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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● President Donald Trump will sign an Executive Order on Tuesday that will establish a White House Task Force on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Trump will head the unit, with members to be announced Tuesday, including Federal officials and possibly others. A priority will be the efficient processing of entry visas and credentialing of athletes, team and sports officials, media and others, as well as transportation.
A 7 March 2025 Executive Order established a White House Task Force on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with Trump as Chair and Vice President J.D. Vance as Vice Chair and operated out of the Department of Homeland Security. Only Federal officials were listed as members.
● Anti-Doping ● The World Anti-Doping Agency announced that Cameroon hads addressed its legal issues with the implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code and was reinstated as compliant. Per WADA:
“There are currently three non-compliant Code Signatories; namely, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation and the International Federation of Basque Pelota.”
● Transgender ● The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service announced Monday:
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is issuing guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual in alignment with Executive Order 14201, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, which directs the Department of Homeland Security to develop policies to prevent the entry of male athletes seeking to compete in women’s sports.
“USCIS will affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities by granting certain athlete-related petitions and applications, that had previously been abused and offered to men, only to women, ensuring that male aliens seeking immigration benefits aren’t coming to the U.S. to participate in women’s sports.”
The Executive Order, issued on 5 February, directed immigration officials to “shall issue guidance with an objective of preventing such entry” into the U.S.
● Aquatics ● Albeit with multiple assumptions about splits for relay swimmers, SwimSwam.com compiled the prize and bonus money winners from the swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore:
● $90,833: Summer McIntosh (CAN)
● $73,300: Leon Marchand (FRA)
● $70,000: Regan Smith (USA)
● $58,357: Kate Douglass (USA)
● $56,000: Gretchen Walsh (USA)
● $52,143: Haiyang Qin (CHN) and Katie Ledecky (USA)
Event prize money was $20,000-15,000-10,000-6,000-5,000-4,000-3,000-2,000 for the top eight places, plus a $30,000 bonus for world records. The U.S. won the most money overall with $563,000, followed by Australia with $352,500 and China with $272,000.
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Interesting note from The Associated Press interview story with U.S. Olympic icon and NBC swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines during the World Aquatics Championships. While the AP’s Stephen Wade reported from Singapore, he noted that he interviewed Gaines, who was in the U.S., announcing the meet remotely.
Gaines and Jason Knapp called the races on NBC’s Peacock streaming service; NBC itself programmed only two highlights shows, on Saturday (2 August) and this coming Saturday (9th), at 1 p.m. Eastern. Nicole Auerbach was in Singapore as the deck reporter.
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The lawsuit filed in 2018 by U.S. swimmer Tom Shields and Hungarian star Katinka Hosszu against (then-FINA) World Aquatics will apparently be settled, after a June mediation led to an agreement. According to a Front Office Sports report, the settlement will include some damages for the swimmers and an injunction to prevent the federation from competing in events not sanctioned by it.
World Aquatics adopted that stance years ago, but the suit has continued. A parallel suit by the now-in-suspension International Swimming League continues and is to be tried in January 2026.
● Athletics ● More from the men’s 200 m final at the USATF Nationals in Eugene, where Noah Lyles came from behind and won, 19.63 to 19.67, over 100 m winner Kenny Bednarek, in the top two times in the world in 2025.
Lyles looked over at Bednarek at the line, the two had words after and Bednarek shoved Lyles in the back. Bednarek spoke about the incident to reporters afterwards; Reuters reported:
“Noah’s going to be Noah. If he wants to stare me down, that’s fine.
“The summary is, don’t do that to me. I don’t do any of that stuff. It’s not good character right there. That’s pretty much it. At the end of the day, he won the race. I’ve got to give him props. He was the better man today.
“What he said didn’t matter, it’s just what he did. Unsportsmanlike [stuff], and I don’t deal with that. It’s a respect factor. He’s fresh. Last time we lined it up, I beat him [at Paris 2024], that’s all I can say. Next time we line up, I’m going to win. That’s all that matters.”
Lyles was also interviewed and said, “on coach’s orders,” he had no comment. He did say he needs more races and will be running in the Diamond League meets in Europe beginning in Poland on 16 July.
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For those wondering where breakout 800 m star Cooper Lutkenhaus came from, he’s a sophomore at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas, part of the Ft. Worth metro area.
Now 16 years and 229 days old, his progression is pretty impressive:
● 2023: 1:53.59 in middle school
● 2024: 1:47.58 as a freshman
● 2025: 1:42.27 as a sophomore, at the USATF Nationals
He’s now no. 18 all-time and lowered his best from 1:47.58 last season to 1:47.04 on 3 May to win the Texas 6A State title, 1:46.26 on 8 June for the U.S. high school record, 1:45.45 on 21 June and then his stunning stretch run to get his USATF second in a world U-18 record of 1:42.27. He’s also run a 46.30 400 m this season.
● Boxing ● The International Boxing Association confirmed that its future focus is outside of the Olympic world, with chief executive Chris Roberts (GBR) explaining that the “IBA Men’s Elite World Championships will feature an invitation of cross combination top amateur and professional athletes from around the world competing in high-stake bouts, the very first hybrid event of its kind.”
World Boxing has been confirmed as the recognized governing body for Olympic boxing and now has 118 member national federations.
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