SPORTS BRIEFS

Social media erupted in jokes and memes on Thursday after the Atlanta Falcons unveiled a logo that instantly drew comparisons with the imagery of Nazi Germany. The logo — posted by the Falcons on the club’s social media channels — shows the team’s old falcon symbol from the 1960s and 1970s, emblazoned on a background of red, white and black stripes. The “throwback” design is being used in the run-up to Atlanta’s game against the San Francisco 49ers today, but it prompted an avalanche of comments from social media users who said it resembled iconography of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party. The Falcons post revealing the design on X had attracted 26 million views since being published early on Thursday. “I must say, I was not expecting to wake up this morning to see that the Atlanta Falcons are preparing to invade Poland,” one user wrote.

Photo: AP

ATHLETICS

Race walker ban overturned

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Friday said it had overturned a four-year doping ban for Japanese race walker Koki Ikeda, the Olympic silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics. Ikeda was banned last year after abnormalities were found in his Athlete Biological Passport that indicated blood manipulation. He fought his case and CAS, the world’s top sports court, said that a panel “found that the alternative physiological scenario brought by Mr Ikeda was plausible.” Ikeda was second in the men’s 20km race at the Tokyo Olympics that were held in 2021, and finished seventh in that event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

GYMNASTICS

Blakely wins world title

Skye Blakely of the US won the women’s all-around title at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Friday, completing a comeback from an Achilles injury that derailed her bid for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The 21-year-old scored 55.733 points across vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise at Ahoy Arena to claim her first individual world title. Russia’s Liudmila Roshchina took silver with 55.199, while China’s Ke Qinqin, 16, finished third on 55.032. Blakely ruptured her right Achilles tendon during floor exercise training two days before the US Olympic trials in 2024, ending her bid to qualify for the Paris Games. She had also missed the Tokyo Olympic trials in 2021 after tearing an elbow ligament.

FOOTBALL

Cheerleaders unionize

The NFL franchise has agreed to recognize the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association as the collective bargaining representative for one of the most famous cheer squads in professional sports, both sides said in a joint statement on Friday, which follows years of the cheerleaders fighting for pay increases. “The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are an esteemed part of the Cowboys organization, deeply respected for the talent and dedication they exhibit,” the statement said. “They remain one of the most sought-after opportunities for talented dancers worldwide.” During the second season of the Netflix series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, which aired last year, one of the cheerleaders said that the members were getting a 400 percent boost in pay.