Sports

Does a video show an Olympic Games athlete vomit as a direct result of swimming in Paris' Seine? No, that's not true: The athlete shown throwing up after his triathlon faulted the Parisian heat rather than the Seine. Although the river's water quality was poor in the days preceding the triathlon, there is no evidence that it caused Olympic athletes…

Does a social media video of large crowds moving through a city center show a mass public protest against the disputed results of Venezuela's July 2024 presidential election? No, that's not true: The video first appeared in 2022 and shows soccer fans gathering in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, to celebrate Argentina winning soccer's World Cup that year. It does…

Did Vice President Kamala Harris say, "Today we celebrate the Olympics. Because Olympians are Olympic, & they are at the Olympics being Olympian, so it's more important now than ever to support their Olympianism"? No, that's not true: Harris' spokesperson said that's not something she said. It is a parody of a manipulated Harris quote that Lead Stories debunked previously.…

Did massive power outages occur in Paris on July 27, 2024, the day after the Olympics opening ceremony? No, that's not true: The energy company responsible for the power outages said power was restored within 10 minutes and that 85,000 residential clients were affected, while the Paris metropolitan area has a population of 11 million. The power cuts were not…

Does a picture going viral on social media show Israeli swimmers making the phrase "Bring them home now" with their bodies during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics? No, that's not true: The photo was taken in 2023 and posted to social media at that time. Also, it was taken at a pool in Israel, more than 2,600 miles from the…

Does a video show former President Donald Trump playing golf with an undamaged ear 10 days after an assassination attempt on July 13, 2024? No, that's not true: The photo in a social media post was taken from a video recorded the week before the shooting, the video's creator said in a public statement. FBI records confirm Trump's injuries, which…

Does a social media video show Donald Trump playing golf on July 14, 2024, a day after he was struck in the ear during an attempted assassination? No, that's not true: Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who was one of those who posted the video online, later said, "Okay I'm now told this video was uploaded today but *not* taken…

After being wounded by a gunman at his campaign rally on July 13, 2024, did Donald Trump fly to Denver, Colorado, to watch an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout along with UFC President Dana White? No, that's not true: White posted to social media that he was flying to Europe at the time of the incident. When the rumor started to…

Did WNBA basketball player Caitlin Clark reject a $400 million deal from Nike because of the company's association with NFL-quarterback-turned-civil-rights-activist Colin Kaepernick? No, that's not true: This claim first appeared in an article on a website with a satire disclaimer. There is no publicly available or credible evidence anything like this ever happened. The claim appeared in a post (archived…

Does a video show British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken watching England score against The Netherlands in the Euro Cup? No, that's not true: While Starmer is in this video, he is watching the game with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, not Blinken. The original video came from a post on Starmer's verified official…

Is Nikki Hiltz a biological man as a post on X claimed? No, that's not true: Hiltz was assigned female at birth. Hiltz has openly identified as transgender and nonbinary, opting for they/them gender pronouns, since 2021. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on July 2, 2024. Above an image of Hiltz…

Does a video on social media showing garbage scattered across Frankfurt's Old Town in Germany accurately attribute the trash to "the consequences of mass immigration"? No, that's not true: The claim on social media misled about the cause of the scene. In reality, the footage showed litter and debris left by soccer fans who arrived in the city to watch…

Is a photo showing hockey fans spelling out "FUCK TRUDEAU" with placards authentic? No, that's not true: The sign spelled out by fans at a Stanley Cup game actually read "BELIEVE," and was digitally edited. Two different publications posted the original photo with the sign reading "BELIEVE." An online news search did not yield any evidence of a sign with…

Is Israel out of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, as of June 24, 2024, as was claimed in a social media post? No, that's not true: As of this writing, Israel remains on the list of 206 national teams entered to compete. Lead Stories could find no evidence that would corroborate the claim that Israel was "out of the…

Did Team USA lose $60 million in endorsements after Caitlin Clark was not placed on the 2024 USA Basketball Women's Olympic Team? No, that's not true: the Indiana Fever WNBA player is indeed not on the team but the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee told Lead Stories that the claim about losing endorsements is "not true." A representative of…

Did the Union of European Football Associations force team captains to wear a pro-LGTBQ+ armband during the organization's Euro 2020 competition and was Cristiano Ronaldo the only one not to wear it? No, that's not true: Instances of armbands worn during Euro 2020 in support of the LBGTQ+ community were not an order from the governing body. The OneLove armband,…

Did the CIA issue a warning to U.S. citizens to avoid using the Paris Metro during the 2024 Summer Olympics? No, that's not true: No official statements or credible sources confirm such a warning as of June 18, 2024. Additionally, warnings and travel advisories are typically issued by the U.S. State Department, not the CIA. The claim appeared in a…

Did Caitlin Clark replace Brittney Griner on the Team USA women's Olympic basketball team due to rule-breaking by Griner? No, that is not true: The website the claim originated from is self-described as satirical and says on its "About Us" page that its content is "the freshest fake news." As of publication date, rookie sensation Clark had not been offered…

Did Universal Studios first introduce the concept of the world as a globe in 1927 before NASA had photographed it from space in the 1960s? No, that's not true on several counts: It did not take NASA's space program to discover that the Earth was round. Greek philosophers had already described the Earth as a sphere as early as the…

Under U.K. law, can people be fined £1,000 specifically for flying the flag of England, also known as St. George's Cross, on a vehicle? No, that's not true: The law only imposes fines for flags that violate specific regulations regarding size, location or how they are mounted. There is no law prohibiting the act of flying the English flag itself.…