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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The Los Angeles City Council approved, by 13-0, the “framework plan” of the Department of Cultural Affairs for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Cultural Affairs plan offered programming at three levels, depending on funding: $15 million from available department funding, an enhanced level of $30 million and a top level of $40 million, if funding is available. That fund-raising effort can start now.
This is not the cultural program to be offered by the LA28 organizing committee, which is yet to be unveiled.
In a not-unrelated announcement, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles was named on Tuesday (20th) as the “Casa Mexico Los Angeles 2026″ for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, although Mexico is unlikely to play any of its matches (maybe one in playoff rounds) in the L.A. area. The venue will offer live broadcasts of Mexican and other games, music, visual arts and cultural performances during the tournament from 11 June to 19 July.
● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● Australian Minister for the Environment and Water Murray Watt has received five applications – with one withdrawn – asking him to stop development of the Olympic Stadium in Victoria Park on Aboriginal heritage grounds.
He rejected one last week, but appointed an independent mediator to work through concerns about heritage issues on the site:
“The purpose of the dedicated facilitator will be to avoid harm to cultural heritage and inform any future decisions relating to the specified areas.
“This decision follows consultation with interested parties and acknowledges the area is of particular significance to the Turrbal and Yagara people in accordance with their traditions.”
Work on the site is expected to begin in the middle of the year.
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● U.S. Ski & Snowboard named an enormous, 97-member team for Milan Cortina, including 73 skiers and 24 from Snowboard, expected to contend for medals across multiple disciplines.
The team includes 48 first-time Olympians and 49 veterans, and a bevy of Olympic champions, including alpine skiers Mikaela Shiffrin (fourth Olympic team) and Lindsey Vonn (fifth), cross-country skier Jessie Diggins (fourth), Freestyle Team Aerials champion Chris Lillis (second), Freestyle Slopestyle winner Alex Hall (third), Snowboard Halfpipe star Chloe Kim (third), Slopestyle champ Red Gerard (third) and Mixed SnowCross winner Nick Baumgartner (fifth).
Baumgartner, at 44, is the oldest of the group; the youngest is Freestyle Halfpiper Abby Winterberger at 15! There are 47 men and 50 women on the squad.
USSS noted in its announcement: “At the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, U.S. Ski & Snowboard accounted for more than 40% of Team USA’s delegation and brought home 15 of the 25 total Olympic medals won.”
The full American team is expected to be announced on 26 January.
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The Associated Press reported that the International Skating Union’s rules for “neutral” athletes from Russia and Belarus no longer include a ban on these athletes speaking with news media at the Games.
The ISU’s rules for qualifying events – which it controls – prohibited any media contact. The Olympic Winter Games are under the control of the International Olympic Committee.
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Jamaica became a sensation in 1988 by qualifying for the Olympic Winter Games bobsleigh competitions and now another country not known for snow will be sliding in Cortina:
Israel.
A reallocation spot was available as Great Britain will field only one men’s sled in the Two Man and Four Man events and Israeli Adam Edelman’s sled ranked 32nd in the Two Man and 31st in Four Man World Cup standings.
The Israelis also earned – without reallocation – one spot in men’s Skeleton, with Jared Firestone ranking 38th in the all-inclusive IBSF rankings.
Who knew?
● Athletics ● Don’t look for 400/400 hurdles star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone on a track anytime soon.
She announced her pregnancy on Instagram on Thursday with a photo of her and husband Andre Levrone Jr. and a short text on the side:
“Made a human with my favorite human.
“Oh, how we have prayed for you… and the Lord has answered!! You are our greatest blessing and are already so loved. We are eagerly waiting to meet you!”
McLaughlin-Levrone has been busy, winning the Paris Olympic 400 m hurdles in 2024 and then moving to the 400 meter flat and winning the World Championships gold in 2025.
Interestingly, she posted this three weeks ago as the new year dawned:
“From age 16 to 26 my love for the grind has not diminished by any measure…Thank you to 2025— another season doing what I love with the people I love”
Time for other priorities.
● Swimming ● USA Swimming announced an increase in its direct-athlete-support spending, with four levels for pool and open-water swimmers:
● $3,750 per month for “Qualified professional athletes who sign Athlete Partnership Agreement”
●$2,250 per month for “Qualified professional athletes who do not sign Athlete Partnership Agreement”
● $1,750 per month for “Qualified NCAA Athletes”
● $1,750 per month for “Qualified pre-enrollment NCAA eligible athletes”
The top 30 men and 30 women swimmers (60 total) and top two men and women (four total) open-water swimmers will receive funding.
The Athlete Partnership Agreement (see the 2025 handbook) lists requirements for competition appearances, agreeing to remain competitive fitness, observe doping regulations, and two personal appearances over a six-month period, plus attendance at the annual Golden Goggles Awards.
The new amounts for the top-level swimmers were reported as a 15% raise from prior levels – from $39,000 annually to $45,000 – which had not been changed since 2010.
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The City of Long Beach, California, approved by an 8-0 vote on Tuesday (20th) a plan to build a new Belmont Beach and Aquatics Center, replacing the historic Belmont Plaza Pool site – where the 1968 and 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials were held – that had become unsafe and was demolished in 2014.
A series of designs were proposed and final approvals have been delayed, but the project is now settled, with a 50 m pool with a movable bulkhead, a separate recreational and instructional pool and beach-adjacent activity items such as a climbing wall and zip line. Seating for 544 is included, where the old pool had room for 2,500.
The project is estimated at $105.1 million, to be completed and opened in the spring of 2028.
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