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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● International Olympic Committee ● As promised, the IOC’s “Fit for the Future” working groups, created last September, are coming to a conclusion of their work, and the IOC Executive Board will meet online on Thursday to discuss the progress, followed by a news conference.
The four groups include:
● Commercial Partnerships and Marketing
● Protection of the Female Category
● Olympic Program
● Youth Olympic Games
The “Protection of the Female Category” group has drawn a lot of interest and no matter what the recommended outcome, legal challenges are likely from one side or both.
● Transgender ● On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education “issued a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action to San Jose State University (SJSU) for its ongoing refusal to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).
“In January, the Department found that SJSU’s policies allowing males to compete in women’s sports and access female-only facilities deny women equal educational opportunities and benefits. OCR [Office of Civil Rights] submitted to SJSU a proposed Resolution Agreement with terms that would have resolved its Title IX violations. SJSU refused to sign it or attempt to negotiate its terms, and has taken no other action to ensure the safety of its female students and deliver equal educational opportunities.”
The letter included a 10-day deadline, which if not met, could mean “referral to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and risk of termination of SJSU’s federal funding.”
The notice specified the background as:
“OCR found that beginning in 2022, SJSU actively recruited and allowed a male to compete on the women’s indoor and beach volleyball teams and reportedly instructed members of the coaching staff not to tell the female players that the athlete was a male. As a result, female athletes on the team shared women’s locker rooms and hotel rooms with the male student while being unaware that he is a member of the opposite sex.”
● Athletics ● Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev said that Russian youth and junior athletes will be considered for return to international competition by World Athletics in July:
“We’ll see how close we are to the start of international competitions in July at the next World Athletics Executive Committee meeting, where the issue of allowing our juniors and young men to compete based on the IOC decision will be discussed. World Athletics has sent out a circular stating that everyone can travel to Russia for competitions. Over the past two years, we’ve hosted 10 international competitions with athletes from more than 25 countries.”
As for seniors, the TASS story noted, “Russian track and field athletes will be barred from competing in World Athletics competitions starting in 2022, even as neutral athletes, due to the situation in Ukraine.”
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It was reported that a two-day “Double London Marathon” is being considered for 2027, which would allow for more than 100,000 runners to participate on 24-25 April 2027. The (one-day) race had 56,540 finishers in 2025 and the elite races would be held on both days, separately for men and women.
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The Athletics Integrity Unit banned Tanzanian marathoner Jackline Sakilu “for 10 years from 17 September 2025 for Presence/Use of a Prohibited Substance” including Androsterone, Etiocholanolone, and other metabolites of Testosterone. She had four different doping positives over more than year in 2024 and 2025 and this resulted in the extra-long sanction.
Now 39, Sakilu did not finish at the Paris Olympic marathon in 2024 and has a best of 2:21:17 from March of 2024.
● Cycling ● The 50th edition of the Ronde van Brugge – the Tour of Brugge in Belgium – took place over a flat, 202.9 km route on Wednesday, with a final sprint to the line won by 2019 champion Dylan van Groenewegen (NED), edging home favorite and two-time winner Jasper Philipsen and German Max Kanter, all in 4:15:37. The top 30 riders all received the same time.
The top American was Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost), finishing ninth.
● Figure Skating ● The ISU World Championships opened in Prague (CZE), with three-time World women’s champ Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) showing excellent form and leading a Japanese 1-2 at 79.31 and Olympic fourth-placer Mone Chiba at 78.45.
They were trailed by Americans Amber Glenn (72.65) and Isabeau Levito (72.16), with three American Sarah Everhardt in ninth at 68.74.
The Pairs Short Program saw Olympic bronze winners Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin (GER) lead at 79.78, just slightly up on Georgia’s Olympic silver winners Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (79.45). Canadians Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud stand third (75.52) and the Americans were 6-7-11.
Emily Chan and Spencer Howe scored 69.02 as the U.S. leaders, followed by national champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov (67.29). Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman were 11th at 64.42.
The Pairs Free Skate and the men’s Short Program are slated for Thursday.
● Football ● To no one’s surprise, the Senegal Football Federation (FSF) has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over its decision to award the Africa Cup of Nations title to Morocco by a forfeiture score of 3-0.
Per the Court of Arbitration statement, “the FSF appeal seeks to set aside the CAF decision and declare the FSF winners of AFCON. It also requests an immediate suspension of the time limit to submit an appeal brief until the CAF decision is notified with full grounds. The CAF decision rendered on 17 March 2026 was operative only.”
On 18 January, Senegal’s team walked off the field to protest a penalty awarded in stoppage time at the end of the match, but eventually returned and won the game, 1-0, in extra time. It has been surmised that the field exit by Senegal was the basis of the forfeiture, but as noted, the full, written decision has not yet been made public.
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FIFA announced the start of the final phase of ticket sales for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, beginning 1 April at 11 a.m. Eastern time. Tickets will be released continuously through the tournament – beginning 11 June – as they become available.
● Gymnastics ● World Gymnastics announced the introduction of the Seiko Rhythmic Gymnastics Real-time Judging Visualization System, at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup in Sofia (BUL) on 28-30 March.
This is not an automated judging system, but a way to show “the timing and details of each judge’s deductions.” All relevant scenes can be relayed quickly for quality control of the judging marks. It is, if successful as planned, to be used at the 2026 Rhythmic World Championships from 12-16 August 2026 in Frankfurt (GER).
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