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2020 Olympic boxing to take place with visible round-by-round scoring, no judges from 2016

By Beau DureNov 20, 2019, 5:57 PM EST
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Tommy Ford ends U.S. men’s World Cup drought at Beaver Creek Katie Ledecky wins race by 30 seconds, takes back No. 1 ranking Mikaela Shiffrin runner-up in Lake Louise downhill

With international organizer AIBA still in a state of limbo, the IOC announced Wednesday that it would proceed with some changes to the boxing competition for the 2020 Olympics.

The most apparent change for spectators will be the return of the old practice of posting judges’ scores after every round, which was done in the 2012 Olympics but not in 2016, when organizers also stopped using the system of counting punches and returned to a traditional 10-point must system.

Overseeing this new approach will be a set of referees and judges who will be thoroughly vetted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and required to take courses and tests on judging and “competition manipulation.” All 36 referees and judges from the 2016 Olympics, who were suspended soon after the Games, will be ineligible.

In the years since Rio, AIBA has fallen into severe debt. The organization also appointed an interim president, Gafur Rakhimov, whom the U.S. Treasury Department described as “one of Uzbekistan’s leading criminals.” Last year, Rakhimov was the only name on the ballot for the presidency, but he resigned earlier this year in what AIBA described as “the selfless act of stepping aside in order to deal with his own personal issues.”

AIBA’s executive committee is due to meet Thursday in Switzerland after postponing an Extraordinary Congress from December 14 to March 20.

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Noah Lyles compares his progress to Bolt’s and talks about anime-infused celebrations

By Beau DureNov 18, 2019, 1:30 PM EST
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Tommy Ford ends U.S. men’s World Cup drought at Beaver Creek Katie Ledecky wins race by 30 seconds, takes back No. 1 ranking Mikaela Shiffrin runner-up in Lake Louise downhill

A supremely confident Noah Lyles spoke Sunday on Football Night in America about his place in track and field’s post-Usain Bolt sprinting world.

“We talk about Usain Bolt,” Lyles said. “I’m faster than him when he was my age, so let’s see what happens.”

In the 100m, Bolt was faster at this age, running a 9.76 more than three months before his 22nd birthday and then a 9.72 a couple of weeks later. Lyles set his personal best of 9.86 earlier this year, two months before his 22nd birthday.

But in the 200m, while Bolt’s four fastest times are all ahead of Lyles’ best of 19.50, the first of those was one day before his 22nd birthday — the then-record 19.30 at the 2008 Olympics. The others were later in his career. Lyles ran a 19.50 a couple of weeks before his 22nd birthday earlier this year in Lausanne. Bolt’s only other times faster than that came later in his career, so Lyles’ boast is correct at that distance.

Lyles expects to have some crowd support next year in Tokyo because his colorful prerace and postrace antics draw from Japanese culture.

“I’ve got a lot of Japanese followers because I’m a pretty big anime fan, so I’m always showing that on the track,” Lyles said.

While Lyles was tied for the faster 100m time of the year heading into the world championships, he focused on the 200m and didn’t attempt the double. He plans to go for both next year.

The bad news for Lyles in 2020: The Diamond League has cut the 200 from its list of core sports, a decision that surprised him.

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Jake Gibb sets record as oldest man to win beach volleyball World Tour event

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By Beau DureNov 18, 2019, 8:54 AM EST
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Katie Ledecky wins race by 30 seconds, takes back No. 1 ranking Mikaela Shiffrin runner-up in Lake Louise downhill Alena Kostornaia leads historic Russian medal sweep at Grand Prix Final

Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb won their first FIVB World Tour event together and jumped to the front of the line of Olympic qualifying Sunday at the four-star event in Chetumal, Mexico.

Gibb is 43 years old and will be 44 when the Olympics start next year in Tokyo. He is aiming for his fourth appearance in the Olympics, having reached the quarterfinals in 2008 and 2012 with Sean Rosenthal and played in 2016 with Casey Patterson.

Gibb teamed up with Crabb in 2017 and found immediate success on the AVP Tour. This year on the AVP circuit, the pair won four of six events and never missed the podium.

Until Sunday, their best finish in FIVB play was fifth. In Mexico, after dropping a match in pool play, the pair rallied for a three-set win over the second seeds, Poland’s Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek, then took two straight-set wins before defeating top-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands 21-16, 16-21, 15-12 in the men’s final.

The win was worth 800 points in Olympic qualifying, moving the duo up to eighth overall and first among U.S. teams. Only two teams per country can qualify.

Crabb’s brother, Trevor Crabb, is in position to go to the Olympics as well. He and Tri Bourne took bronze in Mexico to move into second among U.S. teams.

The qualification chase still has a long way to go. The final rankings will be posted June 15. Lurking behind the Crabb brothers and their partners is the veteran duo of Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser, who reached the 2016 Olympic quarterfinals and had a torrid run in 2016-17 but struggled internationally this year. Lucena and Dalhausser will each be 40 years old during the 2020 Games.

In women’s play, Sarah Sponcil/Kelly Claes and Brooke Sweat/Kerri Walsh Jennings each placed fifth. April Ross and Alix Klineman are the top U.S. pair in the qualifying rankings, having won a Major Series event last year over Sweat and three-time Olympic champion Walsh Jennings, who stand fifth overall with Sponcil and Claes chasing them for the second U.S. berth.

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