PARIS (AP) — A malformed vertebra couldn’t stop him. Neither could heart surgery, or a change of weight category that everyone thought was a big mistake.
Breaking his arm in the buildup to the Paris Games was just a minor distraction, too.
It seems there’s almost nothing that could derail CJ Nickolas’ quest for an Olympic medal.
At 22, Nickolas is the highest-ranked U.S. athlete in taekwondo, No. 2 in the world in the men’s 80-kilogram (176-pound) class. A silver medalist at last year’s world championships, he will be leading the four-member U.S. taekwondo team in Paris.
His silver at the worlds was the first for the U.S. men’s team since 2009, and the Californian now hopes he’ll become the first American man in the sport to stand on the Olympic podium in 12 years.
"Going in there and just forcing it and forcing and forcing, imposing yourself on the other person for the entire day,” Nickolas told The Associated Press of his competitive approach. “If I can do that, I don’t think that there’s anyone that can beat me.”
Nickolas’ Olympic journey started when he was just three. His mother Denise — a nurse whom he cites as his main inspiration alongside his adoptive father — took him to a taekwondo club.
“She didn’t like combat sports and she just wanted to make sure that what I was doing was making me a better person — and not just teaching me how to fight,” Nickolas said.
Denise fell in love with Edward Givans, who was the owner of the taekwondo school. They didn't stay married for long, but Givans carried on coaching Nickolas, who still calls him his dad. They both instilled in him a taste for hard work and dedication.
“Everybody around me has taught me how to work hard every which way I turn,” Nickolas said. “It’s just a bunch of hard workers and people who embrace the struggle rather than shy away from it or fall into it. And it’s a lot of success that we see come from it."
Denise said her son is “one of the most, if not the most, driven people I know.”
“I just supported his dream and let him lead the way,” she told the AP.
Nickolas’ career really took off after he decided four years ago to move up in weight categories. Nickolas stands 6-feet-2 (1.88 meters) but many thought he was too small for the move.
Continuing at the 68-kilogram (150-pound) category would've been the more conventional route to an Olympic medal.
“Everyone was like, ‘What are you doing?’ You’re too small. You were fine in 68 kilos, just buckle down and make the weight,'" he said. “I didn’t really care about what everybody was saying because the place that I was in, with the sport, I had fallen out of love.”
Nickolas had plateaued and had lost the joy of competing, mainly because of what he had to go through mentally and physically to cut weight.
Supported by his coach, Nickolas made the career-changing decision to move up to the heavier division.
“I was a little bit nervous but at that point, it was like, 'I don’t have to focus on making weight. I don’t have to focus on anything but getting better as an athlete and fighting,'” Nickolas recalled. “It was super freeing, and I found my love for the sport again. It absolutely was the best decision that I probably made in my adult life.”
Then there were other problems to solve.
A bone defect in his neck is a condition that, from a doctor's perspective, should prevent Nickolas from being a professional fighter.
"But there’s muscle in that place now. So it’s strong," Nickolas said. “It’s not like it’s an Achilles' heel, or something like that. If I was to take a really bad hit in that area then it, it wouldn’t be pretty at all. But any hit in this back area is not great.”
There was also the complication of a heart condition, discovered in 2020.
“That was a big year," he said. “I moved up weight divisions, got heart surgery.”
Nickolas had terrible migraines and struggled to breathe before medical tests revealed a hole in his heart, a condition dating from his birth that had aggravated. It wasn't life-threatening, but certainly required quick action.
Rather than hinder his athletic development, it has helped.
“I don’t really wheeze anymore ... and I can last longer in the ring. I don’t get migraines like that anymore," he said. "It worked out for me very, very well.”
The list of setbacks didn't end there, though.
In May, as he prepared for the Olympics at the Pan American championships in Brazil, Nickolas fractured his left forearm during the final. With adrenaline masking the pain, he kept on fighting. And won.
A couple of days later, he was back on the mat at a tournament he needed to attend to ensure a good ranking at the Olympics. The pain was worse, and his arm was sore and throbbing.
“I couldn’t make a fist so we had to tape my hand closed so that I could hold a fist and tighten my arm — I had to do that for four fights," he said. "And I got the job done. A little checkpoint going into the Games.”
Now comes the final hurdle, in the person of Simone Alessio, the reigning world champion who beat him the final at the worlds. Alessio is Nickolas' nemesis, an Italian athlete standing at 6-feet-6 (1.98-meters).
“When I’m in a short distance with him, my face is on his chest,” Nickolas said. “The hardest fight that I have in the division is the guys that are taller than me, you know, the David and Goliath situation," he said. But "The last time I fought him, it was tight. So it was essentially down to some technical stuff that he beat me, that’s how close we are at this point."
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE - American taekwondo athlete CJ Nickolas answers questions during an interview on Monday, April 15, 2024 in New York. At 22, Nickolas is the highest-ranked U.S. athlete in taekwondo, No. 2 in the world in the men’s 80-kilogram (176-pound) class. A silver medalist at last year’s world championships, he will be leading the four-member U.S. taekwondo team in Paris. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)
FILE - American taekwondo athlete CJ Nickolas answers questions during an interview April 15, 2024, in New York. At 22, Nickolas is the highest-ranked U.S. athlete in taekwondo, No. 2 in the world in the men’s 80-kilogram (176-pound) class. A silver medalist at last year’s world championships, he will be leading the four-member U.S. taekwondo team in Paris. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)
FILE - CJ Nickolas of the United States sings the national anthem after receiving a gold in men's taekwondo kyorugi -80kg at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Oct. 22, 2023. At 22, Nickolas is the highest-ranked U.S. athlete in taekwondo, No. 2 in the world in the men’s 80-kilogram (176-pound) class. A silver medalist at last year’s world championships, he will be leading the four-member U.S. taekwondo team in Paris. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)
A major internet outage affecting Microsoft is disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world, with problems continuing hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Airlines and airports in the United States, Europe, Australia, India and elsewhere were reporting problems, with some flights grounded. Retail outlets, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world were also affected in what appeared to be an unprecedented internet disruption.
Here's the Latest:
LONDON — The London Stock Exchange says it is experiencing disruptions from the technology outage that has created chaos around the globe.
The LSE says its regulatory news service was not working Friday morning but the outage had not affected trading.
“We are currently experiencing a third party technical issue which is impacting some of our services,” a London Stock Exchange Group spokesperson said in a statement.
The exchange says it’s trying to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
Long queues have formed at many airports around the world as the global internet outage hit check-in procedures for flights — although in some locations systems were now back online.
Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport was gradually returning to normal operations, the airport said in a statement, though some airlines had been forced to cancel flights after being hit with the outage from 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT).
“Passenger handling continued with some restrictions. Departures took place with restrictions. There are still waiting times. Unfortunately, some flights had to be canceled by the airlines. The airport’s systems have been restarted and we are gradually returning to normal operations,” the airport said.
German-based airline Eurowings, a budget subsidiary of Lufthansa, says it had to cancel German domestic flights as well as services to and from the U.K. because of disruption to its check-in and boarding processes. It called on people traveling inside Germany to book train tickets and submit them for reimbursement.
In South Korea, several low-cost airlines reported problems, triggering delays in passenger boardings at Incheon international Airport, the country’s biggest airport, airport officials said.
Jeju Air Co. said it was experiencing problems with ticketing and other services on its website. Air Premia Inc. said key services on its website, such as ticket bookings, cancellations and online check-ins, were not working. The website of Eastar Jet Co. wasn’t accessible as of early Friday evening. Incheon airport officials and the country’s Transport Ministry said they were checking details of damages.
AirAsia announced on its Thai Facebook page that its reservation and check-in system had been impacted and encouraged passengers to go to airports early as they might face slower check-in and longer queues.
In the U.S., United Airlines said that the outage was impacting its computer systems and warned customers of potential flight delays. The carrier said some flights are resuming and it is issuing waivers to make it easier to change travel plans within its website.
LONDON — The chief executive of the cybersecurity company at the heart of a worldwide Microsoft outage says it is working to fix a defect sent out in a Windows update.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on the social platform X. “The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
Kurtz said there was a defect in a “single content update for Windows hosts.” Mac and Linux hosts were not affected.
The company referred customers to its support portal for updates.
HELSINKI — Two pharmacy chains in Norway said they are having problems providing customers with their prescription medicine and are facing substantial connection delays due to the global network problems.
Several branches of the Apotek1 pharmacy have closed across Norway after being affected by IT issues which also shut down the chain’s online sales, the Norwegian news agency NTB reported.
The Boots drugstore and pharmacy chain also ran into problems delivering products to clients in Norway. Boots said that “due to global network problems, you may experience challenges with ordering and possible delays in dispatches,” NTB reported.
PARIS — Paris Olympics organizers say some Olympic delegations’ arrivals, as well as the delivery of some uniforms and accreditations, have been delayed because of the outage.
The organizers said in a statement that ticketing and the torch relay have not been affected. “Our teams have been fully mobilized to ensure the continuity of operations at optimum levels,” organizers said.
LONDON — Britain’s National Health Service says a global internet outage is causing problems at most doctors’ offices across England.
NHS England said in a statement that the glitch was hitting the appointment and patient record system used across the health service. The state-funded NHS treats the vast majority of people in the U.K.
The NHS said the issue was affecting the majority of family doctors’ practices, but was not hitting the 999 number used to call for emergency ambulances.
Airlines across the world, from Thailand to Australia, India, the United States and several European countries, reported disruptions to check-in systems and other issues that caused flights to be grounded or delayed.
With athletes and spectators from around the world heading to France for the Paris Olympics, the Paris airport authority says its computer systems ″are not impacted″ by the global outage, but several airlines and airports elsewhere are.
As a result, ″this situation has an impact on the operations of airlines at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports: delays in check-in, delays and temporary suspension of some flights. Our teams are mobilized to orient and assist passengers,″ the airport authority said in a statement.
In the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.
Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, a gateway to one of the world’s most visited cities, reported that some airlines were forced to check in passengers manually due to outages to their systems, while in the country's second largest airport of Don Mueang, Air Asia was also checking passengers in manually. Director of Tourism of Thailand, the country’s tourism authority, told state broadcaster Thai PBS the issue was with Navitaire, an e-commerce platform for air travel, and up to six airports had been affected.
In Germany, flights at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport were halted for several hours from Friday morning due to check-in problems, while some flights were cancelled. An airport spokeswoman said flights resumed after 10 a.m.. Issues were also reported in the busy European hubs of Amsterdam, Zurich and Rome.
WARSAW — Baltic Hub, a major container hub in the Baltic port of Gdansk, Poland, says it is battling problems resulting from the global system outage. Their entry gates are temporarily closed and they have suspended business, the Baltic Hub said in a statement.
LONDON — Britain's Sky News was broadcasting again after the outage knocked it off the air during the morning. The news anchor referred to printed notes as Sky News got back on the air. The broadcaster was able to deliver news online, on its app and website during the broadcast outage.
ROME — Borsa Italiana, the company that manages Milan’s stock exchange, said the “correct disclosure of the index FTSE MIB has been restored.” Earlier Friday, the company had said that the index had not been updated, without providing additional information.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Cyber Directorate said on Friday that it was among those affected by the global outages, attributing them to a problem with the cybersecurity platform Crowdstrike. The outage also hit the country’s post offices and hospitals, according to the ministries of communication and health.
A recording playing on CrowdStrike’s customer service line said, “CrowdStrike is aware of the reports of crashes on Microsoft ports related to the Falcon sensor." It attributed the problems to one of its products used to block online attacks. It said callers should monitor its customer support portal.
Passengers crowd the International flights departure terminal of Rome's Fiumicino airport, Friday, July 19, 2024, as many flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the worldwide internet outage. Microsoft says users worldwide may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services in a widespread outage. The cause, exact nature and scale of the outage was unclear. Microsoft appeared to suggest in its X posts that the situation was improving, but hours later, widespread outages were being reported by airlines around the world. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A plane takes off at the capital's Berlin Brandenburg Airport, in Schönefeld, Germany, Friday July 19, 2024. A widespread Microsoft outage disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)
Commuter disembark a Great Northern railway train at Hunt's Cross station in Liverpool, England, amid reports of widespread IT outages affecting airlines, broadcasters and banks, Friday, July 19, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Passengers crowd the International flights departure terminal of Rome's Fiumicino airport, Friday, July 19, 2024, as many flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the worldwide internet outage. Microsoft says users worldwide may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services in a widespread outage. The cause, exact nature and scale of the outage was unclear. Microsoft appeared to suggest in its X posts that the situation was improving, but hours later, widespread outages were being reported by airlines around the world. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Travelers wait in Terminal 1 for check-in at Hamburg Airport, in Hamburg, Germany, Friday July 19, 2024 as a widespread Microsoft outage disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday. (Bodo Marks/dpa via AP)
Travelers at Los Angeles International Airport sleep in a jetway for a delayed United Airlines flight to Dulles International Airport due to a widespread global outage early Friday, July 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Stefanie Dazio)
The logo of Microsoft is seen outside it's French headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, Monday May 13, 2024. Microsoft users worldwide, including banks and airlines, reported widespread outages on Friday, July 19, 2024 hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A traveler at Los Angeles International Airport sits in a jetway for a delayed United Airlines flight to Dulles International Airport due to a widespread global technology outage disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world, Friday, July 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Stefanie Dazio)
Numerous passengers wait in front of a black display board at the capital's Berlin Brandenburg Airport, in Schönefeld, Germany, Friday July 19, 2024, after a widespread technology outage disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)
Passengers crowd the International flights departure terminal of Rome's Fiumicino airport, Friday, July 19, 2024, as many flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the worldwide internet outage. Microsoft says users worldwide may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services in a widespread outage. The cause, exact nature and scale of the outage was unclear. Microsoft appeared to suggest in its X posts that the situation was improving, but hours later, widespread outages were being reported by airlines around the world. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Passengers crowd the International flights departure terminal of Rome's Fiumicino airport, Friday, July 19, 2024, as many flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the worldwide internet outage. Microsoft says users worldwide may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services in a widespread outage. The cause, exact nature and scale of the outage was unclear. Microsoft appeared to suggest in its X posts that the situation was improving, but hours later, widespread outages were being reported by airlines around the world. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Passengers gather near check-in counters at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo Friday, July 19, 2024, after a technology outage. A widespread Microsoft outage disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday. (Kyodo News via AP)
Travelers wait in Terminal 1 for check-in at Hamburg Airport, in Hamburg, Germany, Friday July 19, 2024. A widespread Microsoft outage disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday. (Bodo Marks/dpa via AP)
