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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Pan American Games: Lima 2027 ● Although left off the sports list for the XX Pan American Games announced in June, bowling and racquetball have been added back to the program for the 2027 Pan Ams. Per Panam Sports President Neven Ilic (CHI):
“At the request of many National Olympic Committees and because of what these sports represent on our continent, the Panam Sports Executive Committee, with the approval of the General Assembly, has decided to include bowling and racquetball in the Lima 2027 sports program. With this, there are now 38 sports that will be featured at our Games in the capital of Peru.”
Bowling was first held at the Pan American Games in 1991; racquetball was first included in 1995.
● World Games: Chengdu 2025 ● The XII World Games, for sports and events which are not on the Olympic program, opened on Thursday (7th) in Chengdu (CHN), in a 90-minute opening at the massive Tianfu Eaves lakeside plaza, adjacent to the Tianfu International Convention Centre.
About 4,000 athletes from a record 118 nations are attending, with the event opened with a flourish, as Chinese waterskiers Xu Lu and Alu Xiaobo glided across the lake behind powerboats and lit the World Games cauldron, stationed on top of the water! It concluded what was billed as the first-ever World Games torch relay, covering 13 days.
Competition has already begun and will continue through 17 August. Competitions are being held in 34 sports and 253 events, including the added LA28 Olympic sports of softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash. The largest teams are from China (321), Germany (220) and Australia (137). There are 36 Russian athletes, competing as “neutrals.”
● Athletics ● A Wednesday report from the German ARD channel and its anti-doping team explained the precarious situation of Russian whistleblowers Yuliya Stepanova and Vitaly Stepanov, whose courage was a key to exposing the Russian state-sponsored doping program in place from 2011-15.
She last competed for Russia in 2012, left the country in 2014 before the ARD documentary, based in part on her information and secret videos, aired in December of that year. They moved to Germany, where she competed in several meets in 2015 and 2016 and then to the U.S., where she competed beginning in 2017, on and off until finishing in 2021; her 800 m best was 1:58:14i in 2011.
Now, says Stepanov, “Unfortunately for us, 10 years down the road, the world moved on and we have no rights, no documents. We don’t have any understanding if we can ever live like normal people again.” Their asylum application has remained unfulfilled by the Obama, Trump I, Biden and, so far, Trump II administrations. The couple told ARD they have asked for help from the International Olympic Committee (which did help into 2022), the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Athletics, but with no action in their favor at present.
● Cycling ● The Union Cycliste Internationale is testing its GPS safety tracking system at next week’s Tour de Romandie Feminin (15-17 August):
“The objective of this test is to refine the UCI’s safety tracking software and establish protocols to provide real-time data to race control, medical teams and UCI Commissaires. This system will strengthen the monitoring of rider safety during races and enable rapid response in case of incidents.”
All riders will be issued a device for September’s UCI World Road Championships in Rwanda.
● Fencing ● Good news for collegiate women fencers, with all three NCAA divisions now agreeing to hold separate men’s and women’s NCAA fencing championships, beginning in 2026.
Until now, a single NCAA team title was awarded in fencing; there are nine women’s-only fencing programs in the NCAA that will now be able to effectively compete for a national championship. The move is expected to induce more interest in women’s fencing at NCAA institutions in the future.
● Football ● Spain’s run to the final of the UEFA Euro 2025 tournament, ending in a penalty shoot-out loss to England, vaulted the Spanish women to no. 1 in the latest FIFA women’s world ranking … barely.
Spain now has 2,066.76 points to 2,065.06 for the U.S., the 2024 Paris Olympic champions. Sweden is third at 2,025.26 and England is fourth (2,022.64).
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