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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● International Ice Hockey Federation chief Luc Tardif (FRA) clarified the situation regarding Russian and Belarusian teams in the Milan Cortina Winter Games and the IIHF’s own World Championship, at a news conference on 25 May:
“The IIHF World Championship is our event, and we met this past February to discuss Switzerland in 2026. We agreed at that time that Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to play.
“We will meet next February to discuss this again for 2027. We need this lead time because of the promotion-relegation system of our events, as well as ordering the groups and creating a game schedule, which is something we start to work on right after the World Championship is over. And right after that, we have to start ticket sales.”
“As for the Olympics, the [International Olympic Committee] organizes that event. The IIHF is responsible for the competition itself. You certainly understand that eight months before the Olympic Games it’s important for IIHF, [organizing committee] and the participants to figure out which teams are playing, what groups look like, and what will be the games schedule.
“To anticipate, IIHF Sport Department drew up one schedule that included Russia and one that didn’t. In the beginning of May, the IOC send us a request to confirm the final groups and the game schedule following IOC Executive Board of March 2023 recommendation, meaning without Russian participation. There should be an official announcement at one point. In the meantime, the information went from the IOC to the Russian Olympic Committee announcing that they will not participate in the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.”
● Russia ● The Russian Anti-Doping Agency reported 14 possible doping violations during the month of May alone, with the total for 2025 now at 38.
Just two were reported in January, five in February, eight in March, nine in April and now 14 in May alone. RUSADA reported 102 violations in 2024, down from 150 in 2023.
By contrast, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has imposed 16 sanctions and two public warnings through the end of May 2025. It imposed 35 sanctions in all of 2024, plus two public warnings; there were also four findings of no fault or negligence.
● Athletics ● FanDuel removed a bettor from its site who boasted online that he harassed Olympic women’s 200 m champion Gabby Thomas at the Grand Slam Track stop in Philadelphia and won a bet.
The boast on X was from “Mr 100k a day” with a location of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In a statement to ESPN:
“FanDuel condemns in the strongest terms abusive behavior directed towards athletes.
“Threatening or harassing athletes is unacceptable and has no place in sports. This customer is no longer able to wager with FanDuel.”
Grand Slam Track said in a statement to Front Office Sports:
“Grand Slam Track is conducting a full investigation into the reprehensible behavior captured on video.
“We are working to identify the individual involved and will take appropriate action as necessary. We will implement additional safeguards to help prevent incidents like this in the future. Let us be clear, despicable behavior like this will not be tolerated.”
¶
Crazy disqualification at the CIF State Track & Field Championships in Clovis, as Clara Adams of North Salinas High won the girls 400 m in 53.49, then took a small fire extinguisher from her father and “extinguished” her shoes.
The gimmick echoed a famous similar incident in the final event of The Home Depot Invitational in 2004 at what was then known as The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. American Maurice Greene, the 2000 Olympic men’s 100 m champ, won his race – to close the meet – in a wind-aided 9.86 (+4.6 m/s), a time so “hot” that his training teammate, hurdler Larry Wade, ran onto the track with a small extinguisher to “put out” Greene’s shoes.
(Editor’s note: I was the meet director for that event and was not involved in the stunt, but as long as it didn’t mess up the track – no harm was done – it was a great way to bring more attention to sport, especially in a nationally-televised meet, and as it was in the final event of the day, there was no interference with the rest of the meet. And, amazingly, the memory lives on.)
Adams wasn’t so lucky, and was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct by the State meet officials. Madison Mosby of St. Mary’s is now shown as the winner, in 53.52.
David Adams, Clara’s father, said. “That was our moment of celebration, and CIF officials made it about them. The crowd went crazy, they loved it, the CIF booth went crazy, they loved it. But those few guys in those jackets took offense to it, didn’t like it, and made a decision based off emotions.”
● Cricket ● Devastating incident in Bengaluru (IND), as The Associated Press reported Wednesday:
“At least 11 people are dead and more than 30 injured after a stampede on Wednesday as crowds tried to enter a cricket stadium in southern India’s Karnataka state, authorities said.
“The crush happened as tens of thousands of cricket fans gathered outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru city to celebrate the winners of the Indian Premier League, the world’s most popular T20 cricket tournament.”
The Karnataka state minister said that the size of the crowd was unexpected, and that a part of the crowd tries to break down a gate and get in for the victory celebration.
Cricket T20 will be a medal event at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
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