WINTER OLYMPICS

Russia’s reintegration into the world of sports one year after the invasion of Ukraine began threatens to create the biggest rift in the Olympic movement since the Cold War.

Russia’s path to sending a team to the Paris Olympics next year has become clearer amid fierce objections from Ukraine.

Costly construction delays, a leadership vacancy linked to a volatile political climate and a lack of sponsors amid a spreading financial crisis has prompted International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach to acknowledge the “challenges” facing organizers of the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Some expat Jamaicans living in Canada are hoping to bring a new winter sport to their tropical homeland.

The International Olympic Committee is expected to make a decision next week about whether to allow women to compete in Nordic combined at the 2026 Games.

Barring an end to the war in Ukraine, athletes from Russia and Belarus will be banned from next month’s track and field world championships.

Strongmen and sports are a match made in hell, but that never bothered the International Olympic Committee before.

The Olympics can be so much fun to watch, whether you’re tuning in solo, with your significant other or as a whole family.

The Beijing Olympics have been watched closely for snow — the artificial kind, made by machines, up in the mountains outside the city.

Sunday is a sports bonanza for NBC, which is airing the Super Bowl in addition to the Winter Olympics.

Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States is one of the greatest snowboarders of all-time with five world championships and eight X-Games titles, but had been known more for a giant mess-up than all of her other accomplishments.

Did you watch any of these inspirational stories over the weekend?

Rivalries have a way of spicing up the Winter Olympics.

Dry Beijing barely gets any winter precipitation, which makes this year’s Winter Games the first to rely almost entirely on artificial snow for the skiing and snowboarding events.

China invited the world back — sort of — for the pandemic era’s second Olympics.

A correspondent in Beijing for Dutch national broadcaster NOS was manhandled away from his camera during a live news show shortly before the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

The last time the Olympics came to China, Xi Jinping oversaw the whole endeavor.

For Taiwan, every appearance on the global stage is fraught with politics — and even more so when that stage is China.

Just 14 years after hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing is set to make history by becoming the first city to play host to both a Summer and Winter Olympics when it welcomes the world for the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia and China oppose “the politicization of sport and demonstrative boycotts” ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Beijing residents are coping with abrupt local lockdowns and sweeping COVID-19 testing requirements as the Chinese capital seeks to prevent a coronavirus outbreak ahead of the opening of the Winter Olympics in less than two weeks.

Chinese authorities are testing some 2 million residents of Beijing after a series of virus cases prompted concerns two weeks ahead of the opening of the Winter Olympics.

People in a Beijing district with some 2 million residents have been ordered to undergo mass coronavirus testing following a series of infections as China tightened anti-disease controls ahead of the Winter Olympics.

Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin leads the 17-member list for the U.S. Alpine skiing team nominated for the Beijing Winter Games.

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing will allow China to show the world “a fake smile,” just as it did for the 2008 Summer Games.

Natalie Geisenberger has made it official: She’s heading to the Beijing Games and seeking a third consecutive Olympic women’s luge gold medal.

A third Chinese city has locked down its residents because of a COVID-19 outbreak, raising the number confined to their homes in China to about 20 million people.

A major Chinese city near Beijing has placed its 14 million residents on partial lockdown after 40 children and adults tested positive for COVID-19, including at least two with the omicron variant.

President Joe Biden says the United States is considering a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing over China's human rights abuses.

While there are countdowns in effect until the holiday season and the start of 2022, Wednesday represented an important mile marker in another notable countdown.

U.S. athletes trying to make the Winter Olympics will have to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 under a directive announced Wednesday by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Olympians themselves are absolutely impressive. Then, throw in the athletes who have medaled more than once. That’s certainly something to write home about.

The United States hasn’t hosted any Olympic Games since 2002, when Salt Lake City welcomed the world to the Winter Olympics, but man, there have certainly been some cities that have tried.

It will nearly impossible for Pita Taufatofua to outlast his original claim to fame as “the shirtless flag bearer,” which made him a legend on social media.

About 100 of the 613 U.S. athletes descending on Tokyo for the Olympics are unvaccinated, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s medical chief said hours before Friday night’s Opening Ceremony.

China, it’s once again your turn to see if you can outdo other host countries in terms of the most memorable cauldron lighting at the opening ceremony of an Olympics.

Yoshiro Mori, right, the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, bows his head after a news conference in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (Kim Kyung-hoon/Pool Photo via AP)TOKYO – The postponed Tokyo Olympics have yet another problem besides the pandemic. The local organizing committee issued a vague statement on Sunday saying it supports diversity. Nikai was challenged by Taro Aso, the 80-year-old deputy prime minister and a former prime minister himself. Mori was appointed under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has been backed by the current prime minister, and has built strong ties with IOC President Thomas Bach.

Authorities have also imposed similarly tight measures in the cities of Shenyang and Dalian in Liaoning province just to the north. — South Korea says it will extend its ban on incoming flights from Britain for two more weeks until Jan. 21. South Korea has also found one case of a coronavirus variant detected in South Africa. All foreigners entering South Korea will be required to submit negative COVID-19 test results starting Friday. South Korea on Monday extended its second-highest social distancing rules, called “Tier 2.5,” in the greater Seoul area and the third-highest rules in other areas for two more weeks.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, pool)WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced charges Monday against Russian intelligence officers in cyberattacks that targeted a French presidential election, the Winter Olympics in South Korea and American businesses. The seven-count indictment is the most recent in a series of Justice Department prosecutions of Russian hackers, often working on behalf of the government. One of the six charged in the case announced Monday was among the Russian military intelligence officers charged with hacking in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference. The timing of the indictment was unrelated to the upcoming election in the U.S., said Assistant Attorney General John Demers. The indictment accuses the officers, for instance, of hacking into the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea after Russia was punished by the International Olympic Committee for a vast doping conspiracy.

Marit Bjoergen of Norway won five medals in PyeongChang to reach 15 career Olympic medals, breaking the all-time Winter Olympics record of 13 set by legendary compatriot and fellow cross-country skier Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. Take a look at the top all-time Olympic medal winners. Hide Caption