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SPORTS Diasabra 23 Juli 2022

ATP men’s tennis tour hoping to increase

LGBTQ inclusion

Jackson celebrates 200 win at

worlds after Tokyo heartache

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Jamaica's Shericka Jackson can
finally go watch the replay. The one of the race where
she gave away her chance to be an Olympic champion.

She's now a world champion, a more-than-satisfying reward
after a year in which she trained with the goal of never mak-
ing the same mistake again.
LONDON (AP) — The year education partnership tour, and loneliness as being
The 28-year-old executed the curve perfectly and ran the 200 ATP is teaming up with with You Can Play, which has likely barriers to LGBTQ+
meters in the second-fastest time ever, 21.45 seconds, to lead You Can Play, a group worked with the NHL, MLS players publicly disclosing
a Jamaican 1-2 finish on Thursday night at the world cham- working to increase LG- and NASCAR. their sexuality to others."
pionships. She beat 100-meter champion Shelly-Ann Fraser- BTQ inclusion in sports, The ATP's anonymous, on-
Pryce to the finish line by 0.36. after 75% of players who line survey was distributed to There are no openly gay
participated in a survey by hundreds of players last year; athletes in men's tennis cur-
Jackson was among the medal favorites last year in Tokyo, but the men's tennis tour said 65 responded. Some also rently.
a miscalculation midway through her preliminary heat caused they had heard other play- agreed to be interviewed.
her to slow down. By the time she'd realized what happened, ers use homophobic slurs. The tour said a majority of
she couldn't catch up. She finished fourth and didn't get to The ATP said its findings "in- participants "were supportive
run in the final. The tour announced Friday dicated a strong fear of rejec- of ATP taking action to com-
that it is launching a multi- tion, isolation from others on bat homophobia."
It ate at her so much that she refused to watch a replay of the
race. Only learn from it.
Laporte wins Tour Stage 19 and ends
"Sometimes, disappointment is hard to come back from,"
Jackson said. "I don't want to have that. I want to win when- drought for France
ever I'm competing."

For support, she's leaned on Fraser-Pryce, the 35-year-old CAHORS, France (AP)
who shows no signs of slowing down. That was the case in — Christophe Laporte
Tokyo, when Jackson was reduced to tears and Fraser-Pryce surged out of the peloton
was there to comfort her. That was the case again Thursday in the finale of the 19th
when they shared a far more pleasant emotion — elation. stage of the Tour de France
to claim a maiden win at
"It's something you can take for your own self when you see cycling's biggest race and
others bounce back from disappointment," Fraser-Pryce said. end a stage-win drought
"It's really wonderful to see her have that run." for the home country.

Defending champion Dina Asher-Smith of Britain took Just two days before the race
bronze and prevented this from being a back-to-back sprint ends in Paris, Laporte spared
sweep for the Jamaicans, a la what the Americans did in the the blushes for French riders,
men's 100 and 200. Elaine Thompson-Herah, who won the who had not tasted a victory
200 in the Olympics and finished third here at worlds in the this month in their home
100, finished seventh in this race. event.
"We were hoping for 1-2-3. We'll celebrate 1-2," Jackson said. Laporte made his move after
"We came out here to do our best and our best was good a trio of breakaway riders was
enough. We delivered big two medals for the country. We are caught with 1.5 kilometers
so grateful." left in the 188.5-kilometer
flat stage to Cahors in south-
Seconds after the win, sprint icon Usain Bolt tweeted "Bril- western France.
liant" and punctuated it with two Jamaican flags — one each
for Jackson and Fraser-Pryce. Laporte, who rides for the
Jumbo-Visma team of race
This is how fast Jackson was: Her time was second only to leader Jonas Vingegaard, won
one of the most hallowed marks on the books — the 21.34 ahead of Jasper Philipsen and change in the general classifi- Pogacar, and 2018 champion
by Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Alberto Dainese. cation. Vingegaard has a lead Geraint Thomas was in third
Jackson blew away the old world-championship record of of 3 minutes, 21 seconds over place, 8 minutes off the pace.
21.63 set by Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands in 2015. There was no significant defending champion Tadej