Russian and Belarusian para-athletes will not be at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, despite the International Paralympic Committee lifting its ban on them.
Although the IPC oversees the Games, there are four separate governing bodies in charge of the six sports taking place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Three of the governing bodies have decided to keep their bans on athletes from the two countries, and although Russia and Belarus are now allowed to compete in ice hockey, the decision came too late for them to take part in qualifying.
Both countries were suspended from Paralympic competition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Belarus a close ally of Russia.
A partial ban – allowing athletes to compete as neutrals – was introduced in 2023.
IPC members then voted to lift the suspensions on the two countries at a meeting last month, allowing para-athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags.
However, the four international federations have now told the IPC “that, in practice, no athletes from the two nations are likely to qualify for March’s Games”.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), International Biathlon Union (IBU) and World Curling have not lifted their bans, while World Para Ice Hockey has already decided which countries will enter the qualifying tournament for the two remaining places at the Games.
“In the same way that the IPC fully respects the decision of the IPC General Assembly not to maintain the partial suspensions of NPC Belarus and NPC Russia, we also fully respect the decisions of each international federation regarding the sports they govern,” said IPC president Andrew Parsons.
“The positions of FIS, IBU and World Curling currently mean that athletes and teams from Belarus and Russia cannot compete in their events, making it impossible for them to qualify for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.
“While Belarus and Russia can now compete in Para ice hockey competitions, at this late stage of the qualification cycle, the six teams for November’s Paralympic Games qualification tournament have already been determined.
“I hope the focus will now be very much on the outstanding athletes and NPCs that will compete at Milano Cortina 2026 next March, as well as the tremendous transformational legacies the Paralympic Winter Games will create.”
California gubernational candidate Betty Yee said that transgender female athletes should be able to compete in women’s sports and that she is open to having athletes of all gender identities compete in the same category in certain events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Her comments come as California legislation becomes a central focus in the national debate on the participation of transgender athletes in sports and elucidate her stance on one of the few issues currently dividing the state’s Democrats.
During a recent appearance on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Yee said, “I think transgender athletes are women athletes and they should be able to compete.”
Yee, who served as California state controller from 2015 to 2023, told Morgan that transgender female athletes have gone through a physical transition and should be able to participate in women’s sports. However, she added that “there is still some discussion about whether they should compete in the same field” and that more research is needed on the physiology of transgender athletes.
Her view differs from that of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports “deeply unfair” and warned that it was hurting Democrats at the polls during a March episode of his podcast featuring conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Newsom’s comments garnered backlash from some party members, who accused the governor of abandoning a vulnerable minority group for political gain.
When Morgan asked Yee if there should be a gender-neutral 2028 L.A. Olympics where everyone competes in the same category, she said, “I think it’s a conversation worth having.”
“If the physicality of the sexes bear true to that [gender neutrality], including with transgender people, yes, it [the Olympics] should be gender neutral,” she said. “I don’t think we know enough.”
Yee suggested that there are some sporting events where all athletes can compete on a level playing field. When asked to name one, she suggested short-distance track and field events such as the 100-meter sprint — a notion Morgan decried as “insane.”
The Olympic record time among male athletes for the 100-meter dash is 9.63 seconds, set by Usain Bolt in 2012, while the women’s Olympic record is 10.61 seconds, set by Elaine Thompson-Herah in 2021.
Yee said she was not a sports expert but emphasized her overall stance that all athletes, including transgender athletes, should have an equal opportunity to participate.
“I think there’s a lot of information we need to learn about what’s really happening with the ability of trans athletes to compete, but my statement is about being able to be sure that they can compete,” she said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton appeared on Morgan’s show after Yee and called her comments jaw dropping.
“I think we may just have seen another California Democrat candidate torpedo their campaign for governor,” he said, referencing the criticism former Rep. Katie Porter has received over recordings of combative and rude comments to a journalist and a staff member.
Hilton said that as governor he would overturn AB 1266. This law took effect in 2014 and requires that California schools allow students to participate in sporting activities consistent with their gender identities, regardless of the gender listed on their record.
“This is obviously discrimination against girls,” said Hilton. “I’m confident that, as governor, I can actually overturn that law and bring some sanity back to this whole situation.”
In July, the Trump administration sued California for allowing transgender athletes to compete on school sports teams that match their gender identity, alleging that this violates a federal law that prohibits gender-based discrimination in schools by allowing biological males to compete against biological females.
This week, Newsom signed Assembly Bill 749, which creates a commission to examine whether a new state board or department is needed to improve access to youth sports regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income or geographic location.
The bill was decried by some Republican legislators as an attempt to create a body that will advocate for the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed legislation to study inequalities in youth sports, a move likely to draw ire from Republicans who believe the measure is intended to support transgender athletes.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 749, creates a commission to examine whether a new state board or department is needed to improve access to sports regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income or geographic location.
In an open letter last month to the governor, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) zeroed in on the term “gender identity.”
“The author and supporters of [this legislation] know if they were upfront and put forth a straightforward bill allowing biological males to compete against young women and girls, it would be easily defeated,” Jones wrote on Sept. 26. “So instead they are trying to establish a stacked commission to indirectly rig the issue in their favor.”
Jones urged Newsom to veto the bill and referenced the governor’s previous remarks about transgender athletes. During the first episode of his podcast “This Is Gavin Newsom,” the governor — a longtime ally of the LGBTQ+ community — acknowledged the struggle faced by transgender people but called transgender women’s participation in women’s sports “deeply unfair” and warned it was hurting Democrats at the polls.
Assemblymember Tina S. McKinnor, who introduced the bill, said Jones should keep his focus on Washington.
“Senator Brian Jones’ time would be better spent writing to the Republican controlled Congress to end the Trump Shutdown and reopen the federal government, rather than attacking trans students,” McKinnor (D-Hawthorne) wrote in an email to The Times.
Legislation referencing gender identity tends to be a lightning rod for controversy nationwide, with opinion polls suggesting Americans hold complex views on transgender issues.
A survey conducted this year by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found 66% of U.S. adults favor laws requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams that match their sex assigned at birth. At the same time, 56% of adults supported policies protecting transgender people from discrimination in jobs and public spaces.
During legislative committee hearings on the bill, McKinnor focused on the legislation’s potential racial impact. She said last year’s Play Equity Report found 59% of white youth participated in structured sports programs, compared with 47% of Black youth and 45% of Latino youth.
“Participation in youth sports remains unequal despite the well-documented physical, mental and academic benefits,” McKinnor told the Senate Health Committee in July. “These disparities stem from systemic barriers such as financial limitations, uneven program quality, outdated physical education standards and the lack of a coordinated statewide strategy.”
More than two dozen organizations endorsed the bill, including the Los Angeles Rams, city of San Diego, USC Schwarzenegger Institute, YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles and the Boys and Girls Clubs of West San Gabriel Valley and Eastside.
The legislation directs the state public health officer to convene the commission, which will be composed of 10 members appointed by the governor and three appointed by each the speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Committee on Rules. The health officer will also sit on the panel, or appoint their own designee.
Newsom did not issue a statement when his office announced a slate of bills he signed on Monday.
In March, Newsom infuriated the progressive wing of his party when, while hosting conservatives commentator Charlie Kirk on the governor’s podcast, he broke away from many Democrats on the issue of transgender athletes. Newsom, an outspoken champion of LGBTQ+ rights since he was mayor of San Francisco, publicly criticized the “unfairness” of transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.
Pressure is growing on football’s governing bodies to take action against Israel’s national football team over the war on Gaza.
Turkiye has become the first member of European football’s governing body, UEFA, to publicly call for Israel’s suspension from all football competitions, as pressure ramps up on the sport’s organising bodies to take action over the ongoing war on Gaza in advance of the World Cup 2026.
Turkish Football Federation President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu on Friday sent a letter to international football leaders urging that “it is now time for FIFA and UEFA to act” – referring to the world and European football governing bodies.
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“Despite positioning themselves as defenders of civic values and peace, the sporting world and football institutions have remained silent for far too long,” Haciosmanoglu said, according to Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu news agency.
“Guided by these values, we feel compelled to raise our deep concern regarding the unlawful (and more importantly, completely inhumane and unacceptable) situation being carried out by the State of Israel in Gaza and its surrounding areas,” he added.
UEFA is moving towards a vote on whether to suspend Israel, whose men’s football team is in the middle of attempting to qualify for next year’s World Cup, co-hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The 20-member UEFA ruling committee is expected to secure a majority to exclude Israel from games if a vote is called.
Unease has grown regarding the apparent double standard of Israel’s treatment and that of Russia, whose national team was banned by both UEFA and FIFA in 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Also on Friday, a coalition of 48 high-profile professional athletes called on UEFA to suspend Israel from all football competitions over its assault on Palestinians in Gaza.
France midfielder Paul Pogba and English cricketer Moeen Ali were among 48 signatories to a statement calling for Israel’s suspension, published under the banner of Athletes 4 Peace.
“As professional athletes of diverse backgrounds, faiths, and beliefs, we believe sport must uphold the principles of justice, fairness, and humanity,” read the statement.
“We, the signatories of Athletes 4 Peace, call upon UEFA to immediately suspend Israel from all competitions until it complies with international law and ends its killing of civilians and the widespread starvation,” the athletes added.
The statement also cited the death last month of Suleiman al-Obeid – known as the Palestinian Pele – who, according to the Palestine Football Association, was killed when Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in southern Gaza.
Israel has been a full member of UEFA since 1994 after being expelled from the Asian Football Confederation two decades earlier in a vote initiated by Kuwait and backed by other Arab countries.
It has only qualified for one men’s World Cup – the 1970 competition held in Mexico – when it was knocked out in the group stage without winning a game.
On Thursday, the US Department of State said it would “absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national football team” from next year’s World Cup.
Though UEFA is able to stop Israel from participating in games related to European competitions, it cannot stop Israel from competing in FIFA-run World Cup qualifiers.
The head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has warm relations with President Donald Trump – visiting the US leader at the White House in March – and so is seen as unlikely to back a move to suspend Israel.
Infantino will chair a meeting of FIFA’s ruling council next Thursday in the Swiss city of Zurich.
Athletes will undergo checks to prove they do not actively support the war in Ukraine or have links with the army.
Published On 19 Sep 202519 Sep 2025
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Russians will compete as neutral independent athletes without a national flag or anthem at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee has said, maintaining the same sanctions as the Paris Summer Games last year.
The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October 2023 for recognising regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying the move had violated the Olympic Charter.
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“We also spoke about the Independent Neutral Athletes (AINs). This will be nothing new,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry told a news conference. “The executive board will take the exact same approach that was done in Paris (2024 Olympics). Nothing has changed.”
Russian and Belarusian athletes who reach qualifying times will be first vetted for any links to the Russian military or support of the war in Ukraine, both of which will exclude them.
Russian teams are banned from the Games. Belarus has acted as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine.
A small number of individual Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to take part as AINs in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics after first passing rigorous vetting by the IOC.
They competed without the Russian or Belarusian flag and anthem. Instead, they took part as neutral athletes.
Four Russian figure skaters in men’s and women’s singles were recently approved by the International Skating Union to try to qualify for the Games, which start on February 6, 2026 in Italy, as neutral athletes.
There are people and there is leadership, but numbers are becoming ever more influential in assessing performances and deciding who truly is the best of the best.
Speed, distances, heart rate, VO2 max aerobic capacity tests, biomechanics, injury risk, sleep, mood, stress, positions, heat maps, formations – it is too much for most of us to contemplate.
“Football is the hardest sport. You know, fundamentally, it’s hard to analyse because there are not many goals,” says Ian Graham, founder and CEO of analytics company Ludonautics.
“I was director of research at Liverpool Football Club for 11 years. In the Premier League, certainly every move is analysed.
“For every game, you get this data, which is this list of what happened, where and who did it. Most leagues now have something called tracking data, where you see 25 frames per second, the positions of all of the players. That tells you something about the off-ball impacts of players.”
It does not come cheap, though. Graham says it will cost anything from £1.5m to £3.5m for clubs such as Liverpool, Arsenal, Brighton and Brentford, who are known to be invested in the numbers.
Then again, in football at least, that is a steal if you are paying £100m for a player.
Data will tell anybody with knowledge of how to use it an awful lot, but can athletes understand it themselves?
Certainly – just ask English golfer Lottie Woad, who recently won the Scottish Open aged 21, a week after turning professional in a sport which demands accuracy.
“I love data, so that’s kind of how my brain works,” Woad says.
“I record stats from each round and put them in a system called Upgame – it’ll tell you everything about your round, strokes gained and stuff like that.
“And then in my practice using launch monitors, showing you all the stuff you need for your technique as well as looking at ball flight, spin rates, stuff like that. It’s helped a lot.”
Incremental improvement is the name of the game, but there’s a more sophisticated phenomenon on the horizon which could change elite sport forever and needs a scientist, not a sports star, to explain.
“Artificial intelligence is a form of computer science. So it uses systems that can perform tasks which mirror human intelligence, such as the likes of problem-solving, decision-making and learning,” says the Open University’s Mark Antrobus.
“The real benefits of it is it can be used to collect and streamline data and data collection processes really quickly. We can identify patterns, and make predictions just like humans do through experience.”
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to weigh in on the growing controversy over transgender athletes and decide if federal law bars transgender girls from women’s school sports teams.
“Biological boys should not compete on girls’ athletics teams,” West Virginia Atty. Gen. JB McCusky said in an appeal the court voted to hear.
The appeal had the backing of 26 other Republican-led states as well as President Trump.
Four years ago, West Virginia adopted its Save Women’s Sports Act but the measure has been blocked as discriminatory by the 4th Circuit Court in 2-1 decision.
Idaho filed a similar appeal after its law was blocked by the 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco. The court said it would hear that case together with the West Virginia case.
At issue is the meaning of Title IX, the federal education law that has been credited with opening the door for the vast expansion of women’s sports. Schools and colleges were told they must give girls equal opportunities in athletics by providing them with separate sports teams.
In the past decade, however, states and their schools divided on the question of who can participate on the girls team. Is it only those who were girls at birth or can it also include those whose gender identity is female?
West Virginia told the court its “legislature concluded that biological boys should compete on boys’ and co-ed teams but not girls’ teams. This separation made sense, the legislature found, because of the ‘inherent physical differences between biological males and biological females’.”
California and most Democratic states allow transgender girls to compete in sports competitions for women.
In 2013, the Legislature said a student “shall be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions…consistent with his or her gender identity.”
The Supreme Court had put off a decision on this issue while the divide among the states grew.
McCusky, West Virginia’s attorney general, said he was confident the court would uphold the state’s law. “It is time to return girls’ sports to the girls and stop this misguided gender ideology once and for all,” he said in a statement.
Lawyers for Lambda Legal and the ACLU said the court should not uphold exclusionary laws.
“Our client just wants to play sports with her friends and peers,” said Sasha Buchert, director of Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal.
“Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.”
Becky Pepper-Jackson and her mother sued after the school principal said she was barred by the state’s law from competing on the girls’ teams at her middle school in Bridgeport, W. Va.
She “has lived as a girl in all aspects of her life for years and receives puberty-delaying treatment and estrogen hormone therapy, so has not experienced (and will not experience) endogenous puberty,” her mother said in support of their lawsuit.
ACLU lawyers said then the court should stand aside. They said B.P.J. was eager to participate in sports but was “too slow to compete in the track events” on the girls team.
Last year, West Virginia tried again and urged the Supreme Court to review the 4th Circuit’s decision and uphold its restrictions on transgender athletes.
The state attorneys also claimed the would-be middle school athlete had become a track star.
“This spring, B.P.J. placed top three in every track event B.P.J. competed in, winning most. B.P.J. beat over 100 girls, displacing them over 250 times while denying multiple girls spots and medals in the conference championship. B.P.J. won the shot put by more than three feet while placing second in discus,” they told the court.
Last year, the court opted to rule first in a Tennessee case to decide if states may prohibit puberty blockers, hormones and other medical treatments for young teens who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
On June 18, the court’s conservative majority said state lawmakers had the authority to restrict medical treatments for adolescents who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, noting the ongoing debate over the long-term risks and benefits. The ruling turned aside the contention that law reflected unconstitutional sex discrimination.
On Thursday, the justices released their final orders list before their summer recess granting review of new cases to be heard in the fall. Included were the cases of West Virginia vs. BJP and Little vs. Hecox.
In response to the appeals, ACLU lawyers accused the state of seeking to “create a false sense of national emergency” based on a legal “challenge by one transgender girl.”
The lawsuit said the state measure was “part of a concerted nationwide effort to target transgender youth for unequal treatment.” The suit contended the law violated Title IX and was unconstitutional because it discriminated against student athletes based on their gender identity.
West Virginia’s lawyers saw a threat to Title IX and women’s sports.
They said the rulings upholding transgender rights “took a law designed to ensure meaningful competitive opportunities for women and girls—based on biological differences — and fashioned it into a lever for males to force their way onto girls’ sports teams based on identity, destroying the very opportunities Title IX was meant to protect.”
University of Pennsylvania removes times set by trans swimmer as part of resolution to civil rights investigation.
A top university in the United States has agreed to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports and erase records set by a prominent trans swimmer following pressure from the administration of President Donald Trump.
The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the US Department of Education on Tuesday announced the agreement to resolve a federal civil rights investigation focused on transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Thomas, who was born male and came out as a trans woman in 2018, won a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I title in 2022, becoming the first trans athlete to accomplish the feat.
Thomas, who began hormone replacement therapy in 2019 as part of the transition from male to female, also set UPenn records in five women’s events, including the 100-metre and 500-metre freestyle competitions.
Thomas’s accomplishments became a focal point in the debate about fairness in sport, with LGBTQ campaigners hailing the swimmer’s participation as a victory for inclusion and critics, including some of Thomas’s teammates, casting it as an attack on women’s rights.
Larry Jameson, UPenn’s president, said in a statement that the university recognised that some student athletes had been disadvantaged by the NCAA eligibility rules that had been in place at the time of Thomas’s participation.
The NCAA changed its eligibility rules to limit participation in women’s events to female-born athletes in March, following Trump’s executive order denying funding to educational institutions that allow trans girls and women to compete.
“We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time,” Jameson said.
“We will review and update the Penn women’s swimming records set during that season to indicate who would now hold the records under current eligibility guidelines.”
UPenn later on Tuesday removed Thomas from its website’s list of “All-Time School Records”, and added a note stating that Thomas set records during the 2021-22 season under “eligibility rules in effect at the time”.
UPenn’s move comes after the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights in April announced that it had determined the university to have violated Title IX by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities”.
US Education Secretary Linda McMahon called Tuesday’s agreement a “great victory for women and girls”.
“The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,” McMahon said in a statement.
Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD, two of the biggest LGBTQ advocacy organisations in the US, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
UPenn’s announcement is the latest in a series of moves to limit trans people’s participation in sport in the US and elsewhere since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Opinion polls have pointed to growing public opposition to trans women and girls competing against female-born athletes.
In a New York Times/Ipsos poll published in January, 79 percent of Americans said that trans women should be barred from female sports, up from 62 percent in 2021.
University of Pennsylvania erases records set by trans swimmer as part of resolution to civil rights investigation.
A top university in the United States has agreed to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports and erase records set by a prominent trans swimmer following pressure from the administration of President Donald Trump.
The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the US Department of Education on Tuesday announced the agreement to resolve a federal civil rights investigation focused on transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Thomas, who was born male and came out as a trans woman in 2018, won a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I title in 2022, becoming the first trans athlete to accomplish the feat.
Thomas, who began hormone replacement therapy in 2019 as part of the transition from male to female, also set UPenn records in five women’s events, including the 100-metre and 500-metre freestyle competitions.
Thomas’s accomplishments became a focal point in the debate about fairness in sport, with LGBTQ campaigners hailing the swimmer’s participation as a victory for inclusion and critics, including some of Thomas’s teammates, casting it as an attack on women’s rights.
Larry Jameson, UPenn’s president, said in a statement that the university recognised that some student athletes had been disadvantaged by the NCAA eligibility rules that had been in place at the time of Thomas’s participation.
The NCAA changed its eligibility rules to limit participation in women’s events to female-born athletes in March, following Trump’s executive order denying funding to educational institutions that allow trans girls and women to compete.
“We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time,” Jameson said.
“We will review and update the Penn women’s swimming records set during that season to indicate who would now hold the records under current eligibility guidelines.”
UPenn later on Tuesday removed Thomas from its website’s list of “All-Time School Records”, and added a note stating that Thomas set records during the 2021-22 season under “eligibility rules in effect at the time”.
UPenn’s move comes after the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights in April announced that it had determined the university to have violated Title IX by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities”.
US Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the agreement a “great victory for women and girls”.
“The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,” McMahon said in a statement.
Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD, two of the biggest LGBTQ advocacy organisations in the US, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
UPenn’s announcement is the latest in a series of moves to limit trans people’s participation in sport in the US and elsewhere since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Opinion polls have pointed to growing public opposition to trans women and girls competing against female-born athletes.
In a New York Times/Ipsos poll published in January, 79 percent of Americans said that trans women should be barred from female sports, up from 62 percent in 2021.
WAILUKU, Hawaii — From the moment the Rams landed in Maui, Puka Nacua embraced the spotlight and provided sunshine vibes.
The star receiver, with several colorful leis draping his shoulders, turned heads upon arrival at a Monday night luau.
The next morning, flag football players excitedly buzzed “It’s Puka!” as he entered War Memorial Stadium for a Rams workout and clinic. That afternoon, autograph seekers lined up 100-deep for an exclusive afternoon Puka-centric event at a team pop-up store.
On Wednesday, several thousands of fans showed up to see the Rams’ public workout, dozens of them wearing Nacua jerseys.
Nacua, who is of Hawaiian, Samoan and Portuguese descent, welcomed the attention with open arms.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua signs autographs for fans after minicamp practice in Wailuku, Hawaii, on Tuesday.
(Gary Klein / Los Angeles Times)
“These are people who have similar backgrounds to me,” Nacua said this week. “This is how I was raised — to call everybody Auntie and Uncle, and to be with them and give hugs and kisses, and to eat a lot of food with them.
“This feels like home.”
Nacua, 24, is clearly comfortable in his role.
He is the latest Polynesian NFL star, joining players such as Detroit Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell and Philadelphia Eagles tackle Jordan Mailata.
Nacua burst onto the NFL scene in 2023 with a record-setting rookie season. His boundless enthusiasm, physical style and daring athletic catches thrilled fans and showed Polynesian athletes that opportunity and success at a so-called skill position was in their grasp.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua catches a pass at minicamp in Maui on Tuesday.
Nacua is respectful of the players who paved the way for his opportunity, citing Marcus Mariota, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Polamalu as just a few of the many that led the way.
He aims to show that opportunity exists beyond “the trenches” for aspiring Polynesian athletes.
“It makes it super exciting,” he said, “because the skill positions are coming.”
The influence of Polynesian pro players dates to the 1940s, when offensive lineman Al Lolotai played for Washington. In the 1950s, offensive lineman Charlie Ane twice made the Pro Bowl and won two NFL championships with the Detroit Lions.
Ane returned to Hawaii and tutored a young offensive lineman named Norm Chow. Chow played at Utah and coached as an assistant at Brigham Young, North Carolina State, USC, the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, UCLA and Utah before Hawaii in 2011 made him the first Asian American head coach at a major college program.
Watching Nacua’s ascent has been gratifying for the Hawaiian-born Chow.
“It’s a cool deal,” Chow said. “He’s a tough guy.”
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, left, shares a laugh with linebacker Tony Fields II during organized team activities in Woodland Hills on June 3.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Toughness was a hallmark for Polynesian players such as Jesse Sapolu, an interior lineman on four San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl-title teams. Sapolu was twice voted to the Pro Bowl during a career that spanned from 1983 to 1997.
In those days, Sapolu said a dearth of Polynesian players in the NFL led him to study the schedule each year and identify the teams that included Polynesians.
“I’d look five weeks down the line at the roster,” Sapolu said, “and put it in the back of my mind, ‘I can’t wait for that week so I can say hello to that person.’”
Sapolu is the co-founder and chairman of the Hawaii-based Polynesian Football Hall of Fame. He has known Nacua since 2019, when Nacua played in the organization’s annual high school All-Star game. As an ambassador for the 49ers, Sapolu was on the sideline at Levi’s Stadium in 2023 when Nacua broke the NFL record for catches and receiving yards by a rookie.
“This generation is looking at this picture with a broader lens,” Sapolu said. “We still have the top linemen … but now we’ve got the Puka Nacuas coming up that Polynesian kids can say ‘Hey, you know, not only can I be big and strong, I can also be skinny and fast and go out there and do things that Puka is doing.’”
Manti Te’o grew up in Hawaii. In 2009, he was one of the most highly recruited players in the U.S. before going on to star at linebacker for Notre Dame and playing eight NFL seasons.
Te’o, an NFL Network analyst, has a home in Utah. He recalls watching Nacua play at BYU, where he displayed tenacity, physicality and fearlessness that harked to Smith-Schuster, the former USC star who has played eight NFL seasons. Nacua’s humility and the way he represented his family and community also stood out, Te’o said.
Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan participates in a rookie minicamp on April 25. The former Servite High School standout was selected eighth overall in the 2025 NFL draft.
(Chris Carlson / Associated Press)
Nacua’s success might have helped pave the way for former Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan, selected by the Carolina Panthers with the eighth pick in the 2025 draft.
“They’re starting to believe that they can be more than just the typical O-lineman,” Te’o said. “It’s nice to see that transition and progression.”
Mariota helped lay the groundwork. He grew up in Hawaii, starred at quarterback for Oregon, became the first Polynesian player to win the Heisman Trophy and was selected by the Tennessee Titans with the second pick in the 2015 draft.
Mariota, who will begin his second season with the Washington Commanders, pointed to Jack “The Throwin’ Samoan” Thompson, Jason Gesser, Timmy Chang and Darnell Arceneaux as Samoan and Hawaiian-born quarterbacks who paved the way for him.
“I really value some of these guys that played before me, and what they were able to do, and what they went through to allow me to even have the chance to play quarterback,” Mariota said.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua runs a passing route at organized team activities on June 3.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns rookie Dillon Gabriel followed Mariota to play quarterback in college and the NFL.
Now, Nacua is showing other Polynesian athletes that they don’t have to be “loopholed” to play as a lineman or linebacker, Mariota said.
“Guys like Puka and guys across the league are really taking this Polynesian generation to the next level,” Mariota said. “So, it’s cool to see him, and I’m excited to see what’s next because this is just the beginning.”
Maiava said Mariota and Tagovailoa “set the example and set the tone” for him as a quarterback.
Nacua’s example as a Rams receiver also inspires, he said.
“Just to wake up and hit that standard he sets every single day,” Maiava said. “It’s something to look up to and gives a young kid like me something to strive for, and one day hope we can get there.”
The Rams returned to Hawaii for the first time since 2019, when they played a preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys on Oahu.
In Maui, they opened a pop-up for five days in Wailea that featured merchandise designed by Aaron Kai, an Hawaiian artist who lives in Los Angeles.
Sales were brisk, but the main event was Nacua’s appearance.
Joshua Cabjuan traveled from Oahu to Maui to have Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua sign a replica of Nacua’s high school jersey.
(Gary Klein / Los Angeles Times)
Joshua Cabjuan, 21, of Oahu purchased caps, a hoodie and other items. He said he met Nacua at the Polynesian Bowl a few years ago, so he brought a replica of Nacua’s Orem (Utah) high school jersey to be signed.
“He was really excited, like, ‘Whoa, this is crazy — I haven’t seen this in so long,’” Cabjuan said.
Kristin Domingo of Maui had always been a Lakers and Dodgers fan. Becoming a Rams and Nacua fan, she said, naturally followed.
“We support anyone who comes from the islands or is of Hawaiian descent,” she said after Nacua signed a jersey.
And what does she like about Nacua?
“He’s an excellent wide receiver,” she said. “He kicks ass on the field.”
Kiara Nishimura, left, and Peyton Koerte of Kauai hold up jerseys autographed by Puka Nacua.
(Gary Klein / Los Angeles Times)
Peyton Koerte, 12, and Kiara Nishimura, 14, from Kauai each emerged with a signed Nacua jersey.
Why Nacua?
“We picked him for our draft in fantasy football,” Peyton said.
For decades the NFL’s Pro Bowl was played in Hawaii.
Te’o remembers watching players such as Rams stars Kurt Warner and Isaac Bruce in person.
“To see them play allowed me to dream big,” Te’o said.
Nacua hopes the Rams’ visit to Maui has a similar effect, and that it uplifts an island that was ravaged by the 2023 wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina.
In remarks at the Rams welcome luau, Maui County Mayor Richard T. Bissen Jr. noted that the team donated more than $260,000 in initial relief and helped spur donations from other pro teams of $450,000 to the American Red Cross.
He also recalled attending a football camp in Maui overseen by former Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel in the 1970s.
“Thank you for what you’re going to do for our youth in the next couple of days, uplifting them and teaching them,” he said, adding that perhaps the next Puka Nacua might be among the attendees.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua shakes hands with a youth flag football player during a clinic drill at Rams minicamp on Tuesday.
(Gary Klein / Los Angeles Times)
Nacua was thankful to help play a role in healing.
“To know the support that you want to give to those people who are going through that issue, and to see how it can change and bring the community closer together in that time, I think our team has felt that,” Nacua said.
Nacua once looked up to players such as Mariota and Smith-Schuster. Now, young players are looking up to him.
“The discipline to have the consistency to go out there and perform very well, I feel like those are things that are staples in the Polynesian community,” he said.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua runs a drill at the team’s minicamp in Maui on Tuesday.
(Bryce Todd / Los Angeles Rams)
Nacua will return to Los Angeles and begin preparing for training camp and a season of high expectations. The Rams are regarded as potential Super Bowl contenders, with an offense that includes star quarterback Matthew Stafford and new star receiver Davante Adams.
But Nacua will not soon forget his time in Maui.
And he will have plenty of reminders.
“I’m sure I’m going to have 50 leis by the time I go home,” he said.
June 18 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday welcomed members of the Italian Juventus Club World Cup team to the Oval Office as he spoke about a range of topics, including transgender athletes.
The team, which includes Americans Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie, appeared in the White House before playing Al Ain of the United Arab Emrites at Washington, D.C.’s, Audi Field on Wednesday night. Thirty-two teams are competing from last Saturday to July 13 in the United States.
Also on hand were FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Juventus club executives, former player Giorgio Chiellini and head coach Igor Tudor.
They stood behind the president.
Trump turned around and asked them: “Could a woman make your team, fellas.”
They smiled nervously and didn’t respond.
Juventus’ general manager Damien Comolli finally said: “We have a very good women’s team.” They are the reigning Serie A champions.
“But they should be playing with women,” Trump said as Comolli looked at the floor and chose not to answer.
“But they should be playing with women,” Trump replied. “He’s being very diplomatic.”
Transgender athletes have been allowed to compete in the Olympics, including soccer, since 2004 if they meet the eligibility criteria set by their sport’s International Federation. It wasn’t until 2021 that the first openly transgender athletes competed in the Games.
Trump’s executive order that bans transgender participants from women’s sports directs the Secretary of State’s office to pressure the International Olympic to amend standards governing Olympic sporting events “to promote fairness, safety and the best interests of female athletes by ensuring that eligibility for participation in women’s sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.”
During the signing ceremony in February, Trump said he wants the International Olympic Committee to “change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject” ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Of the more than 500,000 NCAA athletes, only about 40 are known to be transgender, according to Anna Baeth, director of research at research at Athlete Ally, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ equality in sports.
The NCAA later adhered to Trump’s executive order.
Trans people appear to have no advantage in sports, according to an October 2023 review of 2017 research published in the journal Sports Medicine.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Tennessee state law banning gender-affirming care for minors can stand.
Welcome once again to an offseason edition of the Times of Troy newsletter. We return to you at the dawn of a new era in college athletics, one that USC and its leaders have promised they will win … if the lawyers don’t first.
The House settlement was at long last approved earlier this month by a federal judge, ushering in a world where college athletes will be paid directly by their schools and all of college sports problems are solved overnight!
… just kidding! There are more of those than ever!
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USC, like most of its power conference peers, plans to pay out the maximum of $20.5 million that’s permitted by the settlement, the vast majority of which — around $15 million or so — will go to the football program. But the approach to allocating the rest, and securing third-party NIL outside of the cap, is likely to differ wildly from school to school.
USC has not yet shared specifics of how it plans to allocate that money, but in her recent State of Troy address, athletic director Jennifer Cohen noted that USC would be “increasing investment” in all 23 of its programs. That investment, The Times has since clarified, will include either direct payments to players from the $20.5-million revenue-sharing pool, an increase in the program’s number of funded scholarships or a combination of the two.
Each of USC’s 23 athletic programs, in other words, will benefit from the advent of revenue sharing in one of those three ways. UCLA, on the other hand, has taken a different approach by announcing that it will not add any additional scholarships and instead divide all of that $20.5 million among its individual athletes.
We can safely assume USC won’t stray all that far from the formula put forth last year when the settlement received preliminary approval. That model called for 75% of the cap set aside for football, 15% for men’s basketball and 5% for women’s basketball, while the other 5% would be split up among the rest of the school’s programs.
That remaining 5% to 10%, set aside for non-revenue sports, is where strategy will come into play. Newly funded scholarships still count against the cap, up to $2.5 million, and still cost the university real money. USC won’t just add them indiscriminately.
Adding a scholarship could make a more significant difference than cutting a check. But it also means less to directly pay athletes who are looking for checks.
Take the beach volleyball team, for example. When I spoke with coach Dain Blanton a year ago, on the way to their fourth consecutive national title, he told me funding for additional, beach-only scholarships would be a game-changer. And for a sport such as beach volleyball that’s unlikely to deal with regular NIL bidding wars, adding scholarships makes more strategic sense than it does in other sports.
USC baseball also makes for an interesting test case. Some top-flight baseball programs — mostly from the Southeastern Conference — will choose to invest millions in paying their baseball players directly. Some, meanwhile, might decide to fund 20-plus additional scholarships from the previously allotted total of 11.7. The new scholarship limit for baseball programs is now 34, leaving a ton of wiggle room.
USC isn’t going to fund that many scholarships. Nor is the school likely to funnel all of its remaining cap — after football and basketball — into the baseball program, no matter how many national titles it has won. So how does its baseball program keep up with the Joneses?
Those vast differences in strategy are going to have ripple effects, especially in a sport such as baseball, where some programs will be much more well funded than others.
“Parity is probably going to be lost somewhat [in college baseball],” USC baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz told me. “Some programs are probably going to fund up to 30 or more. And then some other programs probably aren’t even going to fund 11.7. That’s what’s kind of lost in all of this.”
There’s still so much we don’t know about how USC will approach this new era of revenue sharing. Could it follow a similar approach to Ohio State, which plans to directly pay athletes in just four sports, while adding 91 scholarships among the rest? Or might it hew closer to its crosstown rival, focusing more on direct cash payments?
How USC plans to divide its $20.5-million cap is just part of the equation. It’s how the school maneuvers outside of the cap and navigates NIL GO, the new NIL clearinghouse, that will be the true test of its might in this new era. All NIL deals over $600 must now be submitted to Deloitte, which will determine if those deals have “a valid business purpose” and fall within “a reasonable range of compensation.”
That system is not just begging for legal challenges, it’s ripe with loopholes. There’s no way for Deloitte to monitor if athletes actually follow through on the deliverables of an NIL deal. What’s to stop a third party from paying athletes for a deal that looks legit on paper but has terms that they never expect the athlete to deliver on?
That’s a question for another newsletter. But what we can say now is that USC, with its massive media market, is better positioned than most to win this new era as promised. Whether USC will actually deliver on that promise — before the lawyers step in and upend the rules again — will be up to those in charge … and the mountains of fundraising dollars they’ll need to keep it all afloat.
National title No. 138
Garrett Kaalund, center, of USC competes in the 200 meters.
(Al Sermeno / ISI Photos via Getty Images)
The USC men’s track and field team brought home its first outdoor national title since 1976 last week, which will couple nicely with the indoor national title that the team won in March.
It’s just the second time in school history that USC’s men’s track and field program has won both titles in the same season. The Trojans have 27 outdoor titles, more than double any other NCAA track program.
It’s quite a culmination for Quincy Watts, the Trojans’ director of track and field, who was promoted into the job four years ago — and who now needs to be kept at whatever cost.
Summer hoops impressions
Chad Baker-Mazara, with Auburn last season, should bring some intensity to USC this season.
(Stephanie Scarbrough / Associated Press)
At the start of his second summer at USC, Eric Musselman opened up men’s basketball practice last week to reporters, and with basically a brand new team of Trojans on the floor, there was a lot to take in.
A few initial observations from Galen Center …
—This team is more talented and athletic than last year. That feels pretty clear already, and this group has barely played together. The difference is especially stark in the frontcourt, where Jacob Cofie and Ezra Ausar give USC a physical presence in the paint that it sorely lacked last season. This team also has length in abundance on the perimeter, where Chad Baker-Mazara and Amarion Dickerson look like they could be menaces on defense. The backcourt is where USC suffered its biggest losses in the offseason, but with Baker-Mazara, Rodney Rice and five-star Alijah Arenas likely to be in the starting lineup, all three are capable of initiating offense or scoring themselves. The feeling inside the program is that this team has upgraded, especially on defense. At first glance, I have to agree.
—Alijah Arenas isn’t practicing yet, but he will be soon. Arenas was in attendance Thursday, but the incoming freshman still has high school coursework to catch up in order to graduate a year early. His absence has nothing to do with his serious Cybertruck accident and hospitalization in April. He’ll join the Trojans sometime this summer, and when he does, he’ll likely step right into the starting lineup.
—Baker-Mazara is a tone-setter. No one was more vocal or fiery during USC’s open practice, and as Musselman pointed out afterward, you won’t find many in college basketball with more experience than the 25-year old, sixth-year senior. You also won’t find many players with as much personality as Baker-Mazara, which seems to so far be working quite well with Musselman’s brand of intensity. “You put crazy and crazy together, it might work!” Baker-Mazara said Thursday. I’d be willing to bet already that this pairing works out for both sides.
—New point guard Jordan Marsh may play a bigger role than expected. The North Carolina Asheville transfer is only 5-11, 164 pounds, but I was surprised by how active he was on defense. I’m not the only one. Marsh has turned heads through the first week of summer practice, to the point that he may be more than just a backup point guard next season. As a legitimate microwave scorer off the bench, don’t be surprised if he gets 20-plus minutes at times next season.
A sturdy foundation
I caught up last week with Stankiewicz, who, in his third season, led the Trojans back to the NCAA tournament for just the second time in 20 years. USC fell in the NCAA regionals to Oregon State, a team with legitimate hopes of winning the College World Series, but overall, this season was a major step in the right direction for Trojan baseball.
This is no longer a program that needs to build back “brick by brick”, as Stankiewicz has said.
“The foundation is built,” Stankiewicz told me. “It’s solid. We’ve got pieces in place where we can now start to build it even taller.”
That metaphor will come to life next spring, when USC has a sparkling new stadium to play in. The Trojans have some key pieces to replace, with ace Caden Aoki bound for Georgia as a transfer and at least two key contributors, two-way star Ethan Hedges and starting pitcher Caden Hunter, sure to be drafted. But expectations will be higher next year nonetheless.
And Stankiewicz is ready for that next step.
“This is a program that’s been to Omaha a lot,” he said. “The expectation is that we’ll get back to that, and our guys have to understand that. This wasn’t enough. It was good. Well done. Nice job. But this can’t be what this program is about. It has to be about going to the next step, and the next step is winning a regional, winning a Super, getting to Omaha.”
Poll results
We asked you in our last newsletter whether a smoother path to the College Football Playoff for USC was worth losing its annual rivalry with Notre Dame.
Over 1,000 of you voted. And you answered, unsurprisingly, with a resounding “No”.
82.4% of our Times of Troy readers said that they wouldn’t risk the USC-Notre Dame rivalry for a better shot at the Playoff, while less than 17.6% say it would be worth it.
As an evangelist of our Times 101 best restaurant rankings — and of the late, great Jonathan Gold — I’ve had my share of delicious dinners across this fine city during my 13 years here. But my meal last Tuesday night at Dunsmoor in Glassell Park may very well have been the best I have ever had in L.A.
Trust me, I don’t say that lightly. But almost a week later, I still catch myself daydreaming about the sour milk cornbread, drowning in butter, honey and flaky salt. To call it “bread” at all doesn’t even capture its essence.
My wife and I sat at the chef’s counter last Tuesday to celebrate her birthday, and we watched in awe as they cooked most of the menu over an open hearth. Every single one of the five dishes we ordered was extraordinary. The Carolina gold rice and baby albacore were also serious standouts. But I’m pretty sure you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.
Until next time….
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
California sued the U.S. Justice Department on Monday over its demand last week that local school districts ban transgender youth from competing in sports, arguing the federal agency had overstepped its authority in violation of both state and federal law.
The “pre-enforcement” lawsuit was filed “in anticipation of imminent legal retaliation against California’s school systems” for not complying with the agency’s directive by its Monday deadline, said California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office, which is handling the litigation.
“The President and his Administration are demanding that California school districts break the law and violate the Constitution — or face legal retaliation. They’re demanding that our schools discriminate against the students in their care and deny their constitutionally protected rights,” Bonta said in a statement. “As we’ve proven time and again in court, just because the President disagrees with a law, that doesn’t make it any less of one.”
The lawsuit comes a week after Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump appointee and head of the federal Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, sent a letter to school districts across California warning them that they faced potential “legal liability” if they did not “certify in writing” by Monday that they will break with California Interscholastic Federation rules and state law to ban transgender athletes from competition in their districts.
Dhillon argued that allowing transgender athletes to compete “would deprive girls of athletic opportunities and benefits based solely on their biological sex,” in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond responded last week by saying in his own letter to schools that Dhillon’s warning carried no legal weight and that school districts were still obligated to follow state law, which requires transgender athletes be allowed to compete on teams based on their gender identity.
The California Department of Education sent a letter to federal authorities Monday, informing them that California’s school districts are under no obligation to provide certifications to the Justice Department.
“There are no changes in law or circumstances that necessitate a new certification,” wrote General Counsel Len Garfinkel. “Moreover, the DOJ letter references no law that would authorize the DOJ to require another ‘certification.’”
“All students — not just transgender students — benefit from inclusive school environments that are free from discrimination and harassment,” Garfinkel added. “When transgender students are treated equally, their mental health outcomes mirror those of their cisgender peers.”
Bonta’s lawsuit asks a federal court in Northern California to uphold the constitutionality of California’s antidiscrimination laws protecting transgender athletes, and to bar the Trump administration from withholding funds or taking other retaliatory actions against school districts that refuse to abide by the Trump directive.
The lawsuit falls along one of the fastest growing legal and political fault lines in America: Does the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment — the Constitution’s oft-cited guarantee against discrimination — protect transgender rights or undermine them?
Dhillon, other members of the Trump administration and anti-transgender activists nationwide have argued that the inclusion of transgender girls in youth sports amounts to illegal discrimination against cisgender girls.
Bonta’s office and other LGBTQ+ advocates argue that the exclusion of transgender girls is what constitutes illegal discrimination — and that courts, including the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which governs California and much of the American West, have agreed.
While Dhillon “purports that compliance with the Equal Protection Clause requires the categorical exclusion of transgender girls from girls’ sports, as courts have previously upheld, just the opposite is true: the Equal Protection Clause forbids such policies of total exclusion, as does California law,” Bonta’s office said.
State law that allows transgender students to participate in sports consistent with their identity “is squarely within the State’s authority to ensure all students are afforded the benefits of an inclusive school environment, including participation in school sports, and to prevent the serious harms that transgender students would suffer from a discriminatory, exclusionary policy.”
An attorney who supports keeping transgender athletes out of girls sports said the rights of female athletes are paramount in this situation.
Both the U.S. Constitution and federal statute provide protections for female athletes that California is violating by “allowing males into ‘girls only’ categories,” said Julie A. Hamill, principal attorney with California Justice Center, a law firm that has complaints pending with the federal Office for Civil Rights on behalf of young female athletes.
“By continuing to fan flames of division and play politics, leftist politicians and media outlets are causing further harm to American girls,” Hamill said.
Polls have shown that Americans generally support transgender rights, but also that a majority oppose transgender girls competing in youth sports. Many prominent advocates for excluding transgender girls from sports praised Dhillon’s actions last week as a bold move to protect cisgender girls from unfair competition.
Sonja Shaw, a Trump supporter who is president of the Chino Valley Unified Board of Education, has called on California school systems to adopt resolutions in support of the Trump administration order.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” Shaw said last week. “Our daughters deserve safe, fair competition … But radical policies are undermining that right, pushing boys into girls’ sports and threatening their opportunities. We’re not backing down.”
Shaw, a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, said other school systems could model these resolutions on one passed by her school district.
A handful of the state’s 1,000 school districts have passed such resolutions.
The lawsuit’s claim that retaliation from the Trump administration could be imminent for schools that do not comply with the administration’s demands is not entirely speculative. It is based at least in part on repeated threats and actions the administration has already taken against states over its trans-inclusive sports policies.
President Trump has said outright that he wants to cut federal funding to California over its laws allowing transgender athletes to compete in youth sports. The federal Justice Department has announced investigations into the state and the California Interscholastic Federation over its inclusive policies for transgender athletes.
U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli in Los Angeles, a longtime ally of Dhillon and whose appointment has yet to be confirmed, recently threw his office’s support behind a private lawsuit challenging the inclusion of a transgender athlete on the track and field team at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside.
Dhillon issued her letter to California school districts after another transgender athlete from Jurupa Valley High School, 16-year-old AB Hernandez, won multiple medals at the state high school track and field championships despite President Trump demanding on social media that she not be allowed to compete.
The letter came despite attempts by the state to appease concerns.
After Trump’s online threats, for example, the CIF updated its rules for transgender competitors. As a result, Hernandez was allowed to compete at the state finals in the girls’ long jump, high jump and triple jump, but her qualifying did not result in the exclusion of any cisgender girl.
In addition, while Hernandez was awarded several medals, those medals were also awarded to cisgender girls who otherwise would have claimed them had Hernandez not been competing — with the girls sharing those spots on the medal podiums.
Supporters of the rule change said it eliminated concerns about cisgender girls losing opportunities to compete and win to transgender girls, but critics said the changes did not go far enough, and that transgender athletes needed to be fully banned from competition.
Dhillon’s letter demanding school districts certify that such bans were being implemented made no mention of the CIF’s rule change.
CONCORD, N.H. — President Trump’s administration wants to be dropped from a lawsuit in which two New Hampshire teens are challenging their state’s ban on transgender athletes in girls’ sports and the president’s executive order on the same topic.
Parker Tirrell, 16, and Iris Turmelle, 14, became first to challenge Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order when they added him to their ongoing lawsuit over New Hampshire’s ban in February. A federal judge has ruled that they can try out and play on girls sports teams while the case proceeds.
In a motion filed Friday, attorneys for the government say the teens are trying to “drag the federal government into a lawsuit well under way not because of an imminent injury, but because of a generalized grievance with policies set by the President of the United States.”
Deputy Associate Atty. Gen. Richard Lawson argued that the government has done nothing yet to enforce the executive orders in New Hampshire and may never do so.
“Plaintiffs lack constitutional standing and their stated speculative risk of future injury is not close to imminent and may never become ripe,” wrote Lawson, who asked the judge to dismiss claims against Trump, the Justice and Education departments, and their leaders.
Trump’s executive order gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX — which prohibits sexual discrimination in schools — in alignment with the Trump administration’s view of a person’s sex as the gender assigned at birth.
Lawyers for the teens say the order, along with parts of a Jan. 20 executive order that forbids federal money to be used to “promote gender ideology,” subjects the teens and all transgender girls to discrimination in violation of federal equal protection guarantees and their rights under Title IX.
In its response, the government argues that the order does not discriminate based on sex because males and females are not similarly situated when it comes to sports.
Transgender people represent a very small part of the nation’s youth population — about 1.4% of teens ages 13 to 17, or around 300,000 people. But about half of the states have adopted similar measures to New Hampshire’s sports ban, with supporters arguing that allowing transgender girls to play is unfair and dangerous.
In interviews this year, neither New Hampshire teen said they feel they hold any advantage over other players. Tirrell says she’s less muscular than other girls on her soccer team, and Turmelle said she doesn’t see herself as a major athlete.
“To the argument that it’s not fair, I’d just like to point out that I did not get on the softball team,” Turmelle recalled of her tryout last year. “If that wasn’t fair, then I don’t know what you want from me.”
More than 100 of Britain’s most renowned athletes have written an open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging the government to back London’s bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
Sir Mo Farah, Keely Hodgkinson, Dame Kelly Holmes, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Daley Thompson are among the athletes, past and present, to sign the letter.
The bid proposal, if successful, would see the World Championships held at London Stadium, and require a “one-off injection of public funding in 2028” with the promise of “£400m in national economic impact”.
“Hosting in 2029 would bring the world’s best athletes back to British soil but more importantly, it would inspire a new generation to get involved in the most diverse and inclusive sport there is,” the letter read.
“Some of us were lucky enough to experience a home crowd at London 2012 and 2017. Some of us volunteered, others were in the stands. All of us were inspired.
“That spark set many of us on our journeys, just as it did for so many thousands of other young people who’ve gone on to join clubs, coach, officiate, or simply fall in love with athletics.”
The 2029 bid process is due to begin this summer, with organisers urging ministers to commit to securing the World Championships for the UK in the coming weeks.
London also hosted the Championships when they were last held in the UK in 2017.
The U.S. Justice Department ratcheted up its efforts to block transgender athletes from competing in school sports in California by warning school districts Monday that they will face legal trouble if they don’t break from the state and bar such athletes from competition within days.
The new warning followed similar threats by the Trump administration to the state and the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs youth sports and requires transgender athletes be allowed to compete. It also comes after AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender junior from Jurupa Valley High School, won multiple medals at the state high school track and field championships on Saturday, despite a directive from President Trump that she not be allowed to compete.
Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon — a conservative California lawyer who focused on challenging LGBTQ+-friendly state laws before being appointed by Trump to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — wrote in a Monday letter to school districts that continuing to comply with CIF rules allowing transgender athletes to compete “would deprive girls of athletic opportunities and benefits based solely on their biological sex,” in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
To “avoid legal liability” for such violations, Dhillon wrote, each district must “certify in writing” by June 9 that it is no longer complying with the federation’s rules and barring transgender athletes from competition.
Dhillon said on the social media platform X that her office put “1600+ California schools on blast for violating equal protection in girls’ sports.”
Dhillon’s letter made no mention of the CIF’s rule change last week — after Trump threatened to revoke federal funding from California if Hernandez competed in the state championships. The change allowed any cisgender girl bumped from qualifying for event finals by a transgender athlete to compete anyway. It also ensured cisgender girls were awarded medals in every race, regardless of how Hernandez placed.
The policy was intended as a compromise, but it drew little support from those on the conservative right demanding a full ban on transgender athletes.
In addition to Trump’s funding threat, Dhillon’s office last week announced it was launching an investigation into the state, the interscholastic federation and the Jurupa Unified School District, where Hernandez competes.
A spokesperson for California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office said officials there were “very concerned with the Trump Administration’s ongoing threats to California schools and remain committed to defending and upholding California laws and all additional laws which ensure the rights of students — including transgender students — to be free from discrimination and harassment.”
The office was “reviewing the letter and closely monitoring the Trump Administration’s actions in this space,” the spokesperson said.
Elizabeth Sanders, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education, said the agency had no comment on Dhillon’s letter Monday but was “preparing to send guidance” out to districts Tuesday. She said California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond also had no response Monday.
The Los Angeles Unified School District declined to comment. Other local districts around L.A. did not respond to requests for comment.
LGBTQ+ advocates criticized Dhillon’s letter, calling it the latest proof that the Trump administration is not actually concerned with protecting cisgender athletes but with targeting transgender kids to score political points.
Shannon Minter, vice president of legal at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, helped draft the interscholastic federation’s original rules allowing transgender athletes to compete, and also supports the new rule — which he said ensures that both transgender and cisgender athletes get to compete.
At last weekend’s meet, for example, Hernandez’s competing did not push any cisgender girls out of competition.
Hernandez took gold in both the girls’ triple jump and girls’ high jump, and placed second in the girls’ long jump — but wasn’t alone in any of those spots.
For the triple jump, she stood on the podium alongside a cisgender girl who was also given gold. For the high jump, she shared the podium with two cisgender girls with whom she tied. For the long jump, she shared the second-place podium spot with a cisgender girl who also was awarded silver.
The new rule addressed “the concerns people had about taking opportunities away from non-transgender girls, and it makes sure that cannot happen — it literally eliminates that concern altogether,” Minter said.
By ignoring the new rules, he said, Dhillon’s letter “shows what we already knew, which is that this administration isn’t concerned at all about protecting athletic opportunities for girls, this is just about bias against transgender people — pure and simple.”
Critics of transgender youth participating in sports, meanwhile, cheered Dhillon’s letter as a major victory.
Sophia Lorey, outreach director for the conservative California Family Council, said it was “huge.” Lorey was kicked out of the state championships Saturday after handing out fliers urging people to sign a petition calling on the interscholastic federation to change its policies.
“Here we gooooo!” Lorey wrote on X. “As a born & raised Californian who played soccer through college — I am beyond grateful.”
At least a handful of California school districts with conservative elected leaders would be eager to comply with the new directive.
On April 17, the Chino Valley Unified school board unanimously approved a resolution titled “Supporting Title IX and Fairness in Girls’ Interscholastic Sports.” The resolution stated that “biological differences between male and female athletes can create inherent advantage in competitive sports, particularly in categories designated specifically for girls.”
The school system called on state governing bodies to uphold protections for girls in sports under Title IX, a 1972 federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding.
In April, the school system also filed a Title IX complaint with the federal Justice Department against Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Department of Education, Thurmond and the California Interscholastic Federation.
The complaint said Chino Valley was “now caught between conflicting state and federal directives” and was requesting “urgent federal intervention.”
Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified school board, wrote on X that Dhillon’s letter was “a historic win” for parents, their daughters, the nation and “truth.”
“We will not bend. We will not compromise. We will protect our daughters at all costs,” wrote Shaw, who is running for state superintendent of public instruction. “The tide is turning. The silence is broken. And we are just getting started.”
Shaw also suggested that the support from the Trump administration could encourage her school system to take more aggressive action.
“I’m bringing this matter forward at our next board meeting,” Shaw said. “We will not comply with insanity. We will not be bullied into silence. We will not betray our girls to please radicals.”
Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, could not be reached Monday, but has previously said that it was heartbreaking to see her child being attacked “simply for being who they are,” and despite following all California laws and policies for competing.
She begged Trump to reconsider his efforts to oust transgender girls from sports.
“My child is a transgender student-athlete, a hardworking, disciplined, and passionate young person who just wants to play sports, continue to build friendships, and grow into their fullest potential like any other child,” she said.
Kano governor declares day of mourning after athletes representing the state at a national sports event are killed.
A bus crash in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano has killed 22 athletes returning home from a national sports event, according to the local governor.
The bus, which was reportedly carrying more than 30 passengers, plunged off the Chiromawa Bridge on the Kano-Zaria expressway on Saturday, Kano Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf told The Associated Press news agency.
The exact cause of the accident was not known, but the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said it “might have occurred as a result of fatigue and excessive speed” after a long overnight trip.
The survivors of the crash were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Yusuf said the athletes, who were accompanied by their coaches and sporting officials, were representing Kano State at the Nigerian National Sports Festival, held about 1,000km (620 miles) to the south in Ogun State.
He declared Monday a day of mourning for the state. His deputy, Aminu Gwarzo, said the families of the victims would receive 1 million naira (about $630) and food supplies as support.
The National Association of Nigerian Students released a statement, Nigerian daily The Guardian reported, saying the “heartbreaking” incident had “cast a shadow of grief over the entire nation, particularly the youth and sports communities”.
Road accidents are common in Africa’s most populous country, in part due to poor road conditions and lax enforcement of traffic laws.
In March, at least six people died near the capital, Abuja, after a trailer crashed into parked vehicles and burst into flames.
Last year, Nigeria recorded 9,570 road accidents that resulted in 5,421 deaths, according to FRSC data.
The Nigerian National Sports Festival brings together athletes from the country’s 35 states every two years.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu recently said the games, which include sports ranging from wheelchair basketball to traditional West African wrestling, represent “the unity, strength and resilience that define us as a nation”.
Many Southland sprinters will bring their own heat to the CIF State track and field championships at Buchanan High in Clovis where 100-plus temperatures are forecast for Friday and Saturday.
The absence of last spring’s 100- and 200-meter dash winner Brandon Arrington, whose leg injury in a league meet May 9 forced him to miss the San Diego Section finals and denies him an opportunity to defend his state titles, opens lanes for the fastest athletes in the City and Southern Sections to take advantage. A junior from Mt. Miguel, Arrington broke the San Diego County record (20.35) in the 200 at Arcadia in April and one week later set a section record (10.21) in the 100 at Mt. SAC.
The favorite in the 100 is Concord De La Salle junior Jaden Jefferson, who enters with the best qualifying time (10.30, three-hundredths of a second better than Arrington’s winning time last year), but challenging him will be Antrell Harris of Birmingham (who clocked 10.92 to win the City title May 22), back-to-back Masters Meet winner Demare Dezeurn of Bishop Alemany (10.35), RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga (10.47) and Servite’s trio of Benjamin Harris (10.44), Robert Gardner (10.59) and Jorden Wells (10.63).
Senior Antrell Harris, center, of Birmingham was first in the 100 and 200 meters at the City Section finals May 22 in Lake Balboa.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
In the 200, Masters champion Sermons (20.97) will be in the first heat along with Temecula Valley’s Jack Stadlman (21.24), Dezeurn (21.04) has the fastest qualifying time in the second heat, Servite’s Jace Wells (21.05) and Newbury Park’s Jaden Griffin (21.36) are in the third heat, and joining Jefferson (21.11) in the last heat are Santa Margarita’s Leo Francis (21.14) and Harris (21.66).
Sermons, who announced the day before the Masters Meet that he will skip his senior year of high school to play football at USC, clocked a career-best 20.88 at the Baseline League finals and will try to beat Arrington’s winning time of 20.55 last year.
Servite freshman Jaelen Hunter (46.91) heads a talented group in the 400, which includes Stadlman (47.91), City champion Justin Hart from Granada Hills (47.45) and City runner-up Nathan Santacruz of Venice (47.48). Servite’s 4×100 relay was first at the Masters in 40.40 followed by Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (40.77), which will be in the same heat Friday as JSerra (41.44) and City champion Granada Hills (41.78), and Murrieta Valley (41.55) will be in Heat 4 with Birmingham (41.80).
Servite also has one of the faster foursomes in the 4×400 as the Friars figure to challenge for the team title, won last year by Long Beach Poly, which won the Masters race Saturday in 3:10.83. The loaded field also features Cathedral (3:12.20), Mira Costa (3:18.73), Long Beach Wilson (3:14.93), Culver City (3:14.80) and Granada Hills (3:24.15).
For the girls, Redondo Union’s Journey Cole and Chaparral’s Keelan Wright are in separate heats, but should they advance they would go head-to-head in the finals in a rematch of last week’s epic 100-meter showdown (Cole prevailed by five-hundredths of a second in 11.36). However, not to be underestimated are Malia Rainey (11.57) and Marley Scoggins (11.60) from Calabasas (11.57) and Carson’s Christina Gray, who ran 12.05 to win the City title.
Wright (23.21) is the leading qualifier in the 200. Other contenders are Rosary’s Justine Wilson (23.38), Scoggins (23.59) and Gray (24.62).
Long Beach Poly carried the baton around the oval in 45.94 at Masters to avenge its loss to Oaks Christian at last year’s state 4×100 final, and the two schools could match up again Saturday alongside City winner Carson (46.84), which was third in Clovis last year. Long Beach Wilson, the state team champion in 2024, has the top qualifying time (3:43.71) in the 4×400 relay.
In the distance events, Corona Santiago boasts two title contenders — Braelyn Combe in the 1,600 and Rylee Blade in the 3,200. Combe was second to Ventura’s Sadie Englehardt last year and won the Masters four-lapper last week in 4:44.36 (more than two and a half seconds better than her winning time at the Southern Section Division 1 finals), second-best among all qualifiers behind Chiara Dailey (4:43.57) of La Jolla in San Diego.
Blade ran 9:58.46 two weeks ago to break a Southern Section record that had stood since 1996 and cruised to the Masters win in 10:11.38. The Florida State-bound senior was third at state last year in 10:06.26 and she set a meet standard of 15:20.3 at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in September.
USC-bound RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga will try to double in the 100 and 200 meters at the CIF State Track & Field Championships.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Stanford signee Evan Noonan of Dana Hills, winner of the Southern Section and Masters races the past two weeks, will try to defend his 3,200 state title (he won in 8:43.12 as a junior).
Aliso Niguel’s Jaslene Massey and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s Aja Johnson have the first and second best throws in both shotput and discus. Massey swept the events at Masters (49-7.50 shotput; 165-06 discus). Johnson is the defending state discus champion and won the state shotput title in 2023.
In the boys high jump, Mission League rivals Matthew Browner from Chaminade and JJ Harel of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame both achieved 6-10 to finish first and second at Masters. Harel cleared that same height to take second at the state finals last year behind Birmingham’s Deshawn Banks.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cut federal funding to California if the state continues allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.
Trump blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom in an early morning post on Truth Social saying the state under his leadership “continues to ILLEGALLY allow MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS.”
“I will speak to him today to find out which way he wants to go???” Trump said of Newsom. “In the meantime I am ordering local authorities, if necessary, to not allow the transitioned person to compete in the State Finals. This is a totally ridiculous situation!!!”
The president’s post appeared to reference a California high school junior who won the women’s long jump and triple jump during the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Masters Meet over the weekend.
California is the second state to enter Trump’s cross-hairs over transgender athletes participation in youth sports. Last month, Trump began the process of stripping Maine of federal education dollars in a battle over the issue between the president and Maine Gov. Janet Mills. The dispute immediately landed in court.
Unlike the governor of Maine, Newsom recently said it was “deeply unfair” for people born as biological men to compete in women’s sports. He has not responded to Trump’s post.
When asked at a press conference in April if California should adopt a law restricting transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, the governor said he’s open to the discussion.
“You’re talking about a very small number of people, a very small number of athletes, and my responsibility is to address the pressing issues of our time,” Newsom said, before adding that the conversation has been weaponized by conservatives.
“And to the extent that someone could find that right balance, I would embrace those conversations and the dignity that hopefully presents themselves in that conversation, meaning the humanity around that conversation, not the politics around that conversation.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has threatened to cut funding, particularly education dollars, to California.
In an April letter to Newsom, the Trump-appointed head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture conditioned its aid to abiding by Trump directives — and cited a federal investigation into a state law that prohibits schools from automatically notifying families about student gender-identity changes and shields teachers from retaliation for supporting transgender student rights.
California also joined other states in April when it defied a Trump administration order to certify that the state’s 1,000 school districts have ended all diversity, equity and inclusion programs. That Trump order, too, arrived with federal threats to cut billions of dollars in education funding if the state did not comply.
One uncertainty in Trump’s latest social media post was whether he was referring to education funding alone or additional federal support for California — which could include, for example, disaster relief, food aid for the poor and dollars to support low-income housing.
California has long sent more money to Washington, D.C. in federal tax revenue than it receives in federal support, according to Newsom. Regardless, the funding that California relies on is significant.
While it’s difficult to calculate the total dollar amount California receives from the federal government in education funding, some tallies have put the annual figure at $16.3 billion — or about $2,750 per K-12 student. That money includes funding for school meals, students with disabilities and early education Head Start programs.
The state also receives more than $2.1 billion in Title I grants to counteract the effects of poverty — more than any other state — with about $417 million provided to Los Angeles Unified, according to the California Department of Education.
