Team USA bobsledder LOLO JONES has “been suspended from using the training and sports medicine facilities” at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., for the past four months following a “verbal confrontation with a USOPC sports medicine staff member after she was denied medical treatment at the center.” Jones is contesting the previously undisclosed USOPC suspension, which runs through August 3. Jones said that the suspension has created “competitive, financial and emotional obstacles” that “jeopardize her bid to compete in a fourth Olympic Games next February in Milan-Cortina.” Jones’ suspension continues even though USOPC officials acknowledged she was “wrongly denied medical treatment late on the afternoon of February 28, a decision that prompted the verbal confrontation” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 6/21).
NBC Sports Boston’s TRENNI CASEY is running in the MS Run the US Ultra Relay, a 3,260-mile cross-country run that stretches from Santa Monica, Calif., to N.Y. She is “running and raising funds for multiple sclerosis research” in memory of her aunt SANDI, who was diagnosed with the disease at age 25. She died at age 37 in November 1995, when Casey was in high school (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/21).
RECORD SALE: A new record sale for Commanders QB JAYDEN DANIELS’s 2024 Panini Prizm Black Finite one-of-one trading card was set when Commanders owner JOSH HARRIS agreed to pay $500,000 for one of Daniels’ “most sought-after rookie cards while standing next to the young quarterback on stage” at Topps Trade Night on Saturday. Harris and Daniels were guests during Day 2 of Fanatics Fest (THE ATHLETIC, 6/22).
FUTURISTIC: Runner FAITH KIPYEGON will be running at the Stade Charlety in Paris on Thursday and will be wearing Nike track spikes that are “as light as 11 marshmallows.” Her running suit will “feature tiny nodes that mimic the in-flight characteristics of a golf ball.” Her custom-fitted bra “will be 3D printed”. The futuristic getup is part of a “sweeping effort” by Nike, Kipyegon’s sponsor, to help her “become the first women to run a mile in under four minutes.” (Portland OREGONIAN, 6/19).
NAMES: Former driver MICHAEL WALTRIP has joined the ownership group of the Nashville Kats, a founding franchise of the Arena Football 1 league. Waltrip joined the group Friday along with his craft beer company Michael Waltrip Brewing. The ownership group already includes former NFL coaches JON GRUDEN and JEFF FISHER, a majority owner (AP, 6/20)….Basketball HOFer SHAQUILLE O’NEAL, under his deejaying alter-ego DJ DIESEL, will perform at Orion Amphitheater at Huntsville, Ala., as part of the Breakaway Music Festival on Oct. 3 and 4. Other artists set for Breakaway at Orion include pop duo CHAINSMOKERS, festival-famous DJ KASKADE and BRANDI CYRUS, another DJ and half-sister of superstar singer MILEY CYRUS. All told, more than 20 artists are scheduled to perform (AL.com, 6/21)….JANIE and STEPHANIE ELLINGWOOD took over another sports bar in Silver Lake — formerly known as Trophy Wife — and turned it into Untamed Spirits, the first women’s sports bar in the city of L.A. Opened in early June to coincide with Pride Month, Untamed Spirits “joins a short list of bars in the U.S. dedicated to women’s sports,” including Portland’s Sports Bra, which is expanding to four new cities including Las Vegas and Boston; Rough & Tumble in Seattle; Minnesota’s A Bar of Their Own; and Rikki’s in S.F. Long Beach’s Watch Me! Sports Bar, which opened its doors last July, was the first in California (L.A. TIMES, 6/20)….The “Sneaker Grab,” held at Wayne State Fieldhouse for its third year was in collaboration for the first time between the Pistons and Michigan Sneaker XChange. The event gave attendees “not only an opportunity to buy a plethora of streetwear, but also dribble a basketball, listen to music from a live DJ, win prize giveaways and witness an appearance” from Pistons PF BOBI KLINTMAN (DETROIT NEWS, 6/22).
Names in the News – Sports Business Journal
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