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Day: April 10, 2012

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Evan Lysacek names Sports Ambassador

U.S. State Department Names Lysacek as Sports Diplomat
By Raymond Rolak

The 2010 Olympic gold medalist in men’s figure skating, Evan Lysacek, has left for Europe to be a sports ambassador in association with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. He will visit Stockholm, Sweden, and Minsk, Belarus.

File photo
Lysacek won the gold medal in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games and was named the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sportsman of the Year in 2010. That year he was also named the Amateur Athletic Union’s Sullivan Award winner, given to the most outstanding U.S. amateur athlete of the year. The prestigious honor is given for accomplishments, leadership skills, character and sportsmanship. Lysacek did not compete in the U.S. Nationals this year.

While in Sweden, Lysacek will hold ice skating clinics, organized in cooperation with the non-governmental organization, Sports Without Borders. He will conduct clinics with the Skating Union of Belarus in Minsk and speak with students at the University of Physical Culture about the importance of sports in society.

The trip to Sweden will give him a chance to visit old friend Natalia Lopatniuk-Brzezinski. They used to skate together in Chicago. Lopatniuk-Brezinski is the wife of new U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Mark Brzezinski. Mark Brzezinski wrote the 2000 book “The Struggle for Constitutionalism in Poland.”

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Earlier this month, while in Boston, Lysacek spoke about his upcoming trip before the Skating Club of Boston’s Ice Chips show. Lysacek was the headliner at Harvard’s Bright Arena during the 100th Anniversary of the famed skating club’s showcase and extravaganza. Fittingly, the theme of this year’s production was ‘100 Years of Excellence’. “I’ve been checking the weather in Sweden and Belarus every day,” he said. One of the choreographers for the giant ice extravaganza was Tom Lescinski. Lysacek used New York based fashion designer Vera Wang for his costumes.

“As a figure skater, I have always been proud to represent the United States at competitions around the world,” Lysacek said. “I am honored to be named a Sports Envoy and look forward to supporting the goals set by Secretary (Hillary) Clinton through sports diplomacy.”

Spokesperson Shep Goldberg of Northville, Michigan said Lysacek had recently given clinics in Saudi Arabia to overwhelming crowds.

Lysacek has said in skating circles that the 2014 Olympics were his next big goal. The U.S. Figure Skating Association and Lysacek were recently at odds over endorsement contracts regarding product category sponsorships. He is scheduled to perform at Kim Yu-Na’s ice show in South Korea this May. Yu-Na was the women’s 2010 Olympic gold medalist and is a pivotal spokesperson for South Korea’s efforts in hosting the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.

Michele Kwan was the most recent figure skater who served as a public diplomacy ambassador for the State Department. Since 2005, the U.S. has sent more than 200 U.S. athletes to over 50 countries to participate as Sports Envoy’s in their Sports United programs.

Christian Witness, PNCC, , ,

To comfort in the midst of sadness and violence

From the Chicago Tribune: Family, friends gather at Brighton Park home of slain 13-year-old

On the quiet Southwest Side block where many of the kids spend their days playing outside, faces were grim Sunday as more than 50 neighbors gathered around the steps where 13-year-old Adrian Luna was shot and killed.

“It is very hard to lose a loved one,” the Rev. Jose Rojas told the crowd, warning that the community should come together to prevent such violence from happening again. “Today, it happened to them. Tomorrow, it could be any of us.”

Adrian, whose full name was Roberto Adrian Luna though he went by his middle name, was hanging out with two friends Saturday night on the steps to his Brighton Park neighborhood home in the 4600 block of South Spaulding Avenue.

“Chillen like a villain,” Luna posted on Facebook just before 9 p.m. Saturday.

An hour later, the teenager was dead and two of his friends wounded after two gunmen apparently emerged from a gangway and started shooting at the trio, police and family said.

Adrian’s older brother, Mario Lopez, 29, was a few houses away and ran towards his fallen brother.

“I ran screaming his name. I saw him in a fetal position,” Lopez said, tears welling in his eyes. “… He stopped breathing in my arms.”

Family said the Irene C. Hernandez Middle School 7th-grader was a happy-go-lucky kid who excelled at math and loved horror movies. On Easter Sunday, Adrian had planned to prank his family on by hiding oranges instead of eggs for the hunt, family said.

“He was just a baby,” said Erik Lopez, 28, another of Adrian’s brothers. “They took a kid full of life, a kid full of joy.”

Among Adrian’s close friends are the two others wounded in the attack. A 15-year-old boy was shot in the forearm and thigh, and a 16-year-old boy was shot in the arm, but their relatives said their injuries are not life-threatening.

The mother of one of 16-year-old victim said her son told her one of the gunmen emerged from the gangway next to Adrian’s home and asked the teens what gang they were in. The teens told the gunman they were not in a gang — something police corroborated, though they said the shooting may be related to gang conflicts in the area.

“Even so, he shot them,” the victim’s mother said. “You’re not safe anywhere.”

Police said no one was in custody Sunday evening.

As Adrian’s family tearfully looked out at the gathered crowd, Rojas, the pastor at St. John the Baptist National Catholic Church (Parroquia San Juan Bautista), sprinkled holy water on the steps where Adrian died.

With that, neighbors reached into their pockets and donated money to help Adrian’s family bury the teenager.

“It’s not about revenge,” the priest told the crowd. “It’s about prevention.”

Dale Señor el descanso eterno.
Brille para él la luz perpetua.
Descanse en paz. Amén

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