The United States has named former tennis star Billie Jean King, one of the first prominent athletes to publicly acknowledge her homosexuality, to be in the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where Russia’s anti-gay policies have stirred controversy.
Another openly gay athlete, two-time Olympic hockey player Caitlin Cahow, will represent the United States at closing ceremonies, according to a White House statement.
The former England team captain, who also played for the Los Angeles Galaxy, retired as a player in May but is seeking to exercise a $25 million option in his MLS contract to start a new franchise.
Tuesday’s vote was “a very positive step to bringing the world’s most popular game to Miami,” nike free run said a spokesman for the Beckham ownership group.
The group was “exploring various sites in downtown Miami,” he said, and did not have a timetable yet for when it might be ready to make a formal proposal to MLS.
“We’re almost there,” Beckham told the BBC in an interview in late November.
Wednesday’s game in Miami, which will be the second matchup between the two teams in eight days, also represents a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Final, which Miami won in seven games.
The U.S. delegation is also led by a lower-ranking official than has been the case for recent Olympic games. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, who is now chancellor of the University of California system, will lead the U.S. group, nike free run shoe the White House said in a statement.
“We can’t go to Miami without the right stadium solution,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said during his state of the league address ahead of the MLS Cup final in Kansas City in early December. “David understands that, the city understands that, that is an indisputable fact,” he said.
Speaking to reporters, James said he would have been ruled out “for sure” if the Heat were scheduled to play a game later on Tuesday.
The legislation, however, has drawn calls by human rights activists to boycott the Olympics. German President Joachim Gauck has announced he will not attend the Olympics even though he went to the 2012 London Olympic games, free run 2 but he declined to comment on the reason for his decision.
Likewise, France has said that neither President Francois Hollande nor any top French official would attend the Sochi games, also without offering an explanation.
President Barack Obama, speaking about the Russian law in a television interview in August, said he had “no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”
James has played in all 24 Heat games this season and is averaging 25.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.5 assists.
However, he was able to return in the fourth and ended the night with a team-high 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting, along with nine rebounds and nine assists.
The U.S. delegation to the opening ceremony also includes Olympic figure skating gold medalist Brian Boitano, free run 3 presidential aide Rob Nabors, and U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.
“It’s not the first time he’s gone through it with that ankle,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the four-time league MVP. “He’s getting a lot of treatment today and a lot of rest. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
The United States has also been unhappy with Russia’s decision to grant temporary asylum to Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has leaked classified documents revealing the extent of U.S. surveillance of phone and email traffic around the world.
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