Baltimore Ravens top tackler Zach Orr on Friday retired from the NFL at age 24 after learning last month he has a congenital neck and spine condition.
Orr, a third-year linebacker, discovered the condition after suffering two herniated discs atop his vertebrae making a tackle late in a 31-27 Christmas Day loss to Pittsburgh.
Doctors conducted a computed axial tomography scan that revealed his condition, which puts him at risk of death or serious injury should he play again.
“I’m really just blessed and thankful that we were able to find this problem,” Orr said. “The doctors and Ravens medical staff probably ended up saving my life and definitely allowed me to live a normal lifestyle.”
“I’m thankful I’m able to walk away from the game in good health,” he added.
Orr, the son of nine-year NFL tight end Terry Orr, led the Ravens with 132 tackles.
He put on a helmet and pads for 15 years at various youth levels in Texas with no problems, unaware of his condition or risks.
Orr said doctors told him less than 1 percent of the population is born with his condition when they said he would never again pass an NFL physical.
“I was in disbelief,” Orr said. “A lot of emotions came across my mind. I was shocked, sad, mad all at the same time. I felt like I had much more on the field that I could improve on and was looking forward to coming back next year better than ever.”
“It definitely was difficult at first, but I’m at peace with it now,” he added.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier