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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● Sportico.com reported that the financial and marketing software giant Intuit has become a sponsor of the LA28 organizing committee and as such, will have the “Intuit Dome” name retained instead of the “Inglewood Dome” reference for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
LA28 had indicated it was primarily interested in selling naming rights for venues for its temporary sites, but Intuit’s sponsorship also forecloses any other company even trying to obtain visibility at its named arena, which will host basketball.
● Olympic Winter Games 2030 ● World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) continues to hammer away at getting cross country into the Winter Games. He told The Associated Press on Saturday:
“The new president [Kirsty Coventry/ZIM] is clear they want to put everything on the table at the moment. It’s a very different atmosphere. It’s very much how can we improve together rather than we’ll tell you how to do it. She’s blown some oxygen into the organization.”
Coe notes that adding cross country would allow more African participation in the Winter Games, which is currently minimal. A change in the Olympic Charter would be needed as the current rules limit Winter Games sports to those held on snow or ice.
● Youth Olympic Games 2026: Dakar ● A young lion named “Ayo” – meaning “joy” – is the mascot of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar (SEN), announced Friday, in ceremonies marking one year to go.
● International Olympic Committee ● On the sidelines of the International Federation Forum in Lausanne (SUI) last week, the IOC held a consultation session with IF senior officials on Thursday.
An overview of the meeting noted five primary elements: (1) Athletes, (2) the Olympic Games, (3) Reach, Engagement and Revenue Generation, (4) the Olympic Movement, and (5) A Better World, with IOC chief Coventry introducing and closing the seminar. Some interesting details included:
“The Olympic Games topic focused on making events more dynamic, the integration between the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as making International Federations more involved in the delivery of the Games to support athletes and utilise them as expert delivery partners.
“Ties look to be strengthened in engagement between the IOC and International Federations too with a pooled rights model to be explored between them, while collaboration is to be encouraged between IFs and Olympic partners.
“It is expected that shared codes will be created to professionalise governance across the IFs and their Member Federations. Increasing sustainability efforts remains a priority, while there is discussion of reforming the revenue distribution model.”
The IFs have been calling for some time for closer collaboration with the IOC to help make their non-Olympic-year events – especially – more meaningful and valuable. It appears the IOC under Coventry is willing to listen, notably the fascinating mention of a “pooled rights model.”
● Anti-Doping ● The World Anti-Doping Agency listed the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) on its “watchlist” for non-compliance. No sanctions are attached at this stage, with fourth months given for ADAK to implement a corrective plan, by 2 March 2026.
The specific problems were not disclosed, only the “failure to address several critical requirements following an audit carried out by WADA in May 2024.” Kenya has well-documented doping issues, especially in track & field, where it has more than 100 ineligible persons on the Athletics Integrity Unit’s suspension list.
● Indonesia ● Following its meeting last week in Lausanne, the Indonesian Olympic Committee portrayed its meeting with the International Olympic Committee as “positive,” following the Indonesian government’s refusal to allow Israeli athletes to enter the country to compete at the 2025 FIG World Artistic Championships.
Asked for its own statement, the International Olympic Committee press office replied:
“The IOC administration had a fruitful meeting with the NOC of Indonesia on 28 October 2025 to discuss the outcomes of the IOC Executive Board decision and discuss the next steps expected of the Indonesian Government in this regard.”
It did not specify what those steps are; the IOC Executive Board is expected to take up the issue at its December meeting.
● Athletics ● Pete Rea, the head coach of ZAP Endurance running group in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, wrote this as part of a featured story on Road Race Management’s RRM.com:
“In 2024 there were 27 domestic U.S. track and field meets in total (indoor and out) that offered any measure of prize purses for top finishers, and unlike road races where physical space in the competition “arena” is less limited, entry to these track & field meets is extremely selective with only 12-16 competitors often allowed per event.”
Rea offered no further details, but his story further noted the continuing reduction in road-racing prizes as well:
“In the last 20 years prize money available to top runners has been dwindling. While World Marathon Majors (7 in total now) and a handful of select races globally at shorter distances, continue to have deep pockets and resources for the best in the world, total prize money on the global road running circuit has fallen by more than 35% since 1988 according to a 2022 industry study by French Sport publication L’Equipe, with many races reducing prize money or eliminating it entirely over the last two decades.”
Not a pretty picture, with Rea observing that future running stars will need to be more inventive in their own marketing to make a living at the sport.
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Following his 17th-place finish at the New York City Marathon on Sunday, Kenyan superstar marathoner Eliud Kipchoge said he’s on to a new goal, reported as the “Eliud Kipchoge World Tour”:
“The tour will see the double Olympic marathon champion run races across all seven continents with the sole purpose of ‘uniting the world through running’. He will complete seven marathons across the continents in the next two years.”
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Baylor University reported that legendary Baylor track coach Clyde Hart passed away on Saturday at age 91 in Waco, Texas, after a long fight with cancer.
Hart came to Baylor in 1963 and continued as head coach and later director of track & field until his retirement in 2019. He coached the iconic Michael Johnson, and Olympic champions Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards-Ross and was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001.
● Bobsled & Skeleton ● USA Bobsled & Skeleton held its Skeleton Selection Races on Friday and Saturday, with Sara Roderick winning the first two-race set and Kendall Wesenberg winning the second set. Austin Florian won the first men’s race set and Dan Barefoot won the second.
Based on this, the federation named its IBSF World Cup team for the first half of the 2025-26 season, with Florian, Barefoot and Nick Tucker for the men, and Roderick, Wesenberg and Kelly Curtis joining Worlds silver winner Mystique Ro.
Not named was five-time Olympian Katie Uhlaender (2006-10-14-18-22), who was third in the first selection race and disqualified in the second. She is likely now to compete in the North American Cup and/or Europe Cup series and try to work back onto the World Cup team and possibly an Olympic berth for Milan Cortina.
● Football ● The Turkish Football Federation has imposed suspensions on 149 referees and assistant referees of eight to 12 months, who were involved in betting on football matches.
An investigation showed that 371 match officials (out of 571 total) had betting accounts and 152 were “actively gambling.”
Federation chief Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu told CNN on Friday, “There is a moral crisis in Turkish football. There is no such thing as structure. The fundamental problem at the core of Turkish football is an ethical one.”
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Archery ● The World Archery Indoor World Series began with the Swiss Open in Lausanne, with the home team scoring a win in the men’s Recurve final, as Keziah Chabin defeated Israel’s Roy Dror, 6-4. Czech Marie Horackova, the 2023 World Champion, won the women’s Recurve gold, over Italy’s Lucilla Boari, 6-2.
The Compound wins went to Britain’s Ajay Scott and Francesca Aloisi (ITA).
● Athletics ● At the NYC “Abbott Dash to the Finish Line” 5 km race on Saturday morning, former NCAA Division III 5,000 m champ Annie Rodenfels won the pre-New York City Marathon 5k for the third time in a row. She rolled past Weini Kelati, Ellie St. Pierre and Parker Valby in the final 400 m to win in 15:33 to 15:34-15:35-15:37.
The strong performances were noteworthy for St. Pierre – back from maternity – and Valby, finally competing again after a broken bone in her left foot.
The men’s winner was Kenyan Amon Kemboi in another sprint finish, in 13:50, just ahead of Americans Cole Sprout (13:51) and Anthony Rotich (13:52) and Briton Adam Fogg (13:53).
● Badminton ● At the BWF World Tour Hylo Open in Saarbrucken (GER), the Singles finals pitted Denmark and Indonesia in both! Second-seed Jonatan Christie (INA) won the men’s title by 21-14, 21-14 over Magnus Johannesen (DEN), but Mia Blichfeldt (DEN) managed a 21-11, 7-21, 21-12 win over Indonesia’s top-seeded Putri Kusama Wardani.
Denmark won a second title in the Mixed Doubles; Chinese Taipei and France won the men’s and women’s Doubles.
● Figure Skating ● World Champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S. won his second straight ISU Grand Prix Skate Canada Internationale title, this time in Saskatoon, piling up 333.81 points, the second-highest score in history!
Malinin led the Short Program at 104.84, then won the Free Skate at 228.97, the best ever, surpassing his own total of 227.79 from the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts. His program included six quadruple jumps, including a quad Flip, quad Lutz, quad Loop, another quad Lutz, quad Toeloop and quad Salchow. He did not include his patented quad Axel, which only he has done in competition; he did include two triple Axels. Wow.
Well back in second was 2024 European runner-up Aleksandr Selevko (EST: 257.21); American Tomoki Hiwatashi was ninth at 230.58.
Worlds bronze winner Mona Chiba (JPN) won the women’s Singles, scoring 217.23 to edge 2023 Worlds runner-up Isabeau Levito of the U.S. (209.77), with 2021 U.S. champ Bradie Tennell fourth at 195.07 and Sarah Everhardt seventh at 174.59. It’s Chiba’s first Grand Prix win.
Canadian stars Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps won Pairs for the third straight year, scoring 213.40 and winning both segments. Germans Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin scored 207.18 for second and Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea were third at 199.11.
Four-time Worlds medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirer (CAN) won in Ice Dance for the sixth straight time at Skate Canada, scoring 202.89. Lithuania’s Alison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius finished second (200.92) and Americans Christina Carrera and Anthony Ponomarenko got fourth (191.23). Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville and Leah Neset and Artem Markelov were 9-10 at 166.32 and 165.19.
● Football ● In the quarterfinals of the FIFA women’s U-17 World Cup in Morocco, defending champion North Korea advanced to the semifinals for the fifth time with a decisive 5-1 win over Japan on Saturday. Brazil will be its opponent on 5 November in Rabat, edging Canada on penalties, 5-4, after a 0-0 tie in regulation time.
On Sunday, the Netherlands advanced with a second straight 7-6 penalties win, this time over France, after a 2-2 tie in regulation. Mexico and Italy also went to penalties after a 0-0 draw in regulation, with Mexico moving on with a 5-4 decision.
● Table Tennis ● Paris Olympic silver medalist Truls Moregard scored his first World Table Tennis “WTT Champions” win of 2025 in Montpellier (FRA) on Sunday, defeating Sora Matsushima (JPN) in the men’s final, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9. Moregard also won the Europe Smash earlier in the year to confirm his star status.
The women’s final saw Yidi Wang (CHN), the 2021 Worlds bronzer, won her second WTT Champions title of 2025, finally overcoming German Sabine Winter in seven sets: 8-11, 10-12, 11-5., 11-4, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9.
The sixth and final WTT Champions for 2025 will be in Frankfurt (GER) this week.
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