Newsmakers: Past few days ‘difficult’ for former Tennessee coach Summitt
Failing
The family of Pat Summitt says the last few days have been difficult for the former Tennessee women’s basketball coach as her Alzheimer’s disease progresses.Amid reports of Summitt’s failing health, her family issued a statement Sunday asking for prayers and saying that the 64-year-old Summitt is surrounded by the people who mean the most to her. They also asked for privacy.
Passing
Hal Lear, the sweet-shooting guard who starred for the Temple Owls in the 1950s and still holds the school record for points in a season, has died in White Plains, New York. He was 81.
Transferring
Andrew White, the second-leading scorer for Nebraska last season, plans to play his final season at another school as a graduate transfer.
Helping
The Shaq show came to Havana as NBA great Shaquille O’Neal put on a basketball clinic for local youngsters, becoming the latest emissary for American outreach to the people of Cuba. The 2016 Hall of Fame inductee and four-time NBA champion led star-struck kids in layup drills and coached scrimmages while onlookers cheered from the sidelines, part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored visit to foster people-to-people exchanges with Cuban citizens.
Selected
British rower Katherine Grainger will attempt to win a medal for a fifth straight Olympics after being selected in her country’s team for the Rio de Janeiro Games. The 40-year-old Grainger will partner Victoria Thornley in the double sculls in Rio. Grainger is the defending champion in the discipline, having won gold with Anna Watkins in the London Olympics in 2012 to make her Britain’s most decorated female Olympian.
Designed
U.S. Olympic rowers will be given a new, high-tech training suit with anti-microbial features designed to protect them against water pollution in Rio de Janeiro.
Completed
The most troubled venue for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics – the indoor cycling velodrome – is almost ready to go with the games opening in just under six weeks. Rio organizers took possession of the building with about 30 mostly Brazilian cyclists spinning around the banked track during a practice session. This is the last permanent venue at the Olympic Park being handed over to organizers. Repeated delays and contract disputes forced two cycling test events to be canceled.
Troubled
Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi says it’s unclear if the suspended anti-doping laboratory for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics can be re-opened before the games start in under six weeks.