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It’s not unusual for athletes to spare no effort to put themselves into position to win, but this might be taking it a bit too far. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has confirmed that it is investigating allegations that male ski jumpers at this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy might have injected hyaluronic acid into their penises in hopes of gaining a competitive advantage. How might that help an athlete in a ski jump contest? According to the German publication, Bild, which first reported the controversy in January, suggests athletes are artificially enlarging their penises before official body measurements to...

In 1621, the city of Chocim in today's western Ukraine witnessed a mighty battle between the Polish-Lithuanian Empire and an invading Ottoman army. Chocim is rightly remembered by Poland as a victory, although the conflict ended in a political draw. But this stalemate was fought by only about 50,000 men against three times as many Turks and Mongols. After the death of the Polish commander-in-chief, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, it was Stanisław Lubomirski (1583–1649), not yet forty years old, who turned the tide in favor of Warsaw. Chocim was not the first battle in this war against Muslim aggression. Already in...

Lausanne (AFP) - The World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday banned Russia for four years from major global sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar over manipulated doping data, prompting an angry response from President Vladimir Putin. WADA's executive committee, meeting in Lausanne, handed Russia the "robust" four-year suspension after accusing Moscow of falsifying data from a doping testing laboratory that was handed over to investigators earlier this year. The toughest ever sanctions imposed on Russian state authorities will see government officials barred from attending any major events, while the country will lose the...

Nine veterans groups in California are criticizing 1st Lt. Ehren Watada for his decision to disobey deployment orders to Iraq. Watada is trying to "make himself a martyr and a hero," said Robert M. Wada, a charter president of the Japanese American Korean War Veterans. He said Watada's actions disrespect a legacy of military service by Japanese-American soldiers dating back to World War II. "No Japanese-Americans did anything like that and that is why Japanese-Americans are so upset," Wada said. "He is doing something that has never been done by Japanese-Americans." The groups expressed their outrage at Watada in a...