Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova is generally considered to be the top-earning female athlete in the world for the past decade, but she likely won’t be making any money on the court for the next year or two. She has been banned for failing a drug test, but an International Tennis Federation tribunal has said she didn’t intentionally cheat. Sharapova and Max Eisenbud, her agent, claim they didn’t know the drug she tested positive for, meldonium which is also known by its brand name of Mildronate, was on the banned substance list. However, there are those who feel the drug shouldn’t be on the banned list since it can remain in a person’s system for quite some time and it doesn’t really enhance and athlete’s performance.

Even though there was no chance of a Triple Crown winner this year, the 148th running of the Belmont Stakes was quite dramatic as Creator managed to win it at the wire by a nose. The horse, which was run by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. poured it on down the stretch and edged out Destin at the finish line to take home the $1.5 million in prize money. Lani came in third while the favourite, Exaggerator, who had won the Preakness three weeks ago, came in a disappointing 11th in the field of 13 horses 14 lengths behind Creator. The winner’s trainer Steve Asmussen, was thrilled with the victory and told media after the race, “Today was perfect for us by inches.”

In a move that has been panned by most people, professional boxers will be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games starting this August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as long as they qualify. The announcement was left a little late since it came down in early June and the Games are set to begin in just over two month’s time. The AIBA, which is the worldwide governing body for amateur boxing, announced the decision and the organization’s president CK Wu said it was agreed to by a wide vote. However, most professional boxing organizations and current and former boxers feel it’s a dangerous move since relatively inexperienced amateurs could be involved in mismatches against established pros.

A U.S. district judge dealt a blow to the country’s National Women’s Soccer Team on June 3rd by ruling that it isn’t allowed to go on strike over the issue of pay. The judge said the union that represents the squad signed a no-strike agreement back in March of 2013 even though the last labor contract officially expired in 2012. However, the two sides agreed to a memorandum of understanding which in effect extended the last collective bargaining agreement until the end of the year.

Richard Nichols, the executive director of the team’s union, said last year that he didn’t believe the agreement was valid when it came to securing equal playing conditions and wages with the National Men’s Team. He added that if a new collective bargaining agreement wasn’t put in place by February 24th, 2016 then the women wouldn’t be bound legally to the no-strike clause of the previous agreement. It’s believed that Nichols hoped to lead the team on strike before the 2016 Summer Olympics got underway in August in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.