Great Year For Kipchoge and Kenyan Marathon Runners
2015 is proving to be another great year for Kenyan athletes at the marathon distance. The Kenyans swept the men’s and women’s titles at three major marathons – Berlin, Chicago and New York. Leading the Kenyan charge was Eliud Kipchoge, who clocked 2:04:42 to win the London Marathon April 26th, and then ran 2:04:00 to […]
Didier Drogba Making An Impact In MLS
In the twilight of a great football career, 37-year-old Didier Drogba is now delighting fans and making a big impact in his inaugural Major League Soccer (MLS) season. The former Ivory Coast captain signed with the Montreal Impact on July 27, 2015. He didn’t make his first start for Montreal until September 5, 2015, and […]
One On One With Luol Deng
Writing about the Top 100 National Basketball Association players of 2016, Sports Illustrated magazine’s Rob Mahoney says of Luol Deng, “Coaches sing his praises. Teammates past and present adore him. Such positive reflection is far from coincidence.” As I reflect on Deng’s first visit to our Voice of America headquarters, it’s hard not to sing […]
Sierra Leone’s Kamara Builds Hope and All-Star Resume
One of the defining characteristics of the 2015 Major League Soccer season has been the massive influx of talent from across the Atlantic. New York City FC, a new franchise playing its first season in the league, has led the charge. Before the season, NYC signed former Barcelona and Spanish national team striker David Villa […]
Mandela and Music and Sports as Cultural Conduits for Unity
“Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed towards the sun, one’s feet moving forward.” – Nelson Mandela After a rainy morning, the sun broke out in Frederick, Maryland, the venue for an enriching and educational Mandela Day program. The United Nations formally declared July 18th, Nelson Mandela’s birthday, as a day to honor […]
Nigeria’s Ezeli in NBA Finals
The Golden State Warriors will play their first National Basketball Association Finals game in over 40 years on Thursday night in Oakland, California. While their historic playoff run has been headlined by stars such as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Bogut, back-up center Festus Ezeli, of Benin City, Nigeria, has quietly been putting together […]
Attuquayefio Praised as Pillar of Ghana Football
The Sonny Side of Sports remembers one of the pillars of Ghana football, Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, who died May 12th of throat cancer at age 70. Attuquayefio had a long and distinguished coaching career. I had a chance to interview him in 2001 in the capital, Accra, where he led a squad of locally based […]
Brightfield Shadi Shines As Special Olympics Messenger
When I met Brightfield Shadi at Special Olympics headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., I asked him, “Do you know what the weather report is today? It’s Bright and Sonny!” Bright smiled and laughed, clearly enjoying a little humor as well as his visit to Washington as one of 12 Special Olympics athletes selected as Sargent […]
It’s a Capital Challenge for VOA Race Teams!
After a long winter here in Washington, spring is in the air and you can see more than a few runners getting in their miles on the National Mall near our Voice of America headquarters. Some are running for their own personal health, while others are training for upcoming races. The Washington area has a […]
Nothing But Nets, Stephen Curry!
Golden State Warriors basketball star Stephen Curry met this week with President Obama at the White House here in Washington, where they discussed the Nothing But Nets anti-malaria campaign. President Obama, who is a big basketball fan, has described the 26-year-old Curry as the best shooter he’s ever seen, and the Golden State guard is […]