Neymar has made his first appearance in over a year after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament tear, coming off the bench in the second half of Al Hilal’s AFC Champions League Elite clash against Al Ain.
The Brazil star replaced Nasser Al Dawsari in the 77th minute, just after Salem Al Dawsari had scored to put Al Hilal 5-3 ahead. He nearly made an instant impact, exchanging passes with Aleksandar Mitrovic to create space before firing his shot just wide of the left-hand post.
The game finished 5-4 to Al Hilal after the United Arab Emirates-based Al Ain scored a last-gasp penalty to narrow the scoreline.
On the pitch after the full-time whistle, Neymar said: “I feel good… I always have a good team. I’m so happy. I’m back! I’m back!
The former Paris Saint-Germain player suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury during Brazil’s qualifier against Uruguay shortly after joining the Saudi Pro League (SPL). He underwent surgery last November.
Neymar had joined Al Hilal in August 2023 from PSG in a €90 million transfer, but played just five games before suffering the injury.
Neymar’s former club Santos congratulated the player on his return in a post on X.
“It was more than 12 months away from the field, with an immeasurable longing to return to doing what he loves so much,” the Brazilian club wrote.
“Neymar is not just a star. It’s not just genius. Neymar is synonymous with joy in football. His return is the happiness of millions of fans around the world. And, when it comes to fans, the Santos nation has an incomparable feeling. A more than special bond with the best Brazilian player of recent years.”
Neymar also received a message from Brazil’s Football Confederation (CBF) who wrote: “Neymar is the representation of the magic of Brazilian football and captivates fans from all over the world. Fans from all over the planet proudly wear shirts of the Brazilian National Team, Santos, PSG, Barcelona and Al-Hilal with the number 10 and Neymar’s name on the back. “The CBF celebrates and congratulates Neymar, one of the greatest players in the history of world football, on his return to the pitch.”
The forward, who is Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, missed the 2024 Copa América that was won by Argentina.
He is eligible to play in the AFC Champions League as there are no restrictions on the number of foreign players. However, he will only be able to be registered in January for the second half of the Saudi Pro League season.
SPL teams have limits to the number of foreign players that can be registered.
Eight foreign players born before 2003 can be registered for the squad, while the rules allow for two foreign players born in 2003 or after. Neymar’s contract with Al Hilal expires in June 2025.
Saudi champions Al Hilal, coached by Portuguese manager Jorge Jesus, lead the domestic standings having won all seven of their games.
The CBF, meanwhile, are hopeful of having Neymar available in time for the November World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Uruguay.
Brazil are fourth in their World Cup qualifying group, four points adrift of leaders Argentina after 10 games.
Cameroon’s Francis Ngannou made a triumphant return to mixed martial arts by knocking out Renan Ferreria in the first round of their heavyweight clash at the Professional Fighters League (PFL) event dubbed “Battle Of The Giants” in the early hours of Sunday morning.
After some early heavy kicks from both fighters, Ngannou, who had not fought in mixed martial arts since January 2022, took the fight to the mat and eventually got behind his Brazilian opponent, landing a series of bludgeoning punches to end the fight with 88 seconds left in the first round.
A tearful Ngannou then dedicated his victory to the memory of his 15-month-old son Kobe, who died in April.
“I only did this fight because of him. I wanted to fight for him … I hope they can remember his name, because without Kobe, we wouldn’t be here tonight,” he said in a post-fight interview in the cage.
The event broke with the PFL‘s usual format of a regular season and playoffs to put on a series of “super fights” with belts at stake as Ngannou made his return to the sport where he made his name after a foray into the world of boxing.
Ngannou’s rise from childhood poverty in Cameroon to the pinnacle of mixed martial arts, where he won the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight title in March 2021, made him a hugely popular figure and one of the most sought-after free agents in combat sports when his UFC contract expired.
He went on to take part in lucrative boxing matches against heavyweights Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, both of which he lost, and his signing was a huge coup for the PFL in its battle to compete with the UFC.
As Chubb reflected on the ups and downs of the past year through the rehab and recovery process from two surgeries to repair his knee, he penned an essay in the Player’s Tribune to share his story and his experience.
He has a friend that works for the Players’ Tribune, who originally reached out about the potential of sharing his story. After conversations about his recovery, Chubb decided to share his personal experience to help connect with the city of Cleveland. They wrote the essay and released the piece Wednesday morning.
“It means a lot, because people only see me on Sundays, and they don’t know what it’s been like this past year, been a lot of downs. Lot of hard work. Gives them a little insight into what’s actually been going on,” Chubb said. “Just trying to give back a little bit. I am a bit of a closed-off guy, so I thought it would be good and I thought people would appreciate me opening up a little bit, especially at a time like this.”
The piece resonated with Browns fans and increased excitement about his eventual return. Yet, Chubb has provided that spark of energy even dating back to last season.
When the Browns faced the Jets on Thursday Night Football in late December, Chubb served as the Dawg Pound Captain. As he stepped out of the tunnel, he pulled out a Batman mask and slipped it on. He then pulled the guitar out of the case as the fans in the stadium roared and smashed the guitar. Hearing the cheers and applause of the fans encapsulated to Chubb what the fanbase feels about him.
That sentiment of the fans still rings true as they await to see No. 24 run through the tunnel on gameday.
“I think it’s the people here in Cleveland that make it what it is,” Chubb said. “People here, they want to win, and they love sports here. It’s a sports town. The people here, the love they have for us and everyone in the city is what makes it special.”
The Miami Dolphins lost quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in Week 2 after the signal caller suffered his third official concussion. Tagovailoa had been attempting to pick up a first down in the third quarter against the Buffalo Bills and ran head-first into Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
More news: Titans vs Dolphins Expert Predictions for Week 4 Monday Night Football
Tagovailoa was clearly hurt and began to make the same “fencing posture” he did in 2022 when he took a big shot to the head against the Cincinnati Bengals. After another concussion that was reminiscent of the incident in 2022, many called on Tagovailoa to retire from the NFL.
Despite the pleas for his personal safety, Tagovailoa revealed he had no intentions of retiring. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel also revealed that Tagovailoa would consult with outside neurologists to determine his playing future.
McDaniel reiterated that Tagovailoa would approach the recovery in the same way that he did in 2022. Tagovailoa met with outside neurologists during Week 3 and has now received a massive update on his playing future.
Adam Schefter reports Tua Tagovailoa is “symptom-free” and appears to be on track to return to the field as soon as Week 8.
According to Dolphins beat reporter Adam Beasley by way of NFL insider Adam Schefter, “Adam Schefter reports Tua Tagovailoa is “symptom-free” and appears to be on track to return to the field as soon as Week 8.”
The Dolphins initially did not place Tagovailoa on injured reserve but eventually chose to do so to give the quarterback time to consult with outside doctors. Due to his IR status, Tagovailoa is not eligible to return until Week 8. Now, it appears that is exactly what he plans to do.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 22: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Miami Dolphins looks on from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on September 22, 2024 in Seattle, Washington…. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 22: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Miami Dolphins looks on from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on September 22, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa is set to return in Week 8.
Steph Chambers/Getty Images
The above X post indicates that Tagovailoa is “symptom free” and will be back under center when the Dolphins take on the Arizona Cardinals. This news should make Dolphins fans plenty happy, as the offense has sputtered since Tagovailoa went down.
Backup quarterback Skylar Thompson took over in Week 2 when Tagovailoa took over. He did little to help the team come back against the Bills. During Week 3, the Dolphins opted to give Thompson a full start. The offensive line did not hold up, resulting in Thompson suffering a chest injury.
The Dolphins were then forced to use longtime veteran Tim Boyle. Boyle also could not rally the team, and Miami dropped to 1-2 on the season after beating handily beaten by the Seattle Seahawks.
More news: Dolphins Announce New Starting Quarterback For Week 4
The Dolphins had signed Tyler “Snoop” Huntley from the Baltimore Ravens practice squad, but he was given the “emergency third quarterback” designation for Week 3.
The Dolphins chose to start Huntley against the Titans, but another loss might paint a bleak picture for the offensive attack until Tagovailoa can return.
For more news on the Dolphins, head to Newsweek Sports.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has accepted the potential return of FC Barcelona midfielder … [+] Ilkay Gundogan to his team according to transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano, who cited anonymous sources on X.
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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has accepted the potential return of FC Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gundogan to his team according to transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano, who cited anonymous sources on X.
“Understand Pep Guardiola has already approved Ilkay Gundogan’s return to Manchester City,” Romano tweeted on Tuesday morning in Europe.
“Pep wants Gundo back as talks are now taking place with his camp, first contact [was] made yesterday. [The] decision [is] up to Gundogan, as he has proposals also from Saudi/Qatar; Man City, on it,” the Italian added.
Gundogan has been linked with a move away from Barca since the start of the summer, but talk of a possible exit has gone into overdrive in recent days.
First the veteran was left out of Hansi Flick’s Matchday 1 squad to face Valencia, though well-informed source Gerard Romero claimed that the development had taken place because Gundogan was recovering from a blow to the face he received in the second half of Barca’s 3-0 loss to AS Monaco in the Joan Gamper Trophy match.
Others including RAC1‘s Marta Ramon reported that the decision was a means of putting pressure on Gundogan to leave the club, though.
Barca is encountering problems navigating Financial Fair Play limits, and getting one of the highest salaries off the pay roll, which is Gundogan’s, would go a long way towards registering new players such as Dani Olmo.
Gundogan took to X ,formerly known as Twitter, to congratulate his teammates for their heroic 2-1 comeback win at the Mestalla while head coach Flick shed light on a conversation the two men had and stated a belief to Spanish television that a figure he once made captain of the German national team will stay on.
On Sunday, though, Radio Catalunya reported that Gundogan had contacted City, where he spent seven years from 2016 to 2023, to sound out a possible return a few days before his case became front and centre.
Cadena SER then discussed how Gundogan has accepted a proposal to leave a club he’s only spent a year at, and it seems that City is now open to its captain of an unprecedented treble in 2022/2023 wearing its shirt once more.
Ilkay Gundogan contacted Manchester City a few days ago to sound out a potential, sensational return … [+] to his former club from FC Barcelona in the current transfer window according to Catalunya Radio’s ‘La TdT’ program, which cited anonymous sources.
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Ilkay Gundogan contacted Manchester City a few days ago to sound out a potential, sensational return to his former club from FC Barcelona in the current transfer window according to Catalunya Radio’s ‘La TdT’ program, which cited anonymous sources.
With around an hour and a half to spare until kick off in Barca’s La Liga 2024/2025 season opener versus Valencia, SPORTreported that Gundogan had essentially handed in a transfer request and asked to the leave the Catalans this summer.
The German was a surprise omission from the Matchday 1 squad list for the trip to Mestalla, which was released at midday in Catalonia on Saturday afternoon.
Gerard Romero revealed how the veteran had been ruled out of facing Valencia thanks to a blow to the eyebrow he received in Monday’s 3-0 loss to AS Monaco in the Joan Gamper Trophy match.
Elsewhere, however, RAC1‘s Marta Ramon tweeted that Gundogan had been pushed out of head coach Hansi Flick’s plans as a ploy to put pressure on him to leave.
Barca is currently facing problems navigating Financial Fair Play limits, which affects being able to make new signings and registering new or existing players.
As he is one of the highest earners of the first team squad, getting Gundogan’s salary off the pay roll would be a relief for President Joan Laporta and Sporting Director Deco.
Marta Ramon’s claims were given credence when the SPORT story broke approaching kick off, in a match which eventually proved to be a 2-1 win for the Blaugrana.
Gundogan took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to congratulate his teammates for a heroic comeback after they initially trailed the hosts.
“Crucial victory in our season opener – good job! Vamos equipo (let’s go, team),” he wrote, which was seen as a positive sign of Gundogan in truth wanting to stay.
Furthermore, Flick also told local broadcasters in Spain that he believed ‘Gundo’, who he once made captain of the German national team, will continue in Catalonia.
“I spoke with him to know how he feels ahead of the season,” Flick said. “I know him very well. I appreciate the player and the person he is. We spoke about everything, but it will stay between us, it’s not for you to know. I have a feeling he will stay.”
While that might prove an accurate prediction, it could still be true that Gundogan contacted City a few days ago “to sound out the possibility of returning to the club” according to La TdT, which cited anonymous Barca sources.
The program added that Pep Guardiola’s men would be open to a sensational second stint at the Etihad for the 33-year-old, to the side he played for between 2016 and 2023.
It now remains to be seen what happens with Gundogan’s case over the next fortnight or so, before the window closes until January.
FROM HIS UFC debut on Feb. 11, 2018, to his title loss to Sean Strickland on Sept. 10, 2023, Israel Adesanya was one of the most active fighters on the UFC roster. He had 16 fights in that time frame (an average of three fights a year), including 11 consecutive title bouts. Adesanya might have even improved on that number without the COVID-19 pandemic grinding the world to a halt.
However, the breakneck pace wore him down. He split a pair of fights with his longtime rival Alex Pereira in which he lost and regained the middleweight title in six months while nursing a knee injury. His public feuds with Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori were tiresome. “It’s a lot to promote the fights,” Adesanya told ESPN, saying the “mind games” are just as taxing as the fights. By the time he began his second run as champion, he was out of gas.
In hindsight, it was understandable that his competitive battery may have been drained before defending the title against Strickland at UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia, in September 2023. After all, Adesanya admits that he had difficulty getting up for Strickland when it was a fight with Dricus Du Plessis that he had intensely pursued. But being the fighting champion he was, the New Zealander wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to fight so close to home, even if he was worn down and disinterested in Strickland as an opponent.
“Even before the Pereira fight [in 2022], it was a hectic schedule for me,” Adesanya said when asked when he started to feel burnout and considered taking a break from the sport. “After the Strickland fight my body just said that I’m done and that I needed to chill out.”
A month after his loss to Strickland, Adesanya appeared on the New Zealand radio show “The Rock” and stated that he would not be fighting for “a long time.” But just how long did he mean?
Adesanya told The Mac Life “2027” last October about his return while in Riyadh for Francis Ngannou’s boxing match with Tyson Fury. For one of the UFC’s most active fighters, the idea of an extended hiatus left many questioning if he still had the desire to fight and if the career of “The Last Stylebender” was reaching its final chapter.
Fortunately, the world won’t have to wait much longer as Adesanya will make his highly anticipated return at UFC 305 to challenge rival Du Plessis for the middleweight championship in Perth, Australia.
By the time Adesanya steps into the cage, his sabbatical will have lasted just over 11 months. His hiatus included two months where he didn’t step in a gym for “his own sanity.”
“I had no idea how long I’d be gone but I knew it wasn’t going to be until 2027,” Adesanya said. “That was a joke. Don’t worry. I’m back now.”
The time away allowed the 35-year-old to rethink how to be a professional athlete, along with finding the proper motivation to get into the Octagon, before his fire to compete could be completely extinguished.
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown and I have both a big ass head and a big ass crown,” Adesanya half-heartedly joked about the burnout he experienced along with the blow to the ego he dealt with by losing to someone he was heavily favored to beat (-650 to win, via ESPN BET) by oddsmakers against Strickland. “[The loss] was a lot to deal with. I’m only human and there was only so much my mind and body could take.”
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Du Plessis vs. Adesanya: More than just a title fight
Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya dive into the genesis of their feud, and how much ‘bad blood’ is stirring into their UFC middleweight title showdown.
A LARGE PART of Adesanya’s failure to perform at UFC 293 had to do with how he took care of his body.
Adesanya explained on his YouTube channel following the loss to Strickland that his performance was something out of a “bad dream” where he couldn’t muster up the energy to perform at a high level.
He didn’t make any excuses and gave proper credit to Strickland’s gameplan that night, which wouldn’t allow Adesanya to get into a rhythm, but it was clear to anyone watching that it wasn’t quite the Adesanya who tore through the 185-pound division.
As he approaches his fight with Du Plessis, one of the biggest lifestyle changes that Adesanya has made is focusing on his diet in order to reach peak performance on fight night. In reality, Adesanya was eating “Uber Eats every meal” and not consuming the diet associated with a championship athlete.
“What I would do back in the day is I would wake up, go to the gym, train and then I’d have breakfast,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel of his poor eating habits. “That’s not good because you’re burning other things that are fuel sources that aren’t meant to be fuel sources.
“It wasn’t really bothering me and I was able to get away with it. I was still performing better than everyone else … but now I’m 35 and I realize you have to optimize yourself.”
Photos of Adesanya’s body transformation surfaced on social media ahead of his fight with Du Plessis, and the lifestyle changes appear to have had a positive effect on his physique.
“I stare at myself in the mirror because I’ve never seen myself in this kind of shape,” he said. “That’s due to eating properly, having good sleep and living like a proper athlete. Father Time always wins and at 35 my body can’t handle the lifestyle I had at 26. I had to be humble enough to understand that.”
Adesanya wasn’t the only fighter who needed to take a hiatus in order to heal and reset. Jose Aldo spent 20 months away from the Octagon after losing to Merab Dvalishvili in 2022 and looked phenomenal upon his return against Jonathan Martinez earlier this year. Brandon Moreno recently announced a self-imposed sabbatical following his loss to Brandon Royval and cited the need to “rest a bit” before stepping back into competition.
Plenty of fighters have taken time off. In many cases, the hiatus allowed them to figure out what went wrong and correct it.
Although they have had different career trajectories, Miesha Tate can relate to Adesanya’s need to take a break from MMA. The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion retired after an upset loss to Raquel Pennington in 2016 and stayed away from the sport until her return in 2021.
“When I retired from the sport, I felt that I was burning the candle at both ends for so long,” Tate told ESPN. Tate had fought three times in 2016, the most she had fought in a calendar year since 2010. She regained the bantamweight title by submitting Holly Holm, dropped it to Amanda Nunes in the subsequent fight and then turned in a spiritless performance against Pennington.
“I was carrying on too long without stopping to figure out what was wrong with me,” Tate said. Even though she defeated Holm, Tate admits she was already worn down by the constant cycle of training and competing until she finally burned herself out. “It became too much and if you keep fighting in a situation where you are already carrying a massive physical and mental load, it can leave you in a terrible place.
“There comes a point where you have to realize we’re not robots, we’re humans. And suppressing emotion only works for so long. Eventually, it comes out, and when it does, sometimes it’s just too much to bear.”
Like Adesanya, as long as Tate was winning, everything was OK, even when it wasn’t.
“All the wins had fixed whatever problems I had, or so I thought,” she said. “But it was a pseudo-fix that never really fixed anything. And that’s how it gets addicting. Winning is like a drug, and it can be misleading because you enjoy the high and it masks whatever is wrong. But when I lost two fights in a row, I had to face the truth.”
Since returning in 2021, Tate has gone 2-2. While the record may not suggest it, “Cupcake” said that she has never felt better mentally and physically than she has since returning and she cites her most recent win against Julia Avila where she felt at her absolute best.
“I was just on — and I’m talking very on,” Tate said of her submission win. “I knew exactly what I was going to do and I was actually okay with any outcome as long as I put my best effort out there. It took the weight of winning off my shoulders. People saw the performance but they were unable to see what I was feeling inside with the mental and emotional changes. It all came full circle.”
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Sonnen: The belt has nothing to do with it for Adesanya, it’s personal
Chael Sonnen breaks down the heated rivalry between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis ahead of their championship clash at UFC 305.
AFTER BEING ON top for as long as Adesanya was, it became harder to find motivation for fights.
Before taking his leave, Adesanya admits that he battled “boredom” in fights (his second with Vettori, for example) due to his ability to use his superior striking to easily outpoint his opponents. Eventually, a combination of a bad diet and lack of motivation culminated in his listless performance against Strickland.
“When you have a run like I have had it’s a lot to constantly have this target on your back and you have to repeatedly defend yourself over and over again,” he said.
Adesanya hopes it will come full circle for him, but a little extra motivation in the form of his opponent doesn’t hurt, either. UFC 305 will mark the first time two African-born fighters will headline a UFC event for a world title. Adesanya was born in Lagos, Nigeria, but currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand, while Du Plessis was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa. Adesanya placed Du Plessis on his radar in 2020 when the South African proclaimed that he wanted to be the first “real” African champion.
Adesanya has vowed to make Du Plessis pay for what he believes is the disrespect of the African-born UFC champions (Francis Ngannou, Kamaru Usman and Adesanya) that came before him.
“He knows what he said,” the former champion said. “I’ll make him take accountability for it in the Octagon.”
Adesanya denies that Du Plessis and the opportunity to become the second fighter in UFC history to be a three-time world champion in the same weight class were the primary motivations for his return to the Octagon. Instead, the time off has rekindled his love for competition.
“I feel like when athletes need to take time away it’s because they have to find out how to fall in love with the sport again because it’s not the same relationship they had at the beginning of their career,” Tate said.
It didn’t take long for Adesanya to fall back in love with MMA, although he stated that his approach to fighting in this chapter of “The Last Stylebender” will be different than the one that preceded it.
“I’m done with fighting like that,” Adesanya said when asked if he would return to the hectic pace he fought at before the hiatus. “I’m slowing down now. Most champions fight once a year and here I was fighting three times a year as a champion. It’s a good time to slow it all down.”
Adesanya is no longer bored, operating on limited sleep or getting by on fast food. And if he was that great at doing what he did back then, imagine what this fully focused and motivated version of Adesanya has in store for his opponent at UFC 305.
“This feels like my first time [in the UFC] all over again,” he said. “I’m back where it all started for me at UFC 221 in Perth, Australia. It’s the old Izzy, but also old Izzy, if you get what I’m saying. It’s both the Izzy from before and a more mature version who has learned a lot over the past 11 months.
Jordan Chiles, of the United States, competes during the women’s artistic gymnastics individual floor finals Monday at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Chiles won bronze after a last-minute inquiry found the judges had underscored her by a tenth of a point. On Saturday, an appeals court vacated the inquiry, saying it had come four seconds too late.
Charlie Riedel/AP
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Charlie Riedel/AP
NPR is in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. For more of our coverage from the Games head to our latest updates.
PARIS — An independent arbitration court vacated a last-minute inquiry in the Olympic gymnastics floor exercise final that boosted the score of U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles, and the sport’s governing body officially moved a Romanian athlete into third place — a series of events Saturday that put Chiles’ bronze medal in question.
Judges in last Monday’s final in Paris had originally given Chiles a score of 13.666, which put her in fifth place behind two Romanian gymnasts, Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, both of whom had scored 13.7.
Because Chiles had been the last to perform her floor routine, Barbosu, who held a tiebreaker over Maneca-Voinea,began to celebrate when the initial score came through, thinking she had won the bronze instead.
But Chiles’ coaches believed the judges had underscored her, and they filed an inquiry shortly after the initial score came through. The judges agreed and revised her score up by a tenth of a point to 13.766, moving her into third place over Barbosu. Chiles was awarded the bronze medal.
The next day, the Romanian gymnastics organization filed a protest with the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, which oversees Olympic gymnastics, seeking to have the inquiry overturned.
In a decision Saturday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said that Chiles’ inquiry had indeed been filed too late. Gymnastics rules require that inquiries be filed within one minute; Chiles’ inquiry was filed after one minute and four seconds, the court said. With the inquiry vacated, her score was reverted to 13.666.
Soon after, FIG officially updated the results of Monday’s competition, moving Barbosu into third and Chiles to fifth.
It is unclear what will happen to the bronze medal awarded to Chiles.
U.S.’s Jordan Chiles holds up her medals after the gymnastics finals on Monday. Her bronze, on the left, which she won during the floor exercise might be taken away.
Charlie Riedel/AP
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Charlie Riedel/AP
The Romanian protest had also asked that all three athletes be ranked together in 3rd place by FIG, in order to share the bronze — a request that FIG apparently denied.
In a joint statement, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said they were “devastated” by the CAS ruling.
“The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the statement said.
In a post on her Instagram, Chiles said she was broken-hearted. “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health,” she wrote.
“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media,” the USA Gymnastics and USOPC statement said. No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Freddie Freeman singled and got a hug from Phillies star Bryce Harper in his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup on Monday night after missing eight games to be with his ailing 3-year-old son, who is out of danger after a serious medical diagnosis.
“I’m back,” he said before the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory, “so that means good things are happening at the Freeman home.”
Freeman received a standing ovation in his first at-bat. The Phillies joined the applause from their dugout. The pitch clock was stopped as he stepped out of the batter’s box, removed his helmet and waved to the crowd, then touched his right hand to his heart.
“It means a lot that the Phillies were respectful of that situation,” Freeman said. “I wasn’t expecting it, but very much appreciated from the Dodgers fans. They made it really hard to hit in that first at-bat, but that’s a good thing.”
The response clearly moved Freeman, who took several deep breaths before stepping in against Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola.
“I was doing OK tipping my hat and then my dad was sitting first row with my stepmom,” he said. “He was, I don’t know if I could call him crying, but he was choked up and teary-eyed and that’s what really got me going.”
Freeman struck out swinging to end the first inning.
“It was one of the most potent strikeouts I’ve ever had in my big league career,” he said.
The crowd chanted “Freddie! Freddie!” before Freeman singled in the third. Harper was waiting for him with a consoling embrace.
“Bryce probably texts at least four times during the nine days, really checking in,” said Freeman, adding that every Phillies player who reached first extended well wishes to him.
“I’m tired and worn out,” he said, fatigue evident in his voice. “It’s just an emotional day.”
After an initial diagnosis proved incorrect, Maximus Freeman was found to have Guillain-Barre syndrome, something Freeman and his wife, Chelsea, had never heard of. The rare neurological disorder occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system and causes nerve damage and muscle weakness.
“Seeing one of your kids on a ventilator fighting, it was hard,” Freeman said, his voice choking. “That’s the heartbreaking thing. No one deserves to go through something like this. I know you parents understand that. You’d switch in a second to take that pain, that suffering away from your kid in a heartbeat. When you feel hopeless, like Chelsea and I did, that’s hard.”
Speaking before the game, he cried at times and wiped his eyes and nose with a towel.
“If you talked to me six days ago, I would never have been able to speak,” Freeman said. “The reason I’m able to get through this is because of the huge wins we’ve been getting the last few days with him. It’s been a miraculous recovery, that’s what they say to us.”
Maximus first got sick during the All-Star break in July, when the family traveled to the game in Texas to cheer on Freeman. Four days later, the child couldn’t sit up or walk and eventually stopped eating and drinking.
Freeman said his son experienced a loss of sensation that spread from his feet to his shoulders and had difficulty breathing.
He was rushed to the hospital near the family’s home in Orange County and put on a ventilator. Maximus received two rounds of intravenous immunoglobulin, a biological agent and pooled antibody that helps restore a compromised immune system.
“Then it was a waiting game,” Freeman said.
He and Chelsea sat bedside in the pediatric intensive care unit for hours, staring intently at their son for even the slightest twitch.
“He started to shoulder shrug, which was a massive sign for us,” Freeman said. “It means we were closer to potentially getting the ventilator out.”
Doctors were encouraged at how quickly Maximus’ paralysis retreated from the top to the bottom of his body.
“We ticked (off) the little wins we could get during this time,” said Freeman, whose mother died of melanoma when he was 10.
The ventilator came out “at 10:46, I’ll never forget it,” he said. “Within six minutes he was sitting on me. I can’t tell you how good that felt, to be able to hold my son again.”
Maximus is one of the Freemans’ three sons. Charlie is the oldest, followed by Brandon and Maximus, a name Chelsea came upon.
“That was a strong name,” Freeman said. “I didn’t know it was going to be proven to be true within four years of his life of how strong this little boy is.”
Freeman was greeted Monday by his teammates and Dodgers staff members wearing blue #MaxStrong T-shirts with his last name and jersey number 5 on the back. Manager Dave Roberts said a team employee came up with the idea.
“That was the first time I cried today, when I walked in and saw those,” Freeman said. “It means a lot.”
His baseball family reached out to Freeman during the crisis, including his current teammates, his former team the Atlanta Braves, and Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo.
“The support and the love that have been shown to us, it gave us hope,” Freeman said. “It was needed, it really was.”
Maximus is back home, doing physical therapy to relearn how to walk and move his fingers, which are in a claw position.
“You can see his smile again,” Freeman said.
The boy was eager to watch his dad play against the Phillies on Monday.
“We’ve been told that he’s going to make a full recovery,” Freeman said. “We just don’t know how long that will be.”
LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Carrie Underwood will be the next singer to sit behind the judges’ table on “American Idol,” filling Katy Perry’s spot after her departure from the show in May.
Underwood, who rose to fame after she won the singing competition show in 2005, will return 20 years later as a judge for the upcoming season, set to premiere in spring 2025. She’s the first “American Idol” alum to become a judge.
In an emotional video announcing Underwood’s new hosting gig, she said “I’m proud of everything that I was able to accomplish on the show, and I’m so proud of everything that I’ve accomplished since.”
The country singer, who is the most decorated artist in CMT Music Awards’ history with 25 wins, made waves with her rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” at her audition, and she quickly became a fan-favorite.
Underwood has also won eight Grammy Awards and consistently tops the charts with her albums and singles. She will be joining Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, who each have seven seasons of judging experience under their belts, for the franchise’s 23rd season.
“This upcoming season marks 20 years since Carrie won America’s hearts on ‘Idol’ and launched her successful multi-Grammy Award-winning career. As a former Idol and dynamic musical force, she brings a remarkably unique perspective to one of the most popular shows on television,” said Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group, in a release from ABC. “This is a full-circle moment both for the show and audiences at home who have been tuning in for over two decades. Welcome home, Carrie.”
Longtime host Ryan Seacrest, who has been with the show since it premiered, will also return. Seacrest is also taking over Pat Sajak’s role as the host of “Wheel of Fortune” this fall.
Auditions for the new season will kick off Aug. 12 with the “Idol Across America” nationwide search for talent and will end in September. The season is set to premiere in the spring and will be available to watch on ABC and Hulu.
“American Idol” premiered in 2002 on Fox and was a hit for the network, but it was canceled in 2016. After two years off the air, the show was revived by ABC and has aired there for seven seasons. Perry was the first of the revival judges to leave the judges’ post.
A representative for Underwood did not immediately return requests for comment.
