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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The Games have started!
As is normal, some of the team sports get going prior to the formal opening and curling opened in Cortina d’Ampezzo, despite an electrical issue that lasted for about three minutes, but was resolved, no doubt impacted by as much as eight inches of snow outside.
But the Mixed Doubles got going with four matches, as Sweden stomped South Korea (10-3), Britain edged Norway (8-6), Canada doubled up the Czech Republic (10-5) and the Swiss needed an extra end to defeat Estonia, 9-7, in nine.
Curling, ice hockey and qualifying in snowboard Big Air will be held on Thursday; the opening is on Friday.
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NBC announced that “Today Show” anchor Savannah Guthrie will not be part of the network’s announce team for the Friday Olympic Winter Games opening, as the search continues for her 84-year-old mother, Nancy, who has been reported missing from her Tucson, Arizona home.
Veteran correspondent Mary Carillo, who is working on her 17th Olympic assignment, will join Terry Gannon on the opening call.
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Milan Cortina 2026 organizing committee head Giovanni Malago told his fellow International Olympic Committee members on Tuesday, “The journey has lasted almost seven years and it has not been without hardships and obstacles.
“But what still lies before us is certainly the most challenging part of the journey. We are facing days and nights of pure passion, excitement and tension which we will never forget. Starting from the Opening Ceremony and the lighting of the two cauldrons, a first in Olympic history, we are preparing to embrace the world in the name of sport and its values.”
Chief executive Andrea Varnier explained further:
“From a complex initial framework, I believe we have built a resilient and credible Olympic project. Many people say that Italians are exceptionally good at arriving at the last minute, at delivering important goals right on the finish line. This may sometimes be true, and it can even tickle someone’s pride, but it is a stereotype that I have never accepted. A stereotype that provokes a deep sense of frustration in me and in my closest collaborators.
“Major projects require planning, discipline and accountability. And where we could, whenever we were in control, we applied this clear business principle. That said, there are moments when an organization must operate under emergency conditions, and the Games of Milano Cortina 2026 are certainly one of those cases. With extremely tight timelines and limited resources that must be identified, secured and mobilized rapidly, we worked under constant pressure coming from all sides. Yet, on the most critical and problematic issues, the organizing committee has always responded with determination and energy. The entire Milano Cortina 2026 team has consistently risen to the challenge.”
He noted that the sponsorship program was a considerable achievement, explaining “Going from 3 to 56 in less than 3 years, despite very difficult market conditions.”
On the venues:
“[A]mong the most demanding challenges I would highlight two in particular. The Sliding Center in Cortina d’Ampezzo and the Ice Hockey Arena in Santa Giulia in Milan both delivered to the organizing committee quite literally at the final breath, at the very edge of every available deadline, and with very difficult working conditions, as you are all well aware of.
“Nevertheless, both venues will be outstanding for the Games, and we really hope they will remain as a tangible legacy for the communities. Among these challenges, however, it is equally important to recall another major achievement. The completion, without any disruption and within the perfect planned timeline, of another significant daring venue, the Milano Ice Park at Rho Fiera, where we will stage speed skating and hockey with a very different solution compared to the Candidature project, highly sustainable and with a potential long-lasting legacy. A clear demonstration that even under pressure, complex projects can be delivered with stability and vision.”
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NBC, in a facts-and-figures post, noted that it will have about 1,000 staff in Italy to work on the Winter Games, but 1,600 at its broadcast center in Stamford, Connecticut, producing its 700+ hours of content on broadcast and cable and 2,500 hours of streaming coverage.
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As is usual in arenas these days, the Milan Cortina venues have restrictions on multiple items that cannot be brought in for Games events, including “megaphones, vuvuzelas, air horns, loudspeakers, or musical instruments” as well as “folding chairs, mats, tents, frisbees.”
The Russian news agency TASS also noted “Flags (current and historical), and other items that may be associated with, countries whose athletes are allowed to participate exclusively as individual neutral athletes” are also banned.
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● Alpine Skiing: American star Lindsey Vonn has been doing training exercises and her coach, Chris Knight, told The Associated Press on Wednesday:
“I’m pretty confident that she can still pull off this dream. I’ve got no doubts in my mind that this is going to be OK.”
“She’s been doing box jumps, she’s trying everything out, loads and stresses and things like that to just see where she’s at and see how she feels and she’s pulled up great from everything. No swelling, no pain.”
Vonn crashed at Crans-Montana (SUI) last week, tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. The scheduled Thursday Downhill training session was canceled due to heavy snow in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
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At the men’s Downhill training in Bormio, Norway’s Fredrik Moeller crashed and injured his left shoulder. He was airlifted off of the mountain and taken to a nearby hospital.
Fellow Norwegian star and two-time Olympic medalist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde announced he will not compete in Cortina, saying in a statement, “I have done everything I possibly could to be ready for the Olympics, but my mind and body are not performing the way I need them to.”
He suffered a bad crash in January 2024 and only returned to the FIS World Cup in December of 2025.
● Bobsled & Skeleton: The latest fight in Skeleton is over helmets, specifically a helmet design used by British racers, with the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) holding that the design does not comply with its rules.
A hearing will be held at the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s temporary Milan venue on Thursday with the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association asking for rulings that the helmet is not only compliant, but “that the Team GB helmet is proven to be safer and more beneficial to athletes’ health and safety than any other helmets being used.”
● Snowboard: A crash during Wednesday night Big Air training in Livigno required Canada’s 2021 World Champion Mark McMorris, 32, to be taken away on a stretcher. He is a three-time Olympic bronze medalist in Snowboard Slopestyle.
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● Last week, the State of California-owned Exposition Park in Los Angeles – home to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and other facilities – noted that a $96.5 million funding proposal was included in the State’s initial Fiscal 2026-27 budget.
Another $1.04 million will come from the Federal government, with the money used for upgrades for accessibility, improved public safety and modernizing infrastructure. The budget is, of course, yet to be approved.
● Asian Games ● After Saudi Arabia returned the 2029 Asian Winter Games over delays in its massive NOEM project, the Olympic Council of Asia named Almaty (KAZ) as the replacement host.
● International Olympic Committee ● At the IOC Session, popular veteran member Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP) – the runner-up in last March’s Presidential election – was re-elected for a second term as an IOC Vice President.
Also elected to the IOC Executive Board were Ingmar De Vos (BEL, head of the International Equestrian Federation), Jae Youl Kim (KOR, head of the International Skating Union) and Neven Ilic (CHI, head of Panam Sports).
Also elected as an IOC member was former badminton Olympian – and now coach – Soraya Aghaei Haji Agha from Iran, the first-ever woman to serve as an IOC member from that country. There are now 107 IOC members, of which 43 are Olympians and 48 are women.
● Anti-Doping ● In his remarks to the IOC Session, World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka (POL) noted that a total of 298 prosecutions of Russian athletes for doping have resulted from the agency’s efforts against the Russian state-sponsored doping program from 2011-15.
● Athletics ● The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved a loan of $2.35 million to Grand Slam Track by existing lead investor Winners Alliance, to be used through the bankruptcy process and not to repay any of its $40.8 million of debt.
This loan now has priority before all other debt in the case and will be used to pay for the reorganization costs through 17 April 2026.
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The Athletics Integrity Unit announced that Canadian vaulter – and Paris 2024 Olympic bronze winner – Alysha Newman has been provisionally suspended for “whereabouts” failures as of 3 February. No further details were provided.
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In an interview with Track & Field News, Olympic and World Championship shot put king Ryan Crouser said he plans to retire after the 2028 season and is looking into performance coaches and expanding his World Shot Put Series.
● Football ● FIFA chief Gianni Infantino (SUI) has drawn a furious response to his comments that the ban on Russian teams – at least at the youth level – has achieved nothing, with Ukrainian sports minister Matvii Bidnyi telling Sky News:
“Gianni Infantino’s words sound irresponsible – not to say infantile. They detach football from the reality in which children are being killed.
“War is a crime, not politics. It is Russia that politicises sport and uses it to justify aggression. I share the position of the Ukrainian Association of Football, which also warns against Russia’s return to international competitions.
“As long as Russians continue killing Ukrainians and politicising sport, their flag and national symbols have no place among people who respect values such as justice, integrity, and fair play.”
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