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PANORAMA: NCAA chief stands up for transgenders; Vonn returns 14th in St. Moritz Super-G; Roberts wins sixth BMX Freestyle Park Worlds gold!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Six-time UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Champion Hannah Roberts of the U.S. (Photo: Wikipedia via Nicholas Sheard).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● NCAA ● There are enormous problems in collegiate sport today, but comments from NCAA President Charlie Baker at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last Tuesday raised questions once again about the organization’s view of transgender men in women’s competition.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) asked Baker about the NCAA’s policy of allowing transgender men to play on women’s teams, with Baker stating, “Because we believe that is consistent with Federal policy.”

Hawley also asked about the NCAA policy, “transgender student athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower and toilet facilities in accordance with their gender identity,” with Baker replying:

“Everybody else should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so,” and “I believe our guidelines give people optionality in how they choose to use their facilities. … We told the local folks who hosted our tournaments that they need to make accommodations for the people who are playing.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) asked Baker if a biological male would also have a physiological advantage playing against a biological female, and Baker stated, “There’s not a lot of research on it, but it’s certainly debatable.”

Kennedy pressed further, saying “you don’t think that a biological male has an advantage every time competing against a biological female? Is that your testimony?”

Baker backpedaled, saying, “No, I think the way you defined it, yes, I would agree with you.”

The issue was highlighted during the 2024 women’s volleyball season as San Jose State received forfeits from five teams, including in the Mountain West Conference tournament, for using a player who identifies as female, but the forfeiting teams believe is a biological male.

● Skiing ● Reports in German media said that the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) had reached agreement with most of its dissident national federations unhappy with the terms of its centralized media rights concept.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported Thursday that discussions had been concluded with the U.S., Canada, Germany, and Switzerland, leaving only Austria outstanding. The report noted that “concessions” had been made in the talks, but did not detail them.

FIS has already started work on a marketing effort that will offer (essentially) worldwide rights in a single sale beginning with the 2026-27 winter season, which FIS chief Johan Eliasch (GBR) made a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, seeing it as the best way to increase revenue for the sport and for competing skiers.

● Alpine Skiing ● Austria’s Cornelia Huetter won her second World Cup race in two weeks in the Saturday Super-G at the women’s World Cup in St. Moritz (SUI). Her 1:55.18 time was 0.18 better than Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami (1:15.36), with Italian 2018 Olympic Downhill winner Sofia Goggia (1:15.51). American Lauren Macuga tied for seventh (1:15.93 and Lindsey Vonn, 40, in her return to the World Cup at age 40, was a very creditable 14th in 1:16.36!

Sunday’s second Super-G was canceled due to rough weather.

The men’s World Cup speed events in Val Gardena (ITA) saw 34-year-old Mattia Casse (ITA) get his first career World Cup gold in Friday’s Super-G in 1:28.23, with American Jared Goldberg – 33 – just 0.01 behind, winning his first career World Cup medal!

Swiss superstar Marco Odermatt, the reigning World Cup champion, was third in 1:28.66.

Odermatt claimed his third win of the season and 40th career World Cup gold in Saturday’s Downhill in 2:03.10, ahead of teammate Franjo von Allmen (SUI: 2:03.55) and Beijing 2022 Downhill silver medalist Ryan Cochran-Siegle of the U.S. in third (2:03.56), his third career World Cup medal.

On Sunday, the men’s World Cup was in Alta Badia (ITA) for a Giant Slalom, and Odermatt was ready, standing third after the first run and then had the co-fastest second run in the field to win in 2:31.45. France’s Leo Anguenot was second in 2:32.20 for his first career World Cup medal. River Radamus was the top American, in 15th (2:33.81).

The Alta Badia stop will conclude with a Slalom on Monday.

● Athletics ● Spain’s Mohamed Katir, the 2023 World Championships men’s 5,000 m silver medalist, has been banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit for four years, for tampering:

“Katir … was found to have falsified travel documents (namely a travel Itinerary, boarding pass and booking confirmation) in an attempt to mislead investigators as they probed the veracity of his explanation for a Whereabouts Failure that occurred on 28 February 2023.”

He was originally suspended in February 2024, and his new ban will run concurrently with that whereabouts ban, meaning he will be able to return to 6 February 2028. AIU chief Brett Clothier (AUS) added:

“Gone are the days in athletics when explanations offered in anti-doping cases are just accepted at face value. Thanks to strong investment in investigations, since its inception in 2017, the AIU has prosecuted 25 Tampering cases.”

The AIU has been busy with other sanctions, including Kenyan distance runner Ezekiel Kipkorir (KEN), for three years from 5 December 2024 for Testosterone; he’s a 1:02:08 half-marathoner and 2:11:398 marathoner.

Athlete Refugee Team distance runner Anjelina Nadai Lohalith (originally SSD) was banned for three years from 30 April 2024 for Trimetazidine; she’s run 17:01.36 for 5,000 m.

The AIU provisionally suspended 2:33:48 women’s marathoner Sheila Chebet (Ethiopia) for Tramadol; Kenyan runner Elijah Kipkosgei for Triamcinolone acetonide (a 2:16:49 marathoner), and Ukraine’s 2023 European Indoor shot put bronze medalist Roman Kokoshko (21.84 m indoors in 2023/71-8) for whereabouts failures.

● Biathlon ● At the IBU World Cup in Annecy (FRA), Norway went 1-2 in the men’s 10 km Sprint with 23-year-old Martin Uldal getting his first World Cup medal – and win – ahead of star Johannes Thingnes Boe, 23:13.5 (0 penalties) to 23:14.9 (1).

Boe returned Saturday for the 12.5 km Pursuit and won in 31:25.4 (1), ahead of France’s Eric Perrot (31:53.0/0) and two-time World Champion Emilien Jacquelin (32:12.9/2),

Sunday’s 15 km Mass Start saw older brother Tarjei Boe – also a former seasonal World Cup champion – get his first win of the season, in 37:20.8 (1), over Danilo Riethmueller (GER: 37:24.8/1) and J.T. Boe (37:30.5/3).

Beijing Olympic women’s 12.5 km Mass Start gold medalist Justine Braisaz-Bouchet won the women’s 7.5 km Sprint in 21:19.2 (1), barely ahead of Franziska Preuss (GER: 21:20.6/0). Preuss came back on Saturday to get her second win of the season in the 10 km Pursuit in 29:09.9 (1), beating Julia Simon (FRA: 29:37.2/2).

Preuss was back on the podium for the 15 km Mass Start on Sunday, but the win went to 20-year-old Selina Grotian for her first World Cup win, in 38:35.4 (1), with Preuss second in 38:48.1 (0).

● Boxing ● American women Olympians showed strongly at the USA Boxing National Championships in Richmond, Virginia, winning four of 10 classes.

Alyssa Mendoza, the 2022 national champion won at 57 kg over Deborah Grant in a 5:0 decision; Jajaira Gonzalez, national champ in 2021, took the 60 kg class, beating Lisa Greer, 5:0; Morelle McCane won the 65 kg division by beating Marie-Angelis Rosendo by a 5:0 decision, and 75 kg Tokyo 2020 Olympian Naomi Graham won by 5:0 against Kendra Samargis.

Yoseline Perez, the 2024 World Youth Champion, took the 54 kg class with a 5:0 decision over Kayla Gomez, and two prior national champions won again: Jennifer Lozano at 54 kg with a 3:2 decision against Noelle Haro, and Isabella Winkler at 70 kg, beating Christine Forkins, 4:1.

Emely Sandoval won at 46 kg; Sarai Brown-El won the 48 kg class and Ruby Martinez took the 80 kg division.

In the men’s division, Paris Olympian Roscoe Hill won at 50 kg over Edgar Herrera in a 5:0 decision, and 2021 World Champion Robby Gonzales was a 5:0 winner against Steven Colome at 80 kg.

Seven of the other eight men’s finals went to decisions; Malachi Georges won the 90 kg class as the referee stopped his bout against Rishon Sims at 1:42 of the third round.

Four men’s finals had unanimous, 5:0 decisions, with Thomas Covington winning at 65 kg over Ramon Ordonez; Dustin Jimenez won at 65 kg over Thomas McElroy; Frank Espinoza took the 75 kg crown by beating Keith Saunders and Patrick O’Connor beat Daniel Brown at 85 kg.

There were two close finals, with Marcellus Smith winning by 3:2 against Orlando Zamora at 55 kg, and Aaron Waldron won a 3:2 decision over Carlos Flowers at 70 kg. In the 90+ kg final, Kelvin Watts won on a 4:1 decision against Steven Williams.

● Cycling ● At the UCI World Urban World Championships in Abu Dhabi (UAE), Paris Olympic champ Jose Torres (ARG) had to settle for silver in the men’s Freestyle Park final, as Australia’s Logan Martin won his third Worlds gold by 94.30 to 91.60.

Martin scored 91.10 on his first run, with Torres leading, but posted his big score on the second run while Torres had trouble and scored on 2.00. American Justin Dowell, the 2018 World Champion and second in 2022, got the bronze with his first-round score of 90.74 for his third career Worlds medal.

The women’s Freestyle Park final was another showcase for American star Hannah Roberts, who had the two best runs in the entire field, scoring 95.70 in the first round – the eventual winning mark – and 94.58 in round two. China had the next five placers, with Sibei Sun taking silver (94.06) for the second consecutive year and Xiaotong Fan (93.72) the bronze.

Roberts won her sixth Worlds gold, out of seven UCI Worlds ever held and is the only rider to win a medal in all seven Worlds (6-1-0).

● Fencing ● “The report concludes that there is no substantial proof implicating any U.S. athlete or U.S. referee in deliberate manipulation during the Olympic qualifying period while still calling for important reforms to maintain public trust in the weapon and a complaint to the Grievance and Discipline Committee.”

That’s from USA Fencing, reporting the results of an independent investigation into alleged match manipulation in Sabre, which also included separate reports on individuals who were implicated:

“As a result, USA Fencing is initiating at least one disciplinary proceeding immediately and contemplating additional next steps to address concerns of member compliance with USA Fencing’s Code of Conduct and USA Fencing Rules. The potential violations do not affect the conclusions in the public reports regarding bout manipulation in the Olympic or Paralympic qualifying periods.”

The questions regarding match manipulations were primarily around officiating; the announcement stated the report noted:

“While some evidence of questionable refereeing practices was found, including a disciplinary action against referees at the San Jose [North American Cup], the preponderance of evidence did not show that any other referees were involved or that USA Fencing member athletes benefitted from manipulation during the Olympic qualifying period.”

● Figure Skating ● At the Japanese national championships, three-time World Champion Kaori Sakamoto won her fourth national title, scoring 228.68 points and won both segments. Sixteen-year-old Mao Shimada was second at 219.00.

Yuma Kagiyama won the men’s competition for his first national title at 297.73 points; sixteen-year-old Rio Nakata was second with 263.99.

● Football ● “Netflix has secured the exclusive US rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup for 2027 and 2031, marking the first time the tournament will appear on a streaming service.”

This is a major change in U.S. rights sales for a FIFA World Cup, with the matches on a streaming service and not on broadcast or cable television. The deal covers the 2031 Women’s World Cup, for which the U.S. will be a bidder.

The deal covers all languages and Netflix has committed to both coverage in both English and Spanish.

● Freestyle Skiing ● Canadian star Reece Howden got his first FIS World Cup Ski Cross victory of the season in Arosa (SUI) last week, beating 2023 World Champion Simone Deromedis (ITA), and then got a second win in Innichen (SUI) on Saturday, beating Beijing Olympic runner-up Alex Fiva (SUI) and Deromedis.

In between, Florian Wilmsmann (GER) won the Friday final in Innichen ahead of Youri Duplessis Kergomard (FRA) and Johannes Aujesky (AUT).

Canada’s Marielle Thompson, the 2014 Olympic Ski Cross gold medalist, led a Canadian sweep in Arosa, ahead of India Sherret and Hannah Schmidt. In Innichen on Friday, Beijing Olympic co-bronze medalist Daniela Maier (GER) won over Swiss Talina Gantenbein.

Maier doubled her pleasure on Saturday with another win, this time ahead of Joei Galli (ITA); it’s Maier’s third career win, as she tripled her gold total on the weekend.

Two-time Olympic medalist Alex Ferreira of the U.S. took the men’s World Cup Halfpipe title at Copper Mountain, Colorado, scoring 94.75 on his second run to win over Canada’s 2023 World Champion, Brendan Mackay (91.25) and triple Olympic medalist Nick Goepper (USA: 89.25).

Olympic champ Eileen Gu (CHN) won the women’s Halfpipe with her 90.50 first-round effort, her 18th career World Cup win, five of which have been in the U.S. Britain’s Zoe Atkin was second (at 89.75) and Canada’s Cassie Sharpe third (89.00). American Svea Irving was fourth (85.75).

The Moguls World Cup in Bakuriani (GEO) saw a win for two-time Worlds runner-up Benjamin Cavet (FRA) at 84.04, beating all-time wins leader Mikael Kingsbury (CAN: 82.93). Cavet was second in the Dual Moguls final to 2023 Worlds runner-up Walter Wallberg (SWE), with fellow Swede Filip Gravenfors winning the bronze final.

The women’s Moguls victory went to American Olivia Giaccio for her third career World Cup gold over 2018 Olympic champ Perrine Laffont (FRA), while American Jaelin Kauf, the 2022 Olympic silver winner, took the bronze.

Kauf returned to win the Dual Moguls on Saturday over Rino Yanagimoto (JPN, with Laffont winning the bronze.

● Nordic Combined ● The three-man battle at the top of the FIS World Cup standings continued in Ramsau (AUT), with defending champion Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) winning Friday’s 10 km race and 98 m jumping with 132.5 points, ahead of teammate Jens Oftebro (125.2). On Saturday, Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger got his third win of the season in the 98 m jumping and 10.0 km race in 24:10.3, with Ilkka Herola (FIN: 24:11.3) in second and fellow German Julian Schmid (24:19.9) in third.

Riiber now leads Schmid and Geiger by 595-545-528 after seven of 19 events.

There is no doubt about the women’s leader, as Norwegian star Ida Marie Hagen, the defending World Cup champ, continued her seasonal sweep, winning her third and fourth events. She won Friday’s 98 m jumping and 5.0 km race in 16:42.7, followed by Karuka Kasai (JPN: 17:46.7), then took Saturday’s event in 13:42.0 over Nathalie Armbruster (GER: 14:10.5).

No one was even close.

● Ski Jumping ● Austria’s Jan Hoerl got his second win of the FIS World Cup season in Engelberg (SUI), jumping off the 140 m hill, with 310.5 points on Saturday, coming from second to first on his final jump. Teammate Daniel Tschofenig had to settle for second at 304.0.

Tschofenig and Hoerl traded places on Sunday, despite high winds and snow, with Tschofenig scoring 274.8 points to 269.7, with teammate Stefan Kraft making it an Austrian sweep at 268.0.

In Saturday’s women’s competition, reigning World Cup champion Nika Prevc (SLO) got her ninth career victory on Saturday, scoring 283.4 and ending the three-event win streak of German Katharina Schmid, the two-time Olympic silver medalist (272.5).

Sunday’s women’s jumping had to be canceled due to worsening weather after 48 of 55 jumpers had completed their first-round tries.

● Snowboard ● Beijing 2022 Olympic champ Ayumu Hirano led a Japanese sweep of the FIS men’s World Cup Halfpipe in Copper Mountain, Colorado on Friday, scoring 97.00 to 94.75 for 2021 World Champion Yuto Totsuka and 92.75 for Ruka Hirano (unrelated).

Japan also took the women’s gold, with 15-year-old Sara Shimizu (90.50), beating China’s three-time World Champion Xuetong Cai (88.50) and 2023 Worlds bronzer Mitsuki Ono (JPN: 88.00). It’s Shimizu’s first World Cup medal, in her second World Cup start.

In the men’s Parallel Slalom final in Davos (SUI), Arvid Auner (AUT) won the gold-medal final over 2023 Worlds Parallel Giant Slalom runner-up Dario Caviezel (SUI), and Fabian Obmann (AUT) took the bronze. It’s Auner’s third individual career World Cup win.

Japan’s Tsubaki Miki won the women’s gold for her fifth career World Cup victory, beating Michelle Dekker (NED) in the final, with Flurina Baetschi (SUI) winning the bronze.

● Swimming ● Olympic gold-medal winner Cody Miller announced his retirement from competitive swimming in a video on Wednesday (18th). He won the Olympic bronze at Rio 2016 in the men’s 100 m Breaststroke and won gold on the men’s 4×100 m Medley. He was also a gold medalist on the 4×1 Medleys at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships.

He finishes with a 100 m Breast of 58.87 from Rio 2016, at the time an American Record; that mark still ranks 27th all-time and no. 5 all-time U.S.

● Table Tennis ● Three-time Olympian and five-time national champion Kanak Jha won his first U.S. Open Championships title in Las Vegas, Nevada, defeating Jinbao Ma (USA) in the men’s final, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5, 11-1.

Yan Guo (CHN) took the omen’s Singles event over Asuka Sasao (JPN) by 4-2 (11-4, 9-11, 4-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5). Japanese teams swept the Doubles, with Seiya Numamura and Tonin Ryuzaki winning the men’s final, Sasao and Reina Aso taking the women’s title, and Koyo Kanamitsu and Minami Ando winning the Mixed Doubles.

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MILAN CORTINA 2026: Int’l Skating Union to allow up to 24 Russian athletes to try to qualify for 2026 Winter Games

By
Rich Perelman
-

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ RUSSIA & BELARUS “NEUTRALS” ≡

The International Olympic Committee’s formula for “Individual Neutral Athletes” (AIN) for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games led the International Skating Union to announce a parallel program to allow the possibility of Olympic qualification for up to 24 Russian and 24 Belarusian athletes for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina (ITA).

Friday’s announcement referred to ISU communication 2680, with 10 pages of specific regulations, and a question-and-answer document, including:

● “The ISU recognizes that in case the IOC will allow AINs to participate at
the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 (“OWG 2026”), a pathway should be in place for AINs to qualify.”

● “The Russian and Belarusian national federations/Belarusian National Olympic Committee will each be able to nominate:

“o Maximum one Athlete and one substitute (in case of injury prior to qualification) per individual event (One pair for Pair Skating, One couple for Ice Dance) in Figure Skating

“o Maximum one Athlete and one substitute (in case of injury prior to qualification) per individual event in Speed Skating / Short Track Speed Skating”

● “By latest February 28 2025, the Figure Skating Federation of Russia, Russian Skating Union and Belarusian Skating Union/Belarusian National Olympic Committee will be able to nominate to the ISU one Athlete and one substitute (in case of injury prior to qualification) per individual event in Figure Skating/Speed Skating/Short Track Speed Skating, one pair for Pair Skating and one couple for Ice Dance who can participate as AINs.

● “A special screening, conducted with the support of specialist external contractors, will ensure that the Nominated Athletes and Substitutes who will be accepted as AINs have neither publicly supported nor are publicly supporting the invasion of Ukraine and are not linked to Russian/Belarusian military or security agencies.”

The ISU is taking a “better to be prepared” attitude toward Russian and Belarusian participation at the 2026 Winter Games, with a limited opening:

● The openings for participation are only four Olympic qualifying events in Figure Skating, Speed Skating and Short Track and not for any other ISU competition.

● One entry, who meets the ISU’s criteria – essentially the same as the IOC’s for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – will be allowed to enter the figure skating Olympic qualifier in China from 17-21 September 2025, the four speed skating World Cup events in November and December 2025 and the four Short Track World Tour events in November and December 2025.

● So, the maximum number of entries for figure skating is eight (12 athletes) for men and women; for speed skating is 12 for men and women and six in short track, for men and women for each country. That’s a total of 24 for Russia and for Belarus.

There are also special doping procedures, and rules allowing substitutes in case of injury.

The ISU Q&A notes that number of Russian figure skaters at Beijing 2022 was 18, vs. six now possible for 2026; 16 speed skaters, vs. 12 possible for 2026, and 10 short track racers, vs. six possible for 2026.

Although it will be expected that Russia will win places in all four figure-skating events, it’s not clear how much success they will have in speed skating or short track.

Moreover, if the IOC follows through for Milan Cortina with the same procedures it used for Paris, it will have its own review panel for Russian and Belarusian entries as “neutrals.” That panel for Paris:

● Russia: Reduced federation-approved entries from 48 to 15.
● Belarus: Reduced federation-approved entries from 32 to 17.

The Q&A also included a note on whether the Ukrainian federation was consulted in this policy:

“The ISU maintains its condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine and continues to provide financial support to Ukrainian Skaters through various initiatives, including the ISU Development Program, contributions to the Ukrainian Skating Federation, and a support program for displaced skaters. At the same time, the ISU remains independent in its decisionmaking from all its Members.”

The regulations did note that information about possible neutral athletes concerning support for the war against Ukraine can be submitted by outside sources, an element that Ukrainian sports officials have deemed crucial to eliminating war supporters.

Russian reaction to the ISU announcement was muted. Iconic figure skating coach Tatayana Tarasova told the Russian news agency TASS:

“I have positive emotions about the decision. I was sure that we would be allowed. What do I think about the strict requirements? Is there another way? Each competition has specific rules by which they are selected.

“I think that one quota is completely unfair, but I understood that they would not do it any other way.”

The Acting President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation Anton Sikharulidze was more positive:

“This is good news for all of us, our athletes will participate in the qualifying competitions for the 2026 Olympic Games.

“We are glad that world sports life continues, and we will prepare, as before, to be one of the leaders in world figure skating. I think that we will definitely discuss this with our guys, coaches within the federation and let everyone know how the selection will be held. The news is completely new, we must carefully look at it, study it and make a decision.”

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PANORAMA: Vonn returns to World Cup; Grand Slam Track signs last five “Racers”; Neugebauer and Valby take Bowerman Awards

By
Rich Perelman
-
Bowerman women’s winner Parker Valby (l) with host John Anderson (USTFCCCA video screenshot).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Association of National Olympic Committees ● A new ANOC report commended 14 National Olympic Committees for “sustainability wins” at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Capo Verde, Czech Republic, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Slovenia and Switzerland.

● New Zealand ● High Performance Sport New Zealand announced “$162.8 million directly into 36 National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) over the next four years through to the Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games. [NZ$1 = $0.56 U.S.]

“$40.7 million per annum will go directly to NSOs for their campaigns, high performance programmes and performance pathways.

“In addition, HPSNZ will invest $22 million per annum in Tailored Athlete Pathway Support (TAPS), a programme of investment to sports which supports the wellbeing and performance of eligible athletes in the high performance system.”

Top-level sports which received funding increases included Rowing, Yachting, Athletics and Para Athletics, Cycling and Para Cycling, and Canoe Racing and Para Canoe, while “aspirational sports” Canoe Slalom, Gymnastics, Para Waka Ama, Speed Climbing, Tennis, and Para Table Tennis also will receive increases.

Sports with decreased support included Equestrian, Swimming, Triathlon, Hockey, Basketball and Rugby’s All Blacks Sevens. Sports not receiving funding are Diving, Surfing, Golf, Badminton, E-Sports, and Football.

The announcement also specified proposed medal targets for the 2028 Olympic Games of 14-18, and 9-14 for the 2028 Paralympics, and 10-plus medals at World Championships across non-Olympic and Paralympic sports. New Zealand won 20 Olympic medals (10-7-3) in Paris in 2024, and nine Paralympic medals (1-4-4).

● Alpine Skiing ● She’s back! U.S. star Lindsey Vonn left the FIS Alpine World Cup circuit after crashing in a Super-G at Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA) on 20 January 2019.

Now, with a career total of 82 wins, she will race in the World Cup again this weekend at St. Moritz (SUI) in the two Super-G races, at age 40, and after a successful partial knee replacement surgery earlier in the year. And she has a goal:

“Ultimately, if I can make it to Cortina, that would be my goal,” looking ahead to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. She’s a four-time Olympian already – 2002-06-10-14 – and a three-time Olympic medalist, including the 2020 Downhill gold.

“I was in survival mode the last years of my career. Almost every prep period I got some sort of injury, some sort of setback.

“Now I’m stronger, I don’t think about my knee. I think about how I’m going to execute the race. And that’s a totally different mindset than I was in before.

“I’m in a position where I’m not I’m not sitting on the ski, I’m working the ski, and that generates power, and that’s a lot faster than what I was doing in the last few years of my career.

“I’m having so much fun. My partial knee replacement went so well and I have no pain and no swelling. And I just started on this adventure and I thought, ‘Let’s give it a try.’

“I can’t tell you how big a difference it makes to be able to ski without pain. It’s a completely new world for me, I haven’t felt this good for 15 years. I’m excited to be back.”

● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track announced its final “Racer” athletes, filling out its 48-member core squad that will compete in all four meets in 2025:

● Freddie Crittenden (USA) ~ Olympic men’s 110 m hurdles sixth
● Caleb Dean (USA) ~ NCAA men’s 400 m hurdles champion
● Zharnel Hughes (GBR) ~ 2023 World men’s 200 m bronze medalist
● Brittany Brown (USA) ~ Olympic 200 m bronze medalist
● Diribe Welteji (ETH) ~ 2023 World women’s 1,500 m silver medalist

The remaining 48 competitors – Challengers – will be paid an appearance fee to compete at individual Slams.

The meet format: “Racers and Challengers will be assigned to compete in one of the following categories, and will all race in two events during each Slam: short sprints (100m/200m), short hurdles (100H or 110H/100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400H/400m), short distance (800m/1500m), or long distance (3000m/5000m). All competitors’ final placement score will be determined by their combined finishing order between the two races.”

The meets are scheduled for 4-6 April 2025 in Kingston (JAM); 2-4 May in Miramar, Florida; 30 May to 1 June in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 27-29 May in Los Angeles, California.

The annual Bowerman Awards for the top collegiate track & field performers of the year were handed out at the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association convention in Florida on Thursday, with collegiate stars from Texas and Florida taking the honors.

German decathlon star Leo Neugebauer from the University of Texas won the men’s award for his wins at the NCAA Indoor heptathlon and his world-leading 8,961 win at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon. At the Olympic Games in Paris, he won the silver medal at 8,748. His Eugene win ranks him no. 6 all-time.

The women’s award went to Florida distance star Parker Valby, who won the NCAA Indoor 3,000 m and 5,000 m titles and then took the outdoor wins in the 5,000 and 10,000 m, all in meet-record times. The Olympic Trials runner-up at 10,000 m, she finished 11th at the Olympic Games in Paris.

● Football ● A crowd of 45,000 women – and only women – attended Monday’s match at the Naghsh e Jahan Stadium in Isfahan (IRI), to see Sepahan beat Persepolis 2-1, following a 2023 mandate from the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation’s (FFIRI) disciplinary committee “for the men’s fixture (home and away) to be played exclusively with women in attendance.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) added:

“FIFA has been in constant contact with authorities in IR Iran for several years regarding women and girls having the possibility to attend football matches, and after last year’s Tehran Derby between Persepolis and Esteghlal where 3,000 women and girls were in attendance, this latest development comes as a glowing representation of how our game is inclusive and open for everyone to enjoy.”

Iranian authorities had banned women from attending football matches for years and led to an infamous incident in which Sahar Kohdayari – the “Blue Girl” – set herself on fire in September 2019 after attending a match, being arrested and then sentenced to six months in prison.

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IOC CANDIDATE STATEMENTS III: Samaranch sees member votes on hosts, more athlete promotion; Watanabe wants a 50-sport Olympics in 10 countries!

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC Presidential candidates (l-r): Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP) and Morinari Watanabe (JPN).

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

(Third of three parts reviewing the Candidate Statements for the IOC Presidency, to be voted on in March 2025 at the 144th IOC Session in Greece.)

The International Olympic Committee published Thursday (19th) the candidate statements of the six men and one woman contending to be the next IOC President, from 2025 to 2033. A look at each and the positions the candidates are taking to appeal to the membership, in alphabetical order.

● Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP)

The son of the transformational IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP), who served from 1980 to 2001, the junior Samaranch is now 65 and has been an IOC member since 2001, longer than any of the other candidates. As such, he is eligible for a four-year extension to age 74, sufficient to complete an eight-year first term.

His statement of 42 pages (about the same as the others, but showing one page at a time), opens by underscoring his experience and a deeply-held perspective:

“The next IOC President must balance honouring tradition and embracing a forward-thinking vision while bringing proven experience in sport and business, both inside and outside the Olympic Movement. The next IOC President will face trials beyond past precedents or what we can foresee today. …

“Effective leadership is based on four principles: Experience, Perspective, Judgement, and Collaboration. Experience provides the foundation for understanding, Perspective frames the opportunities and risks in proper context, and Judgement provides the wisdom, ethics, and critical thinking necessary for good decisions. The basis for all of this is Collaboration. I bring these qualities to this campaign, driven by a lifelong passion for Olympism.”

His statement launches directly into a series of “action points” – 40 in all – around six priorities:

● “The IOC”
● “The Olympic Games”
● “The Athlete”
● “The Olympic Movement”
● “Society and the Olympic Movement”
● “The Business of the Olympic Movement”

Samaranch continues the one theme echoed by all candidates, that the IOC members must become more involved in the Movement and contribute more to decision-making in the future. The members are making their desires known, but Samaranch goes further, stating “We must also revisit the age limit [to 75] to ensure we are not arbitrarily losing the benefits of experience and knowledge.”

Further, he suggests better member support and a stronger promotion of the members to their own national governments, and to “Recognize IOC Members as global ambassadors of sport by advocating to their governments for diplomatic support.”

Samaranch also supports returning the Host City selection to the membership, with “A final list of the suitable candidates should then be submitted to the Session” and notes that the new flexibility in having Games held in multiple cities or regions of a country (or even in multiple countries), can be a negative as well:

“Excessive widespread Games may affect the authenticity and communal spirit of the Olympics, where the Olympic Village serves as the cornerstone of the Games experience and brand.”

Further, “The IOC must strengthen oversight and guide OCOGs in effectively presenting the Olympic brand, including sponsorship, marketing, and client relationship management.”

For athletes, he supports “clear guidelines” for defining the women’s competition category, and give athletes access to video of their own performances for their personal use in promotion on social media. This is a significant expansion of the ability for Olympians to promote themselves at their highest-profile event. This would extend to Olympians of prior Games as well, something which will be widely welcomed by the athlete community.

Samaranch would like to see more engagement with media of all kinds, whether in traditional formats or on social platforms, all of which can help promote the Olympic Movement.

He also suggests more efforts in bringing physical activity on a par with academic subjects, promoting the health benefits of sport as a topic to work with National Olympic Committees in individual countries, a worthwhile goal.

As for the business aspects of the IOC, he – like the other candidates – wants to reexamine how the IOC’s relationships with broadcasters can be deepened for the benefit of both sides. And to help athletes continue to promote themselves and the Games, “Encourage our Media partners to be more flexible with athletes regarding their social media activities during Games-time, while respecting existing Olympic rules and obligations, for mutual benefit.”

He wants new sponsorship levels to be created, “exploring new avenues of promotional exposure at the Games while fully respecting our Clean Venue and Field of Play Guidelines,” and suggests that an “Olympic Donor Programme” could raise $1 billion within five years to support IOC projects such as the Olympic Museum and Refugee Olympic Team.

Similarly, the Olympic Broadcasting Services team – which now services the Games only – could be open to producing other events for outside clients, and the Olympic Channel could be more open to co-productions and new distribution models, reducing the IOC’s underwriting of their full cost.

In many ways, Samaranch’s manifesto is the easiest to grasp as it offers very clear, concrete steps he wants to take to expand member influence and services, significantly expand athlete promotional opportunities and find new revenue sources. His lifetime business experience in finance is a theme which runs behind his ideas, and he underplays his multinational financial and charitable work.

He will be a formidable candidate, especially for IOC members who are and were athletes and have known how difficult it has been to promote themselves at an Olympic Games due to the IOC’s historic rules to protect the exclusivity of their broadcast rights-holders.

● Morinari Watanabe (JPN)

The just-re-elected head of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), Watanabe joined the IOC in 2018, linked to his federation. At 65, he can serve, with an extension, to 2033, enough for an eight-year first term.

His statement is notably brief, just five pages, but launches into a series of observations and suggestions for change:

“The Olympic Games have grown so large, and it is now economically and environmentally difficult to host them in most cities. The Olympic Games can be seen as a way of demonstrating the political power of large nations. This has led to a negative perception of the Olympic Games.

“The current model of the Olympic Games began in the 18th century. In the 18th century, there was no television and the main means of transport were ships. Now, in the 21st, technology has developed and we enjoy using various travel and communication technologies, including the internet. In this context, we will study the development of the new model of the Olympic Games.”

In this context, Watanabe starts off with a stunning, radical proposal for the restructuring of the Games:

● “Stage the Olympic Games in five cities from the five continents, in the same period of time.

● “IOC and IFs can choose a city that will provide an environment with less burden on athletes.

● “Significance of the Olympic Games: Bringing the five continents together

● “The Games will be broadcast and streamed 24 hours a day, which will unite the world.

● “10 sports per host city, 50 sports in total.”

A similar change in format would be used for the Winter Games as well, spreading them out worldwide. By doing this, the economic impact of each host city would be drastically reduced, allowing even small cities to be hosts. Wow.

He would follow up with an “Olympian Forum” at the end of each Games year for interaction in one place at one time, without the interference of having competitions.

Watanabe proposes changing the IOC governance to a “House of Representatives” of National Olympic Committee and International Federation presidents and a “Senate” of the current IOC. So proposals would be discussed in the “House” and then voted on in the “Senate.” Another wow.

He sees an expansion of an abuse “Hotline” for athletes and for compliance reporting, yet also expanding the availability of coaching expertise by using artificial intelligence on a worldwide basis.

Watanabe posits that the future is in health care, as populations continue to age, and sees opportunity for the IOC in meeting that need.

It’s a wild, out-of-the-box approach to an IOC Presidential campaign, and while there will be those who simply dismiss Watanabe’s candidature and his ideas, it will not be a surprise if some of them are the basis of future development in the Olympic Movement.

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IOC CANDIDATE STATEMENTS II: Coventry embraces digital outreach, Eliasch emphasizes business, efficiency; Lappartient has a steady hand

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC Presidential candidates (l-r) Kirsty Coventry, Johan Eliasch and David Lappartient.

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

(Second of three parts reviewing the Candidate Statements for the IOC Presidency, to be voted on in March 2025 at the 144th IOC Session in Greece.)

The International Olympic Committee published Thursday (19th) the candidate statements of the six men and one woman contending to be the next IOC President, from 2025 to 2033. A look at each and the positions the candidates are taking to appeal to the membership, in alphabetical order.

● Kirsty Coventry (ZIM)

Coventry, the Minister of Sport, Art and Recreation in Zimbabwe, is the only woman in the candidate field and at 41, the youngest, with no age issues relative to the Olympic Charter. A five-time Olympian, a seven-time Olympic medalist in swimming and an IOC member since 2013, she has been deeply involved in sport and has been a key player in the IOC Athletes’ Commission and as the head of multiple Olympic Coordination Commissions.

Her 24-page submittal highlights five priorities:

● “Harness the Power of Sport”
● “Maximize Collaboration & Engagement”
● “Strengthen Partnerships for Mutual Growth”
● “Champion Sustainable Development”
● “Advance Credibility & Trust”

True to her athlete background, she emphasizes athletes and sport in her opening section:

“Athletes face growing pressures to represent their clubs, countries, and compete in numerous events worldwide and this requires us to create an environment where athletes are further supported and valued. Recognizing that athletes are more than competitors, we must continue to prioritize their mental health, physical recovery, and amplify their holistic well-being to help them thrive throughout their athletic careers and beyond.”

She wants to increase visibility in the years between Olympic Games, especially using artificial intelligence. She promises more support for the National Olympic Committees, but especially the International Federations:

“Actively involving IFs means initiating a new approach by which IFs would be in a leading position when it comes to their sport at the Games. It also means that IFs would be in a better position to draw full benefit of increased revenues generated by this new approach, including the opportunities offered by the Olympic Qualifiers, the Olympic E-Sports Games and the exploitation of AI and digital engagement activities.”

She also promises better communications, as a path for better outreach:

“Improved internal communications between us will lead to better external communications where traditional media and journalists will have more access to sharing our ideas and triumphs. But this also means we may face greater criticism. We should be okay with this. My years of facing public scrutiny in the pool, in parliament and as chairperson of my various IOC portfolios, has built a confidence and strength within me to take full responsibility for all our decisions.”

And that creates significant opportunities for worldwide engagement, one person at a time:

“Digital platforms, AI-powered fan engagement tools, and innovative media solutions can extend the Olympic experience to audiences in regions with limited traditional coverage. Leveraging AI technology can also create immersive experiences, empowering fans to curate their own viewing experiences. By bringing the Olympic Games directly into the hands and hearts of people everywhere, the IOC can reinforce its commitment to solidarity, expand its global footprint, and create a stronger connection with younger, digitally savvy audiences.”

Coventry emphasized the need for maintaining a focus on sustainability and carefully considering the burden an Olympic or Winter Games places on a host community. As for credibility, her commitment is “Zero tolerance for corruption, doping and unethical behaviour.”

Coventry is the preferred candidate of IOC President Thomas Bach (GER); given her relative youth and experience in sport and her government roles in Zimbabwe, will she be the right person to lead at a time when the world is in conflict? That’s a question for the IOC membership to decide. Coventry says she wants to tackle that challenge:

“So often, these differences are rooted in misconceptions. When given the chance to connect on a level playing field, we discover a willingness to embrace new perspectives, accept without judgment, and work together toward a shared purpose.”

● Johan Eliasch (GBR)

The long-time chief executive of the Head sporting goods company, the Swedish-born billionaire is now the company chairman and was elected to the IOC in mid-2024 as the President of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS), which he is restructuring, especially in the commercial sector. As such a new member of the IOC, his candidature is the most surprising.

At 62, he would be able to serve to age 70 at 2032 (a year short of a full first term), but can be extended for four years, leaving him just short of a second term of four years. His 25-page manifesto pictures the Earth on the cover, extending his long focus on environmental and sustainability issues, but is visually striking, using comic-style and lithographic color sets of sporting images to engage the reader.

He summarizes his program in 12 short statements:

● “We need a fresh strategic plan.”
● “Equality for all members.”
● “Businesslike and entrepreneurial.”
● “More for less.”
● “Sporting excellence front and centre.”
● “Our athletes come first.”
● “Women’s sports have to be ring-fenced.”
● “The greatest show on earth.”
● “Digitalisation changes everything.”
● “AI is the new reality; embracing it is essential.”
● “Sustainability must be central to the IOC agenda.”
● “The IOC is, first and foremost, a team.”

Eliasch wants a new, five-year business plan for the IOC, with more efficiency, a better experience – before, during and after the Games – for athletes, go digital-first to engage the audiences of today and tomorrow and a bold approach to sustainability.

His summary also notes, “I will initiate a review of all sports and formats to maximise their attractiveness to fans.” That will send chills down the spines of some IOC members who represent sports which already lag in popularity.

The core of his candidacy is his enormous success in life, in business, technology and government:

“If we are to stay ahead of the game, the IOC needs a safe and experienced pair of hands who can hit the ground running and is capable of bringing members and others on a journey to an ever-brighter future. We need highly experienced leadership, gained over decades at the sharp end of sports administration, business, politics and philanthropic endeavours.

“Our next president must have steered a large organisation and managed change within it; faced a blizzard of decisions to make every day; and not only made decisions but overseen their delivery too. The experience of personally leading a multi-faceted global organisation cannot be picked up on the job. The demands of such a role are intense at any time, but now – at this juncture of rapid geopolitical, technological and cultural change – they are exceptionally challenging, demanding exceptional experience. This is, to paraphrase a political slogan, no time for a novice.”

He also emphasizes the need for better involvement of IOC members and their shared passion for what sport can bring. But he comes back to achievement:

“There must be zero complacency in our drive to excel. We ask our athletes to challenge world and Olympic records, and we need to offer the same level of administrative and commercial skills to match and showcase their extraordinary talents.”

He is crystal-clear on protecting women’s sport from males who have experienced puberty, prefers empowering many athletes vs. giving prize money to a few, wants to bring sport and entertainment closer together and explore mixed relays of Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

As for the future of the Games as a televised spectacle:

“Three big shifts are shaping and disrupting this landscape: the shift from live programming to highlights; from traditional formats to storytelling; and from traditional commercial models to You Tubers, free streaming with presenting partners, product placement and so on. In this context, staying relevant is a very real challenge. We must stay ahead of the curve – both digitally and in live events.”

For sponsors, current and future, brand integration and activations are key and are a new area for the IOC to better explore. And the Games themselves can be improved: “I am confident that with new technologies and closer involvement by the international federations we can deliver future editions of the Games more efficiently, at significantly less cost – and at an even higher standard of quality.”

He also proposes “a new Forest City initiative, in which a portion of rainforest which is the exact size of the host city is conserved, meeting the criteria of permanence, leakage and additionality.” He likes the idea of a Winter Games site rotation among permanent host areas, and continuing the “neutral athlete” concept pioneered in 2024.

● David Lappartient (FRA)

The President of the Union Cycliste Internationale and the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF), Lappartient, 51, has no age issues, but was voted into the IOC only recently, in 2022. He has been Bach’s primary agent with the e-sports community, giving him a higher profile within the IOC in the past year, making him a more attractive candidate.

He filed a colorful, 27-page statement which headlines eight major challenges he sees ahead for the IOC:

● “Apprehending the Challenges of Global Instability:
● “Dealing with Climate Issues”
● “Taking into Account Technological Challenges and Artificial Intelligence”
● “Promoting Universal Olympic Values”
● “The Future of the Olympic Games”
● “Future Revenue Streams and the Olympic Movement”
● “Turning Sport into a Tool for a Better World”
● “Consolidating the IOC and Guaranteeing Exemplary Governance”

Lappartient urged caution on the way Olympic Games are expanding, but appreciated the change in bidding procedures that re-encouraged cities and countries to want the Games again:

● “We are receiving numerous bids again, but we should avoid an XXL approach. This is really important if we want to continue encouraging bids across the world, with particular consideration for the model of the Winter Olympic Games against the backdrop of global warming.”

● “The number of bids to organise the Olympic Games, which had been decreasing in a context of soaring budgets, has bounced back following the adoption of Agenda 2020 and ‘The New Norm.’ Selecting the host cities of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games far in advance was the right move because it insulated the IOC and the members of the Olympic Movement from the need to make an immediate decision and creates the right conditions for a calm debate on the future of the Olympic Games and their stakeholders.”

Like other candidates, Lappartient emphasizes more decision-making for the membership, and wants the IOC membership to achieve gender parity no later than 2036. He also wants to increase the number of IOC members to admit more athletes to the group.

His manifesto recites a long list of issues which need to be addressed, but includes a few specific ideas or suggestions. He ends with a 30-item list of pledges, however, which are more concrete.

These include better dialogue and roles for IOC members, opening high-performance centers with NOC confederations and the International Federations, more athlete representation, “taking the Olympic Games to Africa,” an emphasis on maintaining political neutrality and creating an “Agenda 2036.”

In an interview published in the manifesto, he sums up the reason for his candidature as:

“The IOC Presidency is a key role requiring a broad skill set: in-depth knowledge of sport, diplomacy, management, finance and international relations, natural leadership and the ability to bring people (back) together. I believe that I have these skills, as well as the desire to serve the IOC and the Olympic Movement and the level of experience required to run as a candidate.

“These turbulent times in every aspect of life demand a president who can keep a steady hand on the helm in a crisis and defend our positions, someone who has ample experience and is in synch with the world of today.”

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IOC CANDIDATE STATEMENTS I: Al Hussein says rethink ads, members to vote for host cities; Coe offers referendum after four years

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC Presidential candidates (l-r) Prince Feisal Al Hussein (JOR) and Sebastian Coe (GBR).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

(First of three parts reviewing the Candidate Statements for the IOC Presidency, to be voted on in March 2025 at the 144th IOC Session in Greece.)

The International Olympic Committee published Thursday (19th) the candidate statements of the six men and one woman contending to be the next IOC President, from 2025 to 2033. A look at each and the positions the candidates are taking to appeal to the membership, in alphabetical order.

● Prince Feisal Al Hussein (JOR)

An individual member of the IOC since 2010, Al Hussein is the younger brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah II. At 61, he is eligible to serve a full term to 2033 and his membership could be extended for four years to 2037.

His 20-page manifesto emphasizes sport as a catalyst for a better world, and wants to engage the IOC members in a larger role to make the organization more impactful:

“I firmly believe the IOC’s greatest strength lies in its membership – a diverse and exceptional group of individuals from every corner of the globe. Should I have the honour of leading this Movement, I am committed to harnessing the unique talents and insights of our Members to shape an Olympic future that is innovative, sustainable and inclusive.”

He promotes a vision with three main ideas:

● “Inspire Imagination”
● “Ensure Integrity”
● “Develop Inclusion”

Al Hussein proposes an “Olympic Agenda 2036″ which would see increased revenues, a potential change when Olympic Games are held in view of climate issues, the re-formatting of the Youth Olympic Games as part-festival and part-elite competitions and more engagement with youth, especially through digital means.

His policy priorities are instructive:

● “Reimagine the TOP programme with current and future partners.”
● “Insure our assets and programmes benefit partners between Games.”
● “Establish regional IOC offices co-located with Continental Associations.”
● “Reimagine advertising models to ensure broadcasting rights value.”
● “Optimise our Games revenue distribution model, valuing athletes.”

What does “benefit partners between Games” or “Reimagine advertising models” mean? How will better revenue distribution “valuing athletes” work: is this prize money?

His integrity plank emphasizes athlete safeguarding at all levels, and sustainability. The inclusion section wants more IOC member participation in decision-making and a stronger role for women at all levels of sport, on and off the field.

One clear element in his priority list: “Enable Members to decide the electorate for future host cities” and he also wants to increase the IOC member age limit to 75 from the current 70.

● Sebastian Coe (GBR)

An IOC member since 2020 as President of World Athletics, Coe, 68, would require an extension to serve to 2030 and a change in the age limit to serve a full term to 2033.

Coe’s 22-page statement continues the theme he has carried through more than a dozen interviews he has done with media of all kinds, starting with “I would like to share our Olympic STAGE with all of you, the people with the collective capacity to grasp our opportunities and address our challenges.”

His program uses the acronym STAGE:

● “Sport First”
● “Tomorrow’s Generation”
● “Athletes at the Heart”
● “Growth”
● “Empowerment”

He makes a unique offer on page 5, doubling down on his willingness to be part of a more collaborative IOC team:

“That requires an urgent review of governance structures to deliver a fundamental rebalancing of the roles and responsibilities of the membership and the Executive.

“My focus is on embedding transformative change over the next four years after which I will put myself forward for re-election. You, the members, will be the judges of whether I have delivered.”

The IOC Presidential first term has been eight years for a long time; Coe proposes a unique referendum that would confirm him or reject him within the age-70-plus-four-years-extension, removing (for now) the need to change the Olympic Charter age rules.

Coe promises to extend what he demonstrated at World Athletics: protection of the women’s category, a powerful anti-doping effort, and “maintaining focus on sport and athletes for the full Olympic cycle.”

He wants to appeal to youth more directly, and wants to promote the value of sport more directly to governments:

“The Olympic Movement and Governments share common agendas to build healthy communities. I will tirelessly promote and reinforce the idea that good sports policies are also good education, health, social and nation building policies with measurable returns. Investment in sport is a powerful investment in young people and their futures.”

And Coe is front-and-center about athletes and money:

● “Athletes’ financial well-being will also be prioritised, in consultation with all stakeholders, ensuring their contributions are rewarded fairly.”

● “Athletes drive the value of the Games. I will develop programmes that could allow all athletes to share the commercial rewards they help generate, empowering them as partners, not just participants.”

These are references to the World Athletics’ award of $50,000 to each Paris 2024 gold medalist. Coe has never apologized for making prize money available, but did tell other federations that he was sorry for a lack of communication and consultation about it beforehand.

And as to growth, modernization is his key, especially with new revenue models: “We must start listening to the consumer and deliver what the audience wants, when they want it, where they want it and with a barrier-free physical and digital experience.”

He has called for more IOC member input, crystallizing the issue this:

“Many members have shared concerns that decision-making is overly centralised, leaving them feeling disconnected from the direction of the Movement. They want a more inclusive approach to governance, one that embraces reform and fosters transparency. NOCs and IFs want stronger collaboration and clearer pathways to contribute meaningfully, irrespective of their size.”

He finished by emphasizing his experience, as a two-time Olympic 1,500 m champion, as an athlete advocate, head of a National Olympic Committee, one of the largest International Federations, an Olympic organizing committee and multiple roles in government.

But his offer to serve four years and stand again is an aggressive and insightful play against his age and the Olympic Charter limitations, and makes him a more attractive candidate.

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PANORAMA: New Celine Dion video from Paris 2024 opening; Kamila Valieva appeals again; 2030 Winter Games already in financial trouble?

By
Rich Perelman
-
Is the French Alps 2030 Winter Games already in money trouble?

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● A new, four-minute video of Celine Dion’s performance of “Hymme a l’amour’ during the Paris 2024 opening ceremony from the Eiffel Tower balcony, has been released here.

It was her first public performance in four years, and almost two years since announcing a diagnosis of Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS).

● Olympic Winter Games 2022: Beijing ● Yet another appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal was made on behalf of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva concerning her disqualification for doping confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (and the subsequent loss of Russia’s figure skating Team gold at the 2022 Winter Games).

Her prior appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal was dismissed in October; she is serving a four-year ban through 24 December 2025 for a doping positive from a 25 December 2021 test.

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● The FrancsJeux.com site reported that the formation of the 2030 organizing committee has become more complex than expected and former Prime Minister Michel Barnier (FRA) – who was the co-head of the Albertville 1992 organizing committee – has been called in to help as an IOC advisor. The new organization was supposed to be opened by 24 December; it is now considered possible that Barnier will head the organizing committee (again).

Further, after the 2030 Games budget had been set at €1.975 billion (€1 = $1.04 U.S.), FranceInfo reported on a summer review from the French IGF – General Inspectorate of Finances – that found:

“The forecast result of the [organizing committee] immediately presents an imbalance, which the mission estimates at between 850 and 900 million euros, to be covered by public authorities.” This is double the amount expected to be supported under the bid budget.

● Olympic Winter Games 2034: Salt Lake City ● As with French Alps 2030, the Salt Lake City organizing committee will not be opened by 24 December, but is expected to be inaugurated in January. The final meeting of the bid group, the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, took place on Wednesday.

● International Olympic Committee ● “We are not fully utilising the potential of the IOC… the question is, how can we unlock that potential?”

That’s Jordan’s Prince Feisal Al Hussein, 61, speaking to Reuters this week about his candidacy to be the IOC President.

“A key part of this involves inclusivity – bringing them into the fold, ensuring their voices are heard, and making them feel they are an integral part of the process. It’s important that they don’t feel decisions are being dictated from the top down, but rather that their perspectives matter, and they can actively contribute.”

This is a theme already raised by other candidates such as Sebastian Coe (GBR) and Morinari Watanabe (JPN). Feisal also noted that the continuing questions of climate suitability for both the Olympic Games and the Winter Games must be considered in placing the events in the future, potentially away from the mid-summer timeframe preferred by American and European broadcasters, the IOC’s largest funders.

As for his own appeal to the members, he explained, “I believe that I’ve always had credibility because I speak very frankly. I don’t try and say things that I think people want to hear. I say what I really believe because I think you must be frank and honest if you want to build a relationship.”

Ukrainian Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi told Agence France Presse that the seven candidates for the IOC Presidency must continue to maintain pressure against Russian sports participation in view of the continuing war against Ukraine:

“Our position is clear: sports cannot be a propaganda tool for an aggressor state. There can be no return under the national flag of a country that continues to wage the largest war in Europe since World War II.

“If IOC presidential candidates want to be global sports leaders, they must embody the principles of justice.”

And he offered to show each of the candidates what the Russian invasion has meant:

“We would invite them to visit Ukraine, see destroyed sports facilities, and talk to the families of deceased coaches and athletes. Perhaps then they would understand that allowing Russia to return under its national flag is not just a dubious step but a concession to Russian hybrid influence.”

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● A new study published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis showed that there was a significant drop in positive tests for erythropoietin (EPO) and other EPO-receptor agonists (ERAs) after an athlete receives a first-ever doping test.

A review of 1.68 million doping tests carried out over an 8-year period, from 2016-23, showed 390,167 tests for EPO and related agonists, with 522 adverse findings or 0.13%. Moreover:

“It was observed that 43.1% of all ERA AAFs occurred on the first sample ever collected for an athlete, decreasing to 14.1% on the second test, and continuing to decrease for each successive sample collection.”

The authors further explained:

“Because [out-of-competition] testing is based on a whereabouts system, whereby athletes provide their location for testing purposes, athletes are also explicitly aware that they could be subjected to [out-of-competition] testing.

“In order to test positive during a competition, an athlete must either have mis-managed their doping regime, felt that the risk of being tested was very low, or be uneducated about anti-doping in general and the potential consequences of testing positive.

“Comparing the number of [in-competition] AAFs occurring on the first test ever for an athlete to those occurring on the second test already shows a significant decrease, and by the third test the rate of [in-competition] positivity decreases by almost half.”

Observed: The lesson here is, athletes need to start getting tested early.

● Great Britain ● UK Sport announced Monday:

“Today we can reveal our greatest investment to date with £330m in Government and National Lottery funding set to benefit more than 50 sports as they embark on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games cycle.” (£1 = $1.26 U.S.)

Grants were made to five groups of sports: Olympic world-class (18), Paralympic world-class (18), Olympic development (9), Paralympic Development (1) and LA2028 new sports (5). The biggest recipients were:

● £30.125 million: Cycling
● £28.750 million: Aquatics
● £24.850 million: Rowing
● £23.950 million: Sailing
● £20.450 million: Athletics

Of the headlining Olympic sports, 16 of 18 received increases from the 2021-24 quad, but Athletics and Canoeing got less.

● Athletics ● Now, this is an athlete promoting herself directly! Olympic women’s 800 m champ Keely Hodgkinson (GBR) announced a new meet, telling Athletics Weekly:

“I’m beyond excited to announce the Keely Klassic, my first track race since becoming Olympic champion. This event is all about bringing energy, passion, and top-tier athletics to the fans. It will be an unforgettable experience for everyone involved, with some of the UK’s best athletes competing, and a special focus on the 800 m.

“I’m also thrilled to attempt to break the world [indoor] record – this is an opportunity for me to take my career to the next level while giving back to the sport that has given me so much.”

There’s more: the record is 1:55.82, which was set on 3 March 2002 by Jolanda Ceplak (SLO), which was also the day that Hodgkinson was born! The meet will be on 15 February 2025 in Birmingham.

● Biathlon ● Speaking with the French-language Ski Chrono site, International Biathlon Union President Olle Dahlin (SWE) was asked about readmitting Russian athletes as “neutrals,” as have several other federations:

“As things stand, no. … We have made clear decisions. If the war stops, the executive committee could lift the sanctions, or we could address this issue at a future IBU congress.”

● Football ● FIFA announced The Best FIFA Football Awards for 2024, with Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior named the top men’s player and Spain’s midfielder Altana Bonmati was named the top women’s player for the second straight year.

U.S. women’s keeper Alyssa Naeher was honored as the top women’s keeper, and Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez was voted the best men’s keeper.

U.S. women’s coach Emma Hayes (GBR) won for the top women’s coach, and Carlo Ancelotti (ITA), coach of Real Madrid in La Liga, took the men’s honor.

Among the many other awards, the U.S. women placed three on the Best XI, including Naeher in goal, defender Naomi Girma and midfielder Lindsey Horan.

Star U.S. defender Becky Sauerbrunn, 39, announced her retirement after 219 appearances with the national team and contributing to two FIFA Women’s World Cup wins and one Olympic gold.

She first played with the U.S. team in 2008, but became a fixture by 2011 and was a member of the 2012-16-20 U.S. Olympic teams and the 2011-15-19 Women’s World Cups. Across her 16-year span with the national team, she did not score a goal.

After her All-American college career at Virginia, she played for eight different U.S. clubs, both in the defunct WPS and the NWSL.

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ATHLETICS: Four-year study reviewed 1.44 million online comments, with just 0.09% abusive, but the abuse was intense

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ SOCIAL MEDIA ABUSE ≡

At least at the Olympic and World Championships level, there isn’t that much social-media abuse hurled at athletes, but where there is, it’s intense.

That’s what the data show from a new report from World Athletics, sharing data from Threat Matrix from its artificial intelligence-supported surveys from the four major events in the sport from 2021-24: two Olympic Games and two World Championships.

At the top level, the amount of abuse is small. Across the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games and the 2022 and 2034 World Championships:

● 1,441,583 messages were analyzed on Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

● A total of 1,258 abusive comments or posts – that’s 0.00087265% of the total – rounding to about 0.09% were reported to the platforms, involving 254 accounts.

However, Paris 2024 showed an unwelcome trend of increase, with 809 abusive posts out of 355,873 total posts, or 0.23% after just 59 abusive comments at the 2022 Worlds in Eugene or 258 at the 2023 Worlds in Budapest. Worse, 82% of all Paris 2024 abuse targeted just two athletes!

This is similar to what happened at Tokyo 2021, where abusive comments were 63% concentrated on two athletes, both female. The overall numbers of athletes targeted was small, but has increased over the last two years, and as events were located in Europe:

● 23 at Tokyo 2020 (7 men + 16 women)
● 27 at Oregon 2022 (11 + 16)
● 47 at Budapest 2023 (21 + 26)
● 42 at Paris 2024 (21 + 19 + 2 non-binary)

The primary areas of abuse were racism (18-35% of abuse) and sexism. The report noted:

“[T]he majority of abuse targeting athletics athletes was sent in English. However, Spanish was also seen in large volumes – particularly during the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“The languages of abuse sent appear to correlate with the native language of the athlete receiving the abuse. For example, during Paris 2024 the second most targeted individual was a Spanish speaking athlete, and the majority of Spanish language abuse was targeted toward them.”

Further, online abusers appeared to be aware of the efforts to stop them and used emojis in increasing quantities in 2023 and 2024 to try and avoid machine detection related to speech patterns.

The overwhelming majority of abuse took place on Twitter/X, with Instagram a distant second in 2023 and 2024. As a result, World Athletics took action to assist several targets:

“25 athletes have been offered year-round AI protection on some of their social media platforms after having been identified as highly-targeted individuals during major events – this will be expanded over the next year(s).”

The next steps are an action plan by World Athletics to continue to extend its safeguarding program, exploring the depth and type of future protections.

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ATHLETICS: College T&F and X-C coaches told “Our sports are under siege,” asked “will you watch from the sidelines as our sports fade into irrelevance?”

By
Rich Perelman
-
USTFCCCA chief Sam Seemes, ringing the warning bell for his sports in the era of professional college athletes (USTFCCCA video screen shot).

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≡ USTFCCCA CONVENTION ≡

“Simply put, our sports do not measure up in these areas.”

Very few people outside of the world of college cross country and track & field can tell you what “USTFCCCA” stands for, but the annual convention of the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association is underway in Grande Lakes, Florida.

USTFCCCA chief executive Sam Seemes, the former LSU assistant coach and head of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials organizing committee, who has led the organization since 2005, told the attendees on Tuesday that unless significant change comes soon, collegiate track and field and cross country as they exist today may not exist in the future.

In a carefully-crafted, 11-minute opening address – in fact, 911 words, a perfect metaphor for essentially a “911″ emergency call – rang the alarm for these sports in view of the massive changes coming to all collegiate sport with the House vs. NCAA settlement that will channel about $20 million a year for the “Power Four” football schools to athletes, almost exclusively to football and basketball players. That means trouble for everyone else, and Seemes made this excruciatingly clear. Some highlights:

● “THREAT: Let me be blunt: Our sports are under siege. Not in some distant future, but right now. The threats are real and immediate:

“– Shrinking opportunities for student-athletes
“– Vanishing budgets
“– Disappearing scholarships
“– Reduced coaching positions
“– Complete program elimination
“– Replacement by sports perceived as more valuable

“If you think I’m being an alarmist, wake up. Every headline, every report, every analysis of collegiate sports points to an uncertain future for programs beyond football and basketball.

“How did we get here? Through collective inaction. While stakeholders buried their heads in the sand, our foundation eroded. University Presidents, tasked years ago with controlling athletic spending, instead accelerated it beyond sustainability. The NCAA and its membership, comfortable in its status quo, failed to adapt. And yes, we in track & field and cross country must look in the mirror – we’ve failed to position our sports for the future by resisting change at every opportunity.”

● “VALUE: The metrics of value in collegiate athletics have fundamentally shifted. Most of us entered coaching believing in the intrinsic value of mentoring young athletes, using sport as a vehicle for education and personal growth. These values – once the cornerstone of collegiate athletics – have been superseded by revenue generation, TV ratings, and marketability.

“Let’s be crystal clear: Nothing is guaranteed anymore. Our sport’s place in collegiate athletics is not a birthright. Yes, we have the highest participation numbers. Yes, we’re among the most diverse sports on campus. Yes, we produce exceptional graduation rates. But here’s the harsh reality – participation numbers and diversity statistics may make for good public relations, but behind closed doors, they’re not driving decisions.

“What’s driving these value decisions today? Let me be specific:

“– Media rights revenue
“– Donor engagement
“– Social media impressions
“– Attendance figures
“– Corporate sponsorship

“Simply put, our sports do not measure up in these areas.”

● “CHANGE: The path forward demands transformation. Not incremental adjustments, but fundamental change in how we conduct our sports. And let me be clear – change means changing. Not talking about change. Not planning to change. Actually changing NOW.

“I see some uncomfortable faces in the audience. Good. We should be uncomfortable. Comfort is what got us here.

“Consider this: While we’ve been conducting competitions the same way for years, other sports have revolutionized their presentation to become more consumable products for institutions and the public.

“I challenge each of you: Are you willing to commit to change for the betterment of our sports? Will you make decisions not just for your team or yourself, but for the collective future of track & field and cross country?

“If you’re waiting for your institution, conference, NCAA, USATF, USOPC, World Athletics, or Congress to fight this battle – stop waiting. They won’t save us. We must save ourselves.”

● “EXPOSURE: The first step toward survival is revolutionizing how we present our sports to the public. We must package our competitions in an engaging, consumable format that excites audiences and attracts broadcasters.

“Let’s be honest: All-day meets with endless time trials don’t engage the public and never will … nor with cross country meets with “tempo runs”. We need competitions with clear narratives, dramatic moments, and real stakes.

“The time for comfort is over. We’re not just competing with football and basketball anymore – we have been outmaneuvered by other sports in your athletic departments that have embraced change and adapted to modern demands.”

And Seemes did not stop there, adding an outline of what can be done:

“Our path forward is clear but challenging:

“1. We must create tangible value for our institutions
“2. We must implement meaningful change in how we operate
“3. We must prioritize the spectator and viewer experience
“4. We must revolutionize how we present our sport

“The choices ahead won’t be easy. They’ll require courage, creativity, and yes, compromise. I’m asking you to approach these challenges with an open mind – not just about what needs to change, but about how you personally can be part of that change.

“Smart choices rarely feel comfortable in the moment. They often require us to let go of what’s familiar, and that is not easy. But smart choices, made with careful consideration and an eye toward the future, are what our sport desperately needs right now.”

Seemes provided one of the clearest looks yet at the plight of almost every college sports except football and basketball. What happens now is key, and the NBA just provided an example on Tuesday night.

In the second NBA Cup Final, played on a neutral court in Las Vegas, the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 97-81, to win the tournament, which was a new concept to increase interest in the NBA regular season, especially while NFL football still dominates the headlines.

It was a response to a problem of attention and interest by the NBA, which recognized an issue and did something about it.

Track & field and cross country have long had this problem and track, especially, has disappeared as a team sport thanks to brutal scholarship cuts, allowing 12.6 scholarships for each men’s team and 18 for women. That is changing dramatically with the House vs. NCAA settlement, if it goes through.

Assuming it does, schools will face new roster limits for each sport and can offer scholarships to all athletes on that roster. For cross country, the limits will be 17 for men and women, and for indoor and outdoor track, 45 for each, expected to begin with the 2025-26 academic year.

That’s a little more than the current average roster size for track & field, which is 39-40 at present. But what schools can afford to spend that much on cross country or track – schools will be permitted (but not required) to offer scholarships to all athletes – and while an Oregon could award 45 scholarships for cross country and track & field, who else in the Big 10 would follow?

Further, the roster sizes in track & field especially will limit what schools can do with walk-ons, who have filled in today’s rosters beyond the 12.6 men/18.0 women limits.

One way to address the issue of profile and notice is to bring back team scoring, whether on a dual, triangular or quadrangular basis, so fans will know who won and lost. Many a track coach has been asked, “did you win?” after a meet, and was unable to give a straight answer.

But Seemes has officially rung the warning bell, especially for track & field, which was the sport in which the first-ever NCAA Championship was ever held, in Chicago in 1921. A little more than a century later, the NCAA’s first championship sport could be one of the first to suffer in the era of professional college football.

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ATHLETICS: Coe calls 2024 “one for the ages,” both on and off the track, welcomes new investment in the sport, but says there is more to be done

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (Photo: Stephen Pond, Getty Images for World Athletics).

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≡ WORLD ATHLETICS ≡

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) was in a good mood in a Monday online news conference, especially when he was asked – as a two-time Olympic 1,500 m champion – about the Paris 1,500 m, where American Cole Hocker shocked everyone to win the gold medal ahead of Britain’s World Champion Josh Kerr with a brilliant sprint down the straight:

“As a race, it was a very good race and it had everything in it. I remember sitting with [FIFA President] Gianni Infantino [SUI] who I’d invited to come and watch the championships that night. And he said, ‘Oh my God, if there’d been one night – if I’d known – this is the one I would have chosen.’ So I said, well, you should come back more, Gianni, it’s more interesting than football. And with less of a determined outcome.”

Coe laughed, recalling his own joke with the FIFA chief, but he noted that that’s how good the season was, with spectacular performances everywhere.

“It’s been a very, very successful year. Look, as an athletics enthusiast, I would go so far as to say – in athletics terms – it’s been one for the ages. … Clearly, Paris was a big moment in the year, it cemented our sport absolutely at the epicenter of the Olympic Movement. …

“It’s invidious to pick out one performance from Paris, but I’m still trying to come to terms with what Sydney McLaughlin [-Levrone] did on the track that day [world women’s 400 m hurdles world record of 50.37]. I mean, I haven’t seen a more definitive Olympic win since David Rudisha [KEN 800 m world record] back in 2012.”

And Coe pointed to the impact that these performances and others have elevated the sport outside the oval as well:

“In a way they demonstrate a momentum that has delivered in another one of our key areas and metrics and that is extending the income streams. Finding new income streams and certainly the welcoming and introduction of new partners. And that’s an important message from the market, because the market is pretty unforgiving animal and when partners come to you, they’re making all sorts of decisions not just based on the fact that I’m saying nice things about athletics but based on their own analysis and analytics.

“They’re data-driven. The days of CEOs who like athletics, rugby or football, or saying well, that’s where we’re going to put our sponsorship spend is over. I understand that probably better than most because that’s what I do. That’s my business; that’s what I do when I’m not doing this. And that’s a very big statement by the market that companies like Sony and Honda, supplier partnerships with Deloitte, supporter partnerships and Morinaga, Pocari Sweat, Corpay are all coming to us, and they’re making judgements, judgements about a sport that’s moving in the right direction, and they’re making judgements about the excitement and the personalities that are on display amongst the athletes. All these come together.

“They’re making judgments about a well-governed sport as well. So that’s also been a pleasing element.”

There are problems. Coe pointed to “the atrocious gender-based violence that we witnessed earlier in the year [including the death of Ugandan marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei]. It’s not uniquely attached to sport, but we did feel a responsibility to at least sit down with the right people and the right partners to see whether there was anything that we could constructively do.”

Asked about the situation with Russia, Coe explained:

“We have two separate issues here. The first was around doping. And I can tell you that we got into good shape. We created a task force, we worked painstakingly for seven years. Some years we’re better than others; some years took us forward, and some years took us back. But we now have the Athletics Integrity Unit across this, we have 40 athletes in the international Registered Testing Pool and we have safeguards in place that tell me that is a downside more secure than it’s ever been.

“And we have people working within the [Russian] federation that we know and we trust, and … it is a new federation, and it is also a new National Olympic Committee. So that is one issue that we felt we completed the journey.

“Of course, other things [war against Ukraine] intervened, so that is really not within our control and it’s not something you can set up a task force to deal with. And so we watch that closely. But from a point of view of simple humanity, I just hope to Christ this finishes, because you know I’ve been to Ukraine and you know the suffering is extraordinary.”

Russia has essentially been banned from the sport since the state-sponsored doping scandal broke open in 2015.

Coe was brighter when talking about the new events coming online, whether it’s Grand Slam Track or the federation’s Ultimate Championship in 2026, explaining “I think there’s just a recognition, and I take comfort from the fact that we now have created, in World Athletics, a platform where people think that the sport is something that is worth investing in. …

“I hope these events add luster to what we’re already creating, and just a recognition that they don’t happen overnight, it’s a massive amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. … I would encourage anybody that wanted to invest in that space to do so.”

Asked about more coordination of the calendar, which is getting more and more crowded, Coe was – in one way – in favor of it:

“It is awfully crowded. It’s better than the alternative. … Look, we have to be conscious about that … I would rather give them more opportunities to be able to triage than sitting there going ‘well, you know we’re having to scrape a season together’ and we don’t have the pathways and the programs to choose. …

“I am never going to force-feed athletes into programs that aren’t going to work for them and I know the primacy that they have and the primacy their coaches have and that has to be respected.

“But I think that I would rather have more events and look, it’s really important if we want to be a professional sport, we have to do more than be a professional sport from sort of May through to September. We really do have to broaden it with it.

“If you think about it, we have a very, very small shop. Yes, we have lots of other things going on at the same time, but look let’s be blunt: it’s our World Championships that deliver 95% of our income. It’s our World Championships that get the billion-plus eyeballs on what we’re doing.

“We need to extend the length of the season. We need to have more competition and we need to be able to do that not only to give the athletes the pathways, but hopefully to create better financial stability for them. And those are all the things that we wake up here at World Athletics every day trying to trying to figure out.”

Coe was also enthusiastic about the early ticket sales – about 200,000 so far – for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, and looking to place cross country into the Olympic Winter Games in 2030 or 2034. To that end, he said that discussions are on now about possibly moving the Cross Country Worlds into December, especially now that it will be held in odd years beginning in 2027.

This was a very good year, but Coe emphasized there is a lot to do to make sure future years are just as good or better:

“I can tell you at this very moment, in this building, in the lead-up to Christmas, there are probably three or four people who are doing nothing else other than thinking about what ‘26 looks like. and the work that goes on behind-the-scenes to make that happen and we’re two years out.”

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LOS ANGELES 1984: Congressional resolution introduced to honor the 1984 Games and its 40-year legacy, the LA84 Foundation

By
Rich Perelman
-
A House Resolution asks to remember the transformative 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and its legacy, the LA84 Foundation that followed (Photo: Wikipedia).

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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡

“Resolved, That Congress –

“(1) recognizes and commemorates the 40th anniversary of the LA84 Foundation and of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California, honors the impact of the LA84 Foundation over the last 40 years and honors the athletes of Team USA and the organizers of the Games for their achievements, and celebrates the enduring legacy of these Games, which continue to inspire advancements in sports, technology, equity, and global unity; and

“(2) celebrates the LA84 Foundation and the city of Los Angeles for its enduring contributions to the Olympic movement, its leadership in sports diplomacy and play equity, and its ongoing efforts to build a more inclusive and equitable society through sport, arts, and culture.”

That’s from House Resolution 1610 introduced by Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-California) on 6 December, whose 37th Congressional District covers the mid-city area which is home to the LA84 Foundation on Adams Boulevard.

The Resolution text as introduced includes a well-researched, 22-point description of both the Games and the work of the LA84 Foundation, which was granted a 40% share of the financial surplus of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, to serve youth in the greater Los Angeles area through sports. The list of “Whereas” recitals included:

● “Whereas the city of Los Angeles had the distinct honor of hosting the XXIII Olympiad from July 28 to August 12, 1984, marking a transformative moment in the history of international sports, media, and technology, setting a new standard for future Olympic events, and immortalizing a defining moment in Olympic history and in the history of Los Angeles.”

● “Whereas this entrepreneurial spirit and strategic foresight not only ensured the financial viability of the Games, but also laid the foundation for the sustainable growth of future sporting events such as the upcoming 2026 World Cup, 2026 NBA All-Star Game, 2027 Super Bowl LXI, and 2028 Olympic Games, all hosted in Los Angeles.”

● “Whereas the achievements of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games are inextricably linked to the contributions of thousands of volunteers, community leaders, local businesses, and public officials who worked together to ensure its success, highlighting the strength and unity of the people of Los Angeles.”

● “Whereas the LA84 Foundation is celebrating 40 years of impact as a legacy of the 1984 Olympic Games, as the LA84 Foundation was founded with a portion of the financial surplus from the 1984 Games to provide access to sport and play to kids by investing in local communities.”

● “Whereas the LA84 Foundation has supported 4,000,000 youth, trained 200,000 coaches, built or refurbished 400 fields, pools, and courts, and funded 2,500 nonprofit partners over the last 4 decades, continuing to remove barriers and expand resources to ensure all young people have access to the transformative power of sports, play, and movement regardless of their background.”

● “Whereas the LA84 Foundation has supported youth programming in the 8 southern California counties of Los Angeles, Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.”

There were a lot more, including a reference to the important and under-appreciated LA84 Foundation Digital Library, a crucial Olympic Movement resource for casual and professional researchers alike.

The resolution was introduced by Kamlager-Dove with 26 co-sponsors, all from the California delegation; she said in a statement:

“The 1984 Olympic Games not only promoted cultural exchange through sports diplomacy, but also left a lasting impact by creating the LA84 Foundation, an organization that invests in youth sports programs and public education in underserved communities.

“The ’84 Olympics showcased the strength of diversity and the enduring power of sports by bringing the world together through healthy competition, something we can all appreciate in these increasingly divided times. I am proud to introduce this resolution that celebrates LA84’s success and ongoing efforts to build a more just, inclusive society through arts, culture, and sports.”

H.Res. 1610 was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs for consideration.

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PANORAMA: L.A. City Council asked for permit exemptions for LA28; more Russians want to compete as neutrals; $290,417 for Walsh in Budapest!

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Los Angeles City Council chamber at City Hall (Photo: City of Los Angeles)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● Traci Park, a member of the Los Angeles City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, moved Friday to assist the LA28 organizing committee with expedited approvals from City agencies. The motion includes:

“I therefore move that the Los Angeles City Council authorize and direct the City Planning Department, in coordination with the City Attorney, the Department of Building and Safety, and other relevant departments, to draft an ordinance to exempt Olympic and Paralympic temporary and permanent venues, training facilities, security perimeters, broadcast and media centers, transit infrastructure, live sites and fan zones, and associated structures from the requirements of City planning approvals, zoning regulations and conditions, including, but not limited to Conditional Use Permits (CUPs), and conditions tied to such permits, Site Plan Review requirements, height restrictions, setback requirements, limitations imposed by Specific Plans, and any other planning or zoning regulations that could delay or impede the rapid deployment and or use of essential facilities.”

Park’s motion also asks that the California exemption for Olympic Games work (Title 14, sec. 15272) regarding the non-applicability of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) be implemented for the 2028 Games.

Her motion cites the existing overload of the City Planning Department and states, “This approach is consistent with actions taken by the City of Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympic Games, where similar exemptions were granted to ensure the swift construction of the necessary infrastructure and venues.”

The motion will no doubt be sent to the Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games for consideration by Park and others.

The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“Metro”) outlined Friday its intentions for a possible $200 million in Federal funding related to 2028 Olympic service needs. The primary spending targets of such a grant:

● $54 million: Key station improvements
● $25 million: Games Enhanced Transit System
● $25 million: Metrolink
● $20 million: Integrated transportation management
● $16 million: Light Rail speed improvements
● $15 million: First mile-Last mile support
● $15 million: Fare system modernization
● $12 million: Mobility hubs
● $9 million: Games Route Network
● $6 million: Bus priority corridors

The $200 million was listed in a Senate bill for transportation funding for Fiscal Year 2025, but was not in the House version.

A California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) presentation on the Games Route Network submitted in August offered some specifics for the Games Route Network, to be used for official vehicles transporting athletes, officials, media, staff and others directly involved in the Games.

The early plan is to “Create dedicated lanes for use of Games Family Vehicles by temporarily converting HOV, HOT, GP, and/or shoulders to facilitate exclusive games-related travel. Emergency vehicles will have access, but general traffic will be prohibited from using these dedicated travel lanes.”

(“HOV” are high-occupancy vehicle lanes; “HOT” is high occupancy-toll lanes and “GP” are general-purpose lanes.)

A preliminary map of possible freeways for Games Route Network lanes was also included.

● Olympic Council of Asia ● The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal by Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Sabah, filed in December 2023, challenging the nullification of his July 2023 election as OCA President.

The CAS panel ruled the appeal inadmissible and confirmed the September 2024 election of India’s Raja Randhir Singh as President.

● Russia ● Attitudes are changing in Russia about competing as “neutrals.” Gymnastics stars such as Tokyo 2020 Team gold medalists Angelina Melnikova and Victoria Listunova were reported to be amenable to competing as neutrals if allowed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). Russian artistic gymnasts refused to compete as neutrals to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Further, most of the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team has agreed to compete as neutrals, if allowed by the FIG, beginning in the April World Cup events in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

Russian swimmers competed as “neutrals” at the World 25 m Championships in Budapest (HUN) and won 10 medals, including six wins.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented 39 Russian Paralympic “neutrals” with national awards, including the Order of Honor, Order of Friendship and the Order of Merit.

● Basketball ● The U.S. men won their third FIBA 3×3 Americup in San Juan (PUR), taking the final from defending champ Puerto Rico by 21-18, completing a perfect, 5-0, tournament. James Parrott led the Americans with eights points in the final, followed by Dylan Travis with seven and Mitch Hahn had four, with Henry Caruso adding three.

The American women, winners in 2021 and 2023, lost to Canada in the final by 19-18 in overtime, as Katharine Plouffe made the winning shot, the last of her game-high 11 points. Brittany Sykes led the U.S. with nine, followed by Azura Stevens (4), Abbey Hsu (3) and Maddy Siegrist with two. Canada finished at 5-0, with the U.S. at 4-1.

● Football ● FIFA apologized to the Ukrainian Association of Football for its error at the draw for the UEFA World Cup 2026 qualifying competitions, showing a map which depicted the Ukrainian territory of the Crimea as part of Russia.

Russian invaded and has illegally occupied the Crimea since 2014; a letter from FIFA Chief Member Association Officer Elkhan Mammadov (AZE) included:

“The infographic in question was developed by an external third-party service provider. Upon recognising the issue, we have taken immediate steps to address the situation, including working to have the image removed from circulation. Additionally, we are conducting an internal review to ensure such oversights do not recur in the future.

“We fully understand the delicate sensitivity of this matter and while the incident was unintentional, we sincerely regret any concern it may have caused and appreciate your understanding as we work to address this situation responsibly.”

UEFA announced a 156% increase in prize money for its 2025 women’s championship – EURO 2025 – with a €41 million total as against €16 million in 2022. (€1 = $1.05)

Each of the 16 competing teams will receive €1.8 million for making it to the tournament (vs. €600,000 in 2022), with the remaining amount in performance bonuses for group stage and playoff wins.

The maximum that could be earned by an undefeated champion is €5.1 million.

● Ice Hockey ● The U.S. women raised another trophy, this time the 2024 Women’s Hockey Euro Tour in Tampere, Finland, with the Americans and Canadians playing as guests.

The U.S. and Canada both won their two groups games, and in the playoffs, the Americans beat Sweden in one semi (5-0) while Canada beat Finland, 3-0.

In the title match, the U.S. – actually a collegiate select team – came from 1-0 down at the end of the first period to score three times in the second, by Lacey Eden, Tessa Janecke and Sydney Morrow, for a 3-1 lead. In the third, Jocelyn Amos and Alex Law tied the game within four minutes.

It was Abbey Murphy with a go-ahead goal for the U.S. just another 80 seconds after Law’s score that turned out to be the winner, and Sloane Matthews got an empty-netter for the 5-3 final.

● Modern Pentathlon ● The Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) announced that three more Executive Board members have been named, including Dr. Doug Stull, elected as the head of the Medical Committee after having been a member since 2016.

He’s the younger brother of new UIPM President Rob Stull, the team physician for the University of Kansas and an assistant clinical professor at the University of Kansas Health System.

● Swimming ● World Aquatics named Swiss Noe Ponti and American Gretchen Walsh as the men’s and women’s swimmers of the meet at the World 25 m Championships that concluded Sunday in Budapest. Ponti won three events and set two world records, while Walsh had an astounding meet, with five individual wins, two relay wins and 11 world records.

World Aquatics also published a list of the athletes winning the most money from at the federation’s events in 2024 – it did not pay athletes for placements at the Paris Olympic Games – with the top five:

● 1. $343,000: Kate Douglass (USA)
● 2. $285,000: Regan Smith (USA)
● 3. $277,000: Noe Ponti (SUI)
● 4, $275,000: Gretchen Walsh (USA)
● 5. $174,000: Leon Marchand (FRA)

Most of this money was from world-record bonuses, sweeps of events at the World Cup and places at the 2024 World Championships in Qatar and the World Short-Course event in Budapest (relay prize money is apparently not included in these totals).

Swimswam.com ran a check on the money-winners from the Short-Course Worlds, with Walsh (of course) at the top, making the assumption that relay prize money is split equally among all participating swimmers in the heats and finals (rounded to the nearest dollar):

● 1. $290,417: Gretchen Walsh (USA)
● 2. $142,500: Regan Smith (USA)
● 3. $125,000: Noe Ponti (SUI)
● 4. $118,417: Kate Douglass (USA)
● 5. $114,667: Summer McIntosh (CAN)

Among countries, the U.S. won $974,000 as a team, with Canada a distant second at $241,000 and Russia (as “neutrals”) at $220,500.

World Aquatics named French Olympic star Leon Marchand and Canada’s McIntosh as its swimmers of the year on Sunday.

Marchand stormed to wins in the 200 m Breaststroke, 200 m Butterfly and the 200 and 400 m Medleys to become the leading French star of the Paris Olympic Games. McIntosh took three golds and a silver in Paris, then won three events and set three world records at the World 25 m Championships just concluded.

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U.S. OLYMPIC & PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE: Sykes says LA28 making good progress; WADA and USADA talking to each other

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Chair Gene Sykes

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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee had its final Board meeting of 2024 online, with a great appreciation for the success of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but also looking forward to 2025 and the start of the run-up to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, to Los Angeles for 2028 and to the start-up of the 2034 Olympic Winter Games organizing committee in Salt Lake City.

Closest to home was the recent visit of the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission to Los Angeles in November. USOPC Board Chair Gene Sykes noted that this visit brought more than 50 people to L.A. and the meetings, over 3 1/2 days were the most comprehensive yet. As for where the LA28 organizers stand now, Sykes noted that “they are in good shape and making great progress.”

Asked specifically about sponsorship sales, Sykes explained:

“They are capitalizing on Paris. There’s been a quite a strong number of indications of interest that have evolved into real discussions and they are making good progress.

“As you saw, they just appointed John Slusher, long-time Nike marketing executive, as the head of the USOPP, the joint venture between the USOPC and LA28, which is responsible for all marketing activities. I think that’s a very constructive step as well.

“So I think there are generating very, very good commercial interest and I expect they’re going to do very well in 2025 in particular, because the excitement coming out of Paris is exceptionally high, and so the visibility of these next games in the entire Olympic Movement is stronger than it’s been in some time.”

Chief executive Sarah Hirshland spoke to the surprising news that Lake Placid is being enlisted as a back-up site for the bobsled, luge and skeleton events for Milan Cortina 2026, in case the sliding track under construction in Cortina is not completed in time:

“Let me start by saying Milan Cortina is certainly incredibly focused on creating a sliding center that will be part of their Games in Italy, and we are excited about that and actually hold promise that that will happen. You may know there is a plan focused on the initial homologation of that venue in March.

“So we will keep our fingers crossed, that’s what’s best for Milan Cortina. And that’s what best for athletes, Team USA and others.

“However, as you also know, we have an incredible venue in Lake Placid and early on when there was question about the viability of a sliding center in Italy, we raised our hand and said if you need support or you need assistance, we’re here to help.

“So we are in dialogue with the organizing committee to ensure that if they have obstacles that they can’t overcome in their own sliding center, that were here to be able to help support and ensure that sliding athletes have a great experience around the Games.

“We’re excited about that. It’s certainly not the ideal first choice or first plan. But if it’s required, our country and the state of New York and Lake Placid and the organizers up in Lake Placid, who host so many events on an annual basis, we’re ready, and we’ll be happy to help support.”

As for Salt Lake City in 2034, the organizing committee is under formation and the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games – the bidding organization – will hold its final meeting this week. The founding of the actual organizing committee is expected in January.

Sykes spoke to the continuing war of words between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, offering an optimistic view that at least the sides are in contact:

“I would actually say that the situation has improved to the degree that WADA and USADA are talking with each other, as opposed to addressing each other through press releases and so forth.

“It’s not an easy relationship because they have some fundamental issues which are unresolved issues, but they are very much engaged in an effort to see how can they make an agreement between the two of them to move forward.

“Now it’s it’s one which we hope will get resolved relatively soon. But they were both together in Riyadh [KSA] last week, or the week before last actually [for WADA Board meetings]. And so that the level of engagement is both more respectful and it’s encouraged by us and others so that everyone realizes it’s very important that WADA is respected, while at the same time WADA performs a very important role that the sports community expects WADA to perform, and USADA and others have had questions.

“They’ve had the outside investigator do their report, and that’s provided some opportunity for some improvements and adjustments which I think will be constructive in reaching a conclusion here.”

The USOPC named Purdue University President Mung Chiang to its Board, to fill the remainder of Sykes’ term as an independent member of the Board, also a help in the collegiate community as the NCAA’s largest athletics programs are undergoing fundamental changes in structure and finances.

Hirshland noted:

“We’re continuing to engage with our colleagues across the landscape of collegiate sport, at the NCAA, at conferences, and at individual institutions to really understand the potential impact of the landscape as schools are responding to the pending House settlement and to the evolving NIL [name-image-likeness] environment and certainly, the potential for Congressional intervention.

“I will tell you we are, however, heartened by what we’ve heard from many athletic directors who are facing these new revenue obligations. The commitment to Olympic sport is a priority on campuses across the country and we continue to hear that. And we’re excited by it. We are willing and will continue to work with all who seek a solution that protects Olympic and Paralympic sport opportunity for student athletes.”

That will be an issue to watch closely – very closely – in 2025.

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LANE ONE: Lyles, Holloway, Benjamin now planning Track vs. NFL sprint challenges in a Jake Paul-Mike Tyson style promotion!

By
Rich Perelman
-

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ SCENE & HEARD ≡

Olympic men’s 100 m champion Noah Lyles is stirring the pot again, but this time he has help.

Lyles and fellow Paris Olympic gold medalists Grant Holloway (110 m hurdles) and Rai Benjamin (400 m hurdles) launched their “Beyond the Records” podcast with a 53-minute show on 12 December, including talk on how the Lyles vs. Tyreek Hill trash talk is evolving into a multi-race show.

The podcast spends a lot of time discussing how all three experienced the Paris Olympic Games, including Lyles explaining that he had Covid-19 when he won the 100 meters by a whisker in Paris. He says he tested negative that day, but had the virus in him at the time and it finally impacted him the next day, during the 200 m heats.

But he’s looking to the future, and has continually hinted that the August chatter between he and Miami receiver Hill (a 10.19/20.12 man in 2012) is moving toward a showdown … eventually.

Lyles referenced his showdown with streamer IShowSpeed (Darren Watkins Jr.), who has a 33 million audience on Twitch, on 6 November in Orlando. Watkins Jr. was video-called by YouTuber MrBeast (James Donaldson) during a live stream, who was standing with Lyles, and Watkins Jr. challenged Lyles to a race.

Watkins Jr. made the three-hour race to Orlando and promptly got out to a small lead on Lyles, who zoomed past him to win the 50 m race without much effort. (No blocks, no starting gun, no timing gear, but it was recorded).

In the podcast, Lyles explained to Benjamin and Holloway (edited for clarity):

“If I finished the race by beating him so bad, nobody’s going to want to see a rematch, nobody’s going to want to come back.

“And I already knew that the headline is going to be, ‘Speed almost beats Noah,’ then what’s the next headline? How is Noah gonna beat Tyreek Hill?

Benjamin: “Here we go, Tyreek. you’re next brother.”

Lyles: “So now people think that Tyreek might actually have a chance no matter if it’s actually true or not.

Holloway: “Did you guys, you got anything set up for that or is it in the works, we’re gonna have to find out in the next couple episodes?”

Lyles: “I got some news coming, you definitely going to want to stick around for the next few episodes I promise you that.”

Benjamin: “Chat, we’re cooking chat. We got something good.”

Lyles: “We putting in the spices now, the pot has been on, the water’s been boiled, like we put in the spices now. You guys are definitely going to want to stay tuned to these next few episodes. I’m telling you every time that we get together new information is going to be coming out.”

Benjamin: “We should we should get Speed on the podcast to break down the race between you and him.”

Holloway: “I like it I want to hear both sides, and then when you race Tyreek and spank him too, he’s next. We’ll bring him on to watch film. I’m looking forward to that Noah, I really am. I mean I think that’s going to be not just for track and field, but I think it’s going to open up a lot of eyes to really how everybody else always says football and track speed, da da da da, so you got my attention.”

Lyles: “Hey if we have an undercard would you race?”

Holloway: “What you want me to do?”

Lyles: “I’ve seen you [Holloway] run a 60; I haven’t seen you [Benjamin] run a 60.”

Holloway: “He [Benjamin] ran 9.9. He’s good.”

Benjamin: “I ran 10.0, bro, come on. … I’m a 10.0 guy.”

Holloway: “I’ll race on the undercard.”

Benjamin: “Who would you race?”

Holloway: “I’m calling [2019 World 100 m champ] Christian Coleman out.”

Lyles: “No no no, it has to be track versus other sports, like a DK Metcalf [Seattle Seahawks receiver] … we’re talking Christian versus [Kansas City receiver] Xavier Worthy in a 40.”

Benjamin: “I would want to see that. I would actually really want to see that.”

Holloway: “Well, I’m might take all the track heads but Coleman can do no wrong in my eyes.”

Benjamin: “Now, Christian would spank you [Holloway], brother.”

Holloway: “Yeah, he would but that’s part of the game. If I lose, I’m losing to the G.O.A.T.”

Benjamin: “One of the greatest starters of all time.”

Holloway: “Hey, and guess the second-greatest starter of all time? (meaning Holloway.)”

Benjamin: “Me? (all laugh) … That’s truly exciting bro, we’ve got some exciting things for you guys to see.”

Lyles: “So Grant would you race DK Metcalf? “

Holloway: “Of course.”

Lyles: “So would you take him in a 40?”

Holloway: “Of course.”

Lyles: “You want to tell him that?”

Holloway: “DK, you probably don’t know me. I’m a huge fan, you’re on my fantasy, so keep doing your thing bro. But hey, let’s do it man. If Noah’s gonna do Tyreek, and if we can get Coleman and Xavier Worthy, look, I’ll take the undercard with you. I think it’d be good.

“Now when you line up next to me, I might look like a little boy, but we got to see what the speed is like.”

Benjamin: “What would the format be? I feel like it would be good to like do it at the All-Star Weekend.”

Lyles: “I’m already giving too much information. I want to give more, but the best I can say is it’ll be very Mike Tyson-Jake Paul type.”

Benjamin: “It would be cool to do a crossover at the [NFL] Pro Bowl though, you know what I mean and I’m just saying, Pro Bowl. Listen, NFL, if you’re listening NFL execs, track crossover at the Pro Bowl.”

The 2025 NFL Pro Bowl, which is now a skills contest and a flag football game, is scheduled for 2 February 2025 in Orlando, Florida. Coincidentally, that’s a good time for the track folks, as the indoor season will have started. But it’s not likely to happen that fast.

Metcalf famously ran 10.37 for ninth in a heat at Mt. SAC on 9 May 2021 during the Covid pandemic. Worthy ran the 40-yard dash in 4.21 seconds (non-automatic timing) at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, the fastest on record, and has a 100 m best of 10.65 from 2019.

Oh yes, the next Benjamin-Holloway-Lyles episode comes on 19 December.

None of this is by happenstance, you understand.

The point is that track & field, via Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track, the Athlos NYC meet underwritten by Alexis Ohanian and now Lyles putting together a track vs. football exhibition program – suddenly three races instead of one – are all part of a new effort inside and outside of the sport to raise the profile, in part because the athletes and performances are at an all-time high.

Will it work? It’s not clear that any of these promotions are going to get track & field to even where the WNBA or NWSL are now. But they are stirrings of new interest and new enthusiasm from inside and outside the sport. This is good, very good.

Moreover, none of these are happening through USA Track & Field, which is fine. For years, then-AAU Executive Director and later TAC [now USATF] chief executive Ollan Cassell said he would be happy to have some other entity run meets and his governing body could be a governing body, instead of a promoter.

If Grand Slam Track is successful in 2025, if the Athlos NYC projects expands and if Lyles is able to pull off his track vs. football race card, the next step is calendar coordination that brings in USATF, existing promoters, the Diamond League and others.

The history of U.S. sports shows this over and over again, as early as 1903 when the National League and American League agreed to play the first baseball World Series. And much later, the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, the NHL-WHA merger in 1979, and, internationally, the Open Era in tennis beginning in 1968 and so on.

The outcome of these successful transformations was a year-long calendar that involved everyone on agreed-to terms and created stability on which these sports were built. If, at the end of all of the talk, there is a cohesive outcome for the sport – which must involve World Athletics – it has a real chance to grow.

And that’s the ultimate outcome that athletes, coaches, officials and fans are all looking for.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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PANORAMA: Vonn to return to skiing World Cup on 21 December; Degtyarev elected Russian NOC chief; World Boxing up to 60 members!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Mikhail Degtyarev, now the Russian Minister of Sport and President of the Russian Olympic Committee (Photo: Wikipedia via the Office of the President of Russia)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● Rachael Gunn, the Australian break dancer known as “Raygun,” had her lawyers send a letter threatening legal action against the producer of a show about Gunn by Sydney comedian Steph Broadbridge.

The premiere of “Raygun: The Musical” was scheduled for Saturday, but was canceled. Gunn said in an Instagram video:

“People had assumed we had developed it and we had approved it and it damaged many relationships, both personal and professional. This is why my management had to work to quickly to shut it down.

“It was really unfortunate that the show had to be cancelled so close to the launch. I know that the artist would have put a lot of work into it and that really sucks but had we known about it sooner, there could have been a different outcome. …

“The reason we did that is because we were notified that there were applications from other parties trying to trademark my name and image for commercial purposes.”

Gunn participated in the Paris 2024 Games and lost her three breaking battles in the qualifying round by a combined score of 180-0. She has been both ridiculed and celebrated since.

● Russia ● Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev, running unopposed, was elected as the President of the Russian Olympic Committee on Friday (13th), by 197-0, with two abstentions.

Degtyarev, 43, is under sanctions from Australia, Canada, the European Union, Great Britain, New Zealand, Switzerland, Ukraine and the U.S. for urging Russian citizens to fight in the invasion of Ukraine.

He said after his election:

● “[The ROC’s Charter] sets out clear goals, those being: to lift all restrictions, full participation of our athletes in all international competitions under the national flag of Russia, integration into international sports organizations, restoration of the status of RUSADA [the Russian Anti-Doping Agency] and recognition of our committee within the IOC.”

● “Russia has faced unprecedented external pressure, with thousands of our athletes being subjected to discriminatory sanctions. The purpose of these sanctions is clear – not only to marginalize Russian sports but to provoke us into rash decisions and shutting the door entirely.

“It’s no mystery what they’re after. Russia will either be kept off the world stage for decades or it may never return at all.”

● “It is crucial that we keep our emotions in check, so that we can avoid this fatal scenario, and make sure our athletes can keep bringing home medals at international tournaments, to Russia. They [the neutral athletes] have never hidden their Russian citizenship. The whole world knows what country they represent and they sympathize with them.”

Appointed as the national sports minister in May, Degtyarev will hold both positions. He came to the sports ministry after having served as governor of the eastern Khabarovsk Krai region from September 2021 until 2024.

Also elected were ice hockey team executive Roman Kramar as Director General of the Russian Olympic Committee, and Viktor Berezov as Secretary General.

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● A USOPC staff member was placed on administrative leave on Thursday (12th) in advance of an internal investigation on allegations of sexual abuse by a coach in 2010.

The USOPC was acting on reports of abuse from U.S. Biathlon team members; The Associated Press had reported extensively on the story previously and noted that the USOPC “did not name the employee, but Gary Colliander was the only USOPC coach named in the AP report.”

The AP further reported on Friday:

“Colliander resigned his position with the Maine Winter Sports Center. He was hired in December 2016 by the U.S. Paralympic team, where he is associate director of high performance for U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing.”

● Alpine Skiing ● Three-time defending FIS men’s World Cup champion Marco Odermatt (SUI) won his second race in a week at the Giant Slalom in Val d’Isere (FRA), taking the lead on the first run and then hanging on as the weather got worse and worse.

Austria’s Patrick Feurstein came from 24th to first on the second run, but Odermatt was just good enough – 21st on the second run – to win by 2:11.66 to 2:11.75. Fellow Austrian Stefan Brennsteiner was third at 2:11.78; River Radamus was the top American, in 17th.

Sunday’s Slalom was the first win of the season for Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), who was second after the first run to France’s Steven Amiez, but ended up winning in 1:36.40 as Amiez did not finish the second run. Fellow Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath took the silver in 1:36.92; Jett Seymour was the top American, in 21st at 1:38.89.

At the women’s World Cup at Beaver Creek, Colorado, defending Downhill discipline champ Cornelia Huetter (SUI) got her first medal of the season with a win in 1:32.38, ahead of 2018 Olympic champ Sofia Goggia (ITA: 1:32.54) and defending World Cup champ Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI: 1:32.74). Rapidly-improving American Lauren Macuga was fourth in 1:32.90., and Breezy Johnson was 13th.

Goggia, returning after a broken leg 10 months ago, moved up to the top of the podium at the Sunday Super-G, winning in 1:03.90 to 1:04.38 for Gut-Behrami, with Ariane Raedler (AUT: 1:04.45) in third. Macuga was the top U.S. finisher, in 12th place (1:05.30).

After five years in retirement, U.S. star Lindsey Vonn, 40, said she will return to the World Cup at St. Moritz (SUI) on 21-22 December, with two Super-G races on the program. She said in a Friday news conference:

“It was pretty soon after [her April hip surgery] surgery in the rehab process that I was already doing things that I hadn’t done in years. I feel stronger now than I did in my mid to late 20s. My body is cooperating. And thankfully, that titanium piece is really working out well.” …

“I definitely have goals and expectations and I’m trying to be as patient as possible with myself on this journey and take it step by step and not skip any steps. I know my way back to a competitive level might take a race or two, but I certainly intend on on getting back to where I was before.”

It going to be a while before fellow U.S. star Mikaela Shiffrin returns, as she explained on Instagram:

“Had a little unexpected surgery on Thursday evening [12th] after feeling a bit under the weather. Turns out I had a little cavity deeper than the wound tract that was filled with old hematoma and wasn’t properly draining with wound vac or normal packing…so we went in to wash it out and close it with sutures and a little JP drain to keep the drainage flowing.

“So that’s that for now…will share more updates as we know more about what the next bunch of weeks have in store. So thankful for all of the wonderful care and support I’ve received!”

Shiffrin crashed on the second run of the Giant Slalom in Killington, Vermont on 30 November and has been getting treatment since.

● Badminton ● China scored three wins at the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou (CHN), with Yu Qi Shi (CHN) taking the men’s Singles from Anders Antonsen (DEN), 21-18, 21-14, and Zhi Yi Wang (CHN) winning the women’s Singles from Yue Han (CHN), 19-21, 21-19, 21-11.

Si Wei Zheng and Ya Qiong Huang (CHN) won the Mixed Doubles from Tang Jie Chen and Ee Wei Toh (MAS), 21-18, 14-21, 21-17.

In the men’s Doubles, Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen (DEN) got a 21-17, 17-21, 21-11 victory over Sze Fei Goh and Nur Izzuddin (MAS), and Ha Na Baek and So Hee Lee (KOR) swept aside Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida (JPN) in the women’s Doubles by 21-19, 21-14.

● Biathlon ● Five-time IBU World Cup champion Johannes Thinges Boe swept both men’s IBU World Cup events in Hochfilzen (AUT), first taking the 10 km Sprint in 24:23.1 (one penalty), in a Norwegian 1-2, ahead of Sturla Langreid (24:27.3/0). France’s Fabien Claude (24:29.9/0) was third, and American Campbell Wright was 10th (25:04.2/0).

Boe then won Saturday’s 12.5 km Pursuit in a tight finish over Emilien Jacquelin (FRA) and Laegreid, 32:16.5 (2) to 32:20.0 (1) and 32:20.3 (1). Wright was the top American in 16th.

The French defeated Norway in the men’s 4×7.5 km relay, 1:23:04.3 (10) to 1:23:53.3 (8).

Germany’s Franziska Preuss, the 2015 Worlds Mass Start runner-up, won the women’s 7.5 km Sprint for her second individual World Cup gold in 21:06.0 (1), with France’s Sophie Chauveau (21:13.7/0) second. France’s two-time Worlds relay gold medalist Lou Jeanmonnot won her second race of the season in the 10 km Pursuit in a runaway in 29:48.5 (0), followed by Vanessa Voigt (GER: 30:22.3/3), with Preuss third (30:23.8/3).

Germany won the women’s 4×6 km relay over France, 1:16:13.7 (4) to 1:17:19.4 (13).

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● Four-time Olympic gold medalist Francesco Friedrich (GER) continued through the IBSF World Cup in Sigulda (LAT), taking the Saturday Two-Man races in 1:38.68 with Simon Wulff aboard, ahead of 2023 World Champion Johannes Lochner (GER), with Georg Fleischauer (1:39.03). Frank Del Duca and Carsten Vissering had the top American sled, in 11th (1:40.31).

The Sunday Two-Man racing had Lochner and Jorn Wenzel winning in 1:39.24, winning both runs. Brad Hall (GBR), with brakemen Taylor Lawrence and Greg Cackett on different runs, was second in 1:39.45 and Friedrich and Alexander Schuller ended up third (1:30.54). Del Duca and Charles Volker finished fifth in 1:40.11.

European champion Lisa Buckwitz (GER) won the women’s Monobob in 1:46.89, coming from third to first on the second run, ahead of two-time World Champion Laura Nolte (GER: 1:46.98). The U.S. entries finished sixth (Kaysha Love: 1:47.42), eighth (Elana Meyers Taylor: 1:47.62) and 11th (Kaillie Humphries: 1:47.88).

Olympic champ Nolte (with Leonie Kluwig) took the Two-Woman win in 1:48.59 from teammates Kim Kalicki and Neele Schuten (1:48.70), with the American sled of Love and Jasmine Jones third in 1:49.22. Also for the U.S., Humphries and Emily Renna finished 10th in 1:50.61 and Meyers Taylor and Azaria Hill were 11th in 1:50.75.

In the men’s Skeleton, Britain’s Marcus Wyatt and Matt Weston, who had won seven of the 12 medals this season coming in, went 1-2 and took over for injured Olympic champ Christopher Grotheer (who had won all four races this season), with Wyatt in 1:39.51 and Weston in 1:39.76. Austin Florian was the top American in seventh (1:40.65).

Olympic bronze medalist Kimberley Bos (NED) won her first medal of the season in the women’s racing, winning in 1:42.81, ahead of three-time European champ Janine Flock (AUT: 1:42.97). Mystique Ro was the top American, in seventh (1:43.56).

● Boxing ● More federations have joined with World Boxing, which welcomed Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Jordan, Myanmar and Palestine at its 12 December Executive Board meeting. That’s now 60 federations in all.

Astana (KAZ) was selected to host the 2027 World Elite Championships.

In a related development, the new Asian Boxing continental confederation met for the first time on 12 December, with 20 members, announcing an Olympic Boxing Summit in February 2025 to promote the future of boxing on the Olympic program.

Under the guidance of interim President Pichai Chunhavajira, also the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, has obtained two commercial sponsors for World Boxing, bolstering its finances. Thailand will also open an academy for referees and judges and for technical officials, in Bangkok, next year.

● Cross Country Skiing ● Norway’s four-time World Cup champ Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo extended Norway’s win streak in the FIS World Cup to six races in Saturday’s Freestyle Sprint in Davos (SUI), winning in 2:22.86, ahead of Lucas Chanavant (FRA: 2:24.24) and Norwegian teammate Erik Valnes (2:25.27). Ben Ogden of the U.S. was sixth (2:37.82). Norway also won the Team Sprint over Sweden.

Norway’s Martin Nyenget got his second win of the World Cup season on Sunday in the Classical 20 km, in 55:37.8, well ahead of Iivo Niskanen (FIN: 55:50.9) and Hugo Lapalus (FRA: 56:12.9). Gus Schumacher was the top American, in 21st (57:59.7).

Olympic Sprint champ Jonna Sundling (SWE) took the women’s Freestyle Sprint in 2:44.90, ahead of Norwegians Mathilde Myhrvold (2:47.23) and Julie Myhre (2:47.62). Seasonal leader Jessie Diggins of the U.S. was sixth (2:49.78). Sweden won the women’s Team Sprint over Norway.

Norway’s Astrid Slind got her third medal – and first win – of the season in Sunday’s Classical 20 km in 1:02:38.4, in front of Kerttu Niskanen (FIN: 1:02:48.5) and comebacking Norwegian star Therese Johaug (1:02:51.9). Johaug, back after a five-year retirement, has four medals in five World Cup distances races held so far this season.

Diggins of the U.S. was seventh in 1:04:24.9 and teammate Rosie Brennan was eighth in 1:04:41.8.

● Diving ● Stanford All-American Jack Ryan was the star of the USA Diving Winter Nationals in Bloomington, Indiana, winning three events. He took the 1 m Springboard title at 792.65 over Quentin Henninger (720.05), the 3 m Springboard win with 852.40 in front of Carson Tyler (766.95), with Henninger third (739.60).

Ryan teamed with Henninger to win the 3 m Synchro in 825.72 points, over Joshua Sollenberger and Luke Sitz (378.96). Max Weinrich and Dash Glasberg won the 10 m Synchro at 663.18, and Weinrich took the men’s 10 m platform victory at 587.30 over Maxwell Flory (577.30).

Mia Vallee won the women’s 1 m by 518.50 to 506.75 over Hailey Hernandez, the two-time 2023 Pan Am Games bronze medalist, and Vallee doubled in the 3 m Springboard at 576.65 to 575.95 for Anna Kwong.

Lily White and Bailee Sturgill won the 3 m Synchro at 513.12, over Kyndal Knight and Kwong (497.70).

Paris Olympian Daryn Wright won the women’s Platform title, scoring 655.65 to 575.10 for Anna Lemkin. Lemkin and Lanie Gutch took the Synchro 10 m with 506.64 points.

● Freestyle Skiing ● The FIS World Cup Ski Cross season opener was in Val Thorens (FRA), with Italy’s 2023 World Champion, Simone Deromedis taking Friday’s final from 2023 Worlds runner-up Florian Wilmsmann (GER) and 2019 Worlds bronzer Kevin Drury (CAN). On Saturday, Olympic silver winner Alex Fiva (SUI) took the gold in the final from Adam Kappacher (AUT) and Drury.

Canada’s Marielle Thompson, the 2018 Olympic winner, took the women’s final on Friday, with two-time Olympic bronze medalist Fanny Smith (SUI) second and Olympic bronzer Daniela Meyer (GER) third. India Sherret (CAN) won the second race over Maier and Thompson.

● Luge ● Austria was the big winner at the FIL World Cup in Oberhof (GER), taking three of the four races, including the men’s Singles, as 2023 World Champion Jonas Mueller won in 1:25.321, sweeping both runs. Brothers Nico Gleirscher, the 2024 Worlds runner-up, and David Gleirscher went 2-3 for the Austrian sweep, in 1:25.556 and 1:25.836. Jonny Gustafsson was the top American, in 12th (1:26.601).

Germany’s Hannes Orlamuender and Paul Gubitz won the men’s Doubles in 1:23.275, beating triple Olympic champs Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (1:23.483) and Olympic bronze winner Thomas Steu, now with Wolfgang Kindl (AUT: 1:23.483) got third. Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa had the top American finish, in ninth (1:23.893).

World Champion bronzer Madeleine Egle (AUT) won the women’s Singles, winning both runs in 1:24.019, ahead of teammate Lisa Schulte (1:24.175), with 2021 World Champion Julie Taubitz (GER: 1:24.194) in third. Ashley Farquharson was the top American, in fifth (1:24.426).

Younger sister Selina Egle teamed with Lara Kipp – the reigning World Champions – to win the women’s Doubles in 1:24.844, with two-time World Champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (GER: 1:25.105) second and Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby in third (1:25.576) for their second medal of the season.

● Short Track ● Reigning World Champions figured big in the ISU World Tour in Seoul (KOR), especially for the U.S. and Canada.

Kristen Santos-Griswold, the U.S.’s reigning women’s 1,000 m World Champion, took two races, in the 500 m (43.362) over Canada’s Florence Brunelle (43.511), and then the 1,500 m in 2:27.075 in front of 2023 European runner-up Hanne Desmet (BEL: 2:27.103) and fellow American Corinne Stoddard (2:27.290).

World 1,500 m champ Gil-li Kim of South Korea won the women’s 1,000 m in 1:30.884, ahead of Danae Blais (CAN: 1:31.010) and Santos-Griswold (1:31.161). Canada won the 3,000 m relay.

Canada’s William Dandjinou, the 2024 World Champion at 1,000 m, won that race in 1:24.548 over Jens van’t Wout (NED: 1:24.741) and also won the 1,500 m in 2:14.313 over 2023 World Champion Ji-won Park (2:14.738). Fellow Canadian and triple Olympic medalist Steven Dubois took the men’s 500 m in 41.681 over countryman (and 2024 Worlds bronzer) Jordan Pierre-Gilles (41.579); American Brandon Kim was fifth (56.813). China won the men’s 5,00 m relay.

The 2,000 m Mixed Relay went to Korea (2:38.036).

● Ski Jumping ● The career year continues for Germany’s Pius Paschke, who won his fourth event of the season at the FIS World Cup in Titisee-Neustadt (GER). Off the 142 m hill, he won both rounds to pile up 294.1 points, ahead of Gregor Deschwarden (SUI: 287.7) and Daniel Tschofenig (AUT: 281.7).

On Sunday, Paschke did it again, scoring 290.4 to win over Michael Hayboeck (AUT: 290.0) and Kristoffer Sundal (NOR: 284.7).

Paschke and Andreas Wellinger teamed up for Germany to win the team event, 873.3 to 850.0 over Austria.

In the women’s World Cup in Zhangjiakou (CHN), two-time Olympic silver medalist Katharina Schmid (GER) scored 237.0 points off the 106 m hill to win over Eirin Kvandal (NOR: 210.0).

Schmid doubled up on Sunday for her third World Cup win in a row with 221.1 points, winning both jumps, over 2021 World Champion Ema Klinec (SLO: 208.9) and Lisa Eder (AUT: 200.6).

● Ski Mountaineering ● The ISMF World Cup season opener was in Courchevel (FRA), with familiar faces in front once again.

The 2023 men’s World Champion in the Sprint, Spain’s Oriol Cardona Coll, won his specialty in 2:45.1, just ahead of Arno Lietha (SUI: 2:45.8). In the Vertical race, 2023 World Champion Remi Bonnet (SUI) was the dominant winner in 19:47.9, with teammate Aurelien Gay (SUI) a distant second in 21:38.2, and Xavier Gachet (FRA) third in 21:45.7.

In the women’s Sprint, four-time national champion Emily Harrop (FRA) was a decisive winner in 3:14.7, well ahead of Marianne Fatton (SUI: 3:22.6). Five-time World Champion Axelle Gachet Mollaret (FRA) won the women’s Vertical in 25:30.0, with Harrop second in 25:42.9, and Sarah Dreier (AUT: 25:57.5) in third.

● Snowboard ● Bulgaria’s Radoslav Yankov won his fourth career FIS World Cup gold in the Parallel Giant Slalom in Carezza (ITA) on Thursday, beating Tim Mastnak (SLO) in the final. Mastnak got his second medal of the season after winning in Yanqing.

Italy got a win in the women’s final from Jasmin Coratti, beating Aleksandra Krol-Walas (POL).

At Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA) on Saturday, the men’s Parallel Giant Slalom went to Daniele Bagozza over Italian teammate Aaron March in the final. For Bagozza, it’s his seventh individual career World Cup gold.

Sabine Payer (AUT), the 2023 Worlds bronzer in the Parallel Slalom, took the women PGS over Krol-Walas, as Coratti got the bronze.

In the season opener for Snow Cross in Cervinia (ITA), Austrian Jakob Dusek won the men’s race over Cameron Bolton (AUS) and Lorenzo Sommariva (ITA). France’s Lia Casta, 18, took the women’s final for her first World Cup gold, ahead of Australia’s 2023 Worlds silver winner Josie Baff.

● Squash ● At the WSF World Teams Championships in Hong Kong, Egypt continued as the true power in this event, winning both the men’s and women’s titles again.

The men’s final matched Egypt and England once again, for the sixth straight time – going back to 2011, and the Egyptians won their fourth consecutive title by 2-0, now winning six of the last seven titles.

Egypt came in as the three-time defending women’s champions, in a re-match with the U.S. from 2022, and won again by 2-0 for their fourth title in a row and six of the last eight.

Squash has been added to the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

● Weightlifting ● The 2024 IWF World Championships in Manama (BRN) concluded with North Korea finishing on top, winning nine of the 20 classes and 16 medals (9-5-2) overall, China was second at nine medals (4-2-3), ahead of Iran (4: 0-1-3).

In the men’s heavier classes, Kazakhstan’s Artyom Antropov won the men’s 102 kg class, lifting a combined total of 400 kg to finish just ahead of Tokyo Olympic 96 kg winner Fares El-Bakh (QAT: 399 kg). Ryan Sesler of the U.S. was 11th (366 kg). At 109 kg, Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Nurudinov won at 424 kg, including a world-record 242 kg in the Clean & Jerk. It’s his third Worlds gold, after wins in 2013 (105 kg) and 2022 (109 kg). Dadash Dadashbayli (AZE) was second at 400 kg. Kolbi Ferguson of the U.S. was eighth (381 kg).

In the super-heavy category at +109 kg, Varazdat Lalayan (ARM) – Paris silver winner at 102 kg – won the Snatch and was third in the Clean & Jerk to triumph with a 467 kg total, ahead of Tokyo silver medalist Ali Davoudi (IRI: 459 kg). Aaron Williams of the U.S. was seventh (401 kg).

China swept the higher weights in the women’s division, with 2023 World 71 kg winner Guifang Liao taking the 81 kg gold with 278 kg, well ahead of Paris runner-up Sara Ahmed (EGY: 262 kg). American Mariah Park was 10th (231 kg).

At 87 kg, Yan Wu was the winner at 272 kg, winning all three segments, with Australian Eileen Cikamatana taking silver at 257 kg. Kayla Kass was the top American, in 15th (226 kg). The +87 kg division saw a win for Yan Li (CHN), who got a world record in the Snatch at 149 kg, , won the Clean & Jerk at 175 kg and took the overall gold at 324 kg. South Korea’s Hye-jeong Park lifted 295 kg combined for silver.

The U.S. finished with just the one gold for Olivia Reeves in the women’s 71 kg class.

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SWIMMING: Six more world records as Short-Course Worlds closes with U.S. winning 39 medals and Walsh with 11 world records! Yowsah!

By
Rich Perelman
-
She’s a superstar now: American Gretchen Walsh won five individual golds and was part of 11 world records! (Photo: World Aquatics)

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≡ WORLD 25 m CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

The record-breaking did not stop on the final day of the World Aquatics 25 m (short-course) Championships in Budapest (HUN), with six more world records:

● Men/200 m Freestyle: 1:38.61, Luke Hobson (USA)
● Men/4×100 m Medley: 3:18.68, Russia [Neutral Athletes B] (Miron Lifintsev, Kirill Prigoda, Andrei Minakov, Egor Kornev)

● Women/50 m Freestyle: 22.83, Gretchen Walsh (USA)
● Women/100 m Backstroke: 54.02, Regan Smith (USA; relay lead-off)
● Women/200 m Backstroke: 1:58.04, Regan Smith (USA)
● Women/4×100 m Medley: 3:40.41, United States (Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass)

Just as on Saturday, Walsh opened the finals with another world record – her ninth of this meet – in the women’s 50 m Free final, leading teammate Douglass at the turn by 0.12 and finishing in 22.83, bettering her own mark of 22.87 from the semis. Douglass was second at 23.05 and Kasia Wasick (POL) took the bronze at 23.37.

Smith completed an impressive sweep of the 50-100-200 Backs with a second world record, winning the 200 m Back in 1:58.04, taking down her 1:58.83 from the Singapore World Cup in early November. She led from start to finish and was a huge winner over Canadian star Summer McIntosh, second in 1:59.96 – a World Junior Record – with fellow American Phoebe Bacon in fourth (2:00.76).

Luke Hobson of the U.S. had already set the world record in the men’s 200 m Free from his 1:38.91 lead-off leg on the gold-medal-winning 4×200 m Free Relay, but he lowered it in the final of the 200 m Free to 1:38.61, taking the lead by the 75 m mark. Hobson, 21, finished well clear of Maximillian Giuliani (AUS: 1:40.36) and Lucas Henveaux (BEL: 1:41.13). Fellow American Kieran Smith was fifth in 1:41.57.

The U.S. women wrapped up the meet with another world record in the 4×100 m Medley, with Smith, Lilly King, Walsh and Douglass steaming to a 3:40.41 time, utterly destroying the old mark of 3:44.35 by the U.S. from 2022. Smith rocketed from the start and touched in 54.02 for her 100 m Back leg, breaking her own record of 54.27 from the Singapore World Cup on 1 November, and her second world mark of the day!

To be clear, Smith won all three Backstrokes and set world records in all three events!

Great Britain was a distant second in 3:47.84 and China was third in 3:47.93.

In the men’s 4×100 m Medley, the U.S. had the early lead from Shaine Casas, but dropped to third on the Breaststroke leg with Michael Andrew and on Butterfly from Dare Rose. Jack Alexy got the Americans up to second with a furious 44.53 final leg to finish in 3:19.03, but the Russian back half of Andrei Minakov and Egor Kornev made the “Neutral Athletes B” team clear winners in a world record of 3:18.68. That broke the 3:18.98 mark from 2022, shared by Australia and the U.S.

Defending champion Jordan Crooks (CAY) broke the 20-second barrier with his spectacular 19.90 in the semis of the men’s 50 m Free, but was a little slower in the final, winning easily in 20.19. Brazil’s Guilherme Santos moved up from third to second on the final lap in 20.57, followed by Americans Alexy (20.61) and Chris Guiliano (20.78).

China’s Haiyang Qin got his second gold of the meet, taking the men’s 50 m Breast in 25.42, well ahead of co-silver medalists Emre Sakci (TUR) and Russian “neutral” Kirill Prigoda, both in 25.56. Qin also won the 100 m Breast title.

Olympic 200 m Back champ Hubert Kos (HUN) won the men’s 200 Back in 1:45.65, just missing the world record by 0.02, but getting a European and meet record in the process. A distant second was Lorenzo Mora (1:48.96); American Jack Aikins was fifth (1:50.60).

World-record holder Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong won her third straight title in the women’s 200 m Free, touching in 1:50.62, within 0.31 of her 2021 mark of 1:50.31. Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey got a national record of 1:51.49 in second, passing American Claire Weinstein on the final lap. Weinstein got the bronze and a second World Junior Record on the day – she’s 17 – of 1:51.62. Australian star Lani Pallister, the 800 m Free winner, was fourth (1:51.75) and American Paige Madden (1:52.93) was sixth.

The world-record holder and defending champion in the women’s 50 m Breast, Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, was a convincing winner in 28.54, well ahead of Qianting Tang (CHN: 28.86 and American star King (28.91). For King, it was her 13rh career World Short-Course Champ medal (6-6-1).

The final medal table had the U.S. with an overwhelming performance with 39 medals (18-13-8), ahead of Canada (15: 4-5-6), Australia (12: 2-5-5) and the Russians – as “Neutral Athletes B” – with 10 medals (6-4-0). This is the most medals a U.S. team has won since the 2004 World Short-Course Champs in Indianapolis (41: 21-10-10), and the second-highest total ever. Wow.

The assault on the record books was epic: 30 world marks were set in 22 events. The women had 20 marks in 15 events and the U.S. had 17 of those. Among the men, 10 records in seven events, with the U.S. getting four of those.

Walsh was the star of the meet, no doubt, with five individual wins, two relay wins, nine individual world records and two more on relays. Her individual world records alone earned her $225,000 in record bonuses!

But Smith’s meet cannot be skipped: a sweep of the Backstrokes, world records in each and another world record – personally and for the team – in the Medley Relay. And what about McIntosh: three wins, all in world-record times and a World Junior Record behind Smith in the 200 m Back! And McIntosh – still 18 – won golds in Freestyle, Butterfly and the Medley, plus a Backstroke silver. Is there anything she can’t do?

The men’s meet had fewer records, but had the first sub-20 in the 50 m Free for Crooks and Swiss star Ponti won three events and got and got world records in two of them.

Crazy. Unbelievable. Stunning. Sure, only short-course, but this was almost incomprehensible. The 2025 World Championships – long course! – will be in Singapore starting on 11 July. Can’t wait!

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SWIMMING: Two more world records for Gretchen Walsh, a third for Summer McIntosh and six in all at 25 m Worlds!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Eight individual world records (so far) for U.S, star Gretchen Walsh at the World Short-Course Champs! (Photo: World Aquatics)

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≡ WORLD 25 m CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

The onslaught of world records at the 2024 World Aquatics 25 m (short-course) Championships continued on Saturday, with six more marks, including two more from American star Gretchen Walsh:

● Men/50 m Freestyle: 20.08, Jordan Crooks (CAY) in heat 10
● Men/50 m Freestyle: 19.90, Jordan Crooks (CAY) in semi 2
● Men/100 m Butterfly: 47.71, Noe Ponti (SUI)

● Women/50 m Freestyle: 22.87, Gretchen Walsh (USA) in semi 2
● Women/ 100 m Butterfly: 52.71, Gretchen Walsh (USA)
● Women/400 m Medley: 4:15.48, Summer McIntosh (CAN)

Walsh won her fourth individual event on Saturday, opening with a third world record in the women’s 100 m Fly in 52.71, dropping her own mark of 52.87 from the semifinals. This was the first meet she had ever tried the event and she got three world records in three rounds of swimming. A distant second was Tessa Giele (NED) in 54.66.

Walsh came back to get another world record in the semifinals of the women’s 50 m Free, touching in 22.87 in the second semi, taking down Dutch star Ranomi Kromowidjojo’s 22.93 from 2017 (and she received her gold medal from Kromo in the victory ceremony!). Fellow American Kate Douglass was the no. 2 qualifier, winning semi one in 23.35. The final is on Sunday.

Walsh’s world records in these events also had world marks on the men’s side!

The men’s 100 m Fly was the second world record of the meet for Swiss Noe Ponti, already the 50 m Fly and 100 m Medley winner, in 47.71, eclipsing American Caeleb Dressel’s 47.70 mark from 2020. Ponti won easily, with Maxime Grousset (FRA: 48.57) second; Dare Rose of the U.S. was eighth in 49.37.

In the men’s 50 m Free semis, Jordan Crooks of the Cayman Islands – third in the 100 m Free – raced to a world record in the morning heats at 20.08, removing Dressel’s 20.16 from 2020. Then Crooks went wild in the semis, becoming the first to break 20 seconds, at 19.90 in semi two. He’s the overwhelming favorite in Sunday’s final. Jack Alexy of the U.S., the 100 Free winner, won semi one in 20.51.

Canada’s McIntosh had already won the women’s 400 m Free and 200 m Fly in world-record times, and added her best event, the 400 m Medley with another world mark of 4:15.48. She destroyed the 2017 mark of 4:18.94 by Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia and won by 4.66 seconds over American Katie Grimes (4:20.14). Incredible, frankly.

The men’s 400 m Free final went to Russian “neutral” Ilia Borodin in 3:56.83, ahead of American Carson Foster (3:5745); Trenton Julian of the U.S. was eighth in 4:05.81. The men’s 800 m Free was won by Zalan Sarknay (HUN) in 7:30.56, beating German star Florian Wellbrock (7:31.90).

The final event of the session was new for these championships, a Mixed 4×100 m Medley, with no official world record to be set, but a world’s best time. The Russian “neutral” team got control of the race early, with Miron Lifintsev, Kirill Prigoda, Arina Surkova and Daria Klepikova winning in 3:30.47.

The U.S. was eighth after the first two legs from Regan Smith and Lilly King, and eighth after Rose finished on the Fly leg. But Alexy moved hard on the Free leg (44.63!) and closed to within 0.08, but not quite enough.

Smith’s opening 100 m Back leg was timed in 54.19 and as an opening leg (from a standard start), is faster than her world mark of 54.27 and should be recognized. But there was no notation on the official results, or the records lists.

So, only one more day to do in this record-shattering meet, with the U.S. now at 30 medals (14-11-5), ahead of Canada (13: 4-3-6) and Australia (11: 2-4-5). And Walsh will be back in action in the women’s 40 m Free and the Medley Relay!

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SWIMMING: U.S. on fire, as Walsh (3), Smith, Douglass, U.S. 4×2 Free (2) get seven world records in one session at 25 m Worlds!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Why not smile? Kate Douglass gets another world record at the World Aquatics 25 m Champs! (Photo: World Aquatics)

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ WORLD 25 m CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

There were many star swimmers who skipped this year’s World Aquatics 25 m (short-course) Championships. So the meet is making bigger stars out of Americans Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass and Regan Smith.

Those three set five world (short-course) records on Friday while the U.S. men’s relay also got into the action (twice):

● Men/200 m Freestyle: 1:38.91, Luke Hobson (USA) ~ relay lead-off
● Men/4×200 m Freestyle: 6:40.51. United States (Luke Hobson, Carson Foster, Shaine Casas, Kieran Smith)
● Women/50 m Backstroke: 25.23, Regan Smith (USA)
● Women/200 m Breaststroke: 2:12.50, Kate Douglass (USA)
● Women/100 m Butterfly: 53.24, Gretchen Walsh (USA) ~ in heats
● Women/100 m Butterfly: 52.87, Gretchen Walsh (USA) ~ in semis
● Women/100 m Medley: 55.11, Gretchen Walsh (USA)

In the morning heats, Walsh crushed the 2022 World 100 Fly Record of 54.05 by Maggie Mac Neil (CAN) in the women’s 100 m Fly, touching in 53.24 and finishing almost 2 1/2 seconds ahead of the next fastest qualifier! It was her first race at the distance in short-course meters. Unbelievable.

She then improved in the evening semifinals, winning the second semi in 52.87, mauling her own mark and dropping more than a second off Mac Neil’s record in a single day.

Less than 30 minutes later, Walsh was back in the pool for the 100 Medley final and scored again, winning the gold and improving her own record from the semis from 55.71 to 55.11! It’s Walsh’s third world mark in this event since October, and her sixth world record of the meet, which means she has collected $150,000 (so far) in individual world-record bonuses, plus a share of the U.S. women’s record in the 4×100 m Free relay. This is amazing.

Teammate Kate Douglass came in second, in 56.49, with Beryl Gastaldello (FRA: 56.67) in third. Douglass was coming back for her second event, after she won the 200 m Breast, also in world-record time at 2:12.50m taking down her earlier 2:12.72 from the Singapore World Cup at the start of November.

It’s also Douglass’ second world record of the meet, after her 2:01.63 in the women’s 200 m Medley! Russian Evgenia Chikunova was a distant second (as a “neutral”) in 2:16.83, ahead of Alex Walsh of the U.S., who won bronze in 2:16.83.

Two races later, Mac Neil lost another world record, as American star Regan Smith took the women’s 50 m Back in 25.23, an 0.02 improvement on Mac Neil’s 25.25 from the 2022 Short-Course Worlds. She was followed by teammate Katharine Berkoff in 25.61 for the silver, and Kylie Masse (CAN: 25.78) got the bronze.

Jillian Cox of the U.S. had the fastest time of 15:41.29 in slower heats of the women’s 1,500 m, but that ended up good enough for bronze, as the “faster” race had only two who bettered her time: Paris bronze medalist Isabel Gose (GER: 15:24.69) and Simona Quadarella (ITA: 15:30.14).

The U.S. did get a shock as the team of Michael Andrew, Matt King, Claire Weinstein and Alex Shackell finished ninth in 1:31.06 in the heats of the Mixed 4×50 m Freestyle and did not advance to the final. Italy won the final in 1:28.50, ahead of Canada (1:28.60).

However, the men’s 4×200 m Freestyle team of Hobson, Foster, Casas and Kieran Smith won in 6:40.51, crushing the U.S. mark of 6:44.12 from the 2022 short-course Worlds. Wow. Australia was second, but way back in 6:45.54. Another $25,000 to be split four ways.

Hobson got another world mark for himself as the lead-off man, touching in 1:38.91, breaking the 1:39.37 mark by German Paul Biedermann from way back in 2009!

Swiss Noe Ponti, already with two world records here, set a meet record to win the men’s 100 Medley in 50.33, ahead of Bernhard Reitshammer (AUT: 51.11). Andrew was fourth in 51.37.

Russia’s Miron Lifintsev won his second event of the meet in the men’s 50 Back in a world junior record of 22.47. Spain’s Carles Coll Marti, who swims at Virginia Tech, won the men’s 200 m Breast in 2:01.55, with the U.S.’s A.J. Pouch in sixth (2:02.84).

The medal table shows the U.S. with 18 total medals (9-6-3) to nine for Canada (3-2-4) and seven for Australia (2-2-3). The meet closes on Sunday. Will the U.S. still be in Dreamland?

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PANORAMA: L.A. City Council directs 63%+ hotel worker raise by 2028, with LA28 impacts; Ellison, Stutzman up for World Archery Awards

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-3 on Wednesday, directing the City Attorney to prepare ordinances to increase the minimum wage for “tourism workers” from the current $18.78 to $19.73 per hour to $22.50 in February 2025, $25.00 in 2026, $27.50 by 2027 and $30.00 by 2028.

City News Service reported that “The Living Wage Ordinance applies to city contractors and ensures that employees are paid a set living wage, setting a cash wage rate and health-related benefits. The Hotel Workers Minimum Wage ordinance requires hotel employers with 60 or more guest rooms to pay their employees the specified minimum wage and provide 96 compensated hours of off time, and at least 80 additional hours of uncompensated time off per year.”

The report also noted a letter from the Hotel Association of Los Angeles sent to the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee that included:

“These increases constitute an approximately 70% increase in wage and health benefits costs to hotels in 2025. By the time of the 2028 Olympics, the increase will be close to 100%.

“To put it plainly, this staggering increase in costs makes it infeasible for most if not all signatory hotels to participate in LA28’s hotel room block.”

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The official sports schedule for the 2026 Winter Games was disseminated this week and skiing and snowboard star Ester Ledecka (CZE) is not happy.

The surprise winner of the 2018 PyeongChang women’s Super-G gold medal, she has also won the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom gold in 2018 and 2022. Now, the  2026 Olympic schedule shows that the women’s Alpine Downhill and the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom are on the same day – 8 February – with the PGS qualifying starting at 9:00 a.m. at the Livigno Snow Park in Valtellina and the Downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo at 11:30 a.m., about 200 miles east.

Ledecka is readying for the Alpine World Cup Downhill and Super-G at Beaver Creek, Colorado this weekend and said she has asked the Czech Olympic Committee for assistance:

“It’s like someone has broken your dream. So please change it. Please, please, please. It’s my biggest dream to do both. I can create a great show for people.”

● Archery ● Nominees for the World Archery Awards were announced, with eight Americans nominated.

Paris Olympic runner-up Brady Ellison was nominated in the men’s Recurve division, Paris Olympic Mixed Team bronzer Casey Kaufhold in the women’s Recurve division; James Lutz and Sawyer Sullivan in men’s Compound (and Sullivan in the Breakthrough category).

Paralympic Compound champion Matt Stutzman was nominated in the Para men’s category, along with Jason Tabansky, and Tracy Otto in the women’s Para. Fans can vote through 10 January.

● Cycling ● The use of inhaled carbon monoxide as a optimizer for altitude training is now under attack by the Union Cycliste Internationale, which “will propose to its Management Committee that the use of carbon monoxide (CO) by riders be banned on medical grounds.

“The decision will be made by the executive body of the Federation at its next meeting, which will take place in Arras, France, on 31 January and 1 February 2025. …

“Its use in a medical setting, by qualified medical personnel, and within the strict context of assessing total hemoglobin mass, would, however, remain authorised.”

● Weightlifting ● North Korea took a ninth gold at the IWF World Championships in Manama (BRN), with Kuk-hyang Song taking the women’s 76 kg and winning all three segments, with 116 kg in the Snatch, 148 in the Clean & Jerk and 264 kg in total. Colombia’s Miyareth Mendoza was a distant second at 248 kg.

Four-time Worlds silver medalist Mattie Rogers of the U.S. failed on her three Snatch attempts and did not place.

Kazak Nurgissa Adiletuly won the men’s 96 kg class at 388 kg, placing fourth in the Snatch and second in the Clean & Jerk to edge Georgia’s Revaz Davitadze (387 kg) and Iran’s Ali Alipour (also 387 kg).

With six classes left, the North Koreans have won nine golds and 14 medals, with China a very distant second at six medals (1-2-3). The championships close on Sunday.

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PARIS 2024: Organizing committee budget shows a financial surplus, by about €26.8 million, as Estanguet exits

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Olympic Rings on the Eiffel Tower (Photo: Ibex73 via Wikipedia)

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≡ OLYMPIC GAMES 2024 ≡

The Paris 2024 organizing committee reported to its board on Thursday that its seven-year effort to stage the Olympic and Paralympic Games ended with a modest financial surplus.

The initial summary reports indicate that the organizing committee ended with a surplus of about €26.8 million, or about $28.1 million U.S., thanks to strong ticket sales revenues.

There were three primary revenue drivers (€1 = $1.05 U.S.):

● €1.489 billion: tickets and hospitality
● €1.238 billion: domestic sponsorships
● €1.228 billion: International Olympic Committee contribution
● €204.1 million: Public funds (for Paralympics)

The total was €4.480 billion, or 1.3% higher than the €4.397 expected at the last budget check in March of this year. The ticketing and hospitality sales were remarkable with a record total of about 12.1 million tickets sold, and an outstanding 17.2% rise over the €1.270 billion target.

(Ticket sales were €1.333 billion with another €156 million from hospitality sales.)

The organizing committee’s costs came to €4.453 billion vs. an expectation of €4.397 billion in March, and so there was €26.8 million left over from the organizing committee’s side.

These figures do not include the state funding for building projects, handled by the SOLIDEO government subsidiary, of €3.2 billion, which was sufficient to complete all of the projects on time. However, additional public support for a deficit – of about €30 million – will now not be needed.

The split of the €26.8 million surplus is to go three ways according to the agreement with the IOC:

● 60% or €16.08 million for sports programs in France
● 20% or €5.36 million to the CNOSF (National Olympic Committee)
● 20% or €5.36 million to the IOC

The Paris 2024 report pointed out that the costs had risen since the bid projections had been made in 2016, but revenues increased even more (dollar amounts shown from the IOC evaluation report):

● $3.964 billion in bid revenue projections
● $4.704 billion actual revenue: +18.7%

● $3.964 billion in bid expense projections
● $4.676 billion in actual expense: +17.9%

Paris 2024 finance director Patrice Lacroix explained that the increase in expenses  from the bid was due to multiple factors, including staging the opening on the Seine River, the addition of four sports and the nation-wide promotional campaign “Terre des Jeux” and … inflation. Lacroix said, “From 2023, the shock was enormous; between 300 and 400 million euros.”

With the financial surplus reported – the ultimate happy ending – Paris 2024 organizing committee chief Tony Estanguet announced his resignation, and will take a well-earned rest. The organizing committee itself will wind up in mid-2025, after the settlement of all accounts, distribution of materials and the assembly of its official report.

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SWIMMING: Wins for Alexy, Walsh and 4×2 relay, two world records and eight medals for U.S. at Short-Course Worlds!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Unstoppable: American star Gretchen Walsh (Photo: USA Swimming).

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≡ WORLD 25 m CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

The wave of record performances continued on Thursday at the World Aquatics 25 m (short-course) Championships in Budapest (HUN), with three world marks amid a torrent of great U.S. performances:

● Women/200 m Butterfly: 1:59.32, Summer McIntosh (CAN)
● Women/100 m Medley: 55.71, Gretchen Walsh (in semis)
● Women/4×200 m Freestyle: 7:30.13, United States (Alex Walsh, Paige Madden, Katie Grimes, Claire Weinstein)

Walsh led off Thursday’s finals with her second individual gold with a 50.31 American Record in the women’s 100 m Free, breaking her own mark of 50.49 from the semifinals, and just 0.06 from the world mark. Teammate Kate Douglass was second for much of the race, but France’s Beryl Gasteldallo came home hardest and got second, 50.63 to 50.73.

Walsh returned for the semis of the 100 m Medley and cruised through the second semi, setting another world record of 55.71, slashing her October mark of 55.98. Douglass won the first semi in 56.88; the final is Friday.

American sprint star Jack Alexy won the men’s 100 m Free in 45.38, trailing teammate Chris Guiliano at the halfway point, but moving into the lead on the third lap and touching the clear winner. Guilherme Santos (BRA: 45.47) and Jordan Crooks (CAY:45.48) passed Guiliano coming home, and Guiliano had to settle for fourth (45.51).

The U.S. quartet of Alex Walsh, Paige Madden, Katie Grimes and Claire Weinstein combined for a win and another world record in the final event, the women’s 4×200 m Freestyle, winning in 7:30.13, with Weinstein blowing the race open on the final leg (1:50.31). They crushed the Australian mark of 7:30.87 from the 2022 Worlds in the process, finishing ahead of Hungary (7:33.39) and Australia (7:33.60).

Canada’s McIntosh powered to a second gold in the meet with a brilliant world record of 1:59.32 in the women’s 200 m fly final, and crushed the 1:59.61 mark from Mireia Belmonte Garcia (ESP) from 2014. U.S. star Regan Smith was a solid second in an American Record of 2:01.00, breaking Kelsi Dahlia’s 2:01.73 standard from 2018. Fellow American Alex Shackell was fourth in 2:03.23.

Ilya Kharun of Canada followed with his own win in the men’s 200 m Fly in 1:48.24, to equal the meet record, a clear winner over Alberto Razzetti (1:48.64), with American Trenton Julian in fifth (1:50.51). Kharun moves to equal-second all-time in the event.

China’s Qianting Tang, the 2021 winner, won the women’s 100 m Breast final over defending champ Lilly King of the U.S., 1:02.38 to 1:02.80. And China won the men’s 100 Breast with Haiyang Qin (55.47) winning his first short-course Worlds gold.

Australian Elijah Winnington came from third at the 300 m mark and took the men’s 400 m Free final in 3:35.89, with Americans Kieran Smith and Carson Foster tying for the silver in 3:36.31.

After three of six days, the U.S. had 13 medals (7-3-3) to nine for Canada (3-2-4) and five for Australia (1-2-2); the meet concludes on Sunday.

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PANORAMA: U.S. weightlifting star Reeves takes Worlds 71 kg gold; Lake Placid is back-up for Cortina sliding track!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Women’s Olympic and World 71 kg Champion Olivia Reeves of the U.S. (Photo: IWF).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● The Paris organizers said they met their goal of reducing the CO2 emissions related to the Games by 54% compared to London 2012 and Rio 2016. The event created 1.59 million tons of CO2, which was offset by projects outside of the Games financed by the organizers.

As usual, participant and especially fan travel was a huge factor. Expected to account for about 30% of the overall impact, it resulted in 53% of the total. Georgina Grenon, the Paris 2024 environmental director noted the Games should not be called “carbon-neutral”:

“It can give the impression that there is no impact when there is an impact. There was an impact but we treated it and, most of all, we reduced it.”

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The New York Olympic Regional Development Authority in Lake Placid said Wednesday that it has begun a “targeted dialogue” with the Milan Cortina organizers as the back-up site in case the under-construction sliding track in Cortina d’Ampezzo is not finished in time.

ORDA spokeswoman Darcy Rowe Norfolk explained, “So now we’re going to dig in and start to detail out the proposal to formalize a plan, and that will take obviously more dialogue with Milano-Cortina, as well as our partners here to further that.”

Lake Placid was competing with Innsbruck (AUT) and St. Moritz (SUI) as possible options. Although the construction effort in Cortina is on target, Norfolk noted:

“[T]he IOC did step in, and wanted to ensure that they had a backup. Because obviously, back then when we proposed, there wasn’t a construction company in place nor had they even started construction. The feedback that we are getting from them (now) is that they are progressing rapidly and they’re confident in the work and that it will be completed on time.”

The Mount Van Hoevenberg site has been a popular World Cup site for bobsled, luge and skeleton for decades, and was the Olympic site for sliding sports in 1932 and 1980.

● International Olympic Committee ● Federation Internationale de Gymnastique chief Morinari Watanabe (JPN), one of seven candidates for the IOC Presidency next March, told Reuters that the IOC needs to modify its marketing offer to attract more sponsors to the Games.

Three Japan-based sponsors – Bridgestone, Panasonic and Toyota – declined to renew their IOC sponsorships following the Paris Games. Watanabe said:

“Many Japanese companies want to sponsor for the Olympic Games because Olympic Games there’s great value for the company. They want to support, but of course they need value.

“What can they get for benefits? So far the balance is not good. A lot of money is paid but they cannot get the [return in] benefits. This is a problem. …

“We can use the five rings, $200 million, $300 million; this is not value. If [for the] same money, if I am a company president, OK, if [for the] same money, please support football, because we have [in-stadium] advertising.”

He doubled down:

“We must change the marketing system. This current marketing system, ‘OK, you can use the five rings and give me 200 million or 300 million’ cannot continue.”

As for the future management of the IOC:

“Many people want to be involved for the IOC decisions, because we are a sports family. But the [IOC] Executive Board is too strong. Many things are decided only by board members or the president. This is not so good.

“IOC must respect international federations and National Olympic Committees. Now the IOC is very strong. NOCs and IFs must be more together because now it is a bit like [being] instructed.”

● Alpine Skiing ● Comebacking American ski star Lindsey Vonn will rejoin the FIS Alpine World Cup circuit, but only as a forerunner for this week.

Vonn is a forerunner this week at Beaver Creek in Colorado, for the women’s World Cup training and racing on the famed “Birds of Prey” Downhill and Super-G courses. She said after Wednesday’s runs:

“I felt really good physically out there today. I definitely skied conservatively. Very soon I’ll make a decision [on World Cup skiing], but not today.

“I have to be patient. It is definitely not my strong suit. But I’m trying. I have a partial knee replacement. I know I’m not going to be winning World Cups right off the bat, but I know what I’m capable of. … I’m really close to being in a really good spot.”

● Football ● The Visit Seattle tourism promotion group posted a projection on Tuesday that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will bring an economic impact of $929 million to King County:

“Visit Seattle projects a minimum of $929 million will be generated for King County over the six World Cup matches set to take place at Seattle’s Lumen Field between June and July of 2026. This projection includes more than $100 million in direct state and local tax revenue and anticipates 20,762 full-time and part-time jobs will be supported.”

The study was done by Pennsylvania-based Tourism Economics and neither any details or the report were shared. An update is due after the matches are set in December 2025.

● Taekwondo ● Brazil won the four-a-side World Taekwondo World Cup Mixed Team Championship, in Wuxi (CHN), with a 2-1 victory in the gold-medal final over China. The bronze went to Uzbekistan, a 2-0 winner over South Korea.

● Weightlifting ● Olympic women’s 71 kg champion Olivia Reeves added to her trophy case with an impressive gold-medal performance at the IWF World Championships in Manama (BRN).

Reeves, still just 21, was second in the Snatch at 120 kg, making all three tries and finishing just one kilogram short of the world record, which was tied by China’s Qiuxia Yang at 121 kg. Then Reeves won the Clean & Jerk segment at 147 kg, missing it on her second try, but making it on her third.

That gave her a total of 267 kg for her first Worlds gold, ahead of Chun-hui Jong (PRK: 262 kg) and Yang (261 kg). Fellow American Meredith Alwine was eighth at 233 kg combined.

Reeves’ win not only made her the first American to win an Olympic and Worlds gold in the same year, but stopped a string of four straight women’s weight class wins for North Korea.

The North Korean men’s streak of four straight wins ended with Bulgaria’s Karlos Nasar, the Paris 2024 winner at 89 kg, taking his second Worlds gold by breaking his own combined world record at 405 kg.

Nasar, 20, won in Paris with a world record of 404 kg, and equaled his own world mark in the Snatch at 183 kg and then won the Clean & Jerk at 222 kg, two short of his world record of 224 from Paris.

North Korea’s Kwang-ryol Ro was second (380 kg combined); Brandon Victorian was the top American, in 12th (345 kg).

North Korea continues to lead with 13 medals (8-5-0); the Championships continue through Sunday.

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SWIMMING: Another world record for Ponti; Smith and Walsh take U.S. golds at World Short-Course Champs

By
Rich Perelman
-
A world title and another world record for Swiss Butterfly ace Noe Ponti! (Photo: Swiss Aquatics).

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≡ WORLD 25 m CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

The record-setting was less frantic on the second day of the World Aquatics 25 m (short-course) Championships in Budapest (HUN), but Swiss star Noe Ponti did it again.

After setting a world short-course (25 m pool) mark in the men’s 50 m Butterfly semis on Tuesday, Tokyo 100 Fly bronze medalist Ponti screamed to a gold in the final in 21.32 to shave another 0.11 off his own mark. He actually trailed Nyls Korstanje (NED) at the turn, but rocketed home to win by 0.35 over Canadian Ilya Kharhun (21.68). Korstanje took the bronze at 21.69.

The U.S. continued its strong showing with two more golds and an American Record:

● The first final of the night of the women’s 100 m Backstroke, with American star Regan Smith – the Paris silver winner – taking her first short-course Worlds gold in a meet record of 54.55, well ahead of teammate Katharine Berkoff (54.93) in second.

● Gretchen Walsh led the women’s 100 m Free semis with a meet record of 50.49, also an American Record, taking down Kate Douglass’ 50.82 from the Singapore World Cup on 2 November. Douglass also qualified as third-fastest for tomorrow’s final (51.67).

● Walsh came back about 50 minutes later to win the women’s 50 m Butterfly in 24.01, just short of her 23.94 world mark from Tuesday’s semifinals. France’s Beryl Gastaldello was distant second at 24.43.

Elsewhere, Russian “neutral” Miron Lifintsev set a world junior record of 48.76 to win the men’s 100 m Back, beating home favorite Hubert Kos (HUN: 48.79), and he led off a Russian team that won the 4×50 m Mixed Medley. The U.S. squad of Shaine Casas, Michael Andrew, Smith and Berkoff was third in 1:36.20.

Australia’s defending champion Lani Pallister won the women’s 800 m Free in 8:01.95, a meet record, with Isabel Grose (GER: 8:05.42) and Katie Grimes of the U.S. (8:05.90) taking the other medals. American Paige Madden, the Olympic bronzer, was fourth in 8:07.22

Through two days, the U.S. leads with 10 total medals (6-2-2) to seven for Canada (1-2-4) and four for Australia (1-2-1). The meet continues through Sunday.

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FOOTBALL: FIFA associations applaud Morocco-Portugal-Spain for 2030 World Cup and Saudi Arabia for 2034

By
Rich Perelman
-
FIFA President Gianni Infantino leading the applause to confirm the host selection for the 2030 and 2034 World Cup (FIFA video screenshot).

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≡ FIFA WORLD CUP ≡

Although billed as an Extraordinary FIFA Congress to select the hosts for the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups, Wednesday’s two-hour program was simply a show, with applause instead of voting.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) led a scripted program, with the “voting instructions” as follows:

“There will be two separate votes, by acclamation, now to follow.

“The first vote, by acclamation, to confirm the procedure as shared in advance with all member associations, regarding the host appointments. And then the second vote by acclamation, to confirm the host associations of the centenary celebration, the FIFA World Cup 2030 and the FIFA World Cup 2034.

“And so that we can see your acclamation, please raise your hands when you are asked to do the acclamation near your head, so we can see it, I can see you all here in front of me and we have the scrutineers as well, sitting next to me, who can check that everything runs smoothly.”

The first “vote” was taken with many of the association delegates clapping along with Infantino, but some remaining uninterested. Then Infantino continued:

“I would now, as a result, invite you to proceed to the acclamation to confirm the host associations of the centenary celebrations, the World Cup 2030 and the World Cup 2034. If you agree (clapping his hands), acclamation.”

Most of the small faces on the screens were seen applauding, but some not. There was no counting. Said Infantino:

“Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you very much. The vote of the Congress was loud and clear. Thank you to all participants. I’m looking to the scrutineers present with us on-site to confirm that everything is good? Is everything good?

“Yes, perfect; the scrutineers as well, confirm, and I therefore declare the vote closed and we can move to the formal announcements.”

That was it. No vote, only applause from the online audience by most, but not all, federations.

The 2030 FIFA World Cup is now assigned to the combined bid of Morocco, Portugal and Spain, with three opening “centenary celebration” matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The 2034 World Cup will be in Saudi Arabia, the only bidder.

These choices have significant political and sporting impacts; first, however, a quick look at the choices:

FIFA World Cup 2030: 8 June to 21 July 2030
● Single opening matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
● Overall score: 356.3 out of 500 (3.6 out of 5.0)

● Morocco: 6 stadia in 6 cities
● Portugal: 2 stadia in 2 cities
● Spain: 9 stadia in 9 cities
● Risk ratings: 16 low-risk, 2 medium-risk
● Overall score: 416.8 out of 500 (4.2 out of 5.0)

FIFA World Cup 2034: no dates proposed
● Stadia: 15 stadia in 5 cities (eight to be built)
● Risk ratings: 13 low-risk, 5 medium-risk
● Overall score: 419.8 out of 500 (4.2 out of 5.0)

With the formal selection of these World Cup hosts, FIFA has now opened the door to a full 10 years of criticism, primarily for its choice of Saudi Arabia for 2034. By creating the “centenary celebration” matches, FIFA skipped ahead in its continental rotation by assigning a full hosting to Africa, South America and Europe in one tournament, to get to Asia, and Saudi Arabia. As Infantino pointed out, all of the continental confederations will “host” a World Cup within eight years.

The 2030 program is schedule for the June-July summer timeframe, in line with most past events and during the off-season for most of the winter-spring European leagues. The 2034 situation is much more complex, as the Saudi summers are much too hot to hold the event; Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup from 20 November to 18 December. In late 2034, Saudi Arabia will be busy:

● Riyadh will host the mammoth Asian Games from 29 November to 14 December.
● The Muslim Ramadan holiday period runs 11 November to 10 December.
● This is during the European club season, as for Qatar in 2022.

If the decision was to move up the World Cup to the beginning of 2034:

● Olympic Winter Games are in Salt Lake City, Utah from 10-26 February.
● Ramadan is scheduled from 22 November to 21 December 2033.
● The annual Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, is from 26 February to 3 March 2034.

It’s worth noting that the 2026 World Cup is scheduled for 39 days and the 2030 World Cup for 44.

The criticism of Qatar as host was unrelenting and while FIFA helped create changes in some aspects of Qatari law regarding migrant workers, it still has severe detractors. For 2034, a statement was issued by 21 groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, that began with:

“Today’s confirmation of Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 FIFA men’s World Cup, despite the well-known and severe risks to residents, migrant workers and visiting fans alike, marks a moment of great danger. It should also mark a moment for change.

“As global and regional human rights organisations, trade unions, fans groups and organisations representing migrant workers, many of us have long highlighted the severe risks posed by Saudi Arabia’s hosting of mega-sporting events. By awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without meaningful protections, FIFA has today decided both to ignore our warnings and discard its own human rights policies.

“FIFA can never claim that it did not know the severity of the risks of hosting its flagship event in a country with such weak human rights protections. Nor can the national Football Associations voting to approve it. Today, there is no shortage of evidence of migrant workers being exploited and subjected to racism, activists sentenced to decades in prison for expressing themselves peacefully, women and LGBTQIA+ people facing legalized discrimination, or residents forcibly evicted to make way for state projects. It is evident that without urgent action and comprehensive reforms, the 2034 World Cup will be tarnished by repression, discrimination and exploitation on a massive scale.”

And the groups promised to keep the heat on:

“In the decade ahead we will mobilize the human rights community across the globe to ensure the violations and abuses of this World Cup are not ignored, and press for the fundamental changes needed to protect lives and expand freedoms. The Saudi authorities, FIFA, national Football Associations, FIFA sponsors and companies involved in the World Cup – or profiting hugely from it – all have human rights obligations and responsibilities, and we will seek to hold them accountable.”

There will be other challenges for FIFA and the Saudi organizers for 2034. For one, FIFA’s leader and the consistent champion of hosting in Qatar in 2022 and Saudi in 2034 – Gianni Infantino – will be out of office in 2031, assuming he runs and wins a third full term in 2027 (no doubt of this). However, he will be only 61 in 2031 and it is not inconceivable that FIFA’s term limit rules could be changed. But for now, he will not be FIFA President in 2034 and that could be impactful.

Further, the usual issues of enormous construction requirements, transportation and local customs and laws will be highly scrutinized, as they were in Qatar in 2022, which had 12 years to prepare for a 32-team, 64-match tournament. The Saudis now has 10 years to prep for a 48-team tournament with 104 matches.

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NCAA: LA28 Chair Wasserman repeats his warning that “Team USA is over” if college football “leaves the system”

By
Rich Perelman
-
Is college football digging the graves of all other collegiate sports programs?

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≡ U.S. OLYMPIC DEVELOPMENT ≡

“That fork in the road is if football leaves the system and the money leaves the system, Team USA is over.

“We can pretend like that’s not the case. That is unequivocally the case. You add $20 million of expense to the athletic department. What’s the first thing you cut? … Olympic sports, non-revenue sports. You cut the sports that cost money that don’t generate revenue.

“A lot of schools will hang in, not just in California, but in the country, until 2028, until the games are in L.A. And after that, you’re going to see a lot more schools have SEC numbers of teams than former Pac-12 numbers of teams. The days of 25 and 30 teams are over. So now you’re going to have 15 to 17.”

That’s LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee Chair Casey Wasserman, in comments at the Sports Business Journal’s Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in Las Vegas on Tuesday, warning once again of the imminent danger to the U.S. intercollegiate athletics system due to the massive changes coming from the oncoming transfer of billions of dollars (almost solely) to college football players.

He sounded the alarm in March, on “The Rich Eisen Show” on the Roku Channel, explaining:

● “I think we’re at this turning point which is, college [football] is absolutely the second-most popular and valuable sport in America; it’s not even a question.

“The question is, do they monetize that opportunity and keep all the money in college football and don’t share it, so college football becomes its own entity, away from the NCAA? So, Michigan basketball and UCLA basketball are part of the Big 10, but college football is its own thing? Michigan is in that, but it’s not really a Big 10 thing, it’s really just a college football thing?

“And then Michigan basketball and UCLA softball are over because there’s no money. Because the money – 90% of the value and the economics – come from college football.”

● “[I]n this country, all of our American athletes who are Olympians, are trained in universities. So if we lose that system, we don’t have Team USA any more.

“Our government does not provide funding to the U.S. Olympic Movement. There’s zero federal dollars going to any part of the U.S. Olympic Movement. All of our athletes are trained in colleges, and that’s a great source of pride. And that’s going to evaporate.”

● “I think what you’re going to have to do is the conference commissioners, there’s really the Big 10, the SEC, the ACC and the Big 12, are going to have to say, look, football is great and we can make a lot of money organizing college football in a different kind of way, but if we’re doing that and it’s not benefitting all the other student-athletes, we’re actually missing the mark here, and we’re not doing our job, and we’re not actually serving the universities.

“I mean, UCLA, we’re proud of all those athletes and student-athletes who do incredible things. So, we’re going to miss that if they don’t take that ownership of that responsibility and embrace it, they’re going to be the ones who get blamed for it, and the system right now is totally screwed.”

● “I actually think the NFL can say, look, we can help solve the problem, not take control of college football, but sort of create the pathway, and use that as a means to save all these Olympic sports that are good for this country and by the way, think about the Paris Olympics this summer: there’ll be 100 athletes competing in Paris for countries not for the United States, who went to college for free and got their athletic training at American universities.

“We train our competitors. Talk about power and soft power … that’s a powerful thing. All those things are going to go away if we don’t fix this problem.

“To push the institutions to do what’s right to maintain the sanctity of non-football sports, I think the NFL has a real opportunity to be a leader in that movement.”

At the SBJ conference, Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork suggested an approach to the Congress:

“[M]aybe instead of going to Congress to figure out what NIL [name-image-likeness payments] should look like, we should go to Congress to talk about the Olympic Movement and how do they help fund our university programs and train the athletes at the next generation. … There’s power there because society does not want college athletics to go away.”

Among the many concepts for a new way to continue support for intercollegiate athletes in the U.S. beyond football was our 29 April column, “Can NCAA “non-revenue” sports survive? YES, it’s possible.”

You can check out the TSX solution, or suggest one of your own. But the U.S. collegiate sports system needs to survive.

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PANORAMA: U.S. goes crazy at short-course Worlds with four wins, five WRs! Biles saluted as no. 1 moment in women’s artistic for 2024

By
Rich Perelman
-
Yowsah! Three world records for American star Gretchen Walsh on day one of the short-course World Champs in Hungary! (Photo: USA Swimming)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track announced five more signees for its 48-strong seasonal “Racer” group including:

● Hagos Gebrhiwet (ETH) ~ 2023 World Road 5 km gold medalist
● Oblique Seville (JAM) ~ 2022-23 Worlds 100 m fourth-placer
● Sasha Zhoya (FRA) ~ 2023 Worlds 110 m hurdles sixth-placer

● Alexis Holmes (USA) ~ 2024 Olympic women’s 4×400 relay gold
● Nickisha Pryce (JAM) ~ 2024 NCAA women’s 400 m champ

This brings the “Racer” total up to 43 of 48 spots; the first meet of the new circuit is in April next year in Jamaica.

● Cycling ● Former Australian cycling star Rohan Dennis, now 34, who won the Olympic bronze in the Tokyo 2020 men’s Time Trial and won the Worlds Time Trial twice, pled guilty to charges of dangerous driving causing death and an aggravated charge of driving without due care.

He hit his wife, Melissa Hoskins, with his car on 30 December 2023 and she subsequently died from her injuries. They married in 2018 and had two children; the new charges carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

● Football ● FIFA announced a report produced by Deloitte Canada showing that the FIFA World Cup 2026, to be played in part in Canada – Toronto and Vancouver – will generate C$1,9 billion in direct expenditures in capital, organizational and visitors, and a total economic impact of C$3.8 billion. (C$1 = $0.71 U.S.)

The analysis covers the lead-up to the tournament as well as the matches themselves from June 2023 to August 2026: “The findings estimate positive contributions of CAD 2bn to Canadian gross domestic product (GDP), CAD 1.3bn to labour income and CAD 700m to government revenue.”

● Gymnastics ● The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) listed its top-10 moments in women’s Artistic gymnastics for 2024, led by American star Simone Biles at no. 1:

“Simone takes Paris: Simone Biles (USA) was on fire at Paris 2024, picking up three golds and a bronze and bringing her Olympic medal total to 11. With seven golds, two silvers, and two bronzes accumulated over three Olympic Games, Biles stands as the most successful U.S. gymnast, male or female, in history.”

Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade was saluted at no. 2 for her All-Around silver, Vault silver and Floor gold, and the comeback story of American Suni Lee came in at no. 3:

“She overcame two kidney diseases to make it back to the Olympics, and once there nothing could stop Sunisa Lee (USA). To her full set of colours from Tokyo, Lee added team gold and All-Around and Uneven Bars bronzes in an extraordinary showing from one of gymnastics great showwomen.”

● Skiing ● The International Ski and Snowboard Federation posted a reply to letters received from some national federations and athletes about a rejection of a $400 million offer by CVC Capital Partners for a joint venture. FIS’ message explained the rejection was not due to a media rights conflict, but:

“CVC’s proposal was unrelated to the centralization of media and broadcast rights. It was an investment proposal for the creation of a joint venture to manage all commercial rights associated with FIS and its member federations. FIS’s ongoing centralization process with Infront for international media and broadcast rights would not conflict with such a collaboration with private equity; in fact, it could enhance its effectiveness.

“FIS did not reject CVC’s proposal. …

“If raising capital becomes necessary, FIS would engage a financial advisor to conduct a transparent process, ensuring the best possible terms. Currently, FIS is well-capitalized and does not require additional funding to execute its strategic plan.”

● Swimming ● The World Aquatics 25 m Swimming Championships got underway in Budapest (HUN) with an impressive rush of records – seven – set on the first day, with five from the U.S.:

● Men/50 m Butterfly: 21.43, Noe Ponti (SUI)) in semi two
● Men/4×100 m Free: 3:01.66, United States (Jack Alexy, Luke Hobson, Keiran Smith, Chris Guiliano)

● Women/400 m Freestyle: 3:50.25, Summer McIntosh (CAN)
● Women/50 m Butterfly: 24.02, Gretchen Walsh (USA) in heat five
● Women/50 m Butterfly: 23.94, Gretchen Walsh (USA) in semi two
● Women/200 m Medley: 2:01.63, Kate Douglass (USA)
● Women/4×100 m Free: 3:25.01, United States (Kate Douglass, Katharine Berkoff, Alex Shackell, Gretchen Walsh)

Wow! There were also two more American Records set:

● Men/100 m Freestyle: 45.05, Jack Alexy (4×100 m lead-off)
● Men/200 m Medley: 1:49.51, Shaine Casas

The U.S. gold-medal onslaught was led by Douglass, the Olympic 200 m Breaststroke gold medalist and 200 m Medley runner-up. Her record win in the 200 Medley in Budapest eclipsed Hungarian star Katinka Hosszu’s 2014 mark of 2:01.86, also set at the short-course Worlds. American teammate Alex Walsh was second in 2:02.65.

The American relay wins began with the women, who lowered Australia’s 3:25.43 mark from 2022 and led from start to finish. The men started with Alexy, a relay gold medalist at Paris, who took the U.S. record on the lead-off leg (45.05) and lowered the world mark of 3:02.75 by Italy at the 2022 short-course Worlds.

Casas won the men’s 200 m Medley by 1.37 seconds over Italy’s Alberto Razzetti (1:50.88), with fellow American Carson Foster in fourth (1:51.32). Casas’ time of 1:49.51 took the U.S. record from Ryan Lochte, who had the meet record of 1:49.63 from way back in 2012.

McIntosh, a triple winner in Paris, crushed the women’s 400 m Free world mark of 3:51.30 by Bingjie Li of China in 2022 and is her second career Worlds short-course gold. Australia’s Lani Pallister was second (3:53.73), with Americans Paige Madden fourth (3:55.12) and Claire Weinstein fifth (3:56.12).

Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaouadi won the men’s 1,500 m Free in 14:16.40, just ahead of German star Florian Wellbrock (14:17.27), with Daniel Matheson (14:37.56) the top American in 11th.

Walsh blew up the world record in the women’s 50 m Fly in her heat, winning in 24.02 to smash the 24.36 from 2009 by Therese Alshammar (SWE) and then broke 24 at 23.94 in semi two! Those two swims of less than a minute combined earned her $50,000 for two world records … plus she gets a share of $25,000 for the world-record relay win!

Ponti got his world mark in the 50 m Fly semis and will try to lower his record in tomorrow’s finals. The meet continues through Sunday.

● Weightlifting ● North Korea continued to collect medals – two more gold – at the 2024 IWF World Championships in Manama (BRN), now with eight wins in 10 classes!

Chong-song Ri won the men’s 81 kg class, lifting a combined 371 kg and also winning the Snatch and Clean & Jerk segments. Kazak Alexey Churkin, the 2022 bronzer at 73 kg, got the silver at 368 kg.

Suk Ri took the women’s 64 kg class with a world-record 264 kg total, also setting a Clean & Jerk world mark of 149 kg along the way. Teammate Un-sim Rim took the silver at 256 kg.

The competition continues through Sunday, but will anyone else win a weight class?

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ATHLETICS: Clausen elected as USATF President; membership still pandemic-impacted; finances are still a question

By
Rich Perelman
-
An election promotion graphic for Curt Clausen, who was elected as USA Track & Field President from 2025-28.

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≡ USA TRACK & FIELD ≡

Although not publicly announced by USA Track & Field, three-time Olympic race walker Curt Clausen was elected as President of the federation at its Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida on Saturday (7th), with 56.7% of the vote to 43.3% for 1992 Olympic triple jump champion Michael Conley.

The result was posted on the X platform by PoleVaultPower (Becca Peter) and by running writer Jeff Benjamin on Threads, but not on the USATF Web site, or on X, and no vote totals have been reported. Peter noted that a protest was filed, but was denied for being made too late. Perhaps there is another challenge coming. The election result as posted by Peter and Benjamin:

So, Clausen, the General Counsel for Tickets.com in New York will apparently be the new President as of 1 January 2025, but not necessarily the Chair of the USATF Board of Directors. Article 10.C. of the USATF Governance Manual specifies:

“the Board shall select one of its members to serve as Chair at the Board’s first meeting after January 1st. … The President shall be the Chair of the Board unless the Board elects another of its members to serve as Chair by two-thirds (2/3) vote of the full membership of the Board.”

In fact, current President Vin Lananna – elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021 – was removed as Board Chair and Conley, the current Chair of the High Performance Division, has served as USATF Board Chair for most of Lananna’s time in office.

Peter was the only one to post other election results, with Joel Brown selected as the High Performance Division representative to the Board; Clif McKenzie selected as the head of the Men’s Track & Field Committee; Greg Hipp for Long Distance Running; Allen James for Race Walking, and Jere Summers-Hall for the Athletes’ Commission, among many offices on the ballot. They and others will form a 21-member board in January.

Clausen, now 57, was one of the best American walkers ever, competing in the 1996-2000-2004 Olympic Games in the 20 km (Atlanta) and 50 km (Sydney and Athens) races, with a best of 22nd in Sydney. He won a bronze medal in the 50 km at the 1999 World Championships and was an 11-time U.S. champion.

His 20 km best of 1:23:34 in 1999 still ranks no. 8 on the all-time U.S. list, and his 35 km time of 2:38:45 from 2001 ranks him no. 2 all-time U.S. He has gone on to a lengthy career in the law; he would be the first attorney to serve as USATF President since Frank Greenberg from 1988-92. He previously served on the USATF Board from 2014-18.

A report from the Associations Committee reviewed the federation’s membership totals, showing a continuing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, but with membership still not back to pre-pandemic levels.

In 2019, individual membership was 123,444, down from its high of 130,877 in 2016. The pandemic plunged the member totals down to 71,810, but there has been a recovery since:

● 2020: 83,619
● 2021: 104.787
● 2022: 115,240
● 2023: 120,870

This is still less than in 2016, but the rebuilding of the membership total is encouraging. The number USATF-registered clubs is now back to 3,324, ahead of the 3.131 in 2019, but less than the 2016 high of 3,438.

Registered officials are back up to 6,783, close to the 2018 high of 6.,816.

Less encouraging, apparently, are USATF’s finances. Due to a $9.9 million payment to support the 2022 World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, USATF’s end-of-year financial statements for 2022 showed cash and investments of $12.74 million, but reserves of only $548,002. The cash and investments were down from a combined $26.08 million at the end of 2021.

USATF has not posted its financial statements or its IRS Form 990 tax documents for 2023 as yet; these are usually posted by the time that the USATF Annual Meeting takes place.

However, Conley confirmed to Runner’s World that the 2023 financials will also show a loss, further draining the financial base of the organization.

Of its $36.54 million in revenue for 2022, $25.02 million (68.5%) came from the landmark Nike sponsorship of about $20 million per year that will continue to 2040, and a $5.76 million grant from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. There was another $5.15 million in “nonfinancial assets,” which appeared to be explained in the notes as in-kind contributions, primarily of uniforms and equipment. Added in, those three categories accounted for 82.6% of all USATF revenue reported for 2022.

USATF announced three special honors at the Annual Meeting, with 400 m hurdles superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone awarded a Wing Award for “most dominant performance” at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 100 m hurdles gold medalist Masai Russell as “breakthrough performer” and men’s 400 m winner Quincy Hall recognized as “most inspirational.”

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Coe wants more “connectedness” between the Olympics, athletes, fans, and the path to get there

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) (Photo: Dan Vernon for World Athletics).

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

It’s not difficult to get British Olympic star and World Athletics President Sebastian Coe talking when you mention the future of not just athletics, but the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement, as he is running to be the next President of the IOC.

The election is not until next March, and Coe and the other six candidates will speak to the IOC membership on 30 January 2025 in a closed session in Lausanne. But Coe, especially, has been open to interviews and spoke to TSX on Monday; this part two of our report.

Coe spoke with enthusiasm about the possibilities in front of the Olympic Movement, especially with the expanding number of countries which are beginning to see success at the international level. Referring to his own sport of track & field:

● “You know, we have powerhouses of the sport like the U.S. and China and the U.K. But you also have dots on the map. And so, if you get it right, and you really target and leverage your development funds and make sure with accountability and transparency, they land where they’re supposed to. Hey, you might just end up with a few more St. Lucias,” referring to sprint star Julien Alfred, the women’s Olympic 100 m champion in Paris and the 200 m silver medalist, who won her country’s first-ever Olympic medals.

● He also pointed to other first-time medal winners in the Paris athletics program, such as Dominica and Pakistan: “I’m in a sport where 43 countries won Olympic medals. So it’s not, you know, this isn’t about the many and the few. We have that responsibility and the only way you’re going to do that is to absolutely harvest the experiences and the skills of the people that can make that happen.”

Coe then took that concept beyond track & field to the whole Olympic Movement:

“And that’s not just limited to the membership of the International Olympic Committee. That is working in tandem with National Olympic Committees, whatever size they are, and within their own organizations. It’s working with international federations. That’s about organizations like ASOIF [Association of Summer Olympic International Federations] and ANOC [Association of National Olympic Committees].”

And he carried his empowerment theme further:

“It’s working with our partners. Look, our partners are world-class businesses. They have a habit of employing world-class people. They should be sitting at the table helping us structure these things. We’ve got broadcasters, who themselves are grappling with what the next broadcast iteration looks like.

“So when I say enabling, I mean just utilizing and harnessing the people that we’ve got. To help us move along at roughly the same pace and to recognize that – we know this in World Athletics – there is no one-size-fits-all here. You have to have flexibility.

“And if you have flexibility and you do it in a way that is respectful of tradition and philosophy – which you can, you can do that – then you actually have an opportunity to grow. Grow the footprint. But that’s not done by just one small element of the landscape. There are interdependencies here which have to be recognized, and we have to make the most of them. We all are in that same landscape where there are no unique problems here.”

Coe then tackled the question of how the IOC and the Olympic Movement can grow, when it essentially has only two real “products” in the Olympic Games and the Winter Games – two years apart – with the Olympic Esports Games coming up possibly in 2025. Here, he wants to find a new pathway in worldwide sport, not only for athletes, but also for fans:

“What I think we have got to do better and it will actually serve the Movement well and particularly the Olympic Games, is there’s got to be some connectedness between the events that we are putting on.

“And the big global moments at the Olympic Games clearly offers winter and summer sports. But at the moment it sort of feels that there is not enough connectedness around those sports … so, revisiting the global calendar is going to be critical. …

“The Games have really got to harness the journey that the athletes, the competitors make through their sports to the Games. And I sense there’s not enough continuity. And the journey that the athletes make to an Olympic Games shouldn’t be the bes- kept secret.

“When they get to a Games and suddenly people are sitting there going, ‘Oh my goodness, I really didn’t know that we had so and so that was likely to win a triathlon. Who the hell, you know, do we?’ Too many surprises here.

“And so building the profile of the athletes, through our world sporting programs, through our international federations is huge. And actually we should all be on a rising tide here. And that’s why I say that there are interdependencies. We’re not competitors here. We actually have to be collaborators.”

That will be a welcome approach to the International Federations, especially, who hear constantly about the increases by the IOC to the Olympic Solidarity budget – now to $650 million for 2025-28 – but not much about more money for their developmental programs.

The seven-candidate field for the IOC Presidency is a little odd in that it includes four presidents of International Federations: Coe from World Athletics, David Lappartient (FRA) from the Union Cycliste Internationale, Johan Eliasch (GBR) from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation and Morinari Watanabe (JPN) from the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique. Only one of the nine IOC Presidents in history has come from an International Federation, the Swede J. Sigfrid Edstrom, who was the head of the IAAF (athletics) and then IOC chief from 1942-52.

Further, multiple candidates – including Coe – face age issues from the Olympic Charter rules that end IOC membership at age 70, although a four-year extension is allowed if approved by the members.

In Coe’s case, his election as IOC President would require a conversion of his membership from World Athletics President to an individual IOC member and then, in 2026, a four-year extension to 2030, which would still be short of the end of an eight-year first term in 2033. So, the Olympic Charter would need to be amended to allow him to serve beyond 2030.

Coe is not overly concerned. To him, this is simply about democracy:

“It’s it’s up to the members. It’s a member decision. What do I know? I know that I was deemed eligible to stand.

“Nobody sat there saying to me that you were anything other than eligible to stand. So you know that’s for the membership to decide. And I will stand by that judgement. All I can say is that if given the opportunity, I will work tirelessly. And it’s the membership that have the ability to do that. Done it in the past.

“Statuses get changed very regularly in the Movement. I sit through [IOC] Sessions and congresses where routinely statuses get altered. And the membership approve. It’s an interesting one, isn’t it? Maybe it’s comes back to some of my feelings about enabling. It’s for the members to decide.

“And if I’m prepared to put myself forward for this. I’m clearly prepared to be judged. … But I don’t sit here thinking that this is a job for life. It’s it’s within the gift of the members and that’s the way it has to be.”

Coe confirmed that, if elected, he will move to Lausanne and work from Olympic House as IOC Presidents beginning with Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP) have done since 1980:

“That’s where the job is; you know that’s where you need to be.”

Observed: Coe is an experienced and sophisticated candidate, who has enormous experience in the athletic, business, organizational and political aspects of worldwide sport. As he notes, he has excellent access and knowledge of worldwide sports leaders and some of the political leaders he will need to deal with.

Can he convince the IOC membership he’s the right one to lead them into the future? He has detractors, especially over World Athletics’ payment of Paris 2024 prize money, and there will be concerns over his age and the rule changes that will be needed to accommodate his presidency at least to the end of a first term in 2033.

But in this interview, he brought a powerful message that the IOC membership can be much empowered to contribute directly to the expansion and improvement of worldwide sport. There are many IOC members who don’t have that much asked of them as members now, especially since they do not visit candidate cities or vote in contested host-city elections for the Olympic and Winter Games any more.

The appeal of being more of a player in the Olympic Movement could be an interesting lure, and Coe can point to developing and managing governance successes in the massive clean-up he undertook of World Athletics in the face of the scandals left by predecessor (and former IOC member) Lamine Diack of Senegal (now deceased), who was also accused of buying IOC votes in host-city elections. And now, athletics is seeing significant increased investment in the sport in the U.S. for the first time in decades, and a major new event is being introduced in the “off-year” of 2026 between World Athletics Championships by his federation.

As he was on the track, in the successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, and as the Chair of the London 2012 organizing committee, Coe will be a formidable candidate. But, of course, not the only one.

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BASKETBALL: FIBA’s Zagklis salutes huge 3×3 interest expansion, federation’s 57 million social followers in year-end news conference

By
Rich Perelman
-
FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis (Photo: FIBA).

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≡ THE BIG PICTURE ≡

“[I]f you would separate 3×3 social media following and would say ‘what would this be if it were a standalone International Federation?,’ it would be the fifth biggest international Sports Federation of the Summer Olympics, based on our metrics today. So, you see that 3×3 is having its own success, not piggybacking on the success of [5×5] basketball.”

That’s from International Basketball Federation Secretary General Andreas Zagklis (GRE) during a Monday online news conference, wrapping up an excellent year for international basketball.

He also pointed to better competition in the 5×5 game, with 12 teams playing in the Paris Olympic Games, but many more involved:

● “We managed, thanks to the [men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments], to have again 32 teams involved: 24 plus the eight that had already qualified on the floor. You see that the gap is closing, we had favorites struggling, favorites losing, and certainly what we saw in the [international play] Windows is the top 50 getting closer to each other. We saw in the Olympics that also the top 20 – the top 12, in this case – virtually, everyone can beat everyone.”

● “For the women’s side, what we believe is a golden decade that opened after the 2022 World Cup in Australia, it’s where we believe basketball scored so highly. This year, in the [Olympic Qualifying Tournaments] in February, 13,000 in Antwerp, a record of all-time for a women’s team sport in Belgium, in a game against the U.S.A. that went to the wire. And the same happened in the Olympics with a final determined by a last-second shot [where the U.S. defeated France, 67-66].”

But Zagklis would also like to see more Olympic spots for 3×3, with eight teams playing in Paris for men and women:

“[Twelve] teams is what we would like to see also in L.A., or latest in Brisbane [2032], but we are already applying for that for 2028.

“The numbers we have received so far from Paris 2024 are very encouraging. The TV figures in France, Germany, Netherlands have been fantastic, and it’s not every day that you can see a 3×3 basketball player on the front page of political newspapers in their countries.

“We do believe that 3×3 makes our sport more democratic, allows countries of smaller population and countries with less infrastructure to have the Olympic dream alive and have it very accessible. That is why we believe that we will open the door for more African teams to develop, and certainly I expect African teams to fight for a spot in L.A.”

FIBA has placed a lot of effort in its social media programming, completely revamping its Web site to be mobile-first and running feeds on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube, plus Chinese sites Douyin and Weibo. The results have been spectacular, as Zagklis explained:

“So we have now more than 57 million followers on all platforms, and we had five billion views on our social media, while last year we had six billion views, certainly something that the Central Board last week discussed, and we continue to believe in the showcase and certainly outreach potential that the Olympics give to the basketball side, our sport and we are very happy about that, at the same time, knowing that the [FIBA] World Cup is the priority of this house.”

Zagklis was asked about the status of Russian participation, which has been essentially closed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022:

“When it comes to participation, the [FIBA] Central Board decided last Thursday to extend the current status until the Central Board in May, when we will have the Congress. There are continuous and active talks with the Russian Basketball Federation. The Federation, I remind you, as well as the Belarus one, are not suspended. They have their active status, and the Central Board includes [Russian federation head] Andrei Kirilenko, who was confirmed in this role already last year, so after February 2022, and he’s a respected member of the FIBA family.

“There is no doubt that we need to wait for the bigger geopolitical picture. As important as we may consider basketball to be, unfortunately, in this case there are many more important things than basketball to take care of. There are lives being lost on a daily basis and there are peace talks or a road to peace that we all want to see happening and a peaceful result achieved. …

“Our job is to try, within the remit of our competence, to bring all 212 Member Federations to participate actively in our competitions. We are following closely what is happening in football.

“You have seen that Belarus continues to play in UEFA competitions without major issues. So, this is for us something difficult to digest, if I may use this word, because the young boys and girls in Belarus can play football, but not basketball. So this shows that there is some room here for us to analyze the situation further. But, right now, we are in a framework of IOC guidelines that FIBA has accepted and has agreed to work under.

“So we will see, and I would say that we will have developments when there are also advances on the geopolitical side and our priority will be the young players. And will it be in Europe? Will it be with those in Europe that Russia can play, and Belarus? Will it be with Asia? Will it be with a combination of the two? I’m telling you we are ready for a good solution, for basketball and for the youth of Russia and Belarus. That is our job.

“But there are others who need to take more important decisions first, and then I can tell you FIBA will do its job.”

As for Los Angeles and 2028, the 5×5 venue has already been announced as the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, but the 3×3 site has not yet been presented:

“L.A. is the city of ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ for those who love our sport, therefore, there is little doubt that 3×3 will be followed very closely, and loved by the local audience. We already had our first meetings with L.A. 2028.

“Soon we will be in a position with them to announce the final location and I think the experiment, if I may say for Olympic purposes – but not experiment for FIBA, because we had done it before – of bringing action sports, urban sports together has worked very well in Paris, and perhaps we can see something similar in L.A. I expect, in the country that has invented our sport, I expect 3×3 to really go to the next level in L.A. 2028.”

One concern is over the timing of the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in 2028, as the Olympic Games will open on 14 July, exceptionally early. So FIBA plans to have four qualifying tournaments for men and women, with six teams each, on a tight schedule and Zagklis noted that with the discussions already underway in December of 2024, including with the NBA, there is time to resolve all of the questions.

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PANORAMA: Milan Cortina 2026 likes test events; FIS refuses CVC’s $400 million for a share of rights; IBA suddenly allows dual members

By
Rich Perelman
-
One of the two World University Games 2029 wrapped buses now part of the GoTriangle fleet in North Carolina! (Photo: FISU)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Where the Paris 2024 organizers eschewed test events for the most part, the Milan Cortina 2026 winter organizers are embracing them.

They announced Friday a first set of events in 2024-25:

● 28-29 Dec.: Alpine Skiing in Bormio
● 03-05 Jan.: Cross Country Skiing in Val di Fiemme
● 18-19 Jan.: Alpine Skiing in Cortina d’Ampezzo
● 23-26 Jan.: Biathlon in Anterselva
● 29-31 Jan.: Para Biathlon in Val di Fiemme
● 01-02 Feb.: Para Cross Country Skiing in Val di Fiemme
● 14-16 Feb.: Short Track in Milan
● 19-20 Feb.: Figure Skating in Milan
● 22-23 Feb.: Ski Mountaineering in Bormio
● 08-14 Mar.: Freestyle Aerials and Moguls in Livigno

Importantly, most of these events are part of the World Cup series for the relevant International Federations, doubling as test events for facilities already well known to the winter-sport communities.

● Asian Games 2026: Aichi-Nagoya ● Kyodo News reported that the Olympic Council of Asia is highly displeased with the progress of work for the 2026 Asian Games, to be held in Nagoya and the surrounding Aichi Prefecture from 19 September to 4 October in 2026. Per the report:

“Frustrated with the organizing committee’s handling of the situation, the OCA at one point indicated the hosting rights could be revoked and, in behind-the-scenes talks, mentioned potential replacement candidates for the Japanese hosts, the sources said.”

There are issues with 10 areas, including athlete accommodations (an Asian Games village was canceled to do costs) and transportation; organizers are worried about the costs, which could double from the bid projection of ¥100 billion, to ¥200 billion (~ $1.32 billion U.S.).

● XX Bolivarian Games ● The 20th edition of the Bolivarian Games, a multi-sport competition begun in 1938 as a tribute to the Venezuelan hero Simon Bolivar, concluded on Sunday in Ayacucho, Peru. Ten countries competed in 25 sports and 159 events.

The hosts led the medal table with 149 total (49-38-27), the first time since 1951 that neither Venezuela or Colombia won the most medals. Colombia had 95 total medals (44-35-16) and Venezuela had 76 (16-30-30).

● World University Games 2029: North Carolina ● Promotion is beginning for the 2029 WUG in North Carolina, expected to bring 7.500 athletes from 150 nations, competing in 18 sports, from 11-22 July 2029.

Last Wednesday, two specially-wrapped buses promoting the Games were unveiled by the Research Triangle Regional Public Transportation Authority – a.k.a. “GoTriangle” – as a reminder that the WUG is coming.

● Alpine Skiing ● Comebacking U.S. star Lindsey Vonn posted on X that she’s pleased with her first races in five years over the weekend at FIS Festival event at Copper Mountain, Colorado. After Saturday’s Downhill, she wrote:

“Today was a solid start and I had a blast being in start with my teammates again! While I’m sure people will speculate and say I’m not in top form because of the results, I disagree. This was training for me. I’m still testing equipment and getting back in the groove.

“This is only the beginning and the way I’m skiing is more important than the times at this point. Now I have the FIS points to race World Cup, so that’s a successful day! Thanks to everyone who helped put on the races! Let’s do it again tomorrow!”

She added later, “I’ve really only been training since October so… I’m far ahead of where I thought I could be at this stage.”

And after Sunday’s Super-G:

“Well… after a solid weekend of races I am now qualified to race World Cup! now let’s see when I’m ready …”

● American Football ● France’s Pierre Trochet was elected unopposed to a second and final term as President of the International Federation of American Football for the period of 2025-28.

He told the delegates at the IFAF Congress in Lausanne, “I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the past four years and look forward to an exciting new term. Flag football’s debut at LA28 will inspire millions worldwide, but this is just the beginning. We are committed to securing our sport’s long-term inclusion in the Olympic Games, expanding our presence in multi-sport events, and strengthening our role as an influential member of the broader Olympic movement. The future of American football is bright, and it’s up to all of us to make it extraordinary.”

Among the electees to the Executive Board was Eric Mayes of the U.S. as federation General Secretary.

● Aquatics ● An interesting and potentially important sponsorship agreement was announced between World Aquatics and the Japanese electronics giant Sony, through 2028.

Beyond the provision of Sony’s cutting-edge digital photography resources:

“Hawk-Eye Innovations, a Sony group company with a proven track record of providing officiating services for global sports events, will help further contribute to fair competition management through video replay services.”

● Athletics ● Olympic men’s 5,000 m gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won his third European (senior) Cross Country championship on Saturday, winning by eight seconds in 22:16 over the 7.2 km course in Antalya (TUR).

Italy’s Olympic women’s 10,000 m bronze winner Nadia Batocletti won her first European Cross Country title by nine seconds in 25:43 (also 7.2 km).

Norway’s Sander Skotheim was recognized as the International Fair Play Award winner at the World Athletics Awards for staying in the Paris 2024 competition and helping teammate Markus Rooth.

Skotheim was in third place after the discus, but no-heighted in the vault, removing him from any chance at a medal. But he stayed in, and supported teammate Rooth to a gold-medal performance at 8,796, winning by 48 points.

Skotheim, still just 22, finished 18th at 7,757, after winning the World Indoor silver in the heptathlon and the European decathlon silver in Rome in June.

Jamaica’s Roje Stona, the upset winner of the men’s discus at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, has been accepted as one of 14 foreign athletes to be part of the National Football League’s International Player Pathway for 2025.

He will participate in a 10-week training program at the IMG Academy in Florida and will work out for scouts in March 2025. The 6-6, 235-pound Stona was the NCAA discus runner-up for Clemson in 2021 and for Arkansas in 2023, but did not play football at either.

● Boxing ● At its annual Congress, held in Dubai (UAE), the International Boxing Association weakened its stance on national federations that join World Boxing “to allow flexibility for National Federations with athletes seeking to compete in events such as the Olympic Games. This dual membership ruling would be decided on a case-by-case basis by the IBA Board of Directors.”

IBA President Umar Kremlev (RUS) told delegates, “As for the International Olympic Committee, the election happens in March – so we shall see. The situation and the leadership will change.”

The IBA also approved new federations in six countries to replace federations that have moved to World Boxing.

● Cycling ● The prized Velo d’Or Awards, given by the French magazine Velo, were awarded on Friday to men’s sensation Tadej Pogacar (SLO) and Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky.

Pogacar tripled in 2024, winning the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the road World Championship race; it’s his second seasonal award. Kopecky won after being runner-up the two prior years, taking the Olympic road bronze in Paris, winning the World Road title, four multi-stage races and several other major races, including the Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.

● Skiing ● The Swiss-based, German language newspaper Blick reported on the disinterest of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) in a $400 million investment by Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners for a 20% share of its commercial rights.

CVC Capital is the group which invested $100 million in volleyball, forming a separate Volleyball World marketing and events company with the FIVB, along with investments in F1 racing, soccer and elsewhere.

CVC sent a 30 November letter to the FIS that included: “CVC is proposing to invest in a 20% stake in the commercial rights to snow sports. These funds can be used by FIS and all national ski federations to invest sustainably in the sport: In events, teams and future commercial growth.”

FIS rejected the proposal outright, stating in a reply: “The FIS is very well capitalized and currently has no need for additional funds to implement its strategic plans.”

FIS chief Johan Eliasch (GBR) – also a candidate for the IOC Presidency – has made a centralization of event rights and a sale for significantly more money a central initiative of his presidency of the federation and is only now coming together. Obviously, CVC sees value in the plan.

● Swimming ● The 2024 U.S. Open was held in Greensboro, North Carolina in an unusual short-course format in yards instead of meters, with many of the entries from the high school and college ranks. Nonetheless, 17-year-old Levittown, Pennsylvania prep Kennedi Dobson still impressed, winning four events – the 200-yard Free, 500-yard Free, 1,650-yard Free and the 200-yard Medley – with three lifetime bests. She’s committed to attending Georgia.

Other big winners in Greensboro included ex-Georgia All-American Bradley Dunham, who said this was his last meet, and won the 500 m Free and the 100- and 200-yard Backstrokes. Purdue’s Brady Samuels also got three wins, in the 50 and 100-yard Freestyles and 200-yard Butterfly, and Yale’s Charlie Egeland won the men’s 100- and 200-yard Breaststrokes and the 200-yard Medley.

SMU’s Maddy Parker won the women’s 50- and 100-yard Frees and Tokyo Olympic relay medalist Rhyan White took the 200-yard Back and 100-yard Fly, and a second in the 100-yard Back.

USA Swimming announced that the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships – an important mid-cycle regional competition in between World Aquatics Championships – will be held in Irvine, California. It’s the first time the meet has been held in the U.S. since 2010.

Although unconnected to the LA28 organizers, it’s another event which will be held in Southern California as athletes and teams familiarize themselves with the area in which the 2028 Olympic Games will be held.

● Table Tennis ● China defended its 2023 victory in the ITTF Mixed Team World Championship, in Chengdu (CHN), defeating South Korea by 8-1 in the final, and finishing with an 11-0 record.

Hong Kong won the bronze over Romania, 8-2.

● Weightlifting ● The 2024 IWF World Championships are rolling on in Manama (BRN), dominated at the lower weights by North Korea.

Through the first four (of 10) men’s weights, the Koreans have won three golds from Myong-jin Park (61 kg: lifted 305 kg combined), Won-ju Ri (67 kg: 336 kg total) and Ryong-hyon Ri (73 kg: 348 kg total).

The North Korean women have also won three golds in four events so far, with Song-gum Ri at 49 kg (213 kg total), Hyon-gyong Kang at 55 kg (226 kg), and Il-gyong Kim at 59 kg, who set a world record for the combined Snatch and Clean & Jerk at 249 kg. Kim also lifted a world-record 141 kg in the Clean & Jerk.

So far, the Koreans have eight medals (6-2-0), China has four and no one else has more than two. The event continues through 15 December.

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Coe to seize the future by unleashing talent within the IOC, athletes, broadcasters, sponsors and more

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletics)

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

Britain’s Sebastian Coe has done a lot of things in his 68 years, as a twice Olympic champion at 1,500 m, as the head of the British Olympic Association, the chair of the London 2012 organizing committee, as a member of Parliament and more.

So why does he want to be the President of the International Olympic Committee, leading international sport with war in Ukraine and the Middle East, superpower struggles everywhere and so many other problems?

He answered that with enthusiasm during a Monday online conversation (this is part one of two posts from this interview):

“It’s not a job. This is a passion. And it’s been a passion since I first watched the grainy moving images of an Olympic Games way, way back and it’s been a passion since the two athletes in my city of Sheffield came to the school with their medals and I joined the local athletics club at the age of 11.”

That encounter with Mexico City 1968 men’s 400 m hurdles bronze medalist John Sherwood and wife Sheila Sherwood, who took the women’s long jump silver, changed Coe’s future. And it still is as he takes another leap to lead the IOC:

“It’s a role. It’s a passion and do you think I could sit the dance out when that became available?

“No way. Absolutely no way. And look, I know it’s going be more than a passion. I have a clear vision. I think I have experiences within the Movement and actually, in a way, from the age of 11, I’ve been in training for this.

“I guess if I wouldn’t have looked at it this way, until the post became vacant, but I’ve been in training for this since the age of 11 and I’m one of six other candidates and they will all put their credentials forward.

“I’ve chaired a National Olympic Committee, I’ve been successfully to two Olympic Games. I’ve chaired a sizeable Olympic sport. I’ve won a bid and I’ve helped deliver an Olympic and Paralympic Games, and I’ve been in the sports marketing business for 30 years.

“I’ve been a government minister and I’ve been a Member of Parliament. I’ve been in the legislature, in the House of Lords. And it’s given me the most extraordinary access to some of the complexities and the people that I know, if I get the honor of this role, the people that I’m going to have to work alongside, internationally, in politics, I know. And I worked with before.”

That access and familiarity with some of the world’s power players is a noteworthy aspect of Coe’s candidature, and in a world going mad, could be crucial.

So what does he want to do? For Coe, it’s less about him and more about the talent in and around the Olympic Movement that can be unleashed to create new frontiers:

“The overwhelming vision here is about empowerment and enablement, and everywhere you look, there is the opportunity. To have a broader-based, collaborative approach to everything that we’re doing.

“With athletes, absolutely. Unambiguously at the heart of the movement. We’re an athlete-centric organization, but you know, what does that in reality mean? How do you enable the members?

“There are some very smart people sitting around that table. I know that, I sit next to them. We have the ability to shape and to form. And my role, if I’m given that opportunity, is just to release that talent.

“And to build teams, in a collaborative way that allows to deal with those challenges. In a way, it’s very easy to go into an immediate deep dive into what those challenges are. [But] let me be clear, I think the opportunities – off the back of those challenges – the opportunities are absolutely there.

“But you know, we will have to make some bold and some brave decisions. What we need is to do it in a way that harnesses the skills and the abilities. And I’m not the only one in that Movement that has experience and skills, and some in the Movement that I sit alongside, have skills that are that are more honed than mine. Just give those members the opportunity to do it.

“I’m not the fount of all wisdom or the fount of all managerial skills. I know what I do well and that’s build teams.”

Coe’s comment points to IOC members whose work outside of sport includes leaders from some of the most successful companies in the world, in the U.S., Asia, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere, in global finance, food, retail, communications as well as former senior governmental officials, including ministers and even a past head of state.

And Coe noted, there are many others willing and able to help, for a future which has warning signs ahead:

“This is a really, powerful, powerful Movement. And Paris was an extraordinary Games. Of course it was. And I think the brand, off the back of the Games is strong. But there are some challenges that sit there. We must look at what the commercial landscape looks like and it is a changed landscape.

“We need to look and have to understand the changing patterns of broadcast. And not the concept that there are going to be big broadcasters out there anymore. This is a very complicated and a slightly fractured landscape, but there are some massive opportunities, particularly to grow the Movement in some critical markets and in some spaces that actually drive Olympic values and recognition.”

Coe underlined the possibilities that sport – especially – brings:

“And what is it that we really should all be combining our forces behind? And that is, how does the Olympic Movement – and this is the same challenge for every International Federation – but how does the Olympic Movement remain relevant and salient and meaningful in the lives of young people? And particularly how does it become a conduit? How is it a transformative organization in their lives?

“You know, I am absolutely the living embodiment of watching something in my formative years, at an Olympic Games. Not in the stadium, but at an Olympic Games [on television] and joining an athletics club six or seven weeks later, and my journey was then on, I’d started the journey.

“We’ve got to do more. Absolutely. We have to do more, to coalesce around the transformative power of sport. It’s the most potent social worker in all our communities and used properly, it’s the deftest of diplomats (used properly). So that’s that’s how I see this.”

(Coming tomorrow: more on how the Olympic Movement can be better and who can help. And what Coe must ask the IOC membership for in order to win.)

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U.S. CENTER FOR SAFESPORT: Added funding of $10 million and faster decisions proposed in reform bill introduced in U.S. House

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡

Questions on the performance of the U.S. Center for SafeSport was one of the major outcomes of the work of the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics, which filed its report on 1 March of this year, followed by a 20 March hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and a 21 March hearing at the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee.

Center chief executive Ju’Riese Colon appeared at both hearings, and told the House hearing, “Based on the trajectory of cases, I would say that our budget needs to be around $30 million.”

The Center gets, by Congressional edict, $20 million a year from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, a rare instance of a Federal mandate for one non-profit to pay another non-profit a specific sum on a specific schedule.

But it needs more. And the long-promised bill from U.S. Representative Deborah Ross (D-North Carolina) finally showed up on Friday (6th), as H.R. 10326, “Safer Sports for Athletes Act of 2024,” referred to the House Judiciary Committee. With so little time less in this Congress, it will likely have to be re-introduced in January, which Ross said she would do.

First and foremost, the bill adds money, replacing the current language – appropriating $2.5 million from 2018 to 2022 – to “There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 or such sums as may be necessary each of the fiscal years 2025 through 2030.’’

Then there are a series of changes to the way complaints to the Center are handled:

● “Assign a case manager to each case to manage and provide regular communication with claimants and respondents.”

● “Notify each complainant that they are permitted to have a victim advocate of their choosing accompany them to any proceedings scheduled as part of the investigation into the claim.”

● “[I]f a complainant does not have a victim advocate, the Center shall provide such victim advocate at no cost to the complainant or refer the complainant to an organization that can provide a cost-free victim advocate at the request of the complainant.”

● “Assign an investigator to the case within 7 business days of accepting jurisdiction and receiving membership records from the relevant national governing body. National governing bodies shall provide the Center with membership records within 5 business days of a request by the Center pursuant to an investigation. The Center may extend the period of time that a national governing body has to provide membership records in circumstances when the Center believes that the national governing body is working in good faith to identify the respondent named in the complaint. The Center shall provide the national governing body with all information included in the complaint that will assist the national governing body in identifying the respondent.”

● “Conclude its investigation no later than the date that is 180 days after a complaint is made to the Center, except that, if the Center determines necessary, the investigation may be extended for a period of 30 days as many times as may be necessary. The Center shall provide notice to each complainant and each respondent to the investigation and the relevant national governing body or corporation prior to each extension of the investigation.”

● “Such notice shall provide a basis for why the extension is necessary and include sufficient information for the national governing body or corporation to implement a safety plan to protect participants from further abuse.”

The bill also speaks to reporting of cases in section 6, but does not require SafeSport to publicly disclose the results of all cases, or even to ensure that the complaintant receives information on the outcome. That is sure to be revisited if the bill actually starts moving forward, as this was a major gripe from those making a complaints. The text does provide for the National Governing Bodies to get more information so they can protect participants during the inquiry, but the bill allows SafeSport to refrain from telling the NGB the name of the person accused.

H.R. 10326 also specifies the burden of proof as “a preponderance of the evidence as the standard in determining whether a violation of the SafeSport Code occurred” and provides for an appeal hearing in front of three outside experts, whose decision is not only final, but not appealable in a State or Federal court!

Further, the Center is obligated to:

“Establish a grievance reporting system for all persons impacted by the Center to report bad faith use of the Center’s processes, issues during intake, investigation and hearings, conflicts of interest, and other concerns about the Center. The Center will report on the grievances filed and resolved annually.”

There was also a very interesting section on ensuring that Congressional oversight of the Center is maintained:

“Not less frequently than once per Congress, the CEO of the Center shall appear before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives on the Center’s activities and provide reports as requested by those Committees in advance of such appearances.

“Every three years the Comptroller General of the United States shall do a performance and accountability report of the Center and share those findings with Congress, the Center and the public. The report shall review how the Center is meeting its mission, including talking to athlete survivors, advocates, and national governing bodies in order to institutionalize formal feedback from survivor groups and NGBs.”

Maybe this could actually work? Colon told The Associated Press there are still problems:

“It’s really unclear, and I don’t think that some parts of the bill jibe with other parts of the bill. We’re going to need some more conversation to suss out some of this stuff. Right now, it just doesn’t really add up for us.”

There is a lot in this bill which addresses the multitude of complaints levels at the Center, especially on the progress of investigations and some help on providing information on what is actually happening. But those who testified at the House and Senate hearings about the Center’s shortcomings will likely find the provisions insufficient.

It will be fascinating to see how the bill is changed in the hearings process, if in fact it moves forward at all.

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Olympic Summit supports Banka for third term as WADA President

By
Rich Perelman
-
Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, home of the International Olympic Committee

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≡ THE BIG PICTURE ≡

The International Olympic Committee held its 13th Olympic Summit in Lausanne, bringing together the leaders of the IOC, the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees.

Unlike some editions of the Summit, which staked out new positions for the combined Olympic Movement, there wasn’t much of substance in the final “Communique.”

Most of the references to Paris 2024 were repeats of comments by IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) from his news conference at the end of the IOC Executive Board meeting in Lausanne last week. Yes, it was great in some many respects.

Andrew Parsons (BRA), President of the International Paralympic Committee, was equally enthused about the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, calling it “the most spectacular Paralympic Games ever in terms of sport performance, venues, atmosphere and reach.”

He also cited the better collaboration with the Paris organizers in view of the expanded cooperation agreement signed with the IOC in 2018.

There were repeats of the Bach comments from the Executive Board meeting on the IOC’s exceptional economic outlook, the new Olympic Esports Games, the IOC’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative and safeguarding efforts for athletes.

There were interesting comments on the status of the anti-doping movement and the World Anti-Doping Agency, including:

● “The Summit supported the candidacy of Witold Banka and Yang Yang as WADA President and Vice-President, underlining their important achievements over the last six years, including the implementation of the governance reforms and the commitment to the implementation of the recommendations of the Cottier Report.”

Banka (from Poland) and Yang (from China) have not even had their candidacies publicly announced yet, as the WADA call for nominations was issued on 2 December and will not close until 31 January 2025.

But the IOC is in their corner, regardless of who else runs. Remember that the IOC inserted a clause in the Host City Contract for the Salt Lake City 2034 Olympic Winter Games in July, allowing termination of the hosting award if:

“the Host Country is ruled ineligible to host or co-host and/or to be awarded the right to host or co-host the Games pursuant to or under the World Anti-Doping Code or if, in any other way, the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the fight against doping is not fully respected or if the application of the World Anti-Doping Code is hindered or undermined.”

So, this is more support for WADA in its present configuration.

● “The Summit took note with concern of the lack of delivery on funding commitments by certain governments for WADA. The fulfilment of these commitments is in the vital interest of a continued and harmonised global anti-doping effort.”

This is simply a notice that the IOC is aware of the questions over payments from Russia and the U.S. for 2024, for different reasons. But it is aware.

The U.S. did have representation at the Summit, with U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee President Gene Sykes attending. Also, all seven candidates for the IOC Presidency were invited as guests.

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PANORAMA: Brisbane 2032 Chair prefers new stadium; U.S. wins three of four Grand Prix Final golds; bad crash at the UCI Track Champions League

By
Rich Perelman
-
Victory for American Amber Glenn at the ISU Grand Prix Final in France (Photo: ISU).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● The Chair of the Brisbane 2032 organizing committee would prefer a new, A$3.4 billion stadium at Victoria Park for the Games, if possible.

But it’s not his decision.

Andrew Liveris told the “Toward the Games” podcast last week that while the new Queensland Liberal National Party is reviewing the options, he made his preference clear:

“What better visual than to have a new stadium at Vic Park? … I would love it, to be perfectly frank.

“If a stadium like that appears at Victoria Park, that fits the future of cricket and football perfectly, and has private sector funding that gives it a return model like Optus Stadium out in Perth, of course Andrew Liveris would say at that, ‘Wow, what a great answer for the Olympics’.”

The original plan was to renovate the famed Brisbane Cricket Ground (“The Gabba”) at a projected cost of A$2.7 billion. A review by the prior Labor government suggested a new, A$3.4 billion stadium at Victoria Park, while the Labor government – owing to the cost – preferred a renovation of the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC) for track & field, and the use of Lang Park for ceremonies. (A$1 = $0.64 U.S.)

The Liberal National Party’s review is due in March 2025. Until now, Liveris had been quiet, saying only that the organizing committee will accept whatever is agreed by the government (and paid for by the government). Now, his preference is clear.

● Alpine Skiing ● Returning American star Lindsey Vonn made her first appearance after five years in retirement at the FIS Festival at Copper Mountain, Colorado, finishing 24th in Saturday’s first Downhill, and 27th in the second.

In Sunday’s Super-G, American Lauren Macuga was the winner at 1:11.89, with Vonn 19th at 1:13.95.

Swiss skiers dominated the FIS World Cup for men in Beaver Creek, Colorado, with 32-year-old Justin Murisier winning his first-ever World Cup gold in the Downhill in 1:40.04, ahead of three-time defending World Cup champ Marco Odermatt (SUI: 1:40.24) and Miha Hribat (SLO: 1:40.38). Bryce Bennett of the U.S. was sixth at 1:40.92, and Ryan Cochran-Siegle was 12th.

Odermatt then took over in the Super-G, winning his 38th career World Cup gold in 1:09.41, beating Cyprien Sarrazin (FRA: 1:09.59) and Lukas Feurstein (1:09.88). River Radamus of the U.S. was eighth (1:10.25) and Cochran-Siegle was 11th.

Sunday’s Giant Slalom was another Swiss win, this time the first career World Cup gold for 35-year-old Thomas Tumler in 2:27.60. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, the former Norwegian now skiing from Brazil, was second (2:27.72) and Zan Kranjec (SLO: 2:28.18) was third. Radamus was again the top U.S. finisher, in seventh (2:29.29).

● Archery ● At the World Archery Indoor World Series Taipei Open in Taoyuan (TPE), Italy’s Tokyo 2020 runner-up Mauro Nespoli was the men’s winner in a shoot-off with Korean Bon-chan Ku, 6-5, after a closest-to-the-center 10 on his final shot.

Japan’s Ruka Uehara took the women’s Recurve title with a 6-4 final win over Eunah Lee (KOR).

● Athletics ● The newest name to remember is Australian teen Gout Gout.

He won the Australian All-Schools Championship in Brisbane on Saturday in 20.04 (wind: +1.5 m/s), breaking the national 200 m record from 1968 of 20.06, set by Peter Norman in winning the Mexico City Olympic silver. He also set a world age-16 best, eclipsing Jamaican legend Usain Bolt’s 20.13 mark from 2003. His best coming in was 20.29.

Gout also won the 100 m in a lifetime best of 10.17 on Friday (+0.5) after running a wind-aided 10.04 in the heats (+3.4).

The indoor season is underway in style, with two collegiate records at the Sharon Colyear-Danville season opener at Boston University for North Carolina’s Ethan Strand, winning at 7:30.15 over teammate Parker Wolfe (7:30.23). They are now nos. 2-4 on the all-time U.S. indoor list.

In the men’s 5,000 m, repeat men’s NCAA Cross Country champ Graham Blanks won in 12:59.89, a lifetime best and now no. 17 on the all-time indoor list and no. 5 all-time U.S.

The women’s NCAA Cross Country winner, Kenyan Doris Lemngole, running for Alabama, won the women’s 5,000 m in 14:52.54, eclipsing the 14:52.79 collegiate indoor mark of Parker Valby (Florida) from 2024.

● Beach Volleyball ● The women’s gold-medal match was an all-American affair at the Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha (QAT), with Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth winning the Finals for the second straight years, 21-19, 21-17, over Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft. It’s the second win of the season for Nuss and Kloth and third silver for Cannon and Kraft.

Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasia Samoilova won the bronze.

The men’s final was another battle between Tokyo 2020 winners Anders Mol and Christian Sorum (NOR) and the Paris 2024 gold medalists David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig (SWE), in a repeat of the 2023 Finals championship match. The Swedes won that one, but the Norwegians took the 2024 final, 21-18, 22-20. It’s the second Finals win for Mol and Sorum.

Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, the Tokyo 2020 bronze winners, took the bronze here.

● Biathlon ● In the individual events at Kontiolahti (FIN) held this weekend, Norway started with a sweep of the men’s 15 km, with Endre Stornsheim getting his second career World Cup win and beating reigning seasonal champ Johannes Thinges Boe, 38.08.8 (0 penalties) to 38.11.8 (one penalty), with Sturla Holm Laegreid (38:33.0/0) completing the sweep.

In the men’s 10 km Sprint, it was France’s four-time Worlds gold medalist Emilien Jacquelin winning in 23:03.1/0, ahead of Sebastian Samuelsson (SWE: 23:22.0/1), Philipp Nawrath (GER: 23:38.2/0), and American Campbell Wright (23:32.2/0) in fourth, his best World Cup finish ever.

Two-time Worlds relay medalist Eric Perrot (FRA) got his second career World Cup win in the 15 km Mass Start in 37:12.9 (one penalty), ahead of teammate Quentin Fillon Maillet (37:22.0/3) and Lagreid (37:24.4/2).

France dominated the women’s racing last season and Lou Jeanmonnot continued with a win in the 12.5 km (35:52.3/0), ahead of Swedes Ella Halvorsson (36:04.6/1) and Elvira Oberg (36:48.7/3). The women’s 7.5 km Sprint was a win for Marketa Davidova (CZE: 20:39.7/0), followed by Oberg (20:48.5/2) and Suvi Minkkinen (FIN: 20:51.6/0).

On Sunday, Oberg completed her medal set with a win in the women’s 12.5 km Mass Start in 35:58.6 (2 penalties), over Julia Simon (FRA: 36:14.8) and Franziska Preuss (GER: 36:177.7/2).

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● The IBSF World Cup season opener for Bobsled was in Altenberg (GER), with a German sweep in the men’s and women’s races.

Two-time Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich (GER) won the Two-Man with Simon Wulff in 1:48.67, with 2023 World Champion Johannes Lochner (GER: 1:49.08) in second and Adam Ammour (1:49.48) completing the German sweep.

Friedrich also won the Four-Man – in which he is also a two-time Olympic champ – in 54.17; only one run was held after a Chinese sled crashed on the first run, which was canceled (no serious injuries reported). Austria’s Markus Treichl and German star Johannes Lochner shared the silver at 54.34. Frank Del Duca had the top U.S. finish in 13th (55.33).

Germany’s Laura Nolte, the 2023 and 2024 World Champion, won the women’s Monobob in 1:59.94, finishing fourth in the first run and second in the final run. Lisa Buckwitz, the 2024 European Champion, was second by 0.02 (1:59.96) with Andreea Grecu (ROU: 2:00.42) third. Americans Kaillie Humphries (2:01.46) and Kaysha Love (2:01.77) were seventh and ninth.

Nolte and Deborah Levi took the win in the Two-Woman event, in 1:52.14, more than a half-second up on teammates Buckwitz and Neele Schuten (1:52.79), with Germans Kim Kalicki and Lauryn Siebert third (1:52.83). Humphries and Jasmine Jones were fifth (1:53.28) and Elana Meyers Taylor and Emily Renna sixth (1:53.30).

In Skeleton, Germany’s Beijing 2022 Olympic champ Christopher Grotheer remained perfect on the season with his fourth straight win, in 1:53.62, ahead of 2023 World Champion Matt Weston (GBR: 1:53.65). Fellow Brit Marcus Wyatt, the 2024 European champ, was third; it’s the third time in four races this season that Weston and Wyatt have won the silver and bronze (in some order).

Belgium’s 2024 Worlds runner-up, Kim Meylemans took her first medal of the season with a win in the women’s races in 1:01.34, ahead of Suzanne Kehler (GER: 1:01.54) and Olympic champ Hannah Niese (GER: 1:01.55). Only one run was completed due to heavy snowfall.

Wyatt and Tabitha Sloecker won the Mixed Team final in 2:01.19, ahead of Sara Roderick and Austin Florian of the U.S. (2:01.56).

● Cross Country Skiing ● The second stop on the FIS World Cup was in Lillehammer (NOR), with the home Norwegians dominating the men’s racing.

They swept the 10 km Freestyle, with Martin Nyenget (22:58.8), Simen Kruger (23:02.9) and Harald Amundsen (23:06.6); in fact, Norway took the first six places. Then, four-time World Cup seasonal champ Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the Freestyle Sprint in 2:32.64, followed by Evan Northug (2:33.86) and Italy’s two-time Olympic silver winner Federico Pellegrino (2:34.21).

Sunday’s 20 km Skiathlon saw Amundsen get his second win of the season in at the head of another Norwegian sweep in 49:20.8, out-leaning teammates Jan Jenssen (49:20.8) and Nyenget (49:21.0) at the line! American Gus Schumacher was fifth in 49:21.6, just 0.8 back of the winner, his third-best individual finish ever in a World Cup race.

Comebacking Therese Johaug, 36, Norway’s 14-time World Champion, won her first race since retiring in 2022 in the women’s 10 km Freestyle, in 25:16.4, with teammate Heidi Weng (25:27.87) second and Astrid Slind (25:59.6) completing the sweep. American star Jessie Diggins was fifth (26:05.1).

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Sprint winner, Swede Jonna Sundling, led a 1-2 for Sweden in 2:50.08 over Johanna Hagstroem (2:53.13) in the Freestyle Sprint final, with Norway’s Julie Myhre third (2:53.68).

On Sunday, Johaug signaled she’s back with an impressive win in the 20 km Skiathlon in 54:31.5, 42.6 seconds up on Weng (55:14.1) with Diggins in third (55:14.6). Fellow American Sophia Laukli was 11th (56:29.4).

● Cycling ● The final two rounds of the UCI Track Champions League were held at Lee Valley VeloPark in London (GBR), but overshadowed by a bad crash late in the program on the final day on Saturday.

During the second heat of the first round of the women’s Keirin, German rider Alessa-Catriona Propster moved up the track and crashed into British Olympic Team Sprint gold medalist Katy Marchant, with both flying over the trackside barrier and into the crowd.

Marchant suffered a broken right forearm and two dislocated fingers and was taken to a hospital for further treatment. Propster and four spectators were also hurt, but received medical attention at the site and did not need further assistance.

The rest of the session was called off, ending the series without the final races in the men’s and women’s Keirin and the men’s Elimination race.

In the men’s Sprint division, Olympic champ Harrie Lavreysen (NED) and runner-up Matthew Richardson (now GBR) continued their duel, with Lavreysen winning the Sprint and the Keirin on Friday, with Richardson second in the Sprint and third in the Keirin. Lavreysen won the Sprint on Saturday over Australia’s Leigh Hoffman and won the overall Sprint title by 166-146 over Richardson.

The men’s Endurance class saw American Peter Moore win the Scratch race on Friday for his second victory in the series, and Canada’s Dylan Bibic, the 2022 Worlds Scratch champion, took the Elimination race. On Saturday, Lindsay de Vylder (BEL) took the Scratch and the Elimination was canceled after the crash. So, Bibic managed to win the overall Endurance title worth 130 points to 110 for Aagaard Hansen of Denmark.

Two-time Worlds sprint champion Emma Finucane (GBR) won the women’s Sprint on Friday over Olympic champ Ellesse Andrews (NZL), and Russian Alina Lysenko (competing as a “neutral”) won the Keirin over Finucane and Colombia’s Martha Bayona Pineda. On Saturday, Finucane won the Sprint over Lysenko, but the Keirin was cancelled. Lysenko was the overall Sprint winner with 157 points to 123 for Finucane and 120 for Bayona Pineda.

The women’s Endurance class belonged to British star Katie Archibald, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, who was second to Norway’s Anita Stenberg in Friday’s Scratch race, then won Saturday’s Scratch event. In the Elimination racing, Ireland’s Lara Gillespie won on Friday and then Yarli Acevedo (MEX) won over Archibald on Saturday. But Archibald scored 159 points to take the class easily, with Stenberg second at 120 and Gillespie third at 112.

● Fencing ● France’s Jean-Philippe Patrice edged 18-year-old Colin Heathcock of the U.S. by 15-14 in the final of the men’s FIE Sabre Grand Prix in Orleans (FRA), for his first career Grand Prix gold. It’s Heathcock’s third career Grand Prix medal, all this year.

The women final saw Korea’s Hayoung Jeon get her first Grand Prix win over Greece’s two-time Worlds bronze medalist Theodora Gkountoura, 15-7.

Italy went 1-2 at the FIE Foil World Cup for men in Takasaki (JPN), with 2018 World Champion Alessio Foconi getting past Filippo Macchio, 15-14, for his fifth career World Cup win. Three-time Olympic medalist Alex Massialas of the U.S. won one of the bronze medals. Italy also won the team final, 45-36, over the U.S. squad of Massialas, Bryce Louie, Nick Itkin and Chase Emmer.

At the FIE Foil World Cup for women in Busan (KOR), Elena Tangherlini (ITA) defeated Canada’s Olympic bronzer, Eleanor Harvey, in the final, 12-11, for her first career World Cup victory. Italy won the team title over the U.S. team of Lee Kiefer, Zanger Rhodes, Lauren Scruggs and Delphine Devore, 45-35.

● Figure Skating ● The U.S. scored three wins in four events at the ISU Grand Prix Final in Grenoble (FRA), topped by Amber Glenn’s first major international win.

Glenn, 25, the 2024 U.S. national champion, won both the Short Program and the Free Skate to score 212.07 points, enough to win over Japan’s Mone Chiba (208.85) and three-time World Champion Kaori Sakamoto (201.13), who suffered a fall in the Short Program.

It was the first Grand Prix Final win by an American woman since Alissa Czisny in 2010, and Glenn was amazed:

“This year started off with my first-ever international gold and now this is going to be my fourth, which is so incredible to even say. And I’m just so honored and blessed to be considered at that top contention of competition.

“It is still not real to me yet. I earned my first international gold this year in Bergamo [Lombardia Trophy] and I have been competing internationally since I was 13 and now I’m 25. Having all that experience that I do it means a lot.”

She said the lesson to be learned is an eternal one: “Never give up. You never know what’s going to happen. You can be at your lowest low, but you survived every single one of your darkest days so far, and you can continue to. I believe in you.“

World Champion Ilia Malinin won the men’s title at 292.12, winning the Short Program and second in the Free Skate, with a fall on a quad Lutz, one of an astonishing seven quads in his program. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, the Beijing 2022, runner-up, won the Free Skate and was second overall at 281.78, with teammate Shun Sato third (270.82).

Malinin’s show of skills was a record; the ISU noted that he “is the first to attempt six different types of quad and only quads, a total of seven, in one program.” He said afterwards:

“Going into Grand Prix Final I wanted to challenge myself with my technical ability as well as try to incorporate the artistry that I’ve been working on through the past few seasons.

“I think it was a kind of a challenge for me to want to come out here and try to put everything into one program and see how it goes.

“It was not what I wanted but I am still proud of myself. I try to create something new even though at the very beginning it can look weird and unsure. The biggest challenge is to try to make everything consistent and as clean as possible and to put technical aspects and artistry together.

“I will get home and play around with the elements and will figure out what is the content for Worlds is going to be.”

The Ice Dance World Champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S., won their specialty 219.85, winning both segments. They were more than 13 points ahead of 2024 European champs Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (ITA: 206.11), and Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (205.18).

In Pairs, Worlds bronze medalists Minerva Haase and Nikita Volodin won both segments and scored 218.10 points, well clear of Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (JPN: 206.71). Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea finished fifth at 198.26.

● Freestyle Skiing ● The U.S. men swept the medals at the FIS World Cup in Halfpipe in Secret Garden (CHN), with three-time Olympic Slopestyle medalist Nick Goepper getting the win with 95.00, ahead of two-time Olympic Halfpipe medalist Alex Ferreira (92.25) and 2014-18 Olympic winner David Wise (89.00).

Chinese star Eileen Gu, the Beijing 2022 champion, won the women’s competition at 90.00, leading a 1-2 for the home team as Fanghui Li (82.75) was second and American Svea Irving was third (80.00).

In the Moguls skiing at Idre Fjall (SWE), Canada’s four-time World Champion Mikael Kingsbury won again, scoring 87.92 against 85.89 for Japanese veteran Ikuma Horishima and 85.63 for Sweden’s Beijing 2022 winner Walter Wallberg (85.63). American Nick Page was fifth (84.76).

The women’s winner was Australia’s 2024 World Cup seasonal champion Jakara Anthony (82.94), ahead of 2018 Olympic champ Perrine Laffont (FRA: 80.89) and Canada’s Maia Schwinghammer (80.71). American stars Jaelin Kauf (79.83), Olivia Giaccio (71.97) and Tess Johnson (59.27) went 4-5-6.

Saturday’s Dual Moguls events had to be cancelled due to heavy fog.

● Judo ● The home completely dominated the IJF World Tour Tokyo Grand Slam in Japan, winning 13 of 14 classes!

The men had six winners in Taiki Nakamura (60 kg), Takeshi Takeoka (66 kg), Ryuga Tanaka (73 kg), Soatro Fujiwara (81 kg), Sanshiro Murao (90 kg) and Kanta Nakano (+100 kg). The women swept all seven classes, with Wakana Koga (48 kg), Kisumi Omori (53 kg), Mika Adachi (57 kg), Haruka Kaju (63 kg), Mayu Honda (70 kg), Kurena Ikeda (78 kg) and Mao Arai (+78 kg).

● Luge ● Austria’s Worlds bronze medalist Madeline Egle gave the home fans at the FIL World Cup in Innsbruck lots to cheer about as she won the women’s Singles over 2021 World Champion Julia Taubitz (GER), 1:32.484 to 1:32.724, with Lisa Schulte (AUT: 1:32.853) in third. Emily Sweeney of the U.S. was fourth (1:32.966) and Summer Britcher was seventh.

Austria scored again in the women’s Doubles, with World Champions Selina Egle – Madeleine’s younger sister – teaming with Lara Kipp to win in 1:33.499 over two-time Worlds winners Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (1:33.850). American stars Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby finished fifth in 1:34.342).

Austria’s 2024 Worlds runner-up Nico Gleirscher got his first win of the season in the men’s Singles, winning in 1:39.713 over teammates Jonas Mueller (1:39.808) and older brother David Gleirscher (1:40.166) for a medals sweep. Jonny Gustafson was the top American, in 11th (1:41.006).

Latvia’s Olympic relay bronze medalists Martins Bots and Roberts Plume took the men’s Doubles in 1:32.393, barely ahead of the new German team of five-time Worlds winner Toni Eggert with Florian Mueller (1:32.572). The top U.S. pair was Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa in seventh (1:33.050), and Zachary Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander were 10th.

● Nordic Combined ● Five-time World Cup champion Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) won his second FIS World Cup race in Lillehammer (NOR) on Saturday, taking the 98 m jumping and 10 km race in 24:07.4, for his 75th career World Cup gold.

Julian Schmid (GER: 24:44.1) was a distant second and Johannes Lamparter (AUT: also 24:44.1) third.

In the Compact 140 m jumping and 7.5 km race on Sunday, Beijing 2022 Normal Hill gold medalist Vinzenz Geiger (GER) won his second event of the season in 17:44.0, barely ahead of teammate Schmid (also 17:44.0) and Riiber in third (17:459).

The reigning World Cup women’s champ, Norwegian Ida Marie Hagen, won both women’s events. She took the Gundersen 98 m jumping and 5 km race on Friday in 15:24.9, ahead of teammate Gyda Westvold Hansen (16:13.9) and Lisa Hirner (AUT: 16:20.5), then won Saturday’s Compact 98 m/5 km in 13:43.4, winning easily over Nathalie Armbruster (GER: 14:34.5) and Westvold Hansen (14:39.1).

● Rugby Sevens ● South Africa scored a popular home victory in the men’s final of the second HSBC Sevens Series tournament, in Cape Town (RSA), defeating France by 26-14. The Blitzboks won their two pool matches easily, then disposed of Spain, 19-12, in their semi. Fiji won the bronze medal, 47-10 over the Spanish.

Seven-time Women’s Series champions New Zealand won the women’s tournament with a 26-12 victory over the U.S. Both teams were 2-0 in pool play, then the Kiwis beat France by 43-0 in their semi, while the U.S. edged Australia, 24-19. France won the third-place match by 17-14 over Australia.

● Short Track ● Another win for the U.S. on the ISU World Tour, this time in Beijing (CHN) for the third stop, for 2024 Worlds 1,500 m bronze medalist Corinne Stoddard.

She won the women’s 1,500 m in 2:25.748, just ahead of teammate (and 2024 World 1,000 m champ) Kristen Santos-Griswold (2:25.850). Reigning World Champion Gil-li Kim (KOR) was third at 2:25.888.

Dutch star Xandra Velzeboer, the two-time World 500 m champ, won that event at 42.078 and was second to Canada’s Danae Blais in the 1,000 m by 1:29.678 to 1:29.717. Stoddard picked up another medal in third in 1:29.777. Canada won the 3,000 m relay.

In the men’s skating, China picked up two wins, with World 1,500 m champ Long Sun taking the 500 m in 40.155 over Canada’s three-time Olympic medalist Steven Dubois (40.289), and then the 5,000 m relay.

Korea’s Ji-won Park, the 2023 World 1,500 m champ, won that event in 2:16.776 over 2024 World 1,000 m winner William Sandjinou (CAN: 2:16.808), but Canada got a win from Felix Roussel in the 1,000 m in 1:25.352, over Michal Niewinski (POL: 1:25.480).

China also won the Mixed Relay in 2:39.115, with the U.S. (Andrew Heo, Marcus Howard, Santos-Griswold, Stoddard) finishing third in 2:39.480.

● Ski Jumping ● Austria’s Daniel Tschofenig finally got his first World Cup win in the FIS men’s World Cup of the 134 m hill in Wisla (POL) on Saturday, scoring 276.8 points to edge Gregor Deschwanden (SUI: 275.4) and Pius Paschke (GER: 273.9).

On Sunday, the 34-year-old Paschke, who came into this season with one career World Cup win, got his third gold of the new season – and fifth medal in six events – scoring 298.6 to defeat Jan Hoerl (AUT: 290.1) and defending World Cup champ Stefan Kraft (AUT: 286.1).

● Snowboard ● At the FIS Halfpipe World Cup in Secret Garden (CHN), American Maddie Mastro, the time Worlds medalist, scored her first career World Cup win with 88.75 points, beating Xuetong Cai (CHN: 86.25) and fellow American, 30-year-old Madeline Schaffrick (85.25), who won her first career World Cup medal!

The men’s win went to 2021 World Champion Yuto Totsuka (JPN) at 95.50, ahead of Australia’s Beijing 2022 runner-up, Scotty James (88.25); Japan took the bronze as well with Ryusei Yamada (87.75).

In the second stop of the Parallel racing World Cup circuit, in Yanqing (CHN), Tim Mastnak (SLO) won Saturday’s men’s Giant Slalom race over Maurizio Bormolino (ITA), his fourth career win and first since 2019.

In Sunday’s Slalom, Italy went 1-2 with Daniele Bagozza winning his sixth career individual World Cup title, over Gabriel Messner.

Italy’s Lucia Dalmasso won her second career World Cup individual title in the women’s Parallel Giant Slalom, beating Austria’s Sabine Payer. On Sunday, the 2023 World Champion in the Parallel Giant Slalom, Japan’s Tsubaki Miki, won the Parallel Slalom over Claudia Riegler (AUT).

● Swimming ● Tunisian star Ahmed Hafnaoui, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champ in the men’s 400 m Freestyle and a two-time World Champion in 2023 in the 800 and 1,500 m Freestyles, has been provisionally suspended by the Aquatics Integrity Unit (AQIU) for whereabouts failures.

According to the AQIU:

“Any combination of three (or more) Missed Tests (which relate to the Athletes’ unavailability with respect to their 60-minute time slot) and/or Filing Failures (which are caused by the Athletes’ failure to provide accurate Whereabouts) committed within a twelve-month period amount to a potential Anti-Doping Rule Violation (“ADRV”) as per Article 2.4 of the World Aquatics Doping Control Rules and World Anti-Doping Code.

“The potential consequences for such ADRV, if confirmed, is a period of Ineligibility between one and two years and disqualification of results obtained since the date of the ADRV, namely the date of the occurrence of third Whereabouts Failure (Article 10.3.2 World Aquatics Doping Control Rules).”

Hafnaoui swam for Indiana for part of the 2023-24 season, but SwimSwam.com reported he has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal to switch to another school.

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ATHLETICS: Grand Slam Track opens ticket sales, from $10 for one day (in Kingston) to $200 for three days (plus fees, of course)

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡

Tickets are now on sale for the first season of four Grand Slam Track meets in 2025, showcasing an all-track program in four locations/

Ticket pricing is fairly standardized, with individual-day tickets in three categories at most of the meets: General Admission, a reserved seat and then a VIP level, close to the finish line.

All tickets also have added fees of 7.5% – and there may be applicable sales taxes – except for Los Angeles (fees included), and the line-up as shown today:

Meet no. 1: 04-06 Apr.: Kingston (JAM)
(Gen. Admission-Grandstand-VIP-VIP Finish Line)
● 1-day tickets at $10-50-60-100
● 2-day tickets at $15-80-100-180
● 3-day tickets at $20-130-160-200

Meet no. 2: 02-04 May: Miramar, Florida
(Gen. Admission-Grandstand-VIP Finish Line)
● 1-day tickets at $25-60-75
● 2-day tickets at $40-80-100
● 3-day tickets at $60-150-200

Meet no. 3: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(Gen. Admission-Premium-VIP Finish Line)
● 1-day tickets at $25-60-75 (also Reserved at $40)
● 2-day tickets at $40-80-100
● 3-day tickets at $60-150-200

Meet no. 4: 27-29 Jun.: Los Angeles, California
(Gen. Admission-Golden Circle-VIP Finish Line I and II)
● 1-day tickets at $31.89 – 47.83 – 69.12 – 85.41
● 2-day tickets at $48.83 – 91.41 – 158.82 (I & II)
● 3-day tickets at $71.12 – 165.24 – 227.19 (1 & II)

All meets are shown with 5 p.m. starts (local time) on all three days.

The Grand Slam Track meets will include 96 athletes in track events only: 48 seasonally-contracted “Racers” (38 signed so far) and 48 single-meet “Challengers” in a two-race format:

“Racers and Challengers will be assigned to compete in one of the following categories, and will all race in two events during each Slam: short sprints (100 m/200 m), short hurdles (100H or 110H/100 m), long sprints (200 m/400 m), long hurdles (400H/400 m), short distance (800 m/1500 m), or long distance (3000 m/5000 m).”

Prize money of $100,000 down to $10,000 for eighth place will be available in each race.

The prices are quite reasonable compared to other high-end events in other sports. Here’s what tickets cost for the 2024 USATF-organized one-day LA Grand Prix (also at UCLA’s Drake Stadium) and the NYC Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium:

LA Grand Prix: 17-18 May 2024
(USATF Distance Classic included)
● $30: General Admission (plus fees)
● $75: Premium (plus fees)
● $175: VIP (plus fees)

NYC Grand Prix: 9 June 2024
● $20: Bronze sections
● $40: Silver sections
● $70: Gold sections

For the 2024 Penn Relays – a different kind of event, but held at Franklin Field – prices were in two stages:

Penn Relays: 25-26 April 2024
● $26: General Admission
● $31: Reserved I
● $41: Reserved II
● $76: Finish Line

Penn Relays: 27 April 2024
● $26: General Admission
● $39: Reserved I
● $54: Reserved II
● $69: Reserved III
● $250: Finish Line

The Grand Slam Track pricing is very much in line with these events; how well they do will be up to how well they are promoted. That’s the next phase. But the race – to fill the seats – has started.

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LOS ANGELES 2028: Mayor Bass appoints outgoing Council member Paul Krekorian as City’s head of major events

By
Rich Perelman
-
Paul Krekorian, selected to head the City of Los Angeles' Office of Major Events (Photo: City of Los Angeles video screenshot).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE LATEST ≡

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Thursday that outgoing City Council member Paul Krekorian will be the City’s Executive Director of the Office of Major Events, effective on Monday, 9 December, after his Council term expires.

Per the announcement:

“In this role, Council President Emeritus Krekorian will coordinate City departments and engage external stakeholders – working to ensure the 2028 Games and other major events create positive economic impacts for the City and advance other crucial priorities to make sure all Angelenos benefit from these coming opportunities.

“This appointment represents a new phase of preparations ahead of major events and will come into effect on Monday, December 9th, after Krekorian completes his 15 years of service on the Los Angeles City Council.

“‘President Emeritus Krekorian’s expertise and leadership are both vital as we evolve our readiness for the major events Los Angeles will host in the coming years,’ said Mayor Bass.

“‘When we met with officials from Paris, they stressed the importance of pulling the entire city together to make sure all City departments were aligned and operating under the same vision. President Krekorian is uniquely positioned to do just that – drawing on his decades of experience handling local and statewide budgets and firsthand institutional knowledge of city government as well as the Olympic bid process. Today marks a new phase of urgent preparations for Los Angeles. Thank you President Krekorian for partnering with me to create a Games for all.’”

Bass added, in comments to the Los Angeles Times, “We need a point person” on the Olympics. “We have to get ready, and I feel like we’re running a little bit behind.”

Krekorian, 64, has been the District 2 Council member since 2010, elected first as an interim member, then elected in 2011 and 2015 and now termed out. He previously served as a California State Assembly member from 2006-10.

He has been widely known as a budget hawk on the City Council and headed the Budget and Finance Committee for several years. As a member of the Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, he was at the ready with questions about money, spending and forecasts. He was a lawyer in private practice, dealing with business, entertainment and intellectual property issues prior to winning his Assembly seat.

He is also well respected by his fellow Council members, elected as President of the Council from October 2022 to September 2024.

Said Krekorian:

“As I conclude my service on the City Council, I know how much more work needs to be done ahead of the 2028 Games. I’m honored that Mayor Bass is entrusting me to lead preparations for major events coming to Los Angeles and to deliver a successful 2028 Games to Angelenos and visitors from around the world.”

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OLYMPIC GAMES: Banque de France study says Paris 2024 was an economic plus for French GDP, with 360,000 added daily Games visitors

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Olympic Rings on the Eiffel Tower (Photo: Ibex73 via Wikipedia)

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≡ ANALYSIS & OBSERVATIONS ≡

“The holding of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris had generally positive effects on the French economy during the summer of 2024, contrary to the fears that had been expressed in advance. In an estimate, GDP growth in the third quarter of the year was amplified by around a quarter of a point, thanks in particular to ticket sales and television rights.”

That’s from a new report from the Banque de France, confirming a positive economic impact for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The report further noted (computer translation from the original French):

“During the economic surveys conducted by the Banque de France prior to the event, companies expressed their fears about a negative effect of the Olympic Games on their activity. However, this appears to have been overestimated.

“The construction sector appears to be the only one to have temporarily slowed down its activity. These same surveys conclude that there was a net positive effect on the national economy. Three regions concentrated the increase in activity: Île-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.”

The report observed that while the concentrated activity in the third quarter generated an increase of 0.25% in the French Gross Domestic Product for that period, “[t]he impact on quarterly growth is transitory and followed by a backlash in the following quarter.”

The revenue drivers were ticketing, tourism and event attendance, plus the impact of television rights and the broadcast of the Games. And the study showed that despite pre-Games concerns over business impacts, the surveys showed less impact than was expected, and where felt, was concentrated to just a few sectors.

As for the bank’s performance in supporting cash availability, no problems:

“In terms of payments, higher than usual cash withdrawals were observed in Paris, due to the influx of foreign tourists. However, these movements remained limited and did not pose any difficulty to the players concerned in the cash sector. Generally speaking, the Banque de France was able to define a specific organization with all the players, in order to prevent any crisis situation, in a context of high traffic.”

One of the interesting aspects of the report was an estimate of the number of non-resident visitors to the Paris Games.

A preliminary study by the Paris Je t’Aime tourism department, issued in August and based on accommodations usage, estimated that 3.1 million overnight visitors came through Paris during the Olympic period in 2024, compared with 2.6 million in 2023. So the Olympic “load” was considered to be about 500,000 visitors across the 17 days of the Games.

The Banque de France study offered a different figure, based on mobile phone usage (out-of-area SIM cards), estimating that the additional daily users present in Paris during the Games period from outside the local region, was 360,000, considerably lower. This was reported as a 7% increase from 2023, localized to the Ile-de-France region, where the Games mainly took place.

This is a worthwhile measurement, in contrast to the pre-Games hype of millions of out-of-area visitors coming for the Games. The Banque de France study observed that about 60% of the out-of-area visitors were from Europe.

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PANORAMA: Vonn returns to skiing at age 40; equestrian star Dujardin banned for horse-whipping; Malinin leads U.S. at ISU Grand Prix Final

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● The French government collapsed on Monday, with a vote of no-confidence over the proposed budget, with Prime Minister Michel Barnier – who was the co-head of the 1992 Albertville Winter Games organizing committee – resigning, but stay on as a caretaker until a new government can be formed.

Financial guarantees are due to the International Olympic Committee for the 2030 Games, which must be approved by the National Assembly, which voted Barnier out. IOC President Thomas Bach said Thursday that he was not concerned at present.

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The U.S. Olympic Endowment award winners for 2024 were announced and will be honored at the New York Athletic Club on Friday.

The George Steinbrenner Sport Leadership Award was given to U.S. Soccer President – and former star midfielder – Cindy Parlow Cone, and to Brad Snyder, a Navy veteran who lost his sight from an explosive device during his service in Afghanistan. He became a Paralympic swimmer and has won five gold and two silver medals at the Paralympic Games in 2012 and 2016. He then won a gold in the triathlon at Tokyo 2020.

The William E. Simon Award for advancing the ideals of the Olympic Movement will honor NBC’s iconic figure skating commentators, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. Lipinski was the Olympic women’s gold medalist at Nagano 1998, and Weir was a two-time Olympian in men’s Singles, winning the Worlds bronze in 2008.

The Gen. Douglas MacArthur Award for exemplary service honors Dr. David Weinstein, a sports medicine practitioner and Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado. He has been the orthopedic consultant at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center since 1995, serving athletes at nine Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The U.S. Olympic Endowment is a continuing financial legacy of the surplus from the 1984 Los Angeles Games, now with net assets of approximately $250 million. It has awarded grants to the USOPC and its member organizations totaling $386 million over the last 40 years.

● Alpine Skiing ● The Associated Press reported that 40-year-old Lindsey Vonn will compete for the first time since 2019, at the FIS Fall Festival at Copper Mountain, Colorado in a Saturday Downhill and a Sunday Super-G.

These races are a level below the FIS Alpine World Cup, where Vonn won 82 races from 2005-18 and was a four-time winner of the seasonal World Cup title. After multiple injuries, she is working back to World Cup form.

Fellow American star Mikaela Shiffrin updated her condition on X after her crash at Killington:

“Gonna be a minute…like a few weeks minimum…to be able to take on much of any force. Thank you all for every ounce of love and support, in the grand scheme, it’s a small pot hole (pun intended), and I’m very thankful for that!”

● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track teased the opening of its ticket sales on Friday (6th) at 1 p.m. Eastern time with a post on X that stated ticket prices would start at $10 to $25, depending on the meet. More details Friday.

The 2025 schedule has meets on 4-6 April (Kingston), 2-4 May (Miramar), 30 May-1 June (Philadelphia) and 27-29 June (Los Angeles).

Interesting note in the announcement that the Bislett Games in Oslo (NOR), first run in 1965, was awarded a platinum certification on the Athletics for a Better World standard:

“One of the most noteworthy initiatives was a zero-emission transfer of 120 athletes, personnel and media from Oslo to Stockholm for the Bauhaus-Galan meeting in the Swedish capital. Via a collaboration between organisers of the respective events that was four years in the making, electric buses transported everyone from the meeting hotel to Oslo’s central station, where specially booked trains awaited.

“The five-hour train journey, which passed through serene settings dotted by dense forests and clear Nordic lakes, ended at the central station in Stockholm, just a two-minute walk from the meeting’s main hotel. That one-way train journey released 247.46 kg of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere, 12 times less than the CO2e that would have been emitted if those 120 people flew, contributing to a substantial reduction in the event’s carbon footprint.

“The arrangement will be expanded in 2025. After a train journey connects all meeting stakeholders traveling from Oslo (12 June) to Stockholm (15 June), all competitors, personnel and officials participating in the Paavo Nurmi Games (17 June), a Continental Tour Gold event in Turku, will travel by ferry to the southwestern Finnish city.”

Studies show that air travel is overwhelming the greatest source of emissions related to events; this kind of cooperation between meets is a true response.

● Cycling ● The Italian all-sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport published a comprehensive survey showing that the average salary for a rider on a UCI World Tour team has reached €500,000 (€1 = $1.06 U.S.), with team budgets reaching about €570 million by 2025, up a third from 2022!

More sponsorship support has been the driver of the increases. The UCI Women’s World Tour, founded in 2016, is much smaller, but also improving. Average rider salaries were reported at €82,000 and the total budget to €70 million, doubling since 2022.

● Equestrian ● British dressage star and three-time Olympic gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin was suspended for one year by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) and fined CHF 10,000 (~$11,382 U.S.). Per the federation:

“Dujardin has been provisionally suspended since 23 July 2024 for engaging in conduct contrary to the principles of horse welfare. The time served during her provisional suspension will be credited towards the one-year suspension. …

“On 22 July 2024, the FEI received a video, submitted by a lawyer representing an undisclosed complainant, that showed Dujardin excessively whipping a horse during a training session at a private stable. …

“Dujardin confirmed she was the person in the video on 23 July, and informed the FEI that she would withdraw from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. She also agreed to be provisionally suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.”

Dujardin, now 39, agreed to the sanction, which is now not subject to appeal.

● Figure Skating ● The ISU Grand Prix Final is on this weekend in Grenoble (FRA), with American entries in all four senior events:

● World Champion Ilia Malinin, the decisive winner at Skate America and Skate Canada International, is the favorite in this field, as the defending champion.

● The women’s competition has 2024 U.S. champ Amber Glenn, who is leading after the Short Program at 70.04, after Japan’s three-time World Champion Kaori Sakamoto suffered a fall and is fourth. Glenn comes in with wins at the Grand Prix de France and the Cup of China.

● In Pairs, Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea finished second at Skate America and third at the NHK Trophy. Japan’s 2023 World Champions (and 2024 silver winners) Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara are the likely favorites.

● World Champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. won the NHK Trophy and were second at Skate America. Worlds runners-up Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN) and Italy’s 2024 European Champions Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri are the challengers.

U.S. television coverage is on the Peacock streaming service, with a Saturday highlights program on E! (9 a.m. Eastern time) and on Sunday on NBC at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

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WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY: WADA Foundation Board adopts budgets in view of Russian non-payment, U.S. concerns

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Anti-Doping Agency Vice President Yang Yang (CHN, at left), President Witold Banka (POL, center) and Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI). (Photo: WADA).

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≡ PIVOT POINT ≡

The World Anti-Doping Agency Foundation Board met on Thursday in Riyadh (KSA) and adopted two different versions of a budget for 2025:

“The Board approved two versions of the 2025 WADA Budget. The first version is the full budget that was endorsed by the Finance and Administration (F&A) Committee in June and includes the 2025 contribution from the Government of the Russian Federation.

“Recognizing that WADA did not receive its contribution in 2023, the second version excludes the 2025 Russian contribution. The first version of the budget is USD 57.5 million from all sources of funding while the amount without the Russian dues will be USD 54.7 million (USD 1.4 million from Russia combined with the match payment that comes from the Sport Movement, leading to a potential shortfall of USD 2.8 million).

“WADA Management will initially work with the reduced budget for the coming year but will retain the full budget as a secondary plan. This will allow WADA to be more flexible and react strategically and operationally in the event that the contribution levels improve. Whenever a government does not successfully pay its contribution, WADA is forced to consider austerity measures that impact all its activities, inevitably affecting all stakeholders, including athletes and Anti-Doping Organizations (ADOs).”

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency and the Russian sports ministry have said they want to pay the amounts due, but under financial sanctions due to the war against Ukraine, have had difficulty in sending funds out of the country (and to WADA).

In the same meeting, the question of payment by the United States was also covered:

“The ExCo and Board also discussed the potential fallout should the United States Government decide to voluntarily withhold its annual contribution to WADA for 2024, as has been suggested.”

WADA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency have been in a harsh, unending war of words since April, when the German ARD channel and The New York Times reported the January 2021 mass doping incident with 23 Chinese swimmers, with WADA accepting the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency’s finding of no sanctions due to food contamination.

The anti-doping community has been in turmoil ever since, with USADA leading the charge against WADA, pointing to a lack of application of mandatory provisional suspensions and other procedures which it insists should have been followed.
Some of these swimmers won medals at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021 and at this summer’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Moreover, WADA and the U.S. Office of National of Drug Control Policy – the department which pays the WADA dues – were in conflict during the first Trump Administration in 2021 over the participation of U.S. representatives relative to the amount of dues paid. That issue was settled, but the Office of National Drug Control Policy is again involved in discussions with WADA over its dues, in view of the 2021 Chinese doping incident.

The 2023 dues from the U.S. of $3.4 million was paid last August. The 2024 amount was reported as $3,624,983.

On 30 July, the “Restoring Confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency Act of 2024” was introduced in both houses of the U.S. Congress, “to permanently provide the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) the authority to withhold up to the full amount of membership dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) if the organization fails to operate as a fair and independent actor to ensure athletes are competing in drug-free Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The bill (H.R. 9220 and S. 4839) were referred to committees, but have not moved since introduction.

The WADA Board also approved the WADA strategic plan for 2025-29 (not yet published) and placed Spain on the compliance “watchlist,” with four months to “correct outstanding non-conformities”:

“The non-conformities in this case come from two sources, namely a review of the NADO’s anti-doping program that identified some critical non-conformities in testing, and a review of a newly adopted government decree, which had not been provided to WADA for review prior to coming into force and which was found not to be compatible with the Code.”

Media reports in Spain have pointed to multiple testing issues with the national anti-doping organizations, known as CELAD.

The next meeting of the Executive Committee is scheduled for 27 March 2025.

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Bach says running to be IOC President is about a vision for the future

By
Rich Perelman
-
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) during his 5 December 2024 news conference (Photo: IOC video screenshot).

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≡ THE BIG PICTURE ≡

The end of the International Olympic Committee’s three-day Executive Board meeting in Lausanne was marked by a wide-ranging news conference by IOC President Thomas Bach (GER), nearing the end of his second term on 23 June next year.

With an election for a new IOC President coming next March, he was asked to reflect on his own election and his experience across 12 years leading the Olympic Movement:

“When you are a candidate for the IOC President, you’re not a candidate because you want to be President. You’re a candidate because you have a vision for the future of the Olympic Movement, because you have ideas, a project for which you look, then, for support in the membership.”

Bach was elected in 2013, when the Olympic Movement was reeling from a perceived lack of credibility, reflected especially in bids for future Games, as traditional candidates were scared away by the heavy reported costs of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and spending on the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi (RUS).

But, international tensions were at a fairly low level compared to today, with actual wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and threats in Asia. Bach noted that as a significant positive:

“There, I was very lucky that at the beginning of my presidency, I could concentrate in conceiving this vision, based on my election platform, to conceive Olympic Agenda 2020, and so, now, this is why you see me very, very happy, and maybe, in some respects, also very relieved, that we could overcome all these many challenges and that with Paris 2024, Olympic Agenda is not a vision any more, it’s a reality, and that this reality has met – as we could see from these [approval] polls – the expectations of the world to unite the world in a peaceful competition.

“And at such moments, it does not make great sense to come back to every [challenge], over all the time. You cannot expect 12 years of a presidency being a honeymoon. So, therefore, you see me happy, if not to say, very happy.”

He declined to talk about his legacy, since he still has six months to go. But his comments concerning vision and a reference to his election platform are interesting, since the IOC’s rules for the 30 January presentations to the membership by the seven Presidential candidates require that “The presentation by the candidates must reflect the content of their respective Candidature Document published on the IOC website.” (The Candidature Documents have not yet been posted.)

Bach spoke to multiple topics during the 52-minute session, including:

● The status of boxing on the 2028 Olympic program:

“This is in the hands of the national boxing federations, whether they want their athletes to give an opportunity to win Olympic medals or not. It’s very easy and there, we see there is some moves with a number of federations. We are watching this and when the time comes, we have to make, like for any recognition, a provisional recognition of any International Federation, we have to make an assessment whether there is a federation – and in this moment, it looks like the only one it could be is World Boxing – whether they are meeting the criteria which we have for such situations.

“And there, to be very clear, it cannot be IBA [International Boxing Association]. This story is over, for all the reasons: governance, ethical reasons, you know.”

● On the new Olympic Esports Games, to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025, which he notes are “different and separate from the Olympic Games” and “opens us up to new audiences”:

“In the Olympic Games, we have an organizing committee, and we have the IOC Coordination Commission. For the Esports Games, we have created a new model, by having a joint committee, of the IOC and our organizing partners at the Saudi Olympic Committee. And this joint committee is hair by Mr. Ser Miang Ng [SGP] and co-chaired by the President of the Saudi National Olympic Committee, Prince Abdulaziz Al Saud.

“This joint committee – it’s six persons, three each – they had their first meeting, just in November. They have agreed on a roadmap now, how to approach the composition of the program, how to approach the stakeholders in esports, be it on the one side, International Federations, or sports federations, be it National Olympic Committees, or be it publishers or other stakeholders.

“There was a great unity in all these efforts, and so today we have received an interim report and are looking forward to more progress in the next couple of months.”

● Asked about a possible meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump:

“It’s in the best hands of the [U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee] and the [LA28] organizing committee.

“Whenever they would deem it appropriate, of course, the IOC will be at their side. But we are very confident with regard to the steps and efforts being undertaken by the organizing committee and by USOPC, taking early contact with the incoming team and we know also that President-elect Trump repeatedly declared his support for the Games, which we never had any doubt, because he has declared this support from the very beginning. So at this time, we are very confident and relaxed.”

● He was also asked about any worries for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games in the French Alps, in view of the collapse of the French government and the resignation of Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who was also the co-head of the Albertville 1992 Winter Games organizing committee:

“For the time being, we are not worried because of the fact that we have seen the support demonstrated by a very large majority in France to the 2030 [Winter] Games.”

● Of course, he was asked about the host selection for the next available Games, in 2036. Here, Bach was a bit more engaged than in the past:

“It will not happen in the next six months, and if for once, I’m answering to a speculative question, but please don’t take it as a precedence, then I would also say we will not see a targeted dialogue during the entire next year.”

It will be up to his successor after that.

Bach was relaxed and obviously still thrilled with the success of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, and you could sense that he is a little relieved that all these issues will be someone else’s problem next June.

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PARIS 2024: IOC report says the 2024 Olympic audience worldwide approached 5 billion, or 84% of of the potential audience

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

“These Olympic Games Paris 2024 met the expectations of the world. These were truly Olympic Games of a new era.”

That’s from International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) at a Thursday news conference at the end of the three-day Executive Board meeting in Lausanne, with the IOC releasing a 19-page report on the audience for the Paris Games.

The headline was that, according to survey data collected by Publicis Sports & Entertainment from 18 countries and 10,775 respondents aged 13-65, 84% “followed the Olympic Games Paris 2024.”

Extended to cover the entire planet at the same rate, that results in a total of five billion people following the Games worldwide.

The report is quite coy and rather spare, promoting the 84% following and the five billion total, but provides no details, such as the numerical size of the television audience vs. that on digital or other means of “following” the Games. There was some added data and estimates:

● Television rights-holders presented 28.7 billion viewer hours of the Games, a 25% increase over Tokyo 2020 (23.0 billion).

● An impressive 70% of rights-holder viewers followed the Games on both television and digital media, with only 18% watching only on television and 12% following only on digital. That’s an increase from Tokyo 2020, where 64% used both and 27% were on television only.

● An estimated 270 million posts were made to the major social-media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube – resulting in an estimate of 412 billion digital “engagements.”

The coverage presented by rights-holders increased significantly. Combined program hours on television reached 178,002, up 18% from Tokyo 2020. Digital coverage presented soared to 308,741 hours combined among all rights-holders.

In France, the Games were wildly received, with 95% of the potential audience watching an average of 24 hours of coverage across the 17 days of the Olympics.

A post-Games survey by Publicis in 15 countries, with 9.375 respondents, showed that 73% considered the Games to be an organizational and aesthetic success, up from a Rio 2016 poll of 57% and a Tokyo 2020 report of 65%.

Interest and appreciation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was, no doubt, enormous. The IOC’s limited sharing of the data, however, limits any conclusions on trends for the future, other than that streaming continues to reduce the television-only audience, as is true for most programming.

It’s interesting to note than FIFA distributed its delayed audience report on the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on 29 November, also claiming five billion people engaged with the tournament across television, digital medial, social media or just reading about it in a newspaper.

However, FIFA did detail the audience segments, with 2.9 billion watching on television, 2.7 billion watching on digital streaming platforms, and 2.2 billion engaging on social media, with many people following on all three.

FIFA’s research, also done by Publicis, was based on surveys in 24 countries with a 26,000 sample size.

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LOS ANGELES 2028: Iconic Rose Bowl being renovated for the long term, with capacity down to perhaps 85,000 by 2028 Games

By
Rich Perelman
-
Pasadena's famed Rose Bowl, slated to be a venue for a third Olympic Games in 2028 (Photo: Wikipedia, via Ted Eytan)

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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡

You can make the case that the final four days of the 1984 Olympic football tournament – for men only in those days – at Pasadena’s historic Rose Bowl was the turning point in the history of American soccer.

To the amazement – yes, amazement – of FIFA officials, the 8 August semifinal between France and Yugoslavia drew 97,451 to the Rose Bowl, and 83,642 to original-format Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California to see Brazil defeat Italy, 2-1, in extra time.

On Friday, 10 August, Yugoslavia won the bronze-medal match over Italy, 2-1, before 100,374. And on Saturday (11th), France won the Olympic gold, 2-0, over Brazil before 101,799.

Even with their own eyes, FIFA officials could barely believe that 101,799 would turn out for soccer – not American football – in the U.S. Just less than two years later, FIFA awarded the 1994 FIFA World Cup to the U.S., which was a runaway success that set a still-standing attendance record of 3.59 million, and led directly to the creation of Major League Soccer, which opened for play in 1996.

It also cemented the historic importance of the Rose Bowl to soccer in America, underscored by the iconic 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup final in 1999 and the U.S.’s dramatic win over China on penalty kicks, 5-4, before 90,185, the largest crowd in history for a women’s sporting event.

The Rose Bowl will again be the site for soccer for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games and along with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, will be the first facilities ever to host events at three different Olympic Games. The Rose Bowl hosted cycling on a temporary track in 1932, then football in 1984 and will host the semifinals and finals of the men’s and women’s tournaments in 2028.

But those enormous, record-setting crowds are a thing of the past.

The Rose Bowl has been continuously reconfigured since it opened in 1922, reaching a listed capacity of 104,091 from 1972-97. But a major renovation completed in 2012 installed a huge, multi-level pavilion on the west side of the stadium that reduced the capacity to 91,500 and newer renovations have lowered it some more.

Now that capacity is going to go down again.

The Rose Bowl Operating Company detailed its “Lasting Legacy” campaign this week, which will further modernize the stadium, especially in its offer of new-style seating amenities. Phase I of the project, which is fully funded at about $35 million, includes many technical improvements, but also the removal of seats from the first 28 rows from the south end for a new End Zone Field Club, providing 800 seats with a lounge, bar and other amenities, including being able to see the UCLA football team entering and exiting the field during the game.

Rendering of the planned Rose Bowl South End Zone Club, to be completed by 2026 (Image: Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation).

This will be completed by 2026, ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games, reducing the capacity from the current 89,702, to perhaps 85,000 or so.

A second phase, to begin after the 2029 Rose Bowl Game, will seriously change the stadium, with the seating area completely replaced and the current 77 rows reduced to 50 and the seat width and leg space enlarged to improve the fan experience. That will take the Rose Bowl down to 70-72,000 seats, a more manageable number for the parking and transportation options available for fans now. Along with a gigantic videoboard for the north end, this phase is priced at $45-50 million and fundraising is ongoing.

With this plan, the Rose Bowl is following the path of the Coliseum, which opened in 1923, and was enlarged to hold the 101,022 attending the 1932 Olympic opening ceremony, and 92,655 for the opening of the 1984 Games.

That changed with multiple renovations, including in 1993 when the 1984 Olympic track was removed to install 14 rows of seats – about 8,000 – closer to the football field. From late 2017 to mid-2019, the University of Southern California, which operates the facility now, invested $315 million to remake the seating and install a Rose Bowl-like pavilion on the south side; those improvements reduced the seating capacity to 77,500 today.

For track & field at the 2028 Olympic Games, a new track will have to be installed on stilts, covering the 14 rows that were added in 1993. That will further bring the capacity down to perhaps 67,000 with the requirements for camera platforms and media seating.

So, these grand old stadia which both welcomed more than 100,000 on many occasions, will be refitted into the 67,000 to 85,000 range for 2028 and then both will seat in the 70,000s after the Games.

They are being future-proofed for their primary football tenants – UCLA and USC – and because they will continue to be major spaces in the Southern California sports scene for decades to come, they will be available and ready for their fourth Olympic Games … in 2068?

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PANORAMA: Coe enthused for Grand Slam Track; WADA starting fixes from 2021 Chinese doping incident; Russia returning to weightlifting?

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● The IOC announced the winners of its Olympic Golden Rings Awards for Olympic rights-holder performance. More than 100 efforts were nominated, with NBCUniversal leading with three category wins, in the Best Digital Offer (Web and App), Best Director and Best Social Media Campaign categories.

Brazil’s Globo and Warner Bros. Discovery, which had the European rights, won twice.

● International Olympic Committee ● At the IOC Executive Board meeting on Wednesday, proposals to the IOC Session in Greece in March were made for re-elections – for eight years – of 10 members, from 2025-33.

These included individual members Shamil Tarpischev (RUS) and IOC Presidential candidate Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP). Also proposed was International Equestrian Federation head Ingmar De Vos (BEL), also the incoming head of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).

Neven Ilic (CHI), the President of Panam Sports, is proposed to become an individual member, no longer linked to his position with the confederation.

The Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom presented a petition to the IOC in Lausanne on Wednesday, with more than 42,000 signatures, “asking the IOC to protect women’s athletic opportunities by ensuring that women are not forced to compete against men in future Olympics.”

The petition continues:

“The IOC’s voice matters. Others look to your leadership. Not only are the women competing in this year’s Olympics impacted – but every little girl dreaming of winning the gold is as well.”

The IOC’s November 2021 Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations left decisions on participation up to the International Federations. Some, such as World Athletics, World Aquatics, the Union Cycliste Internationale, World Rowing and others have adopted strict eligibility requirements, shutting out men transferring into the women’s division if they have passes male puberty. Some other federations have no policy at all and the IOC imposes no standard.

It previously had a 2015 policy on participation which specified serum testosterone level standards for participation in the women’s classification.

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● The WADA Executive Committee, meeting in Riyadh (KSA), approved recommendations from a study group concerning procedural improvements cited by former Vaud Attorney General Eric Cottier (SUI) in his review of the 2021 Chinese swimmer doping incident. These are to include:

● Formalizing the structure of the WADA Results Management System;

● Create an interim process and then a permanent protocol to ensure that WADA’s Intelligence & Investigations team is able to become informed of high-risk cases more quickly;

● Create an “alarm system” within the reporting network to identify extraordinary cases and a standardized “triage and prioritization” system to assure appropriate attention to high-risk cases;

● Procedures for informing athletes of adverse findings, imposition of provisional suspensions, public disclosures of negligence or “no-fault” holdings, and an independent review expert to get involved where procedures are not followed;

● Exploring issues of “operational independence” of National Anti-Doping Organizations where issues concerning the sanctioning of their own athletes is involved.

The assigned timelines for implementation vary from 2025, into 2026 and 2027.

● Australia ● “Our record $385 million investment in high performance sport over the next 18 months, which includes a doubling of investment in Para sport, will enable our athletes to win well on the road to Los Angeles while also encouraging more Australians to play sport.

“We are creating more opportunities for more athletes by increasing the number of sports we support from 54 to 68 summer Olympic and Paralympic programs.”

That’s from Australian sports minister Anika Wells, who announced the A$385 million (about $247.40 million U.S.) government funding package via the Australian Sports Commission last Friday, with an eye not only to Los Angeles 2028, but the lead-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Some 95% of all national federations received funding increases that averaged 64% higher vs. the same period prior to the Paris 2024 Games; this funding commitment will cover January 2025 to June 2026. New allocations were made to federations for new sports in 2028, including American football (flag) and lacrosse.

● Athletics ● World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe (GBR) was asked at Wednesday’s news conference about the upcoming Grand Slam Track series and was enthusiastic:

“There are two things here. I guess I should be comforted. And I said this to the Council in my opening remarks yesterday morning, but we should be comforted that we’ve created a landscape where people think that it’s worth investing in our sport.

“They weren’t doing that five years ago. They certainly weren’t doing it 15 years ago. And I’m very welcoming of all sorts of innovation. I’m welcoming of all sorts of investment.

“You know, within reason and it’s important that we work as collaborators here, not competitors. I just see, you know, a rising tide helping everybody. I want them to be successful. I want them to add luster to our sport. And I think there’s space for everybody here, as long as they’re sort of communication and we have calendar coordination.

“I don’t see it as a threat. I’ve never, ever seen competition as a threat. It’s it’s, you know, you either work with competition or you don’t. And frankly, this is an organization that welcomes all sorts of innovation. And I think we’ve sort of shown that we’re not afraid of that.

“Yeah, I wish Michael [Johnson] and Slams success. Jon Ridgeon [GBR], my CEO, was Athlos [NYC meet] in September, just shortly after the World Championships. We’re welcoming of it.”

The Grand Slam Track series will debut on 4-6 April 2025 in Kingston, Jamaica.

● Football ● FIFA announced that the British streaming platform DAZN will be the rights-holding broadcaster for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which will be held in the U.S. from 15 June to 13 July.

All 63 matches will be shown and free to view, but may also be sub-licensed to local broadcasters. The BBC reported the deal to be for €1 billion, or $1.05 billion U.S.; FIFA had been struggling to find broadcast partners for the event in individual countries.

● Weightlifting ● Dmitry Vasilenko, the head of the Russian Weightlifting Federation told the Russian news agency TASS that he was told by International Weightlifting Federation President Mohammed Jalood (IRQ) that Russian participants may be returning to international competitions in 2025:

“A road map on the admission of Russian athletes to the European Weightlifting Championship and the World Championship in 2025 will be drafted on December 5. …

“There is a lot of work ahead, but we are on the right track. There will be two starts in April: the European Championship in the Republic of Moldova and the World Youth Championship in Peru. These are the first starts where we are expected.”

Russian lifters have refused to compete as neutrals under the current IWF policy.

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FENCING: Re-elected FIE President Usmanov self-suspends “the exercise of his powers”; Katsiadakis back in as interim

By
Rich Perelman
-
Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who suspended himself as the FIE President, again (Photo: Office of the Russian President).

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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

An amazing – but pre-planned – turn of events for the Federation Internationale d’Escrime (FIE), which elected Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov to a fifth term by 120-26 on 30 November, but with Usmanov essentially abdicating his position a day later:

This stunner was posted on Wednesday on the FIE Web site:

“The Executive Committee of the FIE met on 1 December 2024 and was informed of Mr Alisher Usmanov’s decision to voluntarily suspend the exercise of his powers and duties as President of the International Fencing Federation in order to ensure efficient operations of the federation.

“The Executive Committee has accepted and ratified Mr Alisher Usmanov’s decision to suspend the exercise of his powers and duties as President of the FIE.

“In accordance with Article 5.1 of the FIE Statutes, under which the management of the FIE in between Congresses is entrusted to an Executive Committee, and in order to ensure the smooth running of the FIE, the Executive Committee appointed Mr Emmanuel Katsiadakis as Interim President.

“Mr Emmanuel Katsiadakis has accepted. As Interim President, he will therefore assume all the functions of the President of the FIE, as provided for in the FIE Statutes and other regulations.

“The Executive Committee’s decision will be submitted to the FIE Congress for ratification at its next meeting.”

Katsiadakis, from Greece, has served as the interim FIE President since Usmanov stepped back from his position as President due to sanctions imposed soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. And he is again.

With Usmanov’s declaration to self-suspend coming a day after the election, this was obviously all planned well in advance. Officially, he was nominated by 103 member federations.

So the FIE will continue operate as it has since 2022, with Katsiadakis in charge. Usmanov said he did this to avoid sanctions – related to him – being imposed on the FIE.

One observer also explained the election and suspension is “to prevent anyone from leading the sport” and maintaining it as it is for Usmanov to pick it up – perhaps – at some time in the future.

Usmanov, with interests in mining, metals and telecommunications, has been financially upholding the FIE since he was originally elected as President in 2008. A review of the FIE financial statements shows that since 2008, he has directly donated CHF 87,158,404 or $98,488,997 to the FIE through 2021 (CHF 1 = $1.13 U.S.):

● 2021: CHF 6,534,500
● 2020: CHF 5,000,000
● 2019: CHF 4,854,500
● 2018: CHF 16,335,000
● 2017: CHF 4,950,000
● 2016: CHF 4,850,000
● 2015: CHF 7,312,400
● 2014: CHF 1,000,000 (last six months)
● 2013-14: CHF 4,310,751
● 2012-13: CHF 9,976,749
● 2011-12: CHF 5,326,004
● 2010-11: CHF 6,201,500
● 2009-10: CHF 4,916,000
● 2008-09: CHF 5,591,000

Those contributions apparently stopped in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the FIE has not publicly posted its financial statements since those covering 2021. As of the end of 2021, the FIE had CHF 37.02 million in assets and CHF 35.29 million in reserves. It had total expenses in 2021 of CHF 8.12 million.

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LOS ANGELES 2028: Trump names ex-Treasury public affairs chief Monica Crowley as rep for 2026 FIFA World Cup, LA28 Olympics & Paralympics

By
Rich Perelman
-
Former Asst. Secretary of the Treasury Monica Crowley, speaking to a conference in 2024 (Image: C-SPAN video screenshot).

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≡ THE BIG PICTURE ≡

Monica Crowley, the firebrand conservative columnist and commentator who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs during the first Trump Administration, was named today by President-elect Donald Trump to be the liaison for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles:

“I am honored to nominate Monica Elizabeth Crowley, Ph.D. to serve as Ambassador, Assistant Secretary of State, and Chief of Protocol of the United States of America. Monica will be the Administration Representative for major U.S. hosted events, including America’s 250th Birthday in 2026, the FIFA World Cup in 2026, and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

“During my First Term, Monica did an incredible job as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs. For her exceptional service, she received the Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Department. Monica is a New York Times bestselling author, and has been a popular anchor, and political and foreign affairs analyst, for the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, among others. A graduate of Colgate University, she holds two Master’s degrees, and a Doctorate in International Relations, from Columbia University.

“She will be an extraordinary Representative of our Country. Congratulations Monica!”

Crowley, 56, was born in Arizona, but attended Colgate University and worked as a research assistant and editor for former President Richard Nixon from 1990 until his death in 1994; she published two books about him.

Crowley went on to a non-stop career in media, writing for the New York Post and many other publications, as a commentator on National Public Radio, and beginning in 1996, for Fox News Channel. She received a doctorate in International Relations from Columbia University in 2000.

She was the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs for the first Trump Administration from July 2019 to January 2021.

As the Trump Administration’s representative for major events, Crowley will be a key contact for FIFA – which is itself organizing the 2026 World Cup from its offices in Coral Gables, Florida – and for the LA28 organizing committee in Los Angeles, as well as multiple Southern California governmental agencies coordinating services surrounding the Games.

On Crowley’s desk in January will be the November request of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Agency (“Metro”) for $3.2 billion in support for 2028 Olympic-related projects.

Relative to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Biden Administration designated it as a “National Special Security Event” in June 2024, meaning “the U.S. Secret Service assumes its mandated role as the lead agency for the design and implementation of the operational security plan.”

For the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, President Ronald Reagan formed in 1982 – at the request of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee – a White House Task Force, chaired by Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver, to coordinate and ensure appropriate attention to Olympic matters by Federal agencies.

Crowley appears to have that portfolio now.

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ATHLETICS: World Athletics changes walks to Half Marathon and Marathon; Coe says Restrepo will take over if elected as IOC chief

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe speaking to reporters at Wednesday’s online news conference (Photo: World Athletics video screenshot).

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≡ WORLD ATHLETICS COUNCIL ≡

It’s not often that race walking draws headlines, but a major change and potentially momentous change in the walks was a highlight of the World Athletics Council meeting in Monaco:

“The World Athletics Council also approved the introduction of new official senior road distances for race walking events, in order to help put the remarkable achievements by athletes into context, make the events more relatable for fans, and encourage mass participation. The standard senior distances for race walking will therefore change from:

“● 20 km race walk to half marathon race walk (21.0975km)
“● 35 km race walk to marathon race walk (42.195km)

“These changes will be implemented starting 1 January 2026 in senior World Athletics Series events.”

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) explained:

“I think we’ve made the right decision today to make it more relatable to Half Marathon and Marathon.

“The fact that you’ve got you’ve got race walkers that will cover that marathon distance in just under three hours, I think sort of places it into a greater context for people watching the event. Our attempts in all our innovations is to lend a little bit more understanding and context to to our fans, and we recognize that at the major games, a large chunk of our fan base that watching that are probably may well be watching the sport for the first time, so our innovation is there’s a very clear rationale behind it. It is to try and make more understandable, more salient, more relevant these events.”

The 20 km walk has been part of the Olympic program since 1956 for men and 2000 for women and the 50 km walk was a men’s event from 1932 to Tokyo 2020, but was not held at Paris 2024. World Athletics changed the 50 km event to 35 km for men and women for the 2022 World Championships.

Now, all of these events are out and the new half marathon and marathon distances will be installed. As for the status of these new distances in the Olympic Games, Coe noted:

“I think that is a question that is best directed at the [IOC] Program Commission and the Sports Department. What we’ve said is race walk is secure in our World Championships.”

The Council approved the introduction of the mixed 4×100 m relay into the World Athletics Relays in 2025.

Bejing (CHN) was confirmed as the site of the 2027 World Athletics Championships – the second straight in Asia after Tokyo 2025 – and the World Athletics Cross Country Championships will be switched from even years to odd years following the 2026 Worlds in Tallahassee, Florida.

Coe spoke with reporters on Wednesday, following the close of the Council meeting and expressed optimism for where the sport is right now, not only with the sensational Olympic Games in Paris, but record performances in multiple events. Plus:

● “[I]t’s not just been our athletes that have had a jaw-dropping year, our broadcast reach has exceeded anything that we’ve seen in the past. We’ve got an extraordinary level and depth of media coverage and of course, the second series of our Netflix season has just landed and again is our continued attempt to find new audiences, younger audiences and of course, to make sure that where possible, we take athletics into the mainstream.”

● “Acquisition and retention of first-party fan data with a 1.7 million target is hugely important to us. We burst through the million [mark]; we’re within touching distance of 1.2 [million]. 1.7 is is the target and really it’s about overhauling our digital experience.”

As for the new World Athletics Ultimate Championship to close the 2026 season, Coe acknowledged that it’s a work in progress:

“I’m not going to be, you know, naive or coy about it. This is specifically designed. to be fast, flexible and a championships that is run over three nights at three hours at a time and unashamedly designed for television. And that is important. …

“[Y]eah, we couldn’t get everything in there. There’s not every track event in there. There’s not every field event in there and we’ve had to be intuitive about this, but actually these are also data-driven responses, so off the back of Budapest [2023] and the work that our innovation team is doing, and, you know, they spend hours of their day looking and number-crunching around everything from spectator response, the audience journey, the athlete journey. And on this on this occasion, it’s just not possible, nor should we attempt to put every discipline into a three-hour format over the three nights we have. …

“We want this to be a regular occurrence. We want it on a bi-annual basis and yeah, the next edition may be a review of distances, jumps or throws, but at the moment we feel we’ve got the right content for those three, three-hour slugs of time.

“Not perfect. We’re never going to satisfy everybody. But I think let’s see where we get to on this. But you know the only criminality is sitting there doing nothing and hoping that you know it’s all sort of going to work out. It won’t. Our sport has to has to move on.”

Coe was also asked about the possibility of being elected as the President of the International Olympic Committee next March and what would happen at World Athletics. He was ready for this one:

“[T]hat’s the easy answer. Our governance is really clear. Our Constitution is very clear that that role, should there be a vacancy at World Athletics and bearing in mind that there is also a three-and-a-half, four-month transitional period [until the new IOC President takes over], that role is assumed immediately by the Senior Vice President, and that would be in the very capable hands of Ximena Restrepo.

“We have a very clear guideline … We know exactly what would happen … it’s frankly what we describe as a vacancy policy. So if anybody in any of our government structures walked away, we are absolutely clear about how we replace and move on seamlessly, which is the way any good organizations should be structured.”

Restrepo, 55, was elected as a World Athletics Vice President in 1999 and was a star women’s 400 m runner for Colombia, winning the Olympic bronze in the 1992 Barcelona Games. A naturalized citizen of Chile, she was the 1991 NCAA women’s 400 m champion for Nebraska.

The Council happily removed eight countries from its “watch list” for possible competition manipulations: Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

It also announced a significant effort to campaign against gender-based violence, including outside of the sport, through raising awareness, education and lobbying for change.

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ATHLETICS: AIU chief Howman thrilled with ferocious pre-Games testing of track & field athletes before Paris Olympics

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ ATHLETICS INTEGRITY UNIT ≡

“These are unprecedented levels of testing in athletics; tremendous improvements, and we are very pleased to have attained them in an Olympic year, with the highest prizes at stake.”

That’s Athletics Integrity Unit Chair David Howman (NZL), speaking to the testing regimen realized for the anti-doping effort for track & field athletes prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

According to a Tuesday statement, a voluminous 7,102 out-of-competition tests were carried out on the 1,879 Olympic track & field athletes over the 10 months prior to the Paris Games:

● 2,714 by the AIU on its registered testing pool
● 4,388 by National Anti-Doping Organizations

By the time of the Paris Games, 89% of all T&F athletes who competed in Paris had been tested out of competition, a far better rate than the 73% for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest (HUN), or the 67% for the 2022 Worlds in Eugene, Oregon.

Moreover, the statement noted that 66% of all Paris T&F entries had been tested out of competition three times or more (!) times, also way ahead of Budapest 2023 (45%) or Eugene 2022 (44%).

When including in-competition tests, a Paris track & field entrant was tested an average of 5.4 times in the 10 months prior to the Games.

The testing stats get even stronger for the 319 athletes who placed in the top eight in an individual Paris final:

● 88% (279) were tested three or more times out of competition
● 10% (33) had 1-2 out-of-competition tests
● 2% (7) had no out-of-competition tests

When considering in-competition tests as well, only four Paris T&F participants who finished in the top eight had not been tested prior to Paris.

In terms of who was tested the most, the U.S. had the biggest team and took the most out-of-competition tests, but the most heavily-tested teams were Kenya, China and Ethiopia:

● 1. 546 tests on 117 athletes: United States (4.7 avg. per)
● 2. 495 tests on 52 athletes: China (9.5 avg. per)
● 3. 379 tests on 42 athletes: Kenya (9.0 avg. per)
● 4. 341 tests on 73 athletes: Germany (4.7 avg. per)
● 5. 315 tests on 31 athletes: Ethiopia (10.2 avg. per)

Both the U.S. and China had every athlete receive at least one out-of-competition test.

Said Howman:

“It is critical, for the integrity and credibility of athletics, that we are transparent about our testing and the strides we are making to protect the sport from doping. These detailed statistics show consistent progress is being made in leveling the playing field.

“It is the AIU’s policy to be as transparent as possible when it comes to how anti-doping works in our sport and we encourage other international sports to do likewise and publish their own testing figures.”

The testing effort did yield positives:

“[T]he AIU’s intelligence-led anti-doping programme resulted in 32 Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs), with 17 further cases still pending. Out of these 49 cumulative cases, 17 Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) are from OOC tests while 32 are from In-Competition tests.”

Howman explained:

“The work we have been doing – monitoring, evaluating and publishing domestic testing levels in our sport – has borne critical fruit. We have seen the responses of various Member Federations and [National Anti-Doping Organizations] to the requirements in athletics and most have really risen to challenge of ensuring they meet reasonable minimum testing requirements for their nation’s athletes competing in Paris.

“The increase in domestic OOC testing ensures that the AIU can maintain its sharp focus on intelligence-led target testing of the elite competitors who are at the top of the world rankings, while being confident that the next tier of athletes is subject to a reasonable level of control via domestic testing programmes.”

The Athletics Integrity Unit was formed by World Athletics in 2017 and is funded by World Athletics, but maintains separate offices, staffing and operations.

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PANORAMA: Will the 2034 FIFA World Cup and Salt Lake City Winter Games be at the same time; also, what is FIFA really all about?

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2034: Salt Lake City ● At the IOC news conference following Tuesday’s Executive Board meeting, a question was posed as to whether there might be a date conflict in 2034 between the Salt Lake City Winter Games – scheduled for 10-26 February – and the 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia.

FIFA is expected to formally hand the tournament to the Saudis on 11 December and it will have to be held during the Northern Hemisphere wintertime given normal weather patterns in the Arabian peninsula. But no dates have been proposed. IOC Executive Director for the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi (SUI) answered:

“I think the way you have to see this is that for sports fans a real feast during a period of whatever it is – three, four months – where you’re going to have these two events. I think the risk of having those two in parallel is immensely limited. Immensely limited.

“What I know as well, with these two [events] being in totally different countries and continents, from all standpoints, including a commercial one, we have actually virtually no risk. So, what I see is a lot of sports consumption for all of us on any platform, on any channel.

“So really, at this stage, we don’t see a major issue.”

● Youth Olympic Games 2026: Dakar ● The IOC did something very interesting on Tuesday: it announced a contraction of the Youth Olympic Games.

The 2026 YOG in Dakar (SEN) will feature 2,700 athletes, down from 3,997 in Buenos Aires (ARG) in 2018. Further, the number of medal events will go down from 241 in 2018 to 151 in Dakar, with 72 each for men and women and seven mixed events.

There will be 25 sports with one discipline each for medal events, and an additional showcase for 10 sports which “will not feature in the competition programme but will be promoted through interactive activities on site and via digital platforms, emphasising their role as integral components and an official part of the YOG.”

Sometimes, bigger is not better, and the YOG has continuously expanded from 2010 to 2014 to 2018. Now, it will shrink somewhat for Dakar, opening the possibility to have this event remade again under the next IOC President.

● Athletics ● Posted on Tuesday:

“The AIU has banned Kibrom Weldemicael (Eritrea) for 6 years from 9 August 2024 for Presence/Use of Prohibited Substances (EPO and furosemide). DQ results from 5 May 2024″

Weldemicael, 37, is a 2:07:25 marathoner from the 25 February Castellon (ESP) race. He won the Geneva Marathon on 5 May, but is now disqualified after testing positive.

● Biathlon ● A report reviewing athlete welfare and safety for the U.S. Biathlon Association from the New York-based Vestry Laight organizational culture consultants was completed in October and released this week, finding:

● “The culture in US Biathlon for elite athletes is impacted by the nature of the competitions which require the athletes to live together in close quarters abroad for several months at a time (from November to March), far from their support systems and families. This presents challenges for athletes, who need to get along with each other in a small group of 8 to 10 while competing against each other in highly stressful conditions, as well as on staff who may face extra demands to make things run smoothly. The experience can be emotionally challenging with some athletes feeling isolated and lonely and others describing the closeknit group of staff and athletes to be like family.”

● “Our [24] interviews did not reveal egregious examples of ongoing sexual harassment and abuse. Some veteran athletes noted that behavior has improved recently with staffing changes. Although most people interviewed did not express fear for their safety, many described an atmosphere in which comments or ‘circumstances made [the athlete] feel uncomfortable.’”

● “[M]any people from the survey and interviews provided comments about culture that were consistent and strikingly similar. They described inappropriate material displayed in wax rooms, ‘low-level microaggressions’ and “multiple small instances” of ‘not ok,’ ‘weird,’ or ‘misogynistic’ comments or behavior from staff or other athletes that added up to creating an environment that is not welcoming or inclusive to many women and to some men. As one person said, ‘It is very uncomfortable as a woman – not unsafe but tough to be in that environment… Lots of little comments layered on top of each other make you feel like you don’t belong.’”

● “Many [athletes] expressed concern that if they complained they would be denied training opportunities, financial support, selection for relay teams, a discretionary spot if there is an injury or a place on the national team. Even though selection is based primarily on performance at high level competitions and the International Competitive Committee (ICC) selects teams, there is an element of discretion and many athletes we spoke with believe that team selection is not objective and fear retaliation if they complain.”

A survey undertaken for the report showed that “[a]lthough almost all men express comfort with raising concerns about athlete safety (92%), only 52% of women do.”

A series of recommendations were made on safety, culture, transparency, communications and privacy concerns, to be implemented and reviewed over the next 12-18 months.

The Associated Press reported in February a U.S. Center for SafeSport investigation which found that two-time Olympian Joanne Reid had been sexually harassed by a wax technician. The tech was fired and Vestry Laight was engaged to perform the audit.

● Cycling ● Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel of Belgium was seriously injured on Tuesday, when he crashed into the door of a post office van during a training ride, suffering fractures to a rib, right shoulder blade and his right hand. His bike frame split in two after hitting the van door.

Upon being hospitalized, he was also found to have lung contusions and a dislocated collarbone, which required surgery. He is expected to recover, but was visibly shaken at the scene, having run into the door as it was opened in front of him.

Evenepoel was the first cyclist ever to win both the Olympic road race and time trial in the same Games.

● Figure Skating ● French five-time World Ice Dance champions and Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medalists Gabriella Papadakis (29) and Guillaume Cizeron (30) announced their formal retirement from skating.

They took a break from competition in June 2022, and have not competed since, but dominated the discipline with Worlds golds in 2015-16-18-19-22, and five more European titles between 2015-19. They won the Olympic silver in 2018 and then triumphed in 2022.

● Football ● A brilliant summary of the driving forces within FIFA and its member federations was offered by AIPS Football Delegate Keir Radnedge (GBR) on Tuesday. In short:

● “To be clear, the majority of FIFA’s 211-strong membership is not only non-European but financially challenged. This means heavy dependence on the [financial] favours of a president which he – whether long-gone Joao Havelange or resentfully critical Sepp Blatter or current supremo Gianni Infantino – can parlay into voting support.”

● “This has led, in turn, to a strategy of new competitions and expanded tournaments aimed at generating ever more millions of dollars from television and, to a lesser extent, sponsors. Complaints about pressure on players has proved counter-productive.”

● Projecting that the FIFA Congress will not even vote on the FIFA World Cup 2030 and 2034 host countries, but agree by acclimation, Radnedge writes, “No European objections about human rights abuses and ill-treatment of workers will be heard or registered or even reflected in FIFA’s non-vote.”

He adds:

“Infantino need not even answer barbed questions from the media: he has scrapped press conferences, round tables, etc. As he would probably say, if journos could ask him, his responsibility is to his member associations not to the media.

“So, expect the torrent of outrage targeted at FIFA, Infantino and the Saudis from western Europe media and human rights bodies to be balanced by only a self-interested smirk of pragmatic approval from much of the rest of the world.”

And continued announcements of the funds distributed by FIFA to its member federations. That’s the driver. Now you know.

● Shooting ● Signs of new life from the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) from its 2024 General Assembly in Rome, beginning with President Luciano Rossi (ITA), who explained:

● “In 2022, when I took office, we were just one step away from being out of the Olympic Games. … The situation I found was extremely challenging. Relations with the IOC were at an all-time low, putting our Olympic participation – and the very survival of our sport – at risk. Our priority was to rebuild constructive dialogue with the IOC leadership.”

● “We have worked tirelessly on lobbying and rebuilding relations with the IOC and the Olympic Family and showing the real potential of shooting sports as a relevant and appealing part of the Olympic Games. Today, we can confidently say that for 2028, we have secured our place in the Los Angeles Olympics!”

● “We need to become more mainstream, more visible, loved by young people and seen as trendy, not old-fashioned. To achieve this, we must raise the standard of our competitions, enhance the quality of our television productions, and strengthen our presence at international events.”

Rossi also stressed the needs for commercial participation, “to reduce dependence on IOC contributions.” ISSF Secretary General Alessandro Nicotra di Giacomo (ITA) provided proof of progress, reporting €778,000 in sponsor income in 2024, including €278,000 from official sponsors, a first-time realization of €440,000 for the ISSF House at the Paris 2024 Olympic site at Chateauroux and first-time sponsors of the ISSF General Assembly of €68,000. (€1 = $1.05 U.S.)

That compares to just €115,000 in all of 2023; the ISSF has set an “ambitious target” of €3.5 million for sponsorship for the 2024-28 quadrennial.

● Weightlifting ● The International Weightlifting Federation Executive Board, meeting in Manama (BRN) ahead of the 2024 World Championships, approved a new set of weight classes for the sport, to be introduced in June 2025.

The current and new categories:

● Men/now (10): 55 – 61 – 67- 71 – 81 – 89 – 96 – 102 – 109 – +109 kg
● Men/new (8): 60 – 65- 71 – 79 – 88 – 98 – 110 – +110 kg

● Women/now (10): 45 – 49 – 55 – 59 – 64 – 71 – 76 – 81 – 87 – +87 kg
● Women/new (8): 48 – 53 – 58 – 63 – 69 – 77 – 86 – +86 kg.

The IWF has created new weight classes in 1951, 1969, 1977, 1993, 1998 and 2018 for men. Women’s classes were introduced in 1983, then modified in 1993, 1998 and 2018.

The reduction from 10 classes to eight in each gender mirrors the 1993-to-1998 changes (10 to 8); the number of classes was enlarged to 10 again in 2018, and will now go back down to eight. 

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FOOTBALL: U.S. women finish 2024 with improbable 2-1 comeback win over The Netherlands in final game for star keeper Naeher

By
Rich Perelman
-
Star U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher (Photo: U.S. Soccer)

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≡ U.S. 2, THE NETHERLANDS 1 ≡

The Olympic gold-medal-winning U.S. women finished their 2024 schedule with The Netherlands on a rainy evening at The Hague, and came back from a rough first half to get a hard-to-believe 2-1 win.

The first half was all about the Dutch, who out-shot the U.S. by 14-1 and had 59% of possession. They took the lead in the 15th minute, as defender Veerle Buurman headed in a right-side corner kick from forward Jill Roord, and the home team could have scored more but for U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher, playing the final international match of her career.

The Dutch maintained the pressure throughout the half, but in the 44th, Buurman was trying to head away a U.S. free kick, but the ball flew backwards and over the head of Dutch keeper Daphne van Domselaar for an own goal and a hard-to-fathom 1-1 tie into halftime.

The second half was more balanced, with U.S. coach Emma Hayes (GBR) making five substitutions for better offense and a tighter defense.

After some threatening runs, U.S. midfielder Yazmeen Ryan powered down the right side and had space in the Dutch zone and sent a brilliant ball to the center of the box. Substitute striker Lynn Williams got her left foot on it ahead of two defenders and scored in the 71st for a stunning 2-1 lead.

But the Dutch kept coming, but could not solve Naeher in the second half, and the game ended with midfielder Danielle van de Donk taking a clear shot at the U.S. goal at 90+4 from the left side, but it sailed over the crossbar, and she covered her face with her jersey. It was a that kind of disappointment for the Dutch.

The Dutch had 57% possession for the game and a 23-5 edge on shots, but the U.S. women finished the season on a 20-game unbeaten streak (18-1-4 for the year) and Hayes is 13-0-2 in her first 15 matches as the American coach.

As for the brilliant Naeher, 36, she finishes with 116 caps, as a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup winner and 2024 Olympic gold medalist, with 69 career shutouts. Spectacular.

Jill Ellis, who coached the U.S. women’s National Team to two World Cup titles, has left her post as the President of the NWSL’s San Diego Wave to become the Chief Football Officer for FIFA.

The Tuesday announcement states she will work with Arsene Wenger (FRA), FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, with “her responsibilities will encompass key technical areas connected to the development of the game across the world.”

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Exec Board rejects federation prize money for Olympics, comfortable with LA28 progress

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC spokesman Mark Adams at a 3 December 2024 news conference (Image: IOC video screen shot)

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≡ THE BIG PICTURE ≡

The International Olympic Committee Executive Board met Tuesday for the first of three days, sending a clear signal of its disapproval of the World Athletics’ first-ever program of an International Federation paying prize money to Olympic gold medalists at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

World Athletics, headed by two-time Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe (GBR), also a candidate for the IOC Presidency next March, paid $50,000 to each Paris event winner. The practice was comprehensively rejected by the Executive Board, with spokesman Mark Adams (GBR) giving a lengthy summary of the discussion at the follow-up news conference:

“There was a large amount of agreement on the topic, I might even say unanimity, and it was a question, it was said, of principle, efficiency and distribution within the Olympic Movement.

“As was said by the Executive Board in June, athletes are in teams of their National Olympic Committees and the NOCs prepare them, ands they should reward them – and, also a reminder, by the way, – this has been done for many decades. Many NOCs do this; the President [Thomas Bach], in fact, gave his own example. He received prize money when he won his gold medal in 1976, so it’s not new.

“It also was stated at the meeting that it is the NOCs know the best way to reward the athletes from their teams, in the national context. As you’ll know, in some instances, athletes get pensions from the state, some get prize money, but it’s very much kind of a national context.

“But perhaps, I think it was agreed by everyone, the best argument, the biggest argument is one of fairness. And here we have some quite good figures: the Olympic Games Paris overall, as you probably know, 91 NOCs won medals. If all the medalists – athletes and teams of all the sports – were rewarded, it would be about 1,000 athletes and teams who would benefit.

“They mostly come from what you might call the well-funded, the privileged National Olympic Committees: 65% of the individual medalists and teams winning medals are from 15 NOCs who were on top of the medal tally.

“And if you count the individual athletes who win medals in the team events as well, the percentage of athletes benefitting from such a prize money model would come from 15 privileged NOCs, but even increases to 75%.

“This means that the prize money for them would only increase the existing inequalities even further. And, of course, I need hardly say it was felt by the Executive Board that this goes against the mission of the International Olympic Committee, and it could very easily downgrade the Olympic Games to an elitist event with competition among only less than 10% of the 206 NOCs.”

Adams went on to explain the IOC’s own programs to support athletes, medalists and hopefuls alike, and then added:

“That was quite a discussion and it was felt that’s why there shouldn’t be prize money also paid by other people, and not just for the Olympians. There are 10,500 Olympians, but also tens of thousands of athletes worldwide who benefit from the IOC’s distribution [of money]. And it would downgrade the Games to an elitist event.

“This was a principle supported by the participants, but particularly by the representatives of the IFs, and as I said, by the athletes’ representative. It’s a matter of solidarity.”

Those federation reps on the Executive Board are Ivo Ferriani (ITA) from the International Bobsled & Snowboard Federation and Nenad Lalovic (SRB) from United World Wrestling. The Athletes’ Commission Chair is Finland’s Emma Terho. Also on the Executive Board is Moroccan Nawal El Moutawakel, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the women’s 400 m hurdles, who is also a longtime member of the World Athletics Council.

Observed: Very few federations can afford to pay Olympic prize money, as World Athletics decided to do; in fact, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) doesn’t even pay prize money for its own World Championships!

The IOC and the federations’ own umbrella organization – the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) – came out against the World Athletics payment plan when it was announced in May.

This is an issue that Coe will have to deal with as a candidate for the IOC Presidency next March at the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino in Greece.

The IOC issued regulations for the presentations to be given by the seven Presidential candidates on 30 January 2025, in Lausanne. Each candidate will have 15 minutes to speak to the members, with no questions allowed. Videos are not permitted, but a PowerPoint-style presentation is allowed, using an IOC-provided template.

The session will not be broadcast and members will not be allowed to record them, or even have a recording device in the room.

The actual vote next March will also be held privately, and no broadcast will be made until the winner is announced.

Reports were made by the organizing committees for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games and Los Angeles 2028.

IOC Executive Director for the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi (SUI) said that the construction of three important facilities for Milan Cortina are “developing according to schedule”: the Olympic Village in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the sliding track in Cortina and the ice hockey arena in Milan.

The volunteer program sign-ups for Milan Cortina is going well, with more than 69,000 applicants so far, for a projected 18,000 spots.

Dubi was also happy to report progress in sponsorship sales for Milan Cortina, noting “We can say that after the Paris Games, there is a new momentum; this was confirmed by L.A. as well.”

As for LA28, Dubi explained the presentation recounted the work achieved in 2024, but also:

“The E.B. was presented the sport plan, and obviously now we have sports that are finalized but also the venues which still have to be confirmed for a number of them, which is understandable in a market that has such an incredible wealth of great venues.

“So, this is probably the first priority for next year, to lock down the venues, which will help as well to develop further the competition schedule and everything that derives from it.”

Asked about the timetable, Dubi explained further that the timing is much easier when construction is not involved, and LA28 is a “no-build” Games:

“We have discussed with them when to make those decisions, because of all the implications in terms of timing and we feel very, very comfortable with where they are at at present.”

He also commended the expansive “PlayLA” program, implemented by the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department, noting “one of the requests, and let’s see if it can be achieved is the fact that PlayLA is so successful that the toolkits and the approach could maybe be replicated in other cities across the United States.”

IOC President Thomas Bach will have a wrap-up news conference on Thursday.

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