Ukrainsk fotballtopp donerte millionsum til disket skeletonutøver — and more

Vladyslav Heraskevytsj har fått en pengegave på rett under to millioner kroner etter dramaet som til slutt fikk ham diskvalifisert i OL.
Donasjonen kommer fra eieren av fotballklubben Sjakhtar Donetsk, Rinat Akhmetov.
– Vlad Heraskevytsj ble nektet muligheten til å kjempe om gull i OL, men han returnerte likevel til Ukraina som en vinner, sier Akhmetov i en uttalelse.
Gaven på 200.000 dollar, tilsvarende 1,9 millioner kroner, er like mye som ukrainske utøvere får om de vinner gull i vinterlekene.
Heraskevytsj insisterte på å bruke en hjelm der døde ukrainske idrettshelter var avbildet under skeletonkonkurransen i OL.
Den internasjonale olympiske komité (IOC) anså det som et regelbrudd, og etter at president Kirsty Coventry selv var i et møte med Heraskevytsj for å få ham til å snu, ble det klart at Heraskevytsj ikke fikk delta i OL.
I etterkant har både Heraskevytsj og Ukrainas president Volodymyr Zelenskyj kritisert IOC hardt. Senest tirsdag blåste Heraskevytsj hardt ut mot IOC og mente komiteen «tilrettelegger for russisk propaganda».
«Hver uke vender stadig flere russiske idrettsutøvere tilbake til internasjonale arenaer, mens ukrainere fortsetter å gjennomleve en humanitær katastrofe forårsaket av russiske angrep», skrev han i en melding.
(NTB)

The Spanish federation, along with La Liga, has become the first body to adopt a new anti-racism procedure that FIFA hopes will become standard across all leagues and competitions around the globe.

LISBON, Portugal — The match between Real Madrid and Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday was interrupted for several minutes after Vinícius Júnior accused an opponent of racially insulting him.

French referee François Letexier stopped the match in the 52nd minute, just after Vinícius had given Madrid a 1-0 lead in the first leg of the knockout playoffs.

Benfica players were not happy with Vinícius because he celebrated by dancing in front of the corner flag, and some went to confront him, including Argentine player Gianluca Prestianni. 

Prestianni was complaining to Vinicius while covering his mouth with his jersey, and then the Brazil forward suddenly pointed to him and ran toward the referee.

Cameras picked up Vinícius telling Letexier that Prestianni called him “monkey.” 

The referee immediately stopped the match and Vinícius, who is Black, went to the sideline.

Both coaches, Benfica’s José Mourinho and Madrid’s Álvaro Arbeloa, talked to Vinícius at one point.

The referee appeared to show that he did not hear anything and gestured that Prestianni had the shirt over his mouth. Letexier pulled Prestianni aside and talked to him. 

The Argentine player was not shown a yellow card and continued playing.

Vinícius had been shown a yellow card after the celebration. The game restarted in the 60th.

It was an every other week kind of month for "WWE Raw" in January, at least when it came to their Netflix rating. Twice during the month, "Raw" was able to place in Netlix's global top ten rankings, only to then fall out a week later, leaving its viewership data a mystery. But after placing 6th for their February 2 episode, there was hope that "Raw" might actually place in the top ten for two consecutive weeks, the first time it would've done so since November.

It was a goal they achieved, albeit with some viewership dips to go along with it. Wrestlenomics reports that the February 9 episode of "Raw" placed 7th in Netflix's global top ten rankings. Though it was down one spot from 6th on February 2, the placement meant viewership data was available. The show drew 2.9 million global views over the course of the week, down from 3.1 million views for February 2. Likewise, hours viewed was also down, with February 9 drawing 5.1 million, down from 5.8 million.

Despite the small drops, WWE will likely be thrilled to place in the global rankings for two consecutive weeks once more and to place as high as seventh, which trails only the February 2 episode as the highest placement "Raw" has received in those rankings since November. "Raw" similarly placed 7th in the domestic Netflix rankings, though the news was less good there, as it fell two spots from 5th place.

Airing out of Cleveland, Ohio, "Raw" featured a confrontation between AJ Lee and WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch, leading to a match between the two being made for Elimination Chamber. "Raw" also saw a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match announced for the Chamber as well, with CM Punk agreeing to defend the title against Finn Balor, in what will be a homefield advantage for Punk thanks to the PLE taking place in Chicago, Illinois.

Read more: Times Wrestlers Got In Trouble For Breaking Kayfabe

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Read the original article on Wrestling Inc.

Michigan State football has extended an offer to a highly-coveted running back prospect from Illinois.

TJ Lewis of Bolingbrook, Ill. announced earlier this week that he's received an offer from the Spartans. Lewis posted on his social media X account to announce the offer from the Spartans.

Lewis is listed at 6-foot-0 and 215 pounds, and plays for Bolingbrook High. He currently is unranked and unrated on 247Sports, but that surely will change based on the number of schools showing interest in his recruitment.

Michigan State is the latest power four school to extend an offer to Lewis, joining a group of nearly 20 schools to offer him, according to 247Sports. He also holds offers from Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Kent State, Miami (OH), Toledo, Western Michigan and UConn.

Blessed to receive a offer from Michigan state university ⚪️🟢@EDGYTIM@AllenTrieu@GregSmithRivals@DeepDishFB@mwfbrecruiting@CoachSpalding_@titcus@FBraidernationpic.twitter.com/goNRizVBO1

— Timmie “TJ” lewis”27 RB (@52TjD1) February 16, 2026

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.

This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: MSU football offers Illinois 2027 highly-coveted RB TJ Lewis