Latest news with #goldmedal
RNZ News
a day ago
- General
- RNZ News
More recognition for New Zealand's queen of cycling
Ellesse Andrews on the podium at last year's Paris Olympic Games where she won two gold and one silver medal. Photo: Alex Whitehead/ The most successful cyclist in New Zealand Olympic history has dedicated her latest honour to the people who supported her decorated career - and it isn't over yet. Four-time Olympic medallist and double Olympic champion Ellesse Andrews has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in this year's King's Birthday Honours for services to cycling. The 25-year-old sprinter said front of mind was her parents who were there when it all began. Her father, John Andrews, was no stranger to the cutthroat world of elite cycling when he introduced his young daughter to the sport. He won a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in the time trial, and knew the speeds she would be reaching when she raced the steeply banked oval tracks of the velodrome. He also wore the silver fern at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. While mother Angela Mote-Andrews knew about competing on two wheels as an elite mountainbiker. Currently competing in Japan with the New Zealand team, Andrews said the honour was a bolt from the blue. "It means a lot to me but also really signifies the support that I have to had to get to this point," Andrews said. "Absolutely my family, my friends and everyone has been so supportive and I guess beyond that the community that we have within cycling in New Zealand." Andrews grew up in Luggate and attended Wānaka Primary School and Mount Aspiring College until her final two years when she attended St Peter's in Cambridge. She set new standards in the sport after winning gold medals in the Women's Sprint and Keirin along with a silver medal in the Women's Team Sprint at last year's Paris Olympic Games. She became the first New Zealand cyclist to win two gold medals and three medals in total at a single Olympics. Together with the silver medal she attained in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, taking her Olympic medal haul to four medals. The previous best was two medals won by cyclist Hayden Roulston at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Alongside her Olympic medals, Andrews won the the Keirin title at the World Track Cycling Championships in Glasgow in 2023. She also won three gold medals at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. While the medals on the track have come thick and fast, she didn't have an honour like this on her radar. "I didn't really expect it at all so it was really a massive surprise to read the email and then to see it come out today - yes, it's a huge privilege." "I'm really proud to have been a part of it and I'm really proud to go out there on the world stage and really to continue to put New Zealand on the map because we have so many talented riders." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Henry leads GB gold rush at European Championships
Lauren Henry won gold in the women's quadruple sculls at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris [BBC] Great Britain surged to the top of the medal standings with five gold medals on the final day of the European Rowing Championships in Bulgaria. Lauren Henry, a reigning Olympic champion in the women's quadruple sculls, won gold in her first senior international regatta in the single sculls. Advertisement And a new-look GB crew continued their domination in the women's quadruple sculls, without Henry in the boat, as they defended their European title in Plovdiv. Britain also claimed a first ever men's quadruple sculls gold, while both the men's and women's boats won gold in the eights to take GB's total medal tally for the regatta to six gold, a silver and two bronze medals. Germany were second in the medal standings with five golds and one silver. "It's very, very special," said Henry, 23, after following up her British record time in the heats with victory in Sunday's final. Advertisement "I wanted to come here and make a mark and make a name for myself and I feel like I've done that. "I want to be world champion, I want to be Olympic champion, I want to break the world best time, I want to be the most successful British single sculler ever. That's my aim. I've still got many years to go but watch this space." Sunday's gold rush followed four medals for the British team on Saturday. Paralympic champion Benjamin Pritchard won the PR1 men's single sculls in a new world-record time of eight minutes 40.38 seconds, while Sam Murray and Annie Caddick claimed silver in the PR3 mixed double. Advertisement There were also bronze medals for GB in the women's four, and Eleanor Brinkhoff and Megan Slabbert in the women's pair.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Meet the 105-year-old athletics champion
This is Sawang Janpram, a gold medallist from the World Masters Games in makes him special? He's 105-years-old! He was the oldest person competing in four events - discus, javelin, shot put and 100 metre sprint. He was also the only person in his age category of 100 years or meant if he finished an event he was guaranteed to get a gold medal - and he bagged four of them in total! According to news agency AFP, Sawang, who is from Thailand, started competing at the age of 90!It was all thanks to his 73-year-old daughter, Siripan, who also competes at events. She is an athlete with the Thai Veteran Athletics Association, and would often take her dad along to watch her compete. He liked the atmosphere and decided to give it a go - a great decision with four gold medals now in his collection. Speaking about his new hobby, Sawang said: "Exercise makes our life better and we get to meet friends who also exercise."It's like our lives are livelier and we do not feel lonely at home." What are the World Masters Games? The World Masters Games are held every four years and bring together competitors aged 30+ from around the world. There were over 25,000 athletes from 107 countries that competed at the Games in Taipei - that's more than twice the amount of competitors at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The next World Masters Games will be in Japan in you would have what it takes to be an athletics champion in 100 years time? Let us know in the comments below!
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Olympic boxing champ Imane Khelif must undergo genetic sex screening to fight for new governing body
Algeria's Imane Khelif poses after defeating China's Yang Liu to win gold in their women's 66 kg final boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File) Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif must undergo genetic sex screening to participate in upcoming events with the sport's new governing body. World Boxing announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes Friday. The governing body specifically mentioned Khelif when announcing the policy, saying the Algerian gold medal winner must be screened before she will be approved to fight at any upcoming events, including the Eindhoven Box Cup next month in the Netherlands. Advertisement 'The introduction of mandatory testing will be part of a new policy on 'Sex, Age and Weight' to ensure the safety of all participants and deliver a competitive level playing field for men and women,' World Boxing wrote in a statement. The fighters' national federations will be responsible for administering the tests and providing the results to World Boxing. Khelif won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer amid international scrutiny on her and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, another gold medal winner. The previous governing body for Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association, disqualified both fighters from its 2023 world championships after claiming they had failed an unspecified eligibility test. The IOC ran the past two Olympic boxing tournaments after the banishment of the IBA for decades of misdeeds and controversy, and it applied the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympics. Khelif and Lin were eligible to compete under those standards. Khelif intends to return to international competition next month in Eindhoven as part of her plan to defend her gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, but some boxers and their federations had already spoken out to protest her inclusion. Advertisement Chromosome testing was common in Olympic sports during the 20th century, but was largely abandoned in the 1990s because of numerous ambiguities that couldn't be easily resolved by the tests, collectively known as differences in sex development (DSD). Many sports switched to hormone testing to determine sex eligibility, but those tests require governing bodies to make difficult decisions on the eligibility of women with naturally high testosterone levels. Three months ago, World Athletics — the governing body for track and field — became the first Olympic sport to reintroduce chromosome testing, requiring athletes who compete in the women's events to submit to the test once in their careers. World Boxing has been provisionally approved to replace the IBA as the governing body at the Los Angeles Games, but it has faced significant pressure from boxers and their federations to create sex eligibility standards. World Boxing announced that all athletes over 18 years old in its competitions must undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) genetic test to determine their sex at birth. The PCR test detects chromosomal material through a mouth swab, saliva or blood. Advertisement If an athlete intending to compete in the women's categories is determined to have male chromosomal material, 'initial screenings will be referred to independent clinical specialists for genetic screening, hormonal profiles, anatomical examination or other valuation of endocrine profiles by medical specialists,' World Boxing wrote. The policy also includes an appeals process. The boxing body's decision is the latest development in a tumultuous period in Olympic sex eligibility policy. The issue of transgender participation in sports has become an international flashpoint, with President Donald Trump and other conservative world leaders repeatedly weighing in. Earlier this year, World Athletics also proposed recommendations that would apply strict rules to athletes who were born female but had what the organization describes as naturally occurring testosterone levels in the typical male range. In 2023, World Athletics banned transgender athletes who had transitioned male to female and gone through male puberty. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he felt confident that the body's new rules would withstand legal challenges. Advertisement The 26-year-old Khelif had competed in women's boxing events under the IBA's auspices without controversy until the 2023 world championships. She had never won a major international competition before her dominant performance in the women's welterweight division in Paris. ___ AP boxing:
CBC
3 days ago
- General
- CBC
Canada off to gold-medal game at para hockey worlds after win over Czech Republic
Liam Hickey and Adam Dixon scored 18 seconds apart in the opening period as Canada booked its ticket to the gold-medal game of the world para ice hockey championship on Friday with a 3-0 win over Czechia. Tyler McGregor also scored for Canada. Hickey and McGregor both had an assist in the game at LECOM Harborcenter. Canada will next face the United States in the final after the Americans defeated China 6-1 in their semifinal game. "We came out flying and kept our composure all night," Hickey said. "When we take over games early, there isn't much that can slow us down and I think we did a great job right from the start. Physicality is something the boys love. We play fast and hard. WATCH | Canadian Para hockey team gears up for U.S. rivalry: Canadian Para hockey team gears up for U.S. rivalry 21 minutes ago Duration 0:44 "Honestly, the Czechs brought it tonight. They came ready to play, but we wore them down. Hard-hitting games like that are so much fun to play in and that mentality of `hard to play against' is what we will need tomorrow in the gold-medal game, no matter who the opponent is." The Canadians have outscored their opponents 30-2, including Friday's win, across four games in the tournament. Only China has managed to score against Canada, with Canada taking that game 4-2 on Tuesday.
