MILAN — Russian figure skater Petr Gumennik has been forced to change his short program music two days before the men’s program at the Milan Cortina Olympics after joining a growing list of figure skaters dealing with copyright issues.

Gumennik, who is participating as a neutral athlete at the Winter Games, had been working all season to music from “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” a psychological thriller film. But the 23-year-old Russian national champion learned in the past few days that he did not have proper permission to perform to the music, leaving him in limbo as the Winter Games began.

Given such a tight timeframe, Gumennik was unable to get clearance for his music from last season, which came from the space opera film “Dune.” So he pivoted to “Waltz 1805” by Edgar Hakobyan, for which Gumennik was able to get permission.

The men’s competition begins Tuesday night with the short program.

This past week, Spanish skater Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate was forced to work feverishly to obtain approval for music to his short program, set to a medley from the animated comedy film “Minions.” Sabate had been performing the fan-favorite program all season, only to learn that Universal Studios was poised to reject the use of it during the Winter Games.

Sabate began to work on a backup program while getting approval for two cuts of music. He obtained the third by reaching out to the artist, a fellow Spaniard. And he was granted use of the final piece, “Freedom” by Pharrell Williams, on Friday.

“It hasn’t been an easy process,” Sabate said, “but the support of everyone who has followed my case has been key to keeping me motivated and optimistic these past few days.”

Loena Hendrickx of Belgium also was concerned about copyright issues after performing to “Ashes” by Celine Dion from the film “Deadpool 2.” She ended up switching to “I Surrender,” another song by Dion that was easy to get permission to use.

The copyright issue has become a big problem in figure skating in recent years. For decades, athletes could use music without words only, most of which was considered public domain. But when the International Skating Union relaxed its rules in 2014 and skaters began to use more modern music, some artists began to object to their work being used without permission.

The ISU has tried to develop systems to avoid copyright issues, but they continue to pop up with alarming frequency.

“It is a very, very, very serious problem,” ISU president Jae Youl Kim said. “We don’t want athletes to be worried about the music.”

What may have worked against Gumennik is that Russian skaters have been barred from international competition since their nation’s invasion of Ukraine, so few people have been able to see him skate — and hear his music — outside of his own country.

In May, the ISU announced that Gumennik had been vetted for any ties to the Kremlin and cleared to compete as a neutral athlete should he qualify for the Winter Games. Gumennik won Skate to Milan, an event held in late September as a sort of last-chance qualifier, to earn a spot in his first Olympics.

Gumennik’s free skate music is from “Onegin,” a Russian historical romance film, for which he has approval.

Adeliia Petrosian, another Russian competing as a neutral athlete, will participate in the women’s event in Milan. She has not reported any issues with her music, a Michael Jackson medley for her short program and classical music for her free skate.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Houston Rockets star center Alperen Sengun expressed remorse for repeatedly calling a female referee “a b—-” earlier this week, saying that he apologized immediately after the game.

The incident, which resulted in Sengun’s ejection in Wednesday’s 114-93 loss to the Boston Celtics, went viral online in the following days, with enhanced audio making his insult to Jenna Reneau clear.

“That was immature by me,” Sengun said, addressing the incident publicly for the first time after the Rockets’ 112-106 road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. “That was just in the moment, and I said some stuff I shouldn’t say, but I felt bad about it.”

Sengun was ejected after protesting a non-call on his drive to the basket midway through the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics. Houston trailed by 25 points at the time, and Sengun acknowledged that he took out his frustrations on Reneau, who is in her first season as an NBA staff official.

Sengun, who had his second triple-double of the season Saturday with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the win over the Thunder, said he went to the officials’ locker room immediately after the loss Wednesday to apologize to Reneau.

“Sometimes, you can’t control yourself, but I should have known better,” Sengun said. “But I fixed it, and then I went to the locker room and I apologized. I shake [her] hand and said that would never happen again. It just happened in the heat of the moment. Then, she understood, and it was good on both ends.”

First baseman Paul Goldschmidt and the New York Yankees are finalizing a one-year contract, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Friday, reuniting the two sides after one season together.

Goldschmidt, 38, is expected to back up Ben Rice at first base and primarily start games against left-handed pitchers. The seven-time All-Star finished .274/.328/.403 in 146 games last season with drastic splits, posting a .981 OPS in 168 plate appearances against lefties and a .619 OPS in 366 plate appearances against righties.

Goldschmidt would be the sixth player the Yankees have re-signed from last season’s team, joining Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, Amed Rosario, Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn. New York has yet to sign a free agent from another club to a major league contract. Other moves include acquiring left-hander Ryan Weathers and selecting right-hander Cade Winquest in the Rule 5 draft.

Goldschmidt began 2025 as the Yankees’ everyday first baseman after signing a one-year, $12 million deal to be part of the recovery plan after the team lost Juan Soto to the Mets.

By midseason, however, he was in a platoon role in the second half, with Rice establishing himself in his second season and getting the starts against right-handed pitchers.

Goldschmidt finished the season with a 169 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) against lefties, good for fourth in the majors. But his 74 wRC+ against righties was tied for 148th among 155 players. Seven of his 10 homers came against lefties.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone and players constantly praised Goldschmidt for his professionalism, leadership and clubhouse presence. Goldschmidt, a six-time top-10 MVP finisher with the St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks, worked with Rice at first base, offering the younger teammate tips to improve at a position he had barely played before his rookie season in 2024.

The Yankees entered the postseason with the timeshare at first base, but Goldschmidt was moved to a reserve role after Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Boston Red Sox. He came off the bench in four of the next five games and didn’t start again until Game 4 of the ALDS, when the Yankees were eliminated in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Goldschmidt, the 2022 National League MVP, arrived in New York after recording career lows in batting average (.245), on-base percentage (.302), slugging percentage (.414) and OPS (.716) with the Cardinals in 2024.

His first year in the Bronx was good enough for the Yankees to bring him back in a reduced role for his 16th major league season.

As it stands, the Yankees have five choices for four bench spots with spring training less than a week away: Goldschmidt, catcher J.C. Escarra, outfielder Jasson Dominguez, and utilitymen Rosario and Oswaldo Cabrera.