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Zika Virus Infection Fast Facts | CNN

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CNN
 — 

Here’s a look at Zika virus, an illness spread through mosquito bites that can cause birth defects and other neurological defects.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO) and CNN

Zika virus is a flavivirus, part of the same family as yellow fever, West Nile, chikungunya and dengue fever.

Zika is primarily transmitted through the bite of an infected female Aedes aegypti mosquito. It becomes infected from biting an infected human and then transmits the virus to another person. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is an aggressive species, active day and night and usually bites when it is light out. The virus can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to her fetus, through sexual contact, blood transfusion or by needle.

The FDA approved the first human trial of a Zika vaccine in June 2016. As of May 2022, there is still no available vaccine or medication.

Cases including confirmed, probable or suspected cases of Zika in US states and territories updated by the CDC.

Most people infected with Zika virus won’t have symptoms. If there are symptoms, they will last for a few days to a week.

Fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (red eyes) are the most common symptoms. Some patients may also experience muscle pain or headaches.

Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause microcephaly, a neurological disorder that results in babies being born with abnormally small heads. Microcephaly can cause severe developmental issues and sometimes death. A Zika infection may cause other birth defects, including eye problems, hearing loss and impaired growth. Miscarriage can also occur.

An August 2018 report published by the CDC estimates that nearly one in seven babies born to women infected with the Zika virus while pregnant had one or more health problems possibly caused by the virus, including microcephaly.

According to the CDC, there is no evidence that previous infection will affect future pregnancies.

(Sources: WHO, CDC and CNN)

1947 – The Zika virus is first discovered in a monkey by scientists studying yellow fever in Uganda’s Zika forest.

1948 – The virus is isolated from Aedes africanus mosquito samples in the Zika forest.

1964 – First active case of Zika virus found in humans. While researchers had found antibodies in the blood of people in both Uganda and in Tanzania as far back as 1952, this is the first known case of the active virus in humans. The infected man developed a pinkish rash over most of his body but reported the illness as “mild,” with none of the pain associated with dengue and chikungunya.

1960s-1980s – A small number of countries in West Africa and Asia find Zika in mosquitoes, and isolated, rare cases are reported in humans.

April-July 2007 – The first major outbreak in humans occurs on Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia. Of the suspected 185 cases reported, 49 are confirmed, and 59 are considered probable. There are an additional 77 suspected cases. No deaths are reported.

2008 – Two American researchers studying in Senegal become ill with the Zika virus after returning to the United States. Subsequently, one of the researchers transmits the virus to his wife.

2013-2014 – A large outbreak of Zika occurs in French Polynesia, with about 32,000 suspected cases. There are also outbreaks in the Pacific Islands during this time. An uptick in cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome during the same period suggests a possible link between the Zika virus and the rare neurological syndrome. However, it was not proven because the islands were also experiencing an outbreak of dengue fever at the time.

March 2015 – Brazil alerts the WHO to an illness with skin rash that is present in the northeastern region of the country. From February 2015 to April 29, 2015, nearly 7,000 cases of illness with a skin rash are reported. Later in the month, Brazil provides additional information to WHO on the illnesses.

April 29, 2015 – A state laboratory in Brazil informs the WHO that preliminary samples have tested positive for the Zika virus.

May 7, 2015 – The outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil prompts the WHO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to issue an epidemiological alert.

October 30, 2015 – Brazil reports an increase in the cases of microcephaly, babies born with abnormally small heads: 54 cases between August and October 30.

November 11, 2015 – Brazil declares a national public health emergency as the number of newborns with microcephaly continues to rise.

November 27, 2015 – Brazil reports it is examining 739 cases of microcephaly.

November 28, 2015 – Brazil reports three deaths from Zika infection: two adults and one newborn.

January 15 and 22, 2016 – The CDC advises all pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant to postpone travel or consult their physicians prior to traveling to any of the countries where Zika is active.

February 2016 – The CDC reports Zika virus in brain tissue samples from two Brazilian babies who died within a day of birth, as well as in fetal tissue from two miscarriages providing the first proof of a potential connection between Zika and the rising number of birth defects, stillbirths and miscarriages in mothers infected with the virus.

February 1, 2016 – The WHO declares Zika a Public Health Emergency of International Concern due to the increase of neurological disorders, such as microcephaly, in areas of French Polynesia and Brazil.

February 8, 2016 – The CDC elevates its Emergency Operations Center for Zika to Level 1, the highest level of response at the CDC.

February 26, 2016 – Amid indications that the mosquito-borne Zika virus is causing microcephaly in newborns, the CDC advises pregnant women to “consider not going” to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The CDC later strengthens the advisory, telling pregnant women, “Do not go to the Olympics.”

March 4, 2016 – The US Olympic Committee announces the formation of an infectious disease advisory group to help the USOC establish “best practices regarding the mitigation, assessment and management of infectious disease, paying particular attention to how issues may affect athletes and staff participating in the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

April 13, 2016 – During a press briefing, CDC Director Thomas Frieden said, “It is now clear the CDC has concluded that Zika does cause microcephaly. This confirmation is based on a thorough review of the best scientific evidence conducted by CDC and other experts in maternal and fetal health and mosquito-borne diseases.”

May 27, 2016 – More than 100 prominent doctors and scientists sign an open letter to WHO Director General Margaret Chan, calling for the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro to be postponed or moved “in the name of public health” due to the widening Zika outbreak in Brazil.

July 8, 2016 – Health officials in Utah report the first Zika-related death in the continental United States.

August 1, 2016 – Pregnant women and their partners are advised by the CDC not to visit the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood as four cases of the disease have been reported in the small community and local mosquitoes are believed to be spreading the infection.

September 19, 2016 – The CDC announces that it has successfully reduced the population of Zika-carrying mosquitoes in Wynwood and lifts its advisory against travel to the community.

November 18, 2016 – The WHO declares that the Zika virus outbreak is no longer a public health emergency, shifting the focus to long-term plans to research the disease and birth defects linked to the virus.

November 28, 2016 – Health officials announce Texas has become the second state in the continental United States to confirm a locally transmitted case of Zika virus.

September 29, 2017 – The CDC deactivates its emergency response for Zika virus, which was activated in January 2016.

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Jon Rahm cruises to 2023 Masters victory, sealing Spaniard’s second career major | CNN

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CNN
 — 

Jon Rahm won the 2023 Masters on Sunday, clinching his first green jacket and second career major with an unflappable showing at Augusta National.

The Spaniard put on a clinic in consistency to ease to a four shot victory ahead of LIV Golf Series duo Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson.

After two days of miserable weather had seen multiple suspensions of play at the 87th edition of the historic major, it was fitting that blue skies and sunshine set the backdrop for the crowning of Rahm, whose victory sees him leapfrog reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler as world No. 1.

Having begun his tournament with a four-putt double bogey, Rahm recovered immediately and never looked back, carding a final round three-under 69 to finish 12-under.

On the birthday of late Spanish golf icon Seve Ballesteros – champion in 1980 and 1983 – Rahm became the fourth Spaniard to win the green jacket and the first European golfer to win both The Masters and the US Open, following victory at Torrey Pines in 2021.

Ballesteros, José María Olazábal, and Sergio Garcia were the only three of Rahm’s compatriots to have donned the green jacket previously, and Olazábal was one of the first to embrace the tearful new champion at the 18th green.

“History of the game is a big part of why I play and one of the reasons why I play, Seve being one of them,” Rahm said.

“If it wasn’t for that Ryder Cup in ’97, my dad and I talk about it all the time, we don’t know where I would be or where as a family we would be.

“For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful … I know he was pulling for me today.”

Rahm celebrates victory on the 18th green.

Rahm made short work of the two shot lead taken into the final round by Koepka, who slid to a frustrating three-over 75 finish. The American had held at least a share of the lead from the end of the first round, but saw his dreams of a first green jacket and fifth career major fade quickly amid Rahm’s relentless afternoon charge.

Mickelson rolled back the years with a final round-best 65 to become the oldest golfer ever to finish inside the top-five at the major. A three-time green jacket winner, the 52-year-old was all smiles as he eased round Augusta with eight birdies.

It marks the lowest round ever posted by a player aged 50 or above, coming a day after Fred Couples became the oldest player to ever make the cut at the major.

Jordan Spieth shot nine birdies in a blistering closing 66 to finish on seven-under. The 2015 champion finished level with Russell Henley and Patrick Reed, who made it three LIV Golf players inside the top four.

A defense of the title looked unlikely from the moment Scheffler endured a frustrating second round 75, the American finishing eight shots adrift of Rahm, tied for 10th.

Leading amateur Sam Bennett won hearts and plaudits after a superb week at Augusta. The 23-year-old Texan – who has a tattoo of his late father’s final piece of advice inscribed on his wrist – shot 76 to finish tied for 16th on his Masters debut.

Mickelson enjoyed an excellent final round.

After two days of miserable conditions and stop-start action, clear blue skies finally broke above Augusta National on Sunday, prompting the green light for the race to escape a first Monday finish at the major since 1983.

A battle to beat the clock had already ensued Saturday after bad weather Friday – featuring winds strong enough to fell three large pine trees – had suspended play overnight and left several players needing to finish their second rounds.

That group included Rahm, who cut Koepka’s lead to two before the duo paired with Bennett to trudge through six holes of a rain-soaked third round Saturday. By the time the horn sounded to suspend play, Koepka’s four stroke cushion had been restored – the American weathering the storm expertly while his Spanish rival lost ground with back-to-back bogeys.

Koepka plays his shot from the third tee during the final round.

Sunday’s bright weather brought a more familiar feel to the picturesque terrain of Augusta National, but there was no familiar sight of Tiger Woods’ classic Sunday red. Despite visibly struggling with movement throughout the weekend, the 15-time major champion had battled to a record-equaling 23rd cut, only to announce his withdrawal due to injury hours before play resumed on Sunday.

Having admitted to being in “constant” pain after his opening round, pictures of the 47-year-old – rooted to the bottom of the leaderboard – hobbling towards his golf bag during his final holes of the weekend will only intensify questions of whether the five-time Masters champion will ever play the major again.

Rahm had once again moved to within two strokes of Koepka as the pair approached the first tee for the final time, after the duo both carded one-over 72’s in the third round hours earlier.

Masters 2023: The best pictures from Augusta

Koepka’s opening drive found the fairway: the ninth fairway. Yet the American recovered superbly from his wild opening hook, planting his follow-up onto the green before saving par.

His relief didn’t last long. After Rahm sunk his first birdie of the day at the third, Koepka made bogeys at four and six. For the first time since the second hole on Friday, there was a new outright leader at the summit.

Smelling blood, a steely-eyed Rahm accelerated, tapping home for birdie after knocking a brilliant approach to within a few feet at the eighth to move two clear. Koepka, meanwhile, was fading, dropping two more shots by the 12th hole.

To make matters worse for the LIV Golf star, those behind had gathered momentum. Though Mickelson and Spieth ultimately left their charges too late to snatch victory, Koepka’s slide jumped Mickelson – already back in the clubhouse – up into solo second.

Koepka looks over a putt.

It was fitting encapsulation of the day that when a frustrated Koepka finally converted his first birdie of the afternoon at the 13th – snapping a 22 hole streak without one – Rahm matched his effort mere seconds later.

Any hopes of Koepka’s boost sparking a dramatic comeback were crushed at the following hole, as he bogeyed once again before Rahm coolly rolled home for birdie.

What had looked set to be an enthralling two-horse race had turned into a canter. Up ahead, American duo Reed and Henley were running out of time to challenge, and even back-to-back birdies for Koepka at the 15th and 16th only cut the gap to three.

Carrying a four shot lead into the final hole, there was a momentary scare for Rahm – perhaps his first genuine fright of the day – as his tee drive went sailing towards the trees.

It made for scenes reminiscent of a year ago, when runaway leader Scheffler made a wobbly finish, four-putting to close. Yet, once again, the outcome was the same – Rahm hit a provisional only to later find his original ball had bounced back onto the fairway.

A phenomenal approach onto the green allowed Rahm to fully bask in a champion’s ovation from the Augusta patrons. The ball had barely hit the bottom of the cup before Rahm had dropped his putter, raising his arms and head to the sky to toast a dominant triumph.

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For nearly 50 years, only Black men caddied The Masters. One day, they all but vanished | CNN

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CNN
 — 

History never forgets a champion. When you win one of sport’s biggest titles, you become immortal.

Win multiple times and your legacy is even greater. To think of The Masters is to think of Jack Nicklaus, the most successful champion in the major’s history with six wins, and Arnold Palmer, who donned the winner’s green jacket four times in just six years at Augusta National.

And yet for decades, two former champions with a combined nine wins lay buried in unmarked graves.

Willie Peterson caddied Nicklaus’ first five victories, while Nathaniel “Iron Man” Avery was on the bag for all four of Palmer’s triumphs. Avery’s headstone was only installed at Augusta’s Southview Cemetery, in Georgia, in 2017, 32 years after his death. Three years later, a 10-minute drive away at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Peterson – who died in 1999 – received his.

They were just two of Augusta National’s original caddie corps, all of them Black men who, from the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1934, guided golfers around the fabled course.

Every subsequent year for almost half a century, they would play substantial – sometimes pivotal – roles in the destination of the green jacket.

The stories of the original group of Augusta caddies almost always began in the same place: Sand Hills.

Located just three miles from The Masters venue, the historically Black district lay adjacent to Augusta Country Club. There, local kids between 10 and 12 years old could earn a wage carrying the bag for members.

Around 90% of Augusta National’s original caddie corps grew up in the Sand Hill neighborhood, according to Leon Maben, vice president of the board of directors at Augusta’s Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History.

Eventually, many would hop across Rae’s Creek to begin work at Augusta National. Or as Ward Clayton, author of “Men on the Bag: The Caddies of Augusta National,” terms it: they “graduated.”

Palmer looks over his shoulder as he sits with a group of caddies during the 1965 Masters.

“They were just looking for a buck,” Clayton told CNN. “They weren’t aiming at the outset to become the greatest caddies in the world, but they did – that’s what they became.

“It wasn’t as much of an age thing as it was just your ability. You had to learn to how to act around adults, how to read greens, how to tell guys what clubs to hit, what their yardage was, and how to read people.

“You had to become a little bit of an amateur psychologist … you had to read them right away, from the first hole.”

There was strong incentive for graduating. A “good bag” at Augusta National would pay up to $5, Maben said, offering $20 for a particularly lucrative day’s labor.

For Jariah “Jerry” Beard, caddie for 1979 Masters champion Fuzzy Zoeller, it meant he could earn as much in a day as his parents could in a week working at the city’s John P. King mill.

If caddying was an education, then Willie “Pappy” Stokes was its headmaster.

Having grown up on the very grounds Augusta National was built on, a 12-year-old Stokes was hired to provide water to workers constructing the club. During bad weather, the youngster closely studied how rain streamed across the terrain, always trickling towards the course’s lowest point: Rae’s Creek.

That realization formed the basis of Stokes’ ability to read greens with near-perfect accuracy, a knowledge he imparted to budding students at Saturday morning “caddie school.”

At just 17-years-old, Stokes helped Henry Picard to the 1938 Masters title. He would retire after helping four different players to five wins at Augusta and having sealed his status as “The Godfather” of caddies.

Stokes watches on as Ben Hogan edges closer to his first Masters title in 1951. Stokes would caddy again for Hogan when he won his second green jacket in 1953.

Stokes’ knowledge trickled down to those that followed, epitomized by Beard in 1979. To this day, Zoeller remains the only golfer to win The Masters on his first attempt, as Beard steered the debutant around Augusta “like a blind man with a seeing-eye dog.”

And they were Zoeller’s words, not Beard’s, relayed by the American in “Loopers: The Caddie’s Long Walk,” a 2019 film co-produced by Clayton.

Maben often joked with Beard, who died in March aged 82, that Zoeller ought to give him his green jacket.

“These guys were ahead of their time,” Maben said. “They knew Augusta National like the back of their hand and were able to direct a golfer without any type of instrument like today’s caddies (use).

“They didn’t have no book to go by or no instrument to say how the wind was blowing that day, anything like that. They were the best at what they did.”

Beard helps Zoeller line up a putt at the 1979 Masters.

And as with “The Godfather,” caddie nicknames were par for the course.

Tommy “Burnt Biscuits” Bennett, on the bag for Tiger Woods’ first Masters in 1995, got his moniker after an attempt as a child to steal biscuits being baked on his Grandma’s wooden stove ended with him badly scalding himself, according to ESPN.

Then there was John H. “Stovepipe” Gordon, Frank “Marble Eye” Stokes, and Matthew “Shorty Mac” Palmer. Avery’s “Iron Man” title had multiple stories as to its origin, according to Clayton, one being that he inadvertently cut off a finger while playing golf with a hatchet and another that he injured a hand playing around with powerful firecrackers.

John H.

But Clayton has a clear favorite in the nickname department: Willie “Cemetery” Perteet, former caddie for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The story, as recounted by Clayton, goes as follows.

Caddie by day, jazz band drummer in downtown Augusta by night, Perteet was leaving a gig one evening when he was jumped by a gang brandishing knives. The group had been gathered by the caddie’s ex-girlfriend, who was “terrifically hurt” after he had ended the relationship.

Hospitalized by his injuries, Perteet later returned to consciousness – but not in a hospital bed. Instead, he awoke in a refrigerated bay, staring into the horrified eyes of a mortician.

“The doctor evidently gave him too much medication and they thought he was dead,” Clayton explained.

“So all the caddies give him the nickname ‘Dead Man.’ President Eisenhower, right at the outset, said, ‘I don’t really like that title. We’re just going to call you Cemetery.’”

Though those who worked the bag were often close with the golfers they paired with, there was an enduring divide – social, as caddies, and racial, as Black men in America.

Only allowed to play the course on the days Augusta National was closed to members, caddies were “considered a lower class,” despite the respect for their craft, Clayton said. Maben, having spoken to many of the original caddies, agreed.

“That’s during segregation, Jim Crow period, and Black men was downgraded in society, called boy, n***er and all that,” Maben said.

“The way I analyze it, from a lot of the conversations I had, they knew their place at that time in society.”

In 1990, TV executive Ron Townsend became the first Black member admitted to Augusta National, 15 years after Lee Elder had become the first Black golfer to compete at The Masters.

Elder won four times on the PGA Tour.

By the time Townsend arrived, most of Augusta’s original caddie corps had disappeared. For the first 48 years at The Masters, golfers had to employ the services of the club’s caddies, but from 1983 onwards, they could bring their own.

Part of the reason lay in events at the previous year’s tournament, when a miscommunication led to some caddies missing a morning tee time. Several golfers used the incident as leverage in their bid to persuade The Masters to allow players to bring the caddies they employed year-round on the PGA Tour.

Clayton believes the arrival of Tour caddies was a matter of when, not if. “There’s no doubt that there was still a large, large group of excellent caddies at Augusta National. But the depth of those caddie ranks were not as great as what the players wanted,” he said.

“It would just have been nice if it was done in a more seamless manner versus what occurred.”

Caddies old and new at the 1983 Masters.

Regardless of the cause, the impact was profound. The 1983 Masters saw the first White caddies walk the greens at the major, with just 19 Black caddies on the bag, Clayton said.

Peterson was furious after entering the caddy facility to find his trusty No. 1 locker had been taken by an unknowing “Tour caddie.” The matter was quickly resolved, but the outgoing caddies were distraught – a pain felt both emotionally and financially.

“They felt like their jobs were being taken from them,” Clayton explained. “They didn’t have a lot of time for these guys coming in from the outside.”

Within a decade, less than 10 of the original caddie corps remained, he added.

“It was not nice the way they went out,” Carl Jackson, caddie for Ben Crenshaw, told CNN.

“It was a hard thing for all the guys because many of them were really good caddies and had experience about that golf course. At least 25-30 of those pros should not have let their caddies go.”

Yet Jackson’s story at Augusta National would not end for another 40 years.

Like many others, Jackson had begun working at Augusta Country Club before graduating to Augusta National in 1958 to learn his trade under Stokes. He arrived with the nickname “Skillet” because he supposedly couldn’t throw a baseball hard enough to break an egg.

In 1976, he paired with Crenshaw for the first time. For renowned putter “Gentle Ben” and the soft-spoken Jackson, green-reader extraordinaire, the partnership was a match made in heaven. After finishing runner-up on their first outing together, in 1984 Crenshaw clinched a two-shot victory over Watson to seal his maiden major title.

Jackson and Crenshaw formed a formidable partnership.

Crenshaw and Jackson would celebrate a second green jacket in 1995. It marked a hugely emotional victory for the Texan golfer, whose mentor Harvey Penick had died just before the tournament, leaving him in “shambles,” Jackson said.

When Crenshaw tapped home his winning putt, the duo shared a long hug on the green. Almost 20 years later to the day, the pair would repeat the gesture when – after their 39th outing – they retired together at the 2015 Masters.

The pair’s friendship lies at the heart of a forthcoming documentary on Jackson’s life, “Rise Above.”

“That’s how America ought to be,” Jackson says in the film. “The Black man taking care of the White man and the White man taking care of the Black man.’”

For Jackson, the core message of the documentary is about respect.

“If you’re righteous, you’re righteous. If you’re unrighteous, you’re gonna be a hater anyway.”

Jackson and Crenshaw embrace on the 18th green after their final hole together at The Masters.

Clayton will be at Augusta National this week, overseeing content for Masters.com, keeping a close eye on the men in the white jumpsuits and green hats carrying the clubs of those vying for the 2023 green jacket.

He will do so with as comprehensive a knowledge of the history of the club’s caddies as any in attendance. Yet prior to researching his 2004 book, mythic stories of “The Godfather,” “Cemetery,” and Augusta’s original caddie core were just that to him – myths. And that troubled Clayton.

“That was my effort, to tell their stories,” he said. “Because I thought they played a vital, vital role in making that club what it is and also helping golfers win … they deserved their attention.

“A lot of them aren’t with us any longer. That number is diminishing every year and they should be honored or remembered in a way that tells the story of who they are.”

The legacy of The Masters' original caddies lives on at Augusta National.

Preserving and spreading those stories is an ongoing mission. Clayton helped get the headstones for Avery and Peterson, with Palmer and Nicklaus also involved for their respective caddies.

This year, the Lucy Craft Laney Museum will put the legacy of Augusta’s Black caddies – quite literally – center stage.

Twice a month at the museum, supplementing its regular tours, the “Men on the Bag Experience” will see the stories of three original Augusta caddies – Stokes, Perteet, and Peterson – acted out in a play.

At the end of each performance, at least two original caddies – or “living legends” as Maben refers to them – will emerge from the audience to host an on-stage Q&A. Each will be immortalized in a sports trading card, stylized with their picture, story, and stats, to be signed and distributed to patrons as they leave the show.

Maben rarely calls them caddies. It’s almost always “living legends,” “superstars” or, most commonly of all, “champions.”

And history never forgets a champion.

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Why do Masters champions win a green jacket? | CNN

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CNN
 — 

Golfers fall asleep dreaming of securing theirs, Bubba Watson was moved to tears simply reminiscing over his, and one fan was willing to shell out over $680,000 just to own one.

Augusta National’s green jacket – an exclusive prize for Masters champions – is golf’s most coveted fashion statement, and one of sport’s most iconic pieces of clothing.

Sure, the prestige of winning one of the four majors in men’s golf and the trophy, not to mention the prize money, are welcome rewards, but the storied history of the Georgia club’s green member’s jacket earned it a unique reputation among those that pursue it.

The story of Augusta’s green jacket began some 3,900 miles across the Atlantic, in the town of Hoylake in northwest England.

Ahead of hosting its sixth British Open Championship in 1930, Royal Liverpool Golf Club held a players’ reception. In attendance was the most celebrated amateur golfer of the era, American Bobby Jones.

Over dinner, Jones proceeded to pepper former club captain Kenneth Stoker with questions on his red coat, the formal kit of Royal Liverpool captains.

“Mr. Jones, if you’re so fascinated by this, I will give you my coat if you win our Championship this week,” challenged Stoker – according to a CNN interview with club historian Joe Pinnington in 2014.

Naturally, Jones made short work of the wager, clinching the 11th of his 13 career major victories and returning to the US with a trophy – and a red blazer.

After becoming the first and only golfer to complete the original grand slam (Amateur Championship, Open Championship, US Open, US Amateur) months later, Jones stunned the sporting world by announcing his retirement from competitive golf at just 28 years old.

Harboring a passion for course design, Jones had other plans in mind. In 1934, his newly founded Augusta National hosted the first incarnation of The Masters.

Three years later, Augusta members started wearing green jackets to make themselves identifiable to patrons. In 1949 it was decided that year’s victor, Sam Snead, and all the previous champions, would be issued with their own version too.

The heavily bunkered appraoch to the par 5 3rd hole on the Royal Liverpool Golf Course, on June 10, 2004 in Hoylake, England.

How Royal Liverpool Golf Club inspired the Masters green jacket

The green jacket wasn’t a smash hit from the start, though. Originally produced by New York’s Brooks Uniform Company, Augusta members complained that the jackets were overly thick and uncomfortable in hot conditions, leading to a swift change of manufacturer, according to the PGA Tour.

Since 1967, Hamilton Tailoring Company of Cincinnati has held responsibility for making the jacket, the color of which is officially classified as “Pantone 342.”

Production is a month-long process that sees the owners name stitched inside and Augusta National logos emblazoned on both the chest pocket and brass buttons.

As a result, the jacket slipped onto the shoulders of winners on Sunday is simply for presentation, with the real one handed over later.

Yet newly crowned champions can’t simply walk away and find a lifetime spot for their new prize in their wardrobe – terms and conditions apply.

For starters, the jackets cannot be removed from – and can only be worn on – the grounds of Augusta National, though winners are permitted to take theirs home for a year on the condition they bring it back at the next edition of the tournament to hang in the Champions Locker Room.

When the defending champion returns a year later, they – along with a host of former victors – will don their jacket for the Masters Champions Dinner. The reigning winner decides the menu, with Scottie Scheffler serving up cheeseburger sliders, ribeye steak, and chocolate chip cookies for this year’s meal. Their final responsibility is to help the new winner slip into his new jacket during a ceremonial “passing of the torch” presentation outside Butler Cabin.

But what if a champion successfully defends his title? That was a question Masters co-founders Jones and Clifford Roberts hurriedly answered in 1966 when Jack Nicklaus became the first back-to-back champion at Augusta.

The pair decided that “The Golden Bear” should put the jacket on himself, and in the two repeat occasions since – Nick Faldo in 1990 and Tiger Woods in 2002 – the Masters chairman assumed responsibility for helping the golfers into their jackets.

Faldo helps 1997 Masters champion Woods into his green jacket.

There is one infamous exception to the rule of returning your jacket.

When Gary Player became the first international golfer to win The Masters in 1961, he jetted home to South Africa with his green jacket tucked away in his luggage. The following year, when he was defeated by Arnold Palmer in a playoff, he didn’t return it.

“I didn’t know you were supposed to leave it there,” said Player. “Next thing you know, there was a call from Mr. Roberts. And I said, ‘Well, Mr. Roberts, if you want it, why don’t you come and fetch it?’”

Roberts saw the funny side, Player added, and allowed the South African to keep it on the condition that he didn’t wear it in public. “The Black Knight” would go on to win two further Masters in 1974 and 1978.

Player was an honorary starter at the 2017 tournament.

Given how hard it is for the game’s finest to get their hands on a green jacket, it’s borderline impossible for non-golfers to do the same – but that hasn’t stopped a select few from trying.

In 2013, the jacket owned by Horton Smith, winner of the inaugural Masters in 1934, sold for $682,229 to an unnamed buyer at an auction hosted by Green Jacket Auctions.

Smith won The Masters in 1934 and 1936.

In 2017, Augusta National filed a lawsuit to stop the memorabilia company from auctioning another winner’s green jacket, as well as two members’ green jackets, according to the Associated Press.

The champion’s jacket was purported to have belonged to 1966 winner Byron Nelson. His blazer was marked in an inventory check at Augusta in 2009 before going missing, the lawsuit said.

In January 2019, Augusta National and Green Jacket Auctions agreed to drop their legal dispute, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

One jacket auctioned by Green Jacket Auctions was reported to have been first discovered in a Toronto thrift shop. Purchased for a measly $5, the jacket, whose original owner was undisclosed, was sold at auction for $139,349 in April 2017.

From letting friends – and even newborn children – try it on for size, to donning it for barbeques, Masters champions have found various uses for their green jackets during their limited-time home ownership.

“I didn’t take it for granted whatsoever,” 2015 champion Jordan Spieth told reporters upon his return to Augusta the following year.

“I think that I could have taken advantage of having it in my possession more than I did, but you learn and next time I’ll do a little bit better.

“Some of my favorite memories were certainly back home, having a bunch of my friends over and just having the jacket on while you’re grilling out … it was certainly a lot of fun and I don’t want to have to give it back.”

Spieth settles into his green jacket after victory in 2015.

For others, the satisfaction of turning rivals green with envy is enough.

“It’s a great way to give the other guys grief, give them a little jab here or there,” said Phil Mickelson, champion in 2004, 2006, and 2010.

Charl Schwartzel, who mounted a stunning final day charge to seal victory in 2011, said: “To have it with you and to see the people’s faces when you walk in … they always take a second look like, ‘that’s the jacket!’”

Zach Johnson described dressing his four-month-old son in his 2007 winner’s jacket for a picture session, following in the footsteps of Bubba Watson, who did the same with his adopted son after triumph in 2012.

“I wrapped Caleb up in it, that was the only thing I did with it,” a tearful Watson told reporters in 2013.

“Out of respect and honor for Augusta National and one of the greatest clubs we have, one of the greatest tournaments … I didn’t do any of my funny antics that I normally would do.”

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The haunting Masters meltdown that changed Rory McIlroy’s career | CNN

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CNN
 — 

Slumped on his club, head buried in his arm, Rory McIlroy looked on the verge of tears.

The then-21-year-old had just watched his ball sink into the waters of Rae’s Creek at Augusta National and with it, his dream of winning The Masters, a dream that had looked so tantalizingly close mere hours earlier.

As a four-time major winner and one of the most decorated names in the sport’s history, few players would turn down the chance to swap places with McIlroy heading into Augusta this week.

Yet on Sunday afternoon of April 10, 2011, not a golfer in the world would have wished to be in the Northern Irishman’s shoes.

A fresh-faced, mop-headed McIlroy had touched down in Georgia for the first major of the season with a reputation as the leading light of the next generation of stars.

An excellent 2010 had marked his best season since turning pro three years earlier, highlighted by a first PGA Tour win at the Quail Hollow Championship and a crucial contribution to Team Europe’s triumph at the Ryder Cup.

Yet despite a pair of impressive top-three finishes at the Open and PGA Championship respectively, a disappointing missed cut at The Masters – his first at a major – served as ominous foreshadowing.

McIlroy shot 74 and 77 to fall four strokes short of the cut line at seven-over par, a performance that concerned him enough to take a brief sabbatical from competition.

But one year on in 2011, any lingering Masters demons looked to have been exorcised as McIlroy flew round the Augusta fairways.

Having opened with a bogey-free seven-under 65 – the first time he had ever shot in the 60s at the major – McIlroy pulled ahead from Spanish first round co-leader Alvaro Quirós with a second round 69.

It sent him into the weekend holding a two-shot cushion over Australia’s Jason Day, with Tiger Woods a further stroke behind and back in the hunt for a 15th major after a surging second round 66.

And yet the 21-year-old leader looked perfectly at ease with having a target on his back. Even after a tentative start to the third round, McIlroy rallied with three birdies across the closing six holes to stretch his lead to four strokes heading into Sunday.

McIlroy drives from the 16th tee during his second round.

The youngster was out on his own ahead of a bunched chasing pack comprising Day, Ángel Cabrera, K.J. Choi and Charl Schwartzel. After 54 holes, McIlroy had shot just three bogeys.

“It’s a great position to be in … I’m finally feeling comfortable on this golf course,” McIlroy told reporters.

“I’m not getting ahead of myself, I know how leads can dwindle away very quickly. I have to go out there, not take anything for granted and go out and play as hard as I’ve played the last three days. If I can do that, hopefully things will go my way.

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow because four shots on this golf course isn’t that much.”

McIlroy finished his third round with a four shot lead.

The truth can hurt, and McIlroy was about to prove his assessment of Augusta to be true in the most excruciating way imaginable.

His fourth bogey of the week arrived immediately. Having admitted to expecting some nerves at the first tee, McIlroy sparked a booming opening drive down the fairway, only to miss his putt from five feet.

Three consecutive pars steadied the ship, but Schwartzel had the wind in his sails. A blistering birdie, par, eagle start had seen him draw level at the summit after his third hole.

A subsequent bogey from the South African slowed his charge, as McIlroy clung onto a one-shot lead at the turn from Schwartzel, Cabrera, Choi, and a rampaging Woods, who shot five birdies and an eagle across the front nine to send Augusta into a frenzy.

Despite his dwindling advantage and the raucous Tiger-mania din ahead of him, McIlroy had responded well to another bogey at the 5th hole, draining a brilliant 20-foot putt at the 7th to restore his lead.

The fist pump that followed marked the high-water point of McIlroy’s round, as a sliding start accelerated into full-blown free-fall at the par-four 10th hole.

His tee shot went careening into a tree, ricocheting to settle between the white cabins that separate the main course from the adjacent par-three course. It offered viewers a glimpse at a part of Augusta rarely seen on broadcast, followed by pictures of McIlroy anxiously peering out from behind a tree to track his follow-up shot.

McIlroy watches his shot after his initial drive from the 10th tee put him close to Augusta's cabins.

Though his initial escape was successful, yet another collision with a tree and a two-putt on the green saw a stunned McIlroy eventually tap in for a triple bogey. Having led the field one hole and seven shots earlier, he arrived at the 11th tee in seventh.

By the time his tee drive at the 13th plopped into the creek, all thoughts of who might be the recipient of the green jacket had long-since switched away from the anguished youngster. It had taken him seven putts to navigate the previous two greens, as a bogey and a double bogey dropped him to five-under – the score he had held after just 11 holes of the tournament.

Mercifully, the last five holes passed without major incident. A missed putt for birdie from five feet at the final hole summed up McIlroy’s day, though he was given a rousing reception as he left the green.

Mere minutes earlier, the same crowd had erupted as Schwartzel sunk his fourth consecutive birdie to seal his first major title. After starting the day four shots adrift of McIlroy, the South African finished 10 shots ahead of him, and two ahead of second-placed Australian duo Jason Day and Adam Scott.

McIlroy’s eight-over 80 marked the highest score of the round. Having headlined the leaderboard for most of the week, he finished tied-15th.

McIroy was applauded off the 18th green by the Augusta crowd after finishing his final round.

Tears would flow during a phone call with his parents the following morning, but at his press conference, McIlroy was upbeat.

“I’m very disappointed at the minute, and I’m sure I will be for the next few days, but I’ll get over it,” he said.

“I was leading this golf tournament with nine holes to go, and I just unraveled … It’s a Sunday at a major, what it can do.

“This is my first experience at it, and hopefully the next time I’m in this position I’ll be able to handle it a little better. I didn’t handle it particularly well today obviously, but it was a character-building day … I’ll come out stronger for it.”

Once again, McIlroy would be proven right.

Just eight weeks later in June, McIlroy rampaged to an eight-shot victory at the US Open. Records tumbled in his wake at Congressional, as he shot a tournament record 16-under 268 to become the youngest major winner since Tiger Woods at The Masters in 1997.

McIlroy celebrated a historic triumph at the US Open just two months after his Masters nightmare.

The historic victory kickstarted a golden era for McIlroy. After coasting to another eight-shot win at the PGA Championship in 2012, McIlroy became only the third golfer since 1934 to win three majors by the age of 25 with triumph at the 2014 Open Championship.

Before the year was out, he would add his fourth major title with another PGA Championship win.

And much of it was owed to that fateful afternoon at Augusta. In an interview with the BBC in 2015, McIlroy dubbed it “the most important day” of his career.

“If I had not had the whole unravelling, if I had just made a couple of bogeys coming down the stretch and lost by one, I would not have learned as much.

“Luckily, it did not take me long to get into a position like that again when I was leading a major and I was able to get over the line quite comfortably. It was a huge learning curve for me and I needed it, and thankfully I have been able to move on to bigger and better things.

“Looking back on what happened in 2011, it doesn’t seem as bad when you have four majors on your mantelpiece.”

A two-stroke victory at Royal Liverpool saw McIlroy clinch the Open Championship in 2014.

McIlroy’s contentment came with a caveat: it would be “unthinkable” if he did not win The Masters in his career.

Yet as he prepares for his 15th appearance at Augusta National this week, a green jacket remains an elusive missing item from his wardrobe.

Despite seven top-10 finishes in his past 10 Masters outings, the trophy remains the only thing separating McIlroy from joining the ranks of golf immortals to have completed golf’s career grand slam of all four majors in the modern era: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.

The Masters is the only major title to elude McIlroy.

A runner-up finish to Scottie Scheffler last year marked McIlroy’s best finish at Augusta, yet arguably 2011 remains the closest he has ever been to victory. A slow start in 2022 meant McIlroy had begun Sunday’s deciding round 10 shots adrift of the American, who teed off for his final hole with a five-shot lead despite McIlroy’s brilliant 64 finish.

At 33 years old, time is still on his side. Though 2022 extended his major drought to eight years, it featured arguably his best golf since that golden season in 2014.

And as McIlroy knows better than most, things can change quickly at Augusta National.

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Why Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia means so much for the Gulf monarchy’s sporting ambitions | CNN

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Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.


Abu Dhabi, UAE
CNN
 — 

It’s a partnership that’s been hailed as “history in the making.”

One of the world’s most famous soccer stars landed in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday, where Cristiano Ronaldo was received in an extravagant ceremony, with excited children sporting his new club’s yellow and blue jerseys.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia’s success in luring the five-time Ballon d’Or winner on a two-year contract with the kingdom’s Al Nassr FC is the Gulf monarchy’s latest step in realizing its sporting ambitions – seemingly at any cost.

According to Saudi state-owned media, Ronaldo will earn an estimated $200 million a year with Al Nassr, making him the world’s highest-paid soccer player.

Shortly after the 37-year-old’s signing with Al Nassr, the club’s Instagram page gained over 5.3 million new followers. Its official website was inaccessible after exceeding its bandwidth limit due to the sudden surge in traffic, and the hashtag #HalaRonaldo – Hello, Ronaldo in Arabic – was trending for days across the Middle East on Twitter.

Analysts say that his recruitment in Saudi Arabia is part of a wider effort by the kingdom to diversify its sources of revenue and become a serious player in the international sporting scene.

It is also seen as a move by the kingdom to shore up its image after it was tarnished by the 2018 dismemberment and killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents, and a devastating war it started in Yemen in 2015.

Critics have decried the kingdom for “sportswashing,” an attempt to burnish one’s reputation through sport.

“I think Saudi Arabia has recognized a couple of years ago that to be a powerful nation internationally, you cannot just rely on hard power,” Danyel Reiche, a visiting research fellow and associate professor at Georgetown University Qatar, told CNN.

“You also need to invest in soft power, and the case of Qatar shows that this can work pretty well,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia is following in the Qatari approach with sport, but with a delay of around 25 years.

Neighboring Qatar has also faced immense criticism since it won the bid to hosting last year’s FIFA World Cup in 2010.

Despite the smaller Gulf state facing similar accusations of “sportswashing,” the tournament has largely been viewed as a success, not least in exposing the world to a different view of the Middle East, thanks in part to Morocco’s success in reaching the semifinals and Saudi Arabia beating eventual World Cup champion Argentina in their opening group game.

Gulf nations engage in fierce competition to become the region’s premier entertainment and sporting hubs. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, in close proximity to each other, each have their own Formula One racing event. But their competition hasn’t been confined to the region. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also bought trophy European soccer teams.

Riyadh is playing catchup with neighbors who have long realized the importance of investing in sports, said Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at SKEMA Business School in Lille, France, especially as its main source of income – oil – is being gradually shunned.

“This is part of an ongoing attempt to create more resilient economies that are more broadly based upon industries other than those that are derived from oil and gas,” Chadwick told CNN.

Ronaldo’s new club Al Nassr is backed by Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC), a subsidiary of the kingdom’s wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has played a pivotal role in Saudi Arabia’s diversification plans.

“It is also a sign of interconnectedness, of globalization and of opening up to the rest of the world,” said Georgetown University’s Reiche.

The move is part of “several recent high profile moves in the sports world, including hosting the Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua world heavywight boxing championship bout in 2019, and launching the LIV Golf championship,” said Omar Al-Ubaydli, director of research at the Bahrain-based Derasat think tank. “It is a significant piece of a large puzzle that represents their economic restructuring.”

The kingdom has been on a path to not only diversify its economy, but also shift its image amid a barrage of criticism over its human rights record and treatment of women. Saudi Arabia is today hosting everything from desert raves to teaming up with renowned soccer players. Argentina’s Lionel Messi last year signed a lucrative promotional deal with the kingdom.

Hailed as the world’s greatest player, 35-year-old Messi ended this year’s World Cup tournament in Qatar with his team’s win over France, making his ambassadorship of even greater value to the kingdom.

The acquisition of such key global figures will also help combat the monarchy’s decades-long reputation of being “secretive” and “ultra-conservative,” James Dorsey, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and an expert on soccer in the Middle East, told CNN’s Eleni Giokos on Wednesday.

Al-Ubaydli said that the kingdom wants to use high profile international sports “as a vehicle for advertising to the world its openness.”

Saudi Arabia bought the English Premier league club Newcastle United in 2021 through a three-party consortium, with PIF being the largest stakeholder. The move proved controversial, as Amnesty International and other human rights defenders worried it would overshadow the kingdom’s human rights violations.

Ronaldo’s work with Saudi Arabia is already being criticized by rights groups who are urging the soccer player to “draw attention to human rights issues” in Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia has an image problem,” especially since Khashoggi’s killing, says Reiche. But the kingdom’s recent investments in sports and entertainment are “not about sportswashing but about developing the country, social change and opening up to the world.”

Saudi Arabia is reportedly weighing a 2030 World Cup bid with Egypt and Greece, but the kingdom’s tourism ministry noted in November that it has not yet submitted an official bid. Chadwick believes that Ronaldo’s deal with Al Nassr, however, may help boost the kingdom’s bid should it choose it pursue it.

Another way Saudi Arabia may benefit from Ronaldo’s acquisition is that it will be able to improve commercial performance, says Chadwick, especially if this collaboration attracts further international talent.

“It is important to see Ronaldo not just as a geopolitical instrument,” said Chadwick, “There is still a commercial component to him and to the purpose he is expected to serve in Saudi Arabia.”

What Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia shows is that the kingdom aspires “to be seen as being the best” and that it wants to be perceived as a “contender and a legitimate member of the international football community,” said Chadwick.

UAE FM meets Syria’s Assad in Damascus in further sign of thawing ties

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in Damascus on Wednesday in the latest sign of thawing relations between Assad and the Gulf state. The meeting addressed developments in Syria and the wider Middle East, according to UAE state news agency WAM.

  • Background: It was Abdullah bin Zayed’s first visit since a November 2021 meeting with Assad that led to the resumption of relations. Months later, in March 2022, Assad visited the UAE, his first visit to an Arab state since the start of Syria’s civil war.
  • Why it matters: A number of Assad’s former foes have been trying to mend fences with his regime. Last week, talks between the Syrian and Turkish defense ministers were held in Moscow in the highest-level encounter reported between the estranged sides since the war in Syria began. The regional rapprochement is yet to improve the lives of average Syrians. Syria is still under Western sanctions.

Turkish President Erdogan says he could meet with Assad

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech on Thursday that he could meet the Syrian leader “to establish peace.”

  • Background: Erdogan’s comments came after the Moscow talks between the two nations’ defense ministers and intelligence chiefs. “Following this meeting… we will bring our foreign ministers together. And after that, as leaders, we will come together,” Erdogan said on Thursday.
  • Why it matters: The meeting would mark a dramatic shift in Turkey’s decade-long stance on Syria, where Ankara was the prime supporter of political and armed factions fighting to topple Assad. The Turkish military maintains a presence across the Syrian border and within northern Syria, where it backs Syrian opposition forces. Erdogan has also pledged to launch yet another incursion into northern Syria, aiming at creating a 30-km (20-mile) deep “safe zone” that would be emptied of Kurdish fighters.

Iran shuts down French cultural center over Charlie Hebdo’s Khamenei cartoons

Iran announced on Thursday it had ended the activities of a Tehran-based French research institute, in reaction to cartoons mocking Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and fellow Shia Muslim clerics published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo this week.

  • Background: Iran summoned the French ambassador to Tehran on Wednesday to protest cartoons published by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. More than 30 cartoons poking fun at Iran’s supreme leader were published by the magazine on Wednesday, in a show of support for the Iranian people who have been protesting the Islamic Republic’s government and its policies.
  • Why it matters: French-Iranian relations have deteriorated significantly since protests broke out in Iran late last year. Paris has publicly supported the protests and spoken out against Iran’s response to them. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna criticized Iran’s freedom of press and judicial independence on Thursday, saying “press freedom exists, contrary to what is going on in Iran and… it is exercised under the supervision of a judge in an independent judiciary – and there too it’s something that Iran knows little of.”

The prized legacy of iconic Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum re-emerged this year when Rolling Stone magazine featured her in its “200 Greatest Singers of All Time.”

Ranking 61st, Umm Kulthum was the only Arab artist to make it to the list, with the magazine saying that she “has no real equivalent among singers in the West.”

Born in a small village northeast of the Egyptian capital Cairo, Umm Kulthum rose to unmatched fame as she came to represent “the soul of the pan-Arab world,” the music magazine said.

“Her potent contralto, which could blur gender in its lower register, conveyed breathtaking emotional range in complex songs that, across theme and wildly-ornamented variations, could easily last an hour, as she worked crowds like a fiery preacher,” it wrote.

Nicknamed “the lady of Arab singing,” her music featured both classical Arabic poetry as well as colloquial songs still adored by younger generations. Her most famous pieces include “Inta Uumri” (you are my life), “Alf Leila Weileila” (a thousand and one nights), “Amal Hayati” (hope of my life) and “Daret al-Ayyam” (the days have come around). Some of her songs have been remixed to modern beats that have made their way to Middle Eastern nightclubs.

The singer remains an unmatched voice across the Arab World and her music can still be heard in many traditional coffee shops in Old Cairo’s neighborhoods and other parts of the Arab world.

Umm Kulthum’s death in 1975 brought millions of mourners to the streets of Cairo.

By Nadeen Ebrahim

Women athletes aim their air rifles while competing in a local shooting championship in Yemen's Houthi rebel-held capital Sanaa on January 3.



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The year in sport: A fond farewell for some, a glimpse of the future for others | CNN

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CNN
 — 

An athlete, former jockey AP McCoy said earlier this year, is the only person who dies twice, such is the pain of walking away from the intoxicating, all-consuming nature of professional sport.

McCoy retired from his long, decorated racing career in 2015, and since then has had to learn, in his own words, how to “start again and have another life.”

Based on the past 12 months, there are some notable sports stars who might have been listening extra closely to McCoy’s experience of retirement – or indeed to anyone else who has spoken candidly about the difficulty of ending a successful sporting career.

Among them is Roger Federer, who called time on his trophy-laden tennis career at the Laver Cup in September after years spent trying to recover from two knee surgeries.

In the letter announcing his retirement, Federer, like McCoy, alluded to the heightened emotions of being a professional athlete and how they make saying goodbye so hard.

“I have laughed and cried, felt joy and pain, and most of all I have felt incredibly alive,” Federer wrote. “To the game of tennis,” he signed off the letter, “I love you and will never leave you.”

Those final words were reassuring for fans who have admired Federer’s career for so many years, but also spoke to another issue: namely, of how hard it can be to walk away entirely from professional sport after retirement.

It remains to be seen exactly how Federer will remain involved in tennis moving forward, and the same can be said of Serena Williams, who announced she would “evolve away from tennis” ahead of this year’s US Open – but refused to say she was retiring.

On several occasions over the past three months, the 23-time grand slam champion has even teased fans about a potential return to tennis.

At the 2022 US Open, Serena Williams lost to Australian Ajla Tomlijanovic in the third round.

While Federer and Williams have stepped away from their careers as two of the greatest athletes of all time, other sports stars can’t seem to decide when, or how, to walk away.

Heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury has yo-yoed in and out of retirement this year, saying in October that he’s finding it “really hard to let this thing go.”

And earlier this year, Tom Brady announced he would be retiring from the NFL, leaving the sport as a seven-time Super Bowl champion and arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. the 45-year-old then reversed that decision and is still breaking records with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during his 23rd season in the NFL.

However in September, Brady and Gisele Bündchen announced they were to divorce after 13 years of marriage.

“I think there is a lot of professionals in life that go through things that they deal with at work and they deal with at home,” the Bucs quarterback said on his weekly podcast a few days the couple’s divorce announcement.

“Obviously, the good news is it’s a very amicable situation, and I’m really focused on two things: taking care of my family, and certainly my children, and secondly doing the best job I can to win football games. That’s what professionals do.”

Tom Brady flip-flopped on retiring.

Brady has redefined what most believed to be the average shelf-life of an athlete, and he’s not the only person refusing to let the light dim on his career.

LeBron James is about to turn 38 but is still setting records in the NBA – in February passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most combined regular season and postseason points in NBA history.

Federer’s rivals Rafael Nadal, 36, and Novak Djokovic, 35, meanwhile, have added to their grand slam tallies this year – the Mallorcan at the Australian Open and French Open, where he became the oldest men’s singles champion, and the Serbian at Wimbledon. Djokovic’s Wimbledon triumph moved him to within one grand slam title of Nadal’s men’s record of 22.

Having been deported from Australia over his vaccination status at the start of the year, Djokovic is set to compete at the Australian Open at the start of 2023 – a tournament he has won on nine previous occasions and is favorite to win again next year off the back of his recent ATP Finals victory.

For Nadal, his future in the sport rests on the amount of strain his injury-ravaged body can continue to withstand.

In golf, Tiger Woods faces similar questions. The 15-time major champion completed a stunning return from serious leg injuries suffered in a car crash at this year’s Masters, scoring a remarkable one-under 71 at Augusta National before making the cut the following day.

Then there’s sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who turns 36 later this month but has shown no signs of slowing down. The Jamaican produced a string of consistently fast performances this year, running under 10.7 seconds for the 100 meters a record seven times and claiming her fifth world championship title over the distance in July.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce celebrates winning the women's 100m final at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July.

And it’s not just athletes who have defied the call of retirement this year. In November, 73-year-old Dusty Baker became the oldest ever manager to win the World Series when he guided the Houston Astros to a 4-2 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Many of the athletes who stole the headlines in 2022 have been doing so for years.

No one is sure where an aging Cristiano Ronaldo will play his club football in January after ending his second spell at Manchester United in ignominious fashion, but the 37-year-old still appears to be set on extending his playing career after Portugal’s quarterfinal exit from the World Cup.

His rival Lionel Messi, meanwhile, ended the year on a sensational high, guiding Argentina to a third World Cup trophy. The 35-year-old Messi scored twice in an absorbing final against France and finally got his hands on the World Cup at the fifth time of asking, further staking his claim as the game’s greatest ever player.

That hasn’t been the only recent instance of an established superstar winning silverware. In last season’s NBA Finals, Steph Curry guided the Golden State Warriors to a fourth championship title in eight seasons – in the process picking up his first Finals MVP award as the Warriors beat the Boston Celtics.

In baseball, meanwhile, Aaron Judge enjoyed a season for the ages. The 30-year-old outfielder, who has reportedly just signed a nine-year, $360 million deal with the New York Yankees, hit 62 home runs last season, breaking Roger Maris’ single-season American League (AL) home run record from 1961.

On Wednesday, the Yankees named Judge, the reigning AL MVP, as the 16th captain in the franchise’s history.

Judge (left) hit a record-breaking 62 home runs last season.

But even as familiar faces have continued to shine, the past year has also seen future stars emerge.

The 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz ends the year as the youngest No. 1 in the history of the men’s tennis having triumphed at the US Open, and in the women’s game, Iga Swiatek, who rose to No. 1 in the world following Ashleigh Barty’s decision to retire after winning the Australian Open, looks set to dominate for years to come.

This year, the 21-year-old Swiatek won her second grand slam title at the French Open – which came in the middle of a 37-match winning streak – and her third at the US Open.

In Formula One, Max Verstappen has cemented his position as the best driver in the sport, comfortably defending his world title with four races to spare, while Erling Haaland, regarded as one of the best strikers in European football, has been scoring goals at a record-breaking rate during his first season at Manchester City.

There was no stopping Max Verstappen this year.

At the Winter Olympics in Beijing, then-18-year-old freestyle skier Eileen Gu stole the headlines, winning two gold medals and a silver for the host nation; she also became the first freestyle skier to earn three medals at a single Olympics.

Another teenager, figure skater Kamila Valieva, had a memorable Games for different reasons. The 16-year-old tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication, in December 2021, but the result didn’t come to light until Valieva was already in Beijing and had won gold in the figure skating team event.

In that competition, she became the first woman to land a quadruple jump – which involves four spins in the air – at the Winter Olympics.

The outcome from the positive test remains unresolved, and in November, the World Anti-Doping Agency referred Valieva’s case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after deeming the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had made no progress.

Eileen Gu performs a trick during the women's freestyle freeski halfpipe final at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cast a shadow over much of this year’s sporting calendar.

Athletes and teams from Russia and Belarus were banned from competitions across various sports, including qualification games for this year’s World Cup and participation at Wimbledon.

The decision from Wimbledon was perhaps the strongest stance taken by a sports organization, resulting in the ATP and WTA Tours removing ranking points from this year’s tournament.

At the start of the war, many Ukrainian athletes – like skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych and MMA fighter Yaroslav Amosov – opted to put their careers on hold and support the country’s military efforts.

Boxer Oleksandr Usyk has also spoken passionately about serving his country, and in the ring has extended his undefeated record, beating Anthony Joshua in August to retain his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles.

Oleksandr Usyk lands a punch on Anthony Joshua during their

Throughout 2022, sport and geopolitics have been closely entwined. This month, WNBA star Brittney Griner returned home to the US having been detained in Russia for nearly 10 months on drug smuggling charges.

Despite her testimony that she had inadvertently packed the cannabis oil that was found in her luggage, Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in early August and was moved to a penal colony in the Mordovia republic in mid-November after losing her appeal.

The 32-year-old’s arrest in Russia sparked diplomatic drama between the US and the Kremlin which played out alongside Russia’s war in Ukraine.

She was released in a prisoner swap that involved Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. The exchange, however, did not include another American that the State Department has declared wrongfully detained, Paul Whelan.

Brittney Griner is seen getting off a plane in an undated photo posted to her Instagram.

Perhaps no sport has been as gripped by internal politics this year as much as golf, which was rocked by the launch of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series in June.

LIV Golf has been criticized by some of the game’s leading players – including Woods and Rory McIlroy – while others – major champions Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson – have abandoned the PGA Tour in favor of the lucrative, breakaway series.

It has left the sport divided. Earlier this year, LIV Golf joined an antitrust lawsuit alongside some of its players, alleging that the PGA Tour threatened to place lifetime bans on players who participate in the LIV Golf series.

The suit also alleges that the PGA Tour has threatened sponsors, vendors, and agents to coerce players into abandoning opportunities to play in LIV Golf events.

The PGA Tour filed a countersuit in late September, claiming “tortious interference with the Tour’s contracts with its members.”

The LIV Golf series is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and the man who a US intelligence report named as responsible for approving the operation that led to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Bin Salman has denied involvement in Khashoggi’s murder.

LIV Golf’s launch is part of Saudi Arabia’s wider ambition to host and invest in global sports events. This year, it staged the rematch between Usyk and Joshua and even won a bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.

But unquestionably, the most prominent sporting event held in the Gulf region this year has been the World Cup in Qatar.

The four-week-long tournament came to a thrilling conclusion on Sunday as Argentina lifted the trophy, bringing down the curtain on what FIFA president Gianni Infantino argued was the greatest World Cup of all time.

There were upsets, high-scoring games, and brilliant goals throughout – right up to Sunday’s showpiece when Messi reigned supreme and Kylian Mbappé scored a stunning hat-trick in a losing cause.

The match between Argentina and France at Qatar 2022 is being viewed as the greatest ever World Cup final.

It was the first time a country in the Middle East had hosted the World Cup, and Qatar, which has a population of just three million people, invested billions of dollars in building seven new stadiums, as well as new hotels and expansions to the country’s airport, rail networks and highways.

The tournament was also fraught with controversy, particularly when it came to allegations surrounding the country’s poor human rights record and treatment of migrant workers.

Since 2010, many migrant workers in Qatar have faced delayed or unpaid wages, forced labor, long hours in hot weather, employer intimidation, and an inability to leave their jobs because of the country’s sponsorship system, human rights organizations have found.

In the face of such criticism, Qatar has maintained it is an open, tolerant country and has seen the World Cup as a vehicle to accelerate labor reforms.

Elsewhere in international football, England won the Women’s European Championships for the first time in front of a record crowd on home soil, while Senegal claimed the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title in February, also for the first time.

Outside international competitions, Real Madrid won its 14th European crown by defeating Liverpool in the Champions League final – a game that was marred by security issues.

Real Madrid defeated Liverpool in this year's Champions League final in Paris.

The match itself was delayed by more than 35 minutes after Liverpool fans struggled to enter the Stade de France and tear gas was used by French police towards supporters held in tightly packed areas.

Paris police chief Didier Lallement admitted in June that the chaos was “obviously a failure” and said he takes “full responsibility for police management” of the event.

Tragically, football has witnessed multiple serious stadium disasters this year. In October, more than 130 people were killed in a stampede in the Indonesian city of Malang – one of the world’s deadliest stadium disasters of all time.

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo later said the country would demolish and rebuild the stadium, vowing to “thoroughly transform” the sport in the football-mad nation.

Players and officials from Arema Football Club gather to pray on the pitch for victims of the stampede at Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang.

A stadium crush in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé during this year’s AFCON also saw at least eight people killed and 38 injured during the game between Cameroon and Comoros.

Looking ahead to 2023, Australia and New Zealand is scheduled to host the Women’s World Cup in July and August.

The US Women’s National Team (USWNT) could become the first team to win the tournament three times in a row.

This year, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the USWNT’s Players Association (USWNTPA) and the United States National Soccer Team Players Association (USNSTPA) forged a landmark equal pay deal – the first federation in the world to equalize prize money awarded to the teams for participating in World Cups.

Next year will be the first time the USWNT has played a major tournament under such a deal.

Among the other major sporting events being held next year are the World Athletics Championshps in Budapest, Hungary, and the Rugby World Cup in France.

In the NFL, Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona is only weeks away, while the NBA Playoffs begin two months later in April.

With the men’s World Cup over, club football resumes in Europe and tennis’ first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open, begins on January 16.

For sports fans, that will hopefully serve as tonic to stave off the January blues.



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LeBron James and Billie Jean King lead tributes to American journalist Grant Wahl | CNN

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CNN
 — 

The death of prominent journalist Grant Wahl at the World Cup in Qatar has led to an outpouring of shock and grief across the sports world, with NBA star LeBron James and tennis great Billie Jean King leading the tributes to the American.

Prominent American journalist Grant Wahl has died in Qatar after collapsing while covering the World Cup, sparking an outpouring of shock and grief across the sports world. He was 49.

King said Wahl’s death was “heartbreaking.”

“A talented journalist, Grant was an advocate for the LGBTQ community & a prominent voice for women’s soccer,” King tweeted Saturday. “He used his platform to elevate those whose stories needed telling. Prayers for his family.”

On Friday in Philadelphia, basketball star James said he had been “very fond of Grant.” While Wahl was at Sports Illustrated, he did a cover story on James when James was in high school.

“I’ve always kind of watched from a distance even when I moved up in ranks and became a professional, and he went to a different sport,” said James, speaking at a postgame press conference. “Any time his name would come up I’ll always think back to me as a teenager and having Grant in our building … It’s a tragic loss.”

Tyler Adams, the captain of the US men’s national soccer team, which was knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands in the last 16, sent his “deepest sympathy” to Wahl’s wife, Celine Gounder, and to those who knew him.

“As players we have a tremendous amount of respect for the work of journalists, & Grant’s was a giant voice in soccer that has tragically fallen silent,” Adams wrote on Twitter.

Qatar’s World Cup organizers said on Saturday that Wahl “fell ill” in the press area, where he received “immediate medical treatment on site.”

He was then transferred to Hamad General Hospital, said a spokesperson for the Supreme Court Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the body responsible for planning the tournament.

Wahl was treated in the stadium “for about 20-25 minutes” before he was moved to the hospital, Keir Radnedge, a columnist at World Soccer Magazine, told CNN Saturday.

“This was towards the end of extra time in the match. Suddenly, colleagues up to my left started shouting for medical assistance. Obviously, someone had collapsed. Because the chairs are freestanding, people were able to move the chairs, so it’s possible to create a little bit of space around him,” Radnedge said.

He added that the medical team were there “pretty quickly and were able to, as best they could, give treatment.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reacted to Wahl’s death on Saturday, adding that senior State Department officials were in touch with Qatari officials and Grant’s family.

“Grant Wahl was an inspiration to many. Our thoughts are with his wife Dr. Céline Gounder and all those who loved him. State Department officials are in touch with Grant’s family and with senior officials in the government of Qatar to ensure his family gets the support they need,” Jean-Pierre wrote on Twitter.

“Only some days ago, Grant was recognized by FIFA and AIPS (the International Sports Press Association) for his contribution to reporting on eight consecutive FIFA World Cups,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a statement.

Infantino and FIFA media director Bryan Swanson were at the hospital on Saturday to offer any kind of support needed for the family, friends, and the journalists who were also his housemates in Qatar.

The co-editors in chief of Sports Illustrated, the publication where Wahl spent the majority of his career, said in a joint statement they were “shocked and devastated at the news of Grant’s passing.”

“We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades – no writer in the history of (Sports Illustrated) has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell,” said the statement.

It added that Wahl had first joined the publication in November 1996. He had volunteered to cover the sport as a junior reporter – back before it reached the heights of global popularity it now enjoys – eventually becoming “one of the most respected soccer authorities in the world,” it said.

The statement said that Wahl also worked with other media outlets including Fox Sports. After leaving Sports Illustrated in 2020, he began publishing his podcast and newsletter.

Other current and former US soccer players, including Ali Krieger and Tony Meola, shared their condolences, as did sporting bodies such as Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League.

Wittyngham, Wahl’s podcast co-host, told CNN on Saturday the news of his death had been hard to fathom.

“For Americans, Grant Wahl is the first person you read covering soccer. He was kind of the only person for a while … Grant was the first person who really paid genuine attention to this sport in a meaningful way,” Wittyngham said.

Several journalists shared stories of reporting alongside Wahl, and having encountered him at multiple World Cups over the years.

“Before he became the best covering soccer he did hoops and was so kind to me,” wrote famed broadcaster Dick Vitale.

Timmy T. Davis, the US Ambassador to Qatar, tweeted that Wahl was “a well known and greatly respected reporter who focused on the beautiful game.”

“The entire US Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” US Soccer said in a statement on its official Twitter account.

“Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us.”

US Soccer praised Wahl’s passion and “belief in the power of the game to advance human rights,” and shared its condolences with Wahl’s wife, Celine Gounder, and his loved ones.

Gounder also posted the US Soccer statement on Twitter.

“I am so thankful for the support of my husband Grant Wahl’s soccer family and of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight. I’m in complete shock,” wrote Gounder, a former CNN contributor who served on the Biden-Harris transition Covid-19 advisory board.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the department was in “close communication” with Wahl’s family. The World Cup organizers also said they were in touch with the US embassy “to ensure the process of repatriating the body is in accordance with the family’s wishes.”

Wahl wearing a rainbow-colored t-shirt while working at Qatar 2022.

Wahl had covered soccer for more than two decades, including 11 World Cups — six men’s, five women’s – and authored several books on the sport, according to his website.

He had just celebrated his birthday earlier this week with “a great group of media friends at the World Cup,” according to a post on his official Twitter account, which added: “Very thankful for everyone.”

In an episode of the podcast Futbol with Grant Wahl, published days before his death on December 6, he had complained of feeling unwell.

“It had gotten pretty bad in terms of like the tightness in my chest, tightness, pressure. Feeling pretty hairy, bad,” Wahl told co-host Chris Wittyngham in the episode. He added that he sought help at the medical clinic at the World Cup media center, believing he had bronchitis.

He was given cough syrup and ibuprofen, and felt better shortly afterward, he said.

Wahl also said he experienced an “involuntary capitulation by my body and mind” after the US-Netherlands game on December 3.

“This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve done eight of these on the men’s side,” he said at the time. “And so like, I’ve gotten sick to some extent at every tournament, and it’s just about trying to find a way to like get your work done.”

He further described the incident in a recent newsletter published on December 5, writing that his body had “broke down” after he had little sleep, high stress and a heavy workload. He’d had a cold for 10 days, which “turned into something more severe,” he wrote, adding that he felt better after receiving antibiotics and catching up on sleep.

Wahl had made headlines in November by reporting that he was detained and briefly refused entry to a World Cup match because he was wearing a rainbow t-shirt in support of LGBTQ rights.

He said security staff had told him to change his shirt because “it’s not allowed,” and had taken his phone. Wahl said he was released 25 minutes after being detained and received apologies from a FIFA representative and a senior member of the security team at the stadium.

Afterward, Wahl told CNN he “probably will” wear the shirt again.



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Exclusive: World Cup soccer fans stopped by security officials for wearing rainbow-colored items | CNN

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Doha, Qatar
CNN
 — 

The World Cup is well underway in Qatar, but issues surrounding LGBTQ+ rights for the Gulf state, world soccer governing body FIFA, teams and fans just won’t go away.

On Saturday, two German soccer fans told CNN that they were asked by security officials at Qatar 2022 to remove the rainbow-colored items that they were wearing as they made their way to watch the World Cup match between France and Denmark on Saturday.

CNN witnessed the conclusion to the incident at the Msheireb Metro Station, in Doha, as Bengt Kunkel, who was wearing a rainbow-colored sweatband and his friend – sporting a similarly colored armband – refused to hand over the items. The rainbow is a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride.

After taking the Germans to one side, a group of security guards eventually let them go – on condition that they put the rainbow-colored items in their pockets, according to Kunkel.

“Out of nowhere. They took my friend quite aggressively on the arm and pushed him away from the crowd and told him to take it [the armband] off,” Kunkel told CNN, as he recounted details of the incident shortly after it happened.

“Then they took me with him. They said: ‘You’re going to take it off and throw it in the bin or we’ll call the police.’”

The pair refused to throw their items in the bin and said they told security they could call the police.

“We had a little discussion, we were being respectful and said: ‘We’re not going to throw it away but we’re going to put it in our pockets’,” added Kunkel, who travelled to the World Cup to enjoy the soccer tournament, but also to use his social media platform to talk about LGBTQ+ issues and Qatar 2022.

Kunkel and his friend were then allowed to walk down to the station platform where CNN accompanied them to the match. Kunkel’s friend said he didn’t want to talk to CNN.

Once outside Stadium 974, Kunkel put the rainbow-colored armband and wristband back on and walked through security.

CNN witnessed Kunkel being allowed through, though the 23-year-old German was again taken to one side.

Kunkel then told CNN he was stopped four more times before being allowed to take his seat inside the stadium wearing the rainbow-colored items.

Earlier this week, American journalist Grant Wahl and former Wales captain Laura McAllister both said they were told by security staff to remove clothing with rainbow-colored patterns.

Wahl said he was released 25 minutes after being detained and received apologies from a FIFA representative and a senior member of the security team at the stadium.

A detailed view of the

When asked to clarify the dress code for fans, FIFA referred CNN to the tournament handbook, which states “expats and tourists are free to wear the clothing of their choice, as long as it is modest and respectful to the culture.”

After some Wales fans were also denied entry into stadiums for wearing rainbow-colored bucket hats on Monday, the Welsh Football Association (FAW) said FIFA told the federation on Thursday that rainbow-colored flags and hats would be permitted at World Cup stadiums in Qatar.

“In response to the FAW, FIFA has confirmed that fans with Rainbow Wall bucket hats and rainbow flags will be allowed entry to the stadium for @Cymru’s match against Iran on Friday,” it tweeted.

“All World Cup venues have been contacted and instructed to follow the agreed rules & regulations.”

However, Kunkel’s experience on Saturday would seem to suggest that there remains a disconnect between FIFA’s rules and regulations and what is happening on the ground at Qatar 2022.

CNN reached out to FIFA and Qatar’s organizing committee. FIFA referred CNN to Qatar’s organizing committee, which hadn’t replied at the time of publication.

Bengt Kunkel wearing the rainbow-colored armband inside Stadium 974 on Saturday, November 26.

The 23-year-old Kunkel, who is a student sports journalist back in Germany, has been in Qatar with three friends since just before the World Cup kicked off and says he has already had rainbow-colored items confiscated.

Kunkel said he was removed from his seat at the Al Thumana Stadium during Senegal’s game against the Netherlands on Monday and told to take off the items.

On that occasion security threw them in the bin and Kunkel was allowed back to his seat.

“It’s quite a statement to throw a rainbow flag in the garbage,” added Kunkel.

“I’m not part of the LGBTQ community myself, but I can understand those who don’t want to come here [Qatar] because people of the community are being oppressed.”

Kunkel’s trip to Qatar has made headlines in Germany and he met German Interior and Community Minister Nancy Faeser in Doha this week.

German Football Association President Bernd Neuendorf (L) and German Federal Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser, who is wearing a

Faeser wore the “OneLove” armband, which features the outline of a heart striped in different colors, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino sitting close by during her country’s 2-1 defeat against Japan.

Since the World Cup kicked off, FIFA has found itself at loggerheads with seven European nations playing at Qatar 2022 over the threat of sanctions for any player wearing a “OneLove” armband during games.

Kunkel says he is unhappy that FIFA allowed Qatar to host the World Cup in a country where sex between men is illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison.

The 23-year-old says both Faeser and the German Football Association (DFB) have been supportive of his actions and that the DFB even provided him with more rainbow items after his were confiscated.

Ahead of its game against Japan earlier this week, Germany’s team posed with their right hands in front of their mouths designed as a protest to FIFA’s decision to ban the “OneLove” armband that many European captains had been hoping to wear in Qatar.

Although supportive of that protest, Kunkel says more can be done.

“The German FA talks a lot about the rights of the LGBTQ community but whenever they fear consequences they seem to back off and I think that’s a little bit sad,” said Kunkel, who returns to Germany on Monday.

Kunkel says he is passionate about using his platform in Qatar to raise awareness, adding that although he’s received a mixed response online, he was congratulated multiple times by fellow fans walking into Saturday’s game.

“I want to be a voice,” said Kunkel, who earlier this week posted a picture of himself on Instagram from Qatar displaying a rainbow-colored sweatband in front of his face, which he had painted with the German flag with a message saying: “Take a stand, be seen, participate in change. Awesome feeling.”

Qatar’s organizing committee, meanwhile, has previously promised to host “an inclusive and discriminatory-free” World Cup in the face of Western criticism regarding its anti-LGBTQ laws – criticism Infantino, speaking generally about Qatar’s human rights record, slammed as “hypocritical” ahead of the tournament.

“It’s so annoying they do this,” Kunkel told CNN. “This isn’t a political issue, it’s basic human rights.”





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