Team USA tennis player Coco Gauff announced Sunday afternoon that she has tested positive for COVID-19 and will no long be attending the Olympics in Tokyo.
Why it matters: Gauff is currently ranked the No. 25 player in the world. Her diagnosis comes just days ahead of the opening of the games, which are being plagued by positive COVID-19 cases.
The Tokyo Olympics represent a gender milestone, with women representing almost half of athletes for the first time. However, that doesn't mean the playing field is level.
The big picture: Elite sports are all about setting rules and drawing boundaries. But there is growing concern, fueled by recent events, that too often it is women, especially Black women, who are left on the outside looking in.
The San Diego Padres-Washington Nationals baseball game was suspended following a shooting outside Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., which saw players and fans running for cover as gunshots rang out on Saturday.
Details: Ashan Benedict, the Metropolitan Police Department's executive assistant police chief, said at a briefing late Saturday that three people were wounded after people in two vehicles were involved in a "shootout" outside the stadium.
Olympic Games organizers confirmed Sunday three athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 in Tokyo — five days before the event is due to begin, per Reuters.
Driving the news: Two of the athletes, all of whom were listed as "non-Japanese," were staying in the Olympic Village, AP notes. The other was outside the village.
South Korea's Olympic committee said Saturday that it removed banners at the Olympic Village in Tokyo that referred to a 16th century war between Korea and Japan, which the International Olympic Committee deemed provocative, AP reports.
The big picture: In removing the banners, the South Korean officials said they received a promise from the IOC that the displaying of the Japanese “rising sun” flag will also be banned at stadiums and other Olympic venues, per AP.
Bids for the jersey Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani wore during the All-Star Game this week have significantly outpaced those of other players in an online auction to benefit MLB Charities.
Driving the news: The top offer for Ohtani's signed jersey was $111,120 on Saturday afternoon. The next closest player's bid sat at $5,010.
Germany's Olympic soccer team walked off the field during a training match for the Tokyo Games on Saturday due to alleged racist abuse from an opposing Honduras player toward German defender Jordan Torunarigha.
Driving the news: "The German team left the field together after our player Jordan Torunarigha was racially insulted," the German soccer federation said on Twitter.
The Olympics haven't made financial sense in decades. Host cities spend billions preparing for the games, inevitably suffering massive cost overruns and going deep into debt, with a lasting legacy of little more than a group of buildings ill-suited to any other use.
Why it matters: This year, the games' physical location is more of a liability and less of an asset than ever. The Tokyo competition risks spreading COVID-19 in a country with a very low vaccination rate, while bringing no glory (or tourists) to a city that has banned spectators from all events.
