Wearing the eyes of Picasso Townsend wins third straight high jump gold medal at Paralympics

PARIS (AP) — With his hair colored in a design reminiscent of the eyes in a Picasso painting, Team USA athletics captain Roderick Townsend was ready to go for a three-peat at the Paralympics.

“I’m a showman,” Townsend said, explaining the hairstyle he had done at a salon in Paris. “Had they been out there booing me? I’d probably still be jumping.”

Instead of booing, the Stade de France crowd followed Townsend’s every command, sitting quiet or cheering, as he won the T47 high jump finals on Sunday night, notching a 2.12-meter (6 feet, 11.5 inches) jump and collecting his third straight gold medal in the event. The T47 category is for competitors who have either lost part of an arm, or have low to moderate movement problems in one arm.

The 32-year-old Townsend, who has an upper right shoulder impairment after sustaining nerve damage at birth, considers himself the “bad guy,” going on a mission to be the “reason that nobody else gets to win.” He’ll get one more chance at that role Tuesday in the long jump.

To win the high jump, Townsend had to outlast top competitor Nishad Kumar of India, who won silver in Tokyo Paralympics and finished second again in Paris. Kumar nearly reached the 2.12 mark in his three attempts, but clipped the bar each time. He lay in defeat on the high-jump mat for a long moment before Townsend came over to embrace him.

In that moment, Townsend, of Stockton, California, told Kumar that he’s “phenomenal” and he pushes Townsend to do great things because they are both so competitive. Townsend said following the race he has another goal in mind regarding Kumar: “I just want him to have as many silver medals as possible.”

After Townsend out-jumped Kumar, he went for more.

In the Tokyo games, Townsend broke the high jump record with a 2.15-meter jump before topping himself in the 2023 Paris World Championships with a 2.16-meter leap. This time, he was going for 2.17.

The crowd roared and clapped, but Townsend was ultimately unable to reset his record on Sunday, later revealing later he sustained a hernia while at the U.S. trials in July, and is still recovering.

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Avery Hill is a student with John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

__ AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games

Roderick Townsend celebrates after winning in the T47 Men's High Jump at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Caleb Craig)

Roderick Townsend of the United States kisses his wife Tynita Townsend, with their son Rodney Townsend, between Rodrick's jumps in the T47 Men's High Jump at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Caleb Craig)

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — England and English soccer teams could be removed from UEFA competitions if a new regulator is considered to be “Government interference” in the sport.

In a letter sent by UEFA to the U.K.'s new culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, European soccer's governing body raised concerns about a proposed independent football regulator (IFR) in English soccer. The regulatory will ensure the financial sustainability of clubs and stop teams from joining breakaway competitions like the European Super League.

UEFA regulations state there should be no government interference in the running of soccer.

“We have specific rules that guard against this in order to guarantee the autonomy of sport and fairness of sporting competition; the ultimate sanction for which would be excluding the federation from UEFA and teams from competition,” UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis wrote in his letter, which has been seen by The Associated Press.

England, which has been runner-up in the last two European Championships, is co-hosting the 2028 edition of the tournament.

If UEFA imposed its ultimate sanction of excluding the English Football Association, the England team would be barred from competing in the Euros. It could also mean Premier League clubs being barred from the Champions League and other competitions.

The U.K. government’s Football Governance Bill would give an independent regulator powersto safeguard the future of clubs. It includes strengthened tests over who can run or own clubs.

In its letter, UEFA said “normally football regulation should be managed by the national federation.”

It said it was concerned by what it described as “scope creep” by a regulator into areas beyond “the long-term financial sustainability of clubs and heritage assets.”

UEFA said if all countries established regulators with wide-reaching powers it would hinder its ability to maintain effective governance across Europe. It wants England's regulator to be “strictly limited” to the long-term financial sustainability of clubs and heritage assets.

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - The UEFA Euro trophy is pictured after Britain and Ireland were elected to host the Euro 2028 football tournament during the the UEFA EURO 2028 and 2032 hosts announcement ceremony after the UEFA Executive Committee, at UEFA Headquarters, in Nyon, Switzerland, Oct. 10, 2023. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP, File)