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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Reuters posted a lengthy story titled “No selfies, please: Dolomites push back against overtourism ahead of Winter Olympics,” which noted the flip side of the popularity of the scenic mountains where the Milan Cortina Games will be held next month. Of note:
“[S]ome local officials and environmental groups counter that the global spotlight risks accelerating a troubling trend: overtourism fuelled by Instagram and TikTok, driven both by individual users and promotional campaigns.
“They warn that once-quiet destinations such as the Seceda summit and Lake Sorapis have already been transformed into viral hotspots overwhelmed by visitors. …
“A 2023 Apple advert featuring Seceda’s dramatic ridgeline helped spark a wave of visitors. By summer 2025, images of long queues at the cable car station – with tourists holding smartphones and parasols instead of hiking gear – had gone viral.”
It has gotten to the point now where some guides have their guests sign “non-disclosure” agreements, allowing lots of photographs, but no mention of what they picture and where it is. No such limits for the Games.
● World Anti-Doping Agency ● In a New Year’s message for 2026, WADA President Witold Banka (POL) and Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI) noted the priorities for the year. Of special note:
● “Increase Compliance Monitoring Program: We will intensify our compliance monitoring program through increased resources and stronger monitoring tools, including audits, to ensure anti-doping organizations have quality, compliant anti-doping programs, while providing more transparency on compliance data.”
● “Strengthen the position on appeals: To ensure that disciplinary decisions are in line with the Code and fair for athletes, we will allocate additional funding to increase the number of appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
Among the other initiatives, WADA wants to build up its “Intelligence and Investigations” program, extending its reach into continental groups.
● World Olympians Association ● After a difficult stretch in its relationship with the International Olympic Committee, the WOA and IOC issued a joint statement this week, reflecting a new agreement between them signed in October 2025.
Their joint announcement noted that “The IOC continues to recognise the WOA, which remains an independent, non-profit association” and that “The IOC commits to complying with the terms of the Agreement and will provide WOA with support including communications and other related tools, information, and annual financial support. The financial support is to be determined on a rolling basis that shall be based on clear deliverables and key performance indicators.”
On the critical issue of management of the “OLY” post-nominal title, which has been a sticking point, the apparent compromise includes “WOA will continue to use and manage the OLY title,” but “The Agreement confirms that the IOC owns all intellectual property related to the Olympic Properties (including ‘OLY’ and the WOA Emblem).”
● Russia ● Russian Minister of Sport Mikhail Degtyarev expects positive movement on the reinstatement of the Russian Olympic Committee after the Winter Games in Italy, saying in an interview:
“The status of Russia’s participants is currently neutral because the Russian Olympic Committee hasn’t been reinstated. This is a major legal process, and we expect a positive decision from the IOC in the coming months. I think it will happen after the Olympics, which start in early February. All governing bodies usually meet there. We won’t speculate on the outcome yet, because the decision is no longer up to us. We’ve completed all the legal procedures.
“What’s the difference between [ex-President Thomas] Bach and [President] Kirsty Coventry? The former IOC President brushed Russia off; I witnessed several months of his presidency – it was simply disgraceful. But I like Kirsty Coventry’s approach. Firstly, the public rhetoric, and secondly, the actions. Our request was immediately put into action.”
The Russian news agency TASS explained that “[i]n October 2023, the IOC suspended the ROC until further notice due to the incorporation of the Olympic Councils of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions” and Russia still controls those areas as part of its invasion of Ukraine.
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A recommendation of the Latvian National Olympic Committee to avoid interactions or picture-taking with Russian “neutrals” at the Milan Cortina Winter Games has inflamed Russian politician Dmitry Svishchev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports. He told TASS:
“The recommendations of the Latvian NOC are not just a blatant case of discrimination; they are a deliberate undermining of the very foundations of the Olympic movement, whose spirit has always been equality, fair competition, and unity beyond politics. Urging athletes to avoid contact, shared photographs, and even communication with their colleagues from Russia and Belarus is not protocol; it is the ideology of sporting apartheid.
“Such actions grossly violate the principles of the Olympic Charter, which prohibit any form of discrimination, and turn athletes into hostages of political hysteria. I do not intend to leave this unanswered; I am preparing an appeal to the [European Court of Human Rights] to protect the interests of Russian athletes whose rights have been grossly violated by these recommendations.
“We will also submit official inquiries to the International Olympic Committee demanding a legal assessment of these scandalous instructions and take action against those who are attempting to turn sports venues into arenas for political provocations.”
He needs to hurry; the Winter Games in Milan Cortina open on 6 February.
● Football ● FIFA told Dallas television station WFAA that reports of fans “cancelling” tickets for the 2026 FIFA World Cup were false. The station reported:
“FIFA said that these claims are not only inaccurate reports with no substance, but doubled down saying that ticket application statistics set to be released Wednesday will further prove the opposite. The Random Selection Draw closed on Tuesday, and FIFA reported 500 million ticket requests were submitted in the 33-day window, marking a 15 million per day average.”
● Ski Jumping ● The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) Ethics Committee announced Thursday that three Norwegian team staff members were sanctioned in the 2025 suit-manipulation scandal, with bans for 18 months from 8 January 2026, but with allowance for time already ineligible, from 12 March 2025. So, in essence, head coach Magnus Brevik, assistant coach Thomas Lobben, and service staff member Adrian Livelten are suspended for another nine months.
Each is also required to CHF 5,000 for FIS’s costs in the investigation and proceedings.
The three were investigated “for their roles in the alleged manipulation of the Ski Jumping suits worn by athletes Andre Forfang and Marius Lindvik at the Men’s Large Hill event” at the 2025 World Nordic Championships in Trondheim. Norway. A separate settlement was already made with Forfang and Lindvik.
● Swimming ● The 2026 Tyr Pro Swim Series opened in Austin, Texas on Wednesday with a new format that injects semifinals into the 50 m events and the 200 m Medleys, but which once again started with a brilliant swim by Katie Ledecky.
At 28, she showed once again that she’s hardly slowing down, as she won the women’s 1,500 m in a startling 15:23.21, the second-fastest time in history! Only her 15:20.48 world record from May 2018 is faster. She has the top 12 performances in history and three of the top six have come in 2025 or 2026.
This was not Ledecky’s first January shocker. She set the women’s 800 m world mark of 8:06.68 in Austin on 15 January 2016 when the meet was known as the USA Grand Prix. That is still the seventh-fastest swim in history in that event!
Elsewhere, Olympic champions Leon Marchand (FRA) and Canadian Summer McIntosh won the semifinals in the 200 Medleys and Olympic silver winner Regan Smith of the U.S. won the women’s 100 m Back easily in 57.98.
Olympic men’s 1,500 m champ Bobby Finke of the U.S. won that event in 15:01.70 over a strong field that included 2024 World Champion Daniel Whiffen (IRL: 15:04.98).
The meet continues through Saturday.
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SwimSwam.com published a draft of the USA Swimming Board of Directors minutes from 8 December 2025, which showed an initially-expected fiscal-year surplus had turned into a deficit:
“2025 year-to-date operating revenues were $33,325,901 with corresponding operating expenses of ($27,066,149), for a year-to-date excess of $6,259,752. The current projected forecast for fiscal year end is total operating revenues of $37,235,560 and operating expenses of $38,302,520, and we thus anticipate an operating deficit of ($1,066,960) compared to the budgeted operating surplus of $99,532.”
The detail showed “Operating revenues projected less than the original budget (net) by an estimated ($2,514,291) or (6.3%)” primarily from less-than-budgeted sponsorship revenue (by $1.81 million) and membership revenue (by $941,685).
Expenses were also down, “projected less than the original budget (net) by an estimated $1,347,799 or 3.4%” but there was an unanticipated cost of $574,997 due to an “antitrust lawsuit,” no doubt the suit filed by the Enhanced Games, and eventually dismissed by the Federal trial judge.
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Retired French swim star Yannick Agnel, the men’s 200 m Freestyle and 4×100 m Freestyle relay gold medalist at London 2012, will be tried for statutory rape and sexual assault with the 13-year-old daughter of his then-coach back in 2016, when Agnel was 24.
A French law passed in 2021 classifies sex with a child under the age of 15 as rape. Agnel, now 33, was arrested in 2021, but has said that the interaction was not coerced. He can appeal the decision to prosecute within 10 days.
● Volleyball ● The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour is going away. The highest-level tour in the sport is being revamped as the “FIVB Beach World Series,” beginning in November 2026.
The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) announced that the new circuit will comprise 10 tournaments during its season, with Dubai Sports Council signing an agreement on Thursday that will place the “opening destination” there for the first five years.
This is a slight contraction from the 2025 schedule, with 12 “Elite 16″ stops, the highest-level tournament, also featuring “Challenge” and “Futures” events. Ten “Elite 16″ tournaments, plus a World Tour Finals were held in 2024.
● Water Polo ● The U.S. women’s national team defeated 2025 World Championships runner-up Hungary in Szolnok (HUN) by 12-11 by winning the penalty shootout. The U.S. had a 7-6 lead at the half, but the game was 8-8 after regulation time.
But the U.S. got the win, 4-3, in the shoot-out thanks to a Emily Ausmus score; Ausmus was one of five Americans to get two goals.
A second match against the Hungarians comes on Saturday, this time in Budapest.
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