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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games: China ● The China Media Group, which includes the state-run broadcaster CCTV, announced it has purchased media rights in China for the 2028 and 2032 Olympic Games and the 2026 and 2030 Olympic Winter Games.
No terms were announced, of course.
● Olympic Games 1996: Atlanta ● TSX correspondent Karen Rosen noted a report from the Atlanta Business Chronicle:
“A series of land transactions occurred in late October that will allow Fuqua Development to transform the former site of the Stone Mountain Tennis Center, a long-gone stadium built for the 1996 Summer Olympics, into a Costco-anchored development known as Mountain Marketplace.”
Most of the land for the $200 million project was purchased from Gwinnett County. The retail element will be anchored by Costco, with 248 apartments to be built on six acres on the site.
The Stone Mountain Tennis Center was built for the 1996 Games as a permanent site for tennis for $22 million and after the Games, had a 7,200-seat center court. It closed in 2007 and was transferred to Gwinnett County in 2016. It was then demolished in 2018.
● Freestyle Skiing ● Italian teen star Flora Tabanelli, who won the 2025 World Championship in women’s Big Air, was injured in a training fall last week and diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.
Still just 17, he still try for rehabilitating the knee rather than surgery in order to maximize her chances to compete in the 2026 Winter Games in Milan Cortina. She is the third Italian star skier to suffer substantial injury, after alpine stars Federica Brignone and Marta Bassino have also been sidelined.
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Badminton ● At the BWF World Tour Korea Open in Gwangju, top seed Jia Heng Jason Teh (SGP) downed Yudai Okimoto (JPN), 21-14, 21-15 in the men’s Singles and top-seeded Pin-Chian Chiu (TPE) defeated Thuy Linh Nguyen (VIE) in the women’s final, 21-16, 21-15.
South Korean won the men’s and Mixed Doubles finals, while Japan took the women’s Doubles.
● Curling ● The defending champions in what was the Grand Slam of Curling “National” made it to the finals once again in Lake Tahoe, Nevada for what appears to be the first time a Grand Slam event has been held outside of Canada! A stop in Las Vegas was scheduled in 2021, but was wiped out by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The women’s final came down to another battle between three-time World Champion Rachel Homan (CAN) – the defending champion here – and four-time World Champion Silvana Tirinzoni (SUI). The match was 2-2 after three ends and 3-3 after five, then Tirinzoni took a 4-3 lead in the sixth. But Homan’s rink upped their game and scored two in the seventh and two in the eighth for the win and a 7-4 final.
The men’s championship saw top-seed Bruce Mouat (SCO) – the defending champion – against no. 2 Matt Dunstone (CAN), the Masters champion from earlier in the season. Mouat’s rink got out to a 2-0 lead right away, but Dunstone tied it in the second end. Dunstone then scored in three more ends and had a 6-4 lead after eight. But Mouat found two in the eighth and a winner in the extra end for the 7-6 win and the trophy.
● Cycling ● At the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in Riyadh (KSA), French Olympic bronze winner Anthony Jeanjean won his first Worlds gold, taking the men’s BMX Freestyle final, scoring 94.44.
American Marcus Christopher was a close second at 94.02 and Australian Olympic champion – and defending World Champion – Logan Martin won the bronze at 91.68. American Justin Dowell finished sixth at 90.44.
Two-time Worlds silver medalist Sibei Sun (CHN) took her first Worlds gold, scoring 95.86, leading a Chinese sweep with Paris Olympian Jiaqi Sun (93.08) and Xiaotong Fan (92.10) finishing 2-3. Six-time World Champion Hannah Roberts of the U.S. was 10th at 67.66.
● Fencing ● The FIE World Cup season opened with event in Foil and Sabre. At the Foil World Cup in Palma de Mallorca (ESP), Czech Alexander Choupenitch defeated Gergo Szemes (HUN) in the men’s final, 15-10. A Russian “neutral” squad won the team title.
Martina Favaretto (ITA) won the women’s final over Yuka Ueno (JPN), 15-9 and Favaretto led the Italian team over the American entry of Emily Jing, Lee Kiefer, Jaelyn Liu and Lauren Scruggs in the team final, 45-32.
The Sabre World Cup was in Algiers (ALG) was the second career World Cup gold for 19-year-old American Colin Heathcock, winning by 15-12 over Fares Ferjani (TUN). France defeated Romania, 45-40, in the team final.
Korean Ha-young Jeon won the women’s tournament, defeating Sugar Katinka Battai (HUN), 15-12. Jeon led the Korean women to the team title, 45-39, over Battai and Hungary.
● Figure Skating ● The 46th edition of the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy was in Osaka (JPN), with Beijing 2022 silver medalist Yumi Kagiyama (JPN) winning the men’s title for the third straight year. He won the Short Program and was second in the Free Skate, edging Shun Sato, the 2024 Grand Prix Final bronzer, by 287.24 to 285.71. Well back in third was Lukas Britschgi (SUI: 246.94). Americans Andrew Torgashev and Jimmy Ma were 10th and 11th at 212.01 and 208.56.
Japan’s three-time World Champion Kaori Sakamoto was an easy winner in the women’s Singles, scoring 227.18 ahead of Sofia Samodelkina (KAZ: 200.00). Americans Sarah Everhardt (186.69) and Elyce Lin-Gracey (162.41) finished fifth and 10th.
Pairs came down to a win for two-time Worlds bronzers Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (ITA) in the Free Skate – despite a fall – passing Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN), 208.58 to 207.28. China’s Beijing 2022 champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han led after the Short Program, but were fourth in the Free Skate at 203.79.
Americans Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov (193.00) and Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe (187.40) finished fifth and sixth.
In the Ice Dance, Britain’s World Championships bronze winners, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson won both segments and won at 205.88, with Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (198.67) second and Americans Caroline Green and Michael Parsons (187.90) third. Two more American pairs placed 5-6: Katarina Wolfkostin and Dmitriy Tsarevski (182.85) and – in their return to competition – Maia and Alex Shibutani, the 2018 Olympic bronze winners and three-time Worlds medalists, scored 180.50 for sixth.
A video of Alex Shibutani strongly criticizing his sister last month was leaked to social media, and he apologized, saying “Unfortunately, I lost my temper in training and it shouldn’t have happened. I apologized to Maia right after our practice.”
● Football ● North Korea did it again at the FIFA women’s U-17 World Cup in Morocco, winning for the fourth time and defending their 2024 win by a 3-0 shutout of The Netherlands on Saturday in Rabat, with all of its goals in the first half.
North Korea has won this tournament in 2008, 2016, 2024 and 2025 and has won four of the nine times this event has been held. The Dutch won their first medal; Mexico won its second-ever medal with a 3-1 penalty shoot-out win in the bronze-medal game over Brazil, after a 1-1 tie in regulation.
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Group stage matches are continuing at the FIFA men’s U-17 World Cup in Qatar, with the U.S. advanced into the playoff round after winning their first two matches. They defeated Burkina Faso in the opener, 1-0 on a Cavan Sullivan goal in the 79th minute and then came from behind to win against Tajikistan, 2-1, on goals from Nimfasha Berchimas (30th) and Sullivan, who got the winner on a penalty in the 61st.
The final U.S. group game will be against the Czechs on the 11th.
● Gymnastics ● There are only two events for trampoline in the Olympic Games – one each for men and women – but American Ruben Padilla had a week to remember at the FIG Trampoline World Championships in Pamplona (ESP).
On Sunday, he won his first Worlds individual trampoline medal, a silver in the men’s Trampoline final, scoring 61.950 behind China’s Zisai Wang (63.470), the Olympic silver medalist from Paris. It was the first time since Stormy Eaton won silver at the 1974 championships that an American man had won an individual trampoline Worlds medal!
But Padilla had already been busy:
● On Friday, he teamed with Trevor Harder, Simon Smith and West Fowler to take the Double Mini Team title with 28 points to 22 for Australia.
● On Saturday, he won gold in the Double Mini final, at 31.300, with Fowler third at 28.800.
Still just 24, Padilla now has six Worlds golds in Double Mini, Double Mini Team and All-Around Team events, plus eight Worlds silvers and a two bronzes.
The U.S. won two other medals, with Fowler, Kaden Brown, Xavier Harper and Bailey Mensah winning silver in the men’s Tumbling team final, behind Azerbaijan, 26-22. The women’s Double Mini team of Aliah Raga, Kennedi Roberts, Grace Harder and Susan Gill won gold, scoring 26 points to 23 for defending champion Great Britain.
Overall, the U.S. won six medals (3-2-1) to tie for second with China (4-0-2) and Japan (1-3-2). “Neutral” athletes won 10 medals (4-5-1), of which three golds were won by Belarusians.
● Ice Hockey ● The World Champion U.S. women swept the first two Rivalry Series match-ups against arch-rival Canada, winning 4-1 in Cleveland, on Thursday and 6-1 on Saturday in Buffalo.
After a 1-1 tie through the first period of the opening game, the Americans got three goals in a row from Abbey Murphy for the 4-1 victory. The second match was scoreless through the first period, and the U.S. grabbed a 2-0 lead on scores by star Hilary Knight and Kelly Panek, then Canadian star Marie-Philip Poulin scored to cut the lead to 2-1.
The U.S. outscored Canada 4-0 in the third for the 6-1 win, this time with Knight getting the hat trick with two goals in the period.
The last two games in this series will be on 10 and 13 December, in Edmonton (CAN).
● Rowing ● The World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals was in Antalya (TUR) in 2025, with increased interest as the event will be on the Olympic program in Los Angeles for the first time in 2028.
American Christopher Bak was the men’s star once again, winning the men’s Solo final for the second straight time in 2:33.82 to 3:00.77 for Spain’s Ander Martin. Mathis Nottelet (FRA) took the bronze.
New Zealand’s Emma Twigg, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic winner in the women’s Single Sculls, won the women’s Solo final – at age 38 – in 2:42.70 over Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig (35), the Tokyo bronzer, who finished in 2:56.15. Britain’s Laura McKenzie won the bronze.
In the Open Division races, the U.S. won the Mixed Quadruple Sculls with Cox gold in 2:07.24 over Spain (2:10.32), and won silver in the Mixed Double Sculls with Bak and Sera Busse in 2:16.95, just behind Lithuania’s 2:16.71 with Dominykas Jancionis and Martyna Kazlauskaite.
Bak now has four gold, one silver, and one bronze in Beach Sprint Worlds, the most golds ever and equal with Tunisia’s Hela Mohmed for the most total medals.
● Shooting ● The second edition of the ISSF World Championships for rifle and pistol, separate from the shotgun events, is ongoing in Cairo (EGY), with final-round drama in both 10 m Air Rifle medal rounds.
The men’s 10 m Air Rifle final went to Maximilian Dallinger (GER), a three-time Worlds medalist at 50 m, in a tight 252.0 to 251.7. final-round battle with Swede Victor Lindgren, the Paris Olympic runner-up. China’s Paris Olympic gold medalist Lihao Sheng took the bronze at 229.9.
The women’s 10 m Air Rifle final was also tight, with Korea’s Paris Olympic champ Hyo-jin Ban holding on for a 255.0 to 254.0 victory with China’s 2024 World Junior winner Zifei Wang second. India’s Elavenil Valarivan took the bronze at 232.0.
On Sunday, China’s Sheng and Wang combined for the Mixed Team Air Rifle gold, 16-3, over a second Chinese team in Xinlu Peng and Honghao Wang.
In the men’s 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol, France’s Clement Bessaguet edged Anish Anish (IND), 31-28 in the final, winning his first Worlds gold after silvers in this event in 2022 and 2023.
In the non-Olympic men’s 50 m Pistol, South Korea won the team title, 1,648 to 1,646, over India. The women’s individual title went to 20-year-old Qianxun Yao, the 2022 World Junior Champion, as she and Nasir Nasirova (AZE) both set a world record of 550, but Yao won with more 10s.
● Table Tennis ● At the WTT Champions in Frankfurt (GER), Japan’s 18-year-old rising star Sora Matsushima won the men’s Singles with a dramatic 11-8, 15-13, 11-13, 18-16, 11-9 (4-1) win over Germany’s Dang Qiu.
The all-Japan women’s final was a tight win for Olympic bronzer Hina Hayata, who won over Miwa Harimoto, 11-4, 11-8, 4-11, 6-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9 (4-3).
● Taekwondo ● At the World Taekwondo World Cup Mixed Team Championship in Wuxi (CHN), fourth-seed Brazil defended its 2024 title and won for the third time overall, defeating South Korea in the final, 2-0. China won the bronze, 2-0, over top-seeded Uzbekistan.
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