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From a one-of-a-kind World Cup in Qatar to Ukrainian athletes returning home to battle Russia, CNN Sports rounds up must-read stories from the past 12 months.
Gay Australian footballer Josh Kaval reflects on life-changing year
It’s been over a year since Josh Cavallo announced that he’s gay, but even now he’s struggling to comprehend the far-reaching impact of his statement.
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 something of an icon.
“I was walking down the streets of London and I was stopped,” Cavallo told CNN in October.
“I’ve only been to London twice now and I thought: ‘Wow, I’ve come all the way from Australia and what I’ve done is through social media,’ and seeing the impact it has on people on the other side of the planet is absolutely phenomenal. ”
Exclusive: World Cup football fan pulled over by security officials for wearing rainbow-coloured items
During the World Cup in Qatar, two German soccer fans told CNN’s Benchurch that security officials for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar asked them to remove their rainbow-colored items as they headed to watch the match between France and Denmark.
CNN witnessed the finale of the incident at Doha’s Msheireb metro station, when Bengt Kunkel, who was wearing an iridescent sweatband, and his friend – wearing a similarly colored armband – refused to hand over the items.
After taking the Germans aside, a group of security guards eventually let them go — on the condition that they keep the rainbow-colored items in their pockets, according to Kunkel.
“Come out of nowhere. They grabbed my friend by the arm very aggressively and pushed him away from the crowd for him to hold it [the armband] Shut down,” Kunkel told CNN,
EXCLUSIVE – ‘This isn’t salvation, this is destruction’: Ukrainian MMA champ Yaroslav Amosov on horrors of war
After Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, some high-profile Ukrainian athletes chose to return to their home countries and help in the war effort.
Among them is Yaroslav Amosov, the reigning welterweight world champion of Bellator, an MMA tournament.
On 13 May, he was due to defend his world title at the Bellator event at London’s Wembley Stadium. Instead, Amosov returned to his hometown of Irpin and joined the defense of the territory to help civilians in and around the town.
“It’s hard to see that your city was ever filled with happiness and life,” Amosov told CNN’s Matthias Graz in an exclusive interview in May.
Remembrance Day: For a naysayer, it’s his most dangerous day
For soccer player James McClean, Memorial Day is arguably the toughest day of the year.
Since he first refused to wear a poppy in 2012, McLean and his family have been abused in football pitches and online across England.
The Northern Ireland-born Republic of Ireland international has been outspoken about what the Poppies and Remembrance Sunday mean to his community and its relationship to the British Army.
YouTubers, doping and greed: It’s been a tough year for boxing
Simiso Buthelezi, Miracle Amaeze and Luis Quiñones are some of the most talented boxers who passed away this year while pursuing their sporting careers and chasing their dreams of world championships.
This is a recognized risk in the industry. Estimates from a database first compiled by anti-boxing activist Manuel Velazquez and updated in the Electronic Journal of Martial Arts and Sciences, between 1890 and 2011 In 2008, 1,604 boxers died as a direct result of injuries sustained in the ring – an average of 13 deaths per year.
That’s an astounding statistic for a professional sport, but perhaps not entirely that surprising. As Stephanie Alessi-LaRosa, director of the sports neurology program at Hartford Healthcare, points out, a boxer’s goal in a fight is to “damage the opponent neurologically.”
“Our dreams never came true.” The men who helped build Qatar’s World Cup are now struggling to survive
The plight of Qatari migrant workers is like a dark cloud that has marred what should have been the greatest sporting event on the planet.
For all the incredible action on the pitch, including what was arguably the greatest World Cup final in history, tournament organizers could not escape the blame that the workers who helped build the stadiums were working in poor conditions, which led to the death of migrant workers. die.
Ahead of the World Cup, CNN interviewed Kamal, a Nepalese worker in Qatar, who described his experience of being arrested without explanation and held in a Qatari jail for a week.
Describing conditions in the cell he shared with 24 other Nepalese migrant workers, he said he was given a blanket and a pillow, but the mattress on the floor where he slept was infested with bedbugs.
“In prison, there are people from Sri Lanka, Kerala (India), Pakistan, Sudan, Nepal, Africa, Philippines. There are about 14-15 units. In one prison, there are about 250-300 people. Each There are about 24-25 people in a room,” he said.
‘Direct child abuse’: Canadian gymnast quits at 13 because she claims it was a horrible and abusive environment
Amelia Cline still remembers her love of gymnastics; the 32-year-old Canadian says it was an opportunity to explore the limits of gravity.
At the age of two, Klein said, she would pull “little baby pull-ups” on the kitchen counter, making it obvious her parents were interested in her. By the time she was 9 or 10, Klein no longer needed local coaches, and she now drives an hour from her home to train at an elite club.
For a while, her love for the sport continued, but Klein said that all changed when Vladimir Razin and his wife Svetlana arrived as a new coaching staff. The mood in the gym quickly darkened, Klein said.
“Instantly, it was insulting,” she recalls. “If you made any mistakes, they screamed and humiliated you.” According to Kline, the coaches also resorted to physical abuse before long.
How does this World Cup affect the “brands” associated with it?
Billions of viewers traditionally watch the World Cup, and as they focus on what’s happening on the pitch, the names of some of the world’s biggest companies flash behind the players in a scrolling colorful loop – Budweiser, Visa, Coca-Cola, Qatar Airways, Adidas, McDonald’s, Wanda, Vivo, Hyundai Kia.
But Qatar 2022 is different. Many of these brands, especially those with origins in the Western world, have become in the geopolitical crosshairs of this tournament, balancing sponsorship with criticism of FIFA, world football’s governing body and host country Qatar, especially on human rights issues.
Not that it affects FIFA’s bottom line.
Iranian weightlifter Amir Assadollahzadeh flees for his life after quitting Norwegian team fearing torture and possible execution
Athletes good enough to compete in the world championships are at the top of their field. They have dedicated their lives to their craft, they are proud to represent their country and they all dream of going home with medals.
But at the IPF World Weightlifting Championships in November, one athlete wasn’t fighting for glory; Iranian Emir Asadollazadeh said he found himself literally running for his life.
The 31-year-old Iranian weightlifter told CNN he felt the need to abandon his team and run away from his teammates midway through the bout.
He had agonized over a decision that would change his life forever, but at around 3.30am he 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 the trip,” recalls Assadollahzadeh. “I ran to the bus stop as fast as I could, but I was five minutes late.”
Camille Herron puts her heart and soul into breaking the 100-mile world record.But officials now say courses are too short
Camille Herron called it ultrarunning’s “unicorn moment” – a performance that expanded what women could achieve in endurance racing.
When Herron crossed the finish line at the Jackpot Ultra Running Festival 100-mile race in Henderson, Nevada, in February, she won in a world-record time, beating even all the male competitors.
But her efforts now appear to have been in vain, at least as far as the record books are concerned.
Capturing Lionel Messi’s viral moment: The story behind Instagram’s most popular photo, told by the photographer who took it
In 2022, Lionel Messi’s matchup with a plain brown egg was beyond all expectations.
But the photo Messi chose to upload to his Instagram page to celebrate winning the World Cup broke the app’s previous record – held by said egg – for the most-viewed post ever.
In this photo, Getty photographer Shaun Botterill took a front row seat to watch one of the most iconic moments in sports history.
Here’s the story of how he captured the most popular photo of all time.
Blind skateboarder challenges misconceptions about vision and movement
Dan Mancina is a skateboarder whose jaw-dropping videos have garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
Mancina also happens to be blind, and videos of him using a white cane while skating sparked curiosity and admiration.
Blind skateboarder challenges misconceptions about vision and movement
03:06
– Source: CNN
‘Not seeing our own representation’: This figure skating duo is doing away with the gender norms rooted in their sport
American figure skaters Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc bring a different story to the ice — one based on equality.
The duo excelled in their discipline, a discipline rooted in traditional gender norms, through their performance and skating style.
‘Not seeing our own representation’: This figure skating duo is doing away with the gender norms rooted in their sport
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– Source: CNN
