From Kobe to Maradona, a year of staggering losses in sports
Not long after came a seismic jolt, the helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant in the fog-shrouded California hills that reverberated across sports and across continents. Deep into the year, a bookend to Bryant, Diego Maradona died from a heart attack in Argentina weeks after brain surgery, the waves of grief rippling across soccer. The losses, of course, came against a backdrop of a pandemic, its number of fatalities rolled out daily on TV screens. Niekro won 318 games and pitched until he was 48, his knuckleball dancing and mystifying batters across the decades. Kurt Thomas in 1978 became the first U.S. male gymnast to win a world title but lost an Olympic shot in 1980 because of the boycott.
Investigators search doctor's office, probing Maradona death
Neurologist Leopoldo Luque, Diego Maradona's former personal doctor, talks with journalists at his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. Dr. Luque's house and offices were raided Sunday in the midst of investigations to establish the circumstances of the death of Maradona. Neurologist Leopoldo Luque told reporters after the searches that he had given investigators all of the records of his treatment of Maradona, as well as computers, hard drives and cellphones. Weeping at times, he insisted he defended his treatment of the troubled soccer star, who died Wednesday of a heart attack following a Nov. 3 brain operation. Maradona had suffered a series of medical problems, some due to excesses of drugs and alcohol.
3 funeral workers fired over Maradona coffin photos
BUENOS AIRES โ Three funeral workers have been fired for posing for photos alongside the body of soccer star Diego Maradona shortly before his funeral. The images distributed across social media created outrage, even death threats, across a nation that venerated Maradona, who died Wednesday of a heart attack at age 60. Claudio Fernรกndez confirmed to Radio Diez that he'd lost his job at the Pinier funeral home, along with his son Ismael and Claudio Medina. One of the images shows Fernรกndez and his son โ smiling and with thumb raised โ alongside Maradona's body in the coffin on Thursday. I'm from the neighborhood," Fernรกndez said.
Argentines bid a raucous farewell to Maradona amid clashes
Mourners embrace as they wait to see Diego Maradona lying in state outside the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. The Argentine soccer great who led his country to the 1986 World Cup died Wednesday at the age of 60. Fans waving Argentine flags had gathered along roads as Maradonaโs funeral car drove by under heavy security. The crowd overwhelmed organizers and the violence resulted in injuries and arrests, which led Maradona's family to end the public visitation. He remained idolized in the soccer-mad nation as the โPibe de Oroโ or โGolden Boy.โMany fans proudly displayed Maradona tattoos.
Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona dies at 60
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina โ Diego Maradona, the Argentine soccer great who scored the โHand of Godโ goal in 1986 and led his country to that yearโs World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity, has died. โMaradona inspires us,โ said then-Argentina striker Carlos Tevez, explaining his countryโs everyman fascination with Maradona at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Maradona said he was given a soccer ball soon after he could run. A year after losing the 1990 World Cup final to West Germany, Maradona moved to Spanish club Sevilla, but his career was on the decline. He failed another doping test for stimulants and was thrown out of the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
Doctor says Diego Maradona doing well after surgery
A soccer fan stands behind a banner featuring former soccer star Diego Maradona and Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, outside the Clinica Olivos, where Maradona will undergo surgery, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. His personal doctor Leopoldo Luque, who is a neurologist, said Maradona has suffered a subdural hematoma, likely caused by an accident. The 1986 World Cup champion was admitted to a private hospital in la Plata with signs of depression on Monday, three days after his 60th birthday. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)BUENOS AIRES โ Diego Maradona was recovering Wednesday after an operation for bleeding in his skull, his personal doctor said. Maradona, the star of Argentina's 1986 World Cup champions, turned 60 last week.