Figure Skating

Gymnastics

Swimming

Table Tennis

Track And Field

CULTURE

Footer Column 2

Footer Legal

Footer Main

Nav Bar

OTHER

SPORTS

Subscribe, at any level, to play

Thanks for your interest in Defector Crosswords!

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Plans start at $8/month.

Subscribers enjoy unlimited, ad-free browsing.

Register to continue

Or click here to subscribe for unlimited, ad-free access!

Our gift to you: This year's post is unlocked. Register your email to get even more free articles.

Welcome to the 2025 Hater's Guide!

Just register your email:

This blog is free to read.

This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Australian Football

Better Hate An Owner

Bowling

Chess

Climbing

Cricket

Curling

Cycling

Darts

Death To The NCAA

Disc Sports

Gaelic Football

Gambling

Golf

High School Sports

Horse Racing

Hurling

Infinite Replay

Jamboroo

Lacrosse

Olympics

Parasports

Pro Softball

Pro Wrestling

Racing

Rugby

Running

Skateboarding

Soccer

Sports Highlight Of The Day

Tennis

The Fights

The Great Outdoors

Volleyball

Why Your Team Sucks

Wings Week

Sports

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Kareem Maddox of the USA throws during the mens pool play match between Austria and the USA on Day 4 of the FIBA 3x3 World cup at Rathausplatz on June 2, 2023 in Vienna, Austria. (Photo by Andrea Kareth /SEPA.Media /Getty Images)

How Kareem Maddox Went From Public Radio To The Olympic Stage

Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

Diana Moskovitz

Alexander Zverev of Germany looks on during his match against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain during the Men's Singles Final match on Day 15 of the 2024 French Open at Roland Garros on June 09, 2024 in Paris, France.

When It Comes To Alexander Zverev, Tennis Is Going To Stick To Tennis

Giri Nathan

Joel Embiid Continues His Summer Of Grousing

Albert Burneko

A drone flies over a forest with a tree house.

No, Canada!

Kelsey McKinney

Canada's Sanoa Dempfle-Olin takes part in a surfing training session in Teahupo'o,

Underexplained Lists

Olympic Events Most Likely To Kill Me, A Mildly Athletic Blogger

David Roth

Al Michaels looks at an iPhone prior to the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau on November 17, 2022.

Media Meltdowns

AI Is Now Advanced Enough To Blow Al Michaels’s Mind

Lauren Theisen

Cameron Brink assisted off the court after an injury

Team USA’s 3×3 Hoops Is Unmissable No Matter Who’s In Paris

Maitreyi Anantharaman

The United States Women's National team celebrate their victory during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

WNBA

Basketball Isn’t A Popularity Contest, Except When It Is

Michael is a writer who has worked with The Atlantic, The New Yorker, WIRED, Vox, The New York Times, and other publications. His first book, The Other Olympians, which uncovers the stories of several European athletes who transitioned gender in the 1930s, is now available for purchase.

Michael Waters

Helen Stephens running in the 1936 Olympics

Olympian Helen Stephens Suffered Through An Anti-Queer Panic That Still Reverberates

U.S. gymnast Simone Biles competes in the balance beam event during the Core Hydration Classic at XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, on May 18, 2024.

Simone Biles Somehow Looks Even Better

The Olympic rings are seen outside the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the opening day of a executive board meeting in Lausanne on March 19, 2024.

What Will It Take To Fix SafeSport?

Dennis Young is the news editor at Front Office Sports.

Dennis Young

Amy Cragg from Portland, Oregon, celebrates at the finish line after winning the US Women's Marathon Olympic Team Trials with a time of 2:28:27 in Los Angeles, California on February 13, 2016. Highlighted Joanna Zeiger behind her, who finished last, the image is a GIF and zooms into her

At The Olympic Trials Marathon, DFL Means Pain Over Regret

Japan's Mai Yamamoto (C) celebrates the team's victory after the 2024 FIBA Women's Olympic qualifying tournament basketball match between Canada and Japan in Sopron, Hungary on February 11, 2024.

Women's Basketball

My Basketball GOAT Is 5-Foot-4

London Police Service Chief Thai Troung, center, and Detective Sgt. Katherine Dann of Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section hold a press conference in London, Ontario, on February 5, 2024.

It’s Hockey’s Turn To Reckon With Sexual Violence

Marathon running holding a Palestinian flag

How Four Marathoners Organized A Ceasefire Protest From Across The Country

Russian Olympic Committee Kamila Valieva with coaches Eteri Tutberidze (L) and Daniil Gleikhengauz after Women’s Free Program Final at Capital Indoor Stadium. Beijing, China

Two Years Later, The Russian Figure Skating Scandal Still Lingers

Mary Lou Retton signs a Wheaties box in 2003. By her side is her longtime coach, Bela Karolyi

Mary Lou Retton’s Third Act Is Her Most All-American

Bobsledder Aja Evans poses for a portrait during the Team USA Media Summit ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games on September 25, 2017 in Park City, Utah.

Lawsuit: Olympic Bobsledder Says Team Chiropractor Sexually Abused Her For Years

Ten years after the London 2012 Olympics were based here at Stratford, is a landscape of nature that surrounds the original Olympic rings in The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, on 14th June 2022, in London, England. The former main Olympic venue area was controversially re-landscaped from an old industrial estate. Its promised legacy is a green space now known as The Elizabeth Park which remains a wildlife habitat and whose centrepieces are still the Velodrome and Aquatic Centre used by the public while the main Olympic stadium is home to West Ham Football Club. (

Ex-Union Chief Donald Fehr Says Olympic And Paralympic Athletes Need Their Own Type Of Union

General view during the balance beam exercise at the women's artistic gymnastics individual competition on August 19, 2004 during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games at the Olympic Sports Complex Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece.

Al Fong, Valeri Liukin, And The Stubborn Culture Of The Tyrant Coach

Simone Biles competes in the floor exercise on day four of the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships at SAP Center on August 27, 2023 in San Jose, California.

The Simone Biles Comeback Continues At Full Speed

<div class="author-header-content">
Charles P. Pierce is a writer at Esquire and the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston with his wife but no longer his three children.
&nbsp;
</div>
<div class="author-header-shares"></div>

Charles P. Pierce

Ukraine's Olha Kharlan (L) refuses to shake hands with Russia's Anna Smirnova, registered as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), after she defeated her during the Sabre Women's Senior Individual qualifiers, as part of the FIE Fencing World Championships at the Fair Allianz MI.CO (Milano Convegni) in Milan, on July 27, 2023.

Olga Kharlan’s Stand Had History Behind It

Simone Biles smiling after she competes on the balance beam during the Core Hydration Classic at Now Arena on August 05, 2023 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Simone Biles Is Using A Spotter For Her Vault, And That’s A Good Thing

Simone Biles celebrates with her coach Laurent Landi after competing on the vault at the Core Hydration Classic at Now Arena on August 05, 2023 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Simone Biles Is Having Fun Again

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

Bunch of people dressed like Rocky, woman standing on a blue car talking to them