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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Los Angeles ● This is nothing to do with the Olympic Games, but a lot to do with the importance of sports in communities.
Los Angeles is in a difficult period after the wildfires in January, continuing political storms pitting labor against business and the Democrat-dominated City Council and mayor against the Trump Administration, deep financial issues and a lot more, but Saturday’s Major League Baseball World Series win by the hometown Dodgers made things better, for a moment.
In the Los Angeles Times’ “Dodgers Dugout” newsletter (sign-up for free here) on Monday, Assistant Sports Editor Houston Mitchell wrote this:
“On Sunday, I went to my local Walgreens and there in an aisle was a man wearing a Dodgers jersey. I walked by and said ‘Go Dodgers.’ He said ‘Yes!’ and told me how he was able to go see Game 4 at Dodger Stadium. That he will be paying off the tickets for a while, but he now has a cherished memory with his son, even though the Dodgers lost that game. A man nearby overheard and walked over and started talking about the Dodgers. Then a woman overheard and chimed in. Then one of the employees. For about 20 minutes in the middle of a Walgreens in Glendora, about 10 Dodgers fans talked about how great Game 7 was.
“And it hit me. If you took a picture of us, we would look like we had nothing in common. An older white guy, the younger Latino with tattoos everywhere. The mom with two little kids. The middle-aged Black man wearing the Jackie Robinson jersey. The lady stocking the shelves. The Asian man who became a Dodgers fan because of [Shohei] Ohtani and couldn’t stop smiling. And more. It was a true melting pot.
“Sports is the great unifier. If we started talking about other things in life, we probably would disagree about things and wouldn’t spend two minutes together. But for 20 minutes, we were all the same. We were Dodgers fans basking in the glow of what our team did. How it brightened our week. There were high-fives and fist bumps all around when the little group broke up. We probably will never see each other again, but for a brief time we were a family. That’s what sports can do for people, and that’s what the Dodgers did for many more Saturday.”
● Olympic Games 1948: London ● The French National Olympic Committee passed on the sad news of the death of Charles Coste, at 101, who had been the oldest living Olympic gold medalist.
Coste was a member of France’s winning Team Pursuit squad in London in 1948 in his only Olympic appearance. He became a professional rider shortly after and competing until 1959, including three rides in the Giro d’Italia and two entries into the Tour de France.
He was honored as a torchbearer – in his wheelchair – in the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, passing the flame to the final torchbearers, Teddy Riner and Marie-Jose Perec.
● Athletics ● Following his 17th-place finish at the New York City Marathon, Kenyan marathon superstar Eliud Kipchoge finished his third marathon of the year, finishing sixth in London, ninth in Sydney and completed his first try in New York. He has now run all of the seven World Marathon Majors.
Kipchoge announced after the race he is starting the “Eliud Kipchoge World Tour,” with races on all seven continents. But was this his last marathon? LetsRun.com’s Jonathan Gault wrote on X:
“Kipchoge’s manager Valentijn Trouw [NED] told me Kipchoge still plans to compete in the elite fields in these races. But Kipchoge’s focus is not zeroed-in on running as fast as possible as it has been over the past two decades. He wants to promote the sport & interact more with fans.”
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Dutch star Femke Bol, the two-time women’s 400 m hurdles World Champion explained in an interview with European Athletics her new adventure in the 800 m. She said in part:
“The switch feels really, really nice, really exciting, also really scary. I’m still young [25]. I’m mentally, physically, feeling really fit, and it’s, it’s a really, really big challenge. That’s also why I want to do it while I still feel at my best.
“I also really feel ready for new impulse, new kind of training, new kind of racing, and that makes me really excited.
“I think after the Olympics, you start to re-evaluate everything. Look at the past years, look at the upcoming years. And it was a thought that came to my coach and me at the same time of also wanting to go to the 800 m.”
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The Athletics Integrity Unit continues its campaign against “whereabouts” failures and missed tests. Friday’s thread:
● “Following our focus on Missed Tests and Whereabouts Failures, let’s now clarify the serious difference between that violation and Evading Doping Control. We are looking closer at what this specific Anti-Doping Rule Violation means and why it carries such a severe consequence.”
● “Rule 2.3 of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules lays it out clearly: ‘An Athlete evading Sample Collection; or Refusing or Failing to submit to Sample Collection without compelling justification after notification by a duly authorised Person.’”
● “This isn’t about missed Whereabouts updates nor about a Missed Test when a Doping Control Officer can’t find an athlete during the daily 60-minute time slot for testing. This is about the moment an athlete is notified to test, and chooses not to comply.”
● “Three key forms of violation:
“– Evading the doping control officer after notification
“– Refusing to give a sample
“– Failing to provide a sample after being properly notified, without a valid reason”
● “These are serious violations. The standard sanction? Four years. Early admission may reduce that to three. But the principle is simple: Once an athlete is notified, testing is not optional.”
Now you know.
● Boxing ● USA Boxing continues to grow, with Membership Director Lynette Smith announcing in the federation’s “The Neutral Corner” newsletter that registrations for 2025 passed 67,500, another record for the organization.
From a pre-pandemic total of 50,631 in 2019, USA Boxing claimed a record 59,850 in 2023, then surpassed it at 65,712 for 2024 and now more than 67,500 for 2025, with the final total still to be published. That’s at least 33.3% growth since the pre-pandemic total in 2019, and climbing.
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