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

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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
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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).

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

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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
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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
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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
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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
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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).

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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

★ 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 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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LOS ANGELES 2028: Metro wants help to plan and execute its 2028 Olympic transportation system, issues a 693-page request for proposals

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ PIVOT POINT ≡

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told her colleagues at the 28 March 2024 Board meeting of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“Metro”):

“We took a delegation to Paris to prepare for the 2028 Olympics and to make sure – here we are on the 40th anniversary of the ‘84 Olympics – but to make sure we have the same kind of outcome and legacy in 2028 that we did in 1984, where, to this day, we continue to benefit from those Olympics. …

“And I think it was an exciting trip, but I also think it put fire under us to realize that we need to get far more involved in Olympic preparation and all that it might mean.”

What it means right now is that Metro needs help to make the public transportation aspects of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games work, a lot of help. And it is asking for it, now.

So, on 15 November, Metro issued a 134-page Request for Proposal PS127282, for “2028 Games Support Services,” – with an additional 48 exhibits, forms and lists, running the total to 693 pages – asking:

“Metro is seeking a consultant team to lead the enhancement and implementation of transportation infrastructure and operations for the 2028 Games, in alignment with the Mobility Concept Plan across Los Angeles. The consultant will support multiple workstreams to ensure the region is fully prepared for the 2028 Games, with the goal of leaving a lasting legacy of improved transportation infrastructure and reduced inequities.”

The scope of work description – one of the exhibits – for the project comprises 126 pages (of the 693), with the requirements including:

● “Work under this contract will encompass strategic planning, project management, and the execution of various interconnected projects, each contributing to the overarching mobility strategy for the Games. This solicitation for Games Support Services (GSS) seeks to provide comprehensive assistance in validating, planning, modeling, and operationalizing the MCP [Games Mobility Concept Plan] workstreams, ensuring all necessary elements are in place for a successful and sustainable transportation network.”

● “Key outcomes to be achieved include:

“• Support Metro’s Games governance functions, including strategic/financial advice to ensure Metro can capitalize on opportunities to innovate as the agency advances projects that can directly support the Games, leave a legacy, and address historic inequities.

“• A clear roadmap for implementation of the MCP [Games Mobility Concept Plan].

“• Overall oversight and program management support for the implementation of MCP projects.

“• Planning support and delivery of a Games Enhanced Transit Service (GETS) (formerly known as supplemental bus system), including but not limited to confirming overall resource needs, developing and implementing a procurement strategy, and overseeing the development of all transit operational plans for the Games.

“• Take advantage of numerous large-scale sporting events planned for the LA Region between 2024 and 2028 to pilot innovative strategies, programs and initiatives with cross-sector stakeholders.

“• Demonstration of well-defined approach to ensure that Cultural Competency is considered and executed in the scope of services in support of the 2028 Games.”

(“Cultural Competency requires awareness of self, reflection on one’s own cultural position and potential biases, awareness of others’ positions and assumptions, and the ability to interact genuinely and respectfully with others across cultural differences …”)

The proposal must specifically identity six key managers for the project and up to 15 additional individuals to support the technical work required, and fill a list of 99 positions specified to complete the project. The program parameters are stated as:

“to secure approximately 2,700 buses (or the required number), 6,000 drivers and 5,000 staff (mechanics, schedulers, management stewards at park and ride/mobility hubs) to operationalize the GETS [Games Enhanced Transit Service] to meet the estimated 1.2 million daily trips to/from venues expected during the busiest day of the 2028 Games. Metro will need to procure these buses by borrowing, leasing or other means.”

Areas specified for staffing include bus operations, first-last mile operations, the Games Route Network, park-and-ride, equipment acquisition, service planning, station safety, workforce management, marketing (including corporate sponsorships), communications and media relations, public outreach, inter-agency coordination, freight, customer experience and ticketing, accessibility, digital interfaces and liaison with the LA28 organizers and others.

It’s massive and will cost millions and millions of dollars for the planning alone.

(None of this, by the way, has to do with Olympic or Paralympic athletes, coaches, news media, officials or volunteers. Those folks are the responsibility of the LA28 organizers, who will be running their own transport system.)

Proposals are due by 7 January 2025, with oral interviews to take place the week of 3 February or 10 February, with pricing proposals to be submitted only after interviews, to those firms selected to continue in the process. Funding is expected to come – all or in part – from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Metro sent a follow-up, 30-page question-and-answer supplement on 25 November (added to the 693), which also included a list of 190 companies which had downloaded the documents, and 83 companies who signed up to attend an online pre-proposal conference on 22 November.

Even with all the documentation, the proposals are expected to be fairly concise:

“The number of pages for the Proposal shall not exceed 75 (excluding table of contents, front and back covers, list of current and completed projects, resumes, and certification forms).”

Metro is asking for help from some of the largest consulting, architecture and engineering firms in the country, with the simple requirement that “GSS [Games Support Services] will manage and coordinate all project phases from inception to close-out, ensuring alignment with Metro’s 2028 Games goals.”

Good luck to the winner!

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PANORAMA: Nomination period for WADA Presidency opens; Ingebrigtsen father indicted for abuse; horrific Guinea stadium crush kills at least 56

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● Japan held a modest parade for about 100 of its Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 2024, walking Saturday on a packed Tokyo’s Chuo Street in front of an estimated 10,000 spectators.

The attendees included second-time men’s gold medalist Hifumi Abe (Judo: 66 kg), women’s 53 kg wrestling winner Akari Fujinami and Paralympic women’s badminton Singles victor Sarina Satomi. The parade was not held after Tokyo 2020 – held in 2021 – due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A French court in Bobigny, north of Paris, banned an Australian man – unnamed – who tried to rush the start of the men’s 100 m final on 4 August at the Stade de France.

The defendant, 24, received – in absentia – a three-year stadium ban and was fined €8,000 (about $8,400 U.S.). He ran onto the track wearing a shirt reading “Free Palestine, Free Ukraine, Jesus”, and was quickly subdued and removed by French security staff.

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● WADA opened the nomination process for its elections for President and Vice President, to take place on 29 May 2025.

The terms of office of both the current President – Witold Banka (POL) – and Vice President – Yang Yang (CHN) – will expire on 31 December 2025, and nominations are due by 31 January 2025. Candidate files will be reviewed and eligible candidates will be certified by 31 March.

To be nominated, a candidate must submit an application, a resume, a declaration of no conflicts and two nomination referrals, one from a member of the Olympic Movement seats on the WADA Foundation Board (20 members) and one from a member of the Public Authorities seats (20 members).

Both Banka and Yang are eligible to run for a third and final term of three years, through 31 December 2028.

Observed: It will be fascinating to see whether Banka will be challenged, notably from the U.S., or by a candidate with U.S. backing, in view of the continuing turmoil over WADA’s handling of the January 2021 Chinese doping incident involving 23 swimmers who tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine, but were not sanctioned.

● Athletics ● The father of the three star Ingebrigtsen distance runners, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, will be tried in Norway in 2025 on charges of abuse.

Henrik Ingebrigtsen (now 33), Filip (now 31) and Olympic star Jakob (24) shared claims of mental and physical abuse in 2023; Gjert was their coach until 2022. The father was charged with abuse by Norwegian authorities in April.

Now 58, Gjert was indicted on 29 November; his lawyers issued a statement:

“Gjert Ingebrigtsen maintains what he has said all along, that he does not admit criminal guilt for the offences he has been charged with and that he has never subjected any of his children to either physical or mental abuse.”

The BBC reported that “Gjert was charged with one offence in April – but five cases were dropped on the strength of evidence and one other because of time constraints,” and prosecutor Birgitte Budal Lovlund explained, “I can confirm that Gjert Ingebrigtsen on November 29th was indicted by our office for physical and mental abuse of his son Jakob Ingebrigtsen.”

The German athletics federation announced that Ilke Wyludda, the 1996 Olympic women’s discus champion, has passed away at age 55 on Sunday (1st).

She threw for East Germany until 1990, then for Germany until retiring in 2000. She was ninth at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, won in Atlanta and was seventh at Sydney in 2000; she retired after the 2000 season. She won World Championships silvers for Germany in 1991 and 1995. She finished with a best of 74.56 m (244-7) from 1989, still equal-second all-time.

Due to sepsis, she had her right leg amputated in 2011 and became the first German athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games when she participated at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

● Football ● A horrific scene in Nzerekore, the second-largest city in Guinea, saw fans storm the field on Sunday after the referee called a penalty and sent off two players from the visiting team from Labe near the end of the game.

Labe fans rushed onto the field, throwing stones, with police responding with tear gas. The resulting race to get out of the Stade du 3 Avril caused spectators to be crushed. At least 56 have died, but the total could be much higher.

Guinea is one of five countries which are not allowed by the Confederation of African Football to host international matches because of sub-standard facilities.

FIFA posted the nominees for its “The Best” awards, with fan voting open to 10 December 2024, for men, women, coaches, keepers, the “Best 11″ and more.

U.S. Soccer has multiple nominees, including women’s coach Emma Hayes (GBR), and women’s players Lindsey Horan, Mallory Swanson, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman (five of the 16 nominees) and keeper Alyssa Naeher. Rodman is also up for the first Marta Award, celebrating the best goal of 2024.

Three-time men’s award winner Lionel Messi of Argentina is once again a nominee.

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OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES: On Location unveils initial hospitality options for Milan Cortina 2026, from €250 up to €10,000!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ MILAN CORTINA 2026 ≡

If you’re looking for a hospitality experience at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, the prices are out as On Location, the International Olympic Committee’s hospitality provider, posted a live order form on Friday (29th).

There are lots of options, not only for sports and sessions, but for programs including hotels, and in some locations, choices of “classic” hospitality or “premium” hospitality lounges. There is also an off-site hospitality option, with access to an in-town “Clubhouse 26″ instead of on-site hospitality.

But strictly in terms of sports and prices, here’s an overview, with starting prices varying by session (all of the different starting prices for each sport are shown; €1 = $1.05 U.S.):

Alpine Skiing:
● 10 sessions, starting at €1,500-2,000-2,500

Biathlon:
● 10 sessions, starting at €425-475

Cross Country Skiing:
● 10 sessions, starting at €750-850-900

Curling:
● 46 sessions, starting at €300-375-450-650

Figure Skating:
● 12 sessions, starting at €2,250-2,500-2,750-3,750-4,500

Freestyle Skiing:
● 19 sessions, starting at €750-800-850-1,500

Ice Hockey:
● 51 sessions, starting at €325-500-600-725-1,000-1,250-1,500-2,250-6,750

Short Track:
● 6 sessions, starting at €1,000-1,250-1,500

Ski Jumping:
● 6 sessions, starting at €1,250-1,500

Ski Mountaineering:
● 2 sessions, starting at €250

Snowboard:
● 13 sessions, starting at €800-900-950-1,000-1,100-1,200-1,250-1,750

Speed Skating:
● 12 sessions, starting at €600-675

As might be expected, the most expensive packages are for the ceremonies.

● Opening at the San Siro Stadium (75,817 capacity): starting at €7,750.

● Closing at the Arena di Verona (20,000 capacity): starting at €10,000.

There are no listings yet for the under-construction sliding track for Bobsled, Skeleton and Luge; those will undoubtedly come later.

The most expensive sports event by starting price is the men’s ice hockey final at €6,750, with the figure skating exhibition gala next at €4,500. The women’s ice hockey final is a comparative bargain at €1,500!

More choices will be available as the Winter Games get closer, but On Location has opened the doors for its first Winter Games with the IOC, after its debut as the official hospitality provider for Paris 2024.

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FOOTBALL: FIFA evaluation report positive on Saudi Arabia as 2034 FIFA World Cup host; Amnesty decries “astonishing whitewash”

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ FIFA WORLD CUP 2034 ≡

“[T]he Saudi Arabia bid for the FIFA World Cup 2034 presents a very strong all-round proposition, reflected in the results of the technical evaluation, which assesses the proposed infrastructure (both sporting and general) as well as its commercial potential.

“The bid proposes a portfolio of new, state-of-the-art infrastructure blending what is industry leading with novel elements, in some cases even exploring new terrain in terms of design and how stakeholders interact with the competition. From a commercial standpoint, the bid provides a very good financial platform, based on a combination of competitive revenue potential and clear cost efficiencies.”

That’s the key message of the FIFA evaluation report on the Saudi Arabia bid for the 2024 FIFA World Cup, for which Saudi Arabia is the only bidder and will be formally selected at the Extraordinary FIFA Congress on 11 December.

The 110-page report notes the question of when the tournament will make place, since summer temperatures in the Arabian Peninsula are far too high. Timing similar to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar of 20 November to 18 December can be expected, dates which will interrupt the seasons of many domestic leagues in Europe and Africa.

And the report did not shirk from the human rights questions raised about the Saudi regime, but maintained an optimistic outlook that the presence of the FIFA World Cup can be leveraged to benefit the human-rights situation in the country.

In the section on human rights, the report explains:

“In the bid’s Human Rights Strategy, the bidder commits to ensuring equitable wages and decent working and living conditions for all individuals involved in the preparation and delivery of the FIFA World Cup, including through the establishment of a workers’ welfare system to monitor compliance with labour rights standards for tournament-related workers. The Human Rights Strategy also includes commitments to continued country-wide labour reform. In that respect, the host government commits to engaging with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in relation to its commitment to upholding international labour standards in all activities associated with the competition and to favourably consider a collaboration with the ILO in that respect.

“Clarification was sought on existing and plans for collaboration with the ILO. The bidder confirmed that there is an existing cooperation program in place and that meetings and visits with the ILO were held this year regarding further cooperation to ensure a decent work environment in the context of hosting the competition, should the bid be successful.

“The effective protection of tournament-related workers would depend on the timely implementation (or otherwise) of a continued reform agenda, as well as the establishment of robust workers’ welfare systems to protect workers connected to tournament infrastructure. Through the implementation of these commitments, there is also the potential for the tournament to help contribute to ongoing labour reforms that benefit workers far beyond those involved in tournament-related activities.

“Clarification was sought on whether the proposed worker’s welfare system proposed under the Human Rights Strategy has already been implemented for the stadiums where construction-refurbishment has commenced (given some will be part of the AFC Asian Cup 2027). The bidder confirmed this is the case and further elaborated on various measures being taken to improve the labour welfare system for current workers, which is encouraging.”

The report also noted that its policy regarding bids is to evaluate “how effectively bidders intend to address human rights risks connected with a tournament. It is not about peremptorily excluding countries based on their general human rights context”

and

“[I]n view of the significant ten-year timeframe for implementation and the rate of progress seen in recent years, it is believed that there is good potential for the tournament to serve as a catalyst for some of the ongoing and future reforms, and contribute to positive human rights outcomes for people in Saudi Arabia and the region that go beyond the scope of the tournament itself.”

The report assesses human rights at a “medium risk” level. The overall score was 419.8 out of 500 (or 4.2 out of 5).

Not surprisingly, the response from Amnesty International was angry; with Head of Labour Rights and Sport Steve Cockburn (GBR) saying:

“As expected, FIFA’s evaluation of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid is an astonishing whitewash of the country’s atrocious human rights record. There are no meaningful commitments that will prevent workers from being exploited, residents from being evicted or activists from being arrested.

“By ignoring the clear evidence of severe human rights risks, FIFA is likely to bear much responsibility for the violations and abuses that will take place over the coming decade. Fundamental human rights reforms are urgently required in Saudi Arabia, or the 2034 World Cup will be inevitably tarnished by exploitation, discrimination and repression.”

That’s the politics of the Saudi bid. There are also the football aspects, which are daunting, remembering that FIFA now has 48 teams in the tournament, not 32 as in Qatar in 2022. The Saudi bid proposes:

● Five host cities and 15 stadia to host the tournament.

● Eight stadia must be built, and three others are now under construction in advance of the 2027 Asian Cup. Four existing stadia will all be upgraded for the tournament. That’s a lot of construction, even with a 10-year run-up. 

● Eight of the stadia are in the Riyadh area – the capital city – with four more in Jeddah and three others spread around the country.

● Stadiums, accommodations and transportation are all assessed at “medium risk,” with much of the transportation infrastructure also yet to be built.

The opening and final matches are planned for the King Salman International Stadium, a planned venue of 92,760 seats. Twelve of the other 14 venues are from 45,000-47,000 seats, with two others at 58,432 in Jeddah and 70,200 in Riyadh.

On finance, the report noted that the projected costs for FIFA to stage the tournament in Saudi Arabia were less than their baseline amounts – by $450 million – and that revenues could be 32% above the baseline or $240 million more, thanks to extensive hospitality sales. That makes the tournament a good business proposition for FIFA.

In the introduction to the report, FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom (SWE) wrote:

“We trust that you will deem we have performed our evaluation with the necessary objectivity, rigour and transparency and laid the foundation for a 2034 edition of the FIFA World Cup that showcases and celebrates football’s truly global dimensions.”

Saudi Arabia’s critics are hardly satisfied with the FIFA evaluation of the Saudi bid, but it will be selected anyway on 11 December. And the criticism will continue for the next 10 years.

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RUSSIA: Putin declares World Friendship Games to be postponed indefinitely

By
Rich Perelman
-
Russian President Vladimir Putin during a June 2023 address (Photo: Russian government via Wikipedia)

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≡ WORLD FRIENDSHIP GAMES ≡

“In order to protect the right of athletes and sports organizations to free access to international sports activities, I hereby decree to postpone the holding of the World Friendship Games international competition until further instructions from the President of the Russian Federation.”

That’s from Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday (2nd), sending the World Friendship Games into oblivion for now.

Putin ordered the creation of the event in October of 2023, to have 5,500 athletes and a prize pool of 4.6 billion rubles (about $43.2 million U.S. today), and held from 15-29 September this year, a month after the close of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The International Olympic Committee attacked the event bitterly, issuing a March statement that included:

“The IOC notes that, contrary to the Fundamental Principles of the Olympic Charter and the resolutions by the UN General Assembly, the Russian government intends to organise purely politically motivated sports events in Russia. The Russian government created and funded the ‘International Friendship Association’ (IFA), in order to host the summer and winter ‘Friendship Games.’

“Apparently, the first edition of the ‘Summer Friendship Games’ is planned to be held in Moscow and Ekaterinburg, Russia, in September 2024, and the ‘Winter Friendship Games’ in Sochi, Russia, in 2026.

“For this purpose, the Russian government has launched a very intensive diplomatic offensive by having government delegations and ambassadors, as well as ministerial and other governmental authorities, approaching governments around the world. To make their purely political motivation even more obvious, they are deliberately circumventing the sports organisations in their target countries. This is a blatant violation of the Olympic Charter and an infringement of the various UN resolutions at the same time.

“It is a cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicise sport. The IOC Athletes’ Commission, representing all the Olympic athletes of the world, clearly opposes using athletes for political propaganda. The Commission even sees the risk of athletes being forced by their governments into participating in such a fully politicised sports event, thereby being exploited as part of a political propaganda campaign.”

Whispers of a delay became known in mid-July, ahead of the Paris 2024 opening, and it became clear on 10 August – when IOC chief Thomas Bach (GER) announced he would end his presidency in 2025 and called for elections next March – that the World Friendship Games were not needed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted Monday that concerns over being able to attract athletes to the Friendship Games was a concern, saying “The event must be competitive. If there is no list of participants, then there is no competition.”

But Peskov also said that Russia remains interested in creating an alternative to the existing sports competition structure:

“They talked about the need to provide professional athletes with a set of international competitions. It doesn’t always work out in terms of composition; we are only at the beginning of this path. At the beginning of the path to creating an alternative competition system.”

Russia is now on a charm offensive, signaled by sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev on 18 November, who told a conference in Moscow that despite Russian isolation in sport, discussions are continuing:

“The dialogue is being conducted, non-publicly, through various channels and on neutral territories.

“I meet with international officials, there are various means of communication. The convergence of positions has begun. I believe that we need to stop with accusations, insults, we need to start moving towards softening the IOC’s position towards our athletes.”

Degtyarev will be elected as the President of the Russian Olympic Committee on 13 December, running unopposed.

All of this is pointed at the IOC Session in Greece in March 2025, where a new IOC President will be elected. Russia politicians and officials have spoken with some optimism about candidates David Lappartient (FRA), head of the Union Cycliste Internationale, Japan’s Morinari Watanabe, head of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, and long-time member Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose father was a transformational IOC President from 1980-2001.

Russian hopes that Britain’s Sebastian Coe, head of World Athletics, is not elected; he has been steadfast in saying that if Russian wants to be readmitted to international athletics competitions, it needs to leave Ukraine.

Fewer comments have been made about candidates Feisal Al Hussein (JOR), Olympic champion swimmer Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), or International Ski & Snowboard Federation chief Johan Eliasch (GBR).

According to the Russian news agency TASS:

“Putin also ordered the government to introduce legal amendments that would make it possible to forward the profits from Russia’s gambling industry to a fund that would provide additional support to youth and mass sports, sports schools, the Olympic and Paralympic Committees of Russia, national and regional sports federation, organizing and holding new competitions and events, as well as developing sports infrastructure.”

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PANORAMA: Stolz wins four more skating World Cups, Diggins wins 24th x-country World Cup gold; Russian billionaire is FIE President again

By
Rich Perelman
-
Another win for American cross-country star Jessie Diggins!

★ 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 ≡

● Athletics ● First-time marathoner Sabastian Sawe Kimaru of Kenya won the 2024 Maraton Trinidad Alfonso in Valencia (ESP) in a world-leading 2:02:05, taking the lead for good after 36 km and running away to move to no. 5 all-time, with the eighth-fastest performance in history.

It’s also the second-fastest debut marathon ever, and Sawe out-distanced Deresa Geleta (ETH) to the finish by 33 seconds. Geleta’s 2:02.38 makes him no. 7 all-time. Kenya’s Daniel Kibet got a lifetime best of 2:04:24 in third, with the top nine all getting lifetime bests. American Abbabiya Simbassa was 17th in 2:06:53, also a lifetime best, moving him to no. 4 all-time U.S., with the no. 7 performance.

Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu, who did not finish the Paris Olympic women’s marathon, got her third career marathon win in 2:16:49, her second-best time ever. She broke away from runner-up Stella Chesang (UGA: 2:18:26) after 22 km, with Tiruye Mesfin (ETH) third in 2:18:35.

Sara Hall was the top American finisher in 10th at 2:23:45. The race was dedicated to the victims of the devastating floods in Valencia on 29 October, which killed 229 people; a moment of silence was held at the start of the race.

● Badminton ● India placed finalists in all five events of the BWF World Tour Syed Modi India International in Lucknow (IND) and claimed three wins with top-seeded Lakshya Sen (IND) winning the men’s Singles over Jia Heng Jason (SGP), 21-16, 21-7, and no. 1 seed V. Sindhu Pusarla (IND) took the women’s title by 21-14, 21-16 against Luo Yu Wu (CHN).

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela (IND) swept aside Li Jing Bao and Qian Li (CHN) in the women’s Doubles by 21-18, 21-11. However, Indian finalists lost the other two events.

Di Huang and Yang Liu (CHN) won the men’s Doubles over Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek.k (IND), 21-14, 19-21, 21-17, and Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran (THA) took the Mixed Doubles with a 18-21, 21-14, 21-8 victory against Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto (IND).

● Biathlon ● The IBU World Cup kicked off with relay races in Kontiolahti (FIN), with Sweden taking wins in the Single Mixed Relay with Ella Halvarsson and Sebastian Samuelsson in 36:17.6, more than 10 seconds ahead of France. The U.S. pair of Deedra Irwin and Maxime Germain finished 10th in 37:41.1.

The 4×6 km Mixed Relay was a win for Norway in 1:09:59.6, well ahead of France (1:10.00.4). The French won the men’s 4×7.5 km relay over Norway, 1:18:24.4 to 1:18:50.2, and Sweden won the women’s 4×6 km in 1:17:09.0 to 1:18:38.0 for the French.

Individual events will follow in Kontiolahti, from 3-8 December.

● Boxing ● Brazil won four classes to highlight the World Boxing Cup Finals in Sheffield (ENG), with victories in the men’s 57 kg division (Luiz Oliveira), 63 kg class (Breno de Carvalho) and at +92 kg (Joel Ramos Da Silva), plus the women’s 57 kg class (Jucielen Cerquiera Romeu).

English boxers took three titles, in the men’s 71 kg (Odel Kamara), men’s 80 kg (Dimeji Shittu) and women’s 66 kg (Dione Burman).

● Cross Country Skiing ● The FIS World Cup opener for 2024-25 was in Ruka (FIN), with the hone fans cheering immediately for three-time Olympic gold medalist Iivo Niskanen, who won the men’s 10 km Classical on Friday in 23:00,6, ahead of Norwegians Harald Amundsen (23:13.1) and Martin Nyenget (23:14.7). Gus Schumacher was the top American, in 18th (24:04.8).

Four-time seasonal World Cup winner – and two-time defending champ – Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) won the men’s Classical Sprint in 2:25.25, ahead of teammate Eric Valnes (2:27.28) and Finn Lauri Vuorinen (2:28.95).

Sunday’s 20 km Freestyle Mass Start was a Norwegian sweep, for Amundsen (46:04.0), Jan Jenssen (46:04.9) and Nyenget (46:05.9). The U.S. finished 7-8 with Zanden McMullen (46:14.1) and Schumacher (46:15.3).

Sweden’s Frida Karlsson, a 10-time Worlds medal winner, took the women’s 10 km Classical in 25:16.2, ahead of comebacking Therese Johaug (NOR) – the 14-time World Champs gold medalist – in second in 26:02.7 after three years off and at age 36. Jessie Diggins of the U.S., the defending World Cup overall champ, was seventh at 26:29.2 with teammate Rosie Brennan in ninth (26:37.2).

Swede Johanna Hagstroem won the women’s Classical Sprint in 2:49.95, over Julie Myhre (NOR: 2:50.33).

In Sunday’s Freestyle Mass Start, Diggins made up a 13-second deficit on the final lap and won her 24th World Cup gold with a tight victory, 51:19.3 to 51:19.6 over Jonna Sundling (SWE), with Heidi Weng (NOR: 51:21.8) in third. Fellow American Sophia Laukli was 10th in 51:43.1.

Said the winner: “It was an epic battle. I was trying to be smart with the draft, but in the last kilometer, I saved it up, found a line, and played it well in the end. I also had amazing skis, so thank you to our wax techs.”

● Curling ● Scotland’s Bruce Mouat, the 2023 World champion and 2022 Olympic runner-up, won a tight battle with 2014 Olympic champ Brad Jacobs of Canada to win the men’s final at the Grand Slam of Curling The National in St. John’s (CAN).

Jacobs had a 2-1 lead after five ends, but Mouat scored twice in the sixth and twice in the eighth to get a 5-3 victory.

Canada’s Rachel Homan, a two-time World Champion, also had to come from behind to win over 2018 Olympic gold medalist Anna Hasselborg (SWE), 6-5. Homan was down 3-2 after three, and 5-4 after seven, but scored twice in the eighth end to pull out the win.

It’s the third Grand Slam win of the year for Mouat (in three tournaments) and second for Homan.

● Cycling ● the second and third legs of the UCI Track Champions League were in Apeldoorn (NED) on Friday and Saturday, with 21-year-old Russian sprinter Alina Lysenko – competing as a “neutral – making a statement by sweeping all four women’s Sprint events.

She took the Sprint on Friday over Olympic champ Ellesse Andrews (NZL) by 0.062 in 11.035, and the Keirin over Andrews by 0.038. On Saturday, she won the Sprint over Colombia’s Martha Bayona Pineda by 0.140 in 11.227, and the Keirin over Dutch rider Steffie van der Peet, by 0.09. Lysenko leads the women’s Sprint division – with two legs to go – with 115 points to 86 for Bayona Pineda.

The Friday women’s Endurance events went to Sarah Van Dam (CAN) in the Scratch race and Anita Stenberg (NOR) in the Elimination race with British star Katie Archibald second in both. On Saturday, Czech Petra Sevcikova won the Scratch over Lara Gillespie (IRL) with Van Sam third and Archibald won the Elimination race over Yareli Acevedo (MEX) with Sevcikova third. Archibald, a six-time Worlds gold medalist, leads this division with 98 points to 71 for Van Dam.

The men’s Sprints saw the return of three-time Paris 2024 gold medalist Harrie Lavreysen (NED), who won the Friday Sprint over Nicholas Paul (TTO) by 0.593 in 10.651, then finished second in the Keirin to Cristian Ortega (COL) by just 0.042 with Paul third. On Saturday, Lavreysen won the sprint over Paris silver winner Matthew Richardson (GBR) by 0.184 in 9.870. But Richardson won the Keirin over Ortega by 0.436, with Lavreysen third. The overall standings now show Lavreysen in front over Richardson by just 106-101.

On Friday, the men’s Endurance winners were Tobias Hansen (NOR) in the Scratch and Dylan Bibic (CAN) in the Elimination race. Bibic, the 2022 World Champion in the Scratch, was second in that race and Hansen was second in the Elimination race.

On Saturday, American Peter Moore took the Scratch race over France’s Oscar Nilsson-Julien, and Hansen beat Bibic in the Elimination race. Bibic, still just 21, has the overall lead in the Endurance division with 94 points to 85 for Hansen.

● Fencing ● Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, 71, won a fifth term as President of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), returning to the post after stepping down to fight sanctions against him in early 2022, related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He won an overwhelming victory by 120-26 over Swede Otto Drakenberg at the federation Congress in Tashkent (UZB).

He released a statement which included:

“I am grateful to the international fencing family for their trust and support, which convinced me that my decision to run for the FIE Presidency is the right one. I could not ignore the opinion of the 103 national federations that supported my nomination and I thank each federation that voted for my candidacy. …

“As is well known, I am still subject to unjustified restrictions, which I am currently challenging in court. In this regard, I declare that I have always acted in the best interests of the FIE and will continue to take all necessary measures to prevent the legally unfounded restrictions imposed on me being extended to the FIE and its activities.”

Usmanov has played a crucial role in the FIE finances, contributing more than $80 million by the end of 2019 to support the federation, and is expected to continue to do so. It remains to be seen what impact a Russian president will have on the federation going forward.

One of the most influential fencers in U.S. history, Peter Westbrook, passed away at 72 on Friday. A U.S. Olympian in the Sabre in 1976-84-88-92-96, plus the 1980 team that did not go to Moscow, he won a bronze medal in 1984 and three Pan American Games golds in 1983 and 1995.

But he made an even greater contribution through his New York-based Peter Westbrook Foundation, which used fencing as a vehicle to promote personal and academic skills among youth in the New York area. The program, which continues today, produced seven Olympic fencers beginning in 2000.

● Football ● The U.S. women played European champions England to a scoreless draw in London on Saturday before a huge crowd of 78,346 at Wembley Stadium, despite having 54% of possession and a 10-4 edge on shots.

The U.S., playing with Lynn Williams, Alyssa Thompson and Emma Sears at forwards with the “Triple Espresso” line – Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson and Tiffany Rodman – all out with injuries, had a second-half goal from midfield star Lindsey Horan wiped out by an offsides call and lost a penalty shot opportunity when it was overturned on video review.

U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher, who will retire after the next match against The Netherlands, got the 69th shutout of her career. The U.S. extended its unbeaten streak to 19 and coach Emma Hayes (GBR) is now 12-0-2 in her first 14 matches. The U.S. women will play The Netherlands at The Hague on Tuesday.

Toronto FC coach John Herdman (CAN) resigned on Friday, at the end of his first season with the club. He was implicated in the drone-spying scandal of the Canadian women’s national team at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a practice which apparently began during his tenure as head coach; successor head coach Bev Priestman and two assistants banned for a year by FIFA and all were let go by Canadian Soccer.

As to any further implications for Herdman, Canada Soccer’s statement noted, “We will evaluate the appropriate course of action and determine the next steps to take in this matter.”

● Freestyle Skiing ● Norway’s Tormod Frostad scored his first World Cup gold in the Big Air season opener in Beijing (CHN), scoring 183.00, ahead of 20-year-old Miro Tabanelli (ITA: 182.25) and Canada’s Dylan Deschamps (181.00). Mac Forehand as the top U.S. finisher, in eighth (156.75).

The women’s winner was two-time World Champion Tess Ledeux (FRA: 168.25), a comfortable winner ahead of Swiss Sarah Hoefflin (163.00) and Italy’s Flora Tabanelli – Miro’s younger sister (17) – was third at 159.50.

The Moguls season opener was in Ruka (FIN), with World Cup wins record holder – and three-time Olympic medalist – Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) won his 91st career World Cup gold at 83.90. Swede Walter Wallberg, the 2022 Olympic winner, was second at 81.14 and 2017 World Champion Ikuma Horishima (JPN: 80.51) was third. American Cole McDonald was fifth (77.33).

Perrine Laffont (FRA), the 2018 Olympic champ, opened the season with a win at 81.13, ahead of last season’s World Cup winner, Jakara Anthony (AUS: 80.00) and American Olympian Olivia Giaccio (76.95). Two other Americans made the final: Tess Johnson in fifth (75.02) and Kai Owens in sixth (41.16).

● Luge ● The FIL World Cup season opened in Lillehammer (NOR), with strong results for the U.S. women.

German 2021 World Champion Julia Taubitz won the women’s Singles at 1:33.898, just ahead of 2019 Worlds bronze medalist Emily Sweeney of the U.S., who won the second run and finished at 1:33.990. Two more Americans made the top 10: Summer Britcher in sixth (1:34.321) and Ashley Farquharson in eighth (1:34.350).

The U.S. scored an impressive win in the women’s Doubles, with Worlds bronze medalists Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby winning the first run and then second on the second run for a combined time of 1:34.929. That was 17th/1000ths better than World Champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (GER) at 1:34.946.

World Champion Max Langenhan (GER) started the new season with a win in the men’s Singles in 1:37.338, winning the first run. Wolfgang Kindl (AUT), the 2022 Beijing Olympic silver winner, was second in 1:37.365, with two-time Olympic champ Felix Loch (GER: 1:37.522) taking third.

American Jonathan Gustafson finished fifth in 1:37.627 and Tucker West was 12th (1:38.259).

The men’s Doubles was a win for Germany’s five-time World Champion Toni Eggert, with new partner Florian Mueller, in 1:33.846, ahead of Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume (1:33.978) and Austria’s defending seasonal champions Thomas Steu and Kindl (1:34.070). Dana Kellogg and Frank Ike were the top American duo, in eighth at 1:34.419.

● Nordic Combined ● Norway’s Jarl-Magnus Riiber scored 16 wins in the 21 FIS World Cup events held last season and started the new season that way in Ruka (FIN), taking Friday’s Compact 142 m jumping and 7.5 km race in 19:05.9, ahead of Vinzenz Geiger (GER: 19:07.9) and Julian Schmid (GER: 19:09.7).

Saturday’s Gundersen 142 m jumping and 10.0 km race was a German sweep, but with Johannes Rydzek, the six-time Worlds gold medalist between 2015-17, winning his first World Cup stage since January 2019, and the 18th in his career, in 23:56.8. Schmid was second this time, in 24:56.6 and Geiger took third (24:57.6). Rieber was fourth and American Niclas Malacinski was 13th (25:55.1.).

Sunday was the Mass Start (10.0 km race), with Geiger getting the gold – he won a medal of each color! – in 23:40.7, ahead of Riiber (23:46.6) and Manuel Faist (GER: 23:42.8). That’s seven medals out of nine for the Germans to start the season!

● Rugby Sevens ● The HSBC Sevens season opened in Dubai (UAE), with four-time series winners Fiji taking the men’s final by 19-5 over Spain.

In the pool play, Argentina and Fiji won their groups at 3-0 and South Africa was 2-1 to win Group A. By the semis, Fiji eliminated Argentina, 43-21 and Spain edged New Zealand, 19-14. Argentina then shut down New Zealand, 14-0, in the third-place match.

In the women’s tournament, only New Zealand (seven times) and Australia (4) have ever won the seasonal title and Australia started well again, defeating New Zealand by 28-24 in the final.

Australia and New Zealand won their women’s groups at 3-0, with the U.S. taking Group B at 2-1, and Australia swamped Great Britain in the semis, 35-7, and New Zealand edged France, 28-14. The French, who eliminated the U.S. in the quarters, won the bronze over Britain, 15-12.

● Ski Jumping ● The second stop in the 2024-25 FIS World Cup was in Ruka (FIN), off the 142 m hill, with German Pius Paschke winning his second event in three held so far with 326.6 points to 317.7 for Jan Hoerl (AUT) and 315.2 for defending World Cup champ Stefan Kraft (AUT).

On Sunday, the 2018 Olympic Normal Hill gold medalist, German Andreas Wellinger, took the win with 143.4 points in a final reduced to one round due to excessive wind. Kraft scored 138.0 for second and Karl Geiger (GER: 134.3) was third.

● Snowboard ● Italian Edwin Coratti won the FIS World Cup in men’s Parallel Giant Slalom in Mylin (CHN) on Saturday over Sang-kyum Kim (KOR), and then teammate Maurizio Bormolini won the Sunday Parallel Slalom.

Bormolini defeated three-time World Slalom Champion Benjamin Karl (AUT) in the men’s final.

Czech star Ester Ledecka, the two-time Olympic Parallel Giant Slalom gold medalist, took the women’s season PGS opener, winning the gold-medal final over Aleksandra Krol-Walas. In the Parallel Slalom, Austria’s 2023 Worlds bronze winner, Sabine Payer (nee Schoeffmann) got her eighth individual World Cup win, over Tsubaki Miki (JPN) in the final. Ledecka was fourth.

In the Big Air opener in Beijing (CHN), Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara took his second career win, scoring 169.50 to win the men’s competition, ahead of Ian Matteoli (ITA: 165.50) and Wenlong Yang (CHN: 159.25).

Britain’s 17-year-old star, Mia Brookes, the 2023 World Slopestyle champ, won the women’s event at 179.75, ahead of Mari Fukada (JPN: 176.75) – also 17 – and two-time Olympic champ Anna Gasser (AUT: 169.00).

● Speed Skating ● The second ISU World Cup of the season was in Beijing (CHN), with American sensation Jordan Stolz once again sweeping the field in all four of his events.

He won Friday’s men’s 500 m in a track record of 34.27, over Jenning De Boo (NED: 34.39), with fellow American Cooper McLeod fourth in 34.58. Stolz then won the 1,500 m in 1:43.94, easily outdistancing World 1,000 m runner-up Zhongyan Ning (CHN: 1:44.26) and triple Olympic gold medalist Kjeld Nuis (NED: 1:45.05).

On Saturday, Stolz won the 1,000 in another track record of 1:07.62, ahead of De Boo (1:07.82) and Ning (1:07.91), with McLeod fifth in 1:08.26.

Then on Sunday, Stolz won the second 500 m race in 34.39, with De Boo at 34.47; McLeod was fifth in 34.71. That’s eight wins for Stolz in the first two World Cups of the season!

Norway’s Sander Eitrem won the men’s 5,000 m over Olympic 10,000 m champ Davide Ghiotto (ITA), 6:09.48 to 6:10.04. Bart Hoolwerf (NED), the 2023 Worlds runner-up, won the men’s Mass Start in 7:48.08.

The U.S. was second in the men’s Team Sprint, 1:18.35 to 1:18.50, to the Dutch, with a team of Austin Kleba, McLeod and Zach Stoppelmoor.

Japan’s Miho Takagi, the reigning World Champion in the women’s 1,000 m and 1,500 m, won both of those races, over Antoinette Rejpma-De Jong (NED) in the 1,000 by 1:14.62 to 1:14.72, and over Joy Beune (NED) in the 1,500 by 1:55.07 to 1:55.19.

Teammate Yukino Yoshida won the 500 m in 37.68 – a track record – with Jutta Leerdam (NED: 37.89) second, and Olympic champ Erin Jackson of the U.S. sixth in 38.08. Poland’s Kaja Zionek-Nogal won the second 500 m in 37.82 over Beijing 2022 runner-up Suzanne Schulting (NED: 37.88) with Jackson fourth in 38.02.

Norway’s Ragne Wiklund, the 2023 World Champion, won the 3,000 m in 4:00.10 and 2024 Worlds bronze winner Marijke Groenewoud (NED) took the Mass Start in 8:27.62.

The Dutch won the women’s Team Sprint (1:26.35), with the U.S. team of Jackson, Kimi Goetz and Brittany Bowe third (1:27.07).

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ATHLETICS: Grand Slam Track and Michael Johnson are stirring the pot: Davis-Woodhall explodes, Lyles waiting to hear the TV deal

By
Rich Perelman
-
People are talking about Michael Johnson's new Grand Slam Track! (Image: Grand Slam Track)

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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡

The 19th Century American showman P.T. Barnum is often quoted as having said “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” and the Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde wrote “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about,” in his 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Grey.

Michael Johnson is clearly getting people to talk about his new track & field project, Grand Slam Track, a four-meet program in 2025 that will debut at Jamaica’s National Stadium in Kingston on 4-6 April.

Each meet will be a three-day program with only track events for men and women – 100-200-400-800-1,500-5,000 m and the 100/110 m and 400 m hurdles, with each athlete competing in two events, and $12.6 million in prize money in the first season.

Johnson, the iconic Atlanta 1996 gold medalist in the Olympic 200 m and 400 m, told the BBC in an interview last month:

“Grand Slam Track is track, that is what we’re doing. I am going to save what I think I can save; I think I can save track, I don’t think I can save track and field.

“Putting the two together works at the Olympics and World Championships, but I’m not sure it works when you’re trying to create a professional sport outside of those global competitions.”

Well, that got tongues wagging, including Paris Olympic women’s long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall and husband, Paris Paralympic men’s 400 m T62 champion Hunter Woodhall, who posted a minute video ripping Johnson, including:

● Tara Davis-Woodhall: “About my sport, it doesn’t need saving, at all. It’s actually, Michael, you’re ruining the sport if you’re trying to save just track.

“[It’s] Track and field for a reason. The field events actually do have a lot of impact on this sport. Hi, if you can’t tell [pointing to herself as a field-event performer].

“We don’t need your saving. You’re long gone, your time has passed. If you wanted to change the sport, you have changed it a long time ago. Instead, you were skipping out of the sport.”

● Hunter Woodhall: “Stop coming back and being so self-important and just saying wild things to try and get a rise out of people, because no one cares, to be honest, at all. And we’re doing just fine. We’re doing great.

“I don’t know if you saw the Olympics. They were great!”

Tara Davis-Woodhall added, “But you weren’t there.”

Observed: It’s worth noting, for the sake of accuracy, that (1) Johnson was in Paris, as a BBC commentator as he has been since 2001, and (2) let’s observe that both Davis-Woodhall and Woodhall were born in 1999, three years after the Atlanta Games Olympic Games, and a year before Johnson retired after the 2000 season, when he won the Sydney men’s 400 m.

As for Woodhall’s saying Johnson’s time has passed, it’s worth asking who else is raising money to stage high-end meets and trying to raise interest in the sport. Actors are great, but they need plays, films and shows to star in and that’s what Johnson and his fellow investors are trying to create. It’s badly needed, but bitterness on the part of field-event performers is completely understandable.

And that’s what we get on the video.

On the other side of the equation is Noah Lyles, the three-event World Champion in 2023 and the Olympic men’s 100 m champ in Paris in 2024.

He was on an 18-minute podcast with LetsRun.com’s Jonathan Gault and Weldon Johnson, and was asked about his participation in Grand Slam Track:

“It’s still in the same position it has been all year. Until I see a TV sponsor, I can’t make a decision.

“Because, I’m not gaining anything, I should say. For a lot of athletes it’s a great opportunity, it’s a really great opportunity. And I think they are in a position where they can do a lot of different, nuanced things.

“Unfortunately for me, being the Olympic champion, I’ve already come in with a lot of accolades and a lot of things where I don’t need monetary value, but I really need marketing value. And if a tree falls in the woods … did it make a sound?

“So if I race and it’s not seen, where the marketing for it?

“My first step is I have to make sure that whatever I do is seen.”

But Lyles noted that for many athletes, the Grand Slam Track program is a potential game-changer:

“If they handle it right, it has the potential to rock a lot of shoe contracts, because if these athletes are making more money than their shoe contracts, then they get to go back to their sponsors say, ‘hey, you know, I don’t really need you any more, because I can run Grand Slam Track and make more money and then decide what brand I want to wear because I can just go buy it.’

“That’s a very powerful position to be in and it really sets the bar and makes a difference on what we can do.”

Lyles was also asked about where the sport is overall and he reiterated his concerns:

“I don’t think the sport wants to change, almost, they’re very content where they are. And now I have to make the decision. Do I go off on my lonesome and do my thing and hope that maybe a few athletes come along, and we make our own identity or do I just stay where it is and just say, ‘Hey, I’ll just rack up as many medals as possible and stay where track is.’

“I think a lot of people already know the answer to that. I’m not going to stay where I am. I’m always going to try and push the envelope, but of course I got to keep the main thing, the main thing.”

Lyles indicated that a race with Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill is becoming more and more of a possibility, for sometime in 2025. He said he will be concentrating more on the 100 m in 2025, but still has his eyes on the Olympic 200 m title in Los Angeles in 2028.

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ALPINE SKIING: Shiffrin crashes out in Saturday’s Giant Slalom, so Hector and Rast take Killington wins

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

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≡ FIS ALPINE WORLD CUP ≡

“Following her crash in yesterday’s giant slalom at the Stifel Killington Cup, Mikaela was taken down by sled and transferred by ambulance to be evaluated at Rutland Regional Medical Center.

“– There was no ligament damage assessed.
“– Bones and internal organs look OK.
“– There is a puncture wound into the right side of her abdomen and severe muscle trauma.

“Her return to snow is TBD and more information will be forthcoming.”

That’s from the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team on Sunday on the condition of superstar Mikaela Shiffrin, who crashed on the second run in Saturday’s FIS Alpine World Cup Giant Slalom in Killington, Vermont.

Shiffrin herself offered some information on her status after her crash on Saturday, posting:

“Quick update. Thank you for your cheers and support. Wishing the best of luck to my teammates tomorrow!! I’ll be cheering from the sidelines on this one.”

Shiffrin was in position to win her 100th FIS Alpine World Cup race on Saturday in Killington, with impressive 0.32 lead on the field after the first run.

American Paula Moltzan took the lead on the second run, starting in 25th position, at 1:54.57, but was passed immediately by Zrinka Ljutic (CRO), with the fastest second run so far at 57.00 and a 1:53.62 total.

Next up was Camille Rast (SUI), who posted a 57.60 to move into second at 1:54.13, moving Moltzan to third. No. 28 on the start list was Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund, third after the first run, and she skied smoothly into third at 1:54.14.

Now came Sweden’s Sara Hector, who was 0.32 seconds behind Shiffrin after the first run, and she rolled down the hill in 56.98, best so far in the second run and took the lead at 1:53.08 – by 0.54 – and giving Shiffrin a considerable challenge.

Then came the first-run leader, with Shiffrin looking for history.

Shiffrin was flying down the hill, up on the field by 0.20 after the first split, and 0.17 after the second split, but she fell about two-thirds of the way down the course, tumbled and then rolled into the safety netting at the side of the course.

That left Hector as the winner with her sixth career Giant Slalom gold in 1:53.08, then Ljutic in 1:53.62 and Rast at 1:54.13. Moltzan finished fifth in 1:54.57 and fellow American Nina O’Brien (1:54.81) was sixth.

On Sunday, it was Rast claiming her first World Cup win, in the Slalom, moving from third to first on the second run and winning in 1:46.87 over Anna Swenn Larsson (SWE) and Wendy Holdener (SUI), who tied for second at 1:47.44. First-run leader Lena Duerr (GER) ended up fourth at 1:47.47. Holdener had the fastest second run and moved from ninth to the silver.

The women’s World Cup schedule lost next weekend’s Giant Slaloms at Mont Tremblant (CAN), due to insufficient snow, with a make-up to come later in the season. The next racing will be at Beaver Creek, Colorado with a Downhill on 14 December – the possible return of comebacking U.S. star Lindsey Vonn – and a Giant Slalom on 15 December.

Shiffrin is no stranger to injuries, having missed time from a crash in December 2015 that affected her right knee, and a left-knee injury from a crash in a downhill in January 2024.

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ATHLETICS: Hassan and Tebogo win World Athletes of the Year; USATF selected as federation of the year

By
Rich Perelman
-
The amazing Sifan Hassan (NED), a triple medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Photo: Bank of America Chicago Marathon/Kevin Morris)

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≡ WORLD ATHLETICS AWARDS ≡

Sunday’s World Athletics Awards in Monaco showcased some of the greatest athletes of the year, with two Paris 2024 gold medalists receiving the top honors as World Athletes of the Year: Dutch marathon winner Sifan Hassan and men’s 200 m champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana.

Hassan, now 31, was going to be hard-pressed to repeat her sensational Tokyo 2020 performances, when she won the women’s 5,000 m and 10,000 m and earned a bronze in the 1,500 m.

But she pulled off a stunner by winning a bronze medal in the women’s 5,000 m on 5 August, then another bronze in the 10,000 m on 9 August and then, two days later, won the women’s marathon in 2:22:55, beating Ethiopian world-record holder Tigst Assefa by three seconds in Olympic Record time.

Hassan’s amazing capacity to run and win at a world-class level made her the winner of the women’s Out of Stadium award for 2024 and she received the most votes as the women’s overall World Athlete of the Year.

Tebogo, just 21 at the time of the Paris Games, was at his best in Paris, running a lifetime best of 9.86 to get sixth in the men’s 100 m final, the blasted to a world-leading 19.46 to win the 200 m ahead of Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles, moving to no. 5 all-time.

The 100 m Worlds silver medalist in 2023, he appears to be ready to challenge the world in both sprints for years to come. He won the men’s Track Athlete of the Year honors and the men’s World Athlete of the Year.

There were four more athletes who were honored for their best-of-the-world performances in 2024:

● Men/Field Athlete of the Year: Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis was honored for the third straight year and fourth time overall as the top field athlete of the year, after repeating as Olympic champ in Paris, winning the European title and setting three world records of 6.24 m (20-5 1/2) in April, 6.25 m (20-6) in Paris and 6.26 m (20-6 1/2) in Chorzow, Poland on 25 August. Simply the best in history.

● Men/Out-of-Stadium Athlete of the Year: Tamirat Tola, Ethiopia’s 2022 World Champion in the marathon, added to his trophy case with a 2:06:26 Olympic Record win in the men’s marathon in Paris. He only ran three races in 2024: seventh in a Half in the UAE in February, his Olympic win in August and a strong fourth at the New York City Marathon in November. But his Paris win was superb.

● Women/Track Athlete of the Year: American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone delivered what everyone was hoping for in Paris: another world record in the women’s 400 m hurdles at 50.37, improving on her own 50.65 world record set at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June. These were her fifth and sixth world records in the event across the last three years. But she wasn’t done, breaking open the women’s 4×400 m relay final on the second leg as the U.S. cruised to victory in a world-leading 3:15.27, the no. 2 performance in history.

● Women/Field Athlete of the Year: Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh had a dream season in 2024, winning the European Championship in Rome, the Olympic gold in Paris and setting the world record of 2.10 m (6-6 3/4) at the Paris Diamond League meet on 7 July. That broke the seemingly unapproachable 1987 mark by Bulgarian star Stefka Kostadinova of 2.09 m (6-10 1/4).

Beyond McLaughlin-Levrone’s award, the U.S. earned three more awards during the evening:

● USA Track & Field was honored as the National Federation of the Year, not least for its dazzling performance in Paris, where American athletes won 34 medals (14-11-9), with Kenya next with 11.

● USA Track & Field Chief Operating Officer Renee Washington was recognized as the World Athletics Woman of the Year.

● The World Athletics President’s Award was given to Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who has been a force in the sport for decades. Said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR): “His love of athletics runs through Nike. It is a business created and driven by runners, with Phil never afraid to be the front runner.”

British coach Trevor Painter, who guided women’s 800 m star Keely Hodgkinson to the 2024 Olympic title, was honored as the Coach of the Year.

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BRISBANE 2032: Queensland formally launches 100-day review of Brisbane 2032 venues with A$7.1 billion limit hanging over the project

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡

“Today we fire the starters gun on Brisbane 2032, this is day 1 of 100 in fixing the Games chaos and locking in a plan for the world’s biggest event.”

That’s Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, the Liberal National Party leader and new head of the state government, in a Friday statement on the formal beginning of the review of the public-funded building program for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.

Crisafulli accused the former Labor government – which brought the Games to Brisbane – of mishandling the selection of the main stadium for the Games as a significant campaign issue and did not let up on Friday:

“We’re out of the blocks and finally on the track after three years of false starts. Seven experts in their fields will help guide planning for a world class Games we can be proud of, and a legacy future generations will rely on.

“Today marks the end of the embarrassing chaos and the start of a groundswell of pride in 2032. Queensland will deliver a world-class event and lasting legacy for all. We will put Queensland back on the path to victory for 2032.”

Crisafulli named seven members of the review committee, whose initial report will be due in 86 days, or 21 February 2025 (a Saturday), with the final report due on 8 March 2025 (also a Saturday).

Beyond the political hyperbole, the Terms of Reference for the review group outline the process, but also significant constraints on Queensland’s options.

Number one is money:

● “Evaluate affordability: Examine all proposed infrastructure investments for their economic viability and value for money. This includes ensuring investments within the venues program remain within the agreed $7.1 billion funding envelope from the State and Australian governments, and other investments for athlete’s villages and transport infrastructure meet legacy and Games needs.”

The $7.1 billion “funding envelope” is in Australian dollars; about $4.63 billion U.S. today, and already includes A$2.5 billion to build a 15,000-seat Brisbane Arena for swimming during the Games.

Then there are the questions of building and logistics:

● “Assess infrastructure demand alignment: Confirm that infrastructure projects are strategically chosen based on demand, ensuring they are located in the right places to meet the needs of the Games and support Queensland’s long-term legacy outcomes.”

● “Assess connectivity and integration: Evaluate the interconnectivity of venues, transport systems, athlete’s villages and precincts within the infrastructure network including the need to facilitate access during the Games and promote long-term mobility solutions.”

● “Evaluate deliverability: Assess the feasibility of completing infrastructure projects on time and within budget, considering resource availability, Olympic Host Contract and Games commitments and other risk factors. This includes reviewing infrastructure procurement, staging strategy and delivery models, including those that involve private investment, and evaluating industry capacity.”

The scope of the review involves all venues, villages, transport and infrastructure aspects of the 2032 Games, also including governance. The instructions to the review group also emphasized:

“The review will prioritise the utilisation of existing venues and infrastructure to minimise new construction, thereby enhancing cost-efficiency and promoting sustainability.”

The Terms of Reference barely mentions the privately-funded Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, which will actually organize and stage the Games. That’s interesting.

The main focus of most observers for this review is the issue of the facility for the opening and closing ceremonies and track & field. The original proposal was to renovate the historic Brisbane Cricket Ground (the “Gabba”), estimated at A$2.7 million. A prior venue review under Labor Premier Steven Miles, led by a former Brisbane Mayor, recommended skipping the Gabba and building a brand new stadium in the Victoria Park Area for A$3.4 billion.

Miles refused to spend that kind of money and preferred his own third solution featuring existing venues, to fix and expand the 48.500-seat Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre (QSAC) in nearby Nathan, Queensland for track & field, and upgrade 52,500 Lang Park – now known as Suncorp Stadium – for the ceremonies.

Crisafulli mocked this less-costly solution, saying during the campaign:

“QSAC is not the right venue. I haven’t met a Queenslander who thinks that’s either visionary or value for money, other than Steven.

“I don’t think there’s any scenario where any Queenslander looks at that plan and doesn’t see anything but cringeworthiness from a desperate government.”

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said in Friday’s statement, however, that the budget does matter:

“We asked Queenslanders for 100 days to fix this mess and that’s what we’re delivering. The Board will now get on with preparing for a world-class event driving economic growth into the regions, once in a generation infrastructure.

“This Board has the right mix of skills, experience and regional representation to get the job done and I look forward to working with them to ensure all of Queensland benefits from the Games.

“The Review will identify the infrastructure required to fulfill the Games’ vision while aligning with long-term planning, budget priorities, and legacy objectives.”

This will be fascinating.

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BULLETIN: Shiffrin fails to finish, as Sweden’s Hector takes Killington women’s Giant Slalom

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ FIS ALPINE WORLD CUP ≡

U.S. star Mikaela Shiffrin was in position to win her 100th FIS Alpine World Cup race at Saturday’s Giant Slalom in Killington, Vermont, and had an impressive 0.32 lead on the field after the first run.

American Paula Moltzan took the lead on the second run, starting in 25th position, at 1:54.57, but was passed immediately by Zrinka Ljutic (CRO), with the fastest second run so far at 57.00 and a 1:53.62 total.

Next up was Camille Rast (SUI), who posted a 57.60 to move into second at 1:54.13, moving Moltzan to third. No. 28 on the start list was Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund, third after the first run, and she skied smoothly into third at 1:54.14.

Now came Sweden’s Sara Hector, who was 0.32 seconds behind Shiffrin after the first run, and she rolled down the hill in 56.98, best so far in the second run and took the lead at 1:53.08 – by 0.54 – and giving Shiffrin a considerable challenge.

Then came the first-run leader, with Shiffrin looking for history.

Shiffrin was flying down the hill, up on the field by 0.20 after the first split, and 0.17 after the second split, but she fell about two-thirds of the way down the course, she rolled into the safety netting at the side of the course.

That left Hector as the winner with her sixth career Giant Slalom gold in 1:53.08, then Ljutic in 1:53.62 and Rast at 1:54.13. Moltzan finished fifth in 1:54.57 and fellow American Nina O’Brien (1:54.81) was sixth.

No immediate word on Shiffrin’s condition; the women’s Slalom comes on Sunday, with Shiffrin – if healthy – favored to get that 100th World Cup win.

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PANORAMA: Tamberi says “I don’t love” high jumping; Jamaica chooses Puma over adidas; tennis star Swiatek gets 30-day doping ban for TMZ

By
Rich Perelman
-
Tokyo Olympic high jump co-gold medalist Gianmarco Tamberi (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images for World Athletics).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Athletics ● Italian high jump star Gianmarco Tamberi, the Tokyo 2020 co-Olympic champion, said in a RAI television interview:

“I played basketball until I was 17, if I had continued I would have been less proud but happier, because it’s not so nice to jump a bar. I had to make that choice but I don’t love what I do.”

He explained further (computer translation from the original Italian):

“In 2009, I found myself at the crossroads of whether to continue my journey as a basketball player, the sport I loved with all my heart, or choose the high jump, the discipline I was probably born for.

“As you can imagine, if I had only followed the emotional part I would not be here today talking and looking at what has been done in this long journey. In that case, the rational part prevailed and objectively putting together the information I had on my possible athletic path, made me lean towards a more logical choice towards the high jump and I was only 17 years old. If I had not started there I would not have arrived here today.”

Tamberi competed at the London 2012 Games in the qualifying round, missed Rio 2016 due to injury, shared the gold with Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) in Tokyo and was sick in Paris, but managed to finish 11th in the final. As for 2028, it’s a possibility, but he will be 36.

In a closely-watched decision, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) announced Tuesday that it will continue its sponsorship agreement with Puma.

It was reported that adidas had offered the federation close to JMD 6 billion (about $38.1 million U.S.) in total over eight years, but the Puma agreement was said to be worth considerably more.

● Cycling ● The 2025 NATO World Forum will be held in The Hague (NED) from 24-26 June, but training and preparations for it will impact the availability of police to help control the spring cycling season. According to the Dutch cycling federation:

“The impact of the NATO summit on the 2025 cycling calendar is disastrous. From Jan. 1, 2025 to Aug. 31, 2025, there will be no capacity available for motorcycle police to supervise cycling races.”

Federation chief Maurice Leeser told The Associated Press:

“It is bitter and disappointing to have to conclude that the two-day NATO summit results in an absence of motorcycle officers at cycling races for a period of no less than eight months, which is almost the entire cycling season.”

● Gymnastics ● The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) posted a list of the 10 best-remembered moments in men’s artistic gymnastics in 2024. Number one:

“A Men’s Team final (rotation) for the ages. Three Horizontal Bar routines were all that stood between the People’s Republic of China and Paris 2024 Olympic team gold, but nobody informed the Japanese. In a stunning reversal of fortune, mistakes from the Chinese wiped out its [sic] three-point lead, leaving an ecstatic, disbelieving Japanese team holding gold. All was not lost for China, of course: They still won silver, and Liu Yang (Still Rings) and Zou Jingyuan (Parallel Bars) added golds in apparatus finals.”

U.S. Pommel Horse star Stephen Nedoroscik’s clutch routine to clinch the men’s Olympic Team bronze medal came in at no. 5.

● Skating ● The International Skating Union announced an amendment – approved by the ISU Council – to allow suspensions by another organization to be recognized by the ISU. So:

“Subsequent to this decision, as regards the case of the Skater Ivan Desyatov (USA) who has been temporarily suspended for alleged sexual misconduct by U.S. Safe Sport on October 18, 2024 pending disciplinary decision by the competent authority, and the case of the Skater Nicolaj Soerensen (CAN) who has been suspended for sexual maltreatment for a minimum of six years by Canada’s Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner on October 4, 2024, while recognizing the presumption of innocence, considering the seriousness of the alleged offences the ISU Council has decided to expand the suspensions, considered as interim, to all ISU activities and Competitions sanctioned by the ISU. The Council also recommends that all ISU Members expand the suspensions to all activities and events under their control.”

● Tennis ● Five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek (POL) accepted a one-month suspension from the International Tennis Integrity Agency after she failed an out-of-competition test for trimetazidine on 12 August:

“The ITIA accepted that the positive test was caused by the contamination of a regulated non-prescription medication (melatonin), manufactured and sold in Poland that the player had been taking for jet lag and sleep issues, and that the violation was therefore not intentional. This followed interviews with the player and their entourage, investigations, and analysis from two WADA-accredited laboratories.

“In relation to the Player’s level of fault, as the contaminated product was a regulated non-prescription medication in the player’s country of origin and purchase and considering all the circumstances of its use (and other contaminated product cases under the World Anti-Doping Code), the player’s level of fault was considered to be at the lowest end of the range for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’.”

Swiatek was provisionally suspended from 12 September to 4 October 2024 and will forfeit her prize money from the Cincinnati Open, the tournament following her test, and has eight days remaining in her 30-day ban, to 4 December.

● Water Polo ● The U.S. women won the Pan American Championship in Ibague (COL) on Monday (25th) by 18-5 over Argentina, which also qualified the Americans for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

Emily Ausmus, Charlotte Raisin, and Anna Pearson led the scoring with three goals each and keeper Amanda Longan registered 12 saves. It was 13-2 at halftime.

The U.S. finished 6-0 in the tournament and outscored their opponents by 130-24!

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ALPINE SKIING: Record-setting U.S. star Shiffrin goes for World Cup win no. 100 on home snow in Vermont this weekend

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin (Photo: Reese Brown/U.S. Ski & Snowboard)

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≡ THE RECORD SETTER ≡

In an essentially storybook setting, American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin returns to where she went to high school to try and extend her all-time record for most World Cup wins to 100 at the Stifel Killington Cup, in Vermont.

Shiffrin, still just 29, attended Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont from 2009-13, and debuted on the FIS World Cup circuit while still in school there, in 2011! Killington is about 80 miles southwest of Burke, and Shiffrin will have plenty of fans in attendance to see her try for 100 World Cup wins.

The Killington schedule:

● 30 Nov. (Sat.): Giant Slalom
● 01 Dec. (Sun.): Slalom

In the U.S., the races will be shown on NBC and Peacock beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. Steve Schlanger, 1998 Olympic women’s Super-G gold medalist Picabo Street and former U.S. team member Steve Porino will be on the call, with Heather Cox as the field reporter.

Shiffrin has been hot out of the gate this season, winning two of her three races:

● 26 Oct.: Giant Slalom in Soelden (AUT): 5th
● 16 Nov.: Slalom in Levi (FIN): 1st
● 23 Nov.: Slalom in Gurgl (AUT): 1st

Even at the season opener – where she finished fifth – Shiffrin led after the first run, but then faded on the second.

She has been sensational in the Slalom, but less so in the Giant Slalom. She has 22 career wins – the most in women’s history – in the Giant Slalom, and 43 career medals. But in the Slalom, she has more wins than anyone – 62 – and a staggering 86 World Cup medals.

At Killington, she has been unstoppable in the Slalom, winning six times, in 2016-17-18-19-21-23, but less so in the Giant Slalom, with a silver in 2017 and bronzes in 2019 and 2023. She said after her win in Gurgl that getting to no. 100 will not be easy:

“It’s not impossible, but so many things have to go right. I think from outside it looks it looks easy, or it looks like it’s supposed to happen this way, but even today took so much energy to bring out my top skiing.

“So, it’s not easy, and everybody’s pushing and catching up. And so, I’m not taking that for granted.”

Shiffrin has averaged more than eight wins a year in her career so far and looks to be on the way to that many or more in 2024-25:

● 2013: 4
● 2014: 5
● 2015: 6
● 2016: 5
● 2017: 11
● 2018: 12
● 2019: 17
● 2020: 6
● 2021: 3
● 2022: 5
● 2023: 14
● 2024: 9
● 2025: 2 so far

That’s 99 and counting, with the next opportunity on Saturday. She also can tie and possibly set another World Cup record, for the most medals. She has 154 so far, one behind all-time leader Ingemar Stenmark (SWE: 1973-89), who she passed for the most career wins. She can tie him in the medal count at 155 on Saturday and become the all-time leader on Sunday.

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VOLLEYBALL: New FIVB chief Azevedo wants volleyball to connect with 1.6 billion people by 2032

By
Rich Perelman
-
New FIVB President Fabio Azevedo of Brazil (Photo: FIVB).

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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡

Brazil’s Fabio Azevedo ascended from Secretary General of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) to President at the federation’s 39th World Congress in Portugal in mid-November and was eager to share his plans for growth.

Like getting 1.6 billion people involved annually with volleyball, and growing the FIVB’s annual revenues to over $100 million.

He shared his vision – and considerable enthusiasm – with reporters during an online roundtable on Tuesday, explaining in a concise way where he wants to take the sport:

“Basically today, in the ecosystem of the FIVB, we have what we call ‘the trilogy’: we have the FIVB as the international governing body managing the sport; we have Volleyball World, our private company in partnership with CVC Capital, taking care of business, promotion, marketing and commercialization of our events, and we have the Volleyball Foundation, which we launched this year in May, which is focused on the social responsibility and attending every single project promoting the values of the sport in the world.

“So basically, if I may explain, we have volleyball empowerment, led by the FIVB, helping the national teams. We have development, helping those national teams that do not get yet a national team program, and we have now the Volleyball Foundation, fighting for mass participation.”

He explained that the FIVB now has a reasonable idea of how many people are touched by the sport annually:

“We have nowadays, by research and using research, a number of 800 million people somehow connected with the sport in the world , and we want to make our sport more accessible and we want to double this fan base, this market share, in the next eight years.”

Key to this is the commercial development of the sport, keyed by the FIVB’s unprecedented joint venture with CVC Capital Partners in 2021. Azevedo was at the ready with details on just how important this partnership has been already and will be the future:

“We have started this journey, having volleyball as a business. The valuation, let’s call it, the valuation of volleyball was about $27 million EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] average per annum, in the Olympic cycle.

“The expectation of the next Olympic cycle, to 2028, is moving from $27 million to $60 [million], so doubling, all right, and the expectation from 2028 to 2032 is almost doubling again, to $105 [million]. So what does that mean?

“That means there is no way for the business to grow if the sport does not grow together. So what we are doing is investing massively in the quality and consistency of our events – again, TV production, content production and content distribution – you saw that we got for the second year in a row, the best IF in terms of social-media evaluation, social media importance, meaning that the way we are investing in our product – in our competitions, in our athletes, our stars – is really to make the sport better.”

The Volleyball World joint venture was initially valued at $300 million, with $100 million in cash invested by CVC. Azevedo believes that value could be $1.3 billion by 2032, a 4.3/1 increase in just 11 years. Azevedo observed:

“That was a great initiative of the FIVB partnering with CVC and professionalizing completely our commercial arm. This one moved our sport to the next level and as you can see, in the next two Olympic cycles as well. …

“In 2023, we distributed 53% of our entire revenue in prize money and volleyball empowerment. Next two years, it has been approved by the FIVB Congress in Porto – next two years – average of 59%. We’re expecting 70% of our revenue to be distributed in 2028. So, meaning that … the money that comes from sport is going back invested into the sport.”

As for revenue, Azevedo noted, in rough terms, that 35% of revenues come from hosting fees, another 35% from media rights, distribution and betting, 10-15% from sponsorship and 5% from the Volleyball World streaming channel.

The FIVB financial report distributed to the Congress showed CHF 28.9 million in revenue for 2023 and CHF 50.21 million in revenue for 2022 (CHF 1 = $1.13 U.S.). The FIVB report explained that the federation receives a dividend from the Volleyball World profits: $38.9 million in 2022 and $18.2 million in 2023.

How is the FIVB going to get to these new heights?

Azevedo stressed “content production and distribution is making the sport more accessible and it is equally inspiring a new generation of fans.”

He pointed specifically to beach volleyball:

● “We know that beach volleyball is nowadays a great success in the Olympic Games, like in Paris for example, very recently, but we are still having a gap of beach volleyball between the Games, and we want to make the same investment we made for volleyball – for the Volleyball Nations League – into beach volleyball annual competition, so we want to have the turnaround of beach volleyball.”

● “We do believe here, the professional team of the FIVB, that beach volleyball is the focus for the future in terms of the mass participation and making the sport more accessible.”

He also wants to get more national indoor teams involved. For example, out of the 222 national federations in the FIVB, only 86 men’s teams and 77 women’s teams are listed in the FIVB world rankings.

“We want to double this number in the next four years, and how are we going to do that? Once again, empower every single member of our family.”

One way to do this is to get less-qualified national teams involved in zonal association tournaments, where they can play at a competitive level and earn world ranking points. This sets them up to receive FIVB Volleyball Foundation support to identify talent and improve their teams. More participation means better national-team performance and can inspire new interest from players and fans.

The FIVB has distributed $40 million in development funding to 201 countries and wants to do more.

Looking ahead to 2028, Azevedo was asked about venues for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which have not been confirmed. He was enthusiastic about the final outcome of the venue arrangements:

“Obviously, defining the venues of the Olympic Games is absolutely important. However, I have to say to you that it’s quite normal having these sorts of discussions four years in advance.

“We had the same thing in Rio, same thing for Tokyo, same thing for Paris as well if you remember, so I would say nowadays we have got a great relationship with LA 2028 … so we are confident, very confident that we’re going to soon announce the venues for both beach volleyball and volleyball and both will be spectacular in L.A. as well, like we had in Paris.”

The FIVB has an unusual arrangement in that new Secretary General Hugh McCutcheon (NZL) is in Minneapolis (and not at the Lausanne headquarters), where he was a long-time coach, but is now in a position to help with promotional activities in the under-developed – from a volleyball perspective – U.S. market, as well as liaise with the LA28 Olympic organizers.

Azevedo does not lack for enthusiasm and the early returns from the Volleyball World partnership are quite promising. As he was elected for the period of 2024-32, he has eight years to achieve his vision, one which has volleyball expanding dramatically around the world.

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PANORAMA: Paris 2024 torch on auction in Paris on Tuesday; BAA to pay back Boston Marathon prizes for those cheated by dopers!

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Paris 2024 torch, pictured over the Seine River (Photo: Paris 2024)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Memorabilia ● The Sportlympique X auction comes on 3 December, with 327 lots offered by Vermot & Associates of France. The stars of the auction are Olympic torches from 11 different Games, including a 2024 Paris Olympic torch, the first to be auctioned in France (€1 = $1.06 U.S.):

● 1948 London Olympic torches (2): €1,800-2,500 estimate for each
● 1964 Tokyo Olympic torch: €4,000-5,000 estimate
● 1968 Mexico City Olympic torch: €3,000-5,000 estimate
● 1988 Seoul Olympic torch: €3,300-4,000 estimate
● 1992 Barcelona Olympic torch: €2,000-3,000 estimate
● 2004 Athens Olympic torch: €1,800-2,400 estimate
● 2006 Turin Olympic Winter torch: €1,500-2,000 estimate
● 2008 Beijing Olympic torch: €2,000-3,000 estimate
● 2010 Vancouver Olympic winter torch: €1,800-2,400 estimate
● 2016 Rio Olympic torch: €1,800-2,500 estimate
● 2024 Paris Olympic torch: €13,2000-20,000 estimate

The 1968 Mexico City torch is especially interesting, as it was specially engraved for the final torchbearer, hurdler Enriqueta Basilio, the first woman to be the final Olympic torchbearer.

Also of interest is an early copy of the Olympic flag, this one a framed, 26-by-35 model from about 1914, mirroring the flags ordered by modern Games founder Pierre de Coubertin of France at Le Bon Marche. It’s estimated to bring from €300–500. Two other lots feature lesser-known books by de Coubertin.

● Athletics ● The Boston Athletic Association, owners and operators of the Boston Marathon, announced Tuesday:

“The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) has elected to issue voluntary payments to athletes who were adversely affected by doping offenses at B.A.A. events. …

“The B.A.A. is identifying and contacting athletes whose results were re-ranked due to a disqualification within prize money placings since 1986, when prize money was first offered.

“The B.A.A. is working to ensure voluntary payments are received by impacted athletes. For any athlete whose finishing place among the prize money positions was adversely affected by the ultimate disqualification of another athlete, the B.A.A. will issue a voluntary payment for the difference the athlete did not receive due to re-ranked results.

“The B.A.A. continues to attempt to re-claim prize money that has been paid out in the past. The process of identifying all affected athletes has begun.”

Payments will begin in January 2025. The B.A.A. had previously had a policy of paying the legitimate winners of prize money only after recovering previously-paid money from athletes later disqualified for doping.

● Cycling ● The annual seminar for the UCI World Tour and Women’s World Tour was held in Nice (FRA) on Monday and Tuesday and included an important medical note:

“Seminar participants were also brought up to date on the current knowledge of the effects on performance of repeated carbon monoxide (CO) inhalation. The UCI clearly asks teams and riders not to use repeated CO inhalation. Only the medical use of a single inhalation of CO in a controlled medical environment could be acceptable. The UCI is also officially requesting the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to take a position on the use of this method by athletes.”

● Sailing ● A new strategy document from World Sailing – “Ready for the Future” – describes the federation’s plans for 2025-29, in a 15-page presentation now posted. The priorities, per World Sailing chief executive David Graham (GBR):

● Commercial and Events: “Embracing digital technologies, we will enable delivery of world-class events which are exciting to watch, easy to understand and easy to find,
underpinned by a commercial strategy which strengthens our investment in the sport.”

● Growth: “We will work with our National Federations, Classes and Continental Associations to provide more opportunities for more people to reach their potential through sailing.”

● Governance: “We will implement our newly transformed governance model, enabling us to operate efficiently, transparently and collaboratively in the best interests of our members and our sport as a whole.”

● Impact: “We will generate measurable economic, environmental and social impact for our global sailing community.”

In the events area, the goal is to simplify the World Sailing events schedule all the way to 2032 to draw better focus to specific races, and to develop a new, transformational presentation of the sport by 2028.

This will be a considerable challenge, with 140 member national federations and about 120 different equipment class which hold championship events.

● Weightlifting ● Doping nearly cost weightlifting its place on the Olympic program. So the International Weightlifting Federation was pretty happy to announce that all 120 of the lifters who competed in Paris this summer were tested prior to the Games. Per IWF President Mohammed Jalood (IRQ);

“These numbers and unprecedented level of testing demonstrate our full determination in the fight against doping in our Sport. It also certifies that we had a fair and clean competition in Paris. The IWF, together with the ITA, is taking this matter very seriously and we are happy to see that this strategy is proving successful. I take the opportunity to thank our National Federations for their effort and commitment to keeping weightlifting going in the right direction.”

The IWF announcement also underlined preventative measures in place, adding “100% of the athletes who qualified for the Paris Olympic Games received anti-doping education as per the mandatory IWF/ITA requirements.”

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ATHLETICS: Michael Johnson explains his Grand Slam Track “can save track, I don’t think I can save track and field.”

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡

“I love this sport. But I have had time to reconcile the fact that if we continue to just do the same thing, tell people that ‘you should love this’ or ‘you should understand this’ – that doesn’t work.

“Grand Slam Track is track, that is what we’re doing. I am going to save what I think I can save; I think I can save track, I don’t think I can save track and field.

“Putting the two together works at the Olympics and World Championships, but I’m not sure it works when you’re trying to create a professional sport outside of those global competitions.”

That’s Atlanta 1996 Olympic sprint star Michael Johnson, from an interview with the BBC in which he explains what his Grand Slam Track project is working toward as it readies for its first season in 2025.

There will be four Grand Slam Track meets – each a three-day program – in 2025, which he said grew out of discussions with a lot of people, including from the World Athletics governing body:

“We have had numerous conversations with World Athletics and we have listened to a lot of what they have said over the years. They want to grow the sport in the U.S., for athletes to be paid more, to encourage more innovation in the sport.

“When we sat down to build Grand Slam Track we listened to that; we built Grand Slam Track to do all those things.”

The schedule for 2025 is now set:

● 04-06 April: National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica
● 02-04 May: Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida
● 30 May-01: Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
● 27-29 June: UCLA’s Drake Stadium in Los Angeles, California

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.

Johnson said that UK Athletics did not refuse to have a Grand Slam Track meet in Britain; he explained:

“We engaged with 10 interested cities around the globe and we decided for year one that we wanted to focus our energy on the U.S.”

The Grand Slam Track format purposely did not include any field events or combined events, and does not include the 3,000 m Steeplechase or the 10,000 m. That has drawn criticism, of course, from athletes in those disciplines, but Johnson’s view of what can be attractive to new fans is a concentrated racing experience, unburdened by the traditional “three-ring circus” of track & field meets with multiple events going on at the same time.

Grand Slam Track has said that tickets for the 2025 meets will go on sale on 6 December. Johnson added:

“My objective is to create the opportunities that athletes have always wanted and to put them on a stage that is worthy of their greatness, with races that mean something.”

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BOXING: Taiwan’s Olympic women’s champ Yu-ting Lin out of World Boxing Cup Finals over more gender questions

By
Rich Perelman
-
Henri Vidal's Caïn venant de tuer son frère Abel (Cain, after having murdered his brother Abel), in the Tuileries Garden, Paris (Photo: Wikipedia)

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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

The controversy over gender classification in boxing initiated by the International Boxing Association in 2023 over two boxers that engulfed the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has now spread to the World Boxing Cup Finals in Sheffield, England, which began on Wednesday.

While Algerian Imane Khelif, who won the Paris Olympic women’s 66 kg class, has been quite public about her situation at the Games and since, Chinese Taipei’s Yu-ting Lin – who won at 57 kg – has been quiet.

But that changed this week when Lin was ready to fight at the World Boxing Cup Finals, her first tournament since Paris, but was apparently not officially entered. The Taiwan Sports Administration, a unit of the country’s Education ministry, said that the World Boxing federation had questioned her gender, and explained in a statement:

“She is female, meets all eligibility criteria, and successfully participated in the women’s boxing event [in Paris], winning a gold medal.

“Unfortunately, as World Boxing is newly established and still navigating the development of its operational mechanisms, it lacks the clear regulatory policies of the IOC that ensure the protection of athletes’ rights.

“Additionally, World Boxing’s medical committee has yet to establish robust confidentiality procedures to safeguard the medical information submitted by Taiwan regarding Lin Yu-ting.”

The Taiwanese statement noted that Lin offered to have a “comprehensive medical examination locally,” which was refused, and Lin was then withdrawn “proactively” to avoid any further harm.

World Boxing replied:

“World Boxing’s current eligibility policy does not prevent Lin Yu Ting from taking part in the World Boxing Cup. Selection decisions are made by national federations and the boxer was not entered in the event.

“At World Boxing, we put boxers first and the safety of athletes is absolutely paramount. We have recognised for some time that gender clarity is an extremely complex issue with significant welfare concerns and our medical committee has a dedicated working group committed to examining every aspect of this area so that we can strengthen our policy and ensure it prioritises the health of boxers and delivers sporting integrity while endeavouring to make the sport as inclusive as possible.”

Like Algeria’s Klelif, Lin – now 28 – has always competed in the women’s division. She won the AIBA World Championship title at 54 kg in 2018 and the IBA Worlds at 57 kg in 2022. She was disqualified by the IBA in 2023 for “failing” the federation’s eligibility standards – but with no details provided – after she won a bronze medal at 57 kg.

Lin has been strongly supported at home, and Taiwan Prime Minister Jung-tai Cho said the government would “actively work to protect and secure” Lin’s rights to compete in future international competitions.

Observed: This is unfortunate for Lin, but worse for World Boxing, which should have seen this possibility coming. This is going to come up again soon, as Algeria’s Khelif has indicated she plans to fight at the World Boxing World Championships in September 2025, also in England, in Liverpool.

By then, the International Olympic Committee will likely have decided whether World Boxing will be recognized as the governing body for Olympic boxing. But in any case, World Boxing will have to be ready to clear the situation regarding Khelif and Lin, preferably well before the tournament even gets close.

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LOS ANGELES 2028: L.A. Metro asks Trump transition team for $3.2 billion for 2028 Olympic projects

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ SCENE & HEARD ≡

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority – known as Metro – has asked the transition team for President-elect Donald Trump for assistance with $3.2 billion in support services for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The Metro Board’s letter explained:

“With 10 to 15 million ticketholders projected, these Games will be the largest sporting event held in our Nation’s history. Effectively delivering a safe, secure, efficient, and accessible mobility system to support these games will require the full support of the Federal Government.”

The story noted:

“Among the list of 10 projects that Metro is asking to be funded, the most expensive is a $2-billion request to pay for an estimated 2,700 buses – double its current fleet – that the region is projected to need to move the millions of spectators expected to attend the Games. None of the projects have yet to be funded.”

An October report to Metro’s Ad Hoc 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games Committee indicated:

● Of the $3.129.2 billion budget for Games-related projects, funding of $170.2 million (5.4%) had been secured.

● For the Games Enhanced Transit Service, priced at $2.042.0 billion, only $2.0 million in funding has been made available.

● Nine applications for Federal funding totaling $840.5 million had been submitted to the Biden Administration, with four granted totaling $228.5 million and five not funded.

The Chair of the Metro Board, Los Angeles County supervisor Janice Hahn told The Times regarding its letter to the Trump transition team:

“This isn’t just the L.A. Olympics, it is our entire nation’s Olympics. I would think that President-elect Trump would want to make sure they are a success and reflect well on our country.”

The letter asked for a White House coordinator to assist with transport issues and for senior officials in the U.S. Department of Transportation to be designated to work directly with Metro.

The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles lobbied the Reagan Administration to create a White House Task Force – under the supervision of then-Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver – to assure coordination across the entire Federal government for Olympic-related matters. That group was set up in 1982 and operated through the Games period.

The Federal government provided direct funding for security services for the 1984 Games, but did not provide funding support for transportation. According to a General Accounting Office report in 2001, the 1996 Atlanta Games received $274.3 million (in 1996 dollars) in Federal support. The 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City had $342 million in Federal support, including $106 million for transportation assistance; additional funds were added late for security after the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001.

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FOOTBALL: Two U.S. Senators oppose Saudi selection for 2034 FIFA World Cup; FIFA gives $50 million to Qatar Legacy Fund

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ FIFA WORLD CUP ≡

“We strongly oppose FIFA’s plans to award the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s uncontested bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and we urge you to seek out a host country with a record of upholding human rights. Approving Saudi Arabia’s bid this December endangers workers, athletes, tourists, and members of the press, and it runs counter to FIFA’s own human rights policies. Given the high stakes and scope of these games, FIFA cannot accept any assurances offered by the Saudi government nor aid the Saudi government in its effort to sportswash its bloody record.”

That’s the opening of a two-page letter sent by United States Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) in advance of the official selection of Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup on 11 December. It continued:

“The Saudi regime has long violated human rights and has made no progress toward meaningful reform and accountability. The Kingdom continues to torture dissidents, engage in extrajudicial killings, discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, oppress women and religious minorities, exploit and abuse foreign workers, and restrict almost all political rights and civil liberties. In fact, Saudi Arabia hit a new record high in annual executions this year. Further, the Saudi government has continued to crack down on media, labor unions, civil societies, and more. If Saudi Arabia assumes the responsibilities of hosting the World Cup, these human rights abuses are sure to escalate throughout the planning, execution, and conclusion of the tournament.”

The letter also castigated FIFA for its choice of Qatar to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup:

“FIFA knows firsthand what is at stake hosting the World Cup in countries without a
demonstrated commitment to human rights. In the lead up to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, scores of domestic and migrant laborers worked in egregious conditions on tournament-related projects, resulting in widespread wage theft and a high death toll. Despite numerous workers and civil society groups issuing warnings, FIFA could not curb these abuses or adequately remedy harm.

“Similarly, FIFA could not ensure the safety of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and journalists in Qatar. For example, Qatari officials detained journalists ahead of the tournament. These experiences in Qatar clearly demonstrate that promises of reform and accountability in bidding documents by repressive regimes do not actually ensure compliance with human rights and labor laws at the tournaments. These experiences also raise serious concerns about FIFA’s ability to mitigate harm once planning is underway for the games. The Saudis have put forward an ambitious proposal to host 48 teams through 15 state-of-the-art stadiums across five cities for World Cup 2034 with no sincere intention of upholding human rights.

“While FIFA appears poised to confirm Saudi Arabia’s bid on December 11, your organization has a responsibility to uphold and promote human rights. We strongly urge FIFA to take all steps necessary to thoroughly re-evaluate Saudi Arabia’s ill-equipped World Cup bid ahead of December and select a rights-respecting host country for World Cup 2034.”

FIFA President Infantino famously defended FIFA’s selection of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup in a stunning news conference on 19 November 2022, beginning with:

“Today, I feel Qatari. Today, I feel Arab. Today, I feel African. Today, I feel gay. Today, I feel disabled. Today, I feel a migrant worker.”

Across 37 minutes of remarks, Infantino blasted the assembled news media for their negative reporting on having the World Cup in Qatar, including:

● “So I wonder why nobody recognized the progress that has been made, since 2016. The kafala system was abolished, minimum wages were introduced, heat protection measures were taken. ILO [International Labor Organization], international unions acknowledge that, but media don’t, or some don’t.”

● “So we have been seeing [1] there is a permanent office of ILO, or there will be – and we will be back, we will be here to check, don’t worry, because you will be gone – [2] compensation for workers who are not paid or who have accidents, exists, in very significant amounts, and [3] FIFA has a legacy fund for this World Cup.”

His address was bitterly attacked by media attending as well as human rights organizations, but the tournament that followed was one of the most memorable in history.

The choice of Saudi Arabia is being similarly criticized, but FIFA is expected to approve Saudi Arabia as the 2034 World Cup host without incident on 11 December.

In a clearly-related announcement on Wednesday, FIFA announced a $50 million contribution to the FIFA World Cup 2022 Legacy Fund – a concept first installed for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and continued in Brazil in 2014 and Russia in 2018 – to be used for four initiatives, three of which are with major international partners:

● Refugees: In partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “the Legacy Fund will support programmes that empower communities and promote resilience and self-sufficiency for some of the world’s most vulnerable people with a view to enhancing access to basic services, improving social inclusion and strengthening national systems.”

● Public Health and Occupational Health and Safety: In partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), “the Legacy Fund will foster initiatives that will build on the role played by the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 for promotion of health and wellbeing and will extend to improving working conditions. FIFA will join forces with WHO to support Beat the Heat, a flagship initiative to mount action to safeguard the health and safety of high-risk individuals from extreme heat and the related occupational and environmental hazards and impacts in the context of climate change.”

● Education: Working with the World Trade Organization and the International Trade Centre, “FIFA will support the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy Fund, which aims to economically empower women entrepreneurs by leveraging the potential of digitalisation to help them access global value chains.”

● Football: The Qatari Aspire Academy and the FIFA Talent Development Scheme “will collaborate in identifying promising young talents in remote areas in a dedicated number of developing countries, with the objective of giving more talent around the world a chance to shine.”

This new funding from FIFA was immediately blasted by Amnesty International, whose statement included, “It is shameful that FIFA and Qatar have launched their long-awaited legacy fund without any recognition of their clear responsibility towards the vast number of migrant workers who were exploited and, in many cases, died to make the 2022 World Cup possible. While providing money to global efforts to support refugees and protect workers from the impacts of extreme heat is important, the fund currently does absolutely nothing for the families who lost loved ones in Qatar and were plunged into poverty as a result.”

Observed: The choice of Saudi Arabia for the 2034 FIFA World Cup is sure to continue the criticism that accompanied the choice of Qatar for the 2018 event. But Infantino will be at the ready with his own view, and will point out that his promise of a legacy fund has come to pass, and that the promised ILO office in Qatar was, in fact, opened in 2018.

Let’s see what happens in Saudi Arabia, a country which appears to be in a transitional phase, but with no clear end result for the end of this decade, or by 2034.

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CYCLING: Australian cycling bans triple Olympic medalist Matthew Richardson for life for switch to Great Britain

By
Rich Perelman
-
Former Australian, now British track cycling star Matthew Richardson (Photo: Matthew Richardson on Instagram).

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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡

“Richardson will not be eligible to rejoin the Australian Cycling Team at any point in the future.”

That’s a life ban for track cycling star Matthew Richardson from Australia Cycling (AusCycling) following his move from Australia to Great Britain to continue his cycling career. Richardson made his first appearance for Great Britain at last weekend’s first leg of the UCI Track Champions League in France.

Monday’s AusCycling statement had more:

“AusCycling has finalised a review of the circumstances which saw track cyclist Matthew Richardson announce a change of nationality from Australia to Great Britain following the Olympic Games in Paris.

“The review, which involved a thorough investigation of Richardson’s actions, has determined he acted in a way which conflicted with the values of AusCycling, the Australian National Team and the broader cycling community.”

The life ban includes no use of AusCycling “resources” or awards. The review also found Richardson acted improperly, specifically:

“● Richardson requested that the world cycling body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, delay official disclosure of his nationality change until after the Olympic Games. This request was supported by British Cycling.

“● He also withheld news of his decision from AusCycling, his teammates, and key stakeholders prior to the Games.

“● After the Games, but before announcing his decision, Richardson asked to take AusCycling property including a custom bike, cockpit, and Olympic race suit to Great Britain. This represented an unacceptable risk to AusCycling’s intellectual property.”

Although discussions apparently began in February, Richardson himself did not post a notice about the change of allegiance on his Instagram page until 19 August, more than a week after the close of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games:

“I have made the decision to pack up my entire life and move half way across the world to begin the next chapter in my cycling career. It is with a sense of excitement and renewal I announce I have joined the Great British Cycling Team.

“Switching nationality was a difficult decision, and not one I took lightly. It was a personal choice, made after careful consideration of my career and future. It’s not something I decided on quickly or easily. I deeply respect Australia and the Aus Cycling Team and it will always be a part of who I am.

“As this new chapter in my life begins, I would like to sincerely thank the coaches and support staff who have worked with me over many years in Australia. Special mention to Midland Cycle Club, WAIS and Aus Cycling with personal thanks to the two biggest coaching influences in my career, Clay Worthington and Matt Crampton. I want to say a huge thank you to my teammates for everything we’ve been through together. You’ve been there for the highs and the lows, and I’m so grateful for all the support, laughter, and hard work we’ve shared.

“But this decision is about following my passion and pushing myself to new heights. This isn’t about leaving something behind, but about embracing a new chapter in my journey and chasing a dream, a dream that is to race for the country in which I was born.

“I hope you can understand and support me as I continue to give my best in the sport I love.”

The back story is that Richardson was born in England, but moved with his family to Australia when was nine. He is reported to hold dual citizenship.

He had been a star for Australia, winning Paris Olympic silvers in the Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin, and five World Championships medals, including a gold in the Team Sprint in 2022. Richardson has already shown that, at 25, he’s at his peak, after scoring Sprint and Keirin wins over Olympic champ Harrie Lavreysen (NED) at the UCI Track Champions League opener last weekend.

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PANORAMA: Milan Cortina to have 10,001 Winter Olympic torchbearers; Gabby Thomas signs with Grand Slam Track; world treadmill champs?

By
Rich Perelman
-
The route of the Milan Cortina 2026 torch relay ahead of the Olympic Winter Games (Image: Milan Cortina 2026).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2036 ● The Times of India reported that discussions around a 2036 Olympic bid for India have centered about New Delhi and Agra, site of the iconic Taj Mahal, instead of previously-championed Mumbai and/or Ahmedabad.

The superb use of the iconic Eiffel Tower by the French for the Paris 2024 Games lends added significance to the potential of the Taj Mahal as a symbol for an Indian Olympic bid. Moreover, New Delhi is the national capital, with the accompanying support for visitors, and available land space for new construction that would be needed.

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The Milan Cortina 2026 organizers unveiled the 2026 Torch Relay on Tuesday, with a planned 10,001 torch bearers to take the flame to 60 locations across 63 days and 12,000 km (7,456 miles).

The flame will be lit at ancient Olympia on 26 November 2025 and then arrive in Rome on 4 December, beginning its journey throughout Italy.

The Paralympic Torch Relay will begin in Stoke Mandeville, England on 23 February 2026, with a 12-day relay to follow with 500 torchbearers covering 2,000 km (1,243 miles).

● Pan American Games 2027 ● Official dates for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru were announced Tuesday as 16 July to 1 August.

The dates are close to the 2019 dates for the PAG held in Lima of 26 July to 11 August and a near-exact match for the 2028 Olympic Games dates of 14-30 July in Los Angeles.

This will be the eighth Pan American Games – out of 20 through 2027 – to open in July, the most of any month. August has been the start for five editions.

● Russia ● The newest sports diplomacy move by Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev is the signing of a cooperation agreement with the North Korean sports minister, Il Guk Kim, in Pyongyang on Sunday. Wrote Degtyarev on his Telegram page (computer translation from the original Russia):

“We attach great importance to the development of sports cooperation, as well as constructive dialogue, with North Korea. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement signed earlier by the heads of our states is clear proof of the unmatched high level of relations between our countries.”

Further:

“Starting in 2025, I proposed holding the Russian-Korean Summer Games on a biennial basis [alternating between the countries]. We are ready to hold at least 10 sports competitions on the program of the possible Games. The North Korean side was all for this.”

● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track announced a major new signing of Olympic 200 m gold medalist Gabby Thomas of the U.S., who also ran legs on the winning 4×100 m and 4×400 m relays in Patis.

This brings the “Racer” total to 38 signees out of 48 planned. Thomas is the sixth Paris Olympic champion to commit to the new project, also including Quincy Hall (USA: men’s 400 m), Cole Hocker (USA: men’s 1,500 m), Marileidy Paulino (DOM: women’s 400 m), Masai Russell (USA: women’s 100 m hurdles) and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA: women’s 400 m hurdles).

A story in the London Daily Mail newspaper reported that World Athletics is developing a “World Treadmill Championships” to keep up with similar events already staged in rowing and cycling.

World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon (GBR) explained:

‘There are millions of people around the world that just go to the gym and run on the treadmill. We should create products for those people. We should have a Treadmill World Championships.

‘You are an athlete if you go for a 30-minute run on a treadmill or if you win an Olympic gold medal in the 100 metres. It is all athletics.

‘We are working it out at the moment. We will be announcing a tech partner that we are going to work with to develop the virtual running scene.”

No indication on a possible date for a first championship.

● Biathlon ● Russian Evgeny Ustyugov, the 2010 Vancouver men’s Olympic Mass Start winner and a relay gold medalist at Sochi 2014, had his appeal rejected at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, confirming his sanctions for abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport.

He was retroactively banned from 24 January 2010 to the end of the 2013-14 season, at which point he retired. This wipes out three Olympic medal performances in 2010 and 2014, and two 2011 World Championships silver medals.

The disqualification from the Mass Start win at Vancouver 2010 should allow French star Martin Fourcade to move from silver to gold, giving him a total of seven Olympic golds from 2010-14-18.

Another doping penalty on Ustygov, now 39, from information obtained from the Moscow Laboratory by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2019 relating to the state-sponsored Russian doping scheme, is being appealed. That sanction wiped out results from August 2013 to the end of the season in 2014.

The Russian news agency TASS reported that the International Biathlon Union has reiterated its total ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes for the coming season, in view of the continuing invasion of Ukraine. The IBU has no provision for “neutral” athletes.

● Boxing ● To the surprise of absolutely no one:

“World Boxing has welcomed the creation of a new Asian confederation to represent and promote boxing in the region, marking a significant milestone for the sport.”

The new confederation, to be made up of the 15 national federations from Asia which are members of World Boxing, was announced by Asian Boxing Confederation President Pichai Chunhavajira (THA), following last weekend’s vote for the ASBC to remain allied with the International Boxing Assocation.

● Equestrian ● Another demonstration of the impact of being the host of a forthcoming Olympic Games was demonstrated on Saturday, with a temporary show jumping arena sent up at the site of the 1984 Olympic equestrian events – Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California – for the first Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Los Angeles, with $400,000 in prize money.

The event was not related in any way to the 2028 Olympic organizing committee, but was an expansion of the FEI Jumping World Cup tour in North America. There will be many more such events in the L.A. area in the coming years in various sports to familiarize athletes and officials with the area.

Karl Cook, a member of the U.S.’s Paris 2024 Team Jumping silver, won the eight-entry jump-off to win on Caracole de la Roque, with no penalties and the fastest time through the course at 41.19 seconds. Israel’s Daniel Bluman was second with no penalties and 42.87.

● Football ● Iconic American keeper Alyssa Naeher, now 36, announced her retirement from national-team play on Tuesday, but will be available for the upcoming games against England and The Netherlands in December.

Naeher compiled a brilliant career over 11 season as a national-team keeper, with an outstanding 0.50 goals-against average; the U.S. was 88-6-14 (W-L-T) in her matches. She played on three World Cup teams, on title winners in 2015 and 2019, and was on three Olympic teams, including the 2024 Paris gold-medal winners. Her first game in goal for the U.S. was a 7-0 win against Argentina in December 2014; she had 68 career shutouts. She said:

“This has been a special team to be a part of and I am beyond proud of what we have achieved both on and off the field. The memories I have made over the years will last me a lifetime. I know one chapter is ending, but I am so excited to continue to see the growth of this team going forward and what more they can accomplish.”

Naeher plans to play for the NWSL Chicago Red Stars for the 2025 season.

● Shooting ● One of the goals of the International Paralympic Committee is to eventually have International Federations take over all of the sports it currently administers. One of those is shooting and the effort is underway as the IPC and International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) met last week discuss the process for the ISSF to integrate Para Shooting.

● Swimming ● Although Australian Freestyle star Emma McKeon said she would be retiring after the Olympic Games in Paris, she made it official on Sunday with a post on Instagram:

“Today I am officially retiring from competitive swimming.

“Leading into Paris, I knew it would be my last Olympics, and the months since have given me time to reflect on my journey, and think about what I wanted my future to look like in swimming.

“I am proud of myself for giving my swimming career absolutely everything, both physically and mentally.

“I wanted to see what I was capable of – and I did.

“Swimming has given me so much. From the dream igniting at 5 years old, right through to my third Olympic games- I have so many lessons, experiences, friendships and memories that I am so thankful for. Along with every person who supported me, worked hard with me, and cheered me on. THANK YOU.

“Now I am excited to see how I can push myself in other ways, and for all the things that life has in store.”

Now 30, McKeon finishes with a sensational 14 Olympic medals (6-3-5), including individual golds in the 50-100 m Frees at Tokyo 2020, and 20 World Championships medals (5-11-4).

● Wrestling ● The Court of Arbitration for Sport imposed a five-year ban on Serbian Greco-Roman wrestler Zurabi Datunashvili, who won the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medal in the 87 kg class.

The decision confirmed a prohibited method – urine substitution – and fabricated evidence to justify missing a test in January 2022, resulting in a nullification of all of his results since 27 May 2021 to 11 April 2023.

This wipes out his Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze (won in 2021) and his World Championships gold in 2022, but Datunashvili has appealed the urine substitution charge and the disqualification of results. He retired in 2023.

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