Super Falcons step up preparation for 2020 olympic games qualifier in Algeria

American speed skater Erin Jackson's dream of chasing gold in her signature 500 meters event at next month's Beijing Olympics is back on after a selfless act from a good friend and teammate who gave up her own spot on Sunday.

Early visitors to the Main Press Centre at the Beijing Winter Olympics have been delighted to discover that ice cream is served to them by robots. To buy the ice cream, one must go to the cashier to pay first and get a receipt with a QR code, which you then scan on the machine and the robot will automatically kick into action.

The Olympic torch relay began its second day on Thursday (February 3) atop the Great Wall, with Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan and Chinese Olympic medallists among those taking turns carrying the flame along a route shortened to three days because of COVID-19. The relay for the torch that will open the Feb. 4-20 Winter Games is much more modest than the globe-spanning relay for Beijing's 2008 Summer Games, a tour that was disrupted by protests.

China's decision to have a Uyghur athlete light the Olympic cauldron has drawn criticism from human rights groups, who saw it as cheap propaganda ploy to whitewash the oppression of the country's ethnic Uyghur minority.

South Koreans expressed frustration on Wednesday (February 9) after seeing their traditional costume used in last week's Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing, but the Chinese Embassy in South Korea defended the use. A woman wearing what appeared to be a Korean hanbok dress was among those representing China's different ethnic groups during the ceremony. Some South Koreans have complained about recent Chinese assertions that various aspects of Korean culture are of Chinese origin.

Jamaica has a four-man bobsled team in the Olympics for the first time since 1998. Too young to witness the famous 1988 team but big fans of "Cool Runnings," this year's team wants to add to Jamaica's bobsled legacy.

Delaying players and officials of your country’s national women’s football team for over three hours at the airport after a two-hour flight from Abidjan, following a hard-fought 1-0 win against their Cote d’Ivoire counterparts, on the pretext of conducting Covid-19 tests, is not how to welcome heroes back home.

A German former world-class high diver has said he was sexually abused by his coach over a period of several years. Jan Hempel said the abuse continued even after he had informed the national swimming federation.

Eleven Israeli athletes and a policeman were assassinated by Palestinian terrorists during the Olympic Games that began in Munich on August 26,1972. Germany is still struggling to come to terms with the events.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy told IOC chief Thomas Bach that Kyiv wanted Russia's "complete isolation." The US has backed exploring the possibility of Russian and Belarusian athletes competing under a neutral banner.

Texas man Eric Lira has pleaded guilty to supplying performance-enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes. Under The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, US authorities can prosecute those they believe conducted criminal acts. This can be anyone involved in "doping schemes for the purpose of influencing international sports competitions.

French sprinter Halba Diouf, 21, dreams of participating at the 2024 Olympic Games. The athlete defines herself as a transgender Muslim woman and doesn't accept being banned from elite competitions.