Category: World

CNN
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From a World Cup like no other in Qatar to Ukrainian athletes returning home to fight in the war against Russia, CNN Sport has picked out the must-read stories from the last 12 months.

Gay Australian footballer Josh Cavall reflects on life-changing year

It has been more than a year since Josh Cavallo announced he is gay, but even now he still struggles to comprehend the far-reaching impact his announcement has had.

Since making that life-changing decision in October 2021, Cavallo has become one of the most recognizable names and faces in world football, as well as becoming something of an icon.

“I’m walking in the streets of London and getting stopped,” Cavallo told CNN in October.

“I’ve only been to London twice now and I’m like: ‘Wow, I’m all the way from Australia and what I did was via social media,’ and to see the impact it’s had from people on the other side of the globe is absolutely phenomenal.”

Exclusive: World Cup soccer fans stopped by security officials for wearing rainbow-colored items

During the World Cup in Qatar, two German soccer fans told CNN’s Ben Church that they were asked by security officials at Qatar 2022 to remove the rainbow-colored items that they were wearing as they made their way to watch the match between France and Denmark.

CNN witnessed the conclusion to the incident at the Msheireb Metro Station, in Doha, as Bengt Kunkel, who was wearing a rainbow-colored sweatband and his friend – sporting a similarly colored armband – refused to hand over the items.

After taking the Germans to one side, a group of security guards eventually let them go – on condition that they put the rainbow-colored items in their pockets, according to Kunkel.

“Out of nowhere. They took my friend quite aggressively on the arm and pushed him away from the crowd and told him to take it [the armband] off,” Kunkel told CNN,

Exclusive – ‘This is not saving, this is destruction’: Ukrainian MMA champion Yaroslav Amosov recounts the horrors of war

After Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, a number of high-profile Ukrainian athletes chose to return to their home country and help in the war efforts.

Among them was Yaroslav Amosov, a reigning welterweight world champion in the MMA championship Bellator.

On May 13, he should have been defending his world title at Bellator’s event at Wembley Arena in London. Instead, Amosov returned to his hometown of Irpin and joined the territorial defense to aid civilians in and around the town.

“It’s hard to look at your city that was once full of happiness, life,” Amosov told CNN’s Matias Grez in an exclusive interview back in May.

Remembrance Sunday: For one dissenting voice, this is his most dangerous day

For footballer James McClean, Remembrance Sunday is arguably his most difficult day of the year.

Since he first refused to wear the poppy in 2012, McClean and his family have been subjected to abuse both in football stadiums across England and online.

The Republic of Ireland international, who was born in Northern Ireland, has been outspoken about what the poppy and Remembrance Sunday mean to his community and its relationship to the British military.

YouTubers, doping and greed: It’s been a tough year for boxing

Simiso Buthelezi, Miracle Amaeze and Luis Quiñones are some of the talented boxers who have died this year as they pursued their sporting careers and chased dreams of world titles.

It’s an accepted risk of the profession. A database first compiled by anti-boxing activist Manuel Velazquez and updated in the Electronic Journal of Martial Arts and Sciences estimated 1,604 boxers died as a direct result of injuries sustained in the ring between 1890 and 2011 – an average of 13 deaths a year.

That’s a shocking statistic for a professional sport, but perhaps not altogether that surprising. As Stephanie Alessi-LaRosa, director of Hartford Healthcare’s sports neurology program, points out, it’s a boxer’s objective in a fight “to neurologically impair the opponent.”

‘Our dreams never came true.’ These men helped build Qatar’s World Cup, now they are struggling to survive

The plight of migrant workers in Qatar was a dark cloud that marred what should have been the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet.

For all the incredible action on the pitch, including arguably the greatest World Cup final in history, tournament organizers could not escape accusations that the workers who helped build the stadiums were subjected to awful conditions, which contributed to the deaths of migrant workers.

Ahead of the World Cup, CNN spoke to Kamal, a Nepali worker in Qatar, who recounted his experience of being arrested without explanation and kept in a Qatari jail for a week.

Describing the conditions in the cell he shared with 24 other Nepali migrant workers, he says he was provided with a blanket and a pillow, but the mattress on the floor he had to sleep on was riddled with bed bugs.

“Inside the jail, there were people from Sri Lanka, Kerala (India), Pakistan, Sudan, Nepal, African, Philippines. There were around 14-15 units. In one jail, there were around 250-300 people. Around 24-25 people per room,” he says.

‘Straight up child abuse’: Canadian gymnast quit at the age of 13 due to what she alleges was a horrific and abusive environment

Amelia Cline can still remember what she loved about gymnastics; the 32-year-old Canadian says it was the chance to explore the limits of gravity.

At the age of two, Cline says that her interest was obvious to her parents by the way she’d be pulling “little baby chin-ups,” at the kitchen counter. By the time she was nine or 10, Cline had outgrown her local coaches and was now travelling an hour from home to train at an elite club.

For a while, her love of the sport continued, but Cline says everything changed when Vladimir Lashin and his wife Svetlana arrived as the new coaching team. Cline says that the mood in the gym quickly darkened.

“Immediately, it was verbally abusive,” she recalled. “If you made any mistakes, they would scream and humiliate you.” According to Cline, it wasn’t long before the coaches resorted to physical abuse, too.

How has this World Cup affected the ‘brands’ associated with it?

Traditionally billions of viewers watch the World Cup, and as they concentrate on what is happening on the pitch, the names of some of the world’s biggest companies flash behind the players on a rolling, technicolored loop – Budweiser, Visa, Coca-Cola, Qatar Airways, Adidas, McDonalds, Wanda, Vivo, Hyundai Kia.

But Qatar 2022 is different. Many of these brands, particularly those with Western world roots, have become caught in the geopolitical crosshairs of this tournament, balancing their sponsorship with criticisms levelled at FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, and Qatar, the host, notably around human rights issues.

Not that it is affecting FIFA’s bottom line.

Fearing torture and possible execution, Iranian powerlifter Amir Assadollahzadeh quit team in Norway and ran for his life

Athletes who are good enough to compete in the world championships are among the very best in their field. They dedicate their lives to the pursuit of their craft, they are proud to represent their countries, and they all dream of returning home with medals around their necks.

But at the IPF World Powerlifting Championships held in November, one athlete wasn’t competing for glory; Iranian Amir Assadollahzadeh says he found himself quite literally running for his life.

The 31-year-old Iranian lifter told CNN that in the middle of the tournament, he felt compelled to abandon his team and flee from his teammates.

He had agonized over a decision that would forever change his life, but at around 3.30 a.m., he had made up his mind and slipped out of his hotel in the Norwegian city of Stavanger, on the North Sea Coast.

“I took what I needed for my journey and left,” Assadollahzadeh recalled. “I quickly ran towards the bus station, but I arrived five minutes too late.”

Camille Herron put her ‘heart and soul’ into breaking the 100-mile world record. But officials now say the course was too short

Camille Herron has called it a “unicorn moment” for the sport of ultrarunning – a performance that expanded the notion of what women can achieve in endurance events.

When Herron crossed the finish line at Jackpot Ultra Running Festival’s 100-mile race in Henderson, Nevada in February, she did so as the outright winner – even beating all the male competitors – and in world record time.

But her efforts now appear to be in vain, at least as far as the record books are concerned.

Capturing Lionel Messi’s viral moment: The story behind the most liked photo on Instagram, told by the photographer who took it

Lionel Messi vs. an ordinary brown egg was the clash that nobody expected in 2022.

But the photo that Messi chose to upload to his Instagram page to celebrate winning the World Cup smashed the app’s previous record – held by said egg – for the most liked post ever.

It was captured by Getty photographer Shaun Botterill, who had a front row seat to one of the most iconic moments in sports history.

This is his story on how he captured the most liked photo of all time.

The blind skateboarder challenging misconceptions about sight and sport

Dan Mancina is a skateboarder whose jaw-dropping videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

Mancina also happens to be blind and videos of him using his white cane as he skates inspire curiosity and admiration.

The blind skateboarder challenging misconceptions about sight and sport

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– Source:
CNN

‘Didn’t see ourselves represented’: This figure skating pair is ditching the gender norms rooted in their sport

US figure skaters Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc bring a different story to the ice – one based on equality.

The pair stands out in their discipline, one rooted in traditional gender norms, through their performances and skating style.

‘Didn’t see ourselves represented’: This figure skating pair is ditching the gender norms rooted in their sport

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– Source:
CNN

CNN
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LeBron James knows how to celebrate in style, scoring a season-high 47 points as he inspired the Los Angeles Lakers to a 130-121 win over the Atlanta Hawks on his 38th birthday.

James helped his team come back from 15 points down at the State Farm Arena and ended the game with 10 rebounds and nine assists.

“I feel better than 18,” James told reporters. “At 18 years old I knew how to play the game, I knew I belonged in the NBA but I didn’t know what I could become. I just knew that [if] I continued to put in the work, continued to be true to the game that I could be one of the greatest players to ever play this game, I just always believed that, so there are times when I’m on the floor when I feel like a kid again … I wouldn’t say 18 but I definitely felt like a kid again at moments out on the court.”

According to Reuters, only two other players have scored more points in a game after turning 38, with Michael Jordan and Jamal Crawford netting 51 points each.

“Just awesome man, he’s put the team on his back and been doing what he’s done for the last 20 years. A hell of a performance,” coach Darvin Ham told reporters when asked about James.

“Dropping 47 [points] is inspiring because he plays the game the right way… He motivates and inspires the team to go out there and do their jobs.”

Lakers’ Thomas Bryant finished with 19 points, including a season-high 17 rebounds, while Russell Westbrook got 14 points and Dennis Schroder 12 points.

El Paso, Texas
CNN
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One-year-old Brenda’s tiny feet are bare on the cold asphalt of an El Paso parking lot as the harsh reality starts to sink in for her parents. They are undocumented. They are homeless. And their daughter barely escaped death when they crossed the Rio Grande.

“My daughter would have died because she was super frozen,” said Glenda Matos.

Matos’ pain is clear in her eyes as she recalls her daughter being drenched, in the freezing cold, all while crying hysterically. Matos and her husband, Anthony Blanco, say they had nothing to keep their daughter warm, not even body heat, because they, too, were wet and cold.

Matos says she hugged Brenda tightly and ran from house to house begging for help until they finally found a kind El Paso resident who helped them with clothes and shelter.

“I asked God for help,” Glenda said. “God… put those people in my way.”

For Matos, the tiny red rosary with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, hanging from Brenda’s ancle, saved them. Matos says she wrapped the religious token on her daughter’s little body for protection when they left their native Venezuela.

Brenda and her parents are some of the hundreds of migrants living in squalor in the streets of downtown El Paso around Sacred Heart Parish. The makeshift camp – with its piles of blankets, strollers and tents lining both sides of a busy street – has city officials expressing concerns about safety and public health given the area is packed with migrants who have no running water or proper shelter.

The surge of migrants aggregating here started a few weeks ago, when anxiety about the scheduled end of the Trump-era pandemic public health rule known as Title 42 prompted thousands of migrants to turn themselves in to border authorities or to cross into the United States illegally in a very short period of time.

Title 42 allows immigration authorities to swiftly return some migrants to Mexico. The policy was scheduled to lift last week, but a Supreme Court ruling kept the rule in place while legal challenges play out in court.

While the impact of the ruling has sent ripples throughout the southern border, the scene in El Paso is one of a kind. It’s the only U.S. border town where hundreds of migrants are living in the streets longer than expected. It’s a new phenomenon that city officials say had never happened during prior migrant surges.

It’s driven, in part, by the anxiety created by the uncertainty of Title 42, which motivated some migrants to cross the border illegally. These migrants don’t have family or sponsors in the US to receive them. And many also fear that traveling out of town without the proper paperwork could lead to apprehension by US immigration authorities.

The misery around Sacred Heart Parish is palpable. Evelyn Palma has blankets hooked and draped on a chain-linked fence to keep the cold and the drizzle from hitting her five children, ages 1 to 8, some of them shirtless. She’s been living on the street for eight days. But Friday was especially miserable because it was 40 degrees and it poured overnight.

“We woke up drenched,” Palma said.

The 24-year-old mother from Honduras says she and her children turned themselves in to immigration authorities earlier this month, but they were swiftly returned to Mexico, likely under Title 42. That’s why, she says, that a week ago she decided to evade authorities by crossing the river.

She is part of the growing number of migrants who El Paso city officials say have decided to enter the US illegally and, for various reasons, have not left the city.

“They are people who came into the country in anticipation of Title 42 going away,” said Mario D’Agostino, El Paso’s deputy city manager.

The living conditions Palma and other migrants are enduring has officials concerned about their safety and overall public health. City spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta says that the spread of disease is top of mind.

“We are still in the middle of what is being called a ‘tripledemic,’ with continuing high infection levels of upper respiratory infections across the community,” Cruz-Acosta said.

And while the city has space for about 1,500 migrants at shelters that have been erected at the convention center and at a public school, those beds are only offered to migrants who have turned themselves in to border authorities and have been allowed to stay in the US pending their immigration cases. Those migrants receive documentation from US Customs and Border Protection that allows them to travel within the country.

Migrants who enter the country illegally are not offered city-provided shelter because federal dollars are being used to foot the bill. And those monies can’t be used to serve people who entered the country illegally, according to D’Agostino.

City officials have been referring undocumented migrants to non-profit organizations and churches like Sacred Heart Parish, which turns into a shelter when night falls.

That’s why hundreds of migrants aggregate on the streets around the church, hoping to score one of the 120 to 130 slots to enter the church for the night.

Around 6 p.m., a line of migrants forms outside the church’s gymnasium. Parents can be seen clutching their children to try to keep them warm. Women and men with children are given priority, according to Rafael García, the priest that runs the shelter. García says it’s tough to send people away but that his church has limited resources to serve the growing need.

Angello Sánchez and his 4-year-old son Anyeider were allowed into the shelter for the night several times this week. The Colombian father says he was trying to protect his son from the cold because his little face still had windburn from being out in the elements during the recent freeze.

“I got here from southern Mexico on a train. It was so cold and he wasn’t wearing any jacket,” Angello said.

Palma, the mother of five, says she was offered entry into the shelter with her children but decided not to take the offer because a pregnant friend who is accompanying her was denied access.

El Paso, which means “The Pass” in Spanish, has historically been a gateway for migrants passing through into the United States.

“For hundreds of years people have been passing through and it’s just part of their journey,” D’Agostino said. “In normal times the community doesn’t even realize it.”

But this migrant surge is different because migrants are staying for days and even more than a week, city officials say.

Besides lacking family or sponsors in the US to receive them, many migrants don’t have money to pay for their transportation out of the city. And in the makeshift migrant camp around Sacred Heart Parish, word is spreading about another factor that has some undocumented migrants hunkering down in El Paso: The fear of getting detained at immigration checkpoints located in the interior of the US.

In the last week, at least 364 undocumented migrants who were traveling in commercial buses headed to northern cities were detained at these immigration checkpoints, according to tweets posted by El Paso’s border patrol chief.

Palma says she heard about the checkpoints and the apprehensions and decided to stay in El Paso longer while she figures out what to do.

“If immigration detains me, they’ll return me,” Palma said.

Juan Pérez, from Venezuela, was down the street and said that “immigration is in the exits [of the city]… they’ll return us and send us to Mexico.”

The US has 110 Border Patrol checkpoints in the southern and northern borders, where vehicles are screened for the “illegal flow of people and contraband,” according to a recent US Government Accountability Office report. The checkpoints are usually between 25 and 100 miles from the border, according to the same report.

Anthony Blanco says he’s not afraid of being detained at these interior checkpoints.

“I’ve walked through many different countries without documents. I don’t think we’re going to be detained, but if that happens, it was God’s will,” Blanco said.

For days this week, Blanco has been holding a sign on the street corner that reads, “Help me with work so I can support my wife and baby,” and asking drivers who pass by for money for bus tickets to Denver.

Why Denver? He says word has spread that there is work there and living is more affordable.

Friday morning, a day which was especially miserable because it was cold after a hard overnight rain, Blanco was all smiles. He says he had collected enough money to continue his journey to Denver.

“Thank God,” Blanco said.