after five years.
Bela Karolyi, coach of Olympic champion gymnasts who was criticized after Nassar scandal, dies at 82
Will Graves, Associated Press | Updated Nov. 16 - 9:01 p.m. | Save Story
Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics confirmed Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given. Karolyi and wife Martha trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in the U.S. and Romania, including Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton. Comaneci called Karolyi "a big impact and influence" on her life. Karolyi came under fire at times for his methods and several former gymnasts blamed the Karolyis for their role in the Larry Nassar scandal, saying the culture they helped create allowed Nassar's abusive behavior to run unchecked for years.
