Very Tall Tacko Fall From Senegal
He’s 7’5″ (2.26 meters) tall and Elhadji “Tacko” Fall is attracting attention for his height and his basketball potential. The 18-year-old Senegalese giant came to the United States in 2012 and he just finished his junior (third year) season at Liberty Christian Prep in central Florida. In a phone interview with the Voice of America’s […]
World Cup Penalty Box Music Video
A few of my talented Voice of America colleagues are featured in this music video celebrating football’s World Cup and a new discussion series, Penalty Box, that is kicking off ahead of next month’s soccer extravaganza in Brazil. Heather Maxwell, the host of our Music Time in Africa radio program, the VOA’s longest running English […]
Boston Strong For City’s 118th Marathon
My friend Todd Gothberg says he experienced a wide range of emotions after last year’s deadly Boston Marathon bombings, and in his book, Believe, he describes them: “Shock. Sadness. Despair. Anger. Regret. Guilt. Relief. Peace.” Todd finished his 15th Boston Marathon about an hour before the blasts on Boylston Street which killed three people and […]
Obama Celebrates Boston Sports
U.S. President Barack Obama recently celebrated two of Boston’s oldest and most cherished sporting traditions: its annual marathon and its eight-time World Series champion baseball team. During a White House ceremony honoring the Boston Red Sox, President Obama credited the team with helping heal and unify a city scarred from last year’s deadly Boston Marathon […]
Ayanleh Souleiman Earns Athletic Glory For Djibouti
Ayanleh Souleiman says he started running in 2008 after watching the Beijing Olympics on television. Now 21-years-old, the athlete from the small Horn of Africa country Djibouti appears ready to run for a medal in 2016 when he makes his Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Souleiman was hoping to compete at the 2012 […]
Beckenbauer Backs Libyan Football
German football great Franz Beckenbauer is backing Libya as it prepares to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournament. During a recent visit to the capital, Tripoli, the 68-year-old Beckenbauer participated in a ceremony to launch the building of a new 60,000-seat national stadium that will be used for the Nations Cup. Beckenbauer’s visit […]
Haile Gebrselassie Sets The Pace In London
The man regarded by many as the greatest distance runner of the modern era will lead perhaps the best marathon field ever assembled in London on April 13th. Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie has agreed to be the pacemaker for the elite men in the British capital. The plan is for Haile, who will be five […]
Ghana’s Yaro Has Right to Dream
As Joshua Yaro walked down one of the hallways at our Voice of America headquarters, he saw the photo on the left hanging on a wall and stopped to take a closer look. “I played on pitches just like that when I was growing up,” said Yaro, who recently completed his first season with the […]
Magic Mountain and Measuring Sticks
Former world #1 tennis star Andre Agassi heard some of the players complaining about the scorching heat at the Australian Open and tweeted the following: “Heat is not a curve it is an opportunity to separate yourself.” The 43-year-old Agassi won four of his eight Grand Slam singles titles in Australia, and the way he […]
LeBron James & Serena Williams: AP’s Athletes of the Year
Here’s a Sonny Side of Sports salute to basketball star LeBron James and tennis champion Serena Williams, who are the Associated Press’s 2013 male and female athletes of the year. Serena had what Gordon Smith, the executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association, describes as an unforgettable year. She had a record in singles of […]