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TSX REPORT: Russia will not reveal Valieva doping verdict; Pent United on offense on modern pentathlon and LA28; U.S. wins three at Skate America

By
Rich Perelman
-
American teen Ilia Malinin during his winning Free Skate performance at Skate America (Photo: International Skating Union)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. RUSADA announces no announcement coming in Valieva case
2. Iranian climber Rekabi reportedly under house arrest
3. Pent United on offense against UIPM and new fifth discipline
4. U.S. women draw Dutch, Vietnam for FIFA World Cup 2023
5. Our exclusive, 951-event international sports calendar now posted!

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency, citing figure skater Kamila Valieva’s minor status, announced it would not release its decision on her doping case that inflamed the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The outcome will, of course, be known from other sources such as the World Anti-Doping Agency, but the Russians will say nothing. In the meantime, Valieva won the Russian Grand Prix stage held in Moscow over the weekend. The BBC reported that Iran sport climber Elnaz Rekabi was placed under house arrest after her return to Tehran from the Asian Championships after she did not wear her headscarf during the final. This despite the Iranian National Olympic Committee giving assurances that no action would be taken against her. The Pent United athletes group is on offense ahead of the November Congress of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), with multiple national federations filing motions to advance its agenda, including retaining riding as part of the sport. Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Joe Choong (GBR) said in an Instagram post that the IOC did not ask the federation to replace riding, but to make the sport cost raise its profile and lower its costs. The draw for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 was completed over the weekend, with the U.S. women – ranked no. 1 – to face the Netherlands, Vietnam and the winner of a playoff in Group E.

Our exclusive, 951-event International Sports Calendar – through October 2023 – is now available, and free!

1.
RUSADA announces no announcement coming in Valieva case

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency said on Friday that as figure skater Kamila Valieva is still a minor, it will provide no information on the hearing concerning doping positive revealed during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games:

“In order to protect the interests of the figure skater, a member of the ROC team, who is a protected person [minor], RUSADA declares that in accordance with paragraph 4.1 of the International Standard for Results Management, all processes and procedures related to Results Management, including the charge and the final decision, are confidential.”

“Strictly following the principles of international and Russian anti-doping standards, as well as taking into account the facts and circumstances of the case, RUSADA does not intend to announce the date of the hearings, the decision or other details in the case of the figure skater – a member of the [Russian Olympic Committee] team.”

Although unnamed, this is clearly the Valieva case, with the Russian news agency TASS adding:

“RUSADA’s Disciplinary Committee is set to notify Valieva of the verdict in her case on the day of its announcement and all following statements in this regard should be made by the athlete herself or her official representatives.”

RUSADA Director General Veronika Loginova indicated previously the hearing would be held in October, but gave no date. The reaction to the announcement that there would be no announcement was quick:

● ARD Germany’s Hajo Seppelt, who has chased doping stories for decades, tweeted:

“They lie and lie and lie and lie … always the same by RUS: RUSADA says Valieva doping verdict will be kept confidential – with absurd reasoning Won’t work. Anyway… A desperate (but obviously stupid) move to try to keep Olympic gold in team event.”

● The World Anti-Doping Agency told TASS:

“WADA will carefully consider RUSADA’s decision in this case and reserves the right to appeal it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, if appropriate.”

● Valieva, now 16, and competing in the Russian Grand Prix, told reporters:

“I won’t say anything about it.”

● U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart told USA Today that WADA, the International Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union must make the decision and all available details public as soon as possible:

“Short of this, it’s impossible for athletes or the public to believe what happened at the 2022 Beijing Games was real and not just another fraudulent win by the Russians like so many before, as the evidence has clearly shown. …

“Certainly, keeping the decision and facts secret makes a mockery of the whole process and there is no wonder athletes and the public do not trust the global WADA anti-doping system.”

Still in limbo – now for eight months – amid the controversy are the American (2nd place), Japanese (3rd) and Canadian (4th) squads from the Beijing 2022 Winter Games Team Event, won by Russia, but for which no medal ceremony has been held, pending the outcome of the inquiry into Valieva’s doping positive. Her 25 December 2021 sample came back positive, but was forwarded only after the Team Event was concluded in Beijing; she was initially suspended by RUSADA, but reinstated by its Disciplinary Committee and allowed to compete in the women’s competition by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (she finished fourth).

On Sunday, Valieva won the women’s division of the Russian Grand Prix in Moscow, scoring 244.86 points, ahead of Sofia Akatieva (238.68). Valieva won the Short Program and was second to Akatieva in the Free Skate. Valieva told TASS (DeepL.com translation from Russian):

“Emotionally I was fine. I have read a lot of snide remarks about me and my coaches; let’s leave it at that. But it was hard, it was normal, it was like I was going through it for the first time. And when you get it rolling, it gets calmer. I’m happy to share it, I’m ready to roll this program, if I wasn’t ready, I would have said so.

“The fans’ opinion doesn’t affect me. I only care about the opinion of my coaches and people in authority, I’m not a flower to please everyone.”

She plans to compete next in the third leg of the Russian Grand Prix from 4-6 November, in Kazan.

2.
Iranian climber Rekabi reportedly under house arrest

While a International Federation of Sport Climbing statement issued on Wednesday (19th) noted assurances from the Iranian National Olympic Committee “that [climber Elnaz] Rekabi will not suffer any consequences,” the BBC’s Persian service reported that she has been placed under house arrest on her return to Tehran.

Rekabi did not wear a headscarf (hijab) during the Asian Championships in Seoul, where she placed fourth in the combined Boulder and Lead event, which has special significance after the 16 September death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody after being arrested for “allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely.”

Her Instagram page showed a post in which she said that her headscarf fell off by accident, but it is not clear that Rekabi made the post, or that it was done for her. The BBC reported that while she received a hero’s welcome at the Tehran airport upon her return, she was forced into a confession. Instead of going home, “she was held at the national Olympics academy under the watch of plainclothes officers until she met [sports minister Hamid Sajjadi].”

The IFSC World Cup schedule has been completed for 2022 and Iran has no entrants for the final Asia Continental Cup event in Manila (PHI) on 5-6 November, so Rekabi will not be seen in any international competition until next April.

3.
Pent United on offense against UIPM and new fifth discipline

The next chapter in the ongoing tug-of-war for the future of modern pentathlon will be written at the 2022 Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) Congress in Guatemala (and online) on 12-13 November, with the Pent United athlete group trying to keep riding as one of the five disciplines, and all sides trying to figure out how to restore the sport to the program for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Since the Tokyo Games and the horse-punching incident revolving around German pentathlete Annika Schleu and an unwilling horse, Saint Boy, the UIPM leadership has moved ahead with a place to replace riding with obstacle course running. But the Pent United group isn’t budging, and is now moving on offense ahead of the Congress. In a tweet last week, the group wrote:

“It is now less than 4 weeks until the UIPM Congress when we hope that our National Federations will represent us and do the rights things to save our sport. … We have motions before Congress that can fix our sport. … These motions have come from a range of different National Federations, including Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Australia, Sweden and Denmark.”

On governance, the tweet cites seven motions, including a no-confidence vote in UIPM President Klaus Schormann (GER; first elected in 1993), a 12-year limit for all elected persons, a financial reporting review, suspension of Russian and Belarusian national federations and officials, and disclosure of commercial agreements with any third parties, especially regarding the obstacle course test events and any relationship with the Tokyo Broadcasting System and its Ninja Warrior series.

On trying to get the sport back onto the program for the Los Angeles 2028 Games, the motions including reincorporating a revamped riding program, a strategic alliance with the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) and an opportunity for the Pent United group to address the Congress.

A motion from eight federations, led by Georgia, asks to keep Modern Pentathlon with riding as a non-Olympic event!

On the central question of whether the change away from riding to something else was requested by the International Olympic Committee, Finnish coach Jouko Pakarinen tweeted last week that IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell (NZL) told Tokyo Olympic champ Joe Choong (GBR, shared in an Instagram post) “that the IOC never asked the UIPM to remove riding:

“‘Kit McConnell confirmed that the IOC did not explicitly or officially request the removal of horse riding, however the IOC confirmed to the UIPM the need to improve accessibility, attractiveness and reduce the cost and complexity of the sport. The IOC therefore supports the UIPM in looking to innovate while reducing cost and complexity of the sport.’”

That’s not a riding problem, that’s a cost and marketing problem, for which trading obstacle course for riding is at best a tactic and not a strategy. The tug-of-war continues.

4.
U.S. women draw Dutch, Vietnam for FIFA World Cup 2023

The draw for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand, was concluded on Saturday in Auckland, New Zealand, with the no. 1-ranked American women in Group E with the Netherlands, Vietnam and a team to be determined. The groups and current world rankings:

● Group A: New Zealand (22), Norway (12), Philippines (53), Switzerland (21)

● Group B: Australia (13), Canada (7), Ireland (24), Nigeria (45)

● Group C: Spain (6), Costa Rica (37), Japan (11), Zambia (81)

● Group D: England (4), China (15), Denmark (18), play-off winner among Senegal (84), Haiti (56) and Chile (38)

● Group E: United States (1), Netherlands (8), Vietnam (34), play-off winner among Portugal (23), Cameroon (58) and Thailand (41).

● Group F: France (5), Brazil (9), Jamaica (43), play-off winner among Chinese Taipei (40), Paraguay (51), Papua New Guinea (50) and Panama (57)

● Group G: Sweden (2), Argentina (29), Italy (14), South Africa (54)

● Group H: Germany (3), Colombia (27), Morocco (76), South Korea (17)

The U.S. and the Netherlands played in the 2019 World Cup Final and the Americans enter as the two-time defending World Cup champions. If the U.S. should win Group E, it would face the Group G runner-up (Italy?) in the Round of 16 and then either Group A winner (Norway?) or Group C runner-up (Japan?) in the quarterfinals. The U.S. could see Spain or Sweden in the semifinals.

The tournament, which opens on 20 July 2023, has been expanded from 24 teams to 32 for the first time ever and figures to be the most competitive yet. The American women have won a medal in all eight prior World Cups, winning in 1991-99-2015-19, runner-up in 2011 and third in 1995-2003-07.

5.
Our exclusive, 951-event international sports calendar
now posted!

The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue to cause chaos, including within the international sports calendar. But sport goes on, and as your guide, here’s our exclusive 951-event listing for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023 (as 20 October 2022), with a few of the larger events beyond to 2028.

Our updated International Sports Calendar focuses on sports and events on the Olympic and Winter Games program for 2024 and 2026, plus a few other meetings and multi-sports events..

Two calendars are included in the single PDF download: an 20-page listing in chronological order and a 21-page listing by sport (and in date order within each sport).

It’s free! Get your download right now here!

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Break Dancing ● Japan dominated the women’s competition at the World Breaking Championships in Seoul (KOR) with 2019 World Champion Yuasa Ami (“Ami”) winning a second title, this time over China’s Qing-Yi Liu (“B-Girl 671″). Defending champion Ayumi Fukushima (“Ayumi” – JPN) took the bronze.

Canada’s Philip Kim (“Phil Wizard”) defeated Japan’s Shigeyuki Nakarai (“Shigekix”) in the men’s championship final, 8-1, 3-6, 9-0 to win the gold. Defending champ Victor Montalvo (“Victor” – USA) won the bronze.

● Football ● The U.S. women’s U-17 team was eliminated by Nigeria in the quarterfinals of the FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup being held in India.

The American women had given up only one goal (vs. 13 scored) in group play, but Nigeria’s Omamuzo Edafe scored on a penalty kick in the 27th minute to go up, 1-0. The U.S. tied it in the 40th minute on a Amalia Villareal goal, but that was the end of the scoring in regulation. Nigeria won on penalty kicks, 4-3, and moves onto to the semis to face Colombia, a 3-0 winner over Tanzania.

Germany defeated Brazil, 2-0 in the lower half of the bracket and will play Spain in the semis, a 2-1 winner over Japan. The semis will be on 26 October and the medal matches on the 30th.

● Shooting ● The ISSF World Championships in Cairo (EGY) are headed into their final week, with the Chinese continuing a strong performance.

Veteran Ukrainian star Serhiy Kulish, the 2021 World Cup Final winner, took the men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions title with an impressive, 16-6, final performance over 2018 World Champion Tomasz Bartnik (POL). In the women’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions, 22-year-old newcomer Wanru Miao (CHN) won the gold, defeating Norway’s Tokyo Olympian Jenny Stene, 17-13, in the final.

Norway captured the men’s Team gold in the 50 m Rifle/3 Positions final, 16-12, over France. Germany took the women’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions Team event, scoring a 16-4 win over Switzerland.

Korea was brilliant in the Pistol events, with 2018 World Junior silver medalist Gun-hyeok Lee winning the men’s 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol final, 31-30, over France’s Clement Bessaguet, the seventh placer from Tokyo 2020.

Korea’s Jang-mi Kim, the 2012 London Olympic winner, defeated China’s Yan Chen and German’s 2018 Worlds bronze medalist, Doreen Vennekamp, 32-31-22, in the women’s 25 m Pistol final. Chen came back to get a gold in the women’s 25 m Pistol Team event, with China whitewashing India, 16-0, in the final.

In the non-Olympic 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol Mixed Team event, Ukraine defeated India, 16-14.

The shooting continues through the 27th.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Paris 2024 ● During a short presentation during the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in Seoul (KOR), the Paris 2024 organizers gave an update heavy on logistical issues and timelines.

Of general note, however, was that the organizing committees has now signed 25 commercial partners, and nine official supporters and has passed the 1,000 mark in total staff, with a little less than two years to go.

The next major announcement will be the Games mascots, in about two weeks.

● Russia ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) Council met in Soelden (AUT) on Saturday (22nd), with a clear decision on Russia and Belarus throughout the 2022-23 season:

“The FIS Council decided, with due regard to the integrity of FIS competitions and for the safety of all participants, and in line with IOC recommendations, to continue its policy to not allow Russian and Belarusian teams and athletes, to participate in all FIS competitions.”

● Alpine Skiing ● Saturday’s FIS World Cup season opener – the women’s Giant Slalom – on the Rettenbach Glacier in Soelden (AUT) … was canceled, due to rain and wet snow, resulting in a surface that was too soft for racing.

The surface hardened enough for Sunday’s men’s race, with Switzerland’s two-time Soelden champ and reigning World Cup champ, Marco Odermatt winning his third straight in 2:04.72, 0.76 ahead of Zan Kranjec (SLO) and 0.97 over Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR). It’s Odermatt’s 12th career World Cup win, with eight in Giant Slaloms. American Tommy Ford was seventh (2:05.88).

One of the most anticipated races of the new season, the across-two-countries men’s World Cup Downhill to start in Zermatt (SUI) and finish in Cervinia (ITA) was canceled due to a lack of snow and the resulting safety concerns.

Although the men’s 29-30 October races of what is called the “Matterhorn Cervino Speed Opening” were canceled, there is hope that the following week’s women’s event can be held. That decision is expected on Tuesday.

● Badminton ● China dominated the BWF World Tour Denmark Open, winning four of five finals, two of which were all-Chinese affairs. Yuqi Shi won the men’s title, and Bing Jiao He took the women’s crown. In the Doubles finals, China posted wins by Qing Chen Chen and Yifan Jia in the women’s division and Siwei Zhang and Yaqiong Huang in Mixed Doubles.

Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto scored a win over countrymen Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the men’s Doubles final.

● Curling ● No surprise that Team Edin – named for Swedish star Niklas Edin, skip of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Champions – won the Grand Slam of Curling men’s Tour Challenge, the second of six events this season. Team Edin out-scored Matt Dunstone (CAN) and his squad by 7-3 in the final in the strength of three points in the sixth end and three in the eighth. The surprise was that Edin was not with the squad and it was Oskar Ericsson who piloted the team to victory.

In the women’s final, the all-Canadian final had 2022 Worlds bronze medalist Kerri Einarson’s rink trying for a second straight win this season, against 2017 World Champion Rachel Homan. It was a 5-4 match through five ends, but Homan scored twice in the sixth end and once in the seventh to clinch an 8-4 victory. It’s Homan’s 12th career Grand Slam title.

● Diving ● A year after winning only two of the eight events on the FINA World Cup program, China rebounded strongly at the 2022 World Cup, held in Berlin (GER), winning eight of nine events, all except the Mixed Team Event … which they did not contest.

Tokyo silver medalist Zongyuan Wang (562.20) and Rio 2016 Olympic champ Yuan Cao (513.85) were 1-2 in the men’s 3 m Springboard; Tokyo silver medalist Jian Yang (537.70) and five-time Worlds medalist Hao Yang (472.20) went 1-2 on the 10 m Platform; Wang and Cao won the 3 m Synchronized title (442.68) and Junjie Lian and Yang won the 10 m Synchronized event (444.84). That’s four events and six medals.

World Championships bronze medalist Yani Chang (363.75) won the women’s 3 m Springboard, followed by teammate (and 2022 World Champion) Yiwen Chen (346.95); Tokyo silver medalist Yuxi Chen (449.85) and Tokyo winner Hongchan Quan (430.45) were 1-2 on the 10 m Platform; Chang and Yiwen Chen won the 3 m Synchro event (330.03) and Yuxi Chen and Quan won the 10 m Synchro gold (349.80). Four events and six medals for a total of 12 and the rest of the fields were really not competitive. Impressive, but not unexpected.

The U.S. had a good showing, with six medals overall. These included a bronze from Brandon Loschiavo in the men’s 10 m Platform, a silver from Tyler Downs and Greg Duncan in the men’s 3 m Synchro, a bronze for Nike Agunbiade in the women’s 10 m Platform, a bronze for Brooke Schultz and Kristen Hayden in the women’s 3m Synchro and a silver for Katrina Young and Agunbiade in the women’s 10 m Synchro.

The American team of Young, Hayden, Zach Cooper and Downs won the Mixed Team Event, 375.80-370.85, over Germany.

● Figure Skating ● The ISU Grand Prix season opener at Skate America was a coming-out party for the newest American star, 17-year-old Ilia Malinin, who won the men’s title convincingly at the Albright Performance Center in Norwood, Massachusetts.

Known as the “Quad God” for being the first to land the much-sought-after Quadruple Axel, Malinin stood fourth after the Short Program, but won the Free Skate by 16.06 points – even with a fall – to take the event at 280.37, with Kao Miura (JPN: 273.19) and Junhwan Cha (KOR: 264.05) following. Fellow American Liam Kapeikis was seventh (219.50). Said the winner:

“I felt great, it was a really good skate. I’m still in shock. I just know that I trusted my practice and it worked well. It was very important to forget what I did yesterday [Short Program] and just focus on the long.

“I was really well prepared going into the long. That gave me the confidence to try the quad Axel and I was able to pull it off. I was very happy with how I landed it. I just have to keep that same confidence with every competition I do.”

Japan’s 2022 World Champion Kaori Sakamoto only led American Isabeau Levito by 0.42 points going into the Free Skate, but emerged as a clear winner, 217.61-206.66, after the Free Skate, earning her third career Grand Prix victory. American Amber Glenn was third (197.61) and comebacking Sochi 2014 Team bronze medalist Gracie Gold was sixth overall at 174.09.

The U.S. scored wins in both Pairs and Ice Dance. The 2022 World Champions, Brandon Frazier and Alexa Knierim won both the Pairs Short Program and the Free Skate and scored 201.39 to edge Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (197.89). Americans Maria Mokhova and Ivan Mokhov were fourth (145.23) and Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez (143.55) were sixth.

Two-time Worlds bronze medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the Ice Dance over fellow Americans Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, overcoming a 3½-point deficit after the Rhythm Dance, 202.80-202.07. Americans Lorraine McNamara and Anton Spiridonov finished seventh (167.05).

The ISU Grand Prix moves on to the Toronto area for the Skate Canada International next week.

● Freestyle Skiing ● The Freestyle World season opened with Big Air events for men and women at Chur (SUI), with familiar stars at the top of the podium.

Norway’s Beijing 2022 Big Air gold medalist Birk Ruud took the men’s victory with a best-two-of-three scores total of 188.75 to best 19-year-old Noah Porter MacLennan (CAN: 180.00) and 18-year-old American Troy Podmilsak (179.75). It’s the first career medals for both Porter MacLennan and Podmilsak.

Beijing 2022 silver medalist and 2019 World Champion Tess Ledeux (FRA) won the women’s event, scoring 181.00 to 170.75 for Norway’s Sandra Eie and 170.00 for Swiss Mathilde Gremaud, the Beijing bronze medal winner an Slopestyle winner.

● Judo ● The IJF World Tour was in the UAE for the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, with Czech star – and two-time Olympic gold medalist – Lukas Krpalek winning the men’s +100 kg title.

Worlds 2021 bronze medalist Julia Figueroa won the women’s 48 kg class, and France’s Astride Gneto won her second World Tour tournament of the year, at 52 kg, as did Lucy Renshall (GBR) at 63 kg. China’s 2022 Worlds silver medalist Zhenzhao Ma won the women’s 78 kg division and teammate Xin Su won her first Grand Slam event at +78 kg.

● Snowboard ● Japan swept the FIS World Cup Big Air opener in Chur (SUI), with Takeru Otsuka and Ruki Tobita going 1-2 in the men’s final and Reira Iwabuchi taking the women’s gold.

Otsuka was dominant, scoring 166.50 to outdistance everyone, with Tobita second at 140.00. It’s Otsuka’s fifth career World Cup medal (third win), at age 21.

Iwabuchi, still just 20, won her eighth World Cup gold (seven in Big Air), to edge rival Anna Gasser, the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Champion. 180.75-164.75.

● Swimming ● The first of three FINA World Cups, all in short-course (25 m) pools, was held in Berlin over the weekend, with U.S. swimmers leading the medal table with 16.

However, the biggest individual winner was South African Matt Sates, who won the men’s 200-400 m Freestyles and the 200-400 m Medleys for four wins, plus a silver to Rio 2016 Olympic champ Kyle Chalmers (AUS) in the 100 m Free.

Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, the reigning World 25 m champ in the 100-200 m Freestyles, tripled in the 100-200-400 m Freestyles for three golds. Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter scored a triple in the men’s 50 m Free, 50 m Back and 50 m Fly. They were matched by Americans Beata Nelson, who took the 100-200 m Backstrokes and the 200 m Medley, and Nic Fink in the 50-100-200m Breaststroke events.

American Shaine Casas won the 100-200 m Back events and Tokyo medal winner Hali Flickinger took the women’s 400 m Medley for nine total U.S. golds during the three-day meet.

The other multi-event winners included Beryl Gastaldello (FRA) in the women’s 50 m Fly and 100 m Medley; South Africa’s four-time World Champion Chad le Clos in the men’s 100-200 m Fly, and Lithuanian star Ruta Meilutyte – the London 2012 100 m Breast gold medalist – who won the 100 m Breast on Saturday and then scared the world 25 m record in the 50 m Breast on Sunday, winning in 28.60, just 0.04 short of Jamaican Alia Atkinson’s 28.56 mark from 2018, and the no. 2 performance in history.

The FINA World Cup heads to Toronto next week and then to Indianapolis in two weeks, with an even stronger American cast expected.

Japan’s 2022 World Championships 200 m Fly bronze winner, Tomoru Honda (JPN) set a world record on the short-course (25 m pool) 200 m Fly at the Japan Nationals in Tokyo, timing 1:46.85. He crushed the prior record of 1:48.24, held by fellow Japanese star Daiyo Seto from 2018.

● Tennis ● Romanian star Simona Halep, winner of two Grand Slam titles, was provisionally suspended for the use of Roxadustat, an anti-amenia drug which boosts the production of red blood cells.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced that Halep, 31, had tested positive at the U.S. Open and if her positive test is confirmed, could be suspended for four years. On Friday, she posted on Twitter:

“Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth. I have been notified that I have tested positive for a substance called Roxadustat in an extremely low quantity, which came as the biggest shock of my life. …

“I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance and I have faith that sooner or later, the truth will come out.”

● Wrestling ● Another world title for new American star Amit Elor, 18, who won her third (!) World Championships gold in 2022 with a victory at 72 kg in the United World Wrestling U-23 World Championships at Pontevedra, Spain.

Elor had earlier won the UWW World Junior title in September, then took the World Championships gold in Belgrade, also at 72 kg and defeated two-time European U-23 champion Wiktoria Choluj (POL) last Friday by an 11-0 technical fall. He three matches were won by pin (5:31), pin (0:34) and a technical fall. Wow!

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here, and can donate here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 951-event International Sports Calendar for 2022-23 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

SPECIAL: Updated! Our revised, 951-event International Sports Calendar for 2022-23 now posted!

By
Rich Perelman
-

The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue to cause chaos, including in the international sports calendar. But sport goes on, and as your guide, here’s our exclusive 951-event listing for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023, with a few of the larger events beyond to 2028.

Our updated International Sports Calendar focuses on sports and events on the Olympic and Winter Games program for 2024 and 2026, plus a few other meetings and multi-sports events..

Please note: this listing will change, and some federations have still not posted their complete events list for 2023! However, this edition is a good place to start for following many of the events coming up in a very busy year ahead.

Two calendars are included in the single PDF download: an 20-page listing in chronological order and a 21-page listing by sport (and in date order within each sport).

It’s free! Get your download right now here!

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here, and can donate here to keep this site going.

TSX REPORT: IOC says 2030 Winter Games selection on for 2023, and Esports should not be medal events yet; USADA chief ready to forgive Armstrong

By
Rich Perelman
-
From the International Olympic Committee presentation to the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly

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

★ Want TheSportsExaminer.com insights for your team? Yes! Click here for info on speaking, research and consulting from editor Rich Perelman. ★

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. IOC still sees 2030 Winter Games selection in 2023
2. IOC says Esports games should not be medal events
3. USADA chief Tygart ready to forgive Lance Armstrong
4. FIFA rejects European TV bids for 2023 Women’s World Cup
5. L.A.’s 2016 bid legacy Ready, Set, Gold! expands 364% in two years

At the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in Seoul, Korea, a lengthy presentation by the International Olympic Committee confirmed that the plan to award the 2030 Winter Games to either Sapporo, Salt Lake City or Vancouver in 2023 is on track. The IOC also advised that it is not in favor of Esports events being included in multi-sport Games – such as the Pan American Games – as medal events; the 2023 Asian Games has scheduled eight medal events in Esports. In an interview with Germany’s SID, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency head Travis Tygart said the anti-doping situation in cycling is much improved, and since Lance Armstrong has confessed to doping, he could forgive him. FIFA rejected several offers from European broadcasters for rights to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, saying they were insufficient; FIFA is selling the rights to the Women’s World Cup on a stand-alone basis for the first time in many countries. Ready, Set, Gold!, a legacy program from the failed bid by Los Angeles for the U.S. candidate for the 2016 Olympic Games, has expanded greatly during the pandemic and its online program is now being used in 20 U.S. states and reached an unprecedented 40,500 students in the 2021-22 school term.

1.
IOC still sees 2030 Winter Games selection in 2023

The International Olympic Committee made a significant presentation during the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly, with IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper (BEL) explaining in detail the current status of bids for future Games:

“Thanks to the new approach to electing Olympic hosts, we have been able to build a strong community of interested parties, and we constantly have new potential hosts coming to the table as part of the continuous and open dialogue.

“Interested NOCs have told us they appreciate the reforms of this new approach, in particular, the fact that it helps them reduce costs, to emphasize the benefits for their communities and to keep their Games vision relevant, exciting and forward-thinking. …

“In respect of the summer Games, we are currently working with 10 NOCs and regions across four continents, without making any commitment and using minimal resources. Taking full advantage of the flexibility of the new approach, these projects are at very different stages, and are developing their missions according to their own regional or national timelines.

“The outlook for future Games, thanks to these reforms, is very positive.

“With regards to the Olympic Winter Games, the IOC is currently in continuous dialogue with three city-regions, with a declared interest for 2030, and their respective NOCs: British Columbia, Hokkaido-Sapporo and Salt Lake City, Utah.

“As part of this dialogue, the IOC is conducting a thorough feasibility assessment of each project, to inform the work of the Future Hosts Commission for the Olympic Winter Games. The Future Hosts Commission, chaired by IOC member Octavio Morariu [ROM] will meet in November to review the feasibility assessments, with a view to the opening of a targeted dialogue for the Olympic Winter Games 2030, to be in position to elect a host for 2030 at the 140th IOC Session, which is planned to be held in October 2023.”

The bids from Sapporo (host in 1972) and Salt Lake City (host in 2002) are considered to have a more complete project thus far than Vancouver (host in 2010). A selection of Sapporo would follow closely behind the Tokyo 2020 Games, while the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has stated its preference for the 2034 Winter Games, six years after the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games instead of two (and possibly in a better economic environment).

2.
IOC says Esports games should not be medal events

De Kepper also discussed with clarity the IOC’s view of Esports at present. While it is expanding cooperation with online gaming as standalone programs, the IOC declared its position that now is not the time for Esports as medal events:

“We support NOC continental associations in promoting virtual forms of sports, but there should be no medal events for these in multi-sports Games, as we will still need to ensure that all of the areas of athlete protection, anti-doping and integrity considerations and others need to be fully respected.

“Equally, any separate Esports championships or exhibitions need to strictly reflect the Olympic values, in the games selected and must also promote virtual and simulated sports, as we are doing through the Olympic Esports Series.

“Any non-sport titles should only be considered when they strictly respect our values and should not be included as medal events in your multi-sport Games.”

That’s clear enough, but it is also in direct conflict with, for example, the Asian Games, which in 2023 in Hangzhou (CHN), will have eight medal events and two demonstration events. The medal events will include competitions in Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Dream of the Three Kingdoms 2, FIFA, Hearthstone, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Street Fighter V.

Esports were also a demonstration program at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (ENG), but not part of the medal events.

De Kepper has outlined the IOC’s position; it will be fascinating to see how seriously it is taken.

3.
USADA chief Tygart ready to forgive Lance Armstrong

Travis Tygart, the intense head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, told the German sports-news service SID that disgraced American cycling star Lance Armstrong, stripped of seven Tour de France title due to doping, should be forgiven in view of his disclosure.

Tygart told SID that the situation in cycling has improved:

“Compared to back then, it’s a difference like day and night. We’re seeing a culture of clean sport returning to cycling,” although there are those in the sport today who would hardly agree with him.

Tygart also cited the improved vigilance of the Union Cycliste Internationale under its new leadership, compared to the early 2010s:

● “President David Lappartient [FRA] has recognized that clean sport is overrun by corrupt practices if it is not protected accordingly.”

● “They initially actively tried to prevent witnesses from cooperating with us and withheld important documents from us. We therefore felt it necessary to publish our evidence.”

The USADA famously pursued Armstrong for years and banned him from cycling in October 2012, a decision which was supported by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the UCI, which nullified his results from August 1998 on, including his seven straight Tour de France wins from 1999-2005. He made a confession of doping in a televised interview in January 2013, saying the stopped doping after 2005. (He rode in the 2009 Tour de France and finished third, and 23rd in 2010.)

In something of a surprise, Tygart told SID that Armstrong and other former dopers need not be persona non grata forever:

“Many of the riders at the time were victims of the system, and it is true that they were able to come back over time – also in another capacity. And we should also forgive Lance Armstrong after his confession.”

4.
FIFA rejects European TV bids for 2023 Women’s World Cup

“This is not a case of being priced out, but rather testament to a lack of willingness of broadcasters to pay what the women’s game deserves.”

That’s Italian Romy Gai, FIFA’s Chief Business Officer, telling Bloomberg that the federation rejected television rights offers for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup from broadcasters in France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy, and expects to do so in Spain.

Gai points out that the 2019 Women’s World Cup – held in France – attracted 1.12 billion viewers – on all platforms – for the Netherlands-U.S. final.

“Audience figures show that the Women’s World Cup 2019 in France was a catalyst for change in terms of TV audience.

“We know the opportunity for women’s football is there. Now, together, we need to capture it.”

However, the time zone difference between a European-hosted Women’s World Cup and one in Australia and New Zealand is severe; Sydney is nine hours ahead of Paris, so an evening match would end up in the late morning in Europe.

Gai, however, points out that rights fees for the FIFA Women’s World Cup have been 2% of those for the FIFA World Cup for men, where the viewership is about 20%. Bloomberg’s story noted that FIFA’s reports showed about $3 billion in broadcast revenue for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia vs. $300 million for the 2019 women’s event in France.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup rights for the U.S. have already been acquired by FOX Sports and Telemundo.

The draw for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup comes Saturday (22nd) in Auckland (NZL), with the U.S. going in as the no. 1-ranked team in the world.

5.
L.A.’s 2016 bid legacy Ready, Set, Gold!
expands 364% in two years

In 2007, the Los Angeles bid to be the U.S. candidate for the 2016 Olympic Games failed, when the U.S. Olympic Committee selected Chicago. But out of that bid came a remarkable new program called Ready, Set, Gold! that placed Olympic and Paralympic athletes with schools to teach Olympic values.

More than 15 years later, the RSG! program – as it is locally known – has not only survived the Covid-19 pandemic, but has thrived and due to the pandemic, has gone national.

The program, originated by the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, was originally based on in-person visits to Los Angeles-area schools by an Olympian or Paralympian multiple times during an academic year. By relating their own experiences of success and failure, the athlete’s story could become a launch point for the students to believe in themselves and their future.

Before the pandemic, RSG! reached about 12,000 students a year through 29 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. That shrunk to 8,725 in 2020 as school lockdowns came on and just 4,500 at 18 schools in 2021-22.

But the pandemic created the need for online programming, which has become a stunning success. While the in-person program in 2021-22 – aimed at grades 5-9 – reached 18 schools across four school districts in Southern California, the online project featuring stars like Tokyo beach volleyball gold medalist April Ross and Mexican tennis Olympian Giuliana Olmos – a Women’s Doubles quarterfinalist at the 2022 U.S. Open – has reached 36,000 students in 20 states, as far away as New York, Virginia and Florida. Sponsorship by The Foundation for Global Sports Development and Sidewinder Films was the key to creating this project.

The 2022-23 RSG! in-person program will bring Paralympians into seven Special Education centers in Southern California through a partnership with UCLA Health, further expanding its reach. And with in-person education finally returning in California, the projection for the new school year is for 32 schools to be involved, reaching more than 8,000 students.

The roster of 44 Olympians and Paralympians include recognizable stars like boxing gold medalist Henry Tillman (1984), Pairs world champion skater Tai Babilonia (1979), five-time Paralympic medalist Rudy Garcia-Tolson (2004-20: swimming), two-time Olympic hurdles medalist Mark Crear (1996-2000), 2015 World 10 km Open Water gold winner and Rio and Tokyo Olympian Jordan Wilimovsky, and many more.

It’s a remarkable legacy of any bid, let alone a failed one, and has the potential to expand even further.

≡ CALENDAR ≡

● Alpine Skiing ● It’s a little hard to believe, but the 2022-23 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup opens this weekend with Giant Slalom racing for men and women on Saturday and Sunday.

The site will be, as usual, the Rettenbach Glacier at Soelden (AUT), with Swiss star Marco Odermatt the men’s defending champion in the race and the reigning World Cup overall champion.

American Mikaela Shiffrin won her second Soelden title in 2021 and won her fourth overall World Cup title. Still just 27, Shiffrin owns 74 World Cup wins, no. 3 all-time, trailing only Ingemar Stenmark (SWE: 86 from 1973-89) and fellow American Lindsey Vonn (82 from 2001-19).

The FIS Snowboard World Cup season will open with a Big Air event in Chur (SUI). Canada’s Max Parrot and New Zealand star Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won the only Big Air events held last season. Both ended up winning Olympic medals in the event, with Parrot taking bronze and Sadowski-Synnott a silver.

● Swimming ● The three-stage FINA World Cup begins in Berlin (GER) on Friday, with the final two legs in North America, in Toronto and Indianapolis.

The three-day Europa-Sportpark meet includes some excellent fields, swimming in a 25 m (short course) pool, in advance of December’s 25 m Worlds in Melbourne. Among the entries are Rio 2016 men’s 100 m Free champ Kyle Chalmers (AUS), men’s 2022 World 100 m Back champ Thomas Ceccon (ITA), London 2012 men’s Olympic 50 m Free winner Florent Manaudou (FRA), Olympic men’s 10 km Open Water winner Florian Wellbrock (GER), with women’s stars including 50 m Back World Champion Kylie Masse (CAN), double Olympic Freestyle silver medalist Siobhan Haughey (HKG), London 2012 100 m Breast winner Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) and a lot more.

Americans stars confirmed for the entire series include Shaine Casas, the 2021 World 25 m Champion winner in the 100 m Breast; veteran Tom Shields, a 17-time World 25 m Champs medal winner; Nic Fink, the 2022 50 m Breast World Champion; Hali Flickinger, the Tokyo 200 m Butterfly bronze medalist, and others.

The FINA Diving World Cup is also underway in Berlin, continuing through Sunday.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games ● Also during the ANOC General Assembly was a short presentation by IOC Member Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), who is the head of the new Games Optimisation Working Group. She shared the immediate goals of the group, primarily looking ahead to Paris 2024 and Milan Cortina 2026:

“One of the goals we have is to ensure we have full stadia; that is our ultimate goal. How are we going to achieve that? Well, we believe we need to have a little bit more visibility on where our stakeholders will be prior to the event. This will not only allow us to sell tickets more effectively and efficiently but it will also allow us to provide better service levels to all of our stakeholders.

“We then spoke about transport. Transport was focused on being effective and sustainable, and making the best use of existing infrastructure. We want to focus on breaking the system down to ensure, at the end of the day, you have the effective means to get to where you want to go in the time that you have.”

As if getting the National Olympic Committee executives present ready for some significant changes to come, she closed with:

“The Games of the future may look different, but if we collectively work together, we will ensure that we remain relevant, positive and successful.”

● Olympic Winter Games 2022: Beijing ● The IOC announced that the estimated global television audience for the 2022 Winter Games was 2.01 billion unique viewers, up five percent from the 2018 Winter Games in Korea.

The rights-holding broadcasters showed a Winter Games record 120,670 hours of coverage on broadcast and digital platforms, with the average viewer watching about 5.9 hours of the Games, up 12% from 2018. Television still dominates, with 92% of all viewers watching the Games on TV, with only 8% watching on digital devices only.

● Paralympic Games 2024: Paris ● The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paralympic Games – slated for 28 August – will be held in the center of Paris, along the Champs-Elysees and at the historic Place de la Concorde at its eastern end.

It’s the first Paralympic opening not to be held in a stadium and the plan is for 30,000 spectators to watch for free along the Champs-Elysees and then 35,000 in temporary (ticketed) stands in the plaza.

● Association of National Olympic Committees ● Fiji’s Robin Mitchell was elected as ANOC President, running unopposed. Qatar’s Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani was elected as senior Vice President, also running unopposed.

● Russia ● The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov said on a social media post that the ROC has been meeting with other National Olympic Committee officials during the ANOC General Assembly and will sign coaching and education support agreements with Mali, Peru and South Africa:

“It can be firmly said that the Russian Olympic Committee is expanding the circle of partners and friends. And just today we held meetings with the NOCs of several countries, including the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia and Peru.”

As for the sanctions against Russian athletes, underscored by IOC chief Thomas Bach in the keynote address in Seoul, Pozdnyakov sees it differently:

“[W]e are grateful for the support of everyone who publicly speaks out for the lifting of sanctions against our athletes. And this opinion is getting louder.”

Anastasia Davydova, 39, the five-time Olympic gold medalist in artistic swimming and former Secretary General of the Russian Olympic Committee, left the country at the end of September with no plan to return.

However, she recently told the Russian artistic swimming federation that she does not plan to give up her citizenship. According to federation Executive Secretary Valentina Nemogaeva:

“I don’t know the reasons for her departure from the country. The only question I asked was whether they are renouncing Russian citizenship? She wrote to me that she does not renounce her citizenship. And that this does not mean that they left forever.”

● Athletics ● More Kenyan doping positives, as the Athletics Integrity Unit announced a three-year ban on Marius Kipserem, 34, the two-time winner of the Rotterdam Marathon, with a best of 2:04:04 from 2021, for use of the prohibited hormone Erythropoietin (EPO). His ban runs from 22 September 2022.

Two more provisional suspensions were announced, of Ibrahim Mukunga Wachira (1:09:55 half marathon ‘21) and Kenneth Kiprop Renju, the 2022 Kenyan 10,000 m national champion and a 58:35 half-marathoner, both for steroid use.

Just in the month of October, the AIU has so far posted suspensions of six Kenyan runners!

● Cycling ● The UCI announced that 49 riders will contest the 2022 women’s national road championships of Afghanistan, which will take place on Sunday (23rd) in Aigle, Switzerland.

Given the situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban government continues to restrict women’s sports, the UCI is organizing the event with the Afghan federation, the Tour de Pays de Vaud and the Commune of Aigle, to start and finish at the UCI World Cycling Centre, with two laps of 28.5 km route (57 km total).

Afghan women now living in Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada and Singapore have entered. The UCI said that it, working with other partners, was able to get 165 Afghans out of the country and re-settled.

● Football ● Swiss federal prosecutors filed an appeal against the dismissal of corruption charges against former FIFA President Sepp Blatter (SUI) and UEFA President Michel Platini (FRA).

This was a major case in the football world, at the end of a seven-year inquiry. The prosecutors contended that a 2011 payment, arranged by Blatter and paid by FIFA, to Platini of CHF 2.0 million (about $1.99 million U.S.) for “consulting services” was fraudulent, but judges at the Swiss Criminal Court said last July they saw no wrongdoing in the arrangement.

Prosecutors have asked that the verdict “be set aside in its entirety.”

● Sport Climbing ● The Associated Press reported that the head of the Iranian National Olympic Committee said climber Elnaz Rekabi will not face any disciplinary measures since her failure to hear a headscarf was “unintentional.”

“It’s a small issue. I’m surprised that it is being talked about so much,” said Iranian Olympic Committee President Mahmoud Khosravi Vafa, on the sidelines of the ANOC General Assembly in Seoul.

● Swimming ● USA Swimming announced its team for the 2022 FINA World 25 m (Short Course) Championships to be held from 13-18 December in Melbourne.

The roster shows 15 men and 16 women, including defending Short Course individual champions Shaine Casas (men’s 100 m Back), Nic Fink (men’s 50-200 m Breast) and Rhyan White (women’s 200 m Back).

Familiar Olympic stars such as Ryan Murphy (four Backstroke golds), Lilly King (two Olympic Breast golds in Rio, three Tokyo medals), Michael Andrew (Tokyo relay gold), Hali Flickinger (two Tokyo bronzes), Torri Huske (Tokyo relay silver) and several more are on the team.

Andrew is entered in five individual events and Casas in four; sprinter Claire Curzan has the heaviest women’s workload with five events.

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TSX REPORT: IOC’s Bach insists sanctions continue on Russia and Belarus; 45,000 volunteers for Paris 2024; Seoul wants the 2036 Olympic Games

By
Rich Perelman
-
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) speaking to the ANOC General Assembly (Photo: IOC/Greg Martin).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Bach urges continuation of sanctions vs. Russia and Belarus
2. Paris 2024 projects 45,000 volunteers for Olympics & Paralympics
3. Korea leaks start of bid effort for the 2036 Olympic Games
4. Koreans furious over Asian Cup 2023 loss to Qatar
5. “Diana is completely guilty. I am sorry.”

In his keynote address to the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in Seoul, Korea, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) asserted that unity is the key to survival for international sport, and that means no changes in the IOC’s requested ban on Russian and Belarusian athlete participation in international events. The Paris 2024 organizing committee announced its staffing plan, to use a remarkably sane 30,000 volunteers for the Olympic Games and another 15,000 for the Paralympics, for a total of 45,000; applications will open next March. With the ANOC General Assembly in Seoul, it was leaked that the Korean Olympic Committee will begin efforts to attract the 2036 Olympic Games back to the country, which hosted the Games in 1988 and the Winter Games in 2018. A Korean bid to get the 2023 Asian Cup football championship lost to Qatar and the Korean Football Association railed against an “aggressive attempt to grab control of Asian football” by well-funded Middle Eastern countries. The former agent for now-suspended-for-doping Diana Kipyokei, the Kenyan winner of the women’s Boston Marathon in 2021 told LetsRun.com that “Diana is completely guilty.”

1.
Bach urges continuation of sanctions vs. Russia and Belarus

“I regret that I have to begin by addressing the position of the Olympic Movement with regards to the war in Ukraine.”

That was the start of a lengthy address by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) to the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly, meeting in Seoul (KOR) on Wednesday, in which he insisted that sanctions be continued against Russia and Belarus.

“[T]he situation is unique because of the consequences this war has for the sports world: Some governments are interfering in your autonomy. Some governments are interfering in the autonomy of world sport and with this jeopardising the integrity of international sport competitions. …

“We sanctioned the Russian and Belarusian governments by recommending that the International Federation do not organise any international sport events in Russia or Belarus. We recommended furthermore that no national symbols whatsoever of these countries should be displayed at any sport events.

“By recently annexing Ukrainian territory, the Russian government has even deepened its violation of the Olympic Charter.

“This annexation means that the Russian government is claiming authority over the people living in the annexed areas, including athletes. This is a clear violation of the jurisdiction of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, which is protected by the Olympic Charter.

“All this means for us: the sanctions against the Russian and Belarusian states and governments must and will remain firmly in place.”

But he also made his continuing case to hold athletes blameless:

“On the other hand we had to ensure the integrity of international sport competitions and protect our autonomy by taking protective measures. Therefore we recommended as a principle not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to take part in international competitions.

“We needed to do so, because we had to realise that some governments were starting to interfere in the responsibility of sports organisations. We had to react because the autonomy of sport and the functioning of the international sports system is at stake. Governments were and are undermining our autonomy by deciding who would be allowed to participate in international competitions – and who not.

“Some of you here are experiencing this interference first-hand: governments not issuing visas to Russian and Belarusian athletes.

“Some governments threatening your athletes to withdraw funding if they were to compete against Russian or Belarusian competitors.

“Some prohibiting athletes from participating in such competitions.

“Some governments pressuring your athletes and you through public opinion.

“This is why we had to take these protective measures. We did so with a very heavy heart – because they concern athletes and sports officials who did not start this war, who are not responsible for this war. Athletes should never be the victims of policies of their own government. …

“We had to protect the international sports system from the full politicisation of sport. Because: today it is Russia and Belarus. But if we let politics take over sport then tomorrow it will be you.”

He trashed the idea that the sanctions are a politicization of sport itself and declared:

“The reasons for the sanctions as well as for the protective measures still exist: this is not the time to change any of our sanctions or protective measures. …

“Keep following the sanctions and protective measures. Do not do less, because doing less means you divide the Olympic Movement. Do not do more, because doing more means you divide the Olympic Movement.”

And he also chided those who have asked for Russian and Belarusian sports officials to be sanctioned as well:

“This war has not been started by the Russian people, the Russian athletes, the Russian Olympic Committee or the IOC Members in Russia. Sanctions can and must only be imposed on those who are responsible for something.

“Imagine where the precedence of such a breach of the rule of law would lead to. Every individual, every athlete, every sports official, every sports organisation would have to be punished for any illegitimate political action of their governments.”

While reminding the delegates of the IOC’s impressive financial stability, he also warned against an uncertain future:

“Therefore each one of you has to be prudent. It is in your own interest to now look into all your actions and now set clear priorities. Review now all your planned activities and decide whether every event, every competition, every meeting is really necessary given the precarious situation the world economy is and will be facing.”

He also reminded the assembly of the IOC’s primary goals as regards the Olympic Games, to be illustrated by Paris 2024:

“The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will mark the beginning of a new era: Olympic Games inspired by and aligned with Olympic Agenda from start to finish.

“They will be more inclusive, more youthful, more urban, more sustainable and the very first with full gender parity.”

The heads of the Russian and Belarusian National Olympic Committees were allowed to be seated in Seoul by ANOC, and a letter from 11 NOCs contesting their attendance was cordially received and dismissed.

2.
Paris 2024 projects 45,000 volunteers for Olympics & Paralympics

The Paris 2024 organizers unveiled their volunteer program for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with 45,000 staff expected to be used in all,

About 30,000 are projected to be needed for the Olympic Games and another 15,000 for the Paralympics, with recruitment to begin with an online questionnaire, in March of 2023. The requirements are simple enough:

● You must be at least 18 years old as of 1 January 2024;

● Speak English or French;

● Be available during the entire duration of either the Olympic or Paralympic Games and commit to 10 days of work;

● The application portal opens in March 2023 and applicants will be informed of their status beginning in September of 2023.

The volunteer application brochure also characterized the roles that volunteers will play:

● 60% are in “Games experience” roles: greeting, directing, answering questions, driving cars or minibuses or assisting medical staff.

● 35% are in sports performance roles, such as competition assistance, scoring and statistics or doping or medical controls;

● 5% are in accreditation, logistics and technical support roles.

All volunteers will be required to agree to the Olympic and Paralympic Games Volunteer Charter, which “sets out the rights, duties, guarantees, conditions for appeal, role categories and conditions of performance applicable to volunteers.” However, the Charter is not provided in the introductory materials.

Some volunteers could also be asked to assist during Paris 2024 test events. Paris 2024 has further committed to a minimum of 3,000 volunteers with disabilities.

Decathlon, the French sporting goods giant – it has stores in 60 countries – will provide help centers at about 50 stories in France beginning next March, to assist applicants with the volunteer process. They won’t be too upset if someone buys some Paris 2024 merchandise, of course.

Observed: The 45,000 volunteer total for Paris 2024 reflects some careful planning. The Tokyo Games had planned for 80,000 volunteers and ended up with about 70,000 after the postponement, many more than was needed for a closed Games. The Paris organizers were not tempted into a propaganda strike by trying to create an inflated number of staff for 2024 and the 45,000 number for both Games seems quite reasonable.

Busy volunteers are happy volunteers.

Veteran organizers have long heard the truism, “it takes money to use volunteers” and the cost of background checks, meals, transport and logistical support is not to be ignored, especially with a tight budget. The originator of the volunteer concept, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the 1984 Games, had 33,500 volunteers, a few more than Paris is projecting for its Olympic Games, but with 32 sports, compared to 23 in L.A. That speaks well to the efficiency, at least in planning, of the Paris organizers. 

3.
Korea leaks start of bid effort for the 2036 Olympic Games

With much of the Olympic world attending the ANOC General Assembly in Seoul this week, it was the perfect time for a media leak about a 2036 Olympic bid for Korea in advance of a formal announcement next week in Lausanne.

Korea famously hosted the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, with IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP) working furiously to undercut a possible second consecutive Warsaw Pact boycott of the Games. In the end, Cuba, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, North Korea and a couple of others didn’t come, but a record 159 nations did and the event was considered a success.

The Koreans also successfully hosted the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, even under a possible attack by North Korea, which happily never came. And the Koreans will host the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon.

The newest Korean bid, according to local reports, is supported by 72.8% of Seoul residents in a recent poll.

According to GamesBids.com, many of the 1988 facilities will be used and updated:

“By using university sports properties and private sector investment the Games budget has been estimated at about 5.5 trillion won (USD $3.86 billion) with the largest cost being the Athletes Village which would be subsequently sold.”

Korean site Donga.com noted that city planners believe that with sites outside of Seoul to host nine sports, only two sports facilities (plus the Village) need to be built for a 2036 Games.

The polling data showed respondents expected economic benefits from foreign visitors, improved sports facilities and that Korea’s profile would be enhanced, but also included concerns over costs, the legacy of the new and revamped facilities and traffic.

4.
Koreans furious over Asian Cup 2023 loss to Qatar

A very sound bid from South Korea for the 2023 Asian Cup was passed by as the Asian Football Confederation awarded the event to FIFA World Cup host Qatar on Monday, which will delay the event to January of 2024 for cooler weather.

Korea had not hosted the event since 1960, where Qatar has been host in 1988 and 2011 and the UAE had hosted in 1996 and 2019. After the award to Qatar for 2023 (2024), the Korean Football Association made its view known:

“Even though we are a powerhouse in Asian football, we haven’t had the Asian Cup for 63 years, and we felt that it was a logical thing to bring the Asian Cup to East Asia to ensure more regional balance.

“We thought we had put together a strong bid, based on stadiums, transportation, accommodations and our people’s passion for the sport. But we had a tough battle against Qatar, with their abundant financial, human and material resources. …

“We believe Middle Eastern countries’ aggressive attempt to grab control of Asian football has influenced this decision. Saudi Arabia, which hopes to hold the 2027 Asian Cup, also pledged financial support for the AFC if a Middle Eastern nation won the right to host the 2023 tournament.”

The Korean Yonhap News Agency further reported:

“The KFA noted Qatar had pledged substantial financial backing for the AFC, which has been dealing with some difficulties in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, by way of corporate sponsorship and broadcasting rights fees. Qatar’s plan to use new stadiums built for the 2022 World Cup for the Asian tournament also worked in the country’s favor, the KFA said.”

5.
“Diana is completely guilty. I am sorry”

Stunning reporting by Jonathan Gault of LetsRun.com, with an interview with Italian Gianni Demadonna, the former agent for Kenyan distance runners Diana Kipyokei – the 2021 Boston Marathon winner (for now) – and Betty Wilson Lempus, both of whom were provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for doping, last Friday.

Demadonna said he was not involved in the doping efforts of either athletes and continued with some pretty frank comments:

“We establish a policy: they have to tell us every time they take a medicine. If they don’t tell us, they are guilty. What can I do? I cannot stay with the athletes. I cannot live with them…After 30 years, I am working this business and nobody can say to me you are not correct or you are doing things that are not correct. I can defend myself always without any problem. I am so, so sad about this situation that spoiled my name and spoiled the name of [clean] athletes that are doing their own training – not with something else. …

“I don’t know if she’s afraid of consequences. But as far as we understood, she was trying to cheat us…She gave us some stories, and we said, sorry, but you changed three times the name of the doctor. …

“Diana is completely guilty. I am sorry. She has done something very bad.”

He has discontinued his representation of both athletes, but also noted that the incentive is more than to simple cheat: it’s to win. He noted that the difference between the winner’s purse at Boston in 2021 and 10th place was $150,000 vs. $5,500, “so it’s true that with one race you can change your life.”

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Football ● The quarterfinals are set at the 2022 FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup in India, with Colombia winning Group C and Japan finished 3-0 in Group D.

In the elimination round on Saturday, Colombia (2-1-0) will play Tanzania (1-1-1) and Japan (3-0) will face Spain (2-1-0). The U.S. (2-0-1), winner of Group A, will play Nigeria (2-1), and Germany (3-0) will play Brazil (2-0-1), on Friday. The semis are on the 26th.

● Shooting ● China is dominating the ISSF World Championships in Rifle and Pistol being held in Cairo (EGY), with 20 golds and 43 total medals so far in senior and junior competitions.

In the senior 25 m Pistol, an Olympic event for women, Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Jiaruixuan Xiao moved up to the top of the podium, with a 575-573 victory over India’s Rhythm Sangwan, with fellow Chinese star Yan Chen (572) third.

The men’s 25 m Pistol is not an Olympic event, but Rio 2016 men’s Rapid-Fire Pistol gold medalist Christian Reitz (GER) won his third career World Championships silver in the men’s final, won by Ukraine’s Pavlo Korostylov, 582-575.

Reitz came back to score a gold in the 25 m Standard Pistol Mixed Team event with Doreen Vannekamp – the 2018 Worlds bronze winner – with a 17-5 win over Korea.

In other non-Olympic events, Serbia’s Damir Mikec outscored China’s Bowen Zhang for the men’s 50 m Pistol gold, with China’s Ranxin Jiang defeated Austria’s Sylvia Steiner, 550-543 for the women’s title.

Swiss Jan Lochenbihler won the 50 m Rifle/Prone title by 631.0 to 630.6 over China’s Yukun Liu, and the U.S. duo of Sagen Maddalena and Ivan Roe won the 50 m Rifle/Prone Mixed Team gold by 16-8 over Ukraine.

Competition continues through the 27th.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Association of National Olympic Committees ● The ANOC General Assembly program in Seoul also included the ANOC Awards, given for the best performances at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games:

● Best Male Athlete of Beijing 2022: Dae-heon Hwang (KOR), gold medalist in the men’s Short Track 1,500 m, and men’s 5,000 m relay silver medalist.

● Best Female Athlete of Beijing 2022: Eileen Gu (CHN), gold medalist in the Freestyle Skiing Big Air and Halfpipe and silver medalist in Slopestyle.

● Best Male Team of Beijing 2022: Sweden Men’s Curling Team (represented by Daniel Wilhelm Magnusson).

● Best Female Team of Beijing 2022: Canada’s Women’s Ice Hockey Team (represented by Ann-Renee Desbiens).

● Best Mixed Team of Beijing 2022: Nick Baumgartner and Lindsay Jacobellis (USA), gold medalists in the Snowboard Mixed Team Cross.

● Outstanding Athletic Career: Sven Kramer (NED), nine-time Winter Olympic medal winner in speed skating, with victories in 2010 (5,000 m), 2014 (5,000 m, Team Pursuit) and 2018 (5,000 m), plus two silvers and three bronzes in five Winter Olympic appearances.

Other awards were given to the Chinese Olympic Committee for its contribution to the Winter Games and to Craig Reedie (GBR) for his contribution to the Olympic Movement as the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

● 2020 Olympic Games: Tokyo ● New charges surfaced in the Tokyo 2020 sponsorship bribery scandal, as the ADK Holdings advertising agency saw its president arrested for monies transferred to then-Tokyo 2020 Executive Committee member Haruyuki Takahashi.

ADK President Shinichi Ueno, 68, and two other ADK staff members were detained on charges that the agency paid Takahashi ¥47 million (~$313,683 U.S.) for his influence to get a sponsor to select the agency as its marketing agent.

ADK is the fifth entity accused of paying bribes to Takahashi, a former senior director of ad giant Dentsu and a key marketing advisor for the Tokyo organizers. The so-far-disclosed total of the bribes paid has passed ¥196 million or about $1.31 million U.S.

● Curling ● USA Curling chief executive Jeff Plush joined the organization in 2020, after serving as the Commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League from 2015-17. Having been mentioned unfavorably in the U.S. Soccer Federation-commissioned report by former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates for a lack of response in the widespread NWSL abuse scandal, elements of the U.S. curling federation are now questioning his continued service.

The USA Curling Board of Directors reviewed the Yates Report and did its own inquiry on Plush’s involvement, issuing a statement of support, stating it “is confident in Jeff’s ability to continue as an effective leader of the organization.”

Eight of the 12 members (and three former members) of the federation’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force feel Plush should be removed. The Athletes Advisory Council is withholding comment until an ongoing investigation by the NWSL Players Association is completed.

● Football ● “Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang … we will demolish it and rebuild according to FIFA standards.”

That was Indonesian President Joko Widodo after a meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) in the aftermath of the stampede at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang (INA) on 1 October. The incident, following a league football match, saw at least 132 die, with 96 seriously injured, and 484 with lesser injuries.

A government report noted multiple errors that contributed to the deadly situation, including more spectators than the facility could hold, locked exit doors, the holding of the match at night instead of in daylight (as requested by police) and the indiscriminate use of tear gas.

Indonesia is to host the 2023 FIFA men’s U-20 World Cup next May, an event that will draw considerably less interest than the rivalry match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya, where the tragedy occurred.

● Gymnastics ● The Netherlands became the seventh national gymnastics federation to remove itself from the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique Congress in Istanbul (TUR) over the presence of Russian and Belarusian officials. Dutch Gymnastics Federation President Monique Kempff wrote:

“We support the position of European gymnastics, which has unanimously refused to communicate with the Russian and Belarusian gymnastics federations as the brutal, genocidal Russian war in Ukraine continues. As long as Russia continues this war, it is impossible to involve Russian athletes and officials in international sports. We hope that this war will end as soon as possible and that we can all be part of the Olympic Community in peace.”

● Sport Climbing ● The protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, on 16 September, while in police custody after being arrested for “allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely,” have now become an issue in Sport Climbing.

Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi, 33, competed at the Asian Climbing Championships in Seoul (KOR) on 16 October and did not wear the headscarf (hijab) required by Iranian law. An AIPS report noted:

“By deciding not to compete wearing a headscarf, an obligation since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Rekabi made a strong statement in defiance of the restrictions for female athletes in her country, but now could face prosecution if she chooses to return to Iran.”

On Tuesday, a statement from Rekabi on her Instagram page included, “I must comment on the sensitivities that happened during the Asian Championships finals held in Seoul; due to improper timing and an unpredictable call for me to climb the wall, I unintentionally had a problem with my headcover.”

The International Federation of Sport Climbing posted a statement on Tuesday:

“The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is fully aware of the news regarding Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi.

“There is a lot of information in the public sphere regarding Ms Rekabi and as an organisation we have been trying to establish the facts. We have also been in contact with Ms Rekabi and the Iranian Climbing Federation.

“Our understanding is that she is returning to Iran, and we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops on her arrival.

“It is important to stress that athletes’ safety is paramount for us and we support any efforts to keep a valued member of our community safe in this situation.”

A Wednesday IFSC statement confirmed that Rekabi had returned home to Iran and was with her family, including:

“A joint meeting took place in Seoul, South Korea, today, between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IFSC, and the Iranian National Olympic Committee, during which the IOC and the IFSC received clear assurance that Ms Rekabi will not suffer any consequences and will continue to train and compete. After the meeting, a phone conversation also took place between her, the IOC, the IFSC, and the Iranian National Olympic Committee.

“The IFSC, in close coordination with the IOC, the Iranian National Olympic Committee, and the IMSCF, will continue monitoring the situation and will wait for her to return to the IFSC circuit of events at the beginning of the 2023 season.”

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TSX REPORT: Long’s Berlin ‘36 Olympic silver sells for $488,435; Qatar ready for 2022, gets major 2023 event; Takahashi to be arrested for fourth time!

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Berlin 1936 victory ceremony for the men's long jump (1-r): Japan's Naoto Tajima, winner Jesse Owens (USA) and German silver medalist Luz Long (Photo: Bundesarchiv via Wikipedia)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Luz Long’s Berlin long jump silver sells for $488,435
2. Qatar 2022 ready to go with a month remaining; ‘23 Asian Cup to Qatar
3. Takahashi to be arrested for fourth time on bribery charges
4. Modern Pentathlon federation and athlete group talking … sort of
5. Mauritius swimmer suspended for three years for “disrespectful words”

The silver medal won by German Luz Long at the 1936 Berlin Olympic long jump, behind American star Jesse Owens, sold at auction for $488,435 over the weekend, along with 31 other items that belonged to Long. FIFA and the Qatar World Cup organizers said they are ready to go with a month remaining, with Qatar awarded the Asian Cup for 2023 (to be held in January 2024). Former Tokyo 2020 Executive Committee member Haruyuki Takahashi will be arrested for a fourth time on bribery suspicions related to sponsor selection for the Tokyo Games. The international federation for modern pentathlon and the athlete group Pentathlon United are communicating – at least – and appear to be ready to meet to discuss their differences; the future of their sport on the Olympic program for 2028 depends on it. An 18-time national record setter for Mauritius was suspended for three years for “gross misconduct” at last summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. He can’t believe it.

1.
Luz Long’s Berlin long jump silver sells for $488,435

The hammer came down on Saturday (15th) on a remarkable piece of Olympic memorabilia: German Luz Long’s Olympic silver medal in the Berlin 1936 Olympic long jump, where he finished second to American icon (and friend) Jesse Owens.

SCP Auctions offered a trove of Long items, but the centerpiece was his Olympic silver. The opening bid was $50,000 and the item was expected to go for between $500,000-1,000,000 and very nearly got there. Owens’ 1936 long jump gold sold for $1,466,574 in 2013.

All 32 of the items in the Long archive sold; beyond the Berlin silver, the highest-prices sales went for (including the buyer’s premium):

● $6,684 for Long’s Berlin 1936 identification card;

● $4,147 for Long’s Berlin 1936 participant’s badge (and ribbon);

● $3,691 for the 1936 German national long jump championships gold medal;

● $2,339 for Long’s German passport for 1935-40;

● $2,185 for a set of six Berlin 1936 photos of Long and Owens.

Long’s 1938 European Championships third-place medal and participant’s medal sold for a $600. Seven of the items went for the minimum bid prices, but for all 32 to sell was impressive.

2.
Qatar 2022 ready to go with a month remaining;
‘23 Asian Cup to Qatar

The FIFA World Cup organizers in Qatar are busy and will remain busy after the tournament ends on 18 December with a major new tournament coming in 2024. But at a news conference on Monday, FIFA and the organizing committee said they are ready. Per FIFA’s Chief Operating Officer/World Cup, Colin Smith (GBR):

“We operate over 168 official sites through the compact nature of Qatar, and each one of these sites is essential to the running and successful delivery of this World Cup. Way beyond testing the eight stadiums, the volunteers and accreditation centres are now fully operational, with the ticketing centre at the [Doha Exhibition and Convention Center] opening tomorrow and the [International Broadcast Center] and Main Media Centre to follow.

“I can only reiterate FIFA’s confidence and deep appreciation for all the work behind delivering the best FIFA World Cup ever in just over one month’s time.”

Ticket sales have reached 2.89 million and accommodations are still being added for visitors. The strong ticket demand has been from Qatar, the U.S.,, Saudi Arabia, England, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, France, Brazil, and Germany. Sales of hospitality packages have reached a record 240,000, with 63% purchased by international buyers.

On Sunday, the organizers announced that between 1.5 and 1.7 million people have applied for the required Hayya Card, required of all visitors to Qatar during the World Cup period. The card is a sort of omnibus credential incorporating a visa, match ticket (if purchased), transport pass and allows access to some fan zones.

Qatar has a resident population of about 2.99 million, but expects a million total visitors for the FIFA World Cup, which started on 20 November.

But while the World Cup will end on 18 December, the work will continue as Qatar was awarded the 2023 Asian Cup, originally assigned to China, but re-awarded in view of China’s ultra-strict anti-Covid policies.

Qatar beat out bids from Indonesia and South Korea for the 18th Asian Cup, held quadrennially, with 24 teams. In view of the hot weather, the 2023 event is projected to be held beginning on 24 January 2024. It will be the third Asian Cup in Qatar, after 1988 and 2011, and Qatar is the reigning champion from 2019.

3.
Takahashi to be arrested for fourth time on bribery charges

The Tokyo 2020 sponsorship bribery scandal will see a fourth arrest warrant served on former organizing committee executive board member Haruyuki Takahashi, according to Kyodo News.

Takahashi has already been arrested on bribery allegations involving Olympic sponsorship designations for clothier Aoki Holdings, publisher Kadokawa Corporation, Daiko Advertising as an agent for an English-language school operator and now for Sun Arrow, Inc., a maker of plush toys. Per Kyodo:

“Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, who has been at the center of a growing corruption scandal over the selection of Summer Games sponsors, is believed to have received a total of 8 million yen ($54,000) in cash from stuffed toy maker Sun Arrow Inc., the sources said.”

The total amount of money funneled to Takahashi, either directly or through third parties, is estimated at more than $1 million. Takahashi has admitted receiving money for consulting services, but denied these were bribes.

The companies paid Takahashi, a former senior director of the Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, for his assistance in obtaining not only the designation as an “Official Supporter” or licensee, but at favorable terms.

4.
Modern Pentathlon federation and athlete group talking … sort of

You have to start somewhere. The Pentathlon United athlete group has been asking for a serious, face-to-face discussion with the leadership of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) about its plans to replace riding with obstacle course racing.

In the aftermath of a clear statement from International Olympic Committee Sports Director Kit McConnell (NZL) that it is well aware of the Pentathlon United group, the UIPM appears to be moving toward a meeting.

However, instead of simply asking for preferred dates and locations, UIPM Legal Council Fulvia Lucantonio (ITA) sent a message on 11 October asking for Pentathlon United’s legal status, whether its leadership is elected and a list of its members. As for location, only Monaco was offered.

Better than nothing, so Pentathlon United sent back a next-day letter to UIPM Secretary General Shiny Fang (CHN), characterizing Lucantonio’s message as “legalistic and not constructive, which is a shame because dialogue is essential.”

After describing the group as a free association of hundreds of pentathletes, with no legal or elected structure, that is dissatisfied with the UIPM:

“The very reason Pentathlon United was formed and continues to exist was that the UIPM had lost the trust and respect of their athletes. If UIPM appropriately engaged the community that it is supposed to represent, then Pentathlon United would not exist.

“UIPM’s response to Pentathlon United ha varied between ignoring, denying, insulting and threatening our movement. … PU’s letter of 26 August 2022 raised questions that are critically important to the modern pentathlon community. You ignored them and did not reply, despite repeated requests.”

Pentathlon United’s letter further states that it is ready to meet in Monaco, subject to (1) a list of attendees is confirmed ahead of the meeting, including UIPM President Klaus Schormann (GER) in person, (2) that Pentathlon United “is allowed to provide a proposed agenda” and that sufficient time for discussion is allowed, and that (3) the meeting “is video recorded with a time code.”

Pentathlon United has asked for three dates to be offered, and is willing to have the meeting to open to news media if the UIPM is “amenable.”

That was from 12 October, but as of Monday evening, no reply had been made by the UIPM.

Observed: A meeting between the federation and the athlete group is important and critical to the sport having any chance to be reinstated on the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

As the riding vs. obstacle debate has completely dominated the discussion, the IOC’s other, crucial questions to the sport appear to have been poorly addressed, if at all. Beyond the question of the fifth discipline, IOC chief Thomas Bach (GER) said last December that the sport “demonstrate a significant reduction in cost and complexity and show improvements in safety, accessibility, universality and appeal for youth.”

Those issues must be addressed if modern pentathlon is to have a chance for 2028. That the two sides are on the verge of talking face-to-face is a positive, if overdue, development.

5.
Mauritius swimmer suspended for three years for
“disrespectful words”

In Mauritius, apparently, small actions can have large consequences.

The National Olympic Committee of Mauritius, an island nation of about 1.3 million in the Indian Ocean located 1,200 miles off the southeast coast of Africa, has suspended 2016 Olympian and 18-time national record setter Bradley Vincent for three years. Per the announcement:

“This decision was taken upon the submission of the Disciplinary Committee, which was held on 05 October 2022. The Disciplinary Committee found that both charges which were leveled against Bradley Vincent established by the [Mauritius Olympic Committee]. He was found liable of gross misconduct for having used disrespectful words against the representative of the Commonwealth Games Association Mauritius and having negligently and/or recklessly failed to attend the flag raising ceremony, during the recent Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham.”

Three fellow swimmers – Gregory Anodin, Tessa Ip and Alicia Kok Shun – received a “severe warning” after also missing the flag-raising ceremony, but blamed transportation difficulties.

Vincent, 30, a two-time African Championships Freestyle medal winner, denies the charge of misconduct:

“I did not dope, nor made racist or discriminatory remarks. However, I am suspended for three years. Athletes found guilty of doping or acts of discrimination, which are much more serious, from a sporting point of view, have less severe sanctions or are suspended for less than three years.”

He described the incident of “using disrespectful language against a member of the Commonwealth Games Association Mauritius” as innocent:

“There were other people on the bus who can be questioned. I simply asked what had happened with the £100 which was to be given to the sportsmen as pocket money. Because the others had already received the money. I asked the person who was in charge of the village where we were staying about the swimmers’ pocket money. It was completely legitimate to ask him for such information.”

Vincent said he does not have the money to appeal the sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and hopes the Mauritius NOC will reconsider.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Football ● The U.S. women’s U-17 national team stomped Morocco, 4-0, in its final group-stage match at the 2022 FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup being played in India.

Charlotte Kohler’s goal in the 24th minute was the only first-half scoring, but Samantha Smith made it 2-0 in the 68th minute, Kohler got a second in the 73rd and Smith scored again in the 81st for the 4-0 final.

The win gave the U.S. a 2-0-1 record and first place in Group A with a 13-1 goals-against record. Brazil was also 2-0-1 and outscored its opponents by 7-1.

Germany (3–0) won Group B, and the other final group matches will be played on Tuesday. The U.S. will meet Nigeria (2-1-0) in the quarters on the 21st.

● Shooting ● The ISSF World Championships for Rifle and Pistol roll on in Cairo (EGY), with finals in the Mixed Team events for both disciplines.

China’s Yuting Huang – the women’s silver medalist – and Haoran Yang – on the Tokyo gold medalist team – won the Mixed Team 10 m Air Rifle title over Korea, by 16-6, while Austria’s Sylvia Steiner and Richard Zechmeister took the Mixed Team 10 m Air Pistol gold, also by 16-6, again over Korea.

In the non-Olympic women’s 50 m Rifle/Prone, Germany’s Jolyn Beer won with 627.0 points, to 626.7 for Sarina Hitz (SUI) and 625.7 for American Mary Tucker. Competition continues through the 27th.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Volleyball ● The International Volleyball Federation announced that future editions of the quadrennial World Championships for men and women will be expanded to 32 teams and eliminate the odd advancement formulas used this year.

In the men’s Worlds won by Italy in Poland in September, 24 teams competed in six groups of four, with the top two in each pool advancing to the round of 16, along with four of the six third-placed teams. This led to some complex tie-breakers, down to the ratio of points scored vs. points allowed.

The just-completed women’s Worlds, won by Serbia in the Netherlands, had 24 teams in four pools of six, with the top four advancing into a second round of round-robin play, with two groups of eight. The top four in each advance to the quarterfinals.

Now, with 32 teams, eight groups of four will play round-robin matches and the top two teams from each pool will advance to the elimination round of 16. Simple, and therefore better.

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TSX REPORT: Cycling doping drug now popular with Kenyan runners; France worries about Paris ‘24 transport; $9 million grant to build San Jose State track

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ Want TheSportsExaminer.com insights for your team? Yes! Click here for info on speaking, research and consulting from editor Rich Perelman. ★

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Boston ‘21 women’s champ Kipyokei latest user of favored cycling drug
2. French government sounds alarm on Paris ‘24 transport planning
3. Huntington University separates from two more in abuse scandal
4. California gives $9 million for new San Jose State track
5. India’s two-time Olympic medalist Kumar called with murder

An alarming report from the Athletics Integrity Unit announced a provisional suspension of 2021 Boston Marathon winner Diana Kipyogei of Kenya due to a positive test for triamcinolone acetonide, a corticosteroid which has suddenly shown up in a dozen cases, all from Kenya. The French Transport Minister told reporters that he is concerned about the lack of progress in public planning for the transport needs of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. A new committee has been set up to find solution, but the Paris regional transport director complained her agency needed more money. Huntington University, reeling from a lawsuit alleging sexual assault and doping by its distance coaches, released the two coaches who had been put on leave (with the third already dismissed). The school announced an outside review of its Title IX procedures and student safety program. The State of California gave $9 million for San Jose State to help start up a new track & field facility and a community center at the San Clara County Fairgrounds, a project expected to cost $25 million in all. The 1969 NCAA team champions, San Jose State eliminated its men’s program from 1988-2017 and demolished its track facility in 2019. India’s Sushil Kumar won two Olympic medals in wrestling in 2008 and 2012 and a world title at 66 kg, but is now charged with 17 others in the murder of a former junior wrestling champion. He and his fellow defendants have pled not guilty.

Plus world championships reports in track cycling, football, sailing, shooting and volleyball.

1.
Boston ‘21 women’s champ Kipyokei
latest user of favored cycling drug

Kenyan Diana Kipyogei won the Covid-delayed 2021 Boston Marathon women’s division in October of that year, ahead of countrywoman (and 2017 winner) Edna Kiplagat, 2:24:45 to 2:25:09.

On Friday, the Athletics Integrity Unit provisionally suspended Kipyogei and fellow Kenyan women’s marathoner Betty Wilson Lempus for doping violations following investigations for “Adverse Analytical Findings (AAF) for metabolites of triamcinolone acetonide in samples they provided during in-competition tests last year.”

Kipyogei’s Boston Marathon sample came back positive for triamcinolone acetonide, a corticosteroid used for treat skin conditions. It’s used in the over-the-counter nasal spray Nasacort. She was also charged with “obstructing or delaying the AIU’s investigation through the provision of false information or documentation.”

If proved, Kipyogei would lose her Boston Marathon title, which was her third career marathon and second win, after the Istanbul Marathon in 2020, where she set her lifetime best of 2:22:06. She has been more active as a half-marathoner, with a best of 67:07 from 2018.

Lempus’ positive – also for f triamcinolone acetonide – came in September 2021, after winning the Harmonie Mutuelle Semi de Paris half marathon in a speedy 1:05:46, moving her to no. 12 on the world list for last year. She was initially cleared by the French anti-doping agency, but has now been charged with tampering via providing false information.

Glucocorticoids such as triamcinolone acetonide are banned in competition “because, when administered via prohibited routes, there is clear evidence of systemic effects which could potentially enhance performance and be harmful to health.” They can be used with a Therapeutic Use Exemption, which neither Kipyogei or Lempus had.

The AIU sounded the alarm on the widening use of triamcinolone acetonide among Kenyan athletes:

“The cases announced today are part of a recent trend in Kenyan athletics regarding triamcinolone acetonide, with ten Kenyan athletes testing positive for that prohibited substance between 2021 and 2022.

“Within the same time period in athletics globally, there have been just two positive triamcinolone acetonide AAFs [adverse findings] for athletes from all other countries.

“In the four years from 2017 to 2020, there were only three Kenyan AAFs for triamcinolone acetonide. Yesterday, the AIU announced that it had banned Mark Kangogo – the initial winner of the Sierre-Zinal 2022 mountain race in Switzerland – for three years for the presence of triamcinolone acetonide in his sample. In addition to the Kipyokei, Lempus and Kangogo cases, the AIU currently has four open investigations into AAFs for triamcinolone acetonide for Kenyan athletes; with two matters pending with [Anti-Doping Kenya].”

Matt Lawton, Chief Sports Correspondent for The Times (London) noted that this same drug has long been part of doping in cycling, including by disgraced American star Lance Armstrong during his win at the 1999 Tour de France and Britain’s David Millar, the two-time World Time Trial Championships silver medalist. Lawton’s follow-up tweet included:

“Triamcinolone the new go-to drug in distance running. Difference is, @aiu_athletics are taking the time to investigate if an athlete really has a [medical] need for it.”

2.
French government sounds alarm on Paris ‘24 transport planning

The French Transport Minister Clement Beaune told reporters during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Day that the government has work to do on the mobility planning for the 2024 Olympic Games:

“We have to be honest, we are behind on our accessibility objectives for transport and stations in particular. …

“We’re not ahead at all, we have to work twice as hard. We have to speed up. The Olympic and Paralympic Games are an opportunity for the month of the Games to reinforce things and to show that we are also capable of having innovative solutions, because we cannot make everything accessible immediately.”

Beaune has formed a “Strategic Mobility Committee” to find solutions, and mentioned expanded taxi or shuttle services, but this is contrary to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s preference to remove vehicles from the streets, not add them.

During the following week, Beaune reiterated his concern as the new committee met, saying:

“If the Olympic Games took place today, I’m not sure that we would be at the level of international standards. The objective is therefore to identify areas for improvement in the logic of the athletes’ journey, from the airport to the Olympic sites, via the city centre.”

He was immediately challenged on costs by Valerie Pecresse, the President of Ile-de-France Mobilite (IDFM), the regional transport authority that actually runs services in the Paris region, who stated that the costs of added transport services for the 2024 Games is estimated at €150 million (about $150 million U.S. today):

“150 million euros is 3 additional euros for the Navigo [public transport] pass. You can imagine that we cannot ask Ile-de-France residents to pay 3 euros more, in order to finance the Olympic Games for tourists. You must not send me back, saying that I can do everything on my own. It’s not true, it’s not what the law provides.”

Beaune said he is all for cooperation, but later in the day added:

“I remain in a spirit of partnership and cooperation. But the organization of transport in Ile-de-France is the region and IDFM. Obviously, the state cannot ignore it. We can be a support and a help. And I’m open to all leads. But we must be clear. It is the region that must manage and organize a budget.”

Observed: For the Paris 2024 Olympic organizers, this is a headache that they could do without. At its best, an organizing committee can bring people together and try to work out solutions that benefit everyone, at least enough to get through the Games.

But with ticket revenue of the IDFM down significantly due to the pandemic and fuel costs, and the French government already providing a €2 billion loan to the transit authority, a bail-out is not the government’s preferred solution. And Pecresse does not want to see the price of a monthly, all-zones Navigo pass rise from the current €75.20 to perhaps €100 a month!

That could start another French Revolution.

The Paris 2024 organizers do not control the transit systems, but they need them to work to make the Games function, and the increased attention to the Paralympic Games puts new pressures for better accommodations for the physically challenged. And that will cost more money.

3.
Huntington University separates from two more in abuse scandal

A Sunday statement from Huntington University (Huntington, Indiana) announced that Lauren Johnson and Curtis Hines, two coaches named – along with the already-dismissed Nick Johnson – in a sexual abuse lawsuit filed 30 September, “were placed on administrative leave on October 6, 2022, and will no longer be affiliated with the University’s women’s running program.”

The statement noted:

“[W]e were devastated and heartbroken when University leadership were made aware of the allegations included in a civil lawsuit filed on September 30, 2022, against three now formerly affiliated University employees, as well as against the University, and Board of Trustees. Following this discovery many have voiced concern, and we want you to know that we hear you. These allegations are not only disturbing, but also antithetical to everything we stand for.”

Former coach Nick Johnson is also being removed from the school’s Hall of Fame and the school has commissioned a full review of its Title IX programs:

“The University has now engaged an external review team to provide an independent review of the University’s Title IX and Sexual Misconduct policies and procedures and to provide recommendations regarding changes the University should consider implementing based on legal compliance and/or best practices. …

“The review will also examine the supportive measures used to protect all students, and to promote a culture of trust, integrity, and safety.”

The suit, filed by former Huntington star runners Emma Wilson and Hannah Stoffel, who alleged a “systematic doping program instituted by the Johnson Defendants during their coaching tenure at Huntington University,” and that the University “knew or should have known about the doping program” that the Johnsons were alleged to be involved at the Nike Oregon Project prior to their hirings at Huntington. Further allegations of sexual abuse were made against Nick Johnson, and a request for a jury trial was made.

4.
California gives $9 million for new San Jose State track

A nine-acre track & field and community center at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds to be jointly operated with San Jose State University has gotten a $9 million grant from the State of California for 2023. But this is only the beginning, as the announcement noted:

“Much work still needs to be done to complete the project, which is expected to be completed in phases. The university will work to secure additional funding for the project, with a total estimated cost of $25 million, as well as set out to plan the physical elements of the site, which will include a nine-lane track and field facility (including lighting and utilities), a Legacy Center and community facilities.”

California Assembly Member Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) asked for $25 million for the project, but the award was whittled down to $9 million.

San Jose State’s track & field heritage is centered on the “Speed City” years of the 1960s, starring 1968 Mexico City Olympic winners Tommie Smith (200 m) and Lee Evans (400 m). The Spartans won the 1969 NCAA men’s title under famed coach Bud Winter, with wins from Olympic 200 m bronze winner John Carlos in the 100 and 220 yards and the 440-yard relay, second from Evans in the 440 yards, third in the 100 yards from Ronnie Ray Smith (who won a Mexico City relay gold) and fourth for discus star John Powell.

Smith and Carlos have been immortalized by their raised-fist salute during the victory ceremony for the men’s 200 m, and a “Victory Salute” statue stands at One Washington Square on the San Jose State campus. But the track & field facility they trained on was demolished in 2019 in favor of a parking structure on the campus.

San Jose State closed its men’s track & field program in 1988 in a “reallocation of university resources,” and reinstated it only in 2018. A new track was planned, but has not been built; that’s where the new grant comes in.

5.
India’s two-time Olympic medalist Kumar charged with murder

Olympic athletes are justly lauded for the enormous effort, dedication and sacrifice to achieve their goals. For some, their post-sport careers go awry.

Indian wrestling star Sushil Kumar won a bronze medal in the men’s Freestyle 66 kg class at Beijing 2008 and a silver in London in 2012 in the same weight division. Kumar won the World Championships golds at 66 kg in 2010.

Last Wednesday, Kumar and 17 others were charged in the murder of former Indian junior wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar last May in New Delhi, in a property dispute

Kumar and the others were charged with varying counts of murder, attempted murder, rioting, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery, wrongful restraint, robbery, robbery and attempting to cause death or grievous hurt and criminal intimidation. ESPN reported:

“The court said that the facts and circumstances in the present case clearly reflected that all the accused persons had conspired to cause abduction and assaulted the victims resulting in the death of Dhankar. The court noted that the main gate of the Chhatrasal Stadium had been locked, many of the accused persons possessed weapons, and the assault continued for around 30-40 minutes. According to the prosecution, after abducting Dhankar and his friends, Sushil and his associates brutally assaulted them.”

The 18 defendants were to have appeared in court on Saturday (15th), but were not produced in person for security reasons; the hearing took place in a lockup facility and all pled not guilty. The trial is slated to begin on 10 November.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Cycling ● The 2022 UCI Track Cycling World Championships concluded on Sunday in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FRA) with traditional powers Great Britain and the Netherlands leading the medal table with 10 each.

The men’s individual star was Dutch sprinter Harrie Lavreysen, winner of the Sprint – his fourth straight world title in the event – plus the Keirin, where he won his third straight title, and a Team Sprint silver. Teammate Jeffrey Hoogland was also busy, winning the 1 km Time Trial – his third, after wins in 2018 and 2021 – plus a second in the Keirin, and a silver in the Team Sprint as well. Yoeri Havik won the 40 km Points Race for the third Netherlands gold.

Britain was led by Ethan Hayter, who defended his 2021 title in the Omnium, was on the winning Team Pursuit squad and grabbed a silver in the Madison (with Oliver Wood).

Fresh off his world record in the Hour, Filippo Ganna led an Italian 1-2 in the Individual Pursuit, ahead of Jonathan Milan, and those two were also part of Italy’s runner-up squad in the Team Pursuit. Italy scored a second with road veteran Elia Viviani winning the Elimination Race for the second straight year. Ganna won the Pursuit in 3:59.636, a world record, replacing American Ashton Lambie (3:59.930 in 2021).

The home country’s only men’s win came from Donovan Grondin and Benjamin Thomas in the Madison.

The women’s events saw Germany with three wins, and France, Italy and Belgium each took two golds. Germany’s Lea Friedrich won her second straight world title in the Keirin and was on the Team Sprint gold-medalist team with Emma Hinze and Pauline Grabosch. Friedrich also a silver in the Sprint and Hinze won two more medals with a silver in the 500 m Time Trial and a bronze in the Sprint. Franziska Brausse won her third straight medal in the Individual Pursuit: bronze in 2020, silver in 2021 and now gold in 2022.

Mathilde Gros won the sprint for France and Taky Marie-Divine Kouame won the 500 m Time Trial. Belgium got wins from road star Lotte Kopecky in the Elimination Race and she and Shari Bossuyt teamed to win the Madison. Italy’s Marina Fidanza defended her 2021 world crown in the Scratch race and then added a second gold in the Team Pursuit.

Not to be left out of the discussion is American star Jennifer Valente. The Tokyo 2020 gold medalist in the Omnium, she won her first world title in the event in 2022, 118-109, over Maike van der Duin (NED). Valente also won bronzes in the Elimination Race (won by Kopecky) and Points Race, won by Britain’s Neah Evans. Still just 27, Valente now owns 14 career World Championships medals: five gold, four silver and five bronze.

● Football ● Group play continues in Bhubaneswar, India at the FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup, with the U.S. and Brazil playing to a 1-1 tie on Friday (14th) and both with 1-1 records with one game remaining for each.

The U.S. got the lead in the 33rd minute on a score from Nicollette Kiorpes, but Carol Cheves tied the game for Brazil just four minute later and that ended the scoring. The U.S. had 19 shots to 14 for Brazil, but a 7-2 edge on shots-on-goal. The U.S. plays Morocco on Monday and will advance to the finals with a win or a tie.

Germany, now 2-0 in Group B, and Japan – 2-0 in Group D – are the remaining undefeated, untied teams in the tournament.

● Sailing ● Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom dominated the 2022 ILC6 Laser Radial Women’s World Championship that concluded Sunday in Galveston Bay off Kemah, Texas.

Rindom, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist in the Dinghy class (ILCA6), won two of the 12 races, finished second three times and third once on her way to a net of 47.0 points, far ahead of Swiss Maud Jayet (one win, 67.0) and defending champion Emma Plasschaert (BEL: one win, 69.0).

It’s Rindom’s second Laser Radial world title, also in 2015. Erika Reineke was the top American in 10th (97.0).

● Shooting ● Just as soon as the Shotgun World Championships ended, the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Championships got underway, in Cairo (EGY).

American Alison Weisz, a Tokyo 2020 Olympian, won her first Worlds medal with a gold in the women’s 10 m Air Rifle, with a 16-14 victory in the final over China’s 16-year-old, Yuting Huang. China won the women’s Team event, 16-12, over the U.S. squad, which included Weisz, Sagen Maddalena and Olympic Mixed Team silver winner Mary Tucker.

The men’s 10 m Air Rifle gold was won by India’s Rudrankksh Patil, 17-13, over Italian Danilo Sollazzo. Patil got a second gold as part of the winning 10 m Air Rifle men’s Team entry, which defeated China, 16-10.

China won the men’s and women’s 10 m Air Pistol titles, with Kaiman Lu defeating Greece’s Tokyo silver medalist, Anna Korakaki, 16-10, in the final. The all-Chinese men’s final had Jinyao Liu as the winner, 17-15, over Yifan Zhang.

In the team events, China swept again, winning the women’s title, 16-8, over India, with the men defeating Iran, 16-10 in the final.

The events continue to the 27th.

● Volleyball ● Serbia defended its 2018 title with a 26-24, 25-22, 25-17 sweep of Brazil in the final of the FIVB Women’s World Championship in Apeldoorn (NED).

The Serbs ended 12-0 in the tournament and had a sensational 36-5 record in sets and swept nine of their 12 matches! Forward Tijana Boskovic was named Most Valuable Player and Best Opposite Hitter. Teammate Bojana Drca was named Best Setter and Teodora Pusic was selected as Best Libero.

Brazil’s Gabriela Guimaraes was the co-Best Outside Hitter with Italy’s Miriam Sylla and Ana Carolina da Silva was co-Best Middle Blocker with Italian Anna Danesi.

The Italians won the bronze medal match from the U.S. (the Tokyo Olympic champs) in a shutout, 25-20, 25-15 and 27-25. The American women ended with an 8-4 overall record.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● International Olympic Committee ● The IOC announced on Sunday that it has suspended the National Olympic Committee on Guatemala due to government interference with its operations.

The immediate impact is that IOC financial support to the Guatemalan NOC is frozen. Moreover, “the athletes of Guatemala can no longer represent the country and compete under the country’s flag/name at the Olympic Games and other international multi-sports events.”

The real-life impact of the previously-threatened suspension was the cancellation of the XII Central American Games, which were to have been held from 27 October-11 November in Costa Rica and Guatemala, and a qualifying event for the 2023 Pan American Games.

● South American Games ● The XII South American Games concluded in Asuncion (PAR) on Saturday, after 404 events were held in 34 sports. A total of 4,476 were reported to compete, from 15 nations.

The big winner on the field was Brazil, which won 319 medals (133-100-86), ahead of Colombia (255: 79-78-98) and Argentina (197: 58-65-74). Every country won at least one medal.

● World University Games ● You’re among the elite of multi-sport event followers if you’re aware of the 11-day FISU Americas Games now underway in Merida, Mexico.

About 1,000 athletes are contesting 11 sports: athletics, chess, basketball, judo, futsal, volleyball, table tennis, weightlifting, football, taekwondo, and archery. The 11 participating nations include Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Dominican Republic, United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Colombia, El Salvador, and Brazil.

This is the second edition; the first was in 2018 in Sao Paulo (BRA) with 13 countries competing.

● Archery ● The 2022 World Cup Final in Tlaxcala (MEX) saw Tokyo triple gold medalist San An add to her trophy case.

Still just 21, An won the women’s Recurve final in an all-Korean clash with 2015 World Cup Final champ Mi-sun Choi, 6-4, with Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Mao Peng taking the bronze. From 2020-22, An has won the Olympic individual title, World Championships golds in the Women’s Team and Mixed Team events and now the World Cup Final gold.

The men’s Recurve final had three-time World Champion Woo-jin Kim facing Spain’s Miguel Alvarino Garcia, the 2015 European Games gold medalist, with Kim winning by 7-1. It’s the Korean’s fourth World Cup final win after 2012-17-18. Turkey’s Olympic champ Mete Gazoz won the bronze.

● Athletics ● Ethiopian stars dominated Sunday’s Amsterdam Marathon, with 2016 Rio Olympic 10,000 m champion Almaz Ayana, 30, winning the women’s division in the fastest debut marathon ever, in 2:17:20, no. 4 on the world list for 2022.

Running with Ayana was countrywoman Genzebe Dibaba, the 1,500 m world-record holder at 3:50.07 from 2015, who ran with Ayana to 33 km, but then fell back and eventually finished second in her debut marathon in 2:18:05, no. 9 on the year list. Tsegaye Gemechu competed the Ethiopian sweep in third at 2:18:59.

Ayana’s run moves her no. 7 on the all-time list after her first marathon.

The men’s division was won by Ethiopia’s experienced Tsegaye Getachew, running his 10th career marathon and broke away from a pack of five after 40 km to win in a lifetime best of 2:04:49, equal ninth on the 2022 world list.

He led a parade of nine runners who finished under 2:06, with Titus Kipruto second (2:04:54), Bazezew Asmare (ETH) third in 2:04:57. Adeledelew Mamo (ETH) ran 2:05:45 and could get only ninth!

● Football ● The U.S. Women’s National Team lost games on the road to England (2-1) and Spain (2–0), but remained no. 1 in the new FIFA Women’s Rankings!

While the American women remained on top, Sweden jumped Germany for second, with England remaining fourth and France fifth. Spain’s win over the U.S. moved them from eighth to sixth.

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TSX REPORT: Qatar World Cup CEO asks for respect; FIFA says World Cup award has changed Qatar for the better; Val-de-Marne cleans the Seine for 2024

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Qatar World Cup CEO asks for respect, warns on drinking
2. Qatar progress praised, condemned at Council of Europe hearing
3. Holloway and Lyles nominated for Men’s World Athlete of the Year
4. France’s Val-de-Marne cleans Seine River, gets special ticket privileges
5. WADA President Banka asks Caribbean governments for support

The increasingly important intersection of sport and governments continues to widen, as today’s stories show, notably through the intense attention paid to mega-events such as the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Nasser Al Khater, head of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for the World Cup, told Britain’s Sky Sports that preparations are in place to handle excessive drinking and that gay-rights supporters will not be harassed. But he also asked for visitors to respect Qatari culture. In a Council of Europe hearing in France, FIFA Deputy Secretary General Alasdair Bell (SCO) pointed to changes in Qatari labor laws and practices as proof of the positive impact of the award of the World Cup, and said compensation for injured workers should be explored. Critics called for more reforms in Qatar after the World Cup is over. World Athletics announced its nominees for men’s World Athlete of the Year, with fans able to vote; Americans Grant Holloway and Noah Lyles made the list. In France, the Val-de-Marne department, southeast of Paris, is helping to reclaim the Seine River for swimming and has been rewarded by the Paris 2024 organizers with ticketing privileges equal to those of regions with competition venues. At an online meeting with Caribbean sports ministers, World Anti-Doping Agency chief Witold Banka (POL) underscored the importance of government support to have anti-doping measures taken seriously in their countries.

1.
Qatar World Cup CEO asks for respect, warns on drinking

“We’ve always said everybody is welcome here. All we ask is for people to be respectful of the culture. …

“At the end of the day, as long as you don’t do anything that harms other people, if you’re not destroying public property, as long as you’re behaving in a way that’s not harmful, then everybody’s welcome and you have nothing to worry about.”

Nasser Al Khater, chief executive of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for the Delivery and Legacy of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, told Britain’s SkyNews that 95% of the tickets for the matches have been sold and that as alcoholic beverages will be more available than normal, precautions have been taken to handle drunken fans.

“Alcohol is available in Qatar. It’s more limited than perhaps in other countries in the world, whether it’s in Europe or the U.S. or other countries in eastern Europe and the East, but it will be more available in designated zones in Qatar, and here we are today, we have it in designated zones as we promised from day one. …

“I know that there are plans in place for people to sober up if they’ve been drinking excessively. It’s a place to make sure that they keep themselves safe, they’re not harmful to anybody else, they don’t get themselves harmed, and I think it’s a good idea.”

He also noted that fans will be able to display rainbow flags supporting gay rights, and that whether players can wear political-message armbands is a matter for FIFA.

As for the continuous and loud criticism of Qatar’s human rights record, Al Khater had his own view:

“People don’t understand the amount of work that’s gone in over the past 10 years in terms of really, really overhauling the worker’s rights and the worker’s laws in this country. When people come out and say, ‘Yes, we agree that there needs to be some sort of compensation fund,’ they’re just reading off a piece of paper. …

“A lot of people that speak about this issue on workers’ welfare… are not experts in the industry. And they’re not experts in what they’re speaking about. … I think they need to really read and educate themselves a little bit more about what’s happening on the ground in Qatar.”

Asked by correspondent Rob Harris if he thinks Qatar is being scrutinized overly closely as the first Middle Eastern host of a major event like the FIFA World Cup, Al Khater replied:

“I think a lot of it has to do with that. Is Qatar worthy of hosting the World Cup, will Qatar ever be ready to host the World Cup?”

Asked if he thought the criticism was racist, Al Khater was diplomatic, but did not shy away from answering:

“I’m not going to get into what the intentions of other people are, I’m not going to get into the minds and souls of other people. But you know, who knows? Possibly.”

After all the build-up, the matches will start on 20 November.

2.
Qatar progress praised, condemned at Council of Europe hearing

“There has been real tangible progress in Qatar. We have worked hard with the Qatari authorities and the [non-governmental organizations]. The labor conditions in World Cup sites are setting the standards in Qatar.

“In 2020, something like 250,000 people were able to change jobs because of these reforms. Nearly 300,000 workers benefitted from the introduction of the minimum wage. We will look at ways to build on these reforms, to ensure they are enduring. A center in Qatar where migrant workers can receive advice is being explored. So is the possibility to find redress for anyone who suffered injury. It is not the simplest thing to put into place.”

FIFA Deputy Secretary General Alasdair Bell (SCO) told a Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly committee hearing in Strasbourg (FRA) on Thursday that the presence of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar has made a positive difference.

Bell noted that FIFA introduced specific human rights requirements into its bid process in 2017 and that it has followed through in Qatar:

“We raised the profile of human rights in FIFA and that has had some significant spill over effect. This World Cup in Qatar will be the first big sporting event with a lasting positive effect in the area of human rights. It’s not something to be triumphalist about, but it is a fact, a matter of record. …

“It’s important that all the progress we have made is not lost after the tournament. Once the spotlight of the World Cup is turned off, it is important that these changes remain and also spread wider in the Middle East.”

As for compensation for workers injured during the construction effort in Qatar, Bell said the idea is “certainly something that we’re interested in progressing.”

Harsh critics such as Norwegian Football Federation President Lise Klaveness said that compensation “is difficult to frame it in but it is necessary, also for historical abuses, injuries and deaths,” and added:

“We have yet to speak about some of the elephants in the room: ensuring independent investigation of unexplained deaths. … The positive changes need to reach more than the 2% of workers the Supreme Committee covers. And the changes need to be lasting before we can talk about any legacy.”

In a remarkable exchange, Mahmoud Qutub, the Qatar Supreme Committee’s Executive Director of workers’ welfare and labor rights, told the hearing:

“We embarked on this [labor reform] journey after we won the World Cup bid [in 2010]. There was an acknowledgment at the time that gaps existed. We have demonstrated through our various ecosystems that meaningful steps can be taken to fill those gaps. …

“We recognize there are shortcomings. This was, after all, the reason why we pursued the World Cup bid … awarding the World Cup [in 2010] has done a lot of service to Qatar, the region, the globe.”

3.
Holloway and Lyles nominated for
Men’s World Athlete of the Year

World Athletics released its list of 10 candidates for its Men’s World Athlete of the Year, including nine World Champions and marathon star Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya:

● Kristjian Ceh (SLO): Discus World Champion, world no. 2 for 2022 at 71.27 m (233-10)

● Alison Dos Santos (BRA): 400 m hurdles World Champion; world leader at 46.29

● Mondo Duplantis (SWE): Pole vault World Champion indoors and out; world-record setter at 6.21 m (20-4 1/2)

● Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR): Steeplechase World Champion and world leader at 7:58.28

● Grant Holloway (USA): World Indoor Champion in 60 m hurdles; 110 m hurdles World Champion

● Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR): World Champion at 5,000 m, Worlds silver at 1,500 m and world leader at 3:29.02

● Eliud Kipchoge (KEN): Tokyo and Berlin Marathon winner, lowered own world record to 2:01:09

● Noah Lyles (USA): 200 m World Champion and world leader at 19.31

● Anderson Peters (GRN): Javelin World Champion and world leader at 93.07 m (305-4)

● Pedro Pablo Pichardo (POR): Triple jump World Champion and world leader at 17.95 m (58-10 3/4)

As with the women’s nominees, fans can participate in voting through the World Athletics social-media channels; the vote of the World Athletics Council counts for 50%; another 25% is reserved for the World Athletics “family” – including the national federations – and the fan vote also counts for 25%.

The winner will be announced in December.

4.
France’s Val-de-Marne cleans Seine River,
gets special ticket privileges

One of the key environmental goals of the Paris 2024 organizers, and the City of Paris, is to make the Seine River clean enough for swimming by the time of the Olympic Games. As it turns out, a major assist is coming from just outside of Paris.

The Val-de-Marne, a 95 square-mile “department” of France – kind of like a county in the U.S. – located just southeast of the City of Paris, was not selected to have a venue for the Games, but has invested €80 million (~$78.2 million U.S.) to help clean the Seine, which flows right through it, north to south, and the River Marne, a tributary of the Seine that runs to the east. The Val-de-Marne program “depollution program” helps to prevent the discharge of waste water into the two rivers.

The Paris 2024 organizers have noticed, and in a 6 October letter, Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet wrote, in part:

“I would like to inform you that your department will have the same access to the Olympic and Paralympic Games as the host communities of Paris 2024.

“We are fully aware of the commitment of the Val-de-Marne to the total success of the Games, in particular to guarantee of the Games, in particular to guarantee the swimability of the Seine in 2024. It was therefore important that your department to benefit from the same access to the ticketing of the Games as the host communities, thus enhancing your investment and that of all your constituents in our project.”

This doesn’t end the Seine project, as the Paris department also has a lot to contribute, but it is a major step in creating better conditions in the river, which is slated to host the Open Water Swimming competitions during the Games, as well as the Opening Ceremonies.

Of course, the Paris 2024 Torch Relay will cross through Val-de-Marne, so despite not having any competition sites, it is creating its own role in the Games, and now stands on the same step as those French departments which are hosting Games events.

5.
WADA President Banka asks Caribbean governments for support

As part of a program to promote more effective anti-doping programs around the world, World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka (POL) addressed sports ministers from the Caribbean region online on Wednesday. Included in his remarks was an exceptionally clear summary of what WADA sees as the core of the fight against doping:

“In a short while, WADA’s Director General, Olivier Niggli, will outline some of the challenges in the region including around testing, capacity-building, resources for National and Regional Anti-Doping Organizations and how governments can further commit to supporting clean sport in the Caribbean.

“From my perspective, there are three important aspects of anti-doping which always need to be remembered and considered.

“The first is the need for the global anti-doping system to be strong. That is, for each country to have a robust and relevant program. To accomplish this, we must collaborate. Governments play a crucial role and must be receptive to unlocking and enabling the creation of strong and relevant anti-doping programs at the national level.

“Long gone are the days when some claimed their athletes would never cheat. We must not be naive – doping can happen anywhere. No country and no sport is immune. Having strong testing, investigations and education programs in place to safeguard against it happening sends the right message. It will leave athletes in no doubt that the authorities take the matter seriously and will always support them to compete clean throughout their careers.

“Secondly, the issue of funding for anti-doping is a critical consideration. At WADA we are all too aware that most sports and governments have limited resources. However, when you consider the need to ensure the health and well-being of athletes, coupled with the immense negative effect that doping takes on families, societies, national pride and global prestige, it is vitally important to put anti-doping safeguards in place.

“Thirdly and finally, I would like to say something about our number-one priority – the athletes. Anti-doping is all about the well-being of athletes and giving them the opportunity to compete on a level playing field. A key priority identified in WADA’s Strategic Plan 2020-2024 is to be more athlete-centered so that whatever we do, we do it with the participation of the athletes of the world.”

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Cycling ● The 2022 UCI Track Cycling World Championships continued in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FRA), with five events decided on Thursday and won by five different countries!

Tokyo Olympic Sprint winner Harrie Lavreysen (NED) won his 10th career World Championships gold and third Keirin title by a huge, 9.571-second margin over countryman Jeffrey Hoogland, with Colombia’s Kevin Quintero third. It’s Lavreysen’s third straight World title in the event; he’s also the three-time defending champ in the Sprint.

Great Britain won the Team Pursuit final over Italy, 3:45.829 to 3:46.033, with Denmark taking the bronze, In the Scratch Race, a non-Olympic event, Canada’s Dylan Bibic won over Japan’s Kazushige Kuboki.

Italy’s women won the Team Pursuit title, timing 4:09.760 to 4:11.369 for Great Britain, with France third. Scratch Race winner Martina Fidanza won her second gold of the meet riding for Italy.

The U.S. won its first medal with a bronze finish for Tokyo Olympic Omnium winner Jennifer Valente in the non-Olympic Elimination Race, won by Belgian star Lotte Kopecky, who moved up from silver in 2021. For Valente, 27, it’s her 12th career Worlds medal (4-4-4).

The championships continue through Sunday.

● Judo ● To the surprise of absolutely no one, Japan concluded the 2022 World Judo Championships in Tashkent (UZB) with a win in the Mixed Team event.

The Japanese squad shut out the Dominican Republic in the Round of 16, 4-0, then whitewashed the Netherlands (4-0) and Germany (4-0) before a challenging final against France, winning by 4-2. Germany and Israel won the bronze medals.

Japan has now won the Mixed Team event all five times it has been held in the World Championships. The final medal count showed Japan with 13 medals (6-4-3) with France (1-1-3) at five and Brazil and Georgia with four each.

● Volleyball ● Defending champ Serbia will face three-time Worlds silver winners Brazil in the final of the 2022 FIVB Women’s World Championship on Saturday in Apeldoorn (NED).

The Brazilians overcame Italy, 25-23, 22-25, 26-24 and 25-19, in their Thursday semifinal, assuring Brazil of its fourth medal in this event, after silvers in 2006 and 2010 and a bronze in 2014.

Italy, the 2018 runner-ups, will face the U.S. – the Tokyo Olympic gold medalists – for the bronze.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Youth Olympic Games ● The International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar (SEN) met online on Thursday and said that the planning has made “great progress.”

With the event postponed from 2022 to 2026 due to the coronavirus, the Senegalese organizers are mounting an annual, eight-day festival – “Dakar en Jeux” – in the YOG areas to promote the event, especially among youth.

An important part of the preparations are initiatives in Senegal to boost participation in sport:

● “[T]he Olympic, Civic and Sports Certificate – a new education programme focused on the Olympic values that aims to reach up to 900,000 children in 11,000 schools by 2026. Students aged from 9 to 15 throughout Senegal will have the opportunity to attend the courses, with participants also given the opportunity to volunteer at the YOG.”

● “[T]he Kids Olympic Skills initiative, which will be launched during the Dakar en Jeux festival, will promote education and youth engagement through sport, with the nationwide project giving children aged from 6 to 18 the chance to try a range of different sports ahead of the YOG.”

● “[T]he Impact 52 Fitness programme will aim to encourage the practice of sport and improve the health and well-being among people of all ages throughout Senegal. The programme will be launched in 10 pilot centres in 2023 before a nationwide roll-out over the following years.”

These might end up being more important than the YOG itself, whose dates are still to be determined.

● Russia ● “Now all countries are watching how we overcome this crisis; it can affect any country if the IOC takes aim at such powerful sports powers as Russia and Belarus.”

That’s Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, speaking at a conference on sports in Minsk (BLR) on Thursday. In his view, the future of the Olympic Movement depends on what happens to Russia:

“If we stand, it is a guarantee that the Olympic Movement will survive, if there is an opportunity to shake us in some way, 100% of other countries will not be able to resist international pressure. Therefore, our voice must be heard, the media is also an important aspect that needs to be paid attention. The voice of our Olympians, heroes of sports, must be bright and sonorous, not only the voice of officials.”

● Swimming ● The USA Swimming Board of Directors approved up to $100,000 in emergency aid to clubs impacted by Hurricane Ian in Florida:

“Teams in the affected region are eligible to be considered for a relief grant of up to $5,000. To be eligible to apply for a USA Swimming disaster relief grant, teams must have suffered material losses from Hurricane Ian. To be able to use grants to provide swim team dues relief, teams must have team members and families that have suffered loss of their homes for an extended period. Based on the number of teams impacted and the desire to maximize organizational benefit, USA Swimming may be unable to honor every eligible request for assistance. The average grant is expected to be about $3,000.”

Applications will be received through 30 November, or until the allocation has been expended.

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TSX REPORT: Ex-U.S. star Solo objects to USSF-USWNT settlement; Italy boycotts FIG Congress over Russia; Ealey and McLaughlin up for Woman of the Year

By
Rich Perelman
-
Retired U.S. keeper Hope Solo during a 2016 Olympic match in Rio de Janeiro (Photo: Andre Borges/Agencia Brasília via Wikipedia)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Former star U.S. keeper Solo objects to USSF-USWNT settlement
2. Italy becomes sixth country to boycott FIG Congress
3. Russian figure skater Maria Talalaikina refused Italian residence
4. Ealey and McLaughlin nominated for World Athletics Woman of the Year
5. Is drafting the key to a sub-2:00 marathon?

The widely-applauded equal-pay settlement agreed between the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Soccer Federation is being challenged by former star keeper Hope Solo. She is asking that the agreement be thrown out during the 5 December hearing as there is no clarity on what monies each plaintiff will actually receive, and moreover, only $14.1 million of the $22 million settlement will go to the players due to $7.9 million in attorney’s fees and costs! Italy announced it will boycott the 2022 FIG Congress next month over Russian and Belarusian officials being able to attend; it’s the sixth country to do so. Italian authorities would not allow Russian figure skater Maria Talalaikina, resident in the country for 11 months, to stay, and so she had to go back to Russia. But she is happy to be skating again. World Athletics announced its 10 candidates for Woman Athlete of the Year, with American World Champions Chase Ealey and Sydney McLaughlin on the list. A study led by the University of Colorado showed that better drafting during a marathon could lead to a sub-2:00 in-competition finish, especially with Kenyan star Eliud Kipchoge down to 2:01:09 in Berlin this year!

In figure skating, American star Mariah Bell retired and Boston was awarded the 2025 World Championships.

1.
Former star U.S. keeper Solo objects to USSF-USWNT settlement

“Based upon the foregoing, and because the Settlement is neither fair, reasonable, nor adequate, Class Member Solo’s Objection should be sustained, the Settlement should be rejected and, approval of the Settlement should be denied.”

That’s from a Tuesday filing (11th) by former U.S. goalkeeping star Hope Solo, now 41, who was a member of the American women’s team from 2000-16 and was on two Olympic champion and one World Cup champion teams.

Solo filed the objection to the much-lauded settlement agreement reached in February on the class-action suit between the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Soccer Federation, alleging violations of the Equal Pay Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The settlement is coming for final approval on a 5 December hearing in Los Angeles before Federal Judge R. Gary Klausner. Solo is asking Klausner to reject the settlement.

Her main issues are the (1) lack of specificity on how the $22 million in damages that the USSF has agreed to pay is going to be distributed to her and other claimants, and (2) the amount of legal fees that will come off the top before anything is given to her and the other plaintiffs in the case.

On distribution, Solo’s filing states:

“The proposed Settlement Agreement fails to set forth with specificity the allocation of the Settlement fund for each class member. The failure to explain the plan of allocation is material.

“Neither the Class Notice nor the proposed Settlement Agreement provides the Class Members with the allocation of their individual relief. As a result, Class Members do not have the information necessary to calculate the allocation of the Settlement proceeds per class member.

“The lack of disclosure about the Settlement allocation denies Class Members the opportunity to make informed decisions as to releasing their claims in exchange for an unknown allocation of the proposed Settlement fund at an unknown time in the future.”

And then there is the question of how much money is actually going to be available:

“The Class Notice states that Class Counsel will request the Court for an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses, which will be paid from the $22 Million fund. The Class Notice further states that Class Counsel will ask the Court for 30% of the $22 Million fund ($6.6 Million) and seek approximately $1,319,127 in litigation expenses.”

That’s $7,919,127 off the top or 36% of the total of $22 million, leaving $14,080,873 to distribute. That’s a lot less, and Solo contends:

“Class Counsel’s requested attorney’s fees and reimbursement of expenses is disproportionate to the Settlement fund, and are improper as neither reasonable nor necessary.”

Solo’s filing also reveals that the USSF will not pay all $22 million at one time, but in four annual payments of $5.5 million, with the first made on 1 June 2022. So the claimants are going to have to wait for their full share – whatever that is – until mid-2025.

Once again, we are reminded of Yogi Berra’s famous 1973 maxim: “It’s never over till it’s over.”

2.
Italy becomes sixth country to boycott FIG Congress

The Federazione Gimnastica d’Italia (FGI) stated on Wednesday that it would skip the forthcoming International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Congress:

“FGI President Gherardo Tecchi announced that the Gymnastics Federation of Italy will not take part with its delegation in the 84th FIG Congress, scheduled in Istanbul, Turkey, on 11 and 12 November 2022, due to the desire not to meet delegates from Russia and Belarus.

“The decision of [the FGI] was taken, with the endorsement of the Italian National Olympic Committee, in support of the line adopted by other federations – to date Norway, Ukraine, Estonia, Poland and Lithuania – with reference to the declaration agreed by the Ministers of Sport – or their equivalents – of the 25 countries of the European Union and numerous non-European countries, in total solidarity with the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation.”

Italy is a significant player in the gymnastics world, but its announcement was brushed aside by Russian Gymnmastics Federation chief and FIG Executive Committee member Vassily Titov of Russia. He told the TASS news agency:

“The International Gymnastics Federation includes 143 countries, 130 have already registered.

“This means that the congress is competent, it will take place and make all the necessary decisions. that our sports colleagues are trying to overly politicize the situation with the participation of the Russian and Belarusian delegations.”

Titov also noted that the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in FIG -sanctioned competitions is still in effect. Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin also said he sees no movement toward reinstatement of Russian and Belarusian athletes:

“Statements that discriminate against Russian, Belarusian or other athletes are absolutely unacceptable. We hear some positive statements that sports cannot exist without Russians.

“The next year is important, and a lot depends on the position of the [International Olympic Committee]. So far, we do not see its change. The task of our federations and state bodies is to change the position of the international sports community to one where all Olympic principles are observed.”

3.
Russian figure skater Maria Talalaikina refused Italian residence

The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to have repercussions far beyond the battlefield and even sports competitions, but down to who can live where.

Russian-born figure skater Maria Talalaikina, now 20, who finished ninth in the 2020-21 Russian nationals, moved to Italy to improve her chances of competing internationally. She told the RIA Novosti agency that she received permission last year from Russia for a change of nationality … then the war came:

“Due to the political situation, the Italian government did not issue me a residence permit. Without this document, I could not represent this country in international competitions. And I could not continue to reside in Italy either.

“I spent almost a year in sports ‘quarantine’ in Italy in order to be able to participate in international competitions in the future. This period was difficult for me. I thought about quitting, then I realized I couldn’t live without figure skating. So I decided to come back [to Russia].”

She returned in October and was welcomed back to her old training group in St. Petersburg. She told TASS, “There was a letter of apology from the Italian federation, which said that they could not change anything, it was the decision of their government.” She explained that the Italians tried to help her with a transfer to Croatia, but the Croatian government has banned entry for Russian passport holders. So she had nowhere else to go.

She explained her situation this way:

“I think it’s no secret to anyone that every athlete has a goal not only to train, he wants to compete. At that time, I understood that in Russia I won’t have such an opportunity [to make a national team], but in Italy there was a chance. Since there was, why not try? I had to, so as not to regret later that I didn’t even try. …

“I think everyone in life has such a moment when they don’t know what to do. I had the feeling that everything was taken from me. I’m 20 years old, and from the age of four, I skate, I even slept in them when I was little. Well, I can’t live without this frozen piece of water. …

“I don’t need anything else; nothing can replace this. I love what I’ve always done, and I’m happy that I still can. Everything is fine, I’m at home and I’m glad I’m back, I don’t even remember when I was so happy for the last time.”

But don’t look for her to compete internationally any time soon.

4.
Ealey and McLaughlin nominated for World Athletics
Woman of the Year

World Athletics announced its list of 10 candidates for Women’s World Athlete of the Year, with two Americans making the list (in alphabetical order):

● Tobi Amusan (NGR): World Champion in 100 m hurdles and world-record setter (12.12)

● Chase Ealey (USA): World Champion in the shot; world leader at 20.51 m (67-3 1/2)

● Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM): Won fifth 100 m world title; world leader at 10.62

● Kimberley Garcia (PER): World Champion in 20 km and 35 km Walks

● Shericka Jackson (JAM): World 200 m Champion and world leader at 21.45

● Faith Kipyegon (KEN): World Champion at 1,500 m and world leader at 3:50.37

● Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR): World Indoor Champion; Worlds silver medalist; world leader at 2.05 m (6-8 3/4)

● Sydney McLaughlin (USA): World Champion in 400 m hurdles; world-record setter at 50.68

● Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH): World Champion in 400 m, indoors and out

● Yulimar Rojas (VEN): Triple Jump World Indoor Champion and World Champion; extended her world record to 15.74 m (51-7 3/4)

Fans can participate in voting through the World Athletics social-media channels; the vote of the World Athletics Council counts for 50%; another 25% is reserved for the World Athletics “family” – including the national federations – and the fan vote also counts for 25%.

The winner will be announced in December.

5.
Is drafting the key to a sub-2:00 marathon?

“Kipchoge only has to shave off about a minute. More disciplined drafting could easily get him there.”

A University of Colorado-led study of the impact of drafting during a full marathon indicates that even Kenyan world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge could obtain a substantial advantage of as much as five minutes!

In “The metabolic cost of emulated aerodynamic drag forces in marathon running,” published in July in the Journal of Applied Physiology, authors Rodger Kram (USA/University of Colorado), Edson Soares da Silva (BRA/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) and Wouter Hoogkamer (NED/University of Massachusetts Amherst) conducted the strongest experiments yet to determine the impact of drafting on an endurance race.

They used a team of 12 runners, each working on a treadmill and competing six 5:00 trials, first without resistance, then with a rubber strap that pulled them backwards at a rate calibrated to simulate aerodynamic drag. And:

“The researchers conclude runners could theoretically increase their power by about 6% per 1% of their body weight in the absence of any wind resistance.

“Realistically, even the most ideal drafting can probably only eliminate about 85% of that drag. And notably, for reasons that aren’t yet clear, some runners appear to benefit even more from drafting than others.

“For a runner of Kipchoge’s size and speed, this means drafting alone can potentially save between 3:42 and 5:29.

“Surprisingly, slower runners can achieve about the same time savings. For instance, da Silva calculates, a 125-pound, 5-foot-7 female runner who typically runs about a 3:35 marathon could improve her time by as much as five minutes.”

Kipchoge famously ran 1:59:40 in Vienna in 2019 in time-trial conditions that included a pacing scenario that allowed Kipchoge to draft most of the way. Kipchoge had three pacesetters working with him in Berlin for his most recent 2:01:09 record, who left after about the 15-mile mark (24 km); if they had been able to help him for another six miles (10 km), another minute could be saved, leaving the Kenyan star right at the 2:00 mark.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Cycling ● The 2022 UCI Track Cycling World Championships began on Wednesday in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FRA) and will continue through Sunday.

The men’s first-day winner was Australia in the Team Sprint – its first since 2012 – defeating four-time defending champion Netherlands in the final, 41.600-41.633. Great Britain took the bronze over Germany.

The women’s Team Sprint was a third straight World Championships win for Germany, with a world-record time of 45.967 for Emma Hinze, Pauline Grabosch and Lea Friedrich. All three have been on Germany’s three consecutive winning teams. China was second (46.631); Great Britain again won the bronze.

Italy’s Martina Fidanza defended her world title in the women’s Scratch Race, outlasting Maike van der Duin (NED) for the second straight year. Jessica Roberts (GBR) was third, with American Lily Williams fourth.

● Judo ● The individual weight classes at the 2022 World Judo Championships concluded on Wednesday, with two more medals for Japan, but neither of them gold.

In the men’s +100 kg class, Cuba’s Andy Granda, the 2019 Pan American Games gold medalist, won his first Worlds medal by defeating Japanese newcomer Tatsuru Saito in the final. The women’s +78 km crown was won by France’s Romane Dicko, the Tokyo Olympic bronze winner, who defeated Brazil’s 2021 Worlds bronze winner Beatriz Souza in the championship match. Japan took a bronze with Wakaba Tomita, the silver medalist in 2021.

The medal standings for the individual classes showed Japan once again dominant, winning 12 medals, with five golds, four silvers and three bronzes. Next closest were Brazil, France and Georgia, with four medals each. The Mixed Team event will be held on Thursday.

● Volleyball ● Defending champion Serbia moved into the championship final of the 2022 FIVB Women’s World Championship on Wednesday by defeating the Tokyo Olympic gold medalists, the U.S., in four sets.

Serbia swept the U.S. in pool play and won the semifinal held in Gilwice (POL) by 25-21, 25-20, 17-25 and 25-23.

The other semi, to be held in Apeldoorn (NED) on Thursday, has Brazil meeting Italy. The Italians lost to Serbia in the 2018 final and Brazil won silvers in 2006 and 2010.

The medal matches will be held on Saturday, both in Apeldoorn.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Memorabilia ● An update on Wednesday’s post on the sale of a mounted Olympic Torch from the 1960 Olympic Winter Games that sold at auction for $720,000, including the buyer’s premium. This turns out to be a record for a torch from this specific Games only. A confirmed sale in 2021 for a torch from the 1952 Helsinki Games was for more than $1 million.

● Athletics ● USA Track & Field published its selection criteria for the 2023 World Athletics Championships marathon to be held in Budapest (HUN) next summer. It’s all on time:

“Three (3) team positions, per gender, will be selected based on the three (3) highest placing time performances on marks set on World Athletics approved courses (footnote) during the period of December 1, 2021 through May 30, 2023, who accept a position on the team.

“Each selectee must have met at least the World Athletics Championships qualifying standards of 2:09:40 for men and 2:28:00 for women or otherwise qualified based on world ranking or top five finish at a Platinum Label marathon held during the qualification period or by winning a Gold Label marathon held in 2023.

“Should not enough athletes accept positions using the above procedure, any remaining positions will be filled based on rank order as described above.”

With the selection period going back to December of 2021, the current time leaders who have met the qualifying standards are:

Men:
● 2:08:16 ~ Conner Mantz (Chicago ‘22)
● 2:09:28 ~ Zach Panning (Chicago ‘22)
● 2:09:36 ~ Galen Rupp (World Champs ‘22)
(no other qualifiers below 2:09:40)

Women:
● 2:18:19 ~ Emily Sisson (Chicago ‘22)
● 2:19:12 ~ Keira D’Amato (Houston ‘22)
● 2:22:10 ~ Sara Hall (World Champs ‘22)
(four others below 2:28:00 in 2022)

Lots to choose from on the women’s side; as for a possible 10,000 m berth instead, the 2023 U.S. Nationals are currently slated for 6-9 July, with no site publicly announced as yet.

● Figure Skating ● American star Mariah Bell, 26, announced her retirement on Wednesday, in an Instagram post that included:

“This journey was hard and I didn’t always like it but I did always love it. All of these experiences made me the person I am, a person ready to hang up my competitive skating and take on the next part of my life with knowledge I could only gain through gliding across a cold sheet of ice everyday. My dreams became reality!

“I’ve learned through perseverance and determination there are no limits. … I am so lucky that I am ending with my love of skating at an all-time high. …

“See you on the ice again but now just for the fun of shows.”

Bell appeared in four World Championships, with a best of fourth in 2022, and was 10th at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. She was a four-time U.S. Nationals medal winner, winning in 2022 and second in 2020. She won four ISU Grand Prix medals and won at Skate America in the fall of 2020.

The International Skating Union announced that Boston has been provisionally awarded the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships for 24-30 March. The 2026 meet will go to Prague (CZE).

The 2025 Worlds are slated for the TD Garden, which also hosted the event in 2016. It’s the 14th time that the United States will host the figure skating Worlds, beginning in 1930! It will be the fourth time in the 21st Century for the World Championships to be in the U.S.

The ISU published its allocation of judges by nation for the 2023 European, 2023 World Championships and 2023 World Junior Championships and no Russian or Belarusian judges will be involved. The ISU has maintained the ban on Russian and Belarusian athlete participation since 1 March 2022.

● Gymnastics ● The champions of the FIG Artistic World Challenge Cup were confirmed, with an unbelievable Vault victory for 47-year-old Oksana Chusovitina (UZB).

Although she represented the USSR through 1991, she was born in Uzbekistan and scored 85 points in her three Challenge Cup appearances to win the Vault title.

Ukraine’s Daniela Batrona won the Uneven Bars (56 points) and Beam titles (70); Hungary’s Dorina Boeczoego won the Floor championship (75), with Batrona second (50).

The Armenian Davtyan brothers won two of the six apparatus titles with Vahagn Davtyan taking the Rings (85) and younger brother Artur Davtyan winning on Vault (90). Israel claimed two titles with Tokyo Olympic Floor champ Artem Dolgopyat winning his specialty (90) and Alexander Myakinin winning on the Horizontal Bar (70). Kazak Nariman Kurbanov (72) won in the Pommel Horse and Ukraine’s Ilia Kovtun won on Parallel Bars (90).

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TSX REPORT: Olympic torch sells for $720,000; U.S. women lose to Spain, 2-0; abuse scandals at NWSL and Hockey Canada continue to expand

By
Rich Perelman
-
The 1960 Olympic Winter Games torch that sold for $720,000 at auction! (Photo courtesy Ingrid O'Neil Auctions)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Staggering $720,000 paid for 1960 Olympic Winter torch
2. Spain outclasses U.S. women, 2-0, in Pamplona
3. NWSL abuse scandal continues to expand
4. Hockey Canada imploding over assault scandals as board resigns
5. Paralympics impact comes “One, two, three or four years later”

A 1960 Olympic Winter Games torch presented by Walt Disney to his deputy for the torch relay and pageantry of the event sold for an astonishing $600,000 plus a 20% buyer’s premium at an online auction that concluded over the weekend. There were 13 more items that sold for more than $10,000 each. In Pamplona, Spain, the U.S. Women’s National Team lost to Spain, 2-0, and dropped consecutive games for the first time since 2017. The American side was missing a half-dozen of its stars, but 15 Spanish players had refused to play to protest the team’s coach! The abuse scandals at the National Women’s Soccer League continue to expand, with new cases reported, the Orlando Pride coach fired and sponsors suspending their support of teams in Portland and Louisville. Further north, Hockey Canada is imploding from revelations of millions in payments in abuse cases back to 1989, with the chief executive excused and the board of directors resigning en masse in advance of an election in December. Athletes in other sports are also pushing back against their federations, especially in bobsleigh and skeleton. The Paris 2024 organizers welcomed a crowd of perhaps 40,000 to its Paralympic Day last Saturday, with IPC President Andrew Parsons saying the Paralympic Games bring long-term change for those with disabilities, and the attention focused on them is the reason a merger with the Olympic Games would not be advisable.

1.
Staggering $720,000 paid for 1960 Olympic Winter torch

/Updated/Lot no. 1 of Ingrid O’Neil’s 485-item Auction 92 of Olympic memorabilia that ended on 8 October was a mounted torch from the 1960 Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California (now re-named Palisades Tahoe).

Given by Walt Disney – Chairman of the Games Pageantry Committee – to film producer, writer and director Tom Leetch in recognition of his work on the relay and the pageantry for the Games, the torch had a starting bid of $240,000.

It sold for an astonishing $600,000, plus a 20% buyer’s premium for a total sales price of $720,000 to an unknown buyer. O’Neil, who has been in the Olympic memorabilia business for decades, believes this is an “absolute record” for a torch from the 1960 Winter Games.

That was the stunner, but there were 13 other lots which sold for more than $10,000, not including the 20% buyer’s premium, eight of which were for Olympic torches:

● $65,000: A 1992 Albertville Olympic Winter Games torch.

● $45,000: The 1904 St. Louis bronze medal in the men’s triple jump, won by American Robert Stangland, with the original case.

● $35,000: A set of 1948 St. Moritz Winter Games gold, silver and bronze medals, apparently a souvenir given to the Swiss Chef de Mission Kurt Gassmann.

● $28,000: the 1904 St. Louis gold medal for rope climbing – part of the gymnastics competition – won by American George Eyser.

● $28,000: A Sapporo 1972 Olympic Winter Games torch.

● $24,000: Original 22×29-inch oil painting by French artist Michel Delacroix, commissioned by the 1996 Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, and used to create a poster for the Games.

● $24,000: Calgary 1988 gold medal (USSR) for men’s ice hockey.

● $24,000: Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games torch.

● $22,000: A Cortina 1956 Olympic Winter Games torch.

● $20,000: A 1976 Innsbruck Olympic Winter Games torch.

● $18,000: A gold-plated and extremely rare Montreal 1976 torch.

● $13,000: A Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games torch.

● $12,000: A Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch.

Not everything went for big money. Six lots went for $80 each ($96 with the buyer’s premium): the U.S. Olympic Committee’s official book for the 1984 Games, 1988 Seoul Olympic mascot figurines, a 1992 Albertville U.S. Olympic Team beer stein, a 1998 Nagano commemorative beer stein, a 2004 IOC-awarded Athens participation pin, and a set of London 2012 Opening and Closing Ceremonies programs.

2.
Spain outclasses U.S. women, 2-0, in Pamplona

Despite a revolt from many of its star players, eighth-ranked Spain controlled the midfield and convincingly defeated the top-ranked U.S. Women’s National Team, 2-0, in Pamplona on Tuesday,

The first half saw the U.S. control the first 30 minutes, but without any serious chances. Spain then came alive, found some offensive cohesion and got a quality chance on a powerful shot from outside the box by midfielder Claudia Zornoza in the 31st minute.

Off a Zornoza corner in the 39th minute, the ball swerved into the middle of the box, right in front of the American goal, and found the foot of striker Alba Redondo, whose shot was blocked. It caromed off the ankle of defender Rocio Galvez and defender Laia Codina clubbed it with her right foot past U.S. keeper Casey Murphy for a 1-0 lead. The half ended with Spain holding 54% of the possession and a 4-3 edge on shots.

The second half continued Spain’s control of play, with strong chances in the 63rd and 69th minutes and then a thunderous second goal in the 72nd minute. Moving down the right side, midfielder Oihane Hernandez sent a hard cross into the middle of the box, with Esther Gonzalez meeting it with her left foot and directing it into the left side of the net for a 2-0 lead.

The U.S. attack was inconsistent and Spain’s midfield was more and more efficient as the game progressed. The Spanish finished with 51% possession, but the U.S. had a 10-8 advantage in shots. The U.S. managed only two shots-on-goal on Tuesday, after two against England last Friday.

The game, played in front of a full house at the 23,576-seat El Sadar Stadium in Pamplona, featured two wounded teams.

The Spanish were without 15 players who refused the call-up for the national team on 24 September, citing issues with team performance and coach Jorge Vilda. A player’s letter cited “the general situation on the Spanish national team generated by recent events, events which [the federation] is aware of, is greatly affecting my emotional state and therefore my health.”

The U.S. was coming off its first loss of the year, a 2-1 defeat to England on Friday, ending a 23-match unbeaten streak, and without multiple first-line players due to injuries, including strikers Alex Morgan, Mallory Pugh and Catarina Macario, midfielders Sam Mewis and Julie Ertz, defenders Tierna Davidson and Kelley O’Hara, and others.

The last time the American women lost consecutive games was back in 2017, with losses to England (0-1) and France (0-3) in the SheBelieves Cup. And the schedule does not get any easier, with two matches vs. no. 2-ranked Germany coming up on 10 November in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and 13 November in Harrison, New Jersey.

The U.S. women’s recent friendlies have drawn modest interest from television viewers. After the USA-Nigeria match on 6 September (Tuesday) drew 336,000, the USA-England friendly on Friday afternoon (3 p.m. Eastern) drew 726,000 viewers according to Nielsen. That was the biggest soccer audience of the week in the U.S., but paled against college and NFL games, with 22 drawing more than one million viewers, and the Major League Baseball Wild Card Series games, where all nine had more than a million viewers.

3.
NWSL abuse scandal continues to expand

U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone said that the release of the federation-commission report on abuse compiled by former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates has led to at least three additional abuse cases being reported.

Parlow Cone said the reports have been forwarded, as required, to the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

At the Orlando Pride, coach Amanda Cromwell and assistant coach Sam Greene were fired, with team owner Mark Wilf’s statement including:

“Our organization has received a review of the findings regarding retaliatory conduct toward Pride players and supports the actions taken by the National Women’s Soccer League.”

Cromwell disagreed and posted a statement that read in part, “I am saddened and disappointed by the results of the NWSL’s investigation released today. I believe the investigation lacked transparency, professionalism and thoroughness and as a result my character and integrity have been mischaracterized.” She is considering her legal options.

The repercussions of the Yates Report, which focused on specific misconduct of coaches in Portland, Louisville and Chicago, continue to be felt at the club level. In Portland, owner Merritt Paulson announced that he will no longer serve as chief executive of the Thorns, saying “I am holding myself accountable for not doing enough.”

Thorns sponsors Laurelwood Brewing Company, Tillamook and Alaska Airlines have questioned their relationship with the team going forward; Alaska Air said in a Sunday statement (9th), in part:

“[W]e are taking an immediate next step to redirect Alaska Airlines’ Timbers and Thorns FC sponsorship funds this quarter to the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association ‘Support the Players Emergency Trust’ and to youth sports in the Portland community.”

Racing Louisville sponsor Sherwin-Williams announced last Friday that “Any future support will depend on the National Women’s Soccer League creating meaningful change to ensure the health and safety of the players.

“In lieu of the sponsorship, we have made a donation to Support The Players National Emergency Trust (NET), which will guarantee our funds go directly to the players.”

4.
Hockey Canada imploding over assault scandals as board resigns

A major abuse scandal is essentially dissolving the highest-profile national sports federation in Canada – Hockey Canada – over its own abuse scandal in the national sport.

Reports in July revealed that the federation had paid C$8.9 million (~$6.5 million U.S.) in 21 different settlements in abuse cases since 1989, some from its own funds and some from insurance. Another settlement, for C$3.55 million (~$2.58 million U.S.), was made in May related to sexual assault allegations from June 2018 involving eight former Canadian Hockey League players.

The repercussions have reached the boiling point, with federation sponsors Bauer Hockey, Canadian Tire, Nike and Tim Hortons all suspending their relationships with Hockey Canada. Hockey Quebec announced last week that it would no longer forward a portion of registration fees to the national federation, in which it had “lost confidence.”

On Tuesday, chief executive Scott Smith, who refused to resign in July, was dismissed and the entire Board of Directors resigned so that a new Board can be installed. Elections for a new Board will be held on 17 December.

The Toronto Star reported Monday that “Athletes in sports such as rowing, rugby, skeleton, artistic swimming, women’s soccer and wrestling have voiced concerns about Canadian sports culture and issues ranging from sexual abuse and maltreatment to toxic training environments and financial wrongdoings.”

Reports of misconduct have roiled the Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton federation and Gymnastics Canada has had its funding frozen by the Canadian Ministry of Sport.

5.
Paralympics impact comes “One, two, three or four years later”

The Paris 2024 “Paralympic Day” on Saturday (8th) brought perhaps 40,000 Parisians – no one knows for sure – to the Place de la Bastille for free demonstrations of 15 Paralympic sports across three temporary fields along with entertainment.

The French-language site FrancsJeux.com reported on the comments of International Paralympic Committee President, Andrew Parsons (BRA), on the impact of a Paralympic Games in a country:

“It’s important to mention that we don’t expect issues that are hundreds of years old to be resolved with the Paralympic Games.

“It would be unrealistic, in particular, to imagine that public transport would be 100% accessible. But the Paralympic Games are a catalyst. What we want is to push accessibility and highlight the needs in this area. So that there are always improvements in terms of accessibility for the city and for the country. Not at the time of the Games, but one, two, three or four years later. This is the opportunity. After the Games, it’s up to society to keep pushing for inclusion.”

Parsons noted in an August interview that while there was a significant inclusion of Paralympic events into the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (ENG) in July, he does not see a merger of the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming … and does not want one:

“In the sport movement I think we are going to see more and more integration, but I still believe that the Paralympic Games is not only a sport event. I see the Paralympic Games as the only global event on this planet that puts persons with disabilities centre stage, so I still believe that this is a platform that needs to be owned by persons with a disability in an exclusive way because it’s their moment to shine, their moment to send a message, their moment to bring their agenda to the world.

“So while I do believe that in many other sports events like the Commonwealth Games – and I was there for a few days – it’s really great to see that level of integration, especially when the crowds, they don’t differentiate a Para athlete from an athlete without a disability, I believe that when it comes to the biggest sport event at a global level for persons with disability, we should still have the same format as we have now. Olympics, transition, Paralympics. And in some other games, when it’s possible, I think integration is amazing.”

The Paralympic athletes are fully aware. Said French long jumper Arnaud Assoumani, a six-time Paralympic medalist, who reached 7.58 m (24-10 1/2) on Saturday:

“The Paralympic Games and big events like that can change and really accelerate the perception, the awareness and then also to show that everyone needs to be part of that Movement.

“It’s not just for people with disabilities. It’s for all society, so we need the politicians, we need the media, we need the companies. Now we are in that moment in France where everything is speeding up like crazy, but we are building something.

“Today was the first Paralympic Day, but we want to have more in France in the next years, and this Paralympic Day needs to [be held] in other countries around the world too.”

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Judo ● The World Judo Championships are heading toward the finish in Tashkent (UZB), with the home team enjoying two wins in the men’s division.

Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Davlat Bobonov won the men’s 90 kg class by defeating Christian Parlati (ITA), and Muzaffarbek Turoboyev took the 100 kg title with a win over Canada’s Pan American champ Kyle Reeves.

The women’s 70 kg final was a triumph for defending champion Barbara Matic of Croatia, but this in a final against another Croatian, Lara Cvjetko, who won her first Worlds medal. At 78 kg, it was Brazilian Mayra Aguiar winning her third world title – 2014-17-22 – by defeating China’s Zhenzhao Ma.

The open-weight classes will be concluded on Wednesday and the Mixed Team event on Thursday will conclude the championships.

● Shooting ● The ISSF World Championships in Shotgun concluded in Osijek (CRO) with the team events in Skeet, and the U.S. women claiming gold.

Dania Jo Vizzi, Austen Smith and Sam Simonton swept the Women’s Team final from Italy, by a 6-0 score, winning by scores of 11-9, 11-10 and 12-5. China won the bronze in a shoot-off with Germany, 11-10.

Italy and the U.S. met again in the men’s Team final, but it was much, much closer. The U.S. trio of Vincent Hancock, Dustan Taylor and Christian Elliott fought the Italians to a 5-5 tie after five rounds, coming back from am 0-2 deficit. But in the shoot-off, Italy triumphed by 12-11 to win the title. The Czech Republic won the bronze.

The Mixed Team final included Italy once again, but it was Britain’s Ben Llewellin and Amber Hill who managed a 7-3 win for the gold medal. Kazakhstan and France won the bronze medals; the American pair of Taylor and Simonton lost to France, 7-1.

The U.S. won five senior-level medals (2-2-1); Italy won four golds, plus two silvers and a bronze to lead all medal-winning teams, while Great Britain won six (2-3-1).

● Volleyball ● The serious business of the elimination rounds at the FIVB Women’s World Championship in the Netherlands and Poland has begun, with Italy, Brazil, Serbia and the U.S. advancing to the semifinals on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Tuesday, Italy dispatched China, 3-1, and Brazil edged Japan, 3-2, in Apeldoorn (NED), and will play on Thursday, also in Apeldoorn. Serbia had a tough time with home-standing Poland, 3-2, in Gilwice. The U.S., the Tokyo Olympic gold medalists, defeated Turkey for the second time in the tournament, 3-2. The Serbia-U.S. match will be in Gilwice.

In prior play, Brazil defeated Italy in a tight, 3-2 match in the second round. Serbia previously swept aside the U.S., 3-0, in pool play. The defending champion Serbs are the only undefeated team left in the tournament (10-0) and have won 30 of 35 sets played.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● the Athletics Integrity Unit confirmed the doping positive of British sprinter CJ Ujah and the disqualification of Britain’s men’s 4×100 m relay team at the Tokyo Olympic Games, where it finished second. The AIU stated:

“The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has banned British athlete Chijindu (CJ) Ujah for 22 months from 6 August, 2021 until 5 June, 2023.

“This is the outcome of the Case Resolution Agreement which the AIU and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have reached with Ujah who tested positive at last year’s rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games for two prohibited substances (Ostarine and S-23) which are Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMS). The AIU and WADA were satisfied that the sprinter’s anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) was not intentional as a result of his ingestion of a contaminated supplement and the applicable two-year period of ineligibility was reduced by two months on account of how promptly he admitted the violation.”

More Kenyan doping positives, both for marathoners. On Monday, the Athletics Integrity Unit suspended Philemon Kacheran (best of 2:05:19 in 2021) for three years for testosterone use. On Tuesday, the AIU announced Mark Kangogo (2:14:08 in 2018) has been provisionally suspended for use of the steroids Norandrosterone and Triamcinolone acetonide.

Kenya’s The Nation reported that 21 Kenyan athletes have been suspended for doping in 2022.

● Football ● The fan festival concept, now a fixture in the country where the FIFA World Cup is being held and in many of the participating countries, is being expanded by FIFA through its sponsor AB Inbev this November. Fan programs will be mounted in five countries:

● London (ENG) at Outernet London, sponsored by BudX, on five dates only.

● Mexico City (MEX) at the Plaza de la Republica, sponsored by Corona, from 20 November to 18 December.

● Rio de Janeiro (BRA) at the Copacabana beach, sponsored by Brahma, on seven dates only.

● Sao Paulo (BRA) at Anhangabau Valley Park, sponsored by Brahma, on seven dates only.

● Seoul (KOR) at the S-Factory, sponsored by BudX, on three dates only.

● Dubai (UAE) at the Dubai Harbor, sponsored by BudX, from 20 November to 18 December.

All but the UAE have teams in the tournament, and the festivals will “only be open to consumers of legal drinking age.” This is a full-service concept, with the program tailored to each market and capacities of up to 10,000. More details, such as admission fees (if any) and special reserved areas, are yet to come.

FIFA announced the 2022 version of its Club Benefits Program, which will pay club teams up to about $209 million for players who are away from their teams for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

FIFA said it will pay about $10,000 U.S. per day, up to $370,000 per player who play in the medal matches, expected to be paid to 416 clubs across 63 countries. This is the same amount paid out for 2018; the program began in 2010. Smaller amounts will be paid to clubs for players who played in World Cup qualifying matches.

The U.S. Women’s U-17 team opened with an 8-0 rout of India at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, in Bhubaneswar (IND). Melina Rebimbas scored twice as the U.S. out-shot India, 30-2.

● Gymnastics ● Sunday’s final day of the Ukrainian national championships was canceled due to the bombing of Kyiv on Sunday by Russian missiles. The Gymnovosti.com site reported a tweet from 2016 Rio Olympian Angelina Radivilov, now working as a coach, that included an 11-second video of athletes sheltering and the caption:

“[T]his is how the final competition of the Ukrainian Championships went today. In the basement. And how is it at yours, Russians? Are you also hiding your athletes from rockets?”

Following the lead of USA Cycling, USA Weightlifting, USA Fencing and others, USA Gymnastics announced it “will cover costs for regular visits to mental health providers for National Team athletes and coaches under a new athlete health and wellness program rolled out this fall.”

Funded in part by USAG apparel sponsor GK Elite, the new project includes:

“Each National Team athlete in all disciplines will receive up to eight mental health visits per year, reimbursed by USA Gymnastics up to $125 per visit. Coaches are eligible for up to four visits per year. Athletes and coaches may use any provider of their choosing who has appropriate training and licensure in sport psychology or mental health.”

● Swimming ● Two outstanding American swimmers confirmed their retirements, both of whom won medals in international competitions for the United States.

Madisyn Cox, 27, won a World Championships bronze in the women’s 200 m Medley in 2017 and a gold on the 4×200 m Free Relay, plus 2016 World 25 m Championships bronzes in the 200 m and 400 m Medleys, and a 4×200 m Free relay silver.

But she will equally be remembered for fighting a 2018 doping ban for trimetazidine and winning. Cox was able to prove at the Court of Arbitration for Sport that a multivitamin contaminated with the drug was at fault and not her, and her suspension was reduced from four years to the six months that passed during her appeal.

Cox had said that the 2021 season would be her last, as she was moving on to medical school at the University of Texas.

Katie Drabot, 25, was a 13-time All-American at Stanford and won a World Championships bronze in the 200 m Butterfly in 2017 and a Pan-Pacific bronze in the same event in 2018. She wrote on her Instagram account:

“Swimming will always be a big part of my life and I’m forever grateful for the opportunities, individuals and experiences that it’s given me. It’s now time for me to focus on my health and well-being as I start this next chapter of my life.”

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TSX REPORT: Chepngetich 2:14:18! Sisson 2:18:29 U.S. record in Chicago; Kremlin cheers Russian boxing return; Luz Long’s ‘36 silver on auction

By
Rich Perelman
-
New marathon American Record setter Emily Sisson, seen in a 2019 race. (Photo: Alan Wilkinson via Wikipedia)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Chepngetich’s 2:14:18 no. 2 ever, Sisson sets U.S. record in Chicago
2. Kremlin salutes IBA’s re-admission of Russian boxers
3. Five countries now boycotting FIG Congress with Russia present
4. No. 4 England women defeat no. 1 U.S., 2-1, in Wembley showdown
5. Luz Long archive, including ‘36 silver, up for auction

A spectacular Chicago Marathon produced the second-fastest women’s marathon ever run, from Kenya’s 2019 World Champion Ruth Chepngeitch (2:14:18) and an American Record from Emily Sisson, in 2:18:19. The decision of the Russian-led International Boxing Association to reinstate Russian and Belarusian athletes was hailed by the Kremlin, the Russian Sports Ministry and four-time world professional champion Roy Jones, Jr., an American by birth, but who was granted Russian citizenship in 2015! Five countries have announced a boycott of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Congress in Turkey in November because Russian and Belarusian delegates will be allowed to participate; more may join. England’s European Champion women’s football team won a tight, 2-1 battle with the no. 1-ranked U.S. women at a packed Wembley Stadium on Friday, 2-1, with all the scoring in the first half. Continuing this week and into Saturday is an online auction of 32 items related to Germany’s Luz Long, including his long jump silver medal from the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, where he placed second to American icon Jesse Owens.

1.
Chepngetich’s 2:14:18 no. 2 ever, Sisson sets U.S. record 2:18:29 in Chicago

A cool day made for perfect running conditions at the 44th Chicago Marathon on Sunday, with one of the fastest races ever for women, a near-world record for Ruth Chepngetich and an American Record for Emily Sisson.

The 2019 World Champion, Kenya’s Chepngetich was primed for a fast race, especially after dropping out of the 2022 World Championships marathon in Eugene. She took off from the start, taking a 45-second lead by the 5 km mark, and 1:55 by 10 km, and was clearly on a path to challenge countrywoman Brigid Kosgei’s 2:14:04 world mark from the 2019 Chicago race.

Chepngetich passed the half in a steaming 1:05:44, moving her to no. 9 on the world list for 2022! She passed 25 km in 1:18:03, 90 seconds ahead of Kosgei’s 2019 pace, but then began to slow. She was still 49 seconds up on Kosgei’s pace at 35 km, but only nine seconds ahead at 40 km and finished in a brilliant 2:14:18, the no. 2 performance of all time.

Chepngetich now owns three of the top 10 times ever in the event and defended her 2021 Chicago title. In her career, she has now started 11 marathons, finished nine and won seven, at only age 28.

In her third career marathon, Sisson had Keira D’Amato’s American Record of 2:19:12 from January’s Houston Marathon in her sights from the start and was at the head of the chase pack for much of the race, between 15 and 30 km. She passed the half in 1:09:26, no. 6 on the U.S. list for 2022, and separated herself from Vivian Kiplagat (KEN) and Ruti Aga (ETH) after 30 km. A clear second for the final 10 km, she finished strongly and destroyed D’Amato’s mark with a 2:18:29 finish, moving to no. 22 on the all-time world list.

Sisson, 30, now holds the U.S. records in the half-marathon (1:07:11 this year) and the marathon and is no. 5 all-time U.S. at 10,000 m on the track. She obliterated her prior best of 2:23:08 from London in 2019; she did not finish at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta.

The race behind the top two saw Kiplagat get third in 2:20:52 and Aga fourth in 2:21:41. American Susanna Sullivan finished sixth in 2:25:14, now no. 14 all-time U.S., with Sara Vaughn of the U.S. seventh in 2:26:23.

The men’s race saw a lead group of 10 pass the half in 1:02:24, then reduced to five by 30 km and four by 35 km. With about 5 km left, Kenyan Benson Kipruto, 31, broke away and could not be caught. The 2021 Boston winner won his second World Marathon Majors race in 2:04:24, a lifetime best, the no. 4 performance in Chicago Marathon history and no. 4 on the 2022 world list.

Defending champ Seifu Tura (ETH) was the last to let go of Kipruto, and finished second in 2:04:49, ahead of John Korir (KEN: 2:05:01). Conner Mantz was the top American, placing seventh in his marathon debut in 2:08:16, just 20 seconds behind the all-time U.S. marathon debut best of 2:07:56 from Leonard Korir in 2019.

The prize money for elites was $460,000, with $75,000-55,000-45,000-30,000-25,000 for the top five men and women.

Next up is the New York City Marathon, scheduled for 6 November.

2.
Kremlin salutes IBA’s re-admission of Russian boxers

To the surprise of no one, the International Boxing Association’s decision to re-admit Russian and Belarusian boxers to competition on 5 October has been lauded by politicians and sport officials in Russia:

● Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov:

“Certainly, this is very important, very positive news. We see that, unfortunately, so far this is a very rare example of a federation that manages to defend the interests of our athletes.

“This is not a reason to calm down. On the contrary, it is only an additional impetus for our sports authorities to continue efforts to defend the interests of our athletes. Our elite sport can and should have the right to compete in international competitions, we must fight for it.”

● Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin:

“I sincerely want to congratulate our boxers on a very important victory – they are not only allowed to compete, but now they will be able to compete under the flag of Russia. There are many Olympic champions in our country who have written their names in the history of world boxing.

“The position of the International Boxing Association meets all standards of sports law. Sport should be out of politics, and athletes, no matter what country they are, should remain on an equal footing and participate in competitions. I hope that many international federations will follow the example of the IBA and demonstrate their commitment to sports values by allowing Russians to compete under their auspices.”

● Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov predicted that more federations will allow Russians back in competition, but again threatened that a separate organization to challenge the International Olympic Committee could be formed:

“It’s quite difficult now to assess which organization will be next. Another thing to note is that the background has changed. Because many international sports organizations have begun to understand that the ban of Russians and Belarusians is a dead end that could lead to a split in Olympic Movement.”

Pozdnyakov also noted, however, the blowback which has already started:

“Now we see that some national federations are beginning to boycott the presence of Russians in competitions. We have been seeing this for a long time, this is not very good. Many generations of sports functionaries have struggled with this, now this work has practically been reduced to nothing.”

The Russian Boxing Federation announced that it would send entrants to the World Youth (U-18) Championships in Spain from 14-26 November.

The International Boxing Association released a letter from four-class professional world champion Roy Jones, Jr., American born, but with dual U.S. and Russian citizenship since 2015. The 1988 Seoul silver medalist for the U.S. at Light Middleweight (in a terribly-officiated bout), Jones wrote to IOC President Thomas Bach (GER),  including:

“To exclude boxing from the Olympic Games would be nonsense, it would be no less than committing a crime. …

“It is unacceptable to blame IBA and its current leadership, who gave boxing a hand in the toughest moment in its history. Ask yourself whether they did something, at least a tiny bit, wrong. …

“To name a few, all debts have been settled, and the funds are allocated on an ongoing basis for the development. With the support of IBA, many countries were able to bring their boxers to the World Championships and win medals – ask yourself whether it is an achievement. …

“Generations of athletes should not be punished for C.K. Wu and his team’s crimes. The IOC should take into account the huge work of the IBA to clean the sport from past issues.

“I urge the IOC to keep their ears open and listen to the boxing community, which calls for transparent and fair decisions. Everyone sees how IBA has changed, but you.”

Jones’s letter simply skips over many of the IOC’s objections to the actions of the IBA, but is no surprise as he has been a steady supporter of the Putin regime.

As far as the IBA’s administration of boxing goes, not every tournament has turned out perfectly, as noted by a statement from McLaren Global Sport Solutions concerning the recent European men’s Junior Championships in Armenia:

“During the final days of the Yerevan championships several incidents of unsportsmanlike behaviour and possible breaches of the IBA Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics took place, including physical attacks on officials, attempts to influence officials’ decisions and Field of Play infringements. This tainted an otherwise generally well organised event.”

This is progress?

The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board will consider the IBA’s actions at its next meeting in early December, and could recommend expulsion of the federation from the Olympic Movement.

3.
Five countries now boycotting FIG Congress with Russia present

The Gymnovosti.com site reported that five countries have now announced a boycott of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) Congress in Istanbul on 11-12 November in view of the allowed attendance of Russian and Belarusian delegates.

Norway was to have hosted the event, but returned it when the FIG declared that Russian and Belarusian officials would be allowed to participate. Now, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Ukraine have refused to attend. A letter from Algimantas Gudiskis, head of the Lithuanian Gymnastics Federation, included:

“I fully support the position of the Norwegian, Polish, Estonian gymnastics federations and the gymnastics communities of other countries regarding the participation of aggressor states in the international sports movement. I also support the position of European gymnastics, which has unanimously refused to communicate with the Russian and Belarusian gymnastics federations, while the brutal, genocidal Russian war is taking place in Ukraine and completely innocent Ukrainian citizens, including children, are being killed – the future of our sport.”

“Therefore, as the president of the Lithuanian Gymnastics Federation, I cannot participate in the FIG 84th Congress in Turkey 2022. I think that my position will be supported by other countries – while Russia continues the war, it is impossible to include Russian athletes and officials in international sports.”

Former Soviet star Nelli Kim (BLR) is the FIG 2nd Vice President and Russian Vassily Titov (RUS) is a member of the FIG Executive Committee. Russia has four others who are members of FIG Technical Committees and Belarus has two.

4.
No. 4 England women defeat no. 1 U.S., 2-1,
in Wembley showdown

A dramatic match before 76,893 fans at Wembley Stadium in London saw European Champion England defeat the top-ranked U.S. Women’s National Team, 2-1, on Friday.

The Lionesses, the darlings of English football since winning the Euro 2022 title on 31 July – at Wembley, over Germany – took the lead in the 10th minute on a goal from striker Lauren Hemp from six yards away after American defender Alana Cook missed a potential clearance. It was the first time the American women had been behind this year.

The U.S. tied it on a Sophia Smith goal in the 28th minute, after Lindsey Horan forced an English turnover and Smith lasered a right-footed shot into the net past English keeper Mary Earps.

England was on offense five minutes later when U.S. defender Hallie Mace was found – on a delayed video review – to have kicked English defender Lucy Bronze in the face, resulting in a penalty kick. Midfielder Georgia Stanway buried the penalty for a 2-1 lead as U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher guessed the wrong way.

It appeared that the U.S. had tied it up in the 37th minute on a Trinity Rodman score, but Smith was ruled offsides, negating the goal, and the half ended 2-1.

Neither side could score in the second half, with the game tightening considerably. Demonstrating the atypical nature of the game, England ended with 69% of the possession, and had an 11-10 edge in shots. The English were also called for 10 fouls to five for the U.S.

The U.S. entered with a 13-game win streak and a 23-game unbeaten streak, both ended. England is now unbeaten in 23 straight matches.

Credit the American women with an exceptionally challenging schedule of friendlies with no. 8 Spain in Pamplona coming up on the 11th and then two matches against no. 2 Germany on U.S. soil in November.

5.
Luz Long archive, including ‘36 silver, up for auction

No bids yet, but the Berlin 1936 silver medal won by German Luz Long – behind American icon Jesse Owens – is up for auction through the 15th of October.

A 32-item catalog of Long items is on offer, starting with his Berlin silver, with an opening bid of $50,000 and an expected sales price of $500,000-1,000,000. The accompanying auction magazine from SCP Auctions of Laguna Nigel, California notes that Owens’ 1936 long jump gold sold for $1,466,574 in 2013.

The other items have opening bids as low as $150 and include Long’s 1936 Berlin Olympic participation badge and ribbon ($500 minimum) and his Berlin ‘36 identity card ($500). His 1934 European Championships long jump winner’s medal and event participation medal are available, beginning at $500.

Also available are gold medals from the 1933 and 1936 German national championships in the long jump ($500) and medals from what became the World University Games in 1935 (Budapest: second-place medal: $300) and 1937 (Paris: first place: $400).

The Owens-Long duel in the Berlin long jump is legendary. David Wallechinsky, in his masterwork, The Complete Book of the Olympics, wrote that while Owens came in as the world-record holder, he fouled on his first two qualifying jumps; Long suggested he move his mark back since the required distance was only 7.15 m (23-5 1/2), and Owens qualified easily on his third try.

In the final, Owens set Olympic records of 7.76 m (25-5 1/2) and 7.87 m (25-10) on his first two jumps, but Long also jumped 7.87 m in the fifth round. Challenged, Owens extended to 8.02 m (26-3 3/4) in response and then to his winning mark of 8.06 m (26-5 1/2) on his final trial.

Owens and Long kept up a correspondence after the Berlin Games, but Long was eventually mobilized into the Nazi army in World War II and was killed at age 30 in July 1943 at the battle of St. Pietro, in Italy.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Archery ● Field archery is a nod to ancient times, with competitors walking on trails and shooting at targets of varying distances. The 27th World Field Championships concluded on Sunday in Yankton, South Dakota, with the U.S. taking a silver and a bronze medal in the Recurve (Olympic) division.

Two-time World Field Champion Brady Ellison of the U.S. faced fellow American Matt Nofel in the men’s semifinals, but it was Nofel who won, 65-59, to advance. German Florian Unruh was the eventual winner, out-scoring Nofel, 57-54 in the final. Britain’s Patrick Hudson defeated Ellison, 60-57, for the bronze medal.

Italian Chiara Rebagliati won a tight women’s gold-medal match from Bryony Pittman (GBR), 61-60, and then teamed with Marco Morello to win the Mixed Recurve Team event by 81-78 over France. The U.S., with Ellison and Savannah Vanderweir, won the bronze medal with a 76-72 decision over Pittman and Huston of Great Britain. It’s Ellison seventh career medal at the World Fields (4-1-2).

● Judo ● The World Judo Championships in Tashkent (UZB) are continuing, with Japan dominating the event, winning one or more medals in all eight weight classes held so far.

One of the great memories of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was the same-day, brother-sister gold-medal performances of Hifumi Abe in the men’s 66 kg class and Uta Abe in the women’s 52 kg division. They did it again.

Both triumphed on Friday, with Hifumi Abe defeating countryman Joshiro Maruyama for complete a 1-2 finish and his third Worlds gold, after 2017 and 2018. Uta Abe defeated Tokyo bronze medalist Chelsie Giles (GBR) to also win her third Worlds title, previously in 2018 and 2019.

Japan won two silvers on Saturday, with 2017 World Champion Soichi Hashimoto losing to Mongolia’s Tokyo bronze winner Tsend-ochir Tsogtbaatar in the men’s 73 kg class and Haruka Funakubo losing to Rio 2016 Olympic champ Rafaela Silva (BRA) – her seconds World title – at 57 kg.

On Sunday, Japan took a fifth gold, as Meguni Horikawa won the women’s 63 kg class over Canada’s Tokyo bronze medalist Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard. Georgia’s Tato Grigalashvili won the men’s 81 kg division, moving from silver in 2021, by defeating Tokyo bronze medalist Matthias Casse of Belgium.

The Worlds continue through the 13th.

● Shooting ● Sunday’s Skeet finals at the ISSF World Championships in Shotgun in Osijek (CRO), with three-time Olympic Skeet champ Vincent Hancock of the U.S. settling for silver.

A five-time World Champion in Skeet, Hancock would have had to be perfect to even get into a shoot-off as Egypt’s Azmy Mehelba, the 2014 Worlds bronze winner, went 40-for-40 to win the final over Hancock (34-for-35).

Rio 2016 Olympic champ Diana Bacosi (ITA) won her second individual women’s Skeet world title, hitting 37 of 38 targets to best Amber Hill (GBR: 31). American Sam Simonton won the bronze, with 24 of 30 targets.

Competition continues through Tuesday with the Skeet team events.

● Table Tennis ● In the first major sporting event held in China since the Beijing Olympic Winter Games in February, China swept both the men’s and women’s divisions at the ITTF World Team Championships in Chengdu.

It was the 10th straight win in this competition for the Chinese men, who defeated Germany, 3-0, in the final with wins by Zhendong Fan, Long Ma and Chuqin Wang.

Japan and South Korea won the men’s bronzes, both losing 3-2 decisions in the semifinals. China beat Japan, 3-2, and Germany had two wins from Benedikt Duda to edge the Koreans and advance to the final.

The women’s final was on Saturday, with China defeating Japan, 3-0, with Meng Chen and Yingsha Sun completing 3-0 sweeps and Manyu Wang winning her match by 3-1. It’s the fifth straight women’s title for the Chinese.

Chinese Taipei and Germany settled for bronze medals after both lost by 3-0 scores in the semis, with China defeating Chinese Taipei and the Japanese defeating the Germans.

● Volleyball ● The quarterfinals have been set at the XIX FIVB Women’s World Championship, taking place in The Netherlands and Poland, with the winners of the last two titles – the U.S. and Serbia – heading to a possible semifinal match.

In Pool F, defending champion Serbia won the combined first and second round matches with a 9-0 record, winning 27 sets out of 29! The U.S. – the 2014 winners and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist – was second at 7-2 (21-11 sets), defeating Turkey (3-1) and Thailand (3-2) to close out pool play. Turkey and Poland ended up 3-4, both with 6-3 records.

In Pool E, Italy and Brazil finished 1-2 with 8-1 marks, followed by Japan and China, both 7-2.

The quarterfinals will match the top four in each pool, with Serbia facing Poland and the U.S. and Turkey meeting each other again in Gilwice (POL) on the 11th, and Italy meeting China and Brazil facing Japan in Apeldoorn (NED).

The semis will take place on 12-13 October, with the medal matches on 15 October.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Russia ● The TASS news agency reported that the budget allocation for the Russian Sports Ministry for 2023, 2024 and 2025. In a curious move, the budget is slated to be decreased each year, from 64.6 billion rubles for 2023 (U.S. $1.036 billion) to 55.9 billion rubles for 2024 ($896.6 million) and then 47.1 billion rubles for 2025 ($755.4 million).

So we have deflation in Russia?

● Archery ● World Archery is jumping on the NFT (non-fungible token) bandwagon, announcing that it has partnered with Spain-based Leverade for “one-off original digital artworks” that will be used for the Athlete of the Year trophies for 2022.

● Curling ● The Grand Slam of Curling, the top-tier international circuit, began again with the Boost National in North Bay, Ontario, with very familiar faces in the winner’s circle.

The women’s tournament was yet another win for three-time women’s World Champion Silvana Tirinzoni and her Swiss team. They defeated Kerri Einarson (CAN) by 7-3 in the final, taking a 4-2 lead after three ends and scoring single points in the fifth, sixth and seventh ends to seal the win.

The men’s final pitted Beijing Olympic champ Niklas Edin and his Swedish squad against 2006 Turin Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue and his Canadian team, in a re-match of the 2022 World Championship final (won by Edin). The Swedes had a 3-2 lead after five ends, but Gushue managed single points in ends 6-7-9 and took the championship with a 5-4 win.

● Cycling ● Slovenian star Tadej Pogacar won his fifth UCI World Tour event of the 2022 season with a sprint over Spain’s Enric Mas in the 116th Il Lombardia – one of the famed monument races – from Bergamo to Como in Italy.

The 253 km route had 13 separate ascents and Pogacar attacked with 19 km to go, on the penultimate climb – the Civiglio – and only Mas could keep up. Spain’s Mikel Landa joined Pogacar and Mas on the descent, but was dropped on the final climb, the San Fermo della Battaglia. That left Pogacar and Mas with Pogacar winning the final dash to the line in Como. Landa was third, 10 seconds back.

Pogacar won the UAE Tour in February, Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico in March, the Grand Prix Cycliste in Montreal in September, and was, of course, the Tour de France runner-up in July after wins in 2020 and 2021.

Okay, the Hour in track cycling is not an Olympic event, but Italy’s Filippo Ganna – the two-time UCI World Time Trial Champion – claimed a world record of 56.792 km (35.29 miles) at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland on Saturday (8th).

Ganna easily surpassed the 55.548 km mark by Daniel Bigham (GBR) from 19 August, set at the same site, and adds to his track cycling trophy case, where he already owns four world titles in the Individual Pursuit from 2016-18-19-20.

● Figure Skating ● NBC released its broadcast schedule for the 2022-23 season, with most of the action on its Peacock streaming service.

The seven competitions of the ISU Grand Prix circuit and final will all be shown on Peacock, with Skate America (21-23 October) shown live on USA Network, NBC or E! depending on the session.

None of the five following Grand Prix events will be shown live except on Peacock, with delayed highlight shows on NBC or E! The Grand Prix Final from Turin will have one hour live on E! and the remainder online, with an NBC highlights show the day after the event closes.

The U.S. Championships next January will be a combination of Peacock, USA Network and NBC and the World Championships next March will have some live coverage on USA Network, but only delayed coverage on the last day and two weeks after on NBC.

● Gymnastics ● At the final FIG Artistic World Challenge Cup in Mersin (TUR), Romania’s Ana Barbosu dominated the women’s competition, winning the Uneven Bars, Beam and Floor titles, while Slovenia’s Teja Belak won on Vault.

The men’s events had six different winners: Dmitriy Patanin (KAZ) on Floor, Yu-jan Shiao (TPE) on Pommel Horse, Ferhat Arican (TUR) on Parallel Bars, Gabriel Burtanete on Vault, Adem Asil (TUR) on Rings and Lithuania’s Robert Tvorogol on the Horizontal Bar, with Asil second.

● Skiing ● The Alpine Combined event, in which a skier contests both a downhill and slalom course, has been on the way out for years and is rarely contested on the FIS World Cup circuit, and will not be held in the 2022-23 season.

It has been part of the Olympic Winter program, but is under review. The French all-sports newspaper L’Equipe reported last week that the Combined could be re-formatted as a team event, to replace the low-interest Mixed Team Parallel Event held at the Beijing Winter Games last February.

A trial of a new format will be held at the 2023 World Junior Championships next January in Austria, using a team approach to the same races, but with the ability to use any skier for either event. That would be more interesting; the details are still being worked out.

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TSX REPORT: Brisbane’s A$1 billion “Gabba” stadium project may fold; Turkey sending troops to Qatar ‘22; U.S. women at no. 4 England Friday!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Illustration of the proposed redevelopment plan for Brisbane's The Gabba stadium and surrounding area (Photo: Brisbane Development)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Brisbane 2032 chief Liveris says stadium project might implode
2. Turkey adds troops to police force help secure Qatar World Cup
3. No. 1 U.S. women on the road at no. 4 England and no. 8 Spain
4. Tura and Chepngetich set to defend 2021 Chicago Marathon titles
5. Only 570 athletes in AIU’s worldwide track & field testing pool

The Queensland government’s giant redevelopment of the Brisbane Cricket Ground – known as The Gabba – might be canceled due to cost, according to Andrew Leveris, the President of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic organizing committee. In a speech, Liveris emphasized the importance of cost containment and the role of the private sector in the Games. With the FIFA World Cup in Qatar coming up quickly, Turkey passed legislation to send a small number of troops to help with security, the sixth country to pledge military support. On Friday, the top-ranked U.S. women’s National Team – soccer – will take on no. 4 England, the 2022 European champions, before a sold-out crowd in London’s Wembley Stadium in the first of four matches over the next month vs. teams ranked 2-4-8 in the world. Sunday brings the 44th Chicago Marathon, with defending champs Seifu Tura (ETH) and Ruth Chepngetich (KEN) ready to go again. The independent Athletics Integrity Unit released its testing pool list for the fourth quarter of 2022, with a total of only 570 athletes under close watch, including 85 Americans.

1.
Brisbane 2032 chief Liveris says stadium project might implode

Andrew Liveris, the former worldwide head of Dow Chemical and now the President of the Brisbane 2032 organizing committee, told a Queensland Media Club luncheon on Wednesday that the government’s proposed A$1 billion renovation of the Brisbane Cricket Ground – known as “The Gabba” – might be scrapped.

“I’m a fan of The Gabba being what it is – I like that idea, as a Brisbane boy … but we don’t want to have a blown-out budget to do it.

“I am completely, 100 per cent hired, deployed to implement what we agreed with the IOC. If a change is needed … the binding agreements are great but they aren’t perfect.

“I’m sure that people responsible for looking at the cost, which is the government, will come eventually and say: ‘This is the better plan’.”

The government’s re-development plan for The Gabba, which the IOC has specifically said is a local project and not something it has asked for, would create a new pedestrian plaza and link it directly to the nearby public transit network.

While Liveris’ primary message was the beginning of a process to select an agency to develop the Brisbane 2032 “brand,” he also touched on what is already the hot-button issue concerning the 2032 Games: costs:

● “I take very seriously cost neutrality on the OCOG budget – which means revenue-raising … I know what it is to sell to customers. I want people to come well before the torch is lit and stay well after the flame is out.”

● “Brisbane 2032 in my mindset … is LA 2028 and London 2012 combined. We do, indeed, have government input and oversight, which also require the organizing committee’s finances to be cost-neutral – effectively making us privately funded. You can’t get there without the private-funding model.”

He also delved into the branding question, projecting a possible program concept:

“We are multi-dimensional in our attributes … we celebrate the achievements of our athletes and we are devoted to the education of our youth, and safety and security. I list that as uniquely Australian. We should label that, brand that and deliver it.”

2.
Turkey adds troops to police force help secure Qatar World Cup

The Turkish Parliament approved a measure that will allow about 250 soldiers and a naval warship to be sent to Qatar to aid with security measures for the forthcoming FIFA World Cup that will start in November.

The Associated Press reported that the Turkish contingent would join with other visiting forces from France, Great Britain, Italy, Pakistan and the U.S. The U.S. Central Command has a forward headquarters in Qatar, southwest of Doha.

Turkey had already agreed to send some 3,250 riot police to the World Cup to help with crowd control. This group will include special forces, bomb experts and 50 bomb detection dogs.

3.
No. 1 U.S. women on the road at no. 4 England and no. 8 Spain

With the no. 1-ranked U.S. women’s National Team qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, time for a test in unfriendly settings with friendlies against two top European teams coming Friday and next Tuesday.

Wembley Stadium in London is sold out for the USA-England match that will kick off at 3 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, to be shown in the U.S. on FOX. The Lionesses are the darlings of English football at present after their stirring European Championship win in July in extra time – at Wembley – over Germany, 2-1, before 87,192.

Striker Beth Mead was the co-leading scorer in the Euros with six goals, supported by Alessia Russo (4); it was Chloe Kelly who scored the title winner in the 110th minute. Mead and Kelly are on the squad for Friday’s match, as is defender – and 2020 FIFA Women’s Player of the Year – Lucy Bronze.

The U.S. women have a 12-4-2 all-time record vs. England, with the last meeting a 2-0 American win in the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. The U.S. defeated England, 2-1, in an iconic match at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinals. And the American women are 13-0-1 in 2022.

The match against Spain next Tuesday (2:30 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN2) will be played in Pamplona; the Spanish women reached the Euro 2020 quarterfinals, but were eliminated by England, 2-1, in extra time.

The American women will come back to play no. 2-ranked Germany in two games on 10 and 13 November in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Harrison, New Jersey.

4.
Tura and Chepngetich set to defend 2021 Chicago Marathon titles

The 44th Chicago Marathon is set for Sunday (9th), with powerful fields for both men and women, featuring Doha 2019 World Champion Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya. A $460,000 prize purse, with $75,000-55,000-45,000-30,000-25,000 for the top five men and women is set.

The top men’s entries:
● 2:03:40 in 2019: Herpasa Negasa (ETH)
● 2:04:09 in 2021: Bernard Koech (KEN)
● 2:04:21 in 2021: Elisha Rotich (KEN)
● 2:04:27 in 2021: Dawit Wolde (ETH)
● 2:04:29 in 2021: Seifu Tura (ETH)
● 2:04:48 in 2022: Stephen Kissa (UGA)
● 2:04:53 in 2021: Abayneh Degu (ETH)
● 2:05:13 in 2019: Benson Kipruto (KEN)
● 2:05:18 in 2019: Shifera Tamru (ETH)
● 2:05:47 in 2021: Eric Kiptanui (KEN)

Negasa has the fastest time in the field, but has never won a marathon in 11 tries from 2013, but has been second four times, including a 2:04:49 in Seoul this year. Koech has not run this year, but finished fifth in Chicago in 2014; he is also winless in 12 starts. Rotich won in Paris in 2021, but hasn’t raced since. Wolde set a lifetime best at Rotterdam in 2021, but hasn’t raced since.

Defending champ Tura was sixth at the 2022 World Championships marathon in Eugene and won in 2:06:12 in Chicago in 2021. Kissa was second in Hamburg this year in a national record of 2:04:48 in his debut; he failed to finish in the Tokyo Olympic 10,000 m final last year. Kipruto has run Boston three times – winning in 2021 – but this his first time in Chicago; he was third at Boston in 2022.

The top women’s entries:
● 2:17:08 in 2019: Ruth Chepngetich (KEN)
● 2:18:34 in 2018: Ruti Aga (ETH)
● 2:20:10 in 2022: Celestine Chepchirchir (KEN)
● 2:20:18 in 2022: Vivian Kiplagat (KEN)
● 2:20:19 in 2021: Haven Hailu Desse (ETH)
● 2:22:45 in 2019: Waganesh Mekasha (ETH)
● 2:23:08 in 2019: Emily Sisson (USA)

Defending champ Chepngetich is the favorite, based on her brilliant 2019 Worlds win in the midnight heat in Doha, plus her six wins in 10 career marathon starts. She won in Chicago in 2021 (2:22:31), but did not finish at the 2022 Worlds marathon in Eugene. Aga has run Boston and New York, but not Chicago; she hasn’t competed in 2021 and hasn’t finished a marathon since 2020.

This is the first U.S. race for Chepchirchir, who was fourth in Seoul (2:2010) in April.
Kiplagat also has a sensational career record of seven wins in 15 career marathons, including a win in Milan this year (2:20:18) and a fifth in Chicago in 2021. Hailu Desse won the 2022 Rotterdam Marathon in 2:22:01 and Chicago will be her first U.S. race and fifth career marathon.

Sisson is best known as a 10,000 m star, winning the U.S. Trials in 2021 and finishing 10th in Tokyo. She has run exclusively on the roads in 2022; this will be her third career marathon after a 2:23:08 sixth in London in 2019 and then dropping out of the U.S. Olympic Trials race in Atlanta in 2020.

The race will be shown online only in the U.S. – outside the Chicago area – on Peacock, from 7-11 a.m. Central time on Sunday.

5.
Only 570 athletes in AIU’s worldwide track & field testing pool

The Athletics Integrity Unit, the independent group responsible for anti-doping programs (among other things) for World Athletics, published a complete list of its “Testing Pool” as of 1 October.

These are the highest-profile athletes in the world and are watched with extra care by the AIU. But the list is pretty short!

Only 570 athletes are included on the 40-page roster; the U.S. leads with 85 athletes (15%) of the entries. The rest of the top 10:

● 69: Kenya
● 65: Ethiopia
● 25: Jamaica
● 19: Great Britain
● 18: China
● 14: Poland
● 13: Spain
● 13: Japan
● 12: Russia

There were 17 countries in all with 10 or more athletes listed. Obviously, national anti-doping organizations watch many more competitors from their countries, but it’s interesting to see the relatively small number of “stars” who are watched with extra care by the AIU.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Judo ● Japan started brilliantly at the 2022 IJF World Championships in Tashkent (UZB), taking victories in the men’s 60 kg and women’s 48 kg extra-lightweight classes.

Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Naohisa Takato won his fourth World title by defeating Mongolia’s Enkhtaivany Ariunbold, who won his first Worlds medal. Natsumi Tsunoda won the women’s 48 kg title, her second consecutive Worlds victory. She won over Germany’s Katharina Menz, who also took her first Worlds medal.

The championships continue through the 14th.

● Table Tennis ● The ITTF World Team Championships, being held in Chengdu (CHN), are now in the playoff stages, with a politically-charged women’s semifinal between China and Chinese Taipei scheduled for Friday.

China has, as expected, zoomed through the tournament with a 6-0 record so far and has not lost a single match (18-0). Chinese Taipei finished 2-1 in Group 6 and then won its elimination matches against India and Singapore. The Chinese have won the last four women’s team titles.

In the second semi, Germany (5-0) will face Japan (6-0). Like China, the Japanese have not lost a set (18-0), while the Germans have won 15 of 20 matches and edged Hong Kong, 3-2, in their quarterfinal match. The U.S. women finished 1-3 in group play and did not advance to the playoffs.

In the men’s quarterfinals, China (5-0) will face Sweden (4-0) and Portugal (3-1) will play Japan (5-0) in the upper half of the bracket, with South Korea (5-0) and Hong Kong (3-2), and Germany (4-1) and France (4-1) playing in the lower half. The U.S. finished 2-2 in Group 1 and did not advance to the elimination round. China has won nine men’s titles in a row.

● Volleyball ● The second round of pool play at the FIVB Women’s World Championship in The Netherlands and Poland continues through 9 October, with the eight-team playoffs to start on 11 October.

In Pool E, Italy, Brazil and China are all 6-1, with Belgium and Japan at 5-2, with three days of matches remaining.

In Pool F, the U.S. was beaten by Poland, which placed fifth at the 2021 European Championship, 25-23, 25-20 and 25-18. The group continues to be led by Serbia (7-0) with Turkey at 6-1 and the U.S. at 5-2. The American women, the Tokyo gold medalists, have games left with Turkey (7th) and Thailand (8th).

The top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Errata ● Some readers of our Thursday post saw an Item 5 headline about French cities refusing to put up fan festivals for the FIFA World Cup “Qatar 2024.” The event is in 2022; sorry about that.

● Athletics ● The finalists for the International Fair Play Committee’s Fair Play Award for the 2022 Eugene World Championships has been narrowed to three finalists:

● High Jump: Inspiring performances while their country was being invaded by Russia for men’s bronze medalist Andriy Protsenko and women’s silver winner Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

● Women’s Vault: Tokyo Olympic winner Katie Nageotte of the U.S. ran to help British star Holly Bradshaw after her pole snapped during warm-ups. Bradshaw withdrew and Nageotte again came to her defense, this time on Twitter.

● Women’s Heptathlon: British star Katharina Johnson-Thompson, the 2019 World Champion, knows the pain of failure and consoled Germany’s Sophie Weissenberg after the latter failed to record a legal long jump and withdrew.

The winner will be announced by World Athletics in December.

● Cycling ● Doping continues to be an issue in cycling, with seven Portuguese riders reported suspended and receiving sanctions of three to seven years. None are from top-level UCI World Tour teams, but continental-level riders for the now-suspended W52-FC Porto team. VeloNews reported:

“Joao Rodrigues, who won the 2019 Portuguese tour as well as the 2021 Volta ao Algarve, sees a four-year ban from the UCI for anomalies in his biological passport and an additional three years for a ‘possession of a banned method’ from Portuguese authorities.”

Six others received three-year sanctions use of banned substances and prohibited methods.

● Football ● With the 2022 World Cup getting close, FIFA released its new men’s world rankings, with Brazil continuing as no. 1, but Belgium close behind.

The cumulative points-based ranking showed the reminder of the top 10 to include Argentina, France, England, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal and Denmark. The U.S. men are ranked 16th and its other opponents in Group B of the World Cup are ranked 19th (Wales) and 20th (Iran).

How much stock should be put in these rankings? Consider: Japan completely outclassed the U.S. last month in a neutral-site friendly, 2-0, and is ranked 24th.

● Short Track ● The International Skating Union is pumping up its six-stage Short Track World Cup for 2022-23 with a “Crystal Globe” trophy – just like in skiing – for the overall men’s and women’s series winner.

Skaters can get points for their 12 best placements, but no more than six in any one distance (500-1,000-1,500 m). Prize money of $20,000-13,000-9,000-6,000-4,000 will be awarded to the top five men and women in the seasonal standings.

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here, and can donate here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: IBA welcomes back Russian and Belarusian boxers; Bach explains IOC’s Russian ban thinking; Paris 2024 reveals marathon route

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ Want TheSportsExaminer.com insights for your team? Yes! Click here for info on speaking, research and consulting from editor Rich Perelman. ★

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Int’l Boxing Assn. re-admits Russian and Belarusian athletes
2. Bach says Milan Cortina 2026 is “according to plan”
3. Paris 2024’s landmark-filled marathon route announced
4. NWSL Portland and Chicago owners “step back” from control
5. French cities to protest Qatar 2024 with no fan zones

The already-suspended International Boxing Association decided to re-admit all Russian and Belarusian boxers and officials with immediate effect, brushing aside the International Olympic Committee’s February request to remove them from competitions. The move could result in the expulsion of the IBA from the Olympic Movement, with the IOC Executive Board’s next meeting in December. IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) told an Italian newspaper last week that planning for Milan Cortina 2026 is on track, and explained the IOC’s thinking on the Russian and Belarusian athlete ban edict. The Paris 2024 organizers revealed the Olympic marathon course, and the program for mass-participation races, including both a marathon and a 10 km event. In the aftermath of the deeply troubling Yates report on player abuse, the owners of the Portland and Chicago NWSL teams announced they were removing themselves from daily operations while a league inquiry continues. Multiple French cities said they would not be offering fan zones with big video screens during the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar, partly due to the late date on the calendar as well as in protest of the conditions for workers who built the new stadia.

1.
Int’l Boxing Assn. re-admits Russian and Belarusian athletes

At the end of the International Boxing Association’s Extraordinary Congress held in Armenia on 25 September, Russian Umar Kremlev was re-confirmed as the organization’s President and told the assembly, in pertinent part:

“We are saying today that we are an independent organization, that we are here to protect our IBA that we all love. And we shouldn’t say ‘Olympic boxing,’ we should say ‘IBA boxing.’ We have to get to the point where boxing will be part of the Olympic Games in 2024 as well as 2028. We’ll do our best, with the team and with you, and no one can exclude us from anywhere. …

“Today, I have heard in this hall, a couple of expressions, ‘what will happen with boxing when it comes to Olympic Games’? We will join our forces, we will do a great job and we will defend the name of boxing to be part of the Olympic program, but this will not be the only thing we will do. Most importantly, we have to protect the interests of the IBA, our own organization. … Our World Series must become the important competitions.”

On Wednesday, Kremlev and the IBA followed the promised independent course and broke with all other Olympic-sport International Federations by re-admitting Russian and Belarusian boxers to all IBA competitions:

“IBA Board of Directors voted in favor to cancel its previous decision and allow boxers of Russia and Belarus to compete at the IBA events with immediate effect. The IBA strongly believes that politics shouldn’t have any influence on sports. Hence, all athletes should be given equal conditions.

“Respecting its own autonomy as the international sports federation, the IBA shall remain politically neutral and independent. IBA calls for peace and remains a peacemaker in any conflicts. Moreover, the IBA has obligation to ensure equal treatment towards the athletes and competition officials, regardless of their nationality and residence.

“Both Russian and Belarus teams will be able to perform under their flags, and the national anthems will be played in case they win a gold medal.

“According to the decision, the technical officials of Russia and Belarus will also be back in the competitions.”

The action reverses the ban on Russian and Belarusian participation in place since February, when the International Olympic Committee asked all of the International Federations to remove Russia and Belarus in view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Dutch Boxing Federation chief Boris van der Vorst, who challenged Kremlev for the IBA presidency but was never allowed to be in an actual vote against him, posted an angry letter on Twitter which included:

“Contrary to IBA messages, this decision is an enforcement of the Russian government’s geopolitical agenda on the sport of boxing. It is clear that IBA is held hostage by its Russian leadership and they are determined to keep the governing body under their control at any cost.

“This is totally unacceptable. Together with many representatives of National Federations, we will be looking for ways to ensure boxing competition integrity and will continue our fight to secure an Olympic future for our sport, with or without the IBA.”

Van der Vorst’s Dutch federation is part of the “Common Cause Alliance” of 15 national federations which have been railing against Kremlev – Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S. – which may now be ready to try and form an alternative International Federation to the IBA.

Further, with future IBA tournaments to include Russians and Belarusians, will boxers from those countries (and others) refuse to compete?

The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board will meet next from 5-7 December in Lausanne and could recommend expulsion of the IBA from the Olympic Movement. Already, the IOC has taken control of the qualification process for the Paris 2024 Games and boxing is not on the initial sports program for Los Angeles 2028.

Before Wednesday’s announcement, IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera last week:

“If we had to evaluate what is going on in the international federation, boxing should have left as early as Tokyo: scandalous refereeing, elections of officials by acclamation, the arbitrary exclusion of Ukraine. Boxing has a formidable history, is wildly popular, and has the enormous virtue of taking so many at-risk youth off the street. It needs to change course, and right now boxing is excluded from the 2028 Games.”

There are two other Olympic-sport International Federations with Russian presidents. Alisher Usmanov is the head of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), but stepped down to deal with personal sanctions levied by multiple bodies, including the European Union. Vladimir Lisin is head of the International Sport Shooting Federation, which has so far maintained the IOC-requested ban on Russian and Belarusian participation.

2.
Bach says Milan Cortina 2026 is “according to plan”

More from the Corriere della Sera interview with IOC chief Bach (computerized translation from the original Italian):

● On the much-criticized progress of the Milan Cortina 2026 organizing committee:

“Everything is going according to plan. We can count on the excellent work of Giovanni Malago both as president of CONI [Italian National Olympic Committee] and of the organizing committee. It will be a great edition. We understand well how difficult the economic context is with skyrocketing inflation: we will give all our support.”

● On the controversial and costly renovation of the sliding track in Cortina:

“The directives of the IOC are clear. Whoever organizes the Games must use existing facilities and, failing that, build temporary facilities with a low ecological impact. The local Italian authorities have assured us that the bobsled facility will be part of a sports and tourism project that will be developed even after the Games. We are only interested in one thing: that the construction costs will not be part of the Olympics budget.”

● Bach’s comment on the Russian situation noted the IOC’s immediate condemnation of the Ukraine invasion and included:

“Russian athletes certainly did not start the war. Those who have distanced themselves from the regime should be able to compete under a neutral flag. Our goal is to get athletes with Russian passports who do not support the war to compete again. But it is not easy.”

He also clarified that the IOC’s requested ban took the opportunity to create a relatively consistent approach to Russian and Belarusian participation, instead of having a checkerboard of different governmental responses on a country-by-country basis. Prior to the IBA’s action on Wednesday, tennis has allowed Russian and Belarusian players to compete as neutrals; judo did so for a while, but has banned them for the remainder of 2022.

Bach was also asked about the unsettled situation with modern pentathlon and with weightlifting for the 2028 Games:

“Historicity and tradition cannot be exclusive criteria for the survival of a discipline at the Games. Pentathlon has few practitioners and few national federations, significant costs for facilities. Equestrianism poses problems with the balance of competition, not only that, animal abuse has been highlighted. The international federation is trying to change the format: in Paris the discipline will remain and in traditional form, its future will also depend on how the federation replaces the equestrian test. …

“Weightlifting, on the other hand, will have to erase a widespread doping culture.”

3.
Paris 2024’s landmark-filled marathon route announced

The Louvre, Place de la Concorde, Grand Palais, Chateau de Versailles and the Eiffel Tower will all be along the route of the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon loop course revealed on Wednesday.

The 26.2 mile (42.2 km) route will start in the middle of Paris at the Hotel de Ville – the city hall – then go west all the way to Versailles before turning and returning to the middle of the city, with the finish at the Esplanade des Invalides along the Seine River.

The circuit passes through nine communities and will challenge the runners with a rise from 27 m elevation (88 feet) at 14.2 km to 183 m (600 feet) at 20.2 m with an upward slope of as much as 13.5% and then the corresponding downhill return into Paris.

The great innovation of the Paris 2024 marathon isn’t the Olympic race, however. It’s the opportunity for 20,024 (get it?) people to run on the Olympic marathon course, and another 20,024 to run on a 10 km course that will use the Olympic start and finish, but stay within central Paris.

There are age minimums of 20 for the marathon and 16 for the 10 km race, per the regulations of the French Athletics Federation. About 3,000 places in the races have already been “won” and while participation in the races is free, places in each will be distributed by lottery, through various running events and from Paris 2024 sponsors. Naturally, you have to sign up online through one of three programs to register.

4.
NWSL Portland and Chicago owners “step back” from control

Monday’s powerful report detailing abuse of players in the National Women’s Soccer League clubs led to the owners of the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars to remove themselves from direct control of those franchises.

Portland owner Merritt Paulson announced on Tuesday:

“I have told the NWSL that I will be removing myself effective today from all Thorns-related decision making until the NWSL/NWSLPA Joint Investigation, which we are fully cooperating with, is released. Gavin Wilkinson and Mike Golub will also step aside. All Thorns-related decisions will now be handled by Heather Davis, Thorns General Counsel.”

The club posted a notice on Wednesday that “president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson and president of business Mike Golub have been relieved of their duties with both clubs [Thorns and MLS Timbers], effective today.”

Chicago Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler similarly announced:

“[I]n the interest of the club and the players, and fans we serve, effective immediately, I will remove myself from my governance role within the NWSL board of governors and will hand over operational control of the club to our executive team in Chicago.”

Neither indicated that they would be selling their teams.

NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman’s statement was in favor of the actions:

“The NWSL is supportive of the important steps taken by the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars today. As the League continues to evaluate the Yates report, I want to assure you that we remain committed to implementing reform and disciplinary action, both as a result of the Yates Report and the NWSL/NWSLPA’s Joint Investigative Team’s findings. The Joint Investigative Team is working towards concluding their report by the end of the year, and we will not interfere with that process, as the findings of that investigation will offer important input from our players.”

The Yates report for the U.S. Soccer Federation noted:

“Over the nearly ten-year history of the [NWSL], numerous coaches have verbally or emotionally abused players. Several are also alleged to have committed serious sexual misconduct during and/or before their time in the League. Our report details the reports of three coaches – Paul Riley [Portland and North Carolina], Rory Dames [Chicago], and Christy Holly [Louisville] – to illustrate the gravity of the misconduct at issue and the institutional failures that contributed to it. But Riley, Dames, and Holly are not the only coaches who mistreated players. By the end of the 2021 season, five of the League’s ten teams had separated from their head coaches in the wake of player complaints.”

5.
French cities to protest Qatar 2022 with no fan zones

“For us, there was no question of setting up big screen areas for several reasons: the first is the conditions in which this World Cup has been organized, both in terms of the environment and the social aspect. The second is the fact that it takes place in December.”

That’s Pierre Rabadan, the Deputy Mayor for Sports for the City of Paris, explaining that giant screens and fan-gathering places will not be set up in the city during the FIFA World Cup, which will start on 20 November.

FrancsJeux.com reported other cities are also skipping fan zones, including Lille, Strasbourg, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nancy and Reims. Strasbourg Mayor Jeanne Barseghian explained: “While climate change is a palpable reality, with fires and droughts and other disaster, organizing a soccer tournament in the desert defies common sense and amounts to an ecological disaster.”

Toulouse, Rennes, Caen, Tours, Nancy, La Rochelle, Angoulwme, Bayonne and Limoges also announced that no fan zones will be created. In the southern cities of Nice and Cannes, no screens will be mounted early in the tournament, but this could change if the defending champion French team advances to the semis or the finals.

The French Football Federation said it was working with “a dozen” other national federations to provide support for migrant workers in Qatar during the tournament. Plans include a migrant worker welcome center, a compensation fund for the victims of accidents on the stadium construction sites and the wearing of special armbands by the captains of their teams.

FFF Deputy Vice President Philippe Diallo told a Tuesday conference on soccer in Paris that FIFA and the organizing committee were informed of the concepts: “We try to be pragmatic, to be efficient. Our choice is to accompany the evolutions, not to boycott, to ensure without arrogance in relation to the organizing country that the evolutions that we are beginning to observe can be prolonged.”

Rights organizations have been pressuring FIFA for a compensation fund for workers equal to the $400 million prize money for the World Cup, but so far without success.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Asian Games ● This might sound a little unbelievable, but Saudi Arabia was awarded the 2029 Asian Winter Games. That’s right, winter.

The Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly, meeting in Phnom Penh (CAM), confirmed the selection on Tuesday (4th) for the under-development ski resort of Trojena in the Sarawat Mountains of northwest Saudi Arabia. It’s part of the $500 billion Neom City project; the resort is projected for completion in 2026.

The Saudis will host the GAISF World Combat Games in Riyadh in 2023, Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2025 and the Asian Games in 2034 (both also in Riyadh). The Olympic Council of Asia jumped on the chance to re-start the Asian Winter Games, held eight times between 1986 and 2017, but not since.

This continues to Saudi plan to diversify its economy beyond energy, but has drawn criticism as a “whitewash” of the Kingdom’s human rights abuses.

● Commonwealth Games ● The Commonwealth Games Foundation announced the full list of sports to be included in the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria (AUS), with BMX cycling, coastal rowing and golf to be included for the first time.

The CGF now only requires that athletics and swimming must be included in a Commonwealth Games. The 2026 Games will include a mix of able-bodied and Para sports in the program, including:

Aquatics (swimming, para-swimming & diving), athletics & para-athletics, badminton, basketball (3×3 and 3×3 wheelchair), beach volleyball, boxing, cricket (women’s T20), cycling (track, para-track, road, BMX, mountain bike), golf, gymnastics (artistic), hockey, lawn bowls & para-lawn bowls, netball, rowing (coastal), rugby sevens, shooting & para-shooting, squash, table tennis & para-table tennis, triathlon & para-triathlon and weightlifting and para-powerlifting.

The inclusion of coastal rowing is a potential boost for the discipline’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, as the IOC is trying to remove lightweight rowing events from the program and World Rowing is pushing for coastal events instead.

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TSX REPORT: U.S. Soccer, NWSL failed players on abuse; Ireland calls for new boxing elections; Ukraine joins bid for 2030 FIFA World Cup

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. U.S. Soccer, NWSL failed to curb abuse in women’s pro soccer
2. Irish Athletic Boxing Association calls out IBA suspension of Ukraine
3. Ukraine to join 2030 FIFA World Cup bid by Spain and Portugal
4. Jackson led all Diamond League prize earners at $99,500
5. African sport slowed again, as Guinea loses 2025 Africa Cup of Nations

A massive report delivered Monday detailed abuse on multiple levels within the National Women’s Soccer League and ineffectively dealt with by the league and the U.S. Soccer Federation, which was – at the time – deeply involved in the league’s operations. The national boxing federation in Ireland spoke out about the International Boxing Association’s suspension of Ukraine and said the IBA “appears to be choosing a path away from Olympic boxing.” The IBA, in the meantime, is allowing Ukrainian junior boxers to compete while their federation is suspended, with flags and anthems, and is calling for the same situation for currently-banned Russian and Belarusian boxers. It was reported that Ukraine will join with the already-potent Spain-Portugal bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, contending against two other multi-country host projects. A new study shows that Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson won the most money in the Wanda Diamond League in 2022, but that 71% of the 669 athletes who won prize money received less than $10,000 for the season. The push for an Olympic Games or World Athletics Championship in Africa is a challenge, as shown by the removal of the important 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in football from Guinea for lack of progress on infrastructure, the seventh straight time that a new host had to be found.

1.
U.S. Soccer, NWSL failed to curb abuse in women’s pro soccer

A 172-page report commissioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation on “Allegations of Abusive Behavior and Sexual Misconduct in Women’s Professional Soccer” detailed abusive behavior by multiple male coaches against female players in the National Women’s Soccer League, with insufficient responses from both the league and the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Reports of abuse caused the USSF to hire former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates of the King & Spalding law firm in October 2021 and more than 200 interviews were conducted, significantly concerning three coaching situations:

● Christy Holly (NIR) of Racing Louisville
● Paul Riley (ENG) of the Portland Thorns and North Carolina Courage
● Rory Dames (USA) of the Chicago Red Stars

The inquiry led to clear conclusions:

“Our investigation has revealed a league in which abuse and misconduct – verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct – had become systemic, spanning multiple teams, coaches, and victims. Abuse in the NWSL is rooted in a deeper culture in women’s soccer, beginning in youth leagues, that normalizes verbally abusive coaching and blurs boundaries between coaches and players. The verbal and emotional abuse players describe in the NWSL is not merely “tough” coaching. And the players affected are not shrinking violets. They are among the best athletes in the world. …

“In well over 200 interviews, we heard report after report of relentless, degrading tirades; manipulation that was about power, not improving performance; and retaliation against those who attempted to come forward. Even more disturbing were the stories of sexual misconduct. Players described a pattern of sexually charged comments, unwanted sexual advances and sexual touching, and coercive sexual intercourse.

“Teams, the League, and the Federation not only repeatedly failed to respond appropriately when confronted with player reports and evidence of abuse, they also failed to institute basic measures to prevent and address it, even as some leaders privately acknowledged the need for workplace protections. As a result, abusive coaches moved from team to team, laundered by press releases thanking them for their service, and positive references from teams that minimized or even concealed misconduct. Those at the NWSL and USSF in a position to correct the record stayed silent. And no one at the teams, the League, or the Federation demanded better of coaches.”

Multiple recommendations were made, but the culture of abuse was called out for special consideration:

“The culture of tolerating verbal abuse of players goes beyond the NWSL. While the scope of our investigation was limited to allegations of misconduct in the League, some of the coaches whose conduct we examined had significant connections to youth soccer, and, in Dames’s case, were also reported to have been abusive as youth coaches. During the course of our investigation, we confronted multiple historical reports of verbal and sexual abuse of youth soccer players. Players also told us that their experiences of verbal abuse and blurred relationships with coaches in youth soccer impacted their ability to discern what was out of bounds in the NWSL.”

The leadership of the NWSL has turned over since the abuse stories broke, and there is speculation that the team ownership, especially of the franchises which hired these coaches, could change. The USSF committed to immediate changes:

● “Establish a new Office of Participant Safety to oversee U.S. Soccer’s conduct policies and reporting mechanisms;

● “Publish soccer records from SafeSport’s Centralized Disciplinary Database to publicly identify individuals in our sport who have been disciplined, suspended or banned; and

● “Mandate a uniform minimum standard for background checks for all U.S. Soccer members at every level of the game, including youth soccer, to comport with the USOPC standards.”

A further plan of action is due before 31 January 2023 to install further changes, based on the report’s recommendations.

2.
Irish Athletic Boxing Association calls out IBA suspension of Ukraine

“The IBA appears to be choosing a path away from Olympic boxing. As a result, the IABA calls for fresh IBA presidential elections at the earliest opportunity.”

That’s from a two-screen screed on Twitter posted by the Irish Athletic Boxing Association on Saturday (1st), criticizing the leadership of the International Boxing Association (IBA) for its suspension of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation.

“The Irish Athletic Boxing Association condemns, utterly and without reservation, the illegal suspension of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation from the world governing body, the IBA.

“The fact that the IBA has suspended the Ukrainian Boxing Federation for alleged government interference shows the continued vulnerability of boxing’s world governing body to external forces and influence. It is the latest in a series of acts and decisions by the IBA which do not align with boxing’s core values and which show that the legacy of its predecessor, AIBA, lingers.”

The IABA called for the immediate restoration of the Ukrainian federation, and lays the Olympic jeopardy boxing faces for the Los Angeles 2028 Games at the feet of the IBA itself:

“The unethical imposition of this illegal suspension by the IBA and its decision not to lay that suspension before the IBA Congress on September 25th is surpassed in gravity only by the IBA’s decision at that Congress not to permit a free and fair Presidential election to take place. Holding a vote to hold [a] vote when the previous ballot was miss-run doesn’t stand up to even the most glancing of scrutiny.”

A reply from the Ukrainian federation included:

“@IBA_Boxing you are an utter disgrace for this amazing sport, you must remove [President Umar] Kremlev [RUS] and make amends before your reputation is gone out of the window!”

In the meantime, the IBA announced that even though the Ukrainian federation is suspended, it is allowing Ukrainian boxers to compete in the European Junior Championships in Italy, in national uniforms, with flags and anthems: “IBA strongly believes that athletes should not suffer, no matter of circumstances, and should be able to represent their country with pride.”

The corollary, of course – in the IBA’s view – is that Russian and Belarusian boxers should be able to compete without restrictions in international events. The International Olympic Committee asked in February, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that no athletes from those two countries be allowed to compete.

3.
Ukraine to join 2030 FIFA World Cup bid by Spain and Portugal

The Ukrainians continue in the news with a report that it will join the already-strong bid by Spain and Portugal to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

A formal confirmation is expected on Wednesday from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, expanding the three multi-partner bids on the table. Already, bid conglomerations have been announced for Egypt, Greece and Saudi Arabia, and from South America that includes Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile.

The inaugural World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930 and so it is proposing a return for the centennial of the event. Of benefit to the Spanish and Portuguese bid is that Ukraine previously co-hosted the 2012 European Championships with Poland, at four venues with 16 total matches, including the final in Kyiv (won by Spain over Italy, 4-0), before 63,170.

4.
Jackson led all Diamond League prize earners at $99,500

The irrepressible George Perry, coach and founder of Texas-based NAL Athletics, input all of the Diamond League prize winnings into a comprehensive table and sorted it to reveal who won how much during 2022.

There were 13 meets in 2022, one less than expected since the two meets in China did not take place, with one replaced by a meet in Chorzow (POL). Prize money for all but the final was $10,000-6,000-3,500-2,000-1,250-1,000-750-500 with extra money in distance races down to 12th place, and double the amounts for the final, except for $30,000 for the winner.

Perry’s compilation shows 669 athletes won money in 2022; the leaders:

1. $99,500: Shericka Jackson (JAM/sprints: 10 meets)
2. $90,000: Alison Dos Santos (BRA/hurdles: 7)
3. $80,000: Femke Bol (NED/400 m-hurdles: 6)
4. $77,250: Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR/high jump: 7)
5. $76,000: Mondo Duplantis (SWE/vault: 6)
6. $70,000: Chase Ealey (USA/shot: 5)
6. $70,000: Kristjian Ceh (SLO/discus: 5)
8. $66,000: Joe Kovacs (USA/shot: 5)
8. $66,000: Miltiadis Tentoglu (GRE/long jump: 5)
8. $66,000: Valarie Allman (USA/discus: 5)

Of equal interest is the distribution of the prize money among the 669 athletes listed as winning anything:

● 22 won $50,000 or more (of 669 prize winners)
● 13 won $40,000-49,999 (total: 35)
● 14 won $30,000-39,999 (total: 49)
● 46 won $20,000-29,999 (total: 95)
● 97 won $10,000-19,999 (total 192)
● 477 (71%) won less than $10,000

In fact, 182 athletes won from $1,000-2,000, and 141 won less than $1,000; that’s 323 in all or 48% of all prize winners.

That’s some good money for the top earners, but not much for most. Making a living in track & field remains pretty tough.

5.
African sport slowed again, as Guinea loses 2025
Africa Cup of Nations

There is great interest from the International Olympic Committee, World Athletics and many other major governing bodies to hold future major events in Africa. But it isn’t easy.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) removed the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations – a major event on the continent – from Guinea last Friday “due to the infrastructure and facilities in Guinea not being ready to host a world class AFCON competition.”

The Guinean government hardly agreed. Spokesman Ousmane Gaoual Diallo told Agenbce France Presse, “We are almost three years away from the deadline. The biggest stadiums that we build today are built in 24 months. The idea of saying that it is not possible to build all these infrastructures in 24 months is a prejudice. Unfortunately, that’s how football is run. It’s not just sporting, there are other realities that go into the decisions.”

The CAF Executive Committee announced on Saturday that bidding for 2025 event is re-opened. The Associated Press noted that this is hardly a new occurrence:

“The decision means every African Cup since 2013 has been moved because of problems with the original host country.

“South Africa stepped in as host for civil war-torn Libya in 2013, Equatorial Guinea was a replacement for Morocco in 2015, Gabon replaced Libya, which still wasn’t ready in 2017, Egypt took over for an under-prepared Cameroon in 2019 and Cameroon hosted its tournament three years later than originally planned in 2022, when there was also a one-year delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.”

The Cote d’Ivoire was slated to host the event in 2021, but their edition will now be held in 2024, with the new, 2025 bid winner following immediately.

The International Olympic Committee placed the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar (SEN) in 2026 as a first edition of an Olympic project on the continent. World Athletics considered Nairobi (KEN) for its 2025 World Athletics Championships, but chose Tokyo (JPN) instead due to superior facilities built for the 2020 (2021) Olympic Games.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Volleyball ● The second round of pool play at the FIVB Women’s World Championship in The Netherlands and Poland has begun, with the U.S. scoring a win over the Dominican Republic in Lodz (POL).

The U.S. defeated the Dominicans, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-14 to go to 5-1 overall, with matches left against Poland (3-2), Turkey (5-1) and Thailand (4-2). The top four teams in this pool, which also includes 5-0 Serbia and 4-2 Canada, will advance to the playoffs.

In the other pool, Brazil dealt Italy its first loss, three sets to set and both squads are now 5-1, tied with Japan at 5-1 at the top of the standings. Pool play continues through 9 October.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2020: Tokyo ● More arrests in the sponsorship bribery cases, as three executives of Kadokawa Publishing were charged. According to Kyodo News:

“Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, 79, was indicted for giving 69 million yen ($477,000) in bribes to the former [Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member], Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, in return for the company being selected as a sponsor of the Games.”

Kadokawa has stated he is innocent and intends to clear his name at trial. Two other Kadokawa executives were also charged. The indictment specifies the ¥69 million was paid in nine installments between September 2019 and January 2021; in return, Kadokawa’s sponsorship fee was not to exceed ¥380 million (about $2.64 million U.S.).

● Athletics ● More tales of abuse, this time reported by David Woods of the Indianapolis Star, with the headline (subscription required):

“Christian college coach created a culture of doping and sex, star runners allege

“Athletes say there was a dark side to the amazing success of the women’s distance running program at Huntington University”

Tweeted Woods: “EXCLUSIVE: ‘I wanted to be dead.’ Former Huntington University runners allege track program was a cult of sex and drugs.”

Former Huntington star runners Emma Wilson and Hannah Stoffel filed a civil suit against the school and former cross country coach Nick Johnson on 30 September, stating:

“The following is the Complaint of two former student athletes at Huntington University who were victims of a coach and his supporters that gave Larry Nassaresque massages all the while acting like Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France pharmacist injecting unknown substances into their bodies. His name is Nicholas Johnson and he should be in prison. Nicholas Johnson and his co- defendants have been destroying the lives of young students and runners in Northern Indiana for years, today Plaintiffs take a stand to stop him and his enablers.”

The complaint specifies multiple counts of battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, violation of Title IX and asks for compensatory and punitive damages. A criminal inquiry is also underway.

Statistician Phil Minshull of Spain Sports Services noted that Ethiopian great Kenenisa Bekele’s fifth-place, 2:05.53 finish at the London Marathon was actually a record-setter:

“To be fair to Bekele, he did add another accolade to his quite considerable resume which includes 20 world and Olympic titles on all surfaces and four world records (three outdoors, one indoor) as he ran a world over-40 best for the classic distance, taking 32 seconds off the previous best (2:06:25) set by Spain’s Ayad Lamdassem at the Seville Marathon on 20 February this year.”

Also in London, 1984 Olympic champ Joan Benoit Samuelson (USA) – now 65 – ran and finished in 3:20:20 to win the women’s 65-69 age group. She was preceded across the line by her daughter Abby Samuelson, who finished in 2:58:19.

Benoit Samuelson plans to complete the World Marathon Majors circuit, with only the Tokyo Marathon remaining on her list.

● Badminton ● Very few international sporting events are being held in China, but the Badminton Word Federation confirmed that the $1.5 million BWF World Tour Finals will be held in Guangzhou from 14-18 December.

Other BWF events have been canceled and only the ITTF World Team Championships – now ongoing in Chengdu – have been allowed to take place so far, in a “bubble” environment.

● Basketball ● Two-time Olympic champ Britney Griner is due back in a Moscow-area court for her appeal on a heavy sentence of nine years for “drug smuggling” on 25 October. She has been in detention since mid-February and negotiations continue between the U.S. and Russian governments for her release.

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LANE ONE: LA84’s Peter Ueberroth saluted with a plaque in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Court of Honor

By
Rich Perelman
-
Los Angeles 1984 organizing committee President Peter Ueberroth (l) with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at the dedication of Ueberroth's plaque at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Photo: TheSportsExaminer.com)

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

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LOS ANGELES – The Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles in 1984 was one of the pivot points in the history of the Olympic Movement. Beset by the terrorist murders of Munich 1972, the financial fiasco of Montreal 1976 and the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, the International Olympic Committee – and its new President, Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch – desperately needed a major success in 1984.

What they got was a revolution.

The man who led the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee to heights never before imagined, Peter Ueberroth, was honored with a massive plaque saluting his achievement in the Court of Honor of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Monday morning.

Ueberroth was the first staff member of an “organizing committee” that inherited more than $300,000 in debt – in 1979 – from the bid effort that had brought the Olympic Games back to the U.S. for the first time since Los Angeles in 1932. Five years later, his LAOOC had not only staged a hugely popular Games – despite a retaliatory boycott by the USSR and most of the Warsaw Pact countries – but had re-written the book on sports management:

● Completely privately financed, the LAOOC’s original budget projected $368 million in revenues and a $21 million surplus, but ended with about $780 million in revenues and a surplus of $232.5 million. The LAOOC’s new concepts in television rights sales, sports sponsorship and ticketing made the stunning revenue total possible.

● Of that surplus, 40% went to the U.S. Olympic Committee (now the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee), 20% to the U.S. National Governing Bodies and 40% to the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles (now the LA84 Foundation). All three segments of the surplus continue to produce revenue today, through the U.S. Olympic Endowment, and the LA84 Foundation, which has supported more than three million children to participate in sports programs and certified thousands of coaches to teach them.

● The ‘84 Games was the first to widely use volunteers as the primary work force and more than 33,500 volunteers staffed the Games, mostly Angelenos, but with help from individuals from countries around the world. This program continues today and is a bedrock of the organization of every major sporting event in the world.

● The Olympic Torch Relay, up to then a short program ending with the Opening Ceremony, was expanded to a cross-country parade that raised $10.95 million for charity across 82 days, 9,375 miles and with 3,436 Youth Legacy Kilometer torch bearers.

● Significant expansions of women’s events at the Games, including the women’s marathon, and first-ever wheelchair races, with the women’s 800 m and men’s 1,500 m added as demonstration events in the track & field program.

Double Olympic champion Edwin Moses speaking at the dedication of a Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum plaque to LAOOC President Peter Ueberroth (Photo: TheSportsExaminer.com)

These and many other firsts were recalled as Ueberroth, with wife Ginny and their family, was saluted by speakers including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, 1984 Olympic champions Edwin Moses (400 m hurdles) and Benita Fitzgerald Mosley (100 m hurdles) and LAOOC staff members Debra Duncan – immediate past Chair of the LA84 Foundation – and Anita DeFrantz, the retired long-time head of the LA84 Foundation and a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1986.

Garcetti, whose term as Mayor is ending this year and who helped bring the 2028 Games to Los Angeles, said of the 1984 organizing effort:

“We witnessed with our eyes what it meant to engage an entire city in an effort of common purpose. To unify a world that was split and divided; sound familiar? To see the potential of sport to not just come to the moment, but to meet that moment, and to re-write that moment. …

“You gave us a new narrative, for our city and for our world when we needed it most. …

“I hope we will not only meet the legacy, but match the legacy in ‘28, to pour more money into sports [and] games. In fact, I tried to get the surplus up front, so we got $160 million out of the IOC before we even started the Games, so whoever comes after me [as Mayor], don’t screw it up!”

The most dramatic comments came from Candace Cable, a nine-time Paralympian and the winner of six Boston Marathon women’s wheelchair titles, who was the third-placer in the women’s wheelchair 800 m race:

Nine-time Paralympian Candace Cable speaking at the dedication of a Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum plaque for LAOOC President Peter Ueberroth (Photo: TheSportsExaminer.com)

“By adding the two wheelchair events to the 1984 Games, you created a massive paradigm shift for us, disabled people, and also for non-disabled people all over the world. It wasn’t just for the 90,000 people in the stadium, and it wasn’t just for us athletes that were on the floor of the Coliseum – which was amazing – or even all the disabled people watching. It really was a moment where millions and millions of non-disabled people in the global community that were watching those seven to eight minutes of competition, where their negative bias and stigmas surrounding disabled people, at that time, were peeled back on that day.

“Those few minutes [on] the worldwide broadcast took us – the discarded, dehumanized, disabled people – out of the dark shadows of worthlessness, and brought us into the bright light of truth: that we are all human beings with value and deserve access and inclusion to all that life has to offer.

“Using sport as the vehicle for inclusion and access messaging was perfection.”

Moses underscored the change the LAOOC’s television and marketing programs have made across the decades:

“Peter, you and your team really changed the way sports is looked at forever, and so when you look at a sports program, you see the marketing … all that started right here, at the Coliseum, thanks to Peter Ueberroth and his fantastic team. And I appreciate it and thank you on behalf of all the athletes that aren’t here, but it’s something that has changed our generations forever.”

About 200 people attended the ceremony, staged by the LA84 Foundation in conjunction with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission. Duncan, a key member of the team that re-wrote how tickets could be sold at a major event, recollected the not-always-upbeat view of the LAOOC in the lead-up to the Games:

“We were such underdogs and did not have much support from outside our Committee. We knew we needed a lot of things to go right for the Games to go well. We never in our wildest dreams thought they would go not only well, but be the most successful Games ever, and change the trajectory of the Olympic Movement.

“Maybe Peter knew, but I certainly didn’t, how important to the entire Olympic world it was for these Games to succeed. … We are here to celebrate the success of a Games that will never be duplicated. We are here to celebrate the individual who had the vision and wisdom and ability to lead, my dear friend, Peter Ueberroth. …

“It was truly life-changing for me, a defining moment, that I could not possibly understand at the time. Like many of my colleagues at those Games, I worked on many other Olympic organizing committees, but nothing ever came close to the feeling of success and community that I had with those 1984 Games.”

U.S. IOC member Anita DeFrantz speaking at the dedication of a Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum plaque to LAOOC President Peter Ueberroth (Photo: TheSportsExaminer.com)

Ueberroth, now 85 and in good health, spoke only briefly at the end of the program, continuing his message that was honed in front of then-dubious audiences in 1982 and 1983:

“I just want to thank everybody. You heard a lot of nice comments; some of them were true and some of them were exaggerated, but the fact is, in this society that we all live in, everybody that I can see [here] and everybody who can be behind us or in front of us, we can make a difference. And we can all make a difference, and God bless you all.”

The massive plaque was then unveiled, facing across from that saluting Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (1917-98), who worked closely with Ueberroth to help make the Games a success. The LAOOC’s three phases – bid, organization and legacy – are now all saluted with plaques in the Coliseum’s Court of Honor for bid chair John Argue (honored in 2004), Ueberroth and Bradley (2019), and DeFrantz (2017).

Ueberroth joins William May Garland, the chief organizer of the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, with plaques in the Court of Honor, which also includes Baron Pierre de Coubertin (FRA), the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, honored in 1958, and Count Henri de Baillet-Latour (BEL), the IOC President at the time of the 1932 Games (honored in 1964).

DeFrantz, who joined the LAOOC in 1981, remembered that the organizing committee got no help at all from the 1980 Moscow organizers and had only sparse information from the 1976 Games in Montreal. But that hardly fazed Ueberroth:

“Peter saw it as an opportunity. We don’t have a map, so we’ll create our own. We’ll do the things we need to do. …

“Peter led us. I cannot, in all these years, imagine anybody else having presided over these Games. No one else had the ability to visualize what could be, and make it happen.”

Rich Perelman
Editor

The Ueberroth family, with Peter in the middle and wife Ginny to his left, at the unveiling of his plaque at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Photo: TheSportsExaminer.com)

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TSX REPORT: U.S. women take fourth straight FIBA World Cup; IOC wants “anti-war” Russians to compete? Chile and Peru try for World Cup berth at CAS

By
Rich Perelman
-
A fourth straight title for the U.S. women's basketball team at the FIBA Women's World Cup! (Photo: FIBA)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. U.S. women win 30th straight FIBA World Cup game, fourth straight title
2. Bach looks to reinstate “anti-war” Russians?
3. Kremlev expects Russians to return to boxing soon
4. Chile and Peru continue World Cup push at Court of Arbitration
5. Track & field isn’t the only sport with marketing problems

One of the most dominant U.S. international-sport teams in history is in women’s basketball and the 2022 edition won all eight games, its fourth consecutive title and out-scored its opponents by a combined 790-464. The U.S. women have now won 30 straight FIBA Women’s World Cup games in a row and qualified for Paris 2024. Wow. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) said a way should be found – eventually – to allow Russian who repudiate the war in Ukraine to be able to compete internationally again; this drew wide condemnation from Russian officials. International Boxing Association President Umar Kremlev (RUS) said, essentially, Russian athletes should be able to compete regardless of the war in Ukraine and does not seem overly concerned about losing Olympic status. Chile and Peru continues their push to disqualify an Ecuadorian player as ineligible and force their way into the 2022 FIFA World Cup, now at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. And while the track & field cognoscenti wail about the sport’s lack of public porfile, other sports feel the same pain, as demonstrated by Russian Short Track star Semen Elistratov.

1.
U.S. women win 30th straight FIBA World Cup game, fourth straight title

It wasn’t easy, but the U.S. women won their 30th straight FIBA Women’s World Cup game to take their fourth straight title in a hard-fought, 83-61 win over China on Saturday before 15,895 at the Sydney Superdome in Australia.

Both teams struggled in a low-scoring first quarter, with the U.S. taking an 18-13 lead, the same score as in their group-stage game. But the game opened up in the second quarter with a 25-20 U.S. advantage and a 43-33 lead.

This felt similar to the group-stage game between the two, with the Americans then holding a 19-point lead, but China closing back to nine with a strong third quarter. Not this time. The U.S. out-scored China, 25-14, in the third and had a commanding, 21-point margin going into the fourth and added a point to the lead for the final margin of 22.

China’s 6-7 center, Yueru Li, had 19 and 12 rebounds, tied for scoring honors with U.S. forward A’ja Wilson. The U.S. had four in double figures, as instant-offense guard Kelsey Plum had 17, guard Jewell Loyd had 11 and Chelsea Gray had 10. While the Americans out-shot China by just 44.6-42.9%, the U.S. put up 74 shots to 56.

The U.S. finished 8-0 in the tournament and won its 30th straight FIBA World Cup match going back to 2006. Cheryl Reeve, the coach of the WNBA Minnesota Lynx, was an assistant on the winning 2014 and 2018 World Cup teams and now the head coach of a World Cup champion.

Wilson was named Most Valuable Player and Wilson and Breanna Stewart were named All-Tournament First Team, along with Canada’s Bridget Carleton, Australian guard Steph Talbot and Chinese center Han Xu.

American Alyssa Thomas was named Best Defender, and the U.S. held its eight opponents to an average of just 58.0 points a game, while averaging 98.8 points a game on offense.

The U.S. won its fourth straight title, six out of seven and eight of the last 11. It’s the 11th title overall for the U.S., with the USSR second with six; the American women have won a medal in this tournament in 12 straight editions. China won silver for the second time, also in 1994, also in Australia. The U.S. qualifies for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with the victory in the final.

Home favorite Australia won the bronze medal in a 95-65 rout over Canada, with Lauren Jackson setting a record for the most career World Cup games played (43) and leading all scorers with 30 points.

2.
Bach looks to reinstate “anti-war” Russians?

The President of the International Olympic Committee is trying to figure out how to bring Russian athletes out from the cold, where the IOC put them in February.

In a story published on Friday (30th), Thomas Bach (GER) said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera:

“It is not about necessarily having Russia back. It’s about having athletes with a Russian passport who do not support the war back in competition.

“Here comes our dilemma – this war has not been started by the Russian athletes. But we saw that some governments did not want to respect anymore the autonomy of international sports. …

“This is why we’ve had to take these protective measures to be at least still a little bit in the driving seat and not lose all autonomy. And this is why, on the other hand, we also have to see, and to study, to monitor, how and when we can come back to accomplish our mission to have everybody back again, under which format whatsoever.”

But nothing is happening right now:

“There is no change in the recommendations … We are very grateful to the International Federations that they are following them. …

“Sport is increasingly becoming an occasion for political retribution. This is a world full of conflicts, in sports we are seeing divisions. The mission of the Olympic Movement is to promote peace while remaining politically neutral, now we need to understand how we can do this. The organization of the Olympic Games serves to bring people together, especially in difficult moments.”

The Russian reaction was immediate condemnation:

● Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko: “Russian athletes are patriots and do not sell their homeland, for several years our athletes have experienced the prejudiced attitude of international sports organizations, including the IOC, their removal from competitions has become the apogee. What have our opponents achieved? Deprived world sport of objectivity, healthy competition and entertainment.”

● Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov: “From today’s statement by IOC President Thomas Bach, we can conclude that Russian athletes are offered to exchange their nationality and civic position for the humiliating neutral status of performing on the international arena. In this situation, artificially created by the recommendations of the IOC Executive Board, our athletes are, in fact, forced to violate the laws of their country and the Olympic Charter.”

● Russian Wrestling Federation President, Mikhail Mamiashvili: “What does it mean to distance oneself from power? Strange wording. That is, we are offered to admit that each of us is a Judas, to renounce our state, our country, our president? And then what? I doubt that the Olympic principles are based on the principles of betrayal, we live in some kind of looking glass.”

● National gymnastics team coach Valentina Rodionenko: “None of the athletes will ever agree to betray their country. All of us will not compete under such conditions.”

The Olympic Games were canceled three times, all due to World Wars, vaporizing the 1916, 1940 and 1944 Games. Germany and Japan were not invited to the London 1948 Games, held three years after their 1945 surrenders at the end of World War II (remember, there was no treaty formally ending the war), but did compete at Helsinki 1952, seven years after.

With Russia’s aggression in Ukraine still ongoing, what’s the rush?

3.
Kremlev expects Russians to return to boxing soon

Now fully confirmed as the President of the International Boxing Association through 2026, Russian Umar Kremlev told the “Russia – A Sports Power” conference in Siberia last week:

“As the president of the International Boxing Association, I want to say that managers should not deprive either the anthem or the flag, but should call for world peace. And today I would urge my colleagues to stop sabotaging, and join and help athletes participate in all international competitions and not to deprive them of either the anthem or the flag, this is the most important thing for an athlete. They are not coming for the sake of medals, but to represent their country, their people.

“I think that in the near future the International Boxing Association will have no right to deprive our beloved athletes of their achievements, their dreams, we must create conditions for them – this is our duty, we come to develop sports and help, create, not destroy or play political games.”

In the meantime, the IBA Board turned the politics of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on its head, stating that despite its – highly dubious – suspension of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation, it was allowing Ukrainian boxers to compete under their own flag at the European Junior Championships in Montesilvano (ITA), and paying for the team’s expenses. Said Kremlev:

“I reiterate that all boxers must be allowed to compete under their national flag, no matter what. … The time has now come to allow all the rest of the athletes of Russia and Belarus to participate in all the official competitions of their sports representing their countries.”

Observed: Will all this help the IBA’s return to the Olympic Movement? Probably not, but Kremlev does not appear too concerned:

At the close of the IBA Extraordinary Congress in Armenia on 25 September, he acknowledged the Olympic-inclusion issue but essentially told the delegates that boxing is more important to him than being part of the Olympic Games:

“I am working for you, not a side organization. … We are saying today that we are an independent organization, that we are here to protect our IBA that we all love. And we shouldn’t say ‘Olympic boxing,’ we should say ‘IBA boxing.’ We have to get to the point where boxing will be part of the Olympic Games in 2024 as well as 2028. We’ll do our best, with the team and with you, and no one can exclude us from anywhere. …

“The most important should be the World Series [of Boxing], however, because for the IBA and the boxers this is our house … this is what we will do; as an organization, should be the most important for us. …

“Today, I have heard in this hall, a couple of expressions, ‘what will happen with boxing when it comes to Olympic Games’? We will join our forces, we will do a great job and we will defend the name of boxing to be part of the Olympic program, but this will not be the only thing we will do. Most importantly, we have to protect the interests of the IBA, our own organization. … Our World Series must become the important competitions.”

4.
Chile and Peru continue World Cup push at Court of Arbitration

In the South American qualification tournament for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Ecuador finished fourth with 26 points (7-6-5 W-L-T) to advance to Qatar.

But Chile and Peru are both protesting that Ecuador used an ineligible player – right back Byron Castillo – for eight of the qualifying games and is asking for a forfeit of these games. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee cleared Castillo, as did the FIFA Appeal Committee, so the matter is now with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Per the announcement of the separate appeals by the two football federations:

“The appeal filed by the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) is directed at the FEF and FIFA. The FPF requests that Ecuador be excluded from the FIFA World Cup 2022 and replaced by Peru, which is the best runner-up. The appeal filed by the Chilean Football Association (FFCH) is directed at the FEF, the player Byron David Castillo Segura, and FIFA. The FFCH requests CAS to rule that the Player was ineligible for the 8 matches played in the Qualifiers, declaring those matches as forfeited and placing Chile in the 4th position in the South America 2022 World Cup Qualifiers. Both appellants request that CAS issue its final award on or before 10 November 2022 at the latest.”

The Chileans have complained that Castillo was actually born in Colombia and should be ineligible to play for Ecuador and the eight games he played in should be forfeited. That would move Chile up to fourth and into a qualifying position for Qatar. Peru finished fifth and lost a play-in game against Australia to go to Qatar, but says now that Ecuador should be disqualified altogether for using an ineligible player and it should be advance to fourth and qualify.

The World Cup begins on 10 November, Ecuador is in Group A with host Qatar, Netherlands and Senegal.

5.
Track & field isn’t the only sport with marketing problems

The Russian news agency TASS conducted an interesting interview with 2015 World Short Track 1,500 m champ Semen Elistratov, who won an Olympic gold in Sochi in 2014 on the men’s 5,000 m relay. It turns out he feels the lack of attention to his sport just as much as it heard in the U.S. from many Olympic sports, such as track & field.

Asked about his sport continuing to lag behind football, figure skating and hockey, he replied:

“Many athletes are closed [to promoting themselves and their sport]. I am also against getting into some things, I don’t post photos with my wife and son on social networks, this is too important for me, I don’t want other people’s eyes to see it. But since we are public people, communication is our job. This is necessary to popularize your sport, this is an absolutely normal thing.

“I can say that in Ufa [in Russia]. it is after Beijing that they recognize me, this was not the case either after Sochi or after Pyeongchang, but for some reason after Beijing. Once in a taxi they asked me if I knew Semen Elistratov, I modestly said that I knew him.

“If we take the promotion and media component of our sport, I can say that everything is hard. Before the competition, there should be press conferences, to gather athletes to communicate with the press – this is normal. Here we will have the championship of Russia, but will it be shown, for example, on Match TV? It is unlikely, but the Russian Figure Skating Championship is broadcast on Channel One. But it’s hard to compare, if you go to girls figure skaters on Instagram [banned in Russia as it is owned by Meta, considered ‘extremist’], they all have a million subscribers, which means people are watching, they like it.

“I do what I can, you can give an informational reason, go drunk to swim in the fountain – ‘Olympic champion Semyon Elistratov bathes in the fountain.’ Is it a good piece of information? But, on the other hand, for me it is immoral.

“I think that broadcasting requires a lot of money, but I don’t know where to get it. This is probably the work of experts. I have never had the task of making everyone around me find out, I take this calmly. The history of short track skating isn’t that big, so I don’t have any resentment.”

Elistratov, now 32, would like to go to the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games – which would be his fourth – but with one condition:

“It is imperative to go to the next Games, but if there is a requirement to sign a declaration that I actually renounce my country, then there can be no question of a trip.”

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Shooting ● The ISSF World Championships in Shotgun continue, with the Trap events concluding with the men’s and women’s Team events.

Great Britain took the men’s title, out-scoring the Czech Republic by 7-1 in the final. Italy and Finland had go to a shoot-off in the women’s title match, with Italy scoring a 3-0 win after a 5-5 tie in regulation.

Britain’s Nathan Hales, 26, scored three medals in his three events: gold in the Men’s Team, and silvers in the Mixed Team and men’s Trap final.

● Volleyball ● The FIVB Women’s World Championship in the Netherlands and Poland continues, with the first round of group play completed. Italy (5-0) won Group A; Turkey (4-1) took Group B, Serbia (5-0) and the U.S. (4-1) were 1-2 in Group C and China, Japan and Brazil (all 4-1) were 1-2-3 in Group D.

The U.S. won its first four matches against Kazakhstan, Canada, Bulgaria and Germany, but was swept aside by Serbia in the final group match, 25-20, 25-23, 25-15.

The next set of matches will be held from 4-9 October, with the top four teams from each group assigned into new pools, and the top four from these second-round groups qualifying to the quarterfinals. The results against teams already played are counted, and games are played only against teams from other groups.

The U.S. is in Pool F in Lodz (POL), and is “2–1″ with Serbia (3-0) and Canada (1-2) also advancing. The American women – the Tokyo Olympic gold medalists – will play the Dominican Republic, Poland, Turkey and Thailand.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The LA28-sponsored bill to assist athletes – California Assembly Bill AB-2747 – was signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom, providing in-state tuition rates across a 10-year period, into 2032.

Athletes training for a sport under the supervision of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and attending a California Community College, Cal State University or University of California campus will pay in-state tuition rates, which are considerably less than those for out-of-state attendees. Beginning 1 July 2032, the in-state tuition rates would apply to athletes training at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center.

● Athletics ● Kenya’s Amos Kipruto and Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw ran away with victories at the 42nd London Marathon on Sunday in speedy times of 2:04:39 and 2:17:26.

Kipruto, who had set a lifetime best of 2:03:13 while placing second at the Tokyo Marathon in March, was part of a seven-man lead group at the half (1:02:14) and held together past 35 km. Kipruto attacked late and built a 17-second lead by the 40 km mark and cruised home to win by 33 seconds over Leul Gebresilase (ETH: 2:05:12) and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Bashir Abdi (BEL: 2:05:19).

Ethiopian great Kenenisa Bekele was with the lead group through 35 km, but faded to fifth in 2:05:53. Andrew McCann was the top American, in 17th (2:21:39).

Yehualaw won in her marathon debut in Hamburg (GER) in April in 2:17:23 and claimed her second victory of the year after passing the halfway mark in 1:08:46 as part of a lead group of eight. Five were in contention at 35 km, but Yehualaw broke away and led by 16 seconds at 40 km on the way to a 41-second win over defending champ Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN: 2:18:07) and Alemu Megertu (ETH: 2:18:32). Marci Klimek was the top U.S. finisher, in 11th (2:37:56).

American agent and manager Dan Lilot tweeted “$800M for a new football stadium, yet still no M/W T&F and M XC” in reply to the announcement that Northwestern University will be renovating Ryan Field.

There is one difference worth noting. Northwestern’s football project will be privately funded, with – per the announcement – “NO taxpayer financing.”

If track & field-specific funds can be raised, it will get new facilities too. And, no, the new plan for Ryan Field does not include a track.

● Beach Volleyball ● Norway’s World and Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sorum were again the best, this time at the Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 in Paris (FRA).

Seeded second, the Norwegians swept the final, defeating 2013 World Champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen (NED) in tightly-contested sets, 21-19, 21-18. It’s the second Elite 16 win this season for Mol and Sorum, in addition to their World Championships gold.

Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava (ITA) won the bronze-medal match against Marco and Esteban Grimalt (CHI), 21-16, 21-16.

Dutch stars Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon (NED) won the women’s tournament with a 21-16, 22-20 sweep of Anastasija Samoilova and Tina Graudina (LAT). It’s the second Elite 16 victory of the season for the Dutch pair.

Brazil’s 2022 World Champions Ana Patricia Ramos and Duda Lisboa edged Americans Betsi Flint and Kelly Cheng for the bronze, 21-12, 13-21, 15-8.

● Cycling ● The UCI BMX World Cup concluded for 2022 with rounds 7-8 in Bogota (COL), with France’s two-time World Champion Joris Daudet sweeping the weekend series.

Daudet won a tight battle with Britain’s Tokyo silver medalist Kye White, 32.037-32.646 on Saturday and then came back with a 31.956-32.440 win over Izaac Kennedy (AUS) on Sunday, with American Cameron Wood third (33.393). In the seasonal series, France’s 2018 World Champion Sylvain Andre was the winner with 2,537 points, comfortably ahead of Wood (2,249) and Kennedy (2,117).

The women’s round 7 race saw a familiar 1-2 with four-time World Cup champ Laura Smulders (NED) winning at 35.757, ahead of American Anne Willoughby (36.065). But defending World Cup champ – and home favorite – Mariana Pajon, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medalist – won Sunday’s final race in 35.199, ahead of Merel Smulders (NED: 36.175) and Swiss Zoe Claeesens (36.289). For the season, Laura Smulders won her fifth World Cup title with 3,608 points to 2,858 for Claessens and Tokyo Olympic champ Beth Shriever (GBR: 2,181).

● Equestrian ● Belgium won its third-ever title at the FEI Nations Cup Final in jumping in Barcelona (ESP), with a faultless performance in the championship round.

The team of Koen Verecke (aboard Kasanova de la Pomme), Giles Thomas (Calleryama) and Jerone Guery (Quel Homme de Hus) each had no penalties, while Gregory Wathelet (Iron Man de la Padenborre) had one, but with only the top three scores counting, the Belgians looked perfect on the scoresheet.

France suffered single penalties on two runs and ended up second with four faults. Switzerland also had single faults by two riders and were third with a slower time than the French.

Belgium previously won in 2015 and 2018 and took home €417,000 for the victory. France received €251,000 for silver and the Swiss earned €167,000 in third.

● Football ● An Iranian women’s rights group called “OpenStadiums” has asked FIFA to remove Iran from the 2022 FIFA World Cup because of its abuse of women.

“The Iranian FA is not only an accomplice of the crimes of the regime. It is a direct threat to the security of female fans in Iran and wherever our national team plays in the world. Football should be a safe space for us all. …

“That is why, as Iranian football fans, it is with an extremely heavy heart that we have to raise our deepest concern about Iran’s participation in the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

“Why would FIFA give the Iranian state and its representatives a global stage, while it not only refuses to respect basic human rights and dignities, but is currently torturing and killing its own people? Where are the principles of FIFA’s statues in this regard?

“Therefore, we ask FIFA, based on Articles 3 and 4 of its statutes, to immediately expel Iran from the World Cup 2022 in Qatar. …

“[We] call for action and punishment for years of oppression of women and fans in Iranian sport. The Islamic Republic’s authorities and its football federation must not be given the honour of participating in football’s finest tournament while it is killing its citizens on our streets.”

Iran is competing in Group B at the World Cup in Qatar, with Wales, the U.S. and England.

● Gymnastics ● Americans won two of the four women’s events at the penultimate FIG Artistic World Challenge Cup in Szombathely (HUN).

Addison Fatta, 10th at the U.S. nationals All-Around, won on Vault, scoring an average of 13.366 on her two trials, out-pointing Slovenia’s Teja Belak (13.216). On Floor, Katelyn Jong topped the field at 13.500, ahead of Greta Mayer (HUN), who scored 13.033; fellow American Levi Jung-Ruivivar was sixth (12.666).

Hungary’s Zoja Szekely won the Uneven Bars at 13.733, with Fatta third (13.600) and Jong fifth (13.133). Finland’s Maisa Kuusiko won on Beam, scoring 12.866.

Ukraine’s Ilia Kovtun, the 2021 Worlds All-Around bronze medalist, won the men’s Floor and Parallel Bars events. Nariman Korbanov (KAZ) won on Pommel Horse, Austria’s Vinzenz Hock took the Rings gold, Chinese Taipei’s Wei-sheng Tseng was the Vault winner and Hungary went 1-2 on the Horizontal Bar with Krisztofer Meszaros (14.166) and Krisztian Balazs (14.133).

● Ice Hockey ● The International Ice Hockey Federation’s Semi-Annual Congress in Belek (TUR) approved a “re-entry plan” for Russian and Belarusian teams whenever the situation in Ukraine is resolved:

“Russia and Belarus would return to the categories and divisions in which they were originally placed prior to the Council decision [to remove them].”

This does not means Russian or Belarusian teams are coming back any time soon:

● “Following the IIHF Council decision from 28 February 2022, Russia and Belarus are not allowed to participate in IIHF competitions until further notice. The upcoming 2022/2023 IIHF Championship season will proceed without the participation of these countries.”

● “The deadline for a decision concerning Russia and Belarus is after the last preliminary-round game of the respective IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in the men’s senior category to prepare the championship program for the IIHF Annual Congress.”

Olympic Statman Hilary Evans (GBR) tweeted that only Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Great Britain voted against this. Additional reporting showed that 98 of 119 IIHF members voted in favor, 10 were against – five countries with two votes each – and 11 did not vote.

IIHF President Luc Tardif (FRA) underscored that the decisions were meant for future planning only:

“To be clear, this decision does not indicate a return of the Russian and Belarusian teams to IIHF competition. Congress needed to take this decision so that the IIHF members understand the terms of a future reintegration of these countries into the IIHF program. The IIHF Council will continue to monitor the war in Ukraine.”

But the decision was welcomed in Russia; said former Russian team coach and 1998-92 gold medalist as a center, Vyacheslav Bykov:

“Reason has prevailed, most leaders of the hockey community are well aware that the development of our sport cannot do without the participation of a great nation in it, which does a lot for it. There is already a positive note, we remain in the top division, let’s hope that this is the first positive reaction before the complete lifting of all sanctions against our athletes. Everything largely depends on the international situation.”

The IIHF Congress also approved the plan to – more or less – sell the Women’s World Championship Division I Group A (second tier) to China for three years in return for $3 million per year for 2023, 2024 and 2025, contingent on China being qualified for Division I play. The tournaments would be held in Shenzhen.

Why the deal? According to the announcement:

“As part of the legacy program of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and to further develop ice hockey in the country, the Chinese Ice Hockey Association wants to be more active in hosting IIHF events and organize the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division I Group A in front of its home audience.”

Tardif has said that this is the first marketing agreement ever made by the IIHF for women’s hockey. Initially, the money will be used to support each participating team traveling to China with $100,000 in support fees.

The 2023 tournament, featuring China, Denmark, Norway, Slovakia, Austria and the Netherlands, is scheduled for 17-23 April.

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TSX REPORT: LA28 and Delta intro first-ever combined logo; Russia already planning for 2028 Games; how does a golf guy become World Curling chief?

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. LA28 and Delta present first-ever integrated Olympic logo
2. Russian sport preparing for 2028, regardless of 2024 outlook
3. Ukraine to boycott FIG Congress due to Russian presence
4. How does a golf-course guy become World Curling President?
5. Paris 2024’s Paralympic Day promotion shows IOC tie-in value

Another first for Los Angeles 2028: an integrated sponsor logo, introduced with its inaugural partner Delta Airlines and featuring separate emblems for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In Russia, planning for the LA28 Games is already underway, while participation in Paris 2024 remains uncertain. At a conference in Siberia, speakers continued to preach that the world misses Russian athletes so badly they must be returned to competition. Meanwhile, Norway will boycott the International Ski & Snowboard meetings this week in Switzerland and Finland is asking for Russian and Belarusian officials to be removed from the FIS Council. Norway is also boycotting, along with Ukraine, the International Gymnastics Congress in November to protest the presence of Russian delegates. American Beau Welling was elected head of the World Curling Federation on 11 September and explained how a golf guy from South Carolina ended up heading a winter-sport federation! With two years to go, the Paris 2024 organizers and others are staging a “Paralympic Day” in Paris on 8 October, continuing to demonstrate the benefits of its expanding ties with the International Olympic Committee.

1.
LA28 and Delta present first-ever integrated Olympic logo

“The integrated emblem is a new model of commercial integration into the Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

“Partners are critical to the LA28 Games, and we’re excited to have Delta creating and storytelling with us.”

That’s Dave Mingey, Senior Vice President of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties, the joint venture between the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the LA28 organizing committee, introducing the first-ever integrated logo between an Olympic Games and a sponsor.

In this case, it’s Delta Airlines, the first founder partner of the LA28 organizers – from 2019 – but also now the airline sponsor of the USOPC for Beijing 2022, Paris 2024, Milan Cortina 2026 and Los Angeles 2028.

Combined logos – whether stacked or side-by-side – of an Olympic Games and a sponsor have been in use for decades, but the unique, LA28 replaceable “A” in its emblem program allows for a new form of integration. A “Delta x LA28 integrated emblem” was created for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the option to create such a logo will reportedly be available – at least for now – only to first-tier partners Delta, Salesforce and Comcast (NBC).

2.
Russian sport preparing for 2028, regardless of 2024 outlook

The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, told delegates at the “Russia – A Sports Power” conference in Siberia that preparations are moving ahead for Russia to compete in Paris in 2024, but most certainly in Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympic Games:

● “Regardless of when the [Paris 2024] qualifying round starts, it is important to ensure that our athletes can compete the very next day when the opportunity arises. I hope they will start as early as next year.

“We are six years away from the Los Angeles Olympics, and we are laying the groundwork that our athletes should go. I am 100% sure that we will be there, and we should not just go and perform well, and take a place no lower than third. On the territory of a strong opponent, they must show a worthy result.”

● “No matter how the political situation in the world develops, the main priority of the [International Olympic Committee] remains an attempt to abstract and get away from political phenomena. events without any pressure from some countries.

“The tone of the IOC has become more pragmatic, in line with the current moment, there is now a realization that Russia is too big a sporting power to be excluded from the Olympic movement. This carries costs, especially for those federations that have connections with national [federations] here in Russia.”

ROC Director General Vladimir Sengleev told the assembly that plans for Los Angeles are already underway:

“We have about 160 members, we must protect and promote their interests, in a crisis situation, the professionalism of our members depends on the development of sports. The main goal is promoting the sustainable development of effective activities of ROC members.

“Under the pessimistic scenario, we went a little lower and started to promote the preparation of the Olympic reserve. For the first time, we are preparing for both the Paris 2024 Games and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics at the same time.”

Multiple speakers repeated the theme that excluding Russian athletes was an unbearable burden for its competitors, even more so than for the Russians themselves:

● Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin: “I’m sure the [world sports] community is aware of the harm that it does to itself through competition bans, by not allowing our athletes to compete. We held tournaments that were recognized as the best in history. Suicide.”

● Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko: “The main thing is that the discriminatory policy towards Russia and our athletes did not bring the results that who counted on unfriendly countries, but robbed themselves, depriving the competition of worthy competition, entertainment and objectivity.”

● Russia President Vladimir Putin’s video greeting included:

“The sanctions aggression unleashed against our country and our citizens have affected many areas, including elite sport. Russian athletes, in fact, are deprived of the opportunity to represent their country, and Russia’s voice in international specialized organizations is deliberately ignored. This situation contradicts the very values of sports, the main of which are mutual respect and the principle of ‘sport is out of politics’.”

Putin added that Russia is “a cordial, hospitable country where open competitions are held at a high organizational level for representatives of different states and honor the ideals of Olympism.”

In the meantime, Pozdnyakov told the delegates that meetings on new cooperation with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) nations and BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Argentina – countries would be held during the Association of National Olympic Committee General Assembly meetings in Korea from 17-21 October. A new “association of sports organizations” is a possibility.

Sports Minister Matytsin spoke about the mobilization of citizens for military duty in the Ukraine invasion:

“Sport cannot be singled out as a separate refined community that should enjoy some kind of exclusive privileges. We see that our athletes in previous years, and, I hope, during this period, show themselves to be patriots. It was many times announced at the start of a special military operation, they supported the President and expressed an absolutely unequivocal opinion that sport is a single family. …

“Now I can’t unequivocally answer about the mobilization. There will be no and should not be any exclusivity. Yes, we understand that athletes and coaches are a golden fund, especially those who are preparing for the Olympic Games, members of national teams. Certain protection measures for certain categories will possibly be given a delay while we are in dialogue with the government. I hope that the sports system will continue to develop actively despite the situation.”

In Zurich (SUI), meanwhile, two national federations are protesting the presence of Russian and Belarusian delegates at the International Ski & Snowboard Federation meetings, with Norway boycotting and Finland asking for the formal expulsion of those attendees. Said Finnish Ski Association Executive Director Ismo Hamalainen:

“In the future, the exclusion of Russia and Belarus should be extended not only to athletes, but also to the Board of Trustees and the representative board. The case should have been resolved officially earlier, including for athletes; we will definitely raise this issue in Zurich and demand the exclusion of [Russians] from the FIS Council.”

3.
Ukraine to boycott FIG Congress due to Russian presence

“The Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation has decided not to participate in this year’s Congress of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) which is to be held on November 11th-12th, 2022 in Istanbul (Turkey), since representatives of Russia and Belarus, [the countries] that are waging an aggressive and destructive war against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, were allowed to participate in this official FIG event.

“Moreover, the venue of the Congress was changed by the FIG from Norway to Turkey precisely so that the representatives of the aggressor states could attend it, since the Norwegian Gymnastics Federation, which was originally supposed to host the Congress, refused to hold this event in Norway, according to recommendations of the Norwegian Olympic Committee, the Confederation of Sports and the Ministry of Culture and Equality not to invite delegates from Russia and Belarus to sports events. Similarly, there will be no representatives of Norway at the Congress in Turkey, for the same reason.”

Tuesday’s statement also included:

“The Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation once again declares its position that not only athletes from Russia and Belarus, but also any other officials from Russia and Belarus who represent these countries in the FIG should be suspended from participating in the sports events of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), or hold official positions in the FIG as ‘neutral’ persons. The Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation thanks the Norwegian Gymnastics Federation for its principled position, which advocates for the highest values of human life and dignity.”

The Israel-based Gymnovosti site made the point that while the FIG has maintained the IOC’s request to not allow Russian or Belarusian competitors in its events, it has also followed the IOC’s lead in not removing Russian officials and pointed to recent remarks by FIG President Morinari Watanabe (JPN):

“At the opening ceremony at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Sofia last week, Watanabe compared Russian and Belarusian athletes to flowers that cannot bloom because they are covered in snow and said that he hopes peace would come soon and the flowers would be able to bloom again.”

Russian national team coach Valentina Rodionenko said its gymnasts would accept competing under a neutral flag again but would not renounce the war in Ukraine:

“There’s a hope we will be allowed to compete at the Olympic Games, there’s always a chance. This depends not on us but on you know who. Competing under a neutral flag? We’ve already competed at the Olympics without a flag or an anthem, what else can we do? If they force us to condemn the special operation, to renounce what is happening in [our] country, we will never do that, of course. If we are told we are allowed to compete without a flag or an anthem and our superiors will decide [to allow it], then, of course, we will go, we’ve already competed like this.”

4.
How does a golf-course guy become World Curling President?

American Beau Welling, 53, was elected as the new President of the World Curling Federation on 11 September, the 11th to serve and the second from U.S., dating back to 1966. As he says, he’s not thought of as a “curling guy,” especially since his Beau Welling Design golf-course design and land-planning firm in Greenville, South Carolina has been busy creating more than 100 courses and land-use projects in the U.S.

So how does a “golf guy” end up as the head of World Curling? He shared some of the steps in an interview posted on the World Curling site:

● “It is 2002 and I come home late one night, turn on the television, and there are rocks, brooms and ice. And I’m like ‘that’s that curling thing.’ And this was now the Salt Lake Winter Olympics and found myself inexplicably drawn to the television.”

● “All members of the USA curling team for Torino were from the same place, Bemidji, Minnesota. I went online, and I learned that Bemidji was super into curling, produced more national champions than any other place. It was hosting the U.S. national championships two weeks after the [2006] Torino Olympics, so I decided to go. I wanted to go see this sport in person.

“I went and I was so incredibly welcomed by the people there. They thought it was so fascinating that somebody would come from South Carolina. This trip was a very formative thing because the people were just so nice. I went because I was fascinated by the sport, but I left totally fascinated by the community and the people.

“Actually, I had a one-way ticket to Bemidji and I ended up staying nine days. I just loved it so much and it ended with the President of the United States Curling Association naming me the official Southern ambassador for the sport, it was a fun thing.”

● “A few months later, I get a call from the new President of USA Curling and she said, ‘Beau, we’ve been asked by the USA Olympic Committee [sic] to get somebody on our Board that isn’t a curler, and we very much would like to see if it would be you.’”

● Welling helped to reconfigure the 2009 USA Curling national championships, which was also the Olympic Trials for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, and after a “rousing success,” Welling was rewarded with a trip to the Games as a member of the U.S. delegation.

“I did that and that’s where I first met [prior President] Kate [Caithness: SCO] and [Vice President] Graham [Prouse: CAN] and multiple people who are still involved with WCF. …

“The U.S. curling people said, ‘Wow, you really seem to relate to people very well from all over the world. Is there any way you would consider becoming one of our WCF representatives?’ And I very happily agreed to do that.”

● Welling’s term as an Independent Director with USA Curling lasted from 2007-18, when he was elected to the World Curling Federation Board, chairing the Structural Review Committee. He ran and won election as WCF President in the second round of voting, drawing 52.7% of the votes (127) for an absolute majority. He noted:

“Curling is a very strategic game and I’m a very strategic-minded person. It’s very obvious to me that golf and curling come out of the same ether. They are both sports that you can learn relatively quickly but they’re almost impossible to master. You can play them for your entire life, they’re all based around similar values of camaraderie, integrity and honor.”

That’s how you go from golf courses to being elected President of an International Federation.

5.
Paris 2024’s Paralympic Day promotion shows IOC tie-in value

The Paris 2024 organizing committee, in cooperation with the City of Paris and the national government, is heavily promoting its first “Paralympic Day” that will be held at the Place de la Bastille in Paris on 8 October.

This is a two-years-to-go program, with live competition in the men’s and women’s long jump, demonstrations of wheelchair basketball, Boccia, blind football, wheelchair fencing, Para athletics, Para-rowing, Para badminton, Para judo, Para table tennis, Para triathlon and sitting volleyball, plus several more non-Paralympic sports.

A main stage with a music and dance program, meet-ups with dozens of Olympic and Paralympic athletes and public participation programs such as a wheelchair obstacle course will encourage more direct contact with the Paralympic Games (and Paralympians).

This kind of program is the true value of the close association of the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee, which sees its role as beyond sport:

“The IPC’s primary responsibilities are to support our 200 plus members develop Para sport and advocate social inclusion, ensure the successful delivery and organisation of the Paralympic Games and act as the international federation for 10 Para sports.”

The introduction and promotion of challenged athletes into the sporting consciousness has the possibility to sensitize people to their needs within the greater society. The IPC promotes the idea that 15% of the world’s population has some sort of disability via its “WeThe15” campaign, introduced in 2021, “to change attitudes and create more opportunities” from the “other” 85%.

If the Paralympic Games were not co-hosted in the same city as the Olympic Games, would it get even a fraction of the attention it is getting now?

To the extent that the 85% are paying attention, it is in significant part because of the closer and closer attachment of the Olympic Movement to the IPC and its national federations, some of which are fully combined with the country’s National Olympic Committee, such as the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.

For the IPC, it’s an unmeasurable benefit that appears to be paying dividends, but as with all cultural movements, slowly.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Basketball ● At the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Australia, the U.S. will go for its fourth straight title after smashing Canada, 83-43, in the first semifinal on Friday at the Sydney Superdome.

The game was over quickly, as the Americans were up, 27-7, after a quarter and 45-21 at the half. The Canadians shot only 21.9% from the field for the game, vs. 48.4% for the U.S. and the U.S. won the rebound battle by 53-37. Wow.

Once again, the American women had balanced scoring, with starting forwards Breanna Stewart, A’Ja Wilson and Alyssa Thomas contributing 17, 14 and 10 points, respectively. Reserve guard Kelsey Plum added 14 off the bench. Wilson had 12 rebounds as the Americans won their 29th straight game in World Cup play.

The second semi was more dramatic, with home favorite Australia taking a 17-13 first-quarter lead, only to see China roar back for a 36-30 halftime lead. The game narrowed to 47-44 for China after three, but the Aussies tied the game at 51-all with 5:17 to go.

The game see-sawed from there, tied at 53, 55, 57 and 59 before guard Siyu Wang made two free throws with three seconds remaining to forge a 61-59 victory. Center Xu Han led all scorers with 19, point guard Liwei Yang had 18 and Wang scored 14 for the winners. Guard Samantha Whitcomb had 15 to lead Australia.

The medal matches will be played on Saturday, with the gold-medal game at 4 p.m. Sydney time. The U.S. and China played in the group phase, with the U.S. winning, 77-63, but was up only 56-47 after three quarters. Guard Meng Li had 21 for China and Wilson led the U.S. with 20.

● Shooting ● At the ISSF World Championships for Shotgun in Osijek (CRO), Italy won the Mixed Team Trap title in a 4-3 shoot-off with Great Britain following a 5-5 tie after the five regulation rounds.

Mauro de Filippis, the 2019 Worlds silver medalist and Giulia Grassia had Italy up by 5-1 after three rounds, but saw 2022 Worlds silver winner Nathan Hales and Lucy Hall sweep the last two rounds to force the extra shots.

● Table Tennis ● Almost no sporting events other than the Winter Olympic Games last February have been held in China due to the country’s “no Covid” policy, but the ITTF’s World Team Championships IS being played in Chengdu, with the opening ceremony – with 400 performers – on Thursday.

The event is being held in a “bubble” format made famous by the Winter Games, with constant testing of participants. A total of 40 men’s and 40 women’s team qualified, but 60 teams from 36 countries – 32 men’s teams and 28 women’s teams – are expected to actually compete. The tournament runs through 9 October; China has won this tournament nine straight times on the men’s side and four in a row on the women’s.

● Volleyball ● Pool play is continuing at the FIVB Women’s World Championship in The Netherlands and Poland, with undefeated teams remaining in all four groups.

Italy (4-0) and the Dutch (3-0) lead Pool A; Poland (3-0) is the only undefeated team in Pool B; Serbia (3–0) and the Tokyo Olympic gold winners U.S. (3-0) are unbeaten in Pool C and Brazil and China are both 3-0 in Pool D. The U.S. beat Bulgaria on Thursday in Lodz (POL) by 25-14, 23-25, 25-11, 25-15.

Pool play will conclude on 2 October, with the top four teams in each pool moving on to a second round-robin program beginning on 4 October.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● South American Games ● The XII South American Games will open on Saturday (1 October) in Asuncion (PAR), with a record 4,526 athletes from 15 countries competing in 412 events in 36 sports.

The largest delegations are reported from Argentina (592), Paraguay (572), Chile (539), Colombia (500) and Brazil (464).

The competitions are being live-streamed on the PanAm Sports Channel, across eight feeds.

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: IOC Esports director says closer ties are coming; Tokyo 2020 ExCo member arrested for third time; Valieva hearing in October

By
Rich Perelman
-
The IOC and Esports? Getting cozier ...

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

★ Want TheSportsExaminer.com insights for your team? Yes! Click here for information on speaking, research and consulting from editor Rich Perelman. ★

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. IOC wants to move closer to Esports
2. Takahashi arrested for third time in Tokyo 2020 bribery case
3. RUSADA’s Valieva hearing tentatively set for October
4. Atos to handle “sensitive data” instead of Alibaba at Paris 2024
5. Are you scared about being removed from the Olympics?

“We need to connect with the youths” is how the IOC director for electronic gaming explained the closer and closer ties being forged with the Esports community, although there is no timetable for inclusion as a medal sport in the Olympic Games. Tokyo 2020 Executive Committee member Haruyuki Takahashi was arrested for a third time in connection with the inquiry into bribery for sponsorship designations, with the total known payments now more than $1 million. The head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency said the Kamila Valieva doping hearings will likely be in October and will be closed. A significant security issue for the French government regarding the Paris 2024 Games was resolved with Chinese cloud-computing company – and IOC sponsor – Alibaba agreeing to pay French technology company Atos – also an IOC sponsor – to handle “sensitive data.” Austria’s Johannes Lamparter, a two-time World Champion in Nordic Combined at age 20, was asked if he is worried about the IOC’s view that the sport could be cut from the Olympic program after Milan Cortina 2026: “I am a bit scared.”

1.
IOC wants to move closer to Esports

“We’re creating a new product, we’re creating new experiences and we’re trying to create a new space for the Olympic Movement to demonstrate how it can attract the youths and connect with people and engage with people.

“We need to create opportunities to connect with people and keep contact with them. It is also about moving with society and following the trends and listening to people.”

The obsession with youth and digital continues to expand at the International Olympic Committee, with the organization’s head of virtual sports and gaming, Vincent Pereira (FRA) underscoring this at the Sports Matters Conference in Singapore on Tuesday.

“The most important thing is to bring together the Olympic Movement and the esports communities to collaborate on the future of these competitions.

“Competition is at the heart of the Olympic Games and, at the IOC, we are hoping to introduce new competition programs and new disciplines as we will see with breaking coming for Paris 2024 and skateboarding in Tokyo. And so what we’re trying to do is find a way of integrating these new ways of competing.”

Singapore will be at the center of the IOC’s next experiment, in 2023, with the first Olympic Esports Week, to be held over 3-4 days with about 10 virtual sports and simulation games, along additional exhibition games. This is an expansion of the IOC’s successful Olympic Virtual Series from May and June 2021, in which games simulating auto racing, baseball, cycling, rowing and sailing were involved with a total participation of nearly 250,000 people from 100 countries.

Explained Pereira:

“The Olympic Esports Week will be about entertainment and how we can encourage people to virtual sports and new disciplines. We can do it by creating a huge free-to-play zone where the idea for us is to create a journey for the people where they will enter into the Olympics through technology and innovation. [People] will come and experience [sports] by doing a golf simulator, enjoying some races and doing other activities.

“And why are we doing this? Because we need to connect with the youths. We need to keep this contact with the generation that is playing games…We shouldn’t miss this opportunity to connect with the youths.”

While there is no immediate expectation of gaming to appear as a demonstration or medal sport at the Olympic Games, eight medal events will be included in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou (CHN) and the “Commonwealth Esports Championships” – as a demonstration – was held alongside the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (ENG).

2.
Takahashi arrested for third time in Tokyo 2020 bribery case

Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested former Dentsu senior managing director and Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member Haruyuki Takahashi for the third time in connection with bribery charges relating to sponsorship selections.

Takahashi was arrested again on Tuesday, this time for a scheme involving Osaka-based Daiko Advertising, Inc., to use the agency as an agent for a sponsorship designation for “a major English conversation school operator,” which became affiliated with the Tokyo Games in October 2018.

(A search of Tokyo 2020 sponsorship releases found that ECC Japanese Language Institute was announced as an “Official Supporter” in October 2018).

The allegation is that Daiko Advertising paid a consulting firm owned by Kazumasa Fukami, a former Dentsu associate of Takahashi, some ¥15 million (~$104,058 U.S.) in bribes, and that the money was shared with Takahashi’s own consulting company.

Takahashi was previously arrested for receiving suspected bribes of ¥51 million (~$353,881 U.S.) to help business-suit retailer Aoki Holdings obtain an “Official Supporter” designation and ¥76 million (~$527,353 U.S.) to aid Kadokawa Corporation in the publishing services category.

Another company, Sun Arrow, Inc., a maker of plush toys, is suspected of paying Takahashi ¥8 million (~$55,507 U.S.) for assistance with a Tokyo 2020 license. That would bring the bribery total disclosed so far to ¥150 million, or about $1.04 million U.S.

Takahashi has denied any criminal activity and while acknowledging receipts of some of the money, said it was for legitimate services.

3.
RUSADA’s Valieva hearing tentatively set for October

Veronika Loginova, the Director General of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) commented on the upcoming hearings of its disciplinary commission in the Kamila Valieva doping case at the “Russia Is A Sports Power” conference on Wednesday:

“We can’t name the date. The investigation was in relation to the personnel – the coaching staff, doctors, so far I can’t name the date. Tentatively, in October.”

“In the code, we can see what sanctions are provided, the standard term is four years. But in different situations, different decisions can [be taken] depending on the circumstances. What sanction the disciplinary commission will issue, we do not know.”

Loginova also said that the decision of the Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee may not be made public because Valieva – now 16 – is still a minor:

“There are special rules for public disclosure regarding a protected person. I can’t say yet whether it will be published or not.”

The hearing itself will be closed.

On the broader anti-doping front, Loginova said she was hopeful that RUSADA could once again be considered compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency by the end of 2022:

“We are waiting for the restoration. We have passed the audit, we are waiting for its result. We are implementing all the decisions of December 17. We are fulfilling everything and counting on a positive decision.”

An online audit of RUSADA was done by a WADA team from 6-9 September; the two-year sanction on RUSADA will end in December.

4.
Atos to handle “sensitive data” instead of Alibaba at Paris 2024

A major concern of the French government, especially its intelligence and security forces, has been the role of Chinese cloud-computing giant Alibaba – an International Olympic Committee TOP sponsor – to handle personal data of individuals involved with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Agence France Presse reported that an agreement has been made for Alibaba to pay the French-based digital-tech concern Atos – also an IOC TOP sponsor – to handle “sensitive data” involved with the 2024 Games.

Atos already handles the IOC’s results system processing at the Games and has been involved with the IOC as a worldwide information-technology provider since 2001. The French Government’s Court of Auditors noted last December that the management of the Games will capture “a large volume of personal data and government data. This data is particularly sensitive and incompatible with Alibaba hosting.”

The report was clear on the dangers: “Risks of exploitation of Olympic information systems databases for strategic purposes or economic espionage, Olympic information systems and inter-connections of government services, even for the purpose of taking or terminating further actions.”

Said Alain Bouille of the cyber-security cooperative CESIN last December:

“With the Americans and GAFAM [Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazon-Microsoft], we manage to do things but with the Chinese, there is no agreement. If we give data to Alibaba, we know that the Chinese government can have access to it.” The idea of using Atos was floated as a possible solution, which appears to now be in hand.

Atos will reportedly handle the Games data on a cloud system used for its French military clients.

5.
Are you scared about being removed from the Olympics?

The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) featured a fascinating interview with Austrian Nordic Combined star Johannes Lamparter, 20, who won 2021 World Championships golds in the Normal Hill and Team Sprint and was fifth in the Normal Hill and eighth in the Large Hill events at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

In an English edition of a story originally appearing on the Italian online site FondoItalia, Lamparter talked about the coming season, but also about Nordic Combined’s future. The sport is clearly on the IOC’s chopping block and Lamparter was asked, “do you feel like a species in extinction?” His reply:

“We are definitely not happy about the decision they made for the girls regarding the Games in 2026. But most of them are still young and have time to develop, so I hope [the IOC] will make the right decision for all of us in future.

“We, as athletes, and everyone who’s involved in Nordic Combined, have to work harder and put all our effort into getting more attention on Nordic Combined, to make it more interesting for media and sponsors.

“It is not easy, but I hope that 2026 will not be the last Olympic Winter Games for our discipline. I am a bit scared, but I want to stay positive.

“Of course, it is sad that the women are not included yet and 2030 is far away, but we have a lot of World Cups, World Championships and Junior World Championships scheduled and all that will improve our sport even more.”

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Basketball ● The FIBA Women’s World Cup is into the elimination stage in Australia, with the U.S. marching into the semifinals by beating 2021 European Champion Serbia, 88-55, at the Sydney Superdome on Thursday afternoon.

The three-time defending champion American women – winners of 27 straight World Cup matches going in – blew open a tight game in the second quarter with a 15-2 run to end the half up, 50-33. The U.S. then scored the first eight points of the second half and with Serbia scoreless for 8:26 at the end of the second and start of the third quarters, the American lead ballooned to 58-33, and 66-40 at the end of three.

The U.S. shot 56% in the first half to 38% for Serbia, but ended at only 42% from the floor, with Serbia falling to 30% for the game. The Americans were led in scoring by substitute guard Kelsey Plum with 17, with starting forwards A’ja Wilson scoring 15 and Alyssa Thomas with 13.

This was the second straight year that the American women eliminated Serbia; the U.S. won the Tokyo Olympic semi match-up in 2021 by 79-59.

In the other quarterfinals, Canada stomped Puerto Rico, 79-60, and will play the U.S.; China sailed past France, 85-71, and will meet Australia, which beat Belgium, 86-69. The semis are on 30 September and the medal matches on 1 October.

● Shooting ● The ISSF World Championships in Shotgun are on in Osijek (CRO) through the 12th of October, with the first senior-level medals handed out on Wednesday, in men’s and women’s Trap.

American Scott Mein was second in his semi-final, advancing on a shoot-off, but was near-perfect in the final to win his first Worlds gold. He hit his first 11 targets, missed one, the finished with 22 in a row for a 33 total. That was two better than Britain’s Nathan Hales.

Mein, 37, was 24th at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and had won one individual medal in ISSF World Cup events, a bronze in Lima (PER) in 2022. But he’s World Champion now and won a quota place for the U.S. for Paris 2024.

The women’s Trap title went to Carole Cormenier (FRA), who out-shot Spain’s 2015 World Champion Fatima Galvez, 31-29, in the final, with Tokyo Olympic champ Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova (SVK) third at 20.

Like Mein, Cormenier, 32, is a first-time Worlds gold medalist, after finishing 12th in Tokyo last year, an seventh at the 2019 Worlds.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2034 ● Thomas Weikert, the head of the German National Olympic Committee (DOSB) told the national ARD network’s “Sportschau” that plans are being advanced to bid for the 2034 Olympic Winter Games and if unsuccessful, for the 2036 Olympic Games.

“We are aiming for an application as soon as possible, should we be re-elected, and that would be for the 2034 or 2036 Games. … 2040 would also be a possibility, of course.

“The dialogue process mentioned will take a year and a half, two years, in any case until after the 2024 Games in Paris. Then we will sum up and see whether we apply and with whom we apply if the whole thing turns out positive from our point of view.

“We won’t commit to anything beforehand. The new guidelines of the IOC give us more flexibility. For example, it doesn’t have to be just one location where the Olympic and Paralympic Games are held, according to modern interpretation there can also be two.”

He has no illusions about the process, explaining:

“We want to ask everyone, especially the critics. People have to be taken along and heard. The debate culture in the DOSB is different now. It’s about education, information and participation in all parts of society.”

Germany has hosted only one Winter Games, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in 1936. Its last Olympic Games was in Munich in 1972 and prior to that, the infamous Nazi Games in Berlin in 1936.

● International Olympic Committee ● An updated brand identity and look was formally unveiled on Wednesday, developed by Canadian agency Hulse & Durrell in coordination with a team of international artists and designers.

The famous Olympic colors of blue, black, red, yellow and green have been specified with a brightened look and three custom typefaces – headline, serif and san-serif – have been created. These are already in use in IOC presentations.

● Court of Arbitration for Sport ● The first issue of the CAS Bulletin for 2022 was released, with interesting statistics on how large this little-known branch of the Olympic Movement has become.

The introductory report of Secretary General Mathieu Reeb (FRA) noted that CAS has 45 staff, with headquarters in Lausanne (SUI) and “registers about 900 arbitration procedures and organises more than 250 hearings each year.”

The CAS list of arbitrators is now at 425, including the anti-doping division. Compare this with 2012 figures of 373 annual cases and about 300 arbitrators (from 87 countries) and the CAS has grown considerably. That will continue.

● Athletics ● David Monti of the excellent Race Results Weekly notes that with her Berlin Marathon finish, American star Deena Kastor has joined a really exclusive club:

“Deena Kastor is just the fourth woman (and fifth athlete) to achieve [World Marathon Majors] 8-star status, the most elite club in all of marathoning.

“She has not only finished all six of the WMM commercial races, but also the World Athletics Championships and Olympic Marathons, the two other point-scoring competitions in the WMM series. The other 8-star finishers are Edna Kiplagat (KEN), Nuta Olaru (ROU), Aly Dixon (GBR), and Emmanuel Mutai (KEN).”

● Cycling ● The UCI BMX SuperCross World Cup is continuing with four sets of races in Bogota (COL) last weekend and this, comprising the final four races for men and women of the 2022 season.

In Round 5 (24 September), it was two-time World Champion and Tokyo gold medalist Niek Kimmann (NED) with a tight win over Cameron Wood (USA), 32.250 to 33.063 with France’s Sylvan Andre third (33.298). But Wood came back to win Round 6 in 32.275, ahead of 2021 Worlds bronze medalist Joris Daudet (FRA: 33.147) and Izaac Kennedy (AUS: 33.186).

Tokyo Olympic champ Beth Shriever (GBR) took Round 5 for the women, edging four-time World Champion Laura Smulders, 35.592 to 35.744. American Anne Willoughby – the 2020 World Champion – was third in 36.100. Smulders and Willoughby moved up to 1-2 in Round 6, timing 35.384 and 35.66, respectively, with Lauren Reynolds (AUS: 36.412) grabbing third.

● Football ● In case you missed it, the official attendance for the U.S. men vs. Saudi Arabia match is Murcia, Spain on Tuesday was … 364. Yep.

The Danish team at the 2022 FIFA World Cup will have three uniform designs available for its matches, with the national colors of red and white … and black. The latter is a message, per the manufacturer Hummel:

“The colour of mourning. While we support the Danish national team all the way, this shouldn’t be confused with support for a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives.”

This is the first protest uniform to be unveiled and follows a commitment of the Danish Football Federation (DBU) to criticize Qatar as the host nation. In order to comply with FIFA regulations, there are no direct or visible messages or symbols on the jerseys and even the Danish crest is the same color as the shirts; the Danes (world rank: 10) will play reigning champ France, Australia and Tunisia in the group stage.

Seven European World Cup teams plan to have their captains wear armbands with a multi-colored heart on them as a protest.

Qatar’s Supreme Committee for the Delivery and Legacy did not agree with Denmark’s criticisms:

“We wholeheartedly reject the trivialising our genuine commitment to protect the health and safety of the 30,000 workers who built FIFA World Cup stadiums and other tournament projects. That same commitment now extends to 150,000 workers across various tournament services and 40,000 workers in the hospitality sector.”

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TSX REPORT: U.S. men in listless, 0-0 tie with Saudi; Kipchoge set three world marks in Berlin (not one); Valieva taunts doping critics with new routine

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. U.S. men’s World Cup team lackluster again in 0-0 tie with Saudi Arabia
2. Qatar conscripting hundreds of government workers for World Cup
3. Kipchoge set three world marks in Berlin Marathon, not one!
4. New Valieva free-skate program taunts doping critics
5. IOC budgeted $128 million for NOC programs in 2021

The U.S. men’s National Team played to an uninspiring, 0-0 tie with Saudi Arabia in its final warm-up match prior to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in November, in Spain. In Qatar, a shortage of staff has caused diplomats and other civilian workers are reported to be conscripted to provide security staffing for the World Cup. Kenyan star Eliud Kipchoge didn’t just win the Berlin Marathon in a world-record 2:01:09, but he set two intermediate world bests as well! A new Free Skate program by 16-year-old Russian Kamila Valieva was unveiled last week and uses elements of the furor over her Beijing 2022 experience to needle her critics. The International Olympic Committee issued its 2021 Olympic Solidarity Report, showing $128 million in planned spending for athletes, coaches and National Olympic Committee.

1.
U.S. men’s World Cup team lackluster again in 0-0 tie
with Saudi Arabia

With about 1,000 people watching at the almost-empty Estadio Enrique Roca in Murcia, Spain, the U.S. men’s National Team disappointed again with a mostly listless 0-0 tie with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in its final warm-up match for the FIFA World Cup.

The Saudis, which won their World Cup qualifying group in the Asian confederation and will play in Group C with Argentina, Mexico and Poland, had a couple of quality chances in the first half, but American keeper Matt Turner was good enough to prevent a score. Despite a 60-40 edge in possession by the U.S., both sides managed five shots in the half.

The second half was just as dry, with some good U.S. runs into the box, but no significant scoring chances. The only real excitement was a dangerous tackle by defender Saud Abdulhamid against U.S. defender DeAndre Yedlin in the 57th minute that drew a yellow card.

For the game, the U.S. had 55% of the possession, but trailed in shot by 10-7, meaning it got two second-half shots in total.

Said U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter, “I can’t fault the effort, but we need to keep improving. … The confidence wasn’t there.”

In the two-game warm-up series against Japan (a 2-0 loss) and Saudi, the U.S. was outshot, 26-11, and did not score. The U.S. will open the FIFA World Cup in Qatar on 21 November against Wales, following by matches against England and Iran. In their matches in the UEFA Nations League, England drew with Germany, 3-3, and Wales lost to Poland, 1-0.

2.
Qatar conscripting hundreds of government workers
for World Cup

Reuters reported that the preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup now include:

“Qatar has called up hundreds of civilians, including diplomats summoned back from overseas, for mandatory military service operating security checkpoints at World Cup stadiums.”

The difficulty of staffing a World Cup, with a home population of just 2.9 million and eight stadia in use, was always considered a concern for Qatar. The news service reported that a service term of four months (paid leave) is being used to cover training time – which began earlier in September – and the tournament itself, which runs from 20 November to 18 December.

Training is being done, five days a week, at a national service camp, with sessions conducted by the security department of the Qatar 2022 organizing committee. National service of this type is not unheard of, as it is used for support at National Day celebrations, but foreign-service staff are usually exempt.

3.
Kipchoge set three world marks in Berlin Marathon, not one!

Kenyan icon Eliud Kipchoge’s stunning 2:01:09 world-record marathon in Berlin on Sunday included two en-route world bests, one of which shattered a mark he has held since 2018.

On the way to victory, Kipchoge crossed 25 km in 1:11:08, breaking the mark of 1:11:18 by fellow Kenyan Dennis Kimetto from 2012 – also in Berlin – and Kipchoge set a world best for 30 km in 1:25:40, replacing his 2018 Berlin time of 1:26:45. (World Athletics does not keep official world records for these distances.)

Another way to consider Kipchoge’s record run was his incredible average mile time of 4:37 and his 10 km splits of 28:23, 28:22, 28:55 and 29:03 before a final 6:16 over the last 2.2 km.

Women’s winner Tigist Assefa (ETH)’s 2:15:37 victory equates to an average just above 5:10 per mile.

Another career goal was met on Sunday by American star Deena Kastor, now 49, who finished in a very creditable 42nd in 2:45:12, her fastest since 2015. With that, she has now run all six of the World Marathon Majors races:

● 1 x Berlin: 2022 (42nd place)
● 1 x Boston: 2007 (5)
● 4 x Chicago: 2002 (6), 2005 (1), 2009 (4), 2015 (7)
● 3 x London: 2003 (3), 2006 (1), 2010 (15)
● 3 x New York: 2001 (7), 2006 (6), 2014 (10)
● 1 x Tokyo: 2019 (48)

Quite an achievement, but not unique. The World Marathon Majors calls everyone who completes all of its member races a “Six Star Finisher” with a special medal that incorporates the logos of all six races. Prior to Berlin, a total of 7,591 runners had completed all six.

4.
New Valieva free-skate program taunts doping critics

Russian media reported that the new Free Skate program of controversial skater Kamila Valieva, now 16, directly incorporates elements of the furor during February’s Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. The Russian news agency TASS reported:

“Figure skater Kamila Valieva’s free program at the test skates of the candidates for the Russian national team [in Moscow] began with quotes and headlines about the athlete related to the situation during the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. …

“The quotes sounded before the music of the program. At the end of the performance, Valieva covered her face with a hood. The athlete repeated [this] gesture she made in the mixed zone on February 11 during the Olympics.”

Valieva explained later:

“The most important thing today was to convey my story through the program, and it seems to me that I succeeded. I am glad that so many people came to support me today. I am glad that I was able to touch their souls, that they lived this story with me. For me, it was the main thing. For me, the main thing is not quadruple [jumps], it was not the main goal, no matter how strange it may sound; it was important for me not to fall from the jumps.

“The production was proposed by Eteri Tutberidze and Daniil Gleikhengauz, having asked in advance if I wanted to touch on that topic again. It seemed to me that it was not possible, but I have to live, I agreed without hesitation. When they showed me the music at first, I could not hold back my tears. …

“[T]he program needed to be skated. Now I am happy that this has become my free program, I can show it to people; this is the main thing.”

Said Renat Laishev, head of the Sambo-70 sports center, with which Valieva is affiliated:

“This is a definite answer to the spiteful critics. … This cannot but please the huge army of admirers of Russian figure skating not only in our country, but also abroad.”

5.
IOC budgeted $128 million for NOC programs in 2021

The International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity program supports National Olympic Committees with an ever-increasing investment not only in athletes, but in coaching, administration and best practices.

The new annual report for 2021 details the programs and some of the spending, with $128.1 million allocated for worldwide programs ($63.79 million) and continental programs ($53.98 million).

This was part of a $590 million quadrennial Olympic Solidarity allocation from a share of Olympic television rights sales, the same amount as allocated to the International Federations. Among the spending plans:

● 1,836 direct-to-athlete scholarships for Tokyo 2020 (186 NOCs)
● 429 direct-to-athlete scholarships for Beijing 2022 (80 NOCs)
● 120 direct-to-teams support grants
● 56 Refugee Athletes assisted
● 54 NOC training awards for Youth Athlete Development

The Tokyo 2020 Athlete scholarship program turned out pretty well, with 1,836 athletes from 186 NOCs supported and 827 of these athletes making it to Tokyo (from 178 NOCs). Scholarship athletes won 30 gold, 36 silver and 47 bronze medals, which if counted as a discrete team, would have tied the United States for the most total medals with 113!

The program also made grants to 283 coaches in 119 NOCs, an area which is going to have to expand in the future. Of these 43 were for coaches in tennis, 28 for athletics, 27 for basketball, 19 for volleyball and 16 for aquatics.

The IOC also paid $56.3 million to NOCs for support in Tokyo, including airfare for six athletes, two coaches and two administrators for 148 NOCs, accommodations for two officials at the Olympic Family Hotel, training camp subsidies for 39 NOC and 157 received “Games Operations Subsidies.” The IOC’s “Uniform Support Program” provided 525 athletes from 74 NOCs with equipment. In all, 205 National Olympic Committees – which includes the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee – received some form of support from the IOC.

The IOC runs a dazzling array of programs for NOCs, including, but hardly limited to sport management courses, exchanges, forums with athletes, coaches and administrators, Olympic Day programming and more. Webinars were held on strategy, universality, sport development, entourage, NOC management, Olympic values and finance.

Observed: The IOC’s elite-athlete critics will tell you that all of this money should simply be sent to athletes directly, without concern about growing sport in each country. The IOC has a longer view, of course, but will be increasing its Olympic scholarship budget from $24 million for Tokyo to $30 million for Paris 2024. The proof of the success of the IOC’s approach is that a record 93 NOCs won a medal in Tokyo, the most ever.

But the weakness in many of the National Olympic Committees is shown by the breadth of programs that the IOC feels it needs to mount to help bring along sport in many countries. Much praise is lavished on the importance of sport, but in many countries, it is still seen as a luxury or at least a lower priority than many other, also-critical programs.

Based on the Paris 2024 initiative to get sport back into French school curricula, watch for the IOC to make a future push for more sport-in-school programs around the world.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Basketball ● The top-seeded United States women’s team concluded an undefeated group-play schedule at the FIBA Women’s World Cup with a 121-59 rout of Bosnia & Herzegovina in Sydney (AUS) and will play Serbia in the quarterfinals.

In its final game, the American women had a 63-31 lead at the half and won going away, shooting 65.8% from the field and led by guard Kelsey Plum with 20 points, followed by guard Chelsea Gray (16) and 15 each from forward Breanna Stewart and center Shakira Austin. It’s the 27th straight win for the Americans in FIBA Women’s World Cup play, including the three prior championships.

The U.S. ended group play at 5-0, outscoring its opponents by 536-305. China (4-1), Belgium (3-2) and Puerto Rico (2-3) followed in Group A. Australia came back from an opening-game loss to France to win Group B at 4-1, with Canada at 4-1, Serbia at 3-2 and France also at 3-2.

In the playoffs, Belgium and Australia and China and France are in the top half of the bracket and the winner of Puerto Rico and Canada will play the U.S. in the bottom half, all on the 29th.

● Volleyball ● The three-week-long FIVB Women’s World Championship continues in the Netherlands and Poland, with the Tokyo Olympic champs – the United States – winning their second game without a loss on Monday, 25-19, 26-24 and 25-15 over Canada in Arnhem (NED).

In Pool C, the U.S., Germany and Serbia are all 2-0; the top four teams in each pool will advance to a second round of group play, in two pools of eight.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● The FrancsJeux site reported that the French Ministry for Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games presented its 2023 budget of €1.113 billion, or 1.8% more than for 2022.

Games-related spending takes up €320, with the biggest single amount is for the government-run Solideo, responsible for the construction of sites, with €295 million, including €61.3 million to deal with inflation. The Paris 2024 organizing committee, which is paying nearly all of its own expenses, will receive €25 million for the Paralympic Games.

And the previously-announced purchase of 400,000 tickets for use by children is listed; half of the €11 million total is shown for 2023.

● Russia ● The name Anastasia Davydova is not well known in the West outside of artistic swimming circles, but she won five Olympic golds in Duet and Team competitions in 2004-08-12 and 13 FINA Worlds golds between 2001-11.

She was, until Monday, the head of the Davydova Olympic Synchronized Swimming Center, and the Secretary General of the Russian Olympic Committee. But apparently not any more.

The Russian news agency TASS reported that Davydova, 39, has left, with a school statement:

“Yesterday, the staff of our center received a letter from Anastasia Semyonovna by e-mail, in which she announced her departure from Russia. She did not name the reasons for her decision, she only noted that she did not plan to return.”

Davydova did not resign from the Russian Olympic Committee; speculation is that her departure is linked to the Russian mobilization of reserves and comments from ROC chief Stanislav Pozdnyakov last Friday that “From the ROC’s point of view, we, as citizens of the country, see service to our native country as an honorable duty for every citizen, including the athletes of the national teams.”

● Athletics ● A fascinating tweet from Tokyo 2020 women’s shot runner-up Raven “Hulk” Saunders on Sunday (25th):

“I just asked this college track athlete if he knew who Flo Jo was and he said ‘she sound familiar’ Lord we are failing these kids”

World men’s 100 m silver medalist Marvin Bracy-Williams Jr. of the U.S. replied:

“I wouldn’t thumped him in the back of the head”

To which Saunders retorted:

“Man I swear you don’t know how bad I wanted to”

Just another pulse check on track & field’s place in the U.S.

More Kenyan doping cases, as the Athletics Integrity Unit posted suspensions of three years each for Felix Kipchumba Korir and Emmanuel Saina for use of steroids, specifically Norandrosterone.

Korir, 31, has a marathon best of 2:12:06 from winning the Nanjing Marathon in 2018. Saina, 30, is much faster, having run 2:05:02 in Dubai in 2019, finishing fourth. Both were caught from out-of-competition testing.

● Cycling ● Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel was fined A$1,500 (about $980 U.S.) by an Australian judge on Monday, after being arrested on two counts of common assault after apparently pushing two women who were knocking on his hotel room door repeatedly in the early morning hours prior to the men’s World Championship road race on Sunday.

Van der Poel was assessed the fine and had his passport returned and flew out of Australia later Monday. His attorney said he will appeal the fine. Van der Poel started the World road race, but abandoned after 40 km.

● Short Track ● The long-festering dispute between Olympic gold medalist Hyo-jun Lim – winner of the PyeongChang Olympic 1,500 m – and the Korean federation is finally over as Lim’s transfer to China has been completed and he is expected to the named to the national team.

Lim, 26, got in trouble in 2019 by pulling down the pants of a teammate during a training session, in front of female team members and announced his intention to move to China in March 2021 and was cleared by the International Skating Union in July 2022. He was reported to obtain Chinese citizenship in 2020.

Due to the pending transfer of allegiance, Lim did not compete at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

● Sport Climbing ● Slovenia’s Olympic champ Janja Garnbret added to her career medal haul with her 23rd IFSC World Cup Lead win at the Jakarta (INA) competition that signaled the end of the 2022 season in Lead.

She was the only one to reach the top, trailed by Chae-hyun Seo (KOR) with 40 points. Garnbret’s seasonal total of 5,805, ahead of Seo (4,405) and American Natalia Grossman (3,370).

The men’s Lead final saw Japan’s Ao Yurikusa emerge was a first-time winner with 29 points, ahead of countryman Masahiro Higuchi (28) with German Sebastian Halenke third (also 28). In the season’s series, Slovenia completed a sweep with Luka Potocar winning with 3,860 total points to 3,835 for Taisei Homma (JPN) and 3,812 for American Jesse Grupper.

The men’s Speed title went to home favorite Aspar Aspar (INA) at 5.39 in the final for his second career World Cup gold, ahead of teammate Karomal Katibin, who slipped. The seasonal crown went to Veddriq Leonardo (INA) with 4,455 points to 4,080 for Katibin.

Lijuan Deng (CHN) took the women’s title in 6.66 over Poland’s Natalia Kalucka (7.20). Poland’s Aleksandra Kalucka – Natalia’s sister – took the seasonal title with 4,680 points to Emma Hunt of the U.S. (3,950).

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: Kipchoge sensational with 2:01:09 world record in Berlin; IBA retains Kremlev; Cornelius Johnson’s Olympic Oak now being cared for

By
Rich Perelman
-
Joy for Kenyan great Eliud Kipchoge for a world-record win at the 2022 Berlin Marathon in 2:01:09! (Photo: courtesy SCC EVENTS/@robin_we1)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Kipchoge lowers own world marathon mark to 2:01:09 in Berlin
2. International Boxing Association keeps Kremlev as President
3. Cornelius Johnson’s Olympic Oak finally being cared for
4. AIU names seven countries on competition manipulation watch list
5. Curling, Luge ban Russia and Belarus for remainder of 2022

The amazing Eliud Kipchoge did it again in Berlin Marathon, breaking his own world record with a fantastic 2:01:09 victory on Sunday, taking 30 seconds off his 2018 mark in the same race. Women’s winner Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia set a national record of 2:15:37, the no. 3 performance of all time. At a special Congress in Armenia, the International Boxing Association backed incumbent President Umar Kremlev of Russia by 106-36, turning down a chance for a re-vote. The International Olympic Committee, which has not included boxing in the 2028 Olympic program, said it was “extremely concerned” over the proceedings. In Los Angeles, the Olympic Oak at the former home of Berlin 1936 gold medalist Cornelius Johnson is now being watered and cared for while the City Council decides whether to declare the home and the tree a Historic-Cultural Monument. The Athletics Integrity Unit named seven countries to a “Competition Manipulation Watch List,” including five former Soviet Republics, Albania and Turkey. The World Curling Federation and the Federation Internationale de Luge joined the biathlon federation in extending their bans on Russian athletes from their competitions through the end of 2023. In Australia, Annemiek van Vleuten (NED) and Remco Evenepoel (BEL) won the UCI World Road Championships for women and men.

1.
Kipchoge lowers own world marathon mark to 2:01:09 in Berlin

He did it again!

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, already the greatest marathoner in history, smashed his own world record on his favorite course at Sunday’s 48th Berlin Marathon, winning in 2:01:09.

Now 37, Kipchoge was in the lead right from the start, passing 10 km in 28:23, the half in 59:51 and 30 km in 1:25:40. His only companion after 15 km was Ethiopian Andamlak Belihu, a 2:09:43 man from 2021.

The two were together through 25 km, then Kipchoge sailed away, forging a 31-second lead by 30 km and 2:04 by 35 km. Belihu tired and fell back in the last 5 km and Kipchoge motored on to shatter his world mark from the 2018 Berlin Marathon (2:01:39) by 30 seconds.

Kenyan Mark Korir took over second place, finishing in a seasonal best 2:05:58, followed by Tadu Abate (ETH: 2:06:28 season’s best), Belihu (2:06:40 lifetime best) and Abel Kipchumba (KEN: 2:06:49 lifetime best).

Kipchoge’s greatness cannot be overstated. He has run 17 career marathons and won 15, including two Olympic titles and now, four Berlin Marathons to go along with four London Marathon wins. He has run four of the five fastest marathons in history and five of the top 13 performances ever. His top-10 marathons average 2:03:08, a time only seven others have ever run even once!

Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa, a first-year marathoner who had run 2:34:01 in her debut in March, ran away in the women’s race to win in 2:15:37, the world leader in 2022 and the third-fastest women’s marathon in history!

The lead pack was down to five by the 20 km mark, with Assefa in the lead over Vibian Chepkirui (KEN). They passed the half in 1:08:13 and then Assefa surged after 30 km and had a 19-second lead over Tigist Abayechew (ETH) as Chepkirui fell back. Assefa was all alone at the finish, winning by 2:23 over Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru (2:18:00, now no. 15 all-time), with Ayabechew third (2:18:03, no. 16 all-time), and Ethiopian Workenesh Edesa fourth in 2:18:51. American record holder Keira D’Amato worked her way up from 13th at the half to finish sixth in 2:21:48, her second-fastest time ever.

Athens 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor of the U.S., now 49, finished a very creditable 42nd in 2:45:12, her fastest since 2015!

2.
International Boxing Association keeps Kremlev as President

Russian Umar Kremlev was easily confirmed as the President of the International Boxing Association at an Extraordinary Congress in Yerevan (ARM), receiving 75% of the vote on the initial question of whether a new election should be held.

Kremlev was confirmed as President in May after his only challenger, Dutch Boxing Federation President Boris van der Vorst, had been disqualified just prior to the vote. In June, the Court of Arbitration for Sport reversed the decision to keep van der Vorst out and a special Congress was called to decide whether an actual vote for President was to be taken and, of so, to decide between Kremlev and van der Vorst.

It never got that far. The IBA delegates rejected a new vote for President by 106-36, with four abstentions. Said Kremlev in a statement:

“I thank National Federations for their trust. This is the full stop in all governance issues within IBA, Congress showed its will clearly in a transparent manner. I respect the decision of our National Federations and will do everything possible to support them, as well as our athletes and coaches.

“I want to send a clear message today. IBA is an independent and strong organization. Our Congress has proved today that we are on a right track. Now I will present a 4-years development plan today at the Board of Directors meeting. I have a clear vision of what we have to do to achieve our goals.”

On Friday, the IBA took action against Ukraine in a thinly-veiled action with reference to the continuing Russian invasion:

“The Ukrainian Boxing Federation was temporarily suspended, due to the interference of the government in the work of the national federation. The suspension will be revoked if the conditions are met – the autonomy of the federation and recognition by Ukrainian authorities of the election that took place on 17 December 2021.

“This decision will not affect Ukrainian athletes, and IBA will take all necessary steps to ensure the participation of Ukrainian athletes in the competitions. IBA will fully support, including financially, the Ukrainian boxing team in its participation in international competitions. Mr. Volodymyr Prodyvus is appointed to be the IBA coordinator of the boxers affiliated with the Ukrainian Boxing Federation in respect of their participation in the competitions.”

The International Olympic Committee, which has excluded boxing from its initial list of sports for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, told InsideTheGames:

“The IOC is extremely concerned about the Extraordinary Congress of the International Boxing Association. Amongst other concerns, this includes the fact that there was no election, but only a vote not to hold an election, and the fact that the recognised Ukrainian National Boxing Federation was suspended shortly before the IBA Congress for disputed reasons, and additionally the chaotic circumstances of the voting procedure.”

Initially, 97 delegations were present and 30 more were attending online (127 total). However, after a power outage that lasted an hour, a test vote showed 152 federations present, with no explanation other than they were late. Votes were recorded from 146 federations.

Kremlev made some pointed remarks at the end of the Congress, aimed right at the IOC, including (spoken in Russian; in English per the interpreter):

“I am working for you, not a side organization. … We are saying today that we are an independent organization, that we are here to protect our IBA that we all love. And we shouldn’t say ‘Olympic boxing,’ we should say ‘IBA boxing.’ We have to get to the point where boxing will be part of the Olympic Games in 2024 as well as 2028. We’ll do our best, with the team and with you, and no one can exclude us from anywhere. …

“The most important should be the World Series [of Boxing], however, because for the IBA and the boxers this is our house … this is what we will do; as an organization, should be the most important for us. …

“Today, I have heard in this hall, a couple of expressions, ‘what will happen with boxing when it comes to Olympic Games’? We will join our forces, we will do a great job and we will defend the name of boxing to be part of the Olympic program, but this will not be the only thing we will do. Most importantly, we have to protect the interests of the IBA, our own organization. … Our World Series must become the important competitions.”

Kremlev also chastised the IOC for its support of former AIBA President C.K. Wu (TPE), who was elected to the IOC Executive Board in 2012 and ran for the IOC Presidency in 2013. He resigned his IOC membership in 2020, three years after resigning his AIBA Presidency in the face of financial mismanagement allegations, later shown to be quite correct. Said Kremlev:

“Wu, four or five years back, he was a Board member of the IOC. Let’s tell the truth. … [the McLaren Global Sports Solutions investigation] showed to the entire world community that corruption into boxing and bad governance were introduced by Mr. Wu and actually led the organization to bankruptcy. So, they [IOC] are silent about him. Let them terminate his membership [sic].”

3.
Cornelius Johnson’s Olympic Oak finally being cared for

The Los Angeles City Council has not yet taken any action on the 4 August recommendation of the Cultural Heritage Commission to declare the Cornelius Johnson Residence and Olympic Oak as a Historic-Cultural Monument, but there has been a critical, positive development.

The West Adams Heritage Association, which has been supporting the designation of the site as a monument, reports that while the procedural steps are continuing:

“The real next step will be to find a willing buyer who will preserve the tree and the property. We recently learned that there’s been some progress there too. The head of the [City of Los Angeles] Historic Resources Department, Ken Bernstein, arranged with specialists from the Huntington Gardens to install irrigation lines, at their own initiative and cost, and do what they [can] to monitor and save the tree.”

Johnson’s Olympic Oak, planted upon his return from the Berlin 1936 Games, where he won the men’s high jump, has been in difficulty for some months due to lack of care. The expert opinions expressed at the last Cultural Heritage Commission meeting was that the tree needed care within the following 4-10 weeks, or could die. Happily, it is now getting that care.

4.
AIU names seven countries on competition manipulation
watch list

It’s not a good thing to be singled out as a potential cheater, but that’s exactly what the Athletics Integrity Unit did on Friday:

“Seven Member Federations have been placed on the new Competition Manipulation Watch List following an investigation of suspicious competition results conducted by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). …

“Please note that this decision reflects the high degree of risk of results manipulation within the Member Federation’s territory and not the conduct of individual officials or specific cases.”

The “Competition Manipulation Watch List” now includes:

● Albania
● Armenia
● Georgia
● Kyrgyzstan
● Moldova
● Turkey
● Uzbekistan

The follow-on to being listed is that no results from meets “hosted by these federations” will be recognized, excepting the national championships (under certain conditions) and World Athletics Series events.

In addition, 11 athletes who competed in the World Championships, World Junior Championships, World Youth Championships or World Cross Country Championships between 2001 and 2013 had their results nullified due to age manipulation. Nine were two old and two were too young; the offending athletes were from Saudi Arabia (5), China (2), Morocco (2), Ethiopia (2) and one each from China and Eritrea.

5.
Curling, Luge ban Russia and Belarus for remainder of 2022

The World Curling Federation Board met Friday and, with new powers to remove a team “if in the sole opinion of the Board their presence at the event would damage the event or put the safety of the participants or the good order of the event at risk,” exercised that power:

“During that Board meeting, the decision was taken to not allow teams from Russia or Belarus to participate in any World Curling Federation competitions until 31 December 2022. …

“The Board are continually monitoring Member Association and athlete concerns relating to the conflict in Ukraine and reserve the right to revisit their decision if required.”

On Saturday, the Federation Internationale de Luge (FIL) Executive Board announced:

“Because of reasons for the safety and security for the athletes, it was decided that the Russian athletes and their support team, are temporarily suspended from participating in FIL sanctioned events. The FIL will be closely monitoring the situation and will react as conditions evolve.”

These sanctions follow the International Biathlon Union Congress’s decision on 16 September to continue the suspensions of the Russian and Belarusian national federations by 40-1 and to maintain the ban against Russian and Belarusian athletes in international events “until further notice” by 39-2.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Basketball ● The FIBA Women’s World Cup in Sydney (AUS) has been good so far for the U.S. women, who entered with a 22-game winning streak over the prior four tournaments.

After beating Belgium and routing Puerto Rico, the U.S. women dispatched China, 77-63 on Saturday, with a 44-25 lead at halftime and then holding on in the second half. Forward A’ja Wilson led the Americans with 20 points, guard Chelsea Gray had 12 and forward Alyssa Thomas had 12 also. Guard Meng Li had 21 points for China.

On Monday, the U.S. rolled to a 4-0 record in Group A, taking a 68-40 halftime lead (on 64% from the field) over South Korea and finishing with a 145-69 crusher. The U.S. shot 66% from the field and had eight players score in double figures, led by center Brionna Jones with 24, Wilson with 20 and guard Kelsey Plum with 19.

The 145 points was the most ever scored in a Women’s World Cup game, surpassing Brazil’s 1990 group-stage win over Malaysia, 143-50.

The American women will have a final group-stage game against winless Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday, then move into the quarterfinals on the 29th.

In Group B, Canada leads with a 3-0 record, with one game to play, and France and Australia are both 2-1. Canada and Australia will meet on Monday.

● Cycling ● The UCI World Road Championships in Wollongong (AUS) concluded over the weekend, with an amazing Road Race victory for the women’s cyclist of the year, Annemiek van Vleuten.

After fracturing her elbow in a chain malfunction and resulting crash during the Mixed Team Time Trial, van Vleuten hardly figured to win her second title, after taking the victory in 2019. Add in a rain storm over the mostly flat, 164.3 km route from Helensburgh to Woolongong, and everyone was going to have a hard day.

Van Vleuten caught up to a group of five leaders with less than 1,000 m to go and powered ahead, taking the sprinters by surprise and winning by one second over Lotte Kopecky (BEL: 2nd) and Silvia Persico (ITA: 3rd), among others.

The men’s road championship followed a similar route, but 266.9 km and 12 loops, vs. six in the women’s race. An early breakaway was caught and 19 riders were in a lead pack with three laps to go, then Vuelta a Espana winner Remco Evenepoel (BEL) continued his dream season by taking the lead with Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) for company. But then Evenepoel went solo and no one could follow. He had a 46-second lead entering the final lap and won in 6:16:08, 2:21 ahead of a 27-rider group led by Christophe Laporte (FRA) and Michael Matthews (AUS). Neilson Powless was the top American, in 18th.

Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel, 27, abandoned the race after about 40 km, following his overnight arrest for a disturbance at his hotel. He told the Belgian site Sporza:

“It was about noisy neighbors and they are quite strict here.

“I went to bed early and many children in the hallway of my room found it necessary to knock on the door. After a few times I was done with it. I did not kindly ask to stop. Then the police were called.

“I wasn’t back in my room until 4 o’clock. That’s certainly not ideal. It’s a disaster, but I can’t change anything anymore. I’m trying to make the best of it. It is on little sleep that I will race, hopefully on adrenaline.”

He was ordered to appear in court this week on two counts of common assault, but was granted conditional bail to be able to race.

● Rowing ● Five Olympic champions came up golden at the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Racice (CZE), winning at the first rowing Worlds held since 2019.

In the men’s racing, the Tokyo-winning Double Sculls team of Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias (FRA) won decisively over Spain’s Aleix Garcia and Rodrigo Conde, 6:09.34 to 6:10.52. The Lightweight Double Sculls champions, Ireland’s Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan were easy winners over Tokyo bronze medalists Pietro Ruta and Stefano Oppo (ITA), 6:16.46-6:19.11. It was the second Worlds golds for both of the winning duos.

Three Tokyo winners triumphed in the women’s division. Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis (ROU) was clear winners, 6:47.77 to 6:51.02 over Roos de Jong and Laila Youssifou (NED) in the Double Sculls, and China, with the same team as in Tokyo, won the Quadruple Sculls.

In Pairs, New Zealand’s Grace Pendergast and Kerri (Gowler) Williams won their third World title, well ahead of Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meister (NED), 7:03.76 to 7:06.02. The American team of Madeleine Wanamaker and Claire Collins on the bronze, in 7:08.03.

Germany’s Oliver Zeidler won his second World title in the men’s Single Sculls, while Romania’s Marius Cozmiuc and Sergiu Bejan moved up from Tokyo silver to Worlds gold in Pairs. Poland won the Quadruple Sculls and Great Britain dominated the Fours and Eights, with the U.S. fourth in the Eights final.

Karolien Florijn (NED) finally got to the top of the podium in the women’s Single Sculls, defeating Olympic champ Emma Twigg (NZL), 7:31.66-7:34.03. Florijn had won Worlds medals before – a 2018 bronze in the Quad Sculls and a 2019 silver in Fours – but was all alone for gold this time.

Great Britain won the Fours easily and Romania took the women’s Eights, with the U.S. fourth. Britain’s Emily Craig and Imogen Grant moved up from bronze in 2019 to the top of the podium, winning over Mary Reckford and Michelle Sechser (USA), 6:54.78 to 6:57.92.

The U.S. also won a silver from Solveig Imsdahl and Elaine Tierney in the non-Olympic Lightweight Pairs.

● Surfing ● Kirra Pinkerton won the first World Surfing Games title by an American since 2016 in Saturday’s final at Huntington Beach, California. Pinkerton scored 13.63 in the final to win over 2016 Worlds silver winner Pauline Ado (FRA: 13.00), 2021 World Champion Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS: 11.60) and Daniella Rosas (PER: 9.20).

Kanoa Igarashi (JPN), the 2021 Tokyo silver medalist, won the men’s final, scoring 15.96 to 14.04 for first-time medalist Rio Waida (INA), 11.67 for Australian Jackson Baker and Portugal’s Guilherme Fonseca (9.36). American Nat Young finished fifth.

The winning men’s and women’s teams won a quota place for the Paris 2024 Games, with Japan taking the men’s title at 1,835 points with the U.S. second (1,555), and the American women winning their division with 1,880 points in a tight finish with Australia (1,815). The U.S. won the overall team title, with 3,435 points to 3,250 for Australia.

● Volleyball ● The FIVB Women’s World Championship is underway in the Netherlands and Poland, with 24 teams playing in four groups to qualify for a second group phase.

The U.S. – the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist – is in Pool C and won its opening match in Arnhem (NED) vs. Kazakhstan, 25-16, 25-13, 25-22, and will play again on Monday vs. Canada. Pool play will continue through 2 October.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2020: Tokyo ● The Tokyo 2020 sponsorship bribery scandal continues to expand, with Sun Arrow, Inc., the stuffed-toy licensee, now suspected of paying Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member Haruyuki Takahashi “several million yen.”

Sun Arrow is the fourth company identified as a possible payer of money to Takahashi, 78, or a firm run by a former Dentsu associate for the purpose of obtaining selection as a sponsor or licensee (or both) of the now-closed Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

● National Olympic Committees ● The Indian Olympic Association has been warned by the IOC that it must resolve its election issues quickly in order to avoid suspension. To this end, the Indian Supreme Court appointed former judge L. Nageswara Rao to help prepare amendments to the IOA constitution to bring into line with the national sports code (along with the Olympic Charter) and to hold elections by December 15, 2022.

The IOC selected Mumbai as the site for its 2023 Session, but the date has been pushed back from May or June to September or October to allow the IOA to solve its governance issues, or, alternatively, to find a new site.

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● During Friday’s meeting of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Executive Committee in Australia, the 2023 Prohibited List, with two significant decisions:

● Tramadol, an opiate which has been an issue in cycling since 2019, was determined to be prohibited in competition beginning in 2024:

“The delay in implementation is to provide an additional year for broad communication and education of athletes, their entourage and medical personnel so that there is a better understanding of the practical implementation of tramadol prohibition in competition. …

“Tramadol has been on the WADA Monitoring Program and data gathered through that program have indicated significant use in sports. Tramadol abuse, with its dose-dependent risks of physical dependence, opiate addiction and overdoses in the general population, is of concern and has led to it being a controlled drug in many countries. Research studies funded by WADA have also confirmed the potential for tramadol to enhance sports performance.”

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency calls the drug a “narcotic painkiller … that is both powerful and dangerous.”

● Marijuana, and specifically the ingredient delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was maintained on the banned list based on a comprehensive review.

However, WADA Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI) acknowledged: “The question of how THC should be dealt with in a sporting context is not straightforward.” Nevertheless, the WADA expert panel which has been reviewing its status since September 2021 felt it should be maintained on the banned list in the specific circumstances now specified:

“THC is prohibited in competition only, and only when the urinary concentration exceeds a threshold of 150 ng/mL. This threshold was increased in 2013 from 15 ng/mL. As such, the high level of cannabis required to trigger an Adverse Analytical Finding in competition today would be consistent with a significantly impaired athlete or a frequent user. Further, the inclusion of the ‘Substance of Abuse’ provision in the Code from 2021 significantly reduced the length of suspension from a potential two (or even four) years previously to as low as one month today for athletes who can establish that the THC use occurred out of competition and was unrelated to sport performance.” (Emphasis added)

WADA reported that 138 convictions from the 2011-15 Russian doping program have been made, out of a total of 810 cases opened, most of which are continuing. The cases all stem from the review of the data and samples retrieved from the infamous Moscow Laboratory in 2019.

● Football ● The U.S. Men’s National Team logged a desultory, even depressing, performance in its next-to-last friendly prior to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with a 2-0 loss to Japan in Dusseldorf (GER) on Friday.

Striker Daichi Kamada scored on a curling shot around U.S. keeper Matt Turner in the 24th minute for the only first-half score, and midfielder Kaoru Mitoma scored the final goal in the 88th with a left-to-right shot after advancing down the left side.

The Americans had 58% of the possession in the game, but were out-shot by 16-4. While Turner made six saves to keep the U.S. in it, the offense managed not a single shot on goal. The Japanese out-muscled the U.S., committing 16 fouls, but it worked. Said U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter:

“We need to play with personality. We need to play relaxed. We need to play with intensity. When we do these things, we’re a really good team, but when we don’t, we’re an average team. … We performed below expectations. We weren’t up to our normal standards. And that’s almost across the board.”

The U.S. will play its final warm-up match on Tuesday (27th) against Saudi Arabia in Murcia, Spain at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

● Gymnastics ● The fourth of six legs in the FIG Artistic Apparatus World Challenge Cup series was in Paris on Saturday and Sunday, with U.S. women winning three of the four events.

Tokyo Olympic Floor Ex champ Jade Carey won the Vault at 14.375, ahead of teammate and Olympic Team silver medalist Jordan Chiles (14.025). Shilese Jones, the U.S. Uneven Bars national champion, won again, scoring 14.700, with Chiles fifth (13.750).

On Beam, France’s Marine Boyer and Carey had the same score – 13.750 – but Boyer won due to a higher score for execution. Jones was fifth at 13.400. Chiles and Jones were 1-2 on Floor, scoring 14.050 and 13.500.

The American men also scored well, with Donnell Whittenburg, a two-time Worlds medalist, winning bronze on the Rings (14.600), behind Turkey’s Adem Asil (14.800). Asil also won on Vault, scoring (14.725).

U.S. All-Around champ Brody Malone and Whittenburg were 2-3 on the Parallel Bars, scoring 14.600 and 14.200 behind Brazil’s 2019 Pan Am All-Around champ Caio Souza (14.700). Malone won the Horizontal Bar final, scoring 14.640.

Ireland’s Eamon Montgomery won on Floor at 14.250 and teammate Rhys McClenaghan won on Pommel Horse, scoring 15.100.

The 2022 series has two more stops, in Hungary at the end of the month and Turkey in early October.

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: Could Russian skiers return in 2022? France worried on Paris ‘24 security force; important new tech for FOX at FIFA World Cup

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. FIS may consider allowing Russian return in skiing this season
2. An alternate to the Olympics? A handful have tried, all have failed
3. French Interior Minister worries about Paris 2024 security staffing
4. FOX Sports debuting stunning mobile “Flypack” tech at World Cup
5. USA Wrestling celebrates record-shattering World Champs

The Secretary General of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation said Thursday that the FIS Council could consider allowing Russian skiers and snowboarders to compete – as neutrals – in World Cup competitions this season at its next meeting. But the International Olympic Committee will have to approve. Russian chatter about building events and organizations to challenge the IOC recalls prior attempts over more than 100 years, all of which failed, per Olympic historian Bill Mallon. The French Interior Minister expressed concern over the number of security staff that will be needed for Paris 2024 and has already generated some ideas on how to meet the presumed shortage. In advance of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, FOX Sports is showing off a new, mobile technology package which will help to significantly reduce the number of staff needed on-site, and that will be carried to Doha in a Boeing 747! The accomplishments of the U.S. wrestling Freestyle squads at the recent UWW Worlds are worth celebrating, including 17 national records either broken or tied. The best might be the tie for World or Olympic medals in eight straight years!

1.
FIS may consider allowing Russian return in skiing this season

The Russian news agency TASS reported on Thursday that the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) may discuss allowing Russian athletes to return to competition this season as neutrals at the FIS Council meeting coming up in October:

“‘The agenda has not yet been approved, but the issue of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes can be considered,’ the international federation noted.”

On Thursday, FIS Secretary General Michel Vion (FRA) commented to Eurosport about the possible return to competitions:

“Perhaps this will happen in December, then the teams of both countries, of course, without the national flag and anthem, will be able to compete at the World Championships.”

Vion also told the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang: “FIS will definitely not make this decision without a clear recommendation from the IOC. In other words, we are together in this, and the sport should be in unison. The FIS is waiting for clear recommendations from the IOC.”

Not everyone is ready to believe it. Russian national ski team coach Yuri Borodavko told TASS:

“Statements like the one made by the FIS Secretary General can be called a good face in a bad game. And by 60 percent I regard Vion’s words as a political move. But if we are allowed, then, of course, it will be super. But as the political situation and the situation in sports are developing now, this does not add optimism.”

However, the head of the Russian Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping federation, Dmitry Dubrovsky, said that his athletes were ready to go “if we are admitted in any status.”

2.
An alternate to the Olympics? A handful have tried, all have failed

Following up on our story from earlier this week on a forthcoming, Russian-led challenge to the Olympic Games, Olympedia.org co-founder and historian Dr. Bill Mallon (USA) reviewed the history of events designed to complement, or more likely, disrupt and possibly displace the International Olympic Committee on Olympstats.com.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Irina Viner, head of the Council for Physical Culture and Sports of the Russian-Chinese Committee for Friendship, Peace and Development was clear about the plan, to begin with events coordinated through the Chinese and Russian-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation:

“We are ready to negotiate with China to hold various events, from joint training camps to competitions. As our leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin said, now we must create a multi-sports organization independent of the IOC.”

Mallon looked back to the early days of the Olympic Movement and found five events which merited review as either possible Olympic complements, or designed to be Olympic replacements:

● 1919 only: Inter-Allied Games
● 1925-37: International Workers’ Olympiads
● 1963-66: Games of the New Emerging Forces
● 1984 only: Friendship Games
● 1986-2001: Goodwill Games

Ted Turner’s Goodwill Games proved to be the most successful, with five summer and one winter edition, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the reason for the event essentially disappeared.

Mallon’s bottom line:

“It is highly likely that Russia, if it continues to be banned from international sport, will come up with some [International Multi-Sport Event], hosting its friends to compete. It is also more than likely that these will be very short-lived or never held again.”

3.
French Interior Minister worries about Paris 2024 security staffing

In an interview with Los Echos published Thursday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said “We need around 25,000 more private security agents for the Olympics, or 20% of the total for the profession, which has 130,000 people [in France].”

So the question will be how to find them. This is an issue for the government, which is responsible for security at the Games, and Darmanin will create a “business division” in the Interior Ministry to liaise with private staffing companies.

And he would like to find college-aged students to fill these roles – “With training, there is no reason why they cannot become private security guards” – and will reach out to the “prefectures, in conjunction with Pole emploi [the French national unemployment agency], to call the tens of thousands of people in France who have a professional card but are registered as unemployed to motivate them to come and work in the sector again.”

Less than two years to go and a lot to be done.

4.
FOX Sports debuting stunning mobile “Flypack” tech at World Cup

Until quite recently, broadcasters had to ship tons of equipment and hundreds or thousands of people to major events like the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup. That’s all changing and the Sports Business Journal showcased the newest effort to save space, people and money by FOX Sports in advance of November’s World Cup in Qatar.

In a short video, Michael Davies, the FOX Sports Senior Vice President/Field & Technical Operations, explained the mobile “FlyPack” program that will debut in Doha from a parking lot outside the FOX Sports broadcast center in Charlotte, North Carolina:

“This tent that we have is roughly the same size we what we’re going to have in Doha, at least in the Corniche area, so it also helps us envision the space and how we’re going to utilize it. …

“It’s one thing to create a big thing like this, but a lot of the equipment that’s back there is also to allow us to produce programming from people who aren’t even there. So, a fair amount of the equipment also connects into our studio in L.A. So that we can have people working on the shows from L.A. instead of sending everyone to Doha.

“The biggest upgrade that you see back here is the fact that this is entirely [Internet Protocol-based]. There’s no actual video running around at all … it has nothing to do with baseband video except at the very, very end. So there’s a lot of very new, innovative things here, but that is the overarching innovation for the FlyPack.”

The project is already planned for use at FOX broadcasts of the NFL Super Bowl, future World Cups and future UEFA continental championship tournaments. And just about every system is completely backed and redundant to ensure continuity.

It’s going to head over to Qatar soon, on “a 747 that will take all of this stuff plus a variety of other things that is going to fill up the plane and will go into Doha and be trucked to our two different sites in that city.”

These are important technical innovations that will reduce the burden on organizers to supply acres of space and millions of dollars for the installation of a gigantic broadcast center for an event and lower costs for broadcasters who can keep most of their staff at home, with a much-smaller team on site. For the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, TOP sponsor Alibaba debuted a revolutionary “Olympic Cloud” service which allowed rights-holding broadcasters to receive the Host Broadcast signals in their home studios in real time instead of having to be on-site an the International Broadcast Center.

FOX’s FlyPack offers another approach, receiving the host signals on-site, but able to keep many staff at home and work cooperatively in real time – across around the globe via IP – to produce live programming. A behind-the-scenes, but important and cost-saving advance for major events of all kinds.

5.
USA Wrestling celebrates record-shattering World Champs

It’s hard to imagine a U.S. National Governing Body that’s smiling more broadly right now than USA Wrestling, enjoying one of its best-ever performances at a World Championships.

Over the nine days of competition at the Stark Arena in Belgrade (SRB), the American squad set or tied 17 national performance records on the strength of its men’s and women’s Freestyle squads. Among the most noteworthy:

● First-time-ever leader in total medals at a Worlds: 15, to lead Japan (13) and Iran (10).

● Most combined championships: 7 total, with four by the men’s Freestyle team and three by the women’s Freestyle squad. The most before was five by the Worlds teams in 1995, 2019 and 2021.

● Most total medals: 15 in 2022 equals the 2021 team (5-5-5). .

● Most finalists in a discipline: 8 in men’s Freestyle (4-4-0), breaking the 1991 World team mark of six (3-3-0). The eight medals ties the prior high, set way back in 1987. The seven medals by the women’s Freestyle team equals the best ever, by the 2003 and 2021 teams and the five finalists (3-2-0) equals the 2003 team (1-4-0).

● Most combined Olympic and Worlds championships: 7 by Jordan Burroughs (6 Worlds, 1 Olympic), breaking a tie with John Smith (men’s Freestyle) and Adeline Gray (women’s Freestyle), each with six.

● Most World Championships: 6 for Burroughs, tying Gray, who missed the 2022 Worlds while giving birth to twins in July. She expects to return to the mat with an eye toward the 2024 Paris Games.

Perhaps the most impressive feat belongs to 97 kg star Kyle Snyder, who tied Bruce Baumgartner with medals in eight straight Olympic Games or World Championships. Baumgartner won medals from 1983-90 (2-3-2) at 130 kg, while Snyder has won six Worlds medals and two Olympic medals between 2015-22 (4-3-1), and at just 26, is still going strong!

Any downside? USA Wrestling is well aware of the difficulty of maintaining such production and knows it need to improve its Greco-Roman performance – no medals in 2022 – in advance of Paris 2024. But it can enjoy a little champagne right now.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Basketball ● The U.S. won its opening game in Group A of the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup, 87-72, over Belgium, and its second match in a 106-42 rout of Puerto Rico.

The American women had a 48-39 halftime lead in the opener and extended that to 72-56 after three quarters and then cruised home with their 23rd straight win in World Cup play. Forward Breanna Stewart led with 22 points on 8-18 shooting, assisted by guard Jewell Loyd and forward Alyssa Thomas, who had 14 each.

In Friday’s game, it was 54-21 at the half and the U.S. cruised in with center Shakira Austin leading with 19 points, forward Kahleah Cooper scoring 16, and center Brionna Jones with 15. Puerto Rico shot only 20.6% from the field, while the American women made 53.5% of their shots.

Next up is China (1-0) on Saturday.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Awards ● On Thursday, the University of New Haven Sports Integrity Center announced its inaugural Noble Purpose for Sports Integrity Award to Canadian law professor Richard McLaren for his work in investigating corruption, doping and institutional governance issues through his McLaren Global Sports Solutions firm.

University of New Haven Associate Professor of Investigations Declan Hill tweeted:

“When sport has a problem, who you gonna call? Richard McLaren”

In his acceptance, McLaren noted “the dangerous lack of accountability” in sports against the evils of abuse, doping and other forms of corruption.

The other finalists were Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who brought attention to sexual abuse by Chinese politicians and continues to be, essentially, under house arrest, and basketball star Enes Kanter Freedom, 30, now an American citizen who has spoken out about repression in China and his native Turkey.

● Russia ● The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, said at an Executive Committee meeting that even if Russian athletes are permitted to compete again in international competition, there are many more issues to be worked out:

“Unfortunately, there are no parameters for the expected return of Russians to international competitions, the situation is in the hands of the IOC, which initiated these restrictions, and international federations, which are formally responsible for the Olympic qualification process before the Games.

“But we clearly understand that the actual possibility of the participation of the Russian team in the [Paris] 2024 and [Milan Cortina] 2026 Olympic Games will largely depend on a number of non-sporting factors, namely: the visa regime, border customs procedures established by the countries of the European Union, the availability of direct flights, logistics, restrictions on cross-border payments in rubles or foreign currency, other technical aspects of providing for our team and delegation.

“Since this is not a complete list of all potential problems as a result of unfriendly steps taken by the political leadership of a number of countries, we have worked out the so-called alternative scenarios.”

But the details are yet to come.

● Athletics ● If you couldn’t get enough of the World Athletics Championships in Eugene this summer, here’s your chance for some discounted merchandise at the World Athletics shop site.

The trick is to shop for items in British Pounds (£) instead of U.S. dollars! While no discounts are shown on the U.S. dollar site, discounts of up to 50% off are available using GBP! Polo shirts are down to £25.00, T-shirts as low as £15 and so on. An official bottle opener is now £6.00.

The two best items, however – the hooded sweatshirt and the Legend mascot plush toy – are both sold out.

● Cycling ● The Union Cycliste Internationale Congress, meeting in Australia during the World Road Championships, approved the Haute-Savoie region of France as the host of the second UCI World Championships, in 2027, incorporating all disciplines of the sport.

The first all-discipline event will be held next August in Glasgow (SCO), but the 2027 edition will expand to 19 in all, adding six new championships to the 13 scheduled for next year.

● Football ● FIFA announced the opening of the final phase of tickets for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, to start online on 27 September and continuing through the tournament as long as tickets are available.

● Swimming ● You can look forward to more swims by sprint stars Simone Manuel of the U.S. and Sarah Sjostrom (SWE). Although veterans, both have signaled they’re still focused on the pool.

Manuel, 26, the Rio 2016 100 m Free co-champion, has been largely invisible since the Tokyo 2020 Games, first announced a training move to Arizona State, working with celebrated coach Bob Bowman (USA). On Tuesday, she revealed a new sponsorship agreement with arena, leaving TYR, with whom had been aligned previously. Said Manuel:

“Going back to my first days as a professional swimmer, I’ve always loved their gear, mainly for their performance, but also for their Italian style, and it’s great to be part of a team that includes many of the world’s best. As I start a new chapter in my life and my career, I’m looking forward to continuing my growth and taking my performance to the next level with arena.”

Sweden’s Sjostrom, 29, a four-time Olympic medalist and 10-time World Champion in the 50 and 100 m Free and Fly events, told Swimming World Magazine that a potential sixth Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 is in her sights (when she will be 34):

“Definitely. Very unlikely I am not doing it.

“Paris will be the first one and I try to always take one year at a time – that is the main thing.

“We’ll see – maybe I’ll find out in two years (and) I’m like ‘ah, no, I’m done’ but I don’t think so. I think I am going to continue for much longer …

“I’m very proud of course of my achievements and everything – I feel very lucky that I am able to do what I do and I’m very proud that I am successful in this sport. I’m working very hard so I don’t think it’s for the medals every time actually.

“My main focus is to swim as good as I can; I am working very hard to improve all the time.

Sjostrom’s focus is legendary. She overcame a nearly-broken elbow suffered in January 2021 to claim a Tokyo silver in the 50 m Free, then won seven medals at the 2021 FINA 25 m Championships last December, three medals at the 2022 FINA Worlds and five at the 2022 European Championships!

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here, and can donate here to keep this site going.

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TSX REPORT: Ex-federation official details bribery in taekwondo and boxing; Judo excludes Russians from Worlds; USOPC quietly helping African NOCs

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Ex-taekwondo and ex-boxing official alleges bribery at both IFs
2. Int’l Judo Federation bans Russia and Belarus from Worlds
3. Frenzy over lone report of Valieva’s “B” sample as positive
4. Behind-the-scenes agreement for USOPC to help Africa
5. Bach letter asks again to “Give peace a chance”

A long-time senior executive in Olympic-sport federations has detailed bribery allegations to Britain’s The Times concerning the admission of taekwondo as an Olympic medal sport and in the operation of the international boxing federation that led to its many problems. The International Judo Federation has allowed Russian and Belarusian judoka to compete as neutrals, but has now banned them for the rest of the year, including the upcoming world championships. A report from an aggressive U.S.-based reporter on Twitter says that the test of the second sample of Russian skating star Kamila Valieva came back positive, leading to immediate denunciations from Russian skating officials. No one pays much attention to the quiet interactions between Olympic-sport organizations, but the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee is exchanging information and making friends under an agreement with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) posted a International Day of Peace letter on Wednesday, asking once again to “Give peace a chance.” But he also admits the future looks troubled.

1.
Ex-taekwondo and ex-boxing official alleges bribery at both IFs

A bombshell report published Tuesday in the venerable British newspaper The Times starts:

“A leading sports official has spoken of an endemic culture of bribery and corruption in the Olympic movement, claiming he was involved in paying bribes to committee members to secure taekwondo’s place at the Games as well as handing out $500,000 in cash to rig an election.”

The lengthy story details accusations by Korean Ho Kim, now 66, from his time as marketing director at World Taekwondo and as executive director of the International Federation for boxing, then known by its acronym, AIBA.

Chief Sports Correspondent Matt Lawton wrote that he spent four days with Ho Kim, who provided “hundreds of documents” to support his claims:

● He was the “delivery boy” for cash bribes and gifts of automobiles made to International Olympic Committee members in order to secure their vote to add Taekwondo to the Sydney 2000 sports program. Taekwondo was a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992, but was not voted onto the permanent program until the 1994 IOC Session in Paris, for the Sydney Games.

● Bribes paid to arrange the election of C.K. Wu (TPE) as President of AIBA in 2006. Wu defeated incumbent Anwar Chowdhry (PAK) in an upset, 83-79.

● Bribes for favorite refereeing decisions at boxing World Championships and Olympic Games, at least as far back as 2011.

Ho Kim was featured as a central player in the mismanagement at AIBA during the Wu Era in investigative reports commissioned by the post-Wu administrations at the re-named International Boxing Association, and compiled by McLaren Global Sport Solutions. In fact, the June 2022 report states that at the 2006 AIBA Congress where Wu was elected, “it appears that both candidates used cash bribes to obtain National Federation (‘NF’) votes.”

Lawton wrote that Ho Kim’s decision to “tell all” comes from the pending decision of the IOC to retain or remove boxing from the Los Angeles 2028 sports program and he blames the IOC in part for the Wu candidature, citing encouragement from then-IOC President Jacques Rogge (BEL).

The story did not excite the IOC or World Taekwondo. The IOC’s statement noted:

“The International Boxing Association (AIBA), how it was called at the time, dismissed Mr Ho Kim in June 2015. Throughout all this time, even before his dismissal, Mr Ho Kim was for many years a persona non grata at the IOC.”

As for World Taekwondo:

“World Taekwondo has absolutely no knowledge about any of these allegations against the former administration.”

Taekwondo has been confirmed as a sport for Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028; boxing is on the Paris program, but its 2028 status is yet to be determined. The IBA will hold an Extraordinary Congress this weekend, with a re-run of its Presidential election expected to be held.

2.
Int’l Judo Federation bans Russia and Belarus from Worlds

The 2022 World Judo Championships are coming up quickly from 6-12 October in Tashkent (UZB), but judoka from Russia and Belarus won’t be there, per the International Judo Federation on Wednesday:

“The Executive Committee of the International Judo Federation decided today, 21st September 2022, considering the current international circumstances and in order to ensure the protection of all athletes in the sport of judo, to not allow the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in international judo events until January 2023.”

The IJF had allowed Russian and Belarusian judoka to compete as neutrals; Russian fighters won nine medals at the Ulaanbataar Grand Slam in Mongolia in June, but skipped the IJF World Tour events in July and August, as well as the recent IJF World Junior and Cadet championship events.

The whispers were that Russia did not want to compete at the Worlds without their flag, and anthem in case of a victory. But the IJF has slammed the door in any case, for the 2022 Worlds and the three remaining Grand Slam events in October, November and December.

3.
Frenzy over lone report of Valieva’s “B” sample as positive

Reports from the U.S.-based Twitter site TheSkatingLesson that the test of the second (“B”) doping sample from December from Russian skater Kamila Valieva came back positive was quickly denied by Russian officials, but not the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, which had no comment on an ongoing inquiry.

Valieva, then 15, tested positive for trimetazidine on 25 December 2021 and was provisionally suspended by RUSADA on 8 February 2022, the day after the end of the Team Event in Figure Skating at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Valieva appealed and was declared eligible for the remainder of the Games by the RUSADA appeals board and then by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She finished fourth in the women’s individual competition, but the certification of the Team Event results has been held up – with no medal ceremony as yet – pending the completion of an inquiry into her original doping positive.

RUSADA has concluded its inquiry and expects to hold a hearing on the Valieva case in the next couple of weeks.

Renat Laishev, head of the Moscow-based Sambo 70 sport club, with which Valieva is affiliated, told the TASS news agency of the report:

“Of course, this is not true. These American sources are ready to pour some dirt on us in any field of activity. The fact that this is a minor does not stop them. Shame, stupidity, disgust and lack of culture – that’s what they do. Our girls are the best in the world , we will defeat everyone.”

Famed Russian coach Tatyana Tarasova also doubted the report and told TASS:

“What source could this be? If this [leaking of information] happens to someone, won’t the organization that this person is a member of immediately take action?”

Not in the U.S. and not about figure skating, anyway. The official version will come with the RUSADA hearing at the end of the month, or in early October.

USA Today’s Christine Brennan, who follows this story closely, tweeted last week following the RUSADA announcement of a hearing:

“By moving forward with hearings, Russian Anti-Doping Agency ‘must have found sufficient evidence of a violation or otherwise the case would be closed and WADA would be notified of its right to appeal,’ USADA’s Travis Tygart said.”

Stay tuned.

4.
Behind-the-scenes agreement for USOPC to help Africa

One of the unseen aspects of the Olympic Movement are the relationships between federations or National Olympic Committees, often including training site access and knowledge transfers.

An Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) announcement in June emphasized:

“Partnerships between ANOCA and various stakeholders such as International Federations, African Sports Confederations, [Association of African Sports Confederations], international bodies, specialised Universities, aim mainly to give athletes and technical staff full benefit of the available programmes.

“It also entails involving technical experts from African NOCs, Confederations, National Federations and international and continental expert groups. …

“ANOCA has concluded agreements with USOPC, NOC Cuba, UCI (ahead of the 2025 World Championships [in Rwanda]), FINA for the development and preparation of swimmers and the City of Marseille in France among others.”

So what is the deal between ANOCA and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee?

It’s a four-year agreement, signed in 2019, with the emphasis on know-how:

● Development of “resource generation” and “marketing strategies”;

● Event management expertise and logistical knowledge on multi-sport events;

● Coaching, sports medicine and sports administration information exchanges;

● Facility design, construction and maintenance best practices;

● Information on the U.S. Olympic Academy and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum programs.

No one talks about these projects much, but they are valuable, not only for the information exchanged, but the relationships built that will outlast much of the technical data. USOPC Chief External Affairs Officer Kate Hartman noted that this week, “We also just so happen to have Ugandans at the [U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center] getting a coaching education program.”

It will be interesting to see if the forthcoming effort of the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics will be able to delve into the value of these exchanges and how USOPC support can be appreciated and expanded, especially outside of North America.

5.
Bach letter asks again to “Give peace a chance”

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) released a letter on Wednesday, the annual, United Nations-recognized “International Day of Peace,” with a rather bleak outlook for the future. Of note:

● “The fundamental idea behind the Olympic Games is to unite the entire world in peaceful competition. Peace is at the very heart of this mission.”

● “When it comes to building lasting peace, non-discrimination alone is not enough. It is not enough just to respect each other – we need to go a step further and support one another. We have to stand together in solidarity. There is no peace without solidarity.”

● “The Olympic Games cannot prevent wars and conflicts. They cannot address all the political and social challenges in our world. But they can set an example for a world where everyone respects the same rules and one another.”

● “There is a new world order in the making. We can already see today that this new world order will be more divisive than the one we are striving for.

“This unfortunate trend is diametrically opposed to our Olympic mission to unite the world in peaceful competition. We know that in these divisive and confrontational times, we are not alone in looking for a common bond of humanity. Millions of people around the world are longing for peace. Together with all these people of goodwill, we want to make our modest contribution to peace by unifying the entire world in peaceful competition.”

He closed with:

“On this International Day of Peace, and in this Olympic spirit of solidarity and peace, I strongly reiterate the appeal to all political leaders around the world that I made at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, in front of a global audience of hundreds of millions: Give peace a chance.”

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Cycling ● At the UCI World Road Championships in Woollongong (AUS), the third edition of the Mixed Time Trial Relay went sideways from the start as Annemiek van Vleuten (NED), the premiere women’s cyclist of 2022, crashed just seconds into the race due to a chain issue that caused a tire to explode!

That opened the door for Switzerland, which won in 33:47 over the 28.2 km course, three seconds up on Italy (33:50) and 38 seconds ahead of Australia (34:25). The Dutch were fifth in 34:39.

● Calendar ● The World Rowing Championships in Racice (CZE) and the World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach (USA) are continuing this week.

The FIBA Women’s World Cup, with the U.S. women looking for a fourth straight win and six of the last seven, opens in Sydney (AUS) on Thursday, with the American women playing Belgium in Group A. The U.S. has a 22-game winning streak in Women’s World Cup play.

The FIVB Women’s World Championship will start on Friday in the Netherlands and Poland, with Serbia the defending champions. The U.S. won in 2014 and at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and will start against Kazakhstan on Saturday in Pool C, which also includes Serbia.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● At the opening of the third Global Education Conference in Sydney (AUS), WADA President Witold Banka (POL) spelled out the key ingredient to future anti-doping success:

“Education is the single best way to prevent doping in sport. Yes, anti-doping is there to ‘catch and punish’ but it is also very important that we ‘support and prevent’, too. WADA has fully embraced education and it is time that all Anti-Doping Organizations and governments of the world do the same, just as they are doing here in Australia.”

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● Award-winning theater director Thomas Jolly was announced as the Artistic Director for the opening and closing ceremonies for the Paris Olympic & Paralympic Games.

Now 40, Jolly is recognized as an innovative force in French theater, both with classical works and modern programs. He will have a considerable task on his hands with the Olympic opening slated as a boat parade on the Seine River! However, with credits such as a continuous, 18-hour performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VI in 2014, and a 24-hour performance of Richard III in 2015 to his credit, he might be the perfect choice.

● World University Games ● Forget about actually using a flame for a pre-Games torch relay. Time to go electronic.

And that’s what the 2023 Winter World University Games organizers in Lake Placid (USA) have done, taking the Universiade flame from the site of the first WUG, in Turin (ITA), and transferring it to a “torch” that uses a battery-powered, light-emitting diode (LED).

The “flame” will begin its journey through New York State on 22 September, visiting 12 cities. The “torch” itself is 22 inches long and made of steel, with a glacial-blue body that is capped by recycled crystalline glass, to provide an artistic demonstration of ice and water.

● Athletics ● Another Kenyan doping positive, as posted by the Athletics Integrity Unit, this time for Lilian Rengeruk, 25, for 10 months as an agreed suspension for the banned substance Letrozole, a breast cancer treatment that lowers estrogen levels.

Rengeruk was the 2017 World Cross Country Championships bronze medalist and a 5,000 m best of 14:30.32; she was fifth at the 2019 Worlds at 5,000 m and 12th in the Tokyo final.

Her results have been nullified since 20 January 2022 (her last race was in September 2021) and her 10-month suspension began from 19 April 2022.

● Boxing ● The International Boxing Association’s re-consideration and possible re-run of its May election for President will take place on Sunday (25th) in Yerevan, Armenia.

The first issue will be whether to have a new election for President, and if passed, for a vote between current President Umar Kremlev (RUS) and Dutch Boxing Federation chief Boris van der Vorst.

Van der Vorst is touting endorsements from the national federations from Australia, Canada, Wales and USA Boxing. A lengthy, 19 September letter from USA Boxing Board President Tyson Lee focuses completely on the issue of boxing’s current exclusion from the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic program. Lee wrote:

“USA Boxing decided to support Boris van der Vorst because he has committed to specifically address these issues with the IOC which will allow us to continue with what makes our organization relevant, inclusion in the Olympic movement. Boris has even gone a step further and pledged, ‘…to restore IOC financial contributions to the IBA, unlock additional Olympic Solidarity funds for boxing, and form the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit to protect boxers and National Federations…’ within his first 100 days or ‘HE WILL RESIGN.’ Boris additionally pledged, ‘… re-inclusion of boxing for LA2028…’ in one year or will tender his resignation. Can our current administration make the same commitment? …

“I have said to many of you that I don’t dislike anyone personally in the current administration. I think they have made efforts to improve IBA. For whatever reason, however, they have been unsuccessful in accomplishing the very specific and attainable requirements set by the IOC to get us re-included in the Olympic movement, the absolute most important requirement for IBA’s [existence]. We have learned of the importance of Olympic solidarity funding and what can actually happen when we attempt to go it alone. It looked great at the beginning, but now we are in a financial position again where our organization is struggling to pay athletes the prize money they have earned. Not to mention the additional funds promised but not delivered to the Confederations.”

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: Eugene Worlds road races “not financially viable”; LA28 Games will not solve city’s homeless problem; new Russian challenge to the Olympics

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. World Champs road racing director says event “not financially viable”
2. Flash: LA28 Olympics will not solve L.A.’s homelessness problem
3. Putin suggests “major sporting events” for Shanghai Cooperation Org
4. Bach reiterates support for Milan Cortina ‘26, despite challenges
5. Paris 2024 starts ticket-sales program with registration in December

The race director for the six road events at the 2022 World Athletics Championships – marathons and walks – said the financial format for staging such events is not “viable” and requires “a huge amount of state funding.” At last week’s news conference closing the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission meeting for the LA28 Games, a reporter asking how the Games would solve the local homelessness and cost-of-living crises got the truth: “If we just closed up shop and went away today, [these issues] will still exist and they will still exist in 2028. And no one should be confused about that.” Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that the Eurasian countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation should organize major sporting events, maybe as soon as 2024? IOC chief Thomas Bach said he has confidence in the under-pressure Milan Cortina 2026 organizers and agrees with waiting until after the Italian elections to name a new chief executive. And Paris 2024 announced how its initial ticket-sales process will work, starting with registration in December.

1.
World Champs road racing director says event
“not financially viable”

Eugene Marathon race director Ian Dobson served as the road races director for the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, and his eight-person team had quite an experience putting together two marathons, four walking events and a 1,200-person public 5k during 10 days last July.

A 2008 U.S. Olympian at 5,000 m, Dobson sat down for a fascinating interview with Keith Peters for the highly-respected Road Race Management site as the Worlds were coming to a close, with lots of details of the behind-the-scenes operations of the road program. But he closed with a warning:

“I think there’s a real tension between events like this and – I don’t know how to articulate the tension that’s in my head – but like, this type of [World] Championships event is not financially viable. It requires a huge amount of state public funding.

“Atlanta, I don’t know the half of it, but their hosting the [2020] Olympic [Marathon] Trials was wildly expensive. And until the federations and local governing bodies figure out how to do this in a financially responsible way, they’re just going to be better off going to places where suitable authoritarian governments can just make things happen that we can’t here.

“The level of frustration that World Athletics broadcast had with us, not being able to lay out 14 kilometers of dark fiber that – we’re talking about millions of dollars of infrastructure – that’s not even a possibility. I think in their minds, it was like, you should just do this, you should make this happen. And these are good people.

“The expectations are just not realistic in a financially responsible way. The funding for these events – I don’t know enough about it to have an educated perspective – but I do know that we did not, would not right now, try to bid for the Olympic Trials marathon. You’re just going to lose money. We’re just an LLC; we’re a business. Maybe that needs to go to a nonprofit, maybe that’s the model. Maybe it has to rely more on lobbying than organizing.

“It’s just discouraging to me to think that this may be the only time we do something like this here because USATF or World Athletics hijacks or holds hostage any of the revenue that comes in for it. Partnerships are a huge piece of that, but we could not do this again in the way that we did it. And to be clear, I would have done this for free. I learned so much. It was really hard, but I had a really good time.”

The Eugene Worlds received $40 million in government funding – $31 million from the state through various channels and $9 million in a U.S. government grant to promote tourism – about half of its overall budget. No financial results of the 2022 Worlds have been disclosed, but reports immediately after the event indicated it likely broke even.

As for the future, the word seems to have gotten out about the financial burdens, as no host for the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials has been named yet by USA Track & Field.

2.
Flash: LA28 Olympics will not solve L.A.’s homelessness problem

The International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission meeting in Los Angeles last week made no headlines in the local press and demonstrated that interest is elsewhere with a hotly-contested mayoral election coming in November and contentious issues such as homelessness and the continuing drought roiling the community.

A National Public Radio reporter from local station KCRW asked how the 2028 Games were going to resolve the cost of living and homelessness issues. He got two very good answers, but no doubt not the ones he wanted:

● IOC member and Coordination Commission Chair Nicole Hoevertsz (ARU):

“We adapt to a city, we’re not expecting a city to completely adapt to us. And in this case, that city has its challenges, and that happens all over the world. And in the city of L.A., of course, you have specific challenges that we will have to deal with, but also the city has to deal with. We are preparing to do that.

“We don’t want to take over the city, we are incorporating ourselves in the city during those days.

“We’re not so naive to think the Games are going to be solving these issues, but they have to be addressed, that’s a fact.”

● LA28 organizing committee Chair Casey Wasserman, who has said he will think about running for California Governor after the Games are concluded, was even better:

“The challenges that we face with homelessness in the city are real, and if we sit around, hoping that the Olympics will do something to fix those, or is going to do something to make them worse in 2028, we failed this community. We, as leaders in this community, have a responsibility to deal with those problems today, because if the Olympics weren’t here in 2028, those problems exist today and they will continue to exist unless we deal with them.

“So, as a community, as a city, as people who should care about each other’s well-being, homelessness is an issue we need to deal with. It was neither created by, or is going to be solved by any event, and so we need to be focused, as community leaders, as citizens of the city, what we can do to really make a difference in the lives of those who are affected. …

“We are committed to making sure that our plan, our operations fit within the city, and benefit the city, and hopefully, it becomes a motivating factor for everyone, when the entire eyes of the world will be on the city, that we can show the world that we had challenges and we worked together to overcome them.

“If we just closed up shop and went away today, [homelessness and the cost of living] will still exist and they will still exist in 2028. And no one should be confused about that.”

The lack of interest in the 2028 Games among local media was reflected in the news conference receiving 19 lines of coverage in the Los Angeles Times’ “The Day in Sports” round-up section the day after and only a reference in a story in the 10-paper Southern California News Group conglomerate, which focused mostly on U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Chair Susanne Lyons’ comment that the IOC was beginning to think about re-admitting Russian athletes.

3.
Putin suggests “major sporting events” for
Shanghai Cooperation Org

The Russian sports ministry has said that the country has no plans to create an “alternative” to the Olympic Games, but the concept has not gone away.

Russia revived the national Spartakiad concept in 2022, with a plan to hold the event every four years, and in early September, Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin told the Eastern Economic Forum:

“We keep extending invitations to come here and hold negotiations with our colleagues from BRICS and the [Shanghai Cooperation Organisation] with the aim of hosting tournaments and bilateral meetings. … Our President’s stance is that we are a self-sufficient sports power boasting tremendous resources.”

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin expanded the idea, telling the SCO Summit in Samarkind (UZB):

“It seems that there are good opportunities to intensify sports cooperation with the prospect of holding major sporting events under the auspices of the SCO. To do this, we could think about creating an association of sports organizations under our association.”

The idea was seconded by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, an observer at the SCO:

“We suggest the possibility of holding a complex of sporting competitions within the framework of the SCO: summer events in 2024, winter in 2026.”

On Tuesday, Russia’s Irina Viner, head of the Council for Physical Culture and Sports of the Russian-Chinese Committee for Friendship, Peace and Development spoke even more plainly:

“We are ready to negotiate with China to hold various events, from joint training camps to competitions. As our leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin said, now we must create a multi-sports organization independent of the IOC.”

The SCO, founded in 2001, includes China, Russia, four other former Soviet Republics, India, Iran and Pakistan, with Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia as observers and another nine countries – including NATO member Turkey – as “dialogue partners.” Its primary focus has been on security matters, but cultural, economic and now sports issues have come up.

Observed: The comments underscore the belief in Russia and Belarus that the sporting sanctions against it related to the invasion of Ukraine are going to go on for a long time to come, despite chatter to the contrary. There’s an eerie echo, almost a matter/anti-matter universe quality to Putin and Viner’s comments vis-a-vis those of  U.S. television visionary Ted Turner in 1985, who created the Goodwill Games – first held in Moscow in 1986 and ending in 2001 – to try and bring east and west together. Now, Putin’s SCO comments signal a desire tear international sport apart.

4.
Bach reiterates support for Milan Cortina ‘26, despite challenges

“As always before Olympic Games, there are challenges – in particular light of this new emerging world order and the financial and economic crisis.

“But we have overcome some challenges in the last couple of years. So I’m not too worried because we know about the enthusiasm, efficiency and the dedication of our Italian friends.”

That’s IOC President Thomas Bach (GER), during last week’s visit to Italy, where he met with Prime Minister Mario Draghi, with national elections coming up quickly on the 25th that will form a new government.

Given the financial difficulties of the Milan Cortina 2026 organizing committee, which has required governmental financial support, there is little doubt that a new chief executive will be named to replace Vincenzo Novari. But not until after the elections, a point which Bach agreed with:

“The new chief executive must and should have the support of the new government. It would not be desirable to appoint him now, before the national elections.”

Bach also reiterated his view on the expensive-to-renovate bobsled, luge and skeleton run in Cortina, used for the 1956 Winter Games, budgeted at €80 million:

“[T]his would be a touristic and sport project which would go ahead anyway and regardless of the Olympic Winter Games.”

The IOC tried to get the Milan Cortina bid committee to change this site, but local authorities are determined to have it as a centerpiece of a larger recreational renovation program in the Cortina area.

SportBusiness reported good news for the 2026 organizers with the Italian office of TOP sponsor Deloitte agreeing to be the third domestic sponsor, providing management support for the event.

5.
Paris 2024 starts ticket-sales program with registration in December

Tickets for the Paris 2024 Games will go on sale in early 2023, with the sign-up process to start in December. The procedure was announced on Tuesday:

● Registration on the Paris 2024 ticketing site from 1 December 2022 to 31 January 2023.

● Beginning 15 February 2023, registrants selected at random will receive an email allowing purchase of “ticket packs” – tickets to three sessions – according to availability, for 48 hours.

● The first four days of the ticket-sales period – 15-18 February – will be reserved for members of the Paris 2024 Club, which can be registered for on the Paris 2024 site.

The announcement further noted that “Paris 2024 will open the sales phase for single tickets for the Olympic Games in May 2023 and for the Paralympic Games in autumn 2023.”

The Paris organizers are offering tickets beginning as low as €24 each, with one million tickets at that price and “Almost half of all Olympic tickets for the general public at €50 or less.”

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2036 ● Egypt wants to host the 2036 Olympic Games and will discuss the concept with IOC President Bach when he visits on the 24 September.

Bach will visit Cairo and tour the sports facilities in the country’s $45 billion New Administrative Capital, begun in 2015. The program includes a 93,400-seat stadium, two arenas, a velodrome, and other sports facilities. Egypt is one of many countries talking about 2036, but the IOC has shown great interest in trying to place a Games in Africa as soon as is practical.

● Archery ● Greg Easton, son of former World Archery President Jim Easton, resigned from the World Archery Executive Board as of last Friday (16th), citing “personal and professional reasons.” He added:

“My ongoing work with the Easton companies, the Easton Foundations and other ventures will continue my lifelong involvement in archery, and I look forward to continuing to support worldwide archery.”

Jim Easton, now 87, built his father’s arrow-manufacturing business into a sporting goods powerhouse, with market-leading equipment in baseball, softball and hockey as well as archery. He served as the Commissioner of Archery for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and was so widely respected that he also assisted the organizing committee as a Vice President of Technology and the Mayor of the UCLA Olympic Village!

During his 1989-2005 term as the President of FITA (as World Archery was then known), he led the changeover to elimination matches that helped popularize the sport on Olympic television and ensured its continued place in the Games. He served as an IOC member from 1994 to 2015, received the Olympic Order in 2015 and is an Honorary Member today.

● Athletics ● It’s not an Olympic event, but worth noting that Lithuanian ultra-distance runner Aleksandr Sorokin, 41, broke his own world mark for the 24-hour run last Saturday (17th).

He covered 319.614 km (198.599 miles or ~7:15 per mile!) at International Association of Ultrarunners European Championships in Verona, Italy, smashing his 2001 mark of 309.4 km (192.252 miles). Wow!

The promised audit of the All-Russian Athletics Federation by World Athletics is now scheduled for the latter half of October. World Athletics has had the RusAF on suspension since the state-sponsored doping scheme exploded in 2015, but has been continuously reviewing the situation to determine whether the suspension can be modified or lifted.

Former sprint star Irina Privalova, now the interim head of RusAF, told the TASS news agency that the steps required of it are being taken and that a reinstatement of the federation could occur by the end of the year.

● Fencing ● Amid last week’s confusion about the beginnings of a discussion about Russian reinstatement, the Ukrainian Sports Minister, Vadym Guttsait – also the head of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation – wrote to the Federation Internationale de Escrime (FIE), asking for the continued ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes:

“The ban on the participation of all Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will have an impact on Russian and Belarusian society.

“The Ukrainian Fencing Federation urges you to prevent the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports competitions, even under the neutral flag. Representatives of aggressor countries cannot be part of fair and honest Olympic sports while Russia continues this bloody war.”

“[W]e’re pleased to introduce the USA Fencing Member Wellness Program – a new initiative that offers free, confidential counseling services to members who need mental health support.”

USA Fencing has had athlete issues and team dissension over questions of abuse, so this new program is quite timely. Open to athletes, coaches, officials or other USA Fencing members who need mental health support, a contact is made with the USA Fencing office, who will “connect that member with a licensed clinical social worker, a licensed professional counselor or a licensed professional with a doctor of psychology degree.”

The announcement also mentioned USA Cycling, USA Weightlifting and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee as providing similar services.

● Football ● Ecuador’s place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup was confirmed by the FIFA Appeal Committee on Friday, which turned down a request from Chile to invalidate Ecuador’s results due to the use of a Colombian player.

Byron Castillo, who was born in Colombia, played eight games for Ecuador during the qualifying phase. The Appeal Committee “deemed that on the basis of the documents presented, the player was to be considered as holding permanent Ecuadorian nationality” and was eligible.

Chile, which would advance to the World Cup if Ecuador were to have its results nullified, plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The tournament begins on 20 November.

“All Russian teams are currently suspended following the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee of 28 February 2022, which was further confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 15 July 2022. Russia is therefore not included in the UEFA European Football Championship 2022-24 qualifying draw.”

UEFA’s Tuesday announcement confirmed Russia’s non-participation in the Euro 2024 qualifying program, but Belarus is included in the teams to be drawn into qualifying pools on 9 October in Frankfurt (GER).

● Modern Pentathlon ● The PentUnited athletes group was at it again over the weekend, needling the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) and its insistence that the IOC has required the federation to remove riding from the sport. Noting the attendance of IOC chief Bach at the FEI World Eventing Championships in Italy:

“Seems IOC President Thomas Bach doesn’t have a problem with horse sport #savepentathlon #keepridingandchangetherules”

and

“‘I’m very impressed by the many measures the FEI has taken to safeguard the well-being and the health of the horses, and I am pleased with everything the International Federation is doing to ensure the future of the sport.’ Bach”

The athletes group has continually asked for documentation of the UIPM’s view that the IOC instructed the federation to replace riding with a new discipline in the aftermath of the horse-punching incident at Tokyo 2020 involving the coach of German pentathlete Annika Schleu, whose horse – Saint Boy – refused to jump, eliminating Schleu from medal contention.

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LANE ONE: Noah Lyles set to pass Usain Bolt in 2023, but in how many ways?

By
Rich Perelman
-
American Noah Lyles silenced all doubters with a brilliant 19.31 victory in the men's 200 m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletics)

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

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No one had a 200 m season like Noah Lyles had in 2022. No one, not even Usain Bolt.

Lyles ran twelve 200 m races this season, in seven meets, winning them all and finishing all 12 under 20 seconds, one short of the single-season best of 13 by fellow American Kenny Bednarek in 2021.

Lyles won the U.S. Nationals in 19.67 and the World Athletics Championship in an American Record of 19.31, moving him to no. 3 on the all-time performers list, behind Jamaicans Bolt (19.19 in 2009) and Yohan Blake (19.26 in 2011).

And he vanquished his teenage challenger, Erriyon Knighton, five times to none during the season, winning at the U.S. Nationals (Knighton second), the World Champs (Knighton third) and the Diamond League final (Knighton fourth).

Lyles was ecstatic after winning the Diamond League final in Zurich (SUI) in 19.52, the equal-12th-fastest race ever and taking his first Diamond League Trophy:

“I do not like uneven numbers so I think I have to come back to get another [Diamond] Trophy. To be honest, it was a great race … all year it was all about running faster and faster. It is everything.

“The one thing is the win and the next is that everybody knows that the moment has just happened. Breaking the meet records and beating the fastest in the world, that is all about it. It just takes another year to run even faster. I already have so many plans. It has been an amazing season. It has been my best season ever. And that is exactly what I was set to do this year. No pressure, just have got to enjoy it and let it happen.”

So, now what?

Lyles clearly has Bolt’s epic 2009 world mark of 19.19 in his sights. But he will also pass Bolt in some other categories assuming a healthy season in 2023:

● Bolt has the most sub-20 times (all conditions) in history with 34, achieved between 2004-16 – ages 18-30 – but never more than six in a single season. Lyles has 33 at age 25 and, of course, he lost most of 2020 due to the pandemic. He should pass Bolt by the U.S. Nationals next year in this category.

American great Michael Johnson, way ahead of his time, ran sub-20 a sensational 23 times between 1990-2000.

● In the rarefied air of the top times in history, Bolt ran sub-19.6 an amazing nine times. But Lyles has six sub-19.6 clockings and four of those came in 2022, the most ever. Bolt had three in his super year of 2009. Another season like 2022 and Lyles will lead in this category as well.

In fact, there are only eight performers in history who have run wind-legal times of under 19.60:

● 19.19 best: Usain Bolt (JAM: 9 under 19.60)
● 19.26 best: Yohan Blake (JAM: 3)
● 19.31 best: Noah Lyles (USA: 6)
● 19.32 best: Michael Johnson (USA: 1)
● 19.49 best: Erriyon Knighton (USA: 1)
● 19.53 best: Walter Dix (USA: 1)
● 19.57 best: Justin Gatlin (USA: 1)
● 19.58 best: Tyson Gay (USA: 1)

Of the 23 sub-19.60 marks, Bolt and Lyles have 15 of them, or 65%!

● One of the favorite statistician’s measurements is the average of an athlete’s top-10 marks. Bolt leads Lyles in the 200 m match-up, 19.469 to 19.540. But Lyles is gaining quickly.

Bolt got the jump on Lyles, emerging as a sub-20 star at age 18, running a World Junior Record of 19.93 in 2004; his most productive year was 2008 with six sub-20s. Lyles ran his first sub-20 at age 20, then got five sub-20s in 2018, seven in 2019, six in 2021 and 12 this season. He’s still just 25. Bolt competed through age 31, in 2017.

Beyond the world record, what about titles? Well, Bolt has a big lead there, winning three Olympic 200 m golds in 2008-12-16 and four World titles in 2009-11-13-15. Lyles did not win in Tokyo (bronze), but his prospects for Paris are bright and he’ll be 31 by the time of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. He is on the road to challenge Bolt on Worlds golds, as he already owns titles from 2019 and 2022, with 2023 coming up fast.

The difference could also be in interest. Bolt never ran very much, especially after 2013, with one meet in 2014 (age 28), seven in 2015 (29), six meets in 2016 (30) and five in 2017 (31). Lyles ran in 11 meets in 2021 (at 24) and 15 meets – indoors and out – in 2022 (at 25). He seems to like to run, and to win.

Another factor in Lyles’ favor for the future is competition. Bolt won his four World titles in the 200 m by wide margins for a sprint – 0.62, 0.30, 0.13 and 0.19 seconds – and 0.66, 0.12 and 0.24 in his three Olympic wins.

Lyles, however, is dealing with strong sprinting at home as well as the rest of the world:

● Kenny Bednarek (23): 19.68 best, 20 career sub-20s
● Erriyon Knighton (18): 19.49 best, 10 career sub-20s already!
● Fred Kerley (27): 19.76 best, 8 career sub-20s

A total of 18 men ran under 20 seconds in 2022, including Cuban Reynier Mena (19.63), American 400 m star Michael Norman (19.76) and 19.80 for Trinidad & Tobago’s Jereem Richards. That kind of speed will push Lyles to be better, because he will have to be.

But in 2022, Lyles was much faster than all of them, at 19.31, and looking ahead to chasing Bolt on the clock. Lyles is accessible, funny, chatty and may have the fastest top-end speed in the world, as he showed when he ran down Knighton in the final 5 m at the U.S. Nationals to win by 0.02:

“I do what it takes to win, and Erriyon got the best of me on the turn. I ain’t worried about that. I saw him reach his top speed , and mine’s faster. So I’m going to catch him and it’s going to take the whole rest of the 100. And that’s what I did.”

Lyles is a star. But one of the endearing qualities of track & field is that everyone is even at the start. Lyles has a chance to be the best ever in the half-lap, but he has no time to waste. Knighton said so after Lyles’ win at the U.S. Nationals:

“The job’s not finished. It’s never finished.”

Absolutely right.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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TSX REPORT: IOC’s Bach at center of “Russian re-entry” thoughts; no Russia reply on Griner deal; U.S. wrestlers take men’s team title, four golds!

By
Rich Perelman
-
He did it again: a sixth World Championships gold for American wrestling icon Jordan Burroughs! (Photo: Lima 2019)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. IOC mention of Russian re-entry came from Athletes’ Commission call
2. Russia has not responded to U.S. deal on Griner, Whelan release
3. Int’l Biathlon Union empowers Exec Board with exceptional powers
4. U.S. men win UWW World Freestyle title, with eight finalists!
5. Rowdy Gaines says Dressel may be on six-month hiatus

Last week’s headline that the International Olympic Committee is beginning to think about a return of Russia and Belarus to international competition appears to have come from remarks by IOC chief Thomas Bach during an Athletes Commission call on the 14th. But nothing is going to happen soon. The Russian government has not replied to a serious U.S. offer for the return of imprisoned Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whalen. The International Biathlon Union approved emergency powers for its Executive Board to deal with situations like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; Russian responses went from concern to a fantasy that the world wants them back. The U.S. men’s Freestyle team dominated the UWW World Championships, with eight finalists in 10 classes, world titles for Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake, David Taylor and Kyle Snyder and won the team title for the first time in five years. NBC’s swimming analyst (and Olympic gold medalist) Rowdy Gaines said U.S. sprint star Caeleb Dressel is taking time off, but feels better and will be fine.

1.
IOC mention of Russian re-entry came from
Athletes’ Commission call

More information is coming out about be the likely genesis of the surprise comment by U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Chair Susanne Lyons during last Thursday’s news conference, that the International Olympic Committee is “beginning to think about whether there is a pathway back for the Russian athletes.”

According to a TASS report quoting two-time Olympic gold medalist in Team Sabre, Sofya Velikaya, head of the Athletes Commission of the Russian Olympic Committee, the comment can be traced right back to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER). Velikaya told TASS:

“Yesterday [14th], the IOC organized a conference call, where there were athletes from all over the world.

“I had the opportunity, on behalf of our commission, to voice all our problems personally to Thomas Bach. About discrimination, about violation of rights, violation of the Olympic Charter. That everything that is happening now violates the rights of athletes and can lead to more serious consequences.

“Today our countries are suffering, tomorrow they will be different, and in the future there may simply be no Olympic Movement. Bach voiced all this in his speech. He replied that this was a dilemma for them, and the decision they made was hard for them to accept. In the future, they will think about how to deal with this dilemma.”

That’s exactly how Lyons characterized the situation a day later with U.S. reporters.

On Friday (16th), Bach said during opening remarks at the International Biathlon Union Ordinary Congress that there is no current plan for any changes in status:

“We must acknowledge that the time has not yet come to repeal these recommendations, but we hope that we are all united that the day will soon come when we can again follow our mission. Our role is to be an example that confronts conflict and division of people, and not reinforce them. We must be together to achieve our common mission.”

In Moscow last Thursday (15th), Dmitry Svishchev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, told TASS:

“Bach said two weeks ago that he recommends not inviting Russian athletes to international competitions. Now he says that the IOC is working on how to return Russian and Belarusian athletes in this direction. It will be incredibly difficult to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to the world stage in the near future.

“We need to continue to develop sports within the country, look for new directions and support our athletes and coaches.”

And Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov told the ROC Athletes Commission, also on Thursday (15th):

“Almost seven months have passed since sanctions were imposed on Russian and Belarusian sports. Although some foreign colleagues are trying to present this situation as a defense of the Olympic Movement, we do not agree with such an assessment. These are really sanctions. Any restrictions, prohibitions, any violation of freedom and the opportunity to compete in a fair fight are clear sanctions.

“We faced a problem that suddenly fell on us, because all the time that I was in the Olympic Movement, the main postulate was ‘faster, higher, stronger.’ Our motto demonstrated that athletes should defend the title of the strongest in wrestling, and we lived with this axiom, dogma until the end of February of this year. Now we see that the whole world is undergoing global changes, including the Olympic Movement. The IOC did not pass this test, the intervention of political forces, the collective West, made a similar split in all Olympic Movement.

“The Olympic Movement is very heterogeneous, but most of the National Olympic Committees, oddly enough, adhere to the postulate of distance from political influences. Another thing is that most of the [Olympic] political elite is occupied by representatives of those countries that impose sanctions against Russia at the state level. And this has spread to our athletes.”

Translation: nothing is going to happen soon, and the results on the battlefields in Ukraine will have the biggest influence on the future of Russian and Belarusian athletes.

2.
Russia has not responded to U.S. deal on Griner, Whelan release

“They have not responded to our offer. We have made a serious offer to get Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan back home. The Russians have not responded to that offer. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not still in negotiations and we’re not still trying.”

That’s National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby from a White House briefing on Friday (16th) on the continuing efforts to bring home detained Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, both imprisoned in Russia.

Asked why the Russians have not replied, Kirby explained that it’s not for a lack of trying on the U.S. side:

“I mean, man, if we had the answer to that question, we might already have a deal. I think that’s a better question put to our Russian colleagues. We made a serious offer. We want them to accept it. Frankly, these two individuals ought to be home anyway, period.

“But we understand that it’s probably going to have to be the result of a negotiating process, one that we’re willing to participate in honestly and fully. And we’ve been doing that. And we await them to take the offer that’s on the table. …

“We want these two individuals home, back where they belong with their families. They should be there already.”

3.
Int’l Biathlon Union empowers Exec Board with
exceptional powers

At its 15th Ordinary Congress in Salzburg (AUT), the International Biathlon Union membership approved the proposal to give its Executive Board more power to deal with situations like the Russian invasion:

“The Congress approved a number of motions, most notably the enhancement of the powers of the Executive Board to impose exceptional protective measures aimed at preserving the safe, peaceful and regular conduct of the IBU’s activities in the case of events or circumstances of an exceptional nature which are outside of the IBU’s control.”

The suspensions of the Russian and Belarusian federations were extended by a 40-1 vote, as well as the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in IBU events, by 39-2. When can they be lifted?

“The Executive Board had made it clear earlier in the year that the membership suspensions will be maintained until both national federations demonstrate their full commitment to support and promote the purposes and principles of the IBU, for example clearly distancing themselves from the war in Ukraine and ensuring that none of their officials or athletes are actively involved in the Russian military or take any part in the war effort.”

The head of the Russian Biathlon Union, Viktor Maigurov, asked the IBU Congress in an address:

“Could you indicate what conditions or criteria for restoration are set for the [Russian federation]? What will happen if the conflict lasts for several years, as it happens between Israel and Muslim neighbors or between the DPRK and South Korea? This does not prevent the athletes of these countries from participating in international competitions.

“Suspension can last for several years, and we have no control over it, but the consequences can be serious. Do you think this is fair?

“If you want to harm Russian biathlon, then this is your right, but many athletes and coaches can end their careers. You can also make our young athletes think about changing sports citizenship, thousands of Russian children can leave biathlon, preferring other sports – tennis, hockey or judo. World biathlon will survive without Russian athletes, but I’m not sure if this will help the sport, nor do I think it will help Ukrainian athletes. It’s your responsibility: we must build walls or bridges, make the right choice.”

Two-time Soviet Olympic relay gold medalist (1984-88) Dmitry Vasilyev had a more imaginative look at the future, reported by the TASS news agency:

“There is no murder of the Russian biathlon, no one doubted that the decision would be like that, in any case, I had no doubts. Because the engagement is 100% visible, that is, all of Europe and the Western world are imprisoned for to contain Russia in all industries and areas, including in sports. And biathlon is a popular enough sport to hit harder and more painfully, such a decision was made.

“As for the athletes, they will not lose, and even, perhaps, will benefit from this, because now the Russian Biathlon Union has established significant awards. Now the athletes are performing and earning money in competitions, then, when the sanctions against Russia are lifted, they will still think, it’s worth whether they should go to the World Cup stages or continue to stay in Russia to earn prize money. Therefore, I think that everything will be fine with them.”

Vasilyev also said this:

“All these are links of one chain, everything will be returned exactly when everything is over, when the population of Western countries will force their governments to negotiate with Russia.

“I think that this period will not last long, for them it will be a huge shock. And then it will be necessary to dictate our own terms, it will be impossible to agree on other terms. When the initiative is on our side, we will need to use it to the fullest.”

The IBU re-elected Swede Olle Dahlin, who ran unopposed, as President, and elected Jiri Hamza (CZE) as Vice President. American Max Cobb will begin his work as IBU Secretary General in October.

4.
U.S. men win UWW World Freestyle title, with eight finalists!

A spectacular showing by the U.S. men’s Freestyle team included eight finalists and four world titles at the UWW World Championships in Belgrade (SRB) and brought the American men their first team title since 2017. The World Champions:

● Jordan Burroughs (79 kg) won a sensational sixth world title, defeating Iran’s Mohammad Nokhodi, 4-2, in the final. It was his only close match, as Burroughs won his other bouts by 12-1, 12-1, 10-0 and 9-2. He’s now won nine Worlds medals (6-0-3) between 2011-22 and world titles in 2011-13-15-17-21-22. At 34, any doubt that he’s on the road to Paris?

● Kyle Dake (74 kg) overcame Iranian Younes Emami, 2-2, on criteria, in the semis and then Tajmuraz Salkazanov (SVK), 3-1, in the final. Dake won the Tokyo Olympic bronze and now owns four Worlds golds in 2018-19-20-22.

● David Taylor (86 kg), the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, won a brilliant final over Iran’s Hassan Yazdani, the 2016 Olympic champ at 74 kg and a three-time World Champion at 86 kg in 2017-19-21. Taylor won his preliminary bouts by 10-0, 11-0 and 12-0 before facing Yazdani and dominated with a 7-1 victory. It’s Taylor’s second Worlds title, after 2018.

● Kyle Snyder (97 kg), the 2016 Olympic winner and 2020 silver medalist, won his third Worlds gold with a 6-0 shutout of Batyrbek Tsakulov (SVK) in the final. Using his direct, methodical style, Snyder won his early bouts by 4-1 and 10-0, then overpowered Iran’s Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian by 4-1. That’s medals in six straight Worlds for Snyder (2015-22: 3-2-1) and he adds to his prior Worlds golds from 2015 and 2017.

The U.S. took silvers at 57 kg (Thomas Gilman), 65 kg (Yianni Diakomihalis), 70 kg (Zain Retherford) and 92 kg (J’Den Cox). Gilman lost to Albanian Zelimkhan Abakarov by 7-2; Diakomihalis lost a 13-8 brawl to Iran’s Rahman Amouzad; Retherford was overwhelmed by Japan’s Taishi Narikuni, 10-0, and Cox lost a taut match with Iran’s Kamran Ghasempour, 2-0, to defend his 2021 world title.

Narikuni’s mother, Akiko Iijima, won the women’s world title at 65 kg in 1990 and 1991.

There were only two classes without American finalists. At 61 kg, Rei Higuchi (JPN) stomped on Iran’s Reza Atri, 10-0. At 125 kg, Turkey’s Taha Akgul, the Tokyo Olympic champ, won his third World Championships gold, in 2014 and 2015 and now 2022. He defeated Monkhtoriin Lkhagvagerel (MGL), 6-2, in the final.

The U.S. finished with 198 points to 150 for Iran to win its fourth men’s Freestyle team title, also in 1993, 1995 and 2017. Russia had won the last three Worlds men’s team titles and 18 of the last 23.

The Americans also topped the overall medal table with 15 total (7-6-2), with Japan at 13 (7-1-5) and Iran with 10 (2-5-3). It’s the first the U.S. had won the most medals at a Worlds by itself this century; it tied for the most in 2017 and 2003.

5.
Rowdy Gaines says Dressel may be on six-month hiatus

Triple Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines said on the debut of NBC’s “Chasing Gold: Paris 2024″ show that American sprint star Caeleb Dressel is probably taking a six-month time-out on his career.

“Our pinnacle of success is the Olympic Games, and it’s every four years, so there’s so much pressure. … Can you imagine a Super Bowl being once every four years?

“When that was all done, it was hard for him to kind of get back in the groove, and he just didn’t really enjoy swimming very much. When I talked to him in the fall, I said, ‘Dude, take some time off. Take six months.’ And when I talked to him a couple days ago, he said, ‘You know, I didn’t really do that, but now, I’m in the best place I’ve ever been.’ Those were his words: ‘I’m in the best place I’ve ever been.’ So when you’re looking ahead for Caeleb Dressel, I think he’s going to be just fine, both in and out of the water. …

“So if Caeleb ends up taking six months off, which I believe he will, it’s going to take him about three months [to get ready]. No problem, we still have a long way to go to be prepared, and I think he’ll be ready both mentally and physically, when we get to those Olympic Games.”

After his five golds at the Tokyo Games in 2021, Dressel won golds in the 50 m Fly and on the men’s 4×100 m Freestyle relay at the 2022 FINA Worlds in Budapest (HUN), then left the meet after the heats of the men’s 100 m Free for “medical reasons.”

Time is certainly on his side for 2023, let alone 2024. The U.S. will select its 2023 FINA World Championships team at another “International Team Trials” from 27 June-1 July 2023 in Indianapolis; the Worlds are scheduled for Fukuoka, Japan from 2-11 August.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Cycling ● The 89th UCI World Road Championships are underway in Wollongong (AUS), with the men’s and women’s time trial completed on Sunday.

The 34.2 km women’s race, on a flat course, was won by Dutch star – and defending champion – Ellen van Dijk in 44:29, ahead of home favorite Grace Brown (AUS: +0:12) and 41 seconds better than bronze medalist Marlen Reusser (SUI). Americans Leah Thomas (+1:18) and Kristen Faulkner (+1:25) finished 5-6.

It’s van Dijk’s third title in this race, also in 2013. Dutch riders have now won three in a row and five of the last six.

The men’s race was held on the same course, with 2020-21 champ Filippo Ganna (ITA) looking for a third win in a row. But Norway’s Tobias Foss completed the circuit in 40:02 and no one could match him. Swiss Stefan Kung was second (+0:03) and Vuelta a Espana winner Remco Evenepoel (BEL) finished third, just nine seconds behind. Ganna rode well, but finished in seventh place, 56 seconds back of the winner.

● Equestrian ● The World Eventing Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro (ITA) saw Britain win the individual title for the third time in the last five editions, but with a new face atop the podium.

Yasmin Ingham, 25, was riding individually in the Worlds for the first time and came away victorious on Banzai du Loir, jumping without faults and ending with 23.2 points. Germany’s Tokyo Olympic champ Julia Krajewski was a close second at 26.0, moving from fifth to silver with a clean jumping run. New Zealand’s Tim Price was third (26.2). The U.S. top finishers included William Coleman in seventh (27.2), Tamra Smith in ninth (32.0) and Ariel Grald in 11th (32.5).

Germany won the team title for the third time in the last five Worlds, scoring 95.2 points and winning €41,500! The U.S. finished second for its first medal since its 2002 victory, with Coleman, Smith, Lauren Nicholson and Boyd Martin totaling 100.3 points and winning €30,000. The top seven teams qualified for Paris 2024 and included New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland.

● Gymnastics ● Italy’s Sofia Raffaeli won the individual All-Around at the FIG Rhythmic World Championships to finish with four golds in five events, and a bronze in Clubs to dominate the event.

Raffaeli, 18, was the leading qualifier for the All-Around and won the final with 133.250 points, just ahead of Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev (132.450) and decisively over Stiliana Nikolova of Bulgaria (128.800). The U.S. entries, Evita Griskenas and Lili Mizuno, finished 10th and 12th with 119.950 and 117.850 points.

Raffeli’s win broke a stream of 10 straight All-Around titles for Russian athletes, and 13 of the prior 15.

Bulgaria won the Group All-Around (66.60), ahead of Israel (64.650) and Spain (63.200), all qualifying for Paris 2024. The U.S. was 15th (53.900).

Italy (34.950), Israel (34.050) and Spain (33.800) won the medals in the 5 Hoops team event. Bulgaria (33.300), Italy (31.450) and Azerbaijan (30.750) took the medals in the 3 Ribbons + 2 Balls final.

● Underway ● The World Rowing Championships and World Surf Games are ongoing and will continue this week.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2022: Beijing ● The Director General of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, Veronika Loginova, told the Russian news agency TASS about the timing of the forthcoming hearing on the long-delayed Kamila Valieva doping case:

“Yesterday we completed the investigation,” Loginova said on Thursday (15th). “Now there will be a procedure for processing the results in accordance with international norms and requirements. We cannot give an exact date. Either the end of September or the beginning of October.”

● Athletics ● The venerable Decastar meet in Talence (FRA) marked the end of the season for decathletes and heptathletes and was a showcase for Grenada’s Commonwealth Games champ, Lindon Victor.

He won the shot, discus and the javelin on the way to a lifetime best of 8,550 points, moving him to no. 7 on the 2022 year list. Manuel Eitel (GER) was second, also with a lifetime best of 8,193), and Estonia’s Risto Lillemets at 8,149, just seven points his personal record. The top U.S. finisher was Steve Bastien, fifth with 8,005.

The women’s hep ended in a rare tie, with Tokyo bronze winner Emma Oosterwegel (NED) and Ivona Dadic (AUT) both scoring 6,233 points. Biana Salming (SWE) ended up third (6,028) with American Ashtin Zamzow-Mahler fourth (5,889).

At the USA Track & Field national 10 km road championships, held on Saturday in Northport, New York, Abbabiya Simbassa and Stephanie Bruce used late charges to win their divisions.

Simbassa broke away from defending champion Sam Chelenga in the final quarter of the race, opening a 20-second gap and cruising home in 28:12 for his first national 10 km title. Chelanga was passed for second by 2017 USATF 10 km champ Leonard Korir, 28:34 to 28:35.

Bruce, 38, pulled away during the final 1.5 km to win, adding to her 2018 USATF 10 km title with a win in 31:52. Nell Rojas emerged over the final 800 m to take second (31:56), just ahead of Annie Frisbie (31:58).

● Triathlon ● The Professional Triathletes Organization (PTO) is trying to take the sport to a higher plane, adding high-profile races to the existing World Triathlon Series and the Ironman calendar.

Sunday’s U.S. Open was held in Irving, Texas on a total course of 100 km, with a 2 km swim in Lake Carolyn, 80 km on the bike and a three-lap, 18 km run (vs. the Olympic distance of 1.5 km, 40 km and 10 km).

With temperatures in the 90s (F), Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle, the 2017 Worlds Champs silver winner, completed her sweep of the 2022 PTO 100 km events with a come-from-behind win in the final 2km in 3:37:17. Only in eighth place at the start of the run, she took the lead American Taylor Knibb and won with a run phase that was more than four minutes faster than anyone else. Knibb finished in 3:38:32 and Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) was third in 3:40:31.

American Collin Chartier moved up steadily, from ninth out of the water to sixth at the end of the bike phase and won the men’s race in 3:17:16 with the second-fastest run split of the field: 1:00:03!

He was a decisive winner, with Dane Magnus Elbaek Ditlev second (3:17:58) and fellow American Sam Long third (3:18:18), who was the leader at the start of the run.

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TSX REPORT: USOPC says Russian return being discussed; IOC CoComm “very, very happy” with LA28 progress; Mensah-Stock, Elor take wrestling golds

By
Rich Perelman
-
Los Angeles 2028 Coordination Commission Chair Nicole Hoevertsz (ARU) during Thursday's news conference on the LA28 Games. (Photo: video feed screenshot)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. USOPC Chair Lyons says “IOC beginning to think” about Russian return
2. Lyons on Salt Lake City: prefer 2034, ready for 2030
3. Hirshland: “we haven’t forgotten” 2022 Team figure skaters
4. IOC “very, very happy” with LA28 progress to date
5. Wasserman confident on sponsor revenue program for 2028

Back-to-back news conferences on Thursday by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles brought word that a return plan for Russian athletes is being considered, and that the preparations for the LA28 Games is going well. USOPC Chair Susanne Lyons confirmed the “preference” for Salt Lake City to be awarded the 2034 Olympic Winter Games, but that 2030 could work as well. LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman said the organizing committee is in a “strong position” with its revenue program and underscored the readiness of the already-built venues to host the 2028 Games. American wrestlers Tamyra Mensah-Stock and Amit Elor won golds at the UWW World Championships in Belgrade and 2016 Rio Olympic champ Helen Maroulis won silver as the American women finished second to Japan in the team standings.

1.
USOPC Chair Lyons says “IOC beginning to think”
about Russian return

“[T]his Olympic Movement is really built on the notion that athletes from around the world should be able to come together in peace and be able to compete with respect, equality and friendship. And we very much espouse that. That’s really the foundational reason why we have all of these athletes doing what they do.

“So, we know that the IOC is beginning to think about whether there is a pathway back for the Russian athletes. They are beginning to reach out to all of their stakeholders, including the NOCs, the International Federations to get input on that topic. So I don’t think any decisions have been made yet, but I think all of us feel that at some point in time, the individual athletes should not be the victims of whatever their individual governments [do, regardless of] political or other tensions are around the world.

“So, I think, inevitably, there will be a desire to see athletes who happen to reside in Russia, come back and be part of competitions, but what the timing is and what the pathway looks like is to be determined.”

That’s United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Chair Susanne Lyons, speaking to reporters during a Thursday news conference following the USOPC Board meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the first inkling that some movement toward Russian athlete re-admission to international competition is being discussed.

The International Olympic Committee asked all International Federations not to allow Russian or Belarusian athletes to compete in international events soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. But it has taken pains to emphasize that this was a “protective measure” to guarantee the safety of the competitors and integrity of the competitions and not a direct sanction against the Russian sports infrastructure. For example, the Russian Olympic Committee has not been suspended.

Asked about how Russian athlete reinstatement can be considered when American basketball star Brittney Griner is being imprisoned in Russia for “drug smuggling.” USOPC chief executive Sarah Hirshland explained:

“I think that while there may be a natural, sort of conflation of those issues, the reality is the conversation around Russian athletes is around how you actually separate, and try to avoid punishing Russian athletes for the decisions of the government. And I think that’s the motivation of conversation.

“But, it’s not lost on anyone in the United States that she’s there and it’s really very top-of-mind for all of us. So it’s hard not to conflate the issues and it’s hard not to bring them together, even though I think from a policy perspective, I’m not sure they are directly related.”

2.
Lyons on Salt Lake City: prefer 2034, ready for 2030

The question of the status of the Salt Lake City bid for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games and the recent postponement of the 2023 IOC Session in Mumbai (IND) was also raised, with Lyons largely reiterating prior comments:

“Our bid for Salt Lake City has looked at the possibility of either 2030 or 2034. That really hasn’t changed. As you know, there are some additional challenges with 2030 due to the proximity of the dates with L.A. [2028]. But as we have very clearly communicated to the IOC, if they need us in 2030, we will find a way to make that happen. So we’re very committed to whichever year that suits all the interested parties, including the global, overall Olympic Movement as a whole, and Paralympic Movement.

“So, does the moving of the [IOC Session] date really change much? it doesn’t change much for us, because I think our level of readiness is such that, if those conversations happen tomorrow vs. they happen six months from now, we’re pretty much in the same state of readiness that we need to be. It does give some of the other cities that are considering bids a little more time, I guess, to work through what they need to do.

“So we don’t really know what the impact will be. And, again, the delay for this meeting in Mumbai [India] has very little to do with the decision about bid cities. It has much more to do with some situations going on with the National Olympic Committee [of India].”

Asked about the USOPC’s stance on 2030 vs. 2034, she restated the current view:

“Because of the sponsorship and other commercial activities, it’s more complicated to try to do those two Games close together. And so we have stated a preference for 2034, but also stated that we believe that we have readiness to do 2030, if that was asked of us.

“I don’t think that has changed. I think our preference still would be to put a little bit more light in between those two Games, but again it remains to be seen how those awards will go.

“As you know, Salt Lake City is poised and ready, with their toes on the starting line, just waiting for someone to put off the gun.”

The other contenders are Sapporo in Japan and Vancounver (CAN), both prior hosts of successful Winter Games.

3.
Hirshland: “we haven’t forgotten” 2022 Team figure skaters

Hirshland was asked about the USOPC view of the announcement that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had completed its inquiry into the doping positive of skater Kamila Valieva that has been holding up the awarding of the Team Event medals since February:

“I’d love to tell you that I’m less maddened or less frustrated, but you know better.

“It continues to be an outrageous situation. We knew, going in, that there was a guideline in the WADA Code that sort of allowed for this six-month time frame. …

“Our number one priority is to make sure that our Team USA athletes, who are sitting without their medals, know that we haven’t forgotten them. And so I do touch base with them from time to time, and say, ‘I wish I had more information, but I don’t want you to know we haven’t forgotten,’ and we are continuing to push and continuing to ensure that both WADA and the IOC share our focus and that we keep this top-of-mind for everybody so that we’re doing everything we can to push the process, to try to come to a resolution, and, ultimately, to ensure that these athletes do get as much a moment in the sun as we can possibly create for them, given the circumstances.

“At this point, that’s where we are. We’re going to continue to do that. We’re going to send the message that none of us have forgotten that this is very much out there and unresolved and they deserve our love and attention and they deserve a celebration of their achievement. And we are continuing to endure that the process is happening against the guidelines and standards for the process.

“The bad news is, there can be hearings, and then, of course, there can be appeals, so as I said to you before, I fear this is going to linger for quite some time.”

4.
IOC “very, very happy” with LA28 progress to date

The third IOC Coordination Commission meeting for the Los Angeles 2028 Games concluded with a 40-minute news conference on Thursday, with Chair Nicole Hoevertsz – who competed at the Los Angeles 1984 Games as an artistic swimmer for Aruba – declaring:

“L.A. is an amazing place. The Games are going to be amazing, and the venues are amazing. So, in general, we are very, very happy, about this CoComm [meeting].

“The venues that are going to be used are actually a mix – and that’s so beautiful – of the historic venues that were used in 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games, and of course, we have world-class, modern venues that were built since the Games took place in 1984, so we have this beautiful mix of the old and the new, and the CoComm was actually very excited to be visiting the venues.

“We also saw a lot of beautiful projects with kids, that is one of the things that I want to talk about. The PlayLA program is actually fantastic, $160 million that the IOC and [LA28] are investing in these youth sports programs, and we saw them first-hand. …

“We saw a number of sports and we saw how the [2028] Games are already creating a legacy way ahead of the Games. That was so beautiful to see. When we talk about legacy, people always think about, ‘well, that happens after the Games are over.’ But that’s not true. We could see here, in the City of L.A. how a youth program – PlayLA – is already creating legacy now, today, for these kids.”

Hoevertsz didn’t stop there, commending the still-small LA28 organizing committee, now with about 130 people on staff, led by Chair Casey Wasserman:

“We saw great energy on the organizing committee. I cannot stop to congratulate you on the wonderful team you have assembled, that you are assembling. The best in the world, I would say, is really working on the L.A. Olympic Games. Wonderful people, young people, a lot of athletes and that’s wonderful, a lot of Olympians and Paralympians. We like that, that natural mix and we find it very important as you all know. The city of L.A. and the USA is going to be hosting, for the first time, the Paralympic Games and for us, that’s very important as well. …

“The Commission members were very pleased, were very impressed, impressed with the progress, impressed with the optimism that is really so clear to sense, to feel from the organizing committee. So we are very happy with what we saw these days and looking forward with great optimism.”

Said Wasserman:

“We are on track to host an incredible Olympic and Paralympic Games. …

“In short, the Olympics and the Paralympics are the biggest events on earth, and we think the City of Los Angeles is the perfect partner to host those Games.

“As we have said from the very beginning, our model is very different. We’re fortunate to have incredible venues, incredible facilities all over the city, and as such, we’re going to host a Games using those facilities for about 45 days in the summer of 2028 and turn them back over to their owners and their operators so they can return to their existing use.

“L.A. Live, SoFi Stadium, the Coliseum, Banc of California [Stadium], Dignity Health [Sports Center], USC and UCLA were visited by the Coordination Commission, and I think the ability to see those venues up close, in person, understand the level at which they operate, the competitiveness of the marketplace which requires them to be excellent, the passion and the commitment of their operators and their owners to not just the Olympics, but to every day make sure that they are the best venues on earth, really prove the point that we are Games-ready, our venues are ready, and the Games are going to be well taken care of, from the athletes on up when they arrive in 2028.

“We have no permanent new construction. Obviously, there will be some temporary venues, but we are ready to host the Games. Our venues are more than capable. L.A. is in the events business. We are one of the tourism capitals of the world. We host big events all the time. … that’s what we do here and that’s why we are proceeding with such great excitement and confidence. …

“Truthfully, the secret of our Games plan is USC and UCLA. There is no city on earth that has two universities at [their] scale, with athletic programs and student bodies of the size they are, that are in the city center, 10 miles from each other. And that truly is, the heart of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. … We are well positioned for an exceptional event, and we’re excited for 2028.”

Asked about the continuing process of finalizing sports and venues, Wasserman noted the remarkable flexibility afforded LA28 by the availability of facilities:

“Not every city has a venue like Intuit Dome being built [in Inglewood] that didn’t exist when we bid, and so our goal is to be responsible and adaptive to a city that’s ever changing, and that includes venues. So, obviously, one of the considerations for sports is where are they going to be and how are they going to fit into the venues that we have, and that’s obviously a part of our plan.”

One venue which has changed is for canoeing and rowing, moved from Lake Perris to the Long Beach Marine Stadium, albeit with a shorter-than-normal course for rowing of 1,500 m (vs. 2,000 m). The IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi (SUI) noted the process of approval is ongoing, but the athlete impact was especially important to remember:

“What we’re heard from the president of the rowing federation, they are very happy to move to a shorter course. We have to go through the motions and the process for the validation of the venue itself going through the Coordination Commission, formally, the Executive Board.

“But what we’ve heard out of the rowing community is that for the benefit of being in the center of the Games, downtown south, we can change the length of the course. And guess what, this is a formidable opportunity and very good news indeed.”

5.
Wasserman confident on sponsor revenue program for 2028

Wasserman was specifically asked about the LA28 revenue production program, especially in light of the budget pressures on the Paris 2024 and Milan Cortina 2026 organizing committees from modest domestic sponsor funding and the impact of inflation. He was confident:

“We’re an organizing committee, but we’re a commercial organization, and we have our finger very clearly focused on revenue generation, and I can assure that our job is to align those expenses with the revenue, we think and we’re going to generate, and already have generated. And the IOC has been great partners in understanding that we’re going to have to be adaptable if the world changes.

“The one thing we can’t predict is the world we’re going to be in. The one thing we can control is how we operate and we’re very focused on that and we think that puts us in a very strong position.”

Asked for specifics on the domestic sponsorship sales so far, Wasserman noted:

“Obviously, we’ve got several significant deals already signed, with Delta – who was our first partner – and they’ve been incredible, and Salesforce and Comcast, sort-of second-tier deals with Nike and Ralph Lauren and Deloitte, Hershey and others. Obviously, just announced, our big deal with Fanatics, our significant deal with On Location, who has been a great partner not just to us, but to Paris and Milan and the three Games together as a first-time, sort of global hospitality solution, which is significant. Obviously, our deal with NBCUniversal adds a great underpinning to our success.

“And so, we sit in a very strong position. Obviously, the world is the one we operate in; sports continues to be the shining light. Sports is predictable and unique, in a world where very little else is, and the Olympic Games will command the world for 17 days and our job is to tell that story to brands and understand that the biggest event, the most inclusive and powerful event on earth is one of the most important cities in the world to speak from is an incredible opportunity to partner in.

“And we’ve had great success, and would say, stay tuned, we’ve got announcements coming in the fourth quarter of more partnerships. Obviously, the good thing is there’s lot of sports sponsorships being done and being handled; it’s not that we’re the only one in the marketplace, and the appetite for the Games coming back to this country is very strong.”

Hoevertsz was even more positive about future prospects:

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the United States of America and in particular, California and in particular, the city of L.A. is a unique market. We are very, very aware of that and we are very pleased by everything that has happening as outlined by Casey just now. …

“Each city has different goals, has different aspirations. The aspirations of the city of L.A. are unique because they are privately funded, completely. I mean there is not one other city that I think that could do that. And that’s what we’re benefitting from. It’s something that we are very proud of, and we want, therefore, the Games of 2028, to be so strong for the athletes because we think that as the Games were unique from 1984, they will again be unique for 2028.”

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Gymnastics ● Italy’s 18-year-old Sofia Raffaeli continued her march through the FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Sofia (BUL) with a third gold in the individual apparatus finals.

Raffaeli won the Ribbon title, scoring 32.650, with the highest degree of difficulty (15.600) to out-score Stiliana Nikolova (BUL: 31.850) and Ekaterina Vedeneeva (SLO: 29.900).

Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev won with Clubs, scoring 33.550 to best Nikolova (32.600) and Raffaeli (31.850). In the four individual apparatus event, Raffaeli won medals in all four (3-0-1), while Nikolova and Varfolomeev won three each.

The top 18 finishers in the combined apparatus scores qualified for the All-Around, with Raffaeli again the leader at 98.850, ahead of Nikolova (98.200) and Varfolomeev (96.050).

● Wrestling ● U.S. women scored two golds and a silver on the final day of the women’s Freestyle at the UWW World Championships in Belgrade (SRB) and finished second to Japan in the women’s team standings.

Tokyo Olympic champ Tamyra Mensah-Stock won her third Worlds gold at 68 kg, defeating Amy Ishii of Japan in the final by pinfall in just 2:10 after piling up a 6-0 lead. In her four bouts, she pinned two opponents and piled up a cumulative score of 36-0!

At 72 kg, 18-year-old Amit Elor added to her 2022 World Junior Championship gold with the world title! After a 10-0 technical fall win in her first bout, she pinned Turkey’s Buse Tosun, then out-fought Japan’s Masako Furuichi, 3-2. In the final, she overwhelmed Zhamila Bakbergenova (KAZ) in a 10-0 technical fall victory. Wow!

Three-time World Champion Helen Maroulis had to settle for silver at 57 kg, losing to Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai, 3-0, in a tense bout with only one takedown. Maroulis won her sixth Worlds medal (3-2-1) over eight years in addition to an Olympic gold in 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020.

Anastasia Nichita’s win for Moldova at 59 kg was one of only two women’s classes that was not won by a U.S. or Japanese wrestler. She defeated Grace Bullen of Norway in the final by 4-1.

Japan won the team title for the 17th time in the 20 World Championships held this century, 190-157 over the U.S., with China third (84). American women won seven total medals (3-2-2), equaling the most ever, also by the 2003 and 2021 teams.

Competition continues in the men’s Freestyle division through Sunday.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The organizing committee announced the signing of the Italian office of the staffing giant Randstad as its second domestic sponsor.

This is good news for the beleaguered Milan Cortina organizers, considered to be making too-slow progress on the domestic marketing front. It announced its first deal, with Italian supermarket operator Esselunga in July.

● NBC ● The U.S. broadcaster for the Olympic Games will close its round-the-clock cable Olympic Channel at the end of September, but will introduce a monthly, one-hour program this Sunday called “Chasing Gold: Paris 2024.”

The first show will debut on NBC on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, amid live NFL coverage on CBS and FOX. The show, hosted by Mike Tirico and Maria Taylor, will be available the next day on the Peacock streaming service.

● Figure Skating ● History for American teen Ilia Malinin:

“ISU World Junior Figure Skating Champion Ilia Malinin (USA) jumped into sports history by landing the first quadruple Axel in competition at the U.S. International Classic in Lake Placid (USA) on September 14, 2022.

“The 17-year-old added the last missing jump to the quad arsenal – now all of the Figure Skating jumps Axel, Lutz, flip, loop, Salchow and toeloop have been performed as quadruples in an official ISU sanctioned competition. As the Axel is the only jump with a forward take-off, a quadruple has actually four and a half revolutions.”

The quad Axel has been pursued by stars such as two-time Olympic champ Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN), and Malinin credited Hanyu’s attempts as his inspiration. Still 17, Malinin was born in Virginia to Russian-born Uzbekistani skaters Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, and reportedly is using his mother’s surname “due to his parents’ concerns that his father’s surname would be too difficult to pronounce.”

He finished ninth in the 2022 World Championships, his first appearance at the senior-level Worlds.

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: World Games gets $4 million more towards debt; Italian town rejects two rowing events and may be sued; Valieva case hearing coming

By
Rich Perelman
-
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, in the middle of the final event to be decided at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games! (Photo: Ttckcv21 via Wikipedia)

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

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Jefferson County Commission OKs $4 million for World Games debt
2. World Rowing may sue Italian town’s abandonment of two events
3. RUSADA ready to hold Valieva case hearings
4. Russian gymnast Kuliak’s suspension upheld
5. Paris 2024 torch relay details: 12,000 runners, 70-80 days

The World Games organizing committee in Birmingham will receive another $4 million to support its $15.66 million debt on a vote from the Jefferson County Commission last week. The money actually comes from part of a federal grant to support tourism losses due to Covid-19; the organizers have now been granted $9 million in total and are continuing to try to make good the losses. For the second time this year, the town of Sabaudia, Italy withdrew from hosting rowing events it had been awarded, this time the 2023 World Rowing Coastal Championships and Beach Sprint Finals and the 2024 European Rowing Championships, “due to recent unforeseen political changes.” The federation indicated it had contracts for both events and is considering legal action against the town! The Russian Anti-Doping Agency said it had completed its months-long inquiry into the Kamila Valieva doping case from the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and would hold a hearing soon. The Gymnastics Ethics Foundation upheld the suspension of 20-year-old Russian Ivan Kuliak for wearing a pro-invasion “Z” symbol on his uniform at a March World Cup event. In Paris, it was reported that the 2024 Olympic Torch Relay will utilize 12,000 runners over 70-80 days and cost perhaps €30-35 million, with the host communities paying about a third.

1.
Jefferson County Commission OKs $4 million for
World Games debt

The second large chunk of funding for the $15.66 million debt left from the staging of the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, was confirmed last Thursday (8th) with the Jefferson County Commission voting on a $4 million grant.

Added to the prior $5 million approved by the Birmingham City Council, 57.5% of the total debt has been provided for. The Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau is also expected to contribute additional funds of perhaps $1 million, with the remnants of the Birmingham Organizing Committee working to raise the remainder from the private sector, including World Games corporate partners.

The Jefferson County Commission voted 4-1 for the grant, which will actually come from Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The country received $113 million under the ARPA to deal with the impact of Covid-19 to area tourism and these funds will be used to help the World Games organizers. Al.com reported:

“Commission President ProTem LaShunda Scales made a point during the meeting to address criticism that the money should instead be spent on local needs. ‘I wanted to be clear that residents understand the difference in the dollars used for tourism versus the idea that monies are being taken away from the communities or roads or any other service we provide as a county,’ she said. ‘These dollars could not be used for operational needs that our citizens are looking for us to provide. The public needs to know that.’”

Said Commission President Jimmie Stephens:

“We discovered we are able to use reimbursable federal dollars without impacting monies we’d normally use to improve the quality of life of our citizens. That was a very fortunate finding because I was not prepared to use any dollars that could be used to improve quality of life.

“You want to help [the World Games], but I can’t extend [Jefferson County] taxpayer dollars to do something folks should have done right to start with. I don’t mind utilizing these fed funds that didn’t originate here. It was the World Games and people from the entire world came. I feel comfortable with that.”

2.
World Rowing may sue Italian town’s abandonment of two events

Don’t be surprised if you need to read this announcement from World Rowing a couple of times. It’s that shocking:

“World Rowing is disappointed to announce that the following World Rowing and European Rowing events, which had been attributed to Sabaudia, Italy, will no longer take place in Sabaudia, Italy due to recent unforeseen political changes.

“● 2023 World Rowing Coastal Championships & Beach Sprint Finals
“● 2024 European Rowing Championships

“The new Mayor of Sabaudia refuses to abide by the contractual obligations provided in the contracts validly executed in 2019 and 2020 and unilaterally decided to dissolve the Organising Committee in charge of the hosting of these events. World Rowing is currently considering all appropriate legal remedies against the Organisers of these events.

“The above-mentioned Championships will have to take place in other venues. World Rowing has invited its Member Federations to provide their expressions of interest in hosting the above-mentioned events by 30 September 2022.”

So, in addition to Covid and a possible worldwide recession, we now have “unforseen political changes.”

Saubaudia is a town of about 20,000 located on the western coast of Italy, south of Rome, in central area of the country. Alberto Mosca, a former general of the Carabinieri (national police) won June’s Mayoral election over former Mayor Maurizio Lucci, with 52.9% of the vote, with a margin of about 381 votes.

However, Saubaudia’s problems as a rowing venue started earlier. On 23 March, the venue pulled out as the site for the European U-19 Championships, scheduled for 21-22 May. The town of Varese, Italy stepped in and held the event instead.

3.
RUSADA ready to hold Valieva case hearings

“The investigation has been concluded. The next step is for the results processing department, it is preparing documents for hearings in the [anti-doping disciplinary committee], in accordance with established rules and procedures.”

That’s from the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, the responsible party in the inquiry into the doping positive of then-15-year-old Kamila Valieva, the Beijing 2022 women’s skating favorite, who tested positive for trimetazidine at the Russian National Championships in December, but was cleared by a RUSADA appeals panel in February and declared eligible to compete at the Olympic Winter Games.

An emergency appeal by the International Olympic Committee, the International Skating Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency to keep her from competing in Beijing was turned down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Valieva won the women’s section of the Team Event and Russia won the event overall with 74 points to 65 for the U.S., 63 for Japan and 53 for Canada. She performed poorly in the women’s individual event, finishing fourth.

The IOC did not allow the medal ceremony for the Team Event to take place and has been waiting for the outcome of the Valieva case – including the inevitable appeal – to officially conclude the event and award the medals.

No indication of when a hearing would take place has been given as yet.

4.
Russian gymnast Kuliak’s suspension upheld

Remember the furor from the March 2022 FIG Apparatus World Cup in Doha (QAT), where Russia’s Ivan Kuliak, 20, brazenly wore the infamous, pro-invasion “Z” symbol on his uniform?

He won a bronze medal on the Parallel Bars, but was subsequently disqualified in May by the Disciplinary Commission of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, including:

“Mr Kuliak is not allowed to participate in any FIG-sanctioned event or competition organised by an affiliated FIG member federation for one year as of the date of this decision. If the protective measures keeping Russian athletes from competing are still in place on 17 May 2023, the ban shall continue and expire six months after the removal of said measures …”

On Tuesday (14th), the decision in Kuliak’s appeal to the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation was announced, including:

“In its decision, the Appeal Tribunal Panel confirms the decision issued on 17 May 2022 by the GEF Disciplinary Commission in upholding the one-year ban from competition. It finds, however, that this ban is independent of the protective measures currently keeping Russian athletes out of international gymnastics competition and should therefore not be prolonged beyond one year regardless of the status of the protective measures at the end of the ban.”

So, Kuliak’s personal eligibility will be activated on 17 May 2023, but if Russian athletes continue to be banned, he will too, but on the same basis as all others.

The appeal costs of CHF 5,000 remain in place and have been paid; this decision can now be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if desired.

5.
Paris 2024 torch relay details: 12,000 runners, 70-80 days

Initial details of the Paris 2024 torch relay were announced on Tuesday (13th), with the organizing committee explaining the basic outline of the program and reports adding in some of the financial specifics:

● Total relay program of 70-80 days with about 12,000 total runners
● Visiting about 60 “Departments of France” (regions)
● Cost roughly €30-35 million (about $30-35 million U.S. today)

The initial hope was to have the torch visit all 102 Departments of France – the 96 continental Departments and the six islands – but FrancsJeux.com reported that some of the regions had no interest in the support costs of €150,000 and passed.

The all-sports newspaper L’Equipe reported that each day of the relay will cost about €450,000 and will pass through about 700 cities. The areas to be visited are expected to be fixed sometime in November and the actual route in mid-2023. A visit to the surfing site in Tahiti is also planned.

The relay is planned to have three commercial sponsors, with the BPCE financial group (Banque Populaire, Caisse d’Epargne & Natixis) and Coca-Cola already committed.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Gymnastics ● The FIG Rhythmic World Championships are underway in Sofia (BUL), with Italy’s 18-year-old Sofia Raffaeli claiming first-day golds in both Hoop and Ball.

In Hoop, Raffaeli had the highest difficulty rating for her routine at 17.500 and scored 34.850 for a clear win over Stiliana Nikolova (BUL: 33.400) and Darja Varfolomeev (GER: 32.150). American Evita Griskenas was seventh at 30.450.

Almost the same story in Ball, where Raffaeli again had a high degree of difficulty (17.600) and helped her to a 34.900-34.100 win over Varfolomeev, with Italian Milena Baldassari third (32.400).

Raffaeli won the All-Around at three of the four FIG Rhythmic World Cups this season and won 13 medals in the 16 individual events held. She moved up from a bronze in hoop at the 2021 Worlds to the top of the podium with two more apparatus events and the All-Around still to go.

Russia has dominated the Rhythmic Worlds and its absence is obvious. Raffaeli’s win in Hoop broke a streak of six consecutive Worlds golds by Russians and the Ball gold ended a string of 12 straight Russian wins. The streak is 10 in Clubs and 10 in the All-Around (but zero in Ribbon!).

● Wrestling ● The U.S. won its first gold of the 2022 UWW World Championships in Belgrade, with Dominique Parrish claiming her first Worlds medal.

Parrish crushed her first two opponents at 53 kg by 10-0 technical falls, then defeated Greece’s Maria Prevolaraki in a tense, 3-1 battle to get to the final. She had a battle in the final against Asian Championships silver medalist Batkhuyagiin Khulan of Mongolia, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period, then getting a final takedown after Khulan had tied the score in the second.

Japan marched on with two more victories, at 50 kg and 65 kg. Tokyo Olympic champ Yui Sasaki dominated the 50 kg class and won her third World title with a pinfall against Mongolia’s 2021 Worlds bronze medalist Dolgorjavyn Otgonjargal. American Sarah Hildebrandt, the Tokyo bronze medalist, won her third career Worlds medal with a win in her bronze-medal match with Alina Vuc (ROU) by a 10-0 technical fall.

At 65 kg, Miwa Morikawa moved up from silver at the 2021 Worlds to gold, defeating China’s Jia Long in the final, 2-0. American Mallory Velte lost to Morikawa (also by 2-0) in the quarterfinals, but fought back to win a bronze medal over Mimi Hristova (BUL) by 11-2. It’s Velte’s second Worlds medal, after a bronze in 2018 at 62 kg.

At 76 kg, Turkey’s Yasemin Adar, the Tokyo bronze medalist, won her second Worlds gold with a 6-0 shutout of Egypt’s Samar Amer in the final. Adar previously won the 2017 World title in Paris in 2017.

The U.S. women had a big day in the preliminary rounds of four other divisions and qualified three finalists: three-time World Champion Helen Maroulis (57 kg), Olympic champ Tamyra Mensah-Stock (68 kg) and 18-year-old Amit Elor, the 2022 World Junior Champion, at 72 kg.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2020: Tokyo ● The arrests keep piling up in the Tokyo Olympic sponsor bribery case, with Kadokawa Publishing Chair Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, 79, detained by Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday.

The prosecutors believe that Kadokawa Publishing paid ¥76 million (about $531,600 U.S. today) to the consulting firm of an ex-Dentsu staffer, working with former Dentsu senior managing director Haruyuki Takahashi, a Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member with influence over the sponsor selection process. Kadokawa Publishing was named an “Official Supporter” of the Games (third tier) in 2019, with a license to use the Tokyo 2020 marks on publications for sale to the public.

The inquiry has thus far pursued want-to-sponsor bribery allegations against Kadokawa, business suit retailer Aoki Holdings and Daiko Advertising, the latter on behalf of an unnamed client.

● Russia ● “We insist that Russia has been and remains a self-sufficient powerful sports power that can overcome these temporary sanctions.”

That’s Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin at a Monday conference, explaining that no permanent damage has been done to the country’s sports program as a result of near-universal sanctions on its athletes and teams:

“As soon as the sanctions measures were introduced, we adopted an anti-crisis plan. Today we will talk about its implementation, both in the format of the competitions and in terms of our international activities. The main task is to strengthen the national sports system.”

● Freestyle Skiing ● Canadian moguls star Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, 30, has announced her retirement.

She competed internationally for 15 years and was a frequent medal winner, with 27 medals in 142 World Cup starts and a Crystal Globe for the 2015-16 season. A four-time Olympian, she won silver at Sochi in 2014, one place behind her sister Justine, and won two Worlds medals in the dual moguls, a silver in 2011 and the Worlds gold in 2013.

● Swimming ● Italian Swimming Federation President Paolo Barelli, is a leading candidate for the Italian Senate in elections coming up on 25 September and the former head of the European Swimming League (LEN), was provisionally suspended by the FINA Ethics Panel on Wednesday.

The notice of suspension noted only “The FINA Ethics Committee is currently investigating multiple referrals of alleged wrongdoing from three separate cases against Mr. Barelli.” Other reports indicate the issues involve financial irregularities, with continuing investigations in Italy and Switzerland. Barelli was elected to a third term as the head of LEN in 2020, but was then removed in a 46-44 vote of no-confidence in September 2021.

In a statement, Barelli said in part:

“The time of the attack on my political role in the run-up to the elections is also suspect. I am sure that this story, like all the others with which people tried to tarnish me in Italy and abroad, will end with the full demonstration of my correctness.”

● Table Tennis ● Events have been canceled in China for months in nearly every sport except one: table tennis.

The ITTF World Team Championships has been confirmed for Chengdu from 30 September to 9 October, to be held in a confined-access environment similar to that created for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in February.

On Wednesday, World Table Tennis announced the WTT Champions Macau tournament from 19-23 October, with $800,000 in total prize money, and the WTT Cup Finals in Xinxiang, with a $1 million prize purse.

And perhaps the anti-Covid measures are being trimmed, as WTT Council Chair Guoliang Liu (CHN) said, “We expect players from all over the world to fully explore and experience China’s history, culture and customs by participating … May table tennis become the bridge connecting the world again.”

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TSX REPORT: Modest impact for Eugene Worlds on area lodging; van Niekerk comeback gaining steam for 2023; IOC suspension implodes Central American Games

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Oregon lodging stats show only modest increase from Eugene Worlds
2. Van Niekerk comeback accelerates in Bellinzona
3. Massive crowd opens Lusail Stadium in Qatar, but with some issues
4. Turkey wins Greco title; Japan sweeps women’s golds at Wrestling Worlds
5. Governance makes a difference as Central American Games canceled

The first statistics on the local impact of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene are out, with only a modest increase in occupancy, but a big gain in revenue thanks to increased prices. At the last World Athletics Continental Tour meet in Europe this year, South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk showed signs of being a major contender for 2023 honors with a 44.33 win in the men’s 400 m. A massive crowd of more than 77,000 opened the Lusail Stadium in Qatar last week – it will be the site of the FIFA World Cup final – but with some of the often-seen issues of supplies and transport management that need to be worked out. Turkey won the team Greco-Roman title at the UWW World Championships in Belgrade and Japan’s women continued to dominate, winning the first two Freestyle titles. Following the International Olympic Committee’s imposition of a delayed suspension of the National Olympic Committee of Guatemala to resolve governmental interference in elections, the Central American Sports Organization decided to cancel October’s Central American Games – to be held in Costa Rica and Guatemala – altogether. Wow.

1.
Oregon lodging stats show only modest increase
from Eugene Worlds

The first statistical reports are beginning to show up on the impact of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with a noticeable but hardly overwhelming rise in accommodations use last July.

Let’s start with noting that the 2022 Worlds took place from 15-24 July, so only 10 days out of a 31-day month. But the Oregon Tourism Commission’s “Oregon Lodging Statistics” report for July showed:

● Statewide occupancy in Oregon was down by 2.2% in July to 73.9%, year-over-year vs. 2021.

● Occupancy in the Willamette Valley region, which includes Eugene and Springfield, was up by just 0.3% for the month to 77.7% in 2022, year-over-year vs. 2021. (Many Worlds visitors would like to know where those 22.3% unused rooms were during the meet!)

● Room rates, however, were up 10.1% statewide in July vs. 2021 and in the Willamette Valley region, by 35.0% vs. 2021, to an average of $185.91 per room per night. Room revenue statewide for July was up only 8.1% in July, but 33.5% in the Willamette Valley region to $48.02 million, compared to 2021. That’s a reflection of the Worlds, no doubt.

Perhaps reflecting the concentration on the Worlds dates, “room demand” for all of  July in the Willamette Valley region was actually down by 1.1%, year-over-year, vs. 2021.

More reports are due from the Oregon Tourism Commission to more fully evaluate the impact of the World Championships, by the end of the year.

The June report, which includes the hosting of the poorly-attended NCAA Championships and USATF National Championships at Hayward Field, showed Willamette Valley occupancy at 75.2% for the month (down 2.0% from 2021) but an average room rate of $167.72, up 14.4% from 2021. That’s a remarkable increase, given that the NCAAs and the U.S. Olympic Trials were held in Eugene in 2021, with much better attendance.

2.
Van Niekerk comeback accelerates in Bellinzona

The end of the World Athletics Continental Tour in Europe for 2022 was the Gala dei Castelli meet in Bellinzona (SUI) on Monday, but it showed that the comeback of Rio 2016 men’s 400 m gold medalist Wayde van Niekerk (RSA) is just starting.

Still not the same following a freak injury during a celebrity touch rugby match in late 2017, van Niekerk went from bests of 43.48-43.03 (world record)-43.62 in 2015-16-17 to missing all of 2018, then 47.28 in 2019, 45.58 in 2020 and 44.56 in 2021.

In a non-Diamond League race in Zurich on the 8th, he won in a seasonal best of 44.39 and then won in Bellinzona in 44.33, his fastest in five years and no. 7 in the world for 2022. He beat 2012 Olympic champ Kirani James (GRN) – the Diamond League winner – who ran 44.38 for second. Age 30, van Niekerk was fifth at this year’s Worlds in Eugene and now has to be counted as a real challenger again for the 2023 Worlds … if he can stay healthy. He said after Zurich:

“The year has been challenging. I had to fight a lot of doubts and fears but I think it is going the right direction. It was just about getting back to believe in myself. I feel good, this was a good indication for me and great step forward.”

There were other strong marks on Monday, including a 47.61 win for Brazil’s World Champion Alison Dos Santos in the men’s 400 m hurdles, a 13.18 win for Jamal Britt (USA) in the men’s 110 m hurdles, another victory for E.J. Obiena (PHI) in the vault at 5.81 m (19-0 3/4) over American Chris Nilsen (5.71 m/18-8 3/4), and a shot put win for the U.S.’s Joe Kovacs over countryman Ryan Crouser, 22.19 m (72-9 3/4) to 22.00 m (72-2 1/4).

Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV) impressed with a 10.86 victory in the women’s 100 m and Puerto Rico’s Olympic champ Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won the women’s 100 m hurdles in 12.72 over 2019 World Champion Nia Ali of the U.S. (12.80).

3.
Massive crowd opens Lusail Stadium in Qatar,
but with some issues

The final venue to be declared ready for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar saw a national-record crowd of 77,575 pour in on Friday (9th) for the Lusail Super Cup, with Al Hilal (RSA) defeating Zamalek (EGY) on penalties after a 1-1 tie.

The Lusail Stadium will host the FIFA World Cup final on 18 December and the match was not without incident. Reuters reported that with temperatures at about 93 F, water had run out at facilities inside and outside the stadium, and that crowds overwhelmed the nearby public transit station after the conclusion of the match:

“The station entrance is 400 metres from the stadium, but fans waited in a 2.5 kilometre line snaking back and forth across an empty lot. Officials said that was to prevent a stampede.”

There was confusion among medical staff, security and suppliers on entrances to the facility, not surprising for a first event, but indicating the continuing need for preparations for the World Cup, which will open on 20 November.

4.
Turkey wins Greco title; Japan sweeps women’s golds at Wrestling Worlds

Japan’s women Freestyle team has won seven World Championships team titles in a row and 16 of 19 this century. And there is no let up.

At the UWW World Championships in Belgrade (SRB), Japan scored the first two golds of the women’s tournament, with Tokyo Olympic champ Mayu Mukaida winning her third Worlds gold with a 10-0 technical fall over Ukraine’s Oleksandra Khomenets in the final, and World Junior Champion Nonoka Ozaki shutting down American Kayla Miracle, also 10-0.

Miracle won a Worlds silver for the second year in a row and had won her matches by 17-6, 6-1 and a pinfall, but was overmatched against Ozaki.

American Jacarra Winchester lost in the 55 kg semifinals to Mukaida, but wrestling back into the bronze medal round, she was pinned by China’s Mengyu Xie, and finished fifth.

In the Greco-Roman finals, host Serbia scored wins at 63 kg and 67 kg, with Sebastian Nad winning his first Worlds medal by defeating 2021 Worlds silver winner Leri Abuladze (GEO), 3-1 at 63, and 2021 European champ Mate Nemes moving up from a Worlds bronze in 2019 to win at 67 kg over Tokyo 2020 Olympic champ Mohammad Geraei (IRI), 5-4.

Zholaman Sharshenbekov (KGZ) – the 2021 Worlds runner-up – won the 60 kg class this time, scoring an 11-2 rout over 2020 European Champion Edmond Nazaryan (BUL). At 82 kg, Turkey’s Burhan Akbudak also moved up from silver in 2021 to win at 82 kg over Uzbekistan’s 2021 Asian champ, Jalgasbay Berdimuratov, 7-6.

Rio 2016 Olympic champ Artur Aleksanyan (ARM) won his fourth Worlds gold with a 5-1 victory over Bulgaria’s 2018 Worlds runner-up Kilil Milov. Aleksanyan now owns World Championship golds from 2014-15-17-22, plus silvers from 2013-19 for six medals in the last nine Worlds.

Turkey won the Greco team title as three-time Olympic medal winner Riza Kayaalp took his fifth world title at 130 kg (2011-15-17-19-22) by defeating Iran’s Amin Mirzazadeh, 1-1, on criteria. The victory gave the Turks 125 points in the Greco-Roman division, on top of Azerbaijan (118) and Serbia (110).

The meet continues through the weekend with the women’s and men’s Freestyle classes.

5.
Governance makes a difference as Central American Games canceled

Last week, the International Olympic Committee suspended the National Olympic Committee of Guatemala for interference by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala, to take effect on 15 October 2022.

The delay was to allow a solution to be found in time for the 2022 Central American Games to take place in Costa Rica and Guatemala from 27 October to 13 November. There’s no need for that now as the Central American Sports Organization (known as ORDECA) canceled the 2022 CAG altogether:

“The Executive Committee of the Central American Sports Organization (ORDECA), in an extraordinary session (September 12, 2022), in view of the governance situation facing the Guatemalan Olympic Committee (COG), reports that:

“– Adheres to and expresses its full support for the content of the letter sent by the International Olympic Committee dated July 1, 2022, which reiterates that the National Olympic Committees must be free from interference in their internal governance and operations in accordance with the principle of autonomy of the Olympic Movement established in the Olympic Charter.

“– In view of the governance situation that affects the normal operation of the National Olympic Committee of Guatemala in accordance with the Olympic Charter and given the administrative and financial insecurity that such a situation entails, it is decided to cancel the XII edition of the Central American Sports Games that would be organized together Guatemala and Costa Rica.

“– In order to offer Central American athletes the opportunity to compete in the Central American Games, in accordance with the ORDECA Statutes, applications will be opened from the host cities in 2023 and thus have a broad period of organization to the next edition of the Central American Games scheduled to be held in 2025.”

About 2,500 athletes from seven nations – Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – were expected to participate. The CAG was to have been held in 2021, but was moved due to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to 2021. The last Central American Games was held in 2017 in Nicaragua, with 3,500 athletes competing in 27 sports.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Winter Games: 2030 ● A new poll by the Asahi Shimbun in Japan found that 55% support the Sapporo bid for 2030 vs. 38% against. However, the polling in the Hokkaido Prefecture – in which Sapporo is located – showed an almost even split.

Sapporo and Salt Lake City are leaders in the campaign for the 2030 Winter Games, with Vancouver working to catch up after a late start. The host is expected to be selected in 2023.

● African Games ● Next year’s XIII All-Africa Games in Ghana is being threatened by a dispute by the Association of African Sports Confederations.

MyJoyOnline, operated by Joy FM, the leading English-language radio station in Ghana, reported last week that a “[m]ajor disagreement over marketing rights between the African Union (AU), the Association of African Olympic Committees (ANOCA) and Association of African Sports Confederations (UCSA) – three organisations that usually collaborate for the games – is threatening the delivery of the event.”

The three groups signed an agreement to cooperate on the event in 2018, but the African Union entered a separate agreement with the government of Ghana for the 2023 event that contradicted sections of the 2018 deal.

The UCSA provides the sports officials for the event and without its assistance, it “would make it impossible to stage the games next year.” The event is scheduled for August 2023 in Accra.

● Deaflympics ● Japan’s post-Olympic program for its venues got another boost as Tokyo was selected to host the 2025 Deaflympics, the first time for the event to held in Japan.

The event dates back to 1924 in Paris and the 2021 Deaflympics in Caxias do Sul (BRA) drew 1,489 competitors competing in 18 sports and 220 events. It will be the second time in Asia for the event; the 2009 edition was held in Chinese Taipei.

● Athletics ● Italian Steeple star Ahmed Abdelwahed, who had a career year in 2022, including a European Championships silver medal and a lifetime best of 8:10.29, was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit on 7 September 2022.

The suspension posting notes the presence or use of a prohibited substance, in this case, meldonium, which has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2016.

“[M]aybe this will be my last big competition on the professional level.”

It was. Only hours after her fifth-place finish in the women’s javelin at the Diamond League Final in Zurich, Czech star Barbora Spotakova announced her retirement.

Now 41, she is one of the greatest javelinistas ever, winning Olympic golds in 2008 and 2012 and World Championships titles in 2007-11-17, 15 national titles and is the world-record holder at 72.28 m (237-2) from 2008. She currently has three of the top six performances of all time from other meets in 2008 and 2011.

Few also remember that she spent one season as a collegian in the U.S. at Minnesota, winning the Big 10 heptathlon and finishing second in the jav, and then fifth in the NCAA javelin.

She told a news conference last Friday (9th), “Every fairy tale comes to an end, and mine had a wonderful happy ending in the form of a bronze medal at the [2022] European Championships in Munich, symbolically closing the circle. My body was clearly telling me that it was time to quit. …

“I want to be a mom now. The boys are nine and four, and I feel they need me more than ever before. I found that it makes me happier when they play sports than when I do. In the past year, I had to watch myself a lot to stay as healthy as possible, and I missed the joy of athletics. I enjoy my boys’ sports all the more.”

Speaking of retirement, what about American Record holder Kara Winger?

She had a magical 2022 season – at 36 – including a last-throw World Championships silver medal and then not only a Diamond League Final win, but the world-leading throw for 2022 at 68.11 m (223-5) in Brussels, now no. 12 all-time. And she is automatically qualified for the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.

After her Diamond League Final victory, she told reporters:

“I have to see how I feel, but at this point, I do not change my decision about my retirement. I loved this one-time season with my husband [Russ] by my side.

“It was amazing to share my career with Barbora Spotakova and we became good friends. That just feels perfect. I have been to Zurich like four times and it was always fantastic. But there was something special about today. I felt like the entire stadium was with me. I felt like I had so many friends with me. The season was like … disbelief.

“I just wanted to have a good time and it turned out to be the best season of my life. I know it was absolutely everything and I am so grateful for what I did because we worked really hard for this and I just cannot believe it. It was magic.”

The 2022 season was a traumatic one for all Ukrainian athletes. High jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh, just 20, had the season of her life with a World Indoor gold, a silver at the World Championships in Eugene and the Diamond League victory in Zurich. She said afterwards:

“It is so cool to win my first Diamond trophy. I am done with my season now. We, as a team, we are very strong now because we are fighting for our country and it gives us more power.

“I managed to stay quite focused during the season and I really even enjoyed it today. It was so nice to compete here and I felt the support from the crowd very much. Now, every competition, every win is so important for me and for Ukraine.

“Now, I am really like an ambassador of Ukraine on the track because I talk to many journalists and I have the chance to talk about Ukraine. Now, we finish our season with 2.03 m [6-8], it is so nice and I hope I will find the power to compete in the new season. I was very close at 2.06 m [6-9] but it just did not happen this time.

“As the season is over, I do not know, I just want to be alive, I want to come back to Ukraine to my city. Let’s see. See you next season.”

Mahuchikh finished as the world leader for 2022 at 2.05 m (6-8 3/4), a national record. She and her teammates deserve a rest, but who knows what they will find at home.

● Football ● The no. 1-ranked U.S. Women’s National Team scheduled another challenging road match on its forthcoming European trip, adding a contest with no. 8-ranked Spain in Pamplona on Tuesday, 11 October.

That’s four days after the American women will play 2022 European Champion England at sold-out Wembley Stadium on 7 October, with England currently ranked fourth worldwide.

A month later, the USWNT will play no. 2-ranked Germany in back-to-back matches, first on 10 November in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and then on 13 November in Harrison, New Jersey.

At the recent European Championships held in England, Spain reached the quarterfinals and lost to eventual champion England, 2-1, after extra time. Germany won its first five games to reach the final, outscoring its opponents by 13-1 before losing an extra-time thriller to England, also by 2-1.

● Judo ● The International Judo Federation announced that the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld its four-year suspension of the Iran Judo Federation for actions taken by Iranian officials at the 2019 World Championships to avoid having its judoka compete against Israeli athletes.

After its initial decision to suspend the Iranian federation indefinitely was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the IJF Disciplinary Commission sanctioned the Iranian federation with a four-year ban from September 2019 to September 2023. The 1 September 2022 opinion of a three-arbitrator panel confirmed the validity of the suspension, which continues in force.

● Rowing ● You don’t hear much about doping in rowing, but British competitor Christopher Bailey was suspended for four years by the International Testing Agency for a doping positive recorded at the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships from last February.

Bailey finished seventh in the men’s 30-39 event at 2,000 m, was selected for an in-competition test by the ITA and was found to be positive for the anabolic steroid. Drostanolone. Bailey submitted no response to the charge and is suspended through 24 April 2026.

Doping in an online competition? Wow.

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LANE ONE: IOC warns Modern Pentathlon federation on “other athletes” voice on new fifth discipline

By
Rich Perelman
-
Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had good advice for the Olympic future of Modern Pentathlon ... in 1858! (Photo: Matthew Brady in 1864, via Wikipedia)

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

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

The Olympic future of Modern Pentathlon is in trouble. A lot of trouble.

Created by France’s Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games, it was introduced at the Stockholm Games in 1912 and has been in every Olympic Games since, incorporating fencing, swimming, riding, shooting and running. It’s really a four-event program now with the shooting and running combined into the “Laser Run” in 2012.

But after the embarrassment of the Tokyo 2020 Games – at which the horse Saint Boy refused to jump for Germany’s Annika Schleu, with the horse being punched by German coach Kim Raisner – the sport’s international federation (UIPM) controversially voted in November 2021 to replace riding with a new fifth discipline, obstacle racing.

However, many of the sport’s top performers have refused to go along. And their voice is being heard.

When the International Olympic Committee Executive Board announced its since-approved initial sports program for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games last December, the Modern Pentathlon was left out. Moreover, the announcement stated:

“The UIPM must finalise its proposal for the replacement of horse riding and the overall competition format, and demonstrate a significant reduction in cost and complexity and an improvement across the areas of safety, accessibility, universality and appeal for young people and the general public.”

While the UIPM – Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne – has been busy promoting obstacle racing with three trial events so far and a fourth now scheduled for October, an athlete group called Pentathlon United has mounted a public shouting match, complaining loudly that riding needs to be reformed, not excluded from the sport. (Riding is being retained for the Paris 2024 Games.)

And at last Thursday news conference during the IOC Executive Board meeting, IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell (NZL) very diplomatically indicated that the Pentathlon United voice was not only being heard, but is important:

“In terms of the second question regarding athletes in Modern Pentathlon, I think – and hopefully you’re aware of this – when the IOC Executive Board did not include Modern Pentathlon in the initial sports program for Los Angeles 2028, there was a very clear framework that was set out, in terms of accessibility, cost and complexity and so on, and one of the key points was consultation with the athlete community.

“We ourselves had a call directly with the UIPM athletes community when the IOC Executive Board recommendation was made and then supported by the IOC Session, to explain exactly the situation and enforce their voice in that discussion.

“I think we should consider that there’s two aspects to this also: there’s the elected athlete commission voice and there’s other athletes which may or may not have the same opinion, which also have a voice. So, again, we’re looking forward to the UIPM reflecting that athlete voice both in their review of that fifth discipline, finalizing the recommendation of that discipline, and then in the proposals they put forth to us, and we’ll seek that athlete view in that consideration.”

Let’s be clear: the Modern Pentathlon is a tiny sport. From 1912 through 1996, with competition for men and a men’s team event, it never drew more than 66 total participants. By dropping the men’s team event and adding a women’s division in 2000, participation increased and the sport has had a quota of 72 athletes for 2008-12-16-20-24.

That’s by far the smallest of all of the sports in the Olympic Games, outside of the added sports requested by the organizing committees for both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. The next-smallest sport is Triathlon, with 110 participants for Paris, 53% higher.

In fact, for Paris, even the added sport of Skateboarding will have more athletes (88!) than the Modern Pentathlon, and Sport Climbing will have 68.

The UIPM’s elected leadership has been steadfast in maintaining that only removing riding and replacing it will keep the sport in the Olympic Games. However, it has had only modest interest in its obstacle course test events:

● The first obstacle test, following the UIPM World Cup Final in Ankara (TUR) in June, drew only 36 out of 71 participants and just 28 answered a UIPM survey about the event, which did not include a question on the option of retaining riding.

● The second test, held in Manila (PHI) on the sidelines of a Ninja World Cup obstacle event, drew 120 participants, but only 27 pentathletes, of which 22 agreed to complete a UIPM survey.

● The third test, held in conjunction with the UIPM Youth World Championships in Italy on 9-10 September, drew 122 participants (of 260+ event entries) on a beach course, with quotes from 28 athletes, but no report yet on survey and no information on a response option to prefer riding.

Pentathlon United champions its survey of 213 athletes from July, in which 90.6 percent were in favor of retaining riding (as is or with safety upgrades), 7.5% in favor of obstacle or Ninja-style racing and the remainder undecided.

And PentUnited has released a detailed, four-page plan for the reform of the riding discipline to remove the issues that were raised in Tokyo. A clever video released on 10 September showed 12 elite-level athletes ranked in the men’s and women’s top 30 against removing riding – including Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Joe Choong (GBR) – as well as 10 of the top 25 junior men and women in favor of “keep riding and change the rules.”

Two years before he was elected President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln famously said in an 1858 speech in his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He was right then and right now.

The IOC’s McConnell has served notice to the UIPM and to PentUnited that the sport’s Olympic future will be brighter with more unity. And as both sides harden their positions, what can the federation show as proof of reduced “cost and complexity” or expanded “appeal for young people and the general public”?

All this for 72 athletes and a sport which now requests a custom-built, all-in-one venue for men’s and women’s finals that will take all of 90 minutes each?

It is telling that an August announcement by the UIPM reveled in the possibility of being added to the program of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria (AUS). Not for the Modern Pentathlon, but for just the Laser Run. That’s hardly an endorsement for 2028.

If there was ever a time for unity, this is the time for the UIPM and its athlete critics to find common ground and a way forward. Because the IOC does not appear to be buying what is currently being sold.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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TSX REPORT: IOC excited about Paris, but is fine-tuning costs and emphasizing human rights (with no apology for Beijing ‘22); Evenepoel, 22, wins La Vuelta!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Bach: Olympics must be younger, more digital, sustainable, modern
2. IOC introduces “Strategic Framework on Human Rights”
3. Int’l Boxing Association “concerned” and “surprised” by IOC criticism
4. Munich ‘72 U.S. basketball team and IOC still at odds over silver medals
5. Belgium’s young star Evenepoel wins La Vuelta by 2:02

While pumping up the excitement for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) continues to re-shape his organization and the Games. He announced a powerful new “Games Optimization Working Group” to continue making the event “even younger” and “more digital.” In addition, the IOC Executive Board adopted the 50-page “Strategic Framework on Human Rights,” but asked about how this commitment matched up with hosting the 2022 Winter Games in China, he referred to the IOC’s Host City Contract. The International Boxing Association, not on the program for 2028 and slammed by the IOC again, posted an unhappy reply and says it has followed the IOC’s recommendations for reinstatement clearly and cleanly. A request by the 1972 U.S. men’s basketball team to have its “silver medals” given to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was turned down by the IOC, which insists that the only way for the medals to be awarded is for the players to accept them. That’s not happening. Belgium’s 22-year-old Remco Evenepoel won the final Grand Tour of 2022, the 21-stage Vuelta a Espana, becoming the first Belgian winner in 45 years.

1.
Bach: Olympics must be younger,
more digital, sustainable, modern

The drumbeat for Paris 2024 has already started, as evidenced by the comments from International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) at Friday’s news conference following two days of Executive Board meetings:

“We are very much looking forward to this, hopefully, first post-pandemic Olympic Games, which will be more urban, younger, inclusive, sustainable Olympic Games, and the first gender-balanced Olympic Games in history, and they will be the first Olympic Games which are planned, ready and organized and in the best sense of the word, celebrated, in full alignment with Olympic Agenda 2020.”

He was especially enthused by the revolutionary idea of the Opening Ceremony to take place on the Seine River:

“The Olympic Games are already, now, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but having this Olympic experience, this will really be unique and a moment, I think, nobody of them will ever being on this boat and being welcomed and cheered on by up to 600,000 people on the river.”

And no worries about security? “We can really say we have full confidence in the French security authorities.”

However, excitement for 2024 has hardly tempered Bach’s continuing reform program of the IOC and the Games. Building off of the difficult re-programming of the Tokyo Games for a year’s delay, the economic issues plaguing Paris and Milan Cortina 2026 and Bach’s view of the future of the Olympics, the new “Games Optimization Working Group” was formally announced:

“It was about the organization of the Olympic Games, the optimization of the organization, meaning to adapt the organization of the Olympic Games to modern times, to our challenges … in particular on the financial and economical side, but also to make them even younger, to make them more digital, and on this behalf, we have created a Games Optimization Working Group.

“This Working Group consists of the major stakeholders: you have there executives from the different organizing committees, you have the presidents of the associations of the winter sports federations and the summer sports federations, you have the representatives from the National Olympic Committees and from the Paralympic Committee. There are media partners, press, TOP Partners, and, of course, our Olympic Games Department. And this extremely important working group is chaired by Kirsty Coventry [ZIM], who also chairs the Coordination Commission for the Olympic Games Brisbane 2032.”

Bach noted that the group had already had its first meeting, and he was clear about its direction: “we want to make the Games more feasible, more sustainable and more modern, for the best athletes of the world to shine.”

He then introduced an even broader project, dealing with the IOC’s embrace of human rights as outlined by the United Nations (more below). But there were also questions about the future, especially the selection of the host for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games, in view of Thursday’s announcement of the delay of the 2023 IOC Session in India to September or October, at which the 2030 host is to be confirmed.

Ask specifically if the delay in the Session means the identification of a single potential host – Sapporo, Salt Lake City or Vancouver – won’t be made in the projected December time frame, Bach punted:

“This will be in the hands of the Future Host Commission to see whether they still want to come to the [Executive Board] in December or at a later stage. … This is in their hands.”

2.
IOC introduces “Strategic Framework on Human Rights”

Bach is a clear admirer of the United Nations and especially its goal-setting programs, and has now tethered the IOC and the Olympic Movement to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, introduced in 2011.

The 50-page IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights, introduced on Friday, is considered by Bach to be a central element in the future of the Olympic Movement:

● “This Framework will fundamentally shape the working practices of the IOC, the Olympic Games, and the entire Olympic Movement, ensuring that human rights are respected within our own respective remit.”

● “The overarching mission of the Olympic Movement, as you know, is for sport to contribute to a better world … It will address selection of future Olympic Games hosts and the delivery of the Olympic Games.”

● “What is clear … is the [host city selection] procedure, and there, you can see from this Human Rights Framework that the Future Host Commission, which is leading this process, will be guided by the U.N. [Guiding Principles].”

So what does this mean? The Framework sets out three limited “spheres of responsibility” for the IOC: for its own organization, for the organization of the Olympic Games and as leader of the Olympic Movement, with influence over the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees. The Framework is careful to set out these limits on the IOC’s view of its own purview, but within it are five priorities:

● Equality and non-discrimination
● Safety and well-being
● Livelihood and decent work
● Voice
● Privacy

And these areas will be applied to four target audiences:

● Athletes
● IOC/IF/NOC and organizing committee workforce
● Workers in supply and value chains
● Olympic-related communities

The IOC’s immediate goals for 2024 include 16 objectives, including internal actions such as amending the Olympic Charter and applying social and environmental standards to the IOC’s own supply chain. For future Olympic Games, the IOC plans to ask more questions and impose more oversight on bid cities and host cities, including prevention, mitigation and remediation measures.

(This is not new; FIFA is already doing this, and has asked each venue city for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. about this topic in detail.)

Issues of safeguarding – especially of very young athletes – and of freedom of the press to report at the Games without constraint are mentioned specifically.

With the broader Olympic Movement, the objectives focus on best-practice sharing, encouragement and monitoring, especially regarding athlete involvement and safeguarding from abuse at the IF and NOC levels.

So with all of this attention to human rights, what does Bach and the IOC have to say about February’s Winter Games in Beijing, especially in view of the 31 August human rights assessment by the U.N. Human Rights Office of China’s actions in Xinjiang regarding the Uyghur population? The report found “Serious human rights violations have been committed in XUAR in the context of the [Chinese] Government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-‘extremism’ strategies.”

Said Bach:

“We have, of course, taken note of this report. With regards to the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, which fall within our remit, the IOC worked together with the organizing committee to ensure that all the obligations in the Host City Contract were met, and if you read the report by the U.N. High Commissioner and you look into the recommendations which are directed to the wider society, there is the call, therefore, for respect of the U.N. [Guiding Principles], and this is what we are doing.”

Observed: The key here is Bach’s view of the limits of the IOC’s authority, which extends to the Olympic Games and no further. His repetition of the position that the Chinese organizers met the requirements of the Host City Contract is itself an admission that there was more than could have been done, but that was impossible in dealing with a world power on an event staged within its country.

Whether the IOC’s new human-rights program becomes meaningful, influential or worthwhile will very much depend on the credibility of the choices of the future host cities. For 2024, 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032, a significant challenge is not expected. What happens beyond is unknown and will be up to Bach’s successor.

3.
Int’l Boxing Association “concerned” and “surprised”
by IOC criticism

The IOC Executive Board issued a stinging rebuke to the International Boxing Association last Thursday, with a letter that stated:

“Boxing is currently not included in the sports programme of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028. Considering the absence of a real evolution, the IOC Executive Board is not in a position to reverse this decision and will continue to monitor with grave concerns IBA’s governance.”

The IBA was upset, to say the least. In a Friday post, the federation:

● Complained that the qualification process that the IOC threw out and replaced with its own program was developed in part with the IOC, and:

“Neither is IBA aware of consultations made by the IOC with key IBA stakeholders, including IBA technical committees and IBA Athletes Committee, whilst it is claimed that the new qualification process puts boxers first.”

The IOC was highly critical of the thinning of the IBA’s supposed administrative headquarters in Lausanne in favor of what it called an expanding “Presidential office in Moscow” to support IBA chief Umar Kremlev, a Russian. The IBA’s reply: “the staff restructure of the Lausanne office was a necessary process for its continued smooth operation moving forward …”

● With regard to refereeing and judging:

“The perceived double standard approach relating to the joint assessment work in the technical officials space remains extremely disappointing. … Our work in the integrity space has already had a significant positive impact on results coming out at world level competition [IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul]. Trust is extremely important whilst working together in the team environment; positive feedback has been prevalent during this time, so it remains really difficult and disappointing to understand the sudden change in tact and direction.”

● As to governance:

“The newly formed IBA has moved away from the issues of the past. The organization has a new democratically elected Board of Directors, and it is a totally new entity … The forthcoming congress will dispel the myth and all doubts over IBA’s commitment to good governance.”

● As to IBA finances, which the IOC specifically criticized as leaning on the Russian state-owned energy giant, Gazprom, the IBA post stated:

“We believe that the IOC is not well-informed regarding the current financial state of IBA, but we remain open to any request for shared information. … we have agreements made with two main sponsors.”

The IOC has not been impressed.

The IBA’s own election processes have been less than perfect and the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered the federation to hold a special Congress to determine if a re-run of the Presidential Election is to be held. That Congress will be held on 25 September in Yerevan (ARM), and the IOC stated that will be watching closely.

4.
Munich ‘72 U.S. basketball team and IOC still at odds
over silver medals

“Today is the 50th anniversary of the most controversial Olympic game ever – the US vs Soviet basketball game at the Munich ’72 Olympics. Here I am celebrating our win and then the refs took the game away from us. Till this day, we have never accepted the silver medals.”

Former Maryland star and later three-term Congressman Tom McMillen’s tweet on Friday commemorated a game whose outcome is disputed a half-century later, and is still not fully concluded.

The U.S. team refused to accept the silver medals after “losing” the Olympic final to the USSR, 51-50. The game initially ended with the U.S. winning, 50-49, but the final seconds were replayed twice more, with the Soviets finally making a basket off a long pass and officials declaring the game over.

The American position has not budged since and forward Ed Ratleff told The Associated Press, “I’m not taking it and I’m sure 100% we got cheated out of it and I think they knew that, too.”

McMillen asked the International Olympic Committee if the silver medals could be sent to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but the answer was no, with a spokesman saying, “The IOC expressed its appreciation for his efforts but felt that appointing an attorney to accept the medals would not be appropriate.”

In other words, if they players won’t accept them, they won’t be awarded.

Said McMillen: “[W]e say, ‘We don’t want these, we don’t think we deserve them, we think we deserve the gold. But I think everybody’s got different views. I mean, it’s really hard, so it’s probably going to stay the way it is.”

5.
Belgium’s young star Evenepoel wins La Vuelta by 2:02

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel weathered the last two climbing stages on Friday and Saturday and rode into Madrid on Sunday with the biggest win of his career in the 77th La Vuelta a Espana. Evenepoel finished the 21 stages in a cumulative time of 80:26:59, a clear winner by 2:02 over Spain’s Enric Mas and 4:57 over Juan Ayuso (ESP).

After three-time defending champion Primoz Roglic (SLO) was injured at the end of Stage 16, only Mas had a shot at the 22-year-old Belgian, whose most important victory had been the venerable, one-day Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in April.

On Friday, the 138 km route had two major climbs, but ended on a long, gentle downhill, so it finished in a mass sprint with Denmark’s Mads Pedersen claiming his third stage win in 3:19:11, ahead of Fred Wright (GBR: fifth top-4 finish!) and Gianni Vermeersch (BEL), with Evenepoel 40th (same time).

Saturday’s challenging five-climb, 181.0 km route to Puerto de Navacerrada was a third stage win for Ecuador’s Tokyo Olympic road race champ Richard Carapaz. He took over on the final climb and soloed to the finish across the final 7 km. A late challenge from Thymen Arensman (NED) earned him second (+0:08), with Ayuso (+0:13) third and Evenepoel sixth (+0:15).

That left the Belgian 2:07 up on Mas going into Sunday’s 96.7 km parade into Madrid. The expected mass sprint finish saw Juan Sebastian Molano (COL) edge Pedersen and Pascal Ackermann (GER) at the line with both timed in 2:26:36. Evenepoel finished 40th, 11 seconds behind the winner.

Evenepoel’s victory is the eighth by a Belgian at La Vuelta; seven men have won, but not since Freddy Maertens back in 1977. Gustaaf Deloor (1935-36), Edward van Dijck (1947), Frans de Mulder (1960), Ferdinand Bracke (1971) and the great Eddy Merckx in 1973 were the others, and now Evenepoel.

The eighth Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta for women also ended Sunday with Dutch star Annemiek van Vleuten defending her 2021 title in style, winning the second stage and finishing in the top 10 in four of the five stages.

Van Vleuten finished 1:44 in front of Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini, and 2:11 up on fellow Dutch star Demi Vollering. After the opening team time trial and van Vleuten’s win in stage 2, the races were won by Grace Brown (AUS), Silvia Pesico (ITA) and Elisa Balsamo (ITA) on Sunday.

Van Vleuten has had a season to remember as the absolutely dominant women’s rider, winning the Giro d’Italia Donne, the revived Tour de France Femmes and the Ceratizit Challenge. She also won two important one-day Classics in February’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April. At 39, she shows no signs of being done. Next up: the World Road Race Championships in Australia.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Rugby Sevens ● The quadrennial Rugby World Cup Sevens saw familiar teams at the top of the podium as Fiji and Australia won the men’s and women’s tournaments, held at Cape Town (RSA).

The Fijians, previous winners in 1997 and 2005, were hardly challenged, winning their Round of 16 match by 29-5 over Wales, then 21-10 over Samoa, 39-14 against Australia and the final by 20-12 over two-time defending champion New Zealand.

Ireland won the third-place match by 19-14 over Australia.

The women’s tournament was another match between the only two teams to win the title: 2009 champ Australia vs. 2013-18 champ New Zealand. The Australians won their matches by 48-0, 35-5 and then 17-7 against the U.S. in the semifinals, while the Kiwis won by 47-5, 28-0 and 38-0 vs. France.

The final figured to be a fight and it was, with Australia leading, 12-10, at the half. The Aussies got tries from Faith Nathan and Maddison Levi to expand the lead to 24-10, but then held on as New Zealand scored twice, but missed a conversion and fell short, 24-22.

In the third-place match, France easily defeated the U.S., 29-7. It was the second straight medal for the French (second in 2018) and the second consecutive fourth-place finish for the U.S.

● Volleyball ● Poland looked set to ace a third consecutive FIVB men’s World Championship before home fans in Katowice, but it was Italy that won a fourth men’s world title with a 22-25, 25-21, 25-18 and 25-20 win. The Italians had previously won in 1990-94-98 and this was its first medal since then.

Italy’s Simone Giannelli was named Most Valuable Player and Best Setter in the tournament. The Italian team won $200,000 as the champions, with Poland receiving $125,000 and Brazil, $75,000.

In the semifinals, Poland played a dramatic, five-set thriller against Brazil, losing the first set by 23-25, then winning the next two sets (25-18, 25-20), losing set four (21-25) before finally winning the fifth set by 15-12. Italy, on the other hand, swept aside Slovenia, 25-21, 25-22, 25-21.

In the third-place match, Brazil sailed past Slovenia in four sets, winning 25-18, 25-18, 22-25, 21-18. It’s Brazil’s seventh straight medal at the Worlds, but the first time since 1998 that it has not been in the championship final. The U.S., which was eliminated in the quarterfinals, finished sixth.

● Wrestling ● The UWW World Championships are underway in Belgrade (SRB), with the first four of 30 world titles decided on Sunday, all in Greco-Roman.

At 52 kg, 2018 World Champion Eldaniz Azizli won his second career gold with an 8-0 shutout of 2019 World Champion Nugzari Tsurtsumia (GEO); American Max Nowry was fifth.

Former Iranian star Ali Arsalan (SRB) won the 72 kg division over 2022 European bronze medalist Ulvi Ganizade (AZE), 7-4; Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Akzhol Makhmudov (KGZ) also won, 8-0, over 2020 European runner-up Zoltan Levai (HUN) at 77 kg, and Zurab Datunashvili won a second gold for Serbia by defending his 2021 world title, 6-2, over Turpal Bisultanov (DEN).

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● The elite track & field season is almost, but not quite, over. At the Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb (CRO), the Saturday men’s shot put featured another showdown between Olympic and World Champion Ryan Crouser of the U.S. and countryman and two-time World Champion Joe Kovacs.

Kovacs had won the last two meets, but Crouser was better this time, reaching 22.19 m (72-9 3/4) in the fifth round to take back the lead from Kovacs, who opened with 21.95 m (72-0 1/4) but did not improve.

On Sunday, Americans scored eight wins, starting with Marvin Bracy in the men’s 100 m (9.97); Woody Kincaid in the 3,000 m with a final lean at the line in 7:38.83; a sweep in the 110 m hurdles for Grant Holloway (13.19), Freddie Crittenden (13.31) and Robert Dunning (13.36), and C.J. Allen in the 400 m hurdles in 49.10.

Shania Collins won the women’s 200 m in 22.80, Olivia Baker and Elise Cranny were 1-2 in the women’s 800 m in 2:00.16 and 2:00.49; Tonea Marshall took the 100 m hurdles in 12.74 and Ariana Ince got a lifetime best in the javelin at 64.38 m (211-3), now no. 4 on the all-time U.S. list.

Croatia’s two-time Olympic champ Sandra Perkovic got a season’s best of 68.46 m (224-7) to edge Tokyo Olympic champ Valarie Allman of the U.S. (67.55 m/221-7) in the women’s discus, and Sam Mattis was second (67.19 m/220-5) in the men’s discus.

Just one more meet on the European portion of the World Athletics Continental Tour, the Gala dei Castelli in Bellinzona (SUI) on Monday, with another good field expected.

Many of the middle-distance stars from the Diamond League Final in Zurich made the long flight to New York for Sunday’s Fifth Avenue Mile, held in rainy conditions and with a special race to remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The women’s mile was a breakaway performance for British star Laura Muir, who simply ran away from everyone after halfway. No one responded to her attack and she won easily in 4:15 (4:14.8), setting a race record. Well back were Nikki Hiltz (USA: 4:17), Eleanor Fulton (USA: 4:18) and defending champ Jemma Reekie (GBR: 4:18).

The men’s race was much tighter, but was another British win, this time for World 1,500 m Champion Jake Wightman, who concluded his best-ever season with a 3:50 (3:49.6) victory, defending his 2021 win and his third win in this race (also 2018). Fellow Brit Jake Heyward was second (3:50) and American Sam Prakel was third (3:51).

Easily the oldest nation vs. nation dual meet still contested in the annual Sweden vs. Finland dual meet, held 4-5 September in Helsinki’s historic Olympic Stadium.

The “Finnkampen” as the meet is known was a sweep for the Swedes, who won the men’s match by 227 1/2-204 1/2 and the women meet by 225 1/2 to 205 1/2.

Finland retains the overall lead in the men’s series – which started in 1925 – at 46-36 – while the Swedish women extended their series lead to 42-25 (first in 1953).

The top mark was Swede Daniel Stahl’s win in the men’s discus at 65.54 m (215-0).

National dual meets are an excellent promotional avenue for the sport, but have been mostly (although not totally) discarded in the U.S. since the close of the USA-USSR series that ran from 1958-85.

● Basketball ● In a battle of undefeated teams, Argentina edged Brazil, 75-73, in the final of the 19th FIBA AmeriCup, the quadrennial continental championship, played in Recife (BRA),

Both teams were 5-0 and the Argentines, two-time prior winners in 2001 and 2011, ran out to a 48-38 halftime lead. But Brazil, playing at home and four-time champs, roared back in the second half, and the game was tied in the fourth quarter at 67 and Brazil had a 73-71 lead with 1:28 to play. But a Marcos Delia dunk and a Gabriel Deck layin made the different for Argentina, which scored only eight points in the fourth quarter; Deck led all scorers with 20.

The defending champion U.S., with a squad of G League and foreign league players, won the bronze medal, 84-80, over Canada, overcoming a sluggish, 29-point first half and piling up a 55-44 edge in the second. Forward Gary Clark shot 8-11 from the field and led with Americans with 18 points, by far his best game of the tournament. Guard Zylan Cheatham had 16 and guard Craig Sword added 11.

In the semifinals, Brazil defeated Canada by 86-76, building a 67-54 lead after three quarters and holding on with 19 points from 6-7 forward Leonardo Meindl. Argentina defeated the U.S., 82-73, led by 30 points from 6-8 forward Deck on 9-13 shooting from the field.

Behind by 58-52 at the start of the fourth quarter, the U.S. got the lead at 64-63 with 5:49 left, but Argentina went on 17-7 run in the final five minutes for the win. Guard Norris Cole once again led the U.S. with 18 points.

● Curling ● The World Curling Federation selected a new President after 12 years, electing American Beau Welling with 52.7% of the vote in the second round during its 11th General Assembly in Lausanne (SUI).

Welling, a golf course designer and developer from South Carolina, was the leading vote-getter in round one and then took a majority of 127 votes in round two, to 73 for Hugh Millikin (AUS) and 41 for Graham Prouse (CAN). Welling, a WCF Board member since 2018, replaces Scotland’s Kate Caithness, who served as the federation chief for 12 years.

Welling is now the second American heading an International Federation, joining David Haggerty, the President of the International Tennis Federation.

● Football ● The newest bid for the FIFA World Cup 2030 is a three-nation project among Greece, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Such an effort, no doubt to be underwritten primarily by the Saudis, would place the World Cup once again in the fourth quarter of the year to accommodate the heat of the Middle East, similar to the situation for Qatar in 2022.

It’s the fifth known bid effort for 2030, with Portugal and Spain ready to work together, as well as a four-nation possibility from Romania, Greece, Romania and Serbia.

A South American bid to mark a century since the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930 also in formation, with the best-known concept a shared project with Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Morocco, which has bid five previous times, is also interested for 2030.

Historically, the World Cup has never been away from Europe for more than two editions. After the 2022 event in Qatar, the 2026 World Cup will be in Canada, Mexico and the U.S., making Europe a likely destination for 2030.

● Surfing ● Brazil triumphed once again in the men’s division, but it was Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore who headlined the World Surf League Finals off San Clemente, California.

Now 34, Gilmore had to defeat Olympic Champion and five-time pro tour world champ Carissa Moore (USA) for the 2022 crown, 15.00-10.90 and 15.23-11.97. It’s Gilmore’s eighth world pro title, after wins 2007-08-09-10-12-14-18; that’s the most ever among women, breaking a tie with fellow Australian Layne Beachley with seven between 1998-2006.

The men’s title went to first-time winner Filipe Toledo, who defeated the 2019 winner, Italo Ferreira (BRA) in the final, 15.13-14.97 and 16.50-14.93. It’s the fourth title in a row for a Brazilian and six of the last eight.

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: U.S. scores five Diamond League wins; IOC has “grave concerns” over boxing fed; John Hancock ends 37-year Boston Marathon sponsorship

By
Rich Perelman
-
American sprint star Noah Lyles celebrates his Diamond League Final win in Zurich (Photo: Diamond League AG)

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

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Diamond League wins for Bromell, Lyles, Holloway, Allman & Winger in Zurich
2. IOC reiterates “grave concerns” over Int’l Boxing Association
3. IOC says Russian status remains unchanged
4. John Hancock to end 37-year sponsorship of Boston Marathon
5. Evenepoel closing in on La Vuelta title with Stage 18 win

The conclusion of the Diamond League season in Zurich saw five U.S. wins from sprinters Trayvon Bromell and Noah Lyles, hurdler Grant Holloway and women’s throws stars Valarie Allman and Kara Winger, plus world-leading marks in three events, the men’s 800 m and 1,500 m and women’s 400 m. The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board met on Thursday and sent a stern letter of disappointment to the International Boxing Association, further dimming its chances to be on the LA28 sports program, and set the stage for suspensions of National Olympic Committees in Guatemala and India. The current sanctions situation for Russia (and Belarus) remains unchanged. The John Hancock insurance firm decided to end its sponsorship of the Boston Marathon after the 2023 race, after 37 years; it was one of the early leaders in the 1980s sports sponsorship explosion. At the Vuelta a Espana, Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel won Stage 18 and strengthened his grip on a possible overall victory on Sunday in Madrid.

1.
Diamond League wins for Bromell, Lyles, Holloway, Allman & Winger in Zurich

The 2022 Diamond League season came to a spectacular close at the legendary Stadion Letzigrund with the Weltklasse Zurich meet on Thursday, with three world-leading performances and five wins by American athletes. The world leaders:

● Men/800 m: 1:43.26, Emmanuel Korir (KEN)
● Men/1,500 m: 3:29.02, Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR)
● Women/400 m: 48.99, Marileidy Paulino (DOM)

In the men’s sprints, it was American Trayvon Bromell who got out best and could not be caught, winning in 9.94 (wind: 0.3 m/s), well ahead of Yohan Blake (JAM: 10.05) and Aaron Brown (CAN: 10.06). American Kyree King was seventh in 10.18.

American star Noah Lyles closed the program with another brilliant 200 m, steaming around the turn and running away with the race in 19.52 (-0.6), his sixth time at 19.62 or better this season! Brown and Alexander Ogando (DOM) were tight for second and third (both in 20.02) with Americans Erriyon Knighton and Kenny Bednarek fading to 4-5, both in 20.20.

Evergreen Kirani James (GRN), still just 30, won the men’s 400 m in an impressive 44.26, with Americans Bryce Deadmon and Vernon Norwood just behind in 44.47 and 44.66.

Both the men’s 800 m and 1,500 m produced world-leading marks. Canada’s Marco Arop came into the final straight as the leader and looking like the winner, but Olympic and World champ Emmanuel Korir (KEN) attacked and got to the lead only in the last 5 m, winning in 1:43.26, with Arop at 1:43.38. American Bryce Hoppel was fifth in 1:44.77.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Olympic champ, found himself in the lead at the 1,500 m bell, being stalked by familiar foe, 2019 World Champion Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN). But no one could match Ingebrigtsen’s fitness and he pulled away over the final 120 m to win in a world-leading 3:29.02. Cheruiyot was a clear second in 3:30.27 and Olli Hoare (AUS: 3:30.59) was third.

The three “hurdles” races showcased the 2022 World Champions. American Grant Holloway stormed out of the blocks and won the 110 m hurdles in 13.02 (-1.0), ahead of a fast-closing Rasheed Broadbell (JAM: 13.06). American Trey Cunningham was fifth in 13.30. Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos left no doubt in the 400 m hurdles, taking over by mid-race and winning in 46.98, his third sub-47 race of the year, with Americans Khallifah Rosser (47.76) and C.J. Allen (48.21) second and third. And Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali was in total control of the Steeple, winning in 8:07.67, ahead of a fast-closing Getnet Wale (ETH: 8:08.56) and Abraham Kibiwot (KEN: 8:08.61).

Jamaica continued to own the women’s sprints, as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce got out first and won by daylight in the women’s 100 m over teammate Shericka Jackson, 10.65-10.81 (-0.8). Americans Aleia Hobbs, TeeTee Terry and Sha’Carri Richardson finished 5-6-7 in 11.03-11.10-11.13. Jackson was totally in charge in the 200 m, storming the turn and taking a big lead to win in 21.80 (-0.9), more than a half-second up on Americans Gabby Thomas, Tamara Clark and Jenna Prandini, in 22.38-22.42-22.45.

The continuing rise of Dominican star Marileidy Paulino was shown by her world-leading win in the 400 m in 48.99, way ahead of countrywoman Fiordaliza Cofil (49.93). Worlds silver winner Paulino is only the 12th woman ever to break the 49-second barrier and just the fifth this century.

Worlds bronze medalist Mary Moraa of Kenya found herself in front on the backstraight of the women’s 800 m and made the most of it, extending her edge in the home straight and winning impressively in 1:57.63, ahead of a late rush by Jamaican Natoya Goule (1:57.85) and American Sage Hurta (1:58.47). Fellow Kenyan star Faith Kipyegon – the two-time Olympic champ – underlined her dominance with a 4:00.04 win in the 1,500 m, taking off on the final lap and not seriously challenged. Ireland’s Ciara Mageean ran strongly down the straight and got second in 4:01.68. Americans Heather MacLean and Cory McGee were 7-8 in 4:02.90 and 4:04.63.

The stars were out in the women’s hurdles as well. World Champion and world-record setter Tobi Amusan (NGR) overpowered an excellent field from the start and won the 100 m hurdles in a fast 12.29 (-0.3), the equal-18th fastest mark ever and no. 10 this century. American Tia Jones continued a late-season surge in second (12.40), with Olympic champ Jasmine Camacho-Quinn fourth (12.49) and Americans Nia Ali and Keni Harrison in sixth and eighth (12.67 and 13.02).

Dutch star Femke Bol overtook Rio Olympic champ Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S. by midway in the 400 m hurdles and won in 53.03 – a time only Bol and Sydney McLaughlin have beaten this season – with Gianna Woodruff (PAN) second in 53.72, as Muhammad faded to fourth (53.83). Ethiopia’s Werkuha Getachew was strongest in the final half-lap to win the Steeple in 9:03.57 from Winfred Yavi (BRN: 9:04.47), with American Emma Coburn seventh in 9:20.00.

The women’s high jump was decided at 1.97 m (6-5 1/2) with Ukraine’s World Indoor Champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh clearing on her second try, while teammate Iryna Gerashchenko finished second from her first-time clearance at 1.94 m (6-4 1/4).

The men’s vault really got going at 5.81 m (19-0 3/4) with Mondo Duplantis (SWE) over right away and joined by Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen on his second attempt, France’s 2012 Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie and Tokyo silver winner Chris Nilsen (USA). Guttormsen got a lifetime best of 5.86 m (19-2 3/4) and that earned him second place as Nilsen and Lavillenie both failed at 5.91 m (19-4 3/4) to settle at 3-4. Duplantis made 5.91 m on his first try and then asked for 6.07 m (19-11), which he cleared on his second attempt, but went no higher.

The long jumps were an intertwined men’s and women’s event, alternating round by round. Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta took charge of the women’s event right away, jumping 6.97 m (22-10 1/2) in the first round and won easily. Swede Khaddi Sagnia managed 6.55 m (21-6) for second and American Quanesha Burks got out to 6.54 m (21-5 1/2) in the sixth round to get third.

Greece’s Olympic champ Miltiadis Tentoglu reached 8.14 m (26-8 1/2) in the men’s competition in the second round, but it was American Marquis Dendy – the 2016 World Indoor Champion, wearing a stylish bucket hat – taking the lead at 8.16 m (26-9 1/4) in round four! Tentoglu responded, re-taking the lead at 8.33 m (27-4), then Dendy improved to 8.18 m (26-10) in the final round, but it wasn’t enough. But Tentoglu wanted to make a statement and powered out to 8.42 m (27-7 1/2) on his final jump for the winning mark, his no. 3 jump of the year.

In the triple jumps, Cuba’s Andy Diaz boomed his first-round jump out to a lifetime best of 17.70 m (58-1) and no one could catch him. World Champion Pedro Pablo Pichardo (POR) also had his best mark in the first round at 17.63 m (57-10 1/4) and finished second. Women’s Olympic and World Champion Yulimar Rojas (VEN) fouled on her first try, but reached 15.28 m (50-1 3/4) in the second and won easily with her eighth-best jump of the year. Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk claimed second at 14.96 m (49-1) and American Tori Franklin finished fourth at 14.75 m (48-4 3/4).

The discus competitions saw men’s World Champion Kristjian Ceh (SLO) and Olympic gold medalist Valarie Allman of the U.S. take the early leads at 64.42 m (211-4) and 66.23 m (217-3), respectively. Ceh lost the lead to Lukas Weisshaidinger (AUT) in round five at 65.70 m (215-7), but took it back immediately at 66.75 m (219-0) and then finished with a best of 67.10 m (220-2). American Sam Mattis finished fourth at 65.24 m (214-0).

Allman improved to 67.77 m (222-4) in round three, and while two-time Olympic champ Sandra Perkovic (SLO) got close at 67.31 m (220-10) in round five, she finished second. American Laulaga Tausaga was sixth at 58.90 m (193-3).

The amazing Kara Winger, the Worlds silver medalist and American record holder – who has said she will retire at the end of the season – had the women’s javelin lead at 63.81 m (209-4) in the second round, ahead of World Champion Kelsey-Lee Barber (AUS: 63.72 m/209-1). Then Winger poured it on, adding to the lead at 64.98 m (213-2), the no. 5 throw of her career! Retire at 36? Really? When she is automatically qualified for the 2023 Worlds?

India’s Olympic champ Neeraj Chopra grabbed control of the men’s spear, reaching 88.44 m (290-2) in round two, ahead of Tokyo silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch (CZE: 86.94 m/288-6) and that’s the way it finished. American Curtis Thompson was fourth at 82.10 m (269-4).

The winners of each event took home $30,000 in prize money, with the lower places earning $12,000-7,000-4,000-2,500-2,000-1,500-1,000 through eighth. Most of the winners will get a direct entry into the 2023 World Championships, except in situations where the Diamond League champ comes from the same country as the 2022 World Champion (to be resolved later).

(Thanks to statistician Jed Brickner for a correction to yesterday’s post: Joe Kovacs’ throw of 23.23 m (76-2 3/4) made him the no. 2 performer in history, but with the no. 3 throw ever, behind Ryan Crouser’s 23.37 m (76-8 1/4) and 23.30 m (76-5 1/2), both in 2021.)

2.
IOC reiterates “grave concerns” over Int’l Boxing Association

The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board completed the first of a two-day meeting on Thursday, delivering some stern warnings to the International Boxing Association and to the National Olympic Committees of Guatemala and India.

On boxing, the IOC sent a stern letter to the IBA, which ended with:

“Boxing is currently not included in the sports programme of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028. Considering the absence of a real evolution, the IOC Executive Board is not in a position to reverse this decision and will continue to monitor with grave concerns IBA’s governance.”

The letter reiterated the IOC’s continuing concerns over governance and finance. In specific, the IBA’s termination of its reform advisory committee and the weakening of its formal headquarters functions in Lausanne in favor of a “Presidential office in Moscow” were noted as negatives as well as

‘[A]ccording to the information available, the IBA has not been able to find new sources of income to mitigate its dependency from a Russian State-owned company [Gazprom]. Furthermore, the IOC Executive Board noted that this situation is exacerbated by the fact that IBA is dependent from a Russian State-owned bank’s branch located in Switzerland which is currently restricted in operation due to sanctions in place.”

The IOC’s view is that IBA’s actions “aggravate the most serious concerns of the IOC Executive Board.” The outcome of the upcoming Congress in Armenia on 25 September, which could include a re-vote for President, “will be thoroughly assessed.”

A qualification system for boxing for Paris 2024 was set up, rejecting the IBA’s proposal and using the results of the 2023 Asian Games, European Games, Pacific Games, Pan American Games and an African competition to be designated, and two worldwide qualifiers in 2024.

That’s boxing. On the other at-issue federations, IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell (NZL) said that discussions are continuing with the newly-elected leadership of the International Weightlifting Federation and with the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne. On the UIPM, McConnell made it clear that the IOC is waiting on the federation’s proposal for a different fifth discipline for 2028 and is well aware of the internal dissension among the sport’s elite athletes about the decision to remove riding.

As regards continuing governance crises with two National Olympic Committees:

● The Executive Board suspended the National Olympic Committee of Guatemala as of 15 October, as the country’s courts have suspended some of the NOC’s election rules, in violation of the Olympic Charter’s requirement of sports autonomy.

The five-week delay was set in hopes of settling the dispute with the government in advance of the 24-sport Central American Games, to be contested in Guatemala and Costa Rica beginning on 27 October 2022. The Guatemalan NOC and the government are expected to meet shortly on the issue, with the IOC looking for a solution by 25 September.

● The Indian Olympic Association is also dealing with election issues, and was previously suspended for similar problems from 2012-14. So a “final warning” was issued, with the Executive Board asking for a resolution by its next meeting in December, and orchestrating a meeting “with all parties concerned” in Lausanne later in September.

However, with the 2023 IOC Session to be held in Mumbai, the Executive Board postponed it to a date to be determined in September or October, instead of next May or June, and could be relocated elsewhere.

This impacts the ongoing discussions concerning the selection of a site for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games, which was to be voted on at the Mumbai Session. It is possible that the delay due to India’s internal issues could help the fledgling bid in Vancouver, which has been behind the bids from Salt Lake City and Sapporo.

For Paris 2024, venue changes already announced were confirmed for boxing and fencing in the modern pentathlon (North Paris Arena), for shooting (French National Shooting Centre) and the Main Press Center (Palais de Congres). The contentious fight over the preliminary basketball site continues.

Reports on future Games were received by the Executive Board, with the continuing turmoil over the management of Milan Cortina 2026 being monitored. The Los Angeles 2028 Coordination Commission is scheduled to visit the city for an in-person look from 13-15 September.

A potentially important new working group has been created to continue the Tokyo 2020 concept of streamlining the costs and operations of the Olympic Games, dubbed the “Games Optimisation Group” and chaired by Zimbabwean IOC member (and Olympic swimming champ) Kirsty Coventry.

3.
IOC says Russian status remains unchanged

IOC spokesman Mark Adams (GBR) noted that the situation with Russia (and Belarus) has not changed, and gave one of the clearest statements of the IOC’s position to date:

“The sanctions are against those responsible for the war, the Russian government; they remain in place. This means, in particular … no Russian flag or colors, no Russian anthem, no Russian identity at sporting events and also the International Federations should not hold events in Russia.

“With regard to the protective measures, which we recommended to the Olympic Movement, we have explained many times that we are in a dilemma. We did decide on the protective measures because the IOC had to realize that governments were starting to interfere in the responsibility of sports organizations by deciding who would be allowed to participate in international sports competitions, and by putting pressure on their athletes, [National Olympic Committees] and national federations.

“This obviously jeopardizes the integrity and fairness of international competitions, jeopardizes the autonomy of sports organizations, without which there can be no truly global sport. So to protect the integrity of the competitions, and to protect international sport from full politicalization, we had to take some protective measures.

“We had to take these measures reluctantly because, as I said, in an unsolvable dilemma. On the one hand, we cannot fully live up to our humanitarian mission, which is to unite the entire world in peaceful competition. On the other hand, the only way to protect this mission for the future was to recommend the non-participation of athletes just because of their nationality.

“We are, obviously, closely monitoring and will continue to closely monitor the situation.”

Sports Director McConnell further noted:

“Our recommendations regarding Russia are related to the integrity of sports competitions and protecting that integrity. We have not, in any way, recommended the sanctioning of the Russian Olympic Committee, Russian national federations or Russian officeholders.”

Adams explained that the IOC’s assistance fund for Ukrainian athletes and sports organization has now expanded to $7.5 million.

4.
John Hancock to end 37-year sponsorship of Boston Marathon

“Our contract with the Boston Athletic Association is expiring in 2023, and after careful review, we have chosen not to renew our principal sponsorship of the Boston Marathon after next year’s race.

“Our business has changed so much over the nearly four decades of our sponsorship; we have grown in size and scale and are more globally aligned than ever before. As our organization evolves and we double down on opportunities to help customers live longer, healthier lives through our John Hancock Vitality program, our partnerships must also evolve.”

That from a letter to the staff by Marianne Harrison, the chief executive of Boston-based insurer John Hancock, announcing the end of a partnership that lasted for 37 years, back to 1986. Hancock was in the forefront of sports sponsorship in the marketing explosion that followed the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and was deeply involved in running for many years.

The Boston Athletic Association, which owns the race, issued a statement; in part:

“At the B.A.A., our commitment to expanding events and creating more running opportunities has never been greater. We’re excited to find our next Boston Marathon principal sponsor, and look forward to partnering with an organization who shares our passion for athletic excellence, community engagement, and growing the Boston Marathon to new heights.”

John Hancock has been steadily scaling back its sports sponsorships, ending its 30-year relationship with the Boston Red Sox in July.

Although 37 years is a long partnership, it’s not a record. For example, in 2019, USA Swimming announced a multi-year extension with Phillips 66, which began sponsoring the federation back in 1973!

5.
Evenepoel closing in on La Vuelta title with Stage 18 win

The best to protect your lead at the head of the 77th La Vuelta a Espana is to win the stage. And that’s exactly what Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel did on Thursday, out-sprinting chief rival Enric Mas (ESP) to the line at the top of the 1,163 m Alto de Piornal.

Thursday’s 192 km route was flat for the first half, but featured three major climbs to the finish, with the final ascent of 13.3 km the decisive stretch. Mas attacked with 10 km remaining, but was reeled in by the Belgian. Dutch rider Robert Gesink was in the lead with just 1,000 m to go when Mas attacked once again, but Evenepoel struck back hard and managed to get to the line first, with Mas and Gesink both two seconds back.

With two more climbing stages left before the final-day ride into Madrid, Evenepoel had a lead of 2:07 on Mas and 5:14 on Juan Ayuso (ESP). If the 22-year-old Evenepoel can hang on, he will be the first Belgian winner since Freddy Maertens, way back in 1977.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Volleyball ● The semifinals are set for the 20th edition of the FIVB men’s World Championship in Poland, with defending champion Poland (5-0) to face Brazil (5-0) and 4-1 Slovenia playing 5-0 Italy.

In Thursday’s quarterfinals, the Poles took a 2-0 lead on the U.S., winning by 25-20 and 27-25. But the Americans fought back and tied to match with set wins of 25-21 and 25-21. But the home team, playing in Gliwice, managed a 15-12 fifth set win to advance.

Brazil had an easier time with Argentina, winning 3-1, but only after dropping the first set.

The semis will be played on Saturday and the medal matches on Sunday, all at the 11,036-capacity Spodek Arena in Katowice.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Pan American Games ● In view of receding interest in the Pan American Games as a stand-alone championship in recent editions – in part due to the lack of prize money vs. other events – the regional confederation Pan Am Sports made a strategic move to emphasize the role of the Games as an Olympic qualifying competition as a way to ensure strong participation by the best athletes in the hemisphere.

That effort has gone into overdrive for 2023, as 33 disciplines across 22 sports will offer either direct qualification (in 15 sports) or points toward qualifying marks or world rankings on which Olympic selection will be based (in 7 sports). This is up from 25 disciplines at the Lima 2019 Games.

This also applies to the Paralympic Games, with 15 (of 18) disciplines offering qualifying opportunities; six sports will provide direct qualifying from the ParaPan American Games.

The Santiago 2023 Pan Ams are expected to include more than 7,000 athletes and 2,000 para-athletes from the 41 countries of the Americas, competing in 39 sports (61 disciplines) and 17 para-sports (18 disciplines). The Games will be held late next year, from 20 October to 5 November.

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● WADA announced the appointments of 13 members of the WADA Athlete Council, including five from the IOC or International Paralympic Committee Athlete Commissions and eight elected by the Athlete Commissions of International Federations.

The IOC/IPC appointments include Finland’s Emma Terho, 40, currently the head of the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission, whose profile in international sport had been steadily increasing.

Among the International Federation reps is American Clare Egan, 34, nominated by the International Biathlon Union and a two-time Olympian in 2018 and 2022. She retired after the 2021-22 season.

● Athletics ● Thursday’s Diamond League Final in Zurich was shown on NBC’s Peacock streaming service live, but will be shown on CNBC on Saturday at noon Eastern time.

However, Sunday’s Fifth Avenue Mile from New York will be shown live on NBC beginning at noon, with the women’s elite race at 12:30 p.m. and the men’s race at 12:45.

● Basketball ● The U.S. men’s team barely got past Puerto Rico, 85-84, to advance to the semifinals of the FIBA AmeriCup in Recife, Brazil.

The game was tied, 42-42, at the half and the U.S. had a tenuous 64-60 lead after three quarters. In the fourth, a three-pointer by guard Norris Cole gave the U.S. an 82-76 edge with 2:05 left, but the game was tied at 82-82 with 0:09 to play. A Cole free throw made it 83-82 for the U.S., but ex-LSU star Tremont Waters got a layin with six seconds left to put Puerto Rico in front, 84-83.

Out of a timeout, Cole took over, dribbling from 25 feet out, down the left side of the lane and muscling up an in-the-paint, 8-ft. floater which swished through the net with just 1.4 seconds left for the win and the 85-84 final. Cole led all scorers with 20 points on 8-11 shooting, with guard Jeremy Pargo scoring 15.

The U.S. will meet undefeated Argentina in the semis, a 76-53 winner over Venezuela, on Saturday (10th).

● Diving ● “It’s with great contentment and excitement, I close this chapter and move on to the next. You always hear people say you’ll know when it’s time to hang it up and I never really believed that. I do now. I took my final dive at Olympic Trials in 2021 and the following months were rough. But ever since that dive, not once have I had a feeling of ‘I need to get back in’.”

That’s American diving star David Boudia, 33, announcing his retirement in an Instagram post, concluding a brilliant career that included three Olympic Games in Beijing, London and Rio, where he won gold in 2012 on the 10 m Platform and a bronze in the 10 m Synchro, and a silver (10 m Synchro) and bronze (10 m Platform) in 2016.

He won five World Championships medals (0-4-1) between 2007 and 2015, including individual Platform silvers in 2011-13-15.

Boudia is hardly leaving the sport, however:

“As many of you know, I am coaching along side Adam Soldati at Purdue University and I couldn’t be more eager to continue to learn from one of the best. I look forward to continuing to be immersed in the diving world as a coach and see what the next chapter holds. Eyes set for Paris 2024, just in a new role!”

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here, and can donate here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: Kovacs now no. 2 ever at 76-2 3/4 in Zurich! World Athletics doubles reserves with IOC’s Tokyo 2020 cash; more Tokyo bribery arrests

By
Rich Perelman
-
Diamond League men's shot winner Joe Kovacs of the U.S., with the no. 2 mark of all time! (Photo: Diamond League AG)

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

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Kovacs explodes to 76-2 3/4 for Diamond League winner in Zurich
2. “Olympic Dividend” rescues World Athletics’ finances
3. More arrests in Tokyo 2020 sponsor bribery scandal
4. Russian Olympic chief sees hopeful signs of re-engagement
5. Evenepoel might be set for La Vuelta win as Roglic crashes out

The first day of the Diamond League final in Zurich saw two-time World Champion Joe Kovacs of the U.S. author the second-longest throw in history at 23.23 m (76-2 3/4) to out-last fellow American Ryan Crouser and win the $30,000 first prize. The meet concludes on Thursday. World Athletics released its annual financial report and noted the $39.48 million “Olympic Dividend” from the International Olympic Committee from the television rights sales to the Tokyo 2020 Games from moves its reserves from approximately $30 million to about $71 million. Tokyo prosecutors arrested more people in connection with the Tokyo 2020 sponsor bribery scandal, which now extends to three companies and a possible fourth used as a go-between. The Russian Olympic Committee’s President sees positive signs for the eventual reinstatement of his country’s athletes, but with an uncertain timeframe in advance of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. At the Vuelta a Espana, three-time defending champion Primoz Roglic crashed at the finish of the 16th stage, possibly clearing the way for for Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel to win the race on Sunday in Madrid.

1.
Kovacs explodes to 76-2 3/4 for Diamond League winner
in Zurich

/Updated/“I had so many throws this year over 22.80 m [74-9 3/4]. So I feel like I was building and building. It feels good to finally click the box and be a 23 m shot putter.

“There is a bigger throw left in there. So it feels good to walk away from a PR and I want more, but it is also exciting because I know the level is getting better and better.”

That was two-time World Champion Joe Kovacs of the U.S. following his monstrous win during the first day of the Diamond League final at the Weltklasse Zurich meet, held against the shore of Lake Zurich at the venerable Sechselautenplatz.

Admission was free and both the temporary grandstands and the infield were full of people, even under threatening weather conditions that eventually turned to rain.

But the men’s and women’s shot final, with just six competitors each, was held with a novelty format of alternating rounds. The two giants of the men’s shot, world-record holder and Olympic and World Champion Ryan Crouser (USA) and Kovacs were both ready to go, each reaching  a stirring 22.67 m (74-4 1/2) in the first round.

Kovacs found a tight rotation in round two and got full extension and knew he had done something special, raising his arms in triumph while the ball was in the air. It landed at 23.23 m (76-2 3/4), making him the no. 2 performer of all time (no. 3 throw) and the world leader for 2022.

Crouser, who has been recovering from Covid, was game and got out to 22.74 m (74-7 1/4) in round three, but could do no more. Kovacs settled for silver at the Worlds, but has now won six meets in a row, two in a row from Crouser (after 14 straight losses) and took the Diamond League title and the $30,000 first prize. The future? Said Kovacs:

“I know that Ryan will throw further so I will have to throw even further next year.

“My wife [Ashley] is pregnant with twins. So I expect to get enough sleep to open up the season and be in a good shape. You do not want to go backwards. If you have a level you want to stay at that level. Now with a throw of 23, my goal for next year is to be able to achieve 23.50 m [77-1 1/4].” That would be a world record!

The U.S. completed a sweep of the shot with World Champion Chase Ealey extending an unbeaten outdoor season – 11 straight – with a dominant win at 20.19 m (66-3), well in front of Canadian Sarah Mitton (19.56 m/64-2 1/4).

The odd configuration included a partially-banked, almost trapezoidal-shaped, three-lane track of 516 m in length, making the men’s and women’s 5,000 m races technically road events, plus space for the men’s high jump and women’s vault.

The high jump included Olympic co-champs Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) and Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA), but it was American JuVaughn Harrison who made most of the noise. He equaled his seasonal best of 2.30 m (7-6 1/2) with ease, then cleared 2.32 m (7-7 1/4) on his first try, requiring Tamberi to go higher to win. He did, clearing 2.34 m (7-8) on his second try and while Harrison cleared on his third, neither could go higher and Tamberi was the winner on misses. Barshim had an off day and made only 2.18 m (7-1 3/4).

Australia’s Worlds bronze winner Nina Kennedy mastered the conditions best in the women’s vault, clearing 4.76 m (15-7 1/4) on her first try, while American and Worlds silver medalist Sandi Morris made it on her third, and then scraped over 4.81 m (15-9 1/4) while Morris missed all three times and settled for second.

The men’s and women’s 5,000 m races were similar: a hot pace left small pack racing for the tape. In the women’s race, American Alicia Monson had a tenuous lead over five others at the bell, but was quickly passed by World Champion Gudaf Tsegay (ETH), with silver medalist Beatrice Chebet (KEN) in hot pursuit. As they came into the final straight from under the pedestrian bridge to the infield, Chenet accelerated away and won in 14:31.03, with teammate Margaret Kipkemboi second (14:31.52) and Tsegay third (14:32.11); Monson finished sixth in 14:37.22.

The men’s race was run in a downpour, with some slick footing on the track and Worlds silver winner Jacob Krop stepped off early. Once again there was a lead pack, with Olympic 10,000 m fourth-placer Berihu Aregawi (ETH) in the lead over four others before the sprinting started. Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir – fourth in the Tokyo 5,000 m – attacked on the final straight and ran clear of the field to win in 12:59.05, followed by South Sudan’s Dominic Lobalu (12:59.40). American Grant Fisher appeared to have lost contact at the bell, but worked his way back to third in 13:00.56; Aregawi ended up fifth in 13:03.18.

Said Kovacs of the unusual format:

“I think it is really fun. As a shot putter I want to thank World Athletics for using us because we do not need too much space. So any time you need street competitions or more competitions we are excited to be part of it. Especially if you tell us to use a little bit more chalk.”

The final 26 events of the Diamond League final come on Thursday from 1-4 p.m. Eastern time, to be shown live on NBC’s Peacock streaming service. A five-hour highlights program of the two days airs on CNBC on Saturday at noon Eastern time.

(Thanks to statistician Jed Brickner for noting Kovacs’s throw as no. 3 ever behind Crouser’s 23.37 m and 23.30 m, both in 2021.)

2.
“Olympic Dividend” rescues World Athletics’ finances

More good news for World Athletics, which released its 2021 annual report and accompanying financial report on Tuesday. While its other revenues remained steady, the “Olympic Dividend” from the International Olympic Committee for Athletics’ share of Olympic television rights sales came in at $39.478 million, the most of any federation and nearly doubled the organization’s reserves.

Where its reserves were down to $30.94 million at the end of 2020 – from $73.78 million at the end of 2017 – the IOC’s payment and good control of expenses allowed a surplus of $29.77 million for 2021 and total reserves of $60.71 million. Much better.

(Looked at another way, without the Tokyo Olympic money, World Athletics would have lost $8.32 million for 2021.)

World Athletics’ regular income is primarily from television rights ($14.725 worldwide) and sponsorships ($8.5 million worldwide, $4.5 million from Japan and $5.7 million in profit-sharing), plus track certification fees ($1.42 million) and penalties and reimbursements from the Russian Federation ($1.53 million). All together, revenue totaled $38.241 million, up 9.4% from 2020.

Expenses were $52.648 million, primarily on competition support ($23.54 million) and legal and compliance costs ($13.14 million), including the Athletics Integrity Unit ($8.80 million).

3.
More arrests in Tokyo 2020 sponsor bribery scandal

Payments of ¥76 million (~$526,635 U.S.) were made by the Kadokawa publishing house to a consulting firm operated by former Dentsu staff member Kazukama Fukami, who may have asked Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member Haroyuki Takahashi – a former Dentsu senior managing director – for assistance in securing a sponsorship role for Kodakawa with the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

Tokyo prosecutors “re-arrested” Takahashi on the new inquiry, as well as Fukami and two others associated with Kodakawa, which secured a sponsorship in the publishing sector in April 2019.

On Monday, the offices of Daiko Advertising were searched, in Osaka and Tokyo, for evidence relating to a ¥26 million payment (~$180,165) to Fukami’s consulting firm. Some ¥10 million (or about $69,294) may have been used to bribe Takahashi to push for Daiko to be used by the organizing committee for sponsorship-related work.

Confused? Essentially, the prosecutors are indicating bribery connections – so far – with three companies:

● Business suit retailer Aoki Holdings paid Takahashi – alleged to have significant influence over the sponsor selection process – to help it become a sponsor (which it did).

● Kadokawa Publishing paid Fukami’s firm to help it become a sponsor as well, with Fukami allegedly paying Takahashi for help with the organizing committee.

● Daiko Advertising also paid Fukami’s firm, with some of the money going to Takahashi to help Daiko get some sponsorship-related work from Tokyo 2020.

All of these are allegations, but the scandal continues to expand, as do the arrests, now totaling seven men.

4.
Russian Olympic chief sees hopeful signs of re-engagement

Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov told Russian media that continuing pressure to reinstate Russian (and Belarusian) athletes is being applied and that he sees breakthroughs coming.

While Russian and Belarusian athletes have mostly been banned, or allowed to compete as neutrals, since Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, Russian delegates have been invited to the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly in South Korea in October. He sees this as important:

“A thesis of the political neutrality of the Olympic Movement was subjected to a certain pressure. I believe that on the whole it was a result of some kind of a mass media war against Russia.

“Nonetheless, our voice is heard and one of the bold indications about it that the ROC received an invitation to attend the General Assembly Meeting of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

“ANOC is made up of 206 National Olympic Committees including the representation of international sports federations, and it offers a good platform for discussions as well as for the settlement of disagreements, which emerged through no fault of ours.

“A common sense should prevail, but the question is when it may happen … sports federations around the globe assumed a rather adequate stance compared to federations located Europe.”

Pozdnyakov noted a special, ongoing focus is on the beginning of the qualifying cycle for sports ahead of the Paris 2024 Games:

“The most important thing is to get started with the Olympic qualifiers. It is our priority and we are working in this direction. I have nothing to say about the so-called ‘point of no return’ because each sport has its own regulations regarding the qualifiers. This is why the phrase ‘the point of no return’ has nothing to do with the current situation.

“We will keep insisting on the full-fledged participation of all our athletes in the [2024 Olympics] qualifying tournaments and all of our diplomatic efforts are aimed at this.

“Diplomacy is about silence and this is why we are not making loud statements in the near future.”

A Russian government memorandum posted Monday and noted to be endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, included:

“Russia’s full-fledged participation in Olympic tournaments and its disciplines should not be dependent on a conjectural policy of certain countries and biased approaches on behalf of representatives of sports international organizations.

“It is important to keep protecting the rights of Russian athletes and to thwart attempts of their discrimination.”

Thus far, the IOC has not budged from its February stance that Russian and Belarusian athletes should not be allowed to participate in international competitions.

5.
Evenepoel might be set for La Vuelta win as Roglic crashes out

Tuesday’s flat, 189.4 ride from Sanlucar de Barrameda to Tomares did not appear to be a deciding stage at this year’s La Vuelta a Espana, but then one of the most dangerous places to be in cycling is in a group during a final sprint.

Denmark’s Mads Pedersen won his second race in Tuesday’s 16th stage, but not before a wild turn of events that changed everything. Three-time defending champ Primoz Roglic (SLO) attacked with 3 km left, trying to close the gap on leader Remco Evenepoel (BEL), with the Belgian suffering a punctured tire and Roglic racing on. Evenepoel got a replacement bike and as Roglic was passed by Pedersen, Pascal Ackermann (GER), Danny Van Poppel (NED) and Fred Wright (GBR) to the finish, he appeared to get tangled with Wright and fell heavily to the pavement with 100 m to the line.

Bleeding, he got up and finished, but could not continue in the race and withdrew. Meanwhile, the “3 km rule” which forgives mechanical failures during the final segment of a race saved Evenepoel, who finished 97th, but lost no time vs. Roglic or third–place Enric Mas (ESP).

Thus, Evenepoel started Wednesday’s fairly flat, 162.3 km stage still 2:01 up on Mas, his only serious remaining challenger. Colombian star Rigoberto Uran, the London 2012 Olympic road race winner, won a final sprint over Quentin Pacher (FRA) and Jesus Herrada (ESP: +0:02), with Evenepoel and Mas finishing in the same time in 14th and 15th.

That leaves the three climbing stages on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to see if Mas can inflict enough damage to take over the race, which finishes Sunday in Madrid.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Volleyball ● The 20th edition of the FIVB men’s World Championship is into the quarterfinals now in Gliwice (POL) and Ljubljana (SLO), with the home teams still in contention.

The quarterfinals in Ljubljana pitted second-seed Slovenia and no. 10 Ukraine and no. 3 Italy and no. 6 France. The Slovenians advanced with a 3-1 win to move to 4-1 for the tournament, while in a battle of undefeateds, Italy came from behind to win, 3-2 and is now 5-0.

On Thursday in Gliwice, defending champ and no. 1 seed Poland (4-0) will play the U.S. (No. 8: 3-1), while no. 5 Brazil (4-0) faces Argentina (no. 13: 2-2). The semifinals are on the 10th and the medal matches on the 11th, all in Katowice (POL).

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● World University Games ● According to an online newsletter circulated for the Chungcheong Megacity bid by the InsideTheGames.biz Web site, “Only Chungcheong is ready” as per an interview with bid committee Secretary General Yoon-suk Kim:

“The Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Korea approved the Chungcheong Megacity 2027 WUG bid after deliberation by the International Event Review Committee.

“The approval means that the central Korean Government has recognised the necessity and appropriateness of hosting the 2027 Summer World University Games in Chungcheong and that the 2027 Games will become an official project carried out by the Korean Government if we are awarded the Games,” said the secretary general of 2027CMBC, Yoon-suk Kim.

“It also signifies that all domestic approval processes, which have been carried out since April last year, are finally ended.”

“The Korean Government approved approximately €440 million [~$439.67 million U.S. today] for the 2027 WUG.

“From this, 80 per cent of the budget comes from central and local Governments, with the remaining 20 per cent sourced from sponsors and Games profits, including ticket sales and participation fees.”

Kim added:

“What determines the stability of a mega-scale international event organisation is money. To put it straightforwardly, no money, no Games.”

This is a shot at the North Carolina 2027 bid, which utilizes existing facilities at multiple universities in the greater Raleigh-Durham area and expects to raise its own funds outside of a $25 million start-up grant from the State of North Carolina. And Kim did not fail to remind readers of the visa issues faced at international events in the U.S. in 2022:

“Unfortunately, there are many cases where athletes had to withdraw their participation from Games due to visa issues. Chungcheong and Korea are ready to help and encourage the participation of athletes from many countries across the globe, and connect students around the world through sport.”

Kim is trying for a knock-out blow here, but his comments actually only raise questions. First, why should a World University Games cost almost $440 million to put on? The newsletter notes that road improvements and the building of a Games Village will be separately funded “as part of a national project.” The Chungcheong Web site describes the project as: “It will be a low-cost, high-efficiency WUG …” Really? Is that what they told the Korean government? Kim said:

“With this final approval from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, we can say that all preparations for the 2027 WUG are complete.” Before they have been awarded the event? Then why do they need all that money?

The North Carolina bid, using existing facilities, is projected at a total cost of $100 million. Can it really cost more than four times as much in Korea?

Moreover, the newsletter makes much of Korea’s successful 2015 hosting of the Universiade in Gwangju. So why give another WUG to Korea within 12 years when the U.S. is a huge potential market for the International University Sports Federation (FISU), especially given the popularity of collegiate sport in the U.S.?

FISU will have to answer these questions and decide on the site of 2027 WUG in November and could decide to select both the 2027 and 2029 hosts and give both bids a victory.

● Athletics ● NBC owns the rights to the Wanda Diamond League meets in the U.S. and has decided to show them live on its Peacock subscription streaming service, and only show tape-delayed coverage on its over-the-air and cable channels.

Nonetheless, the Memorial Van Damme meet from Brussels (BEL), held on Friday, 2 September, obtained a one-day-delayed viewing audience of 739,000 on NBC on Saturday (3rd), airing at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Pretty good for a meet that had been over for more than a day.

● Basketball ● The U.S. men concluded group-stage play in the FIBA AmeriCup regional championship with a dominant, 101-49 win over Venezuela, playing the second half on Tuesday after being rained out (!) of the Geraldao Arena in Recife (BRA) at halftime on Saturday.

The American squad, made up of G League and foreign-league players, got 19 points from guard Craig Sword and 15 from sub guard Anthony Lamb.

The win meant that the U.S., Mexico and Venezuela all ended with 2-1 records in Group C, but with the Americans scoring the most combined points in the three games, they placed first. That means the U.S. will next play Puerto Rico (2-1) on Thursday in the quarterfinals and with a win, either Argentina (3-0) or Venezuela in the semis on Saturday. The medal matches are on Sunday.

● Boxing ● The forthcoming re-run of the International Boxing Association’s election for President is heating up as challenger Boris van der Vorst (NED), President of the Dutch Boxing Association, has asked incumbent Umar Kremlev (RUS) to a debate, communicated via Twitter:

“Umar, I know a nice boxing gym in Lausanne. You and me, we sit face to face, go live & take questions from National Federations, boxers, coaches & media. We ask each other a few important questions as well.

“Let’s do this. Choose a date, I am ready.

“The International boxing family needs this, since the proposed Congress Agenda does not offer any clear chance to discuss the current affairs in our sport and there is too little time left until National Federations get to choose the next IBA President.”

The IBA’s special electoral congress is scheduled for 25 September, in Yerevan (ARM).

● Football ● FIFA announced its “reimagined” FIFA Fan Festival for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, opening on 20 November, to include:

● “Live broadcasts of every match on giant screens, with views of Doha’s futuristic skyline in the background

● “Concerts starring top global and local music acts and live works by internationally acclaimed performance artists

● “A food court offering unique culinary experiences featuring local cuisine and international delicacies

● “Unique football matches with FIFA Legends, in addition to interactive physical and digital football gaming stations for fans of all ages

● “Innovative sponsor activations, as well as an official FIFA Store with licensed FIFA World Cup products”

The event will be open on all 29 days of the tournament at the Al Bidda Park in Doha and some of the programming will be available on the FIFA+ online platform.

Of note is the forward-looking concept of the program, designed to be licensed to “allow new and existing stakeholders to stage satellite events in major cities across the globe.” A similar program is already being readied for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but in nine cities that will host matches.

The U.S. women concluded their two-match friendly series with Nigeria with a tight, 2-1 win in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

The Americans dominated possession, 65-35% and had a 16-5 edge on shots. Nigeria didn’t help themselves with an own goal in the 24th minute, as defender Blessing Demehin tried to clear a cross into the box by striker Mallory Pugh, but deflected it into her own net for the only goal of the first half.

Nigeria got even in the 50th minute, ending an 880-minute U.S. shutout streak, as Uchenna Kanu dribbled down the left side and scored past U.S. keeper Casey Murphy on a left-to-right shot into the top right corner of the net. The winning goal came in the 66th minute on a diving header from Rose Lavelle from six yards out that hit the post, but landed behind the goal line.

The victory extended the U.S. women’s unbeaten streak in home matches to 71 (64-0-7) across five years, with their 13th consecutive win.

The prior Saturday friendly vs. Nigeria, a much more comfortable, 4-0 win, was seen by 474,000 on the FOX network, a reasonably good audience for a meaningless game.

● Tennis ● Remember Peng Shuai?

The Chinese star, who was missing prior to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and then re-surfaced after making a sexual harassment allegation against a former Chinese Vice Premier, was the cause of the Women’s Tennis Association to cancel its tournaments in China in 2022.

On Tuesday:

“The WTA announced Tuesday that Fort Worth, Texas, will host the 2022 season-ending WTA Finals from Oct. 31-Nov. 7. The year-end finale, featuring the Top 8 singles players and doubles teams in the Race to the WTA Finals, will be held at the state-of-the-art Dickies Arena, with the event thereafter due to return to Shenzhen, China, in cooperation with long-term partner Gemdale.”

The WTA signed a long-term deal to held the WTA Finals in Shenzhen from 2019 to 2028, with the 2019 tournament held there, but not since. Covid canceled the 2020 event and the 2021 tournament was moved to Guadalajara (MEX) due to Covid; now the 2022 tournament will be held in the U.S., for the first time since 2005.

It will be interesting to see if the tournament is held in China in 2023; the WTA’s position has been that Peng’s allegations (since retracted) must be fully investigated.

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: Families, German and Israeli Presidents attend 50-year Munich murders memorial; U.S. swim star Dressel took a mental health time-out

By
Rich Perelman
-
From Monday's memorial to the 11 Israeli victims and German policeman killed during the Munich Massacre in 1972 (Photo: IOC/Greg Martin)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Munich Massacre anniversary remembered with sorrow
2. Sapporo cancels meeting with IOC, perhaps in view of Tokyo scandals?
3. U.S. swim star Dressel took a mental-health break in 2022
4. U.S. men stomp Panama, 88-58, will resume vs. Venezuela Tuesday
5. IIHF to continue annual Worlds, even in Olympic years

The 50-year commemoration of the brutal murder of 11 Israeli Olympic delegation members and a German policeman took place on Monday in Germany, with an admission of “failure” by the German President, a call for continuing the fight on terror from Israel’s President and IOC President Thomas Bach calling it the “darkest day in Olympic history.” In a sideways turn for the Sapporo bid for the 2030 Winter Games, a scheduled meeting with the IOC was canceled, likely in response to the expanding Tokyo 2020 sponsor-selection and bribery investigation. American swimming star Caeleb Dressel, the five-time gold winner in Tokyo, explained in an Instagram post that he essentially took a mental-health break when he left the 2022 Worlds mid-way in June. At the FIBA AmeriCup championship in Brazil, the U.S. men’s team of G Leaguers and foreign-team players crushed Panama and will conclude the “rain-out” game against Venezuela today in order to move on to the playoffs. The International Ice Hockey Federation is looking to invest more in women’s hockey and is discussing a $9 million deal with China to host the next three IIHF Division I women’s championships, creating “the first time we generate marketing income in women’s hockey.”

1.
Munich Massacre anniversary remembered with sorrow

In a ceremony attended by the families of the victims, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and many more at Furstenfeldbruck, Germany, a somber ceremony marked the 50th anniversary of the murder of 11 members of the Israeli delegation at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 by Palestinian terrorists.

“We wanted to be good hosts, but we were not able to live up to the trust that the Israeli sportsmen and their families placed in Germany,” said Steinmeier.

“The efforts of 1972 to showcase Germany as a peaceful, friendly democracy tragically failed in Munich. The Olympic Games because an international stage for the terrorists, an international stage for antisemitism and violence.”

He also noted:

“We cannot make up for what has happened, not even for what you have experienced and suffered in terms of defensiveness, ignorance and injustice. I am ashamed of that.

“As head of state of this country and in the name of the Federal Republic of Germany, I ask your forgiveness for the inadequate protection afforded to the Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games at Munich and the woeful investigation afterward. That it was possible for what happened to happen.”

Israel’s Herzog said, in part:

“For us, as a people and as a country, this massacre has always been a national disaster. It desecrated the unifying and cohesive sanctity of the Olympics, the ultimate symbol of sports, and smeared its flag with blood. The Olympic flag, with its five rings, would never again be what it was before. …

“The world must never forget what happened at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The world must never forget: the war on terror, everywhere and always, must be fought with unity, determination, and assertiveness. The future of human society depends on us sanctifying the good, and at the same time repudiating and vanquishing evil: anti-Semitism, hatred, terror.”

The 11 Israeli victims, initially killed or taken hostage at the Olympic Village building at 31 Conollystrasse, included weightlifters Yossef Romano, Ze’ev Friedman and David Berger, and judge Yakov Springer; wrestlers Mark Slavin, Eliezer Halfin, coach Moshe Weinberg and referee Yossef Gutfreund; fencing coach Andre Spitzer, shooting coach Kehat Shorr, and track & field coach Amitzur Shapira.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER), who was 18 at the time of the Munich Games, said:

“5 September 1972 was the darkest day in Olympic history. What began so peacefully and joyfully ended in inconceivable suffering.

“We share the pain of the relatives of the 11 Israeli victims and the German policeman [Anton Fliegerbauer]. To this day, that barbaric attack fills us with horror, shame and disgust.

“And yet our condolences can hardly ease the pain of the families who lost their son,
brother, father, beloved spouse or love of their lives to this cowardly attack.”

A recent agreement between the families of the Israeli victims and the governments of Germany, Bavaria and Munich on added compensation ensured that the families and Herzog would attend.

2.
Sapporo cancels meeting with IOC, perhaps in view of Tokyo scandals?

Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games suffered a minor stumble with the withdrawal from a planned meeting in mid-September with the IOC in Lausanne in view of the expanding inquiry into allegations of bribery related to sponsor designations at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“It has nothing to do with the bribery case surrounding the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics,” according to Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto, and Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita said, “I and the IOC spoke over the weekend. The scheduling didn’t go well and we mutually proposed to cancel it this time.”

However, Kyodo News reported a source who commented, “The issue was the timing of it. Visiting them now would only draw criticism. There was no other option but to take that decision.” Other Japanese media carried similar reports.

Sapporo and Salt Lake City are the leading candidates for the 2030 Games, with Vancouver also working on a bid, but well behind the other two. The IOC has indicated it would like to narrow the field to a preferred candidate by the end of the year, but has no obligation to maintain that timeframe.

3.
U.S. swim star Dressel took a mental-health break in 2022

Not much had been heard from five-time Tokyo gold medalist Caeleb Dressel of the U.S. following his withdrawal – “for medical reasons” – from the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest (HUN) last June. But a new post on Instagram gives some clarity:

“Hey friends I haven’t been on here at all but I wanted to share an update with what I’ve been up to. I haven’t swam since worlds and can honestly say I have been happy without swimming. I really miss it though.

“A few things I’ve done… I finally went on a honeymoon to Iceland, I bought a tractor, hiked another section of the Appalachian Trail, swam with some manatees.

“I know I can have swimming and happiness. I had them both at one point in my life and I’m working on it. If you need a break, take one.

“I’ll be back.”

Dressel, now 26, has been a busy and enormously successful swimmer, so maybe it was time for a break; consider what he has done, non-stop, over the past seven seasons:

● 2016: Two NCAA Championships wins for Florida (50-100-yard Free); five events at U.S. Olympic Trials; Olympic golds in 4×100 m Free and 4×100 m Medley; sixth in 100 m Free.

● 2017: Three NCAA Championships wins for Florida (50-100-yard Free, 100-yard Fly); seven golds at the FINA Worlds (50-100 m Free, 50 m Fly, four relays).

● 2018: Four NCAA Championships wins for Florida (50-100-yard Free, 100-yard Fly, relay); five medals at the Pan Pacific Championships (2-2-1); nine medals at the FINA World 25 m Championships (6-3-0).

● 2019: Six medals at the FINA World Championships (6-2-0) and swam for the Cali Condors of the International Swimming League.

● 2020: Swam for the Cali Condors in the ISL; other events shut down due to Covid-19.

● 2021: Won the 50-100 m Free and 50 m Fly at the U.S. Olympic Trials; Olympic golds in the 50-100 m Free and 100 m Fly, plus two relays (five in all).

● 2022: Won the 50-100 m Free and 50-100 m Fly at the U.S. International Team Trials; golds at the FINA World Championships in the 50 m Fly and 4×100 m Free, then withdrew from the 50-100 m Free and 100 m Fly.

Dressel has nothing to prove and could skip the 2023 Worlds in Fukuoka (JPN) and concentrate on Paris 2024. Only he knows for sure.

4.
U.S. men stomp Panama, 88-58, will resume vs. Venezuela Tuesday

At the FIBA AmeriCup, the regional championship tournament being played in Brazil, the U.S. men demolished Panama, 88-58, on Monday to even their record at 1-1 and will finish group play by resuming their game vs. Venezuela on Tuesday.

The U.S. was leading Venezuela, 48-21, at halftime on Sunday when rain came into the interior of the Geraldao Arena in Recife and the game was halted. FINA announced later:

“The FIBA AmeriCup 2022 game between USA and Venezuela, which had the second half postponed because of technical difficulties in the arena on Sunday September 4, 2022, will resume on Tuesday September 6th at 15:10 local time.”

On Monday, Venezuela beat Mexico, 80-74, meaning the U.S. needed to beat Panama and then continue to a win vs. Venezuela to be assured of moving on as one of the top two teams in Group C.

No problem. The Americans raced out to a 29-12 lead after a quarter and 57-30 at the half, on their way to the 88-58 final. Panama got only 53 shots in the game vs. 66 for the U.S. and was out-rebounded by 38-25. Guard Norris Cole led the U.S. with 17 points on 6-9 from the field, with guard Craig Sword adding 11 and guard Jeremy Pargo scoring 10.

Mexico finished group play at 2-1, with Panama at 0-3. Venezuela is 2-0, but appears ready to lose to the U.S. when Saturday’s game is finished on Monday; the U.S. is now 1-1. Assuming no disaster in the remainder of Tuesday’s Venezuela game, the U.S. will advance to the quarters on the 8th (Thursday).

The U.S. team is made up of players from the G League and foreign leagues and is the defending champion in this tournament from 2017 (its seventh title). Originally to be played in 2021, the tournament was postponed a year on account of Covid-19 and the move of the Tokyo Olympic Games from 2020 to 2021.

5.
IIHF to continue annual Worlds, even in Olympic years

The International Ice Hockey Federation pronounced itself pleased with the just-completed Women’s World Championship, held in Herning and Frederikshavn (DEN), where Canada edged the U.S., 2-1, in the final.

The federation voted in 2021 to hold the Women’s Worlds annually, even during Olympic years, starting in 2022. Said IIHF chief Luc Tardif (FRA):

“It’s the first time we organize it in an Olympic year, in August, which is not so easy. We had a busy summer and it’s not over as we have one more women’s tournament left to be played in Austria in September [Women’s U-18 Division I/Group B].”

Tardif emphasized that the federation is trying to further develop the women’s game. Asked about added prize money, he explained:

“We want to have prize money as soon as possible but at the moment times are difficult with the three years of the pandemic we went through. At the moment every tournament is funded by the income from the men’s World Championship.

“We want to have more income from the Women’s World Championship so we would be able to give prize money from the event. Give us time but we want to do it as soon as possible. We give prize money to the member national associations but it’s up to them how they use it but I’m confident that they do what is the right thing to do.”

On the question of marketing, Tardif noted an interesting development in the Women’s Division I Championships, one level below the Championship Division in which the U.S. and Canada compete:

“[W]e are in discussions with the Chinese Ice Hockey Association and Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China for investments in the Division I. They want to get involved a bit more and asked us to host the tournament three years in a row [in Shenzhen].”

The Chinese offer was described to include $3 million a year, over three years, which would be invested into women’s hockey. China won the Division I Group B title in 2022 with a 5-0 record in the April tournament in Poland, and will be promoted to Division I Group A for 2023. Said Tardif:

“It would for the first time we generate marketing income in women’s hockey. We want to bring more sponsors because there is potential to do more. We want to drive the process of the professionalization of the top division. We will have discussions with the Women’s Committee to find out where is the best place and best time for this tournament but it won’t be August anymore.”

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Sailing ● The annual 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships – all Olympic classes – concluded at St. Margarets Bay in Nova Scotia (CAN) with familiar faces on the podium.

Defending World Champions Bart Lamrbiex and Floris van de Werken (NED) were the convincing winners in the men’s 49er division, winning three races and netting 100.0 points. That was well ahead of Spain’s 2020 World silver medalist Diego Botin, now teamed with Florian Trittel Paul (132.0) and Croatia’s 2018 World Champions Sime and Miho Fantela (134.0).

In the women’s 49erFX class, Dutch star Odile van Aanholt won her second World title in a row, this time teaming with two-time (2018-19) Worlds gold medalist Annette Duetz. They won three races and were in the top three in 10 of the 16 races to finish with a net 113.0 points. A distant second were Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler (SWE: 134.0), with Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barcelo (ESP: 151.0). Americans Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea finished fifth (187.0).

The mixed-crew Nacra 17 saw the second Worlds gold for Italy’s Tokyo Olympic champs Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti – they won previously in 2018 – who won the first six races, then finished 20th, then won the next seven in a row, plus the medal race to finish with a net of just 46.0. Runner-ups Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei (ITA) scored a net of 115.0, finishing second for the second year in a row! They claimed the bronze over Finland’s Sinem Kurtbay and Akseli Keskinen (also 115.0, but seventh in the medal race).

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● Foreign media are once again wagging their finger at the NCAA over its lack of doping controls, this time concerning athletes at North Carolina A&T.

Last week, the Athletics Integrity Unit provisionally suspended Nigerian sprinter Grace Nwokocha for use of the muscle-building drugs Ostarine and Ligandrol, which will likely cost Nigeria its women’s 4×100 m gold medal from the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Nwokocha is familiar to U.S. fans as a sprinter for North Carolina A&T, as she finished sixth in the NCAA Championships in June.

Back on 16 July, North Carolina A&T star Randolph Ross – the back-to-back NCAA champion and a 4×400 m relay gold medalist from Tokyo – was suspended during the World Championships in Eugene for missing a doping test (specified as “the allegation arises out of the athlete’s conduct during the course of an investigation into a potential whereabouts violation”).

Irish journalist Cathal Dennehy tweeted a familiar refrain:

“The doping cases coming out of North Carolina A&T, which were picked up by the AIU, show why proper drug testing is really needed in the NCAA.”

The North Carolina A&T coach for both athletes was Duane Ross, a star hurdler in his own right and the 1999 World Championships bronze medalist in the men’s 110 m hurdles. He was suspended for two years by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in 2010 for attempted use, possession and trafficking of doping materials; all of his performances from 2001 forward – including making the 2004 Olympic Team – were nullified.

Ross was hired as the coach at Tennessee in May and Randolph, his son, will transfer and be a junior in 2023.

● Football ● Alcoholic beverages have limited distribution in Qatar, served only in hotel restaurants and in licensed bars, but the regulations are being relaxed – slightly – for the 2022 FIFA World Cup starting 20 November.

Multiple sources reported that Budweiser beers will be available for purchase at the stadiums from three hours prior to kickoff (when gates open) and for an hour after the end of the game. During games, only the non-alcoholic Budweiser Zero – AB InBev is FIFA’s beer sponsor – will be available.

In addition, Budweiser will be sold at the main FIFA Fan Festival in downtown Doha from 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily during the tournament.

Hospitality ticket holders will have access to a wider selection of alcoholic beverages, expected to include wines and spirits.

FIFA announced the launch of FIFA+ Collect, a program of “affordable, inclusive” digital collectibles, “from the greatest game moments to the most iconic FIFA World Cup™ and FIFA Women’s World Cup™ art and imagery.”

The project is set to launch later this month. The International Judo Federation is already marketing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on a dedicated site, apparently the first Olympic-sport federation in the marketplace. FIFA will soon join.

● Skateboarding ● SportBusiness reported that World Skate, the international federation responsible for skateboarding, announced the cancellation of the 2022 World Championships in Park and Street – the Olympic disciplines – in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) because of “the local organising committee’s organisational and financial inability to comply with the terms and conditions” of the hosting agreement.

The events were scheduled for 2-9 October for the Park World Championships and 9-16 October for the Street Worlds, both at the Praca Duo skate park in Rio. In response to the World Skate letter, the Brazilian Skate Confederation (CBSk) and event partner Skate Total Urbe (STU) replied jointly:

“CBSk and STU reinforce that all conditions negotiated and included in the memorandum were fulfilled by both Brazilian parties in order to build two major events in partnership with World Skate.

“However, World Skate presented some demands that were not in accordance with…what had already been agreed between the three parties. Thus, STU and World Skate did not reach a conceptual and commercial agreement.”

The all-discipline World Skate Games remain on target for 24 October to 13 November in Buenos Aires (ARG).

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TSX REPORT: Tokyo 2020 sponsor bribery scandal expanding; Esposito against NHL players in Olympics; NCAA Div. I limits transfers and timing

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Tokyo 2020 sponsor bribe scandal expands to Mori
2. Hockey legend Esposito against NHL Olympic participation
3. NCAA Div. I rejects unlimited transfers, designates time windows
4. Lyles, Holloway, Allman win at ISTAF before 37,000
5. Evenepoel’s lead shrinks (a lot) at La Vuelta

It’s more than a year beyond the end of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but the allegations of payoffs for sponsorship favors continues to grow, with the report of money given to former organizing committee head Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese Prime Minister. In addition, a publishing company is also suspected of paying bribes to advance its sponsorship ambitions. The hockey great Phil Esposito said in a Russian interview that he opposes NHL participation in the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, a position he has maintained since the league’s players participated in 1998. The unregulated transfer of athletes between NCAA Division I schools was narrowed by the Division I Board, now allowing only one transfer with immediate eligibility and specifying specific dates during which transfers may be made. At the famed ISTAF meet in Berlin, American stars Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway and Valarie Allman all won before a crowd of more than 37,000! In Spain, the 14th stage of the Vuelta a Espana saw Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel’s lead shaved for the second consecutive day by defending champ Primoz Roglic of Slovenia.

1.
Tokyo 2020 sponsor bribe scandal expands to Mori

The probe into bribes to influence the selection of Tokyo 2020 organizing committee sponsors is expanding.

Kyodo News reported that 600-store, publicly-traded business suit retailer Aoki Holdings – a Tokyo 2020 Official Supporter (the third tier) – is alleged to have given money to former organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori, now 85:

“Tokyo prosecutors are investigating the purpose and the timing of the suspected payment to Mori, a former prime minister of Japan, who stepped down as head of the committee months before the Summer Games after it was revealed he made sexist remarks, the source said.

“The funds could have been get-well money for Mori, who was battling cancer, the source added.”

Mori has said that he did not discuss Aoki Holdings’ sponsorship with either former organizing committee Executive Board member Haruyuki Takahashi or Aoki Holdings Chair Hironori Aoki. Takahashi, Aoki and two Aoki Holdings executives were arrested on suspicion of bribery for payments made to Takahashi to influence the designation of Aoki as a sponsor and the fee to be paid.

On Saturday, a new report indicated that Takahashi may have helped Kadokawa Corporation, a publishing firm, become an Official Supporter as well. Per Kyodo:

“The publishing company gave 70 million yen ($500,000) to an entity run by [a Takahashi] acquaintance and prosecutors are looking into why the money was paid and whether all or part of the amount was transferred to anyone.”

On Sunday, a report noted that an unnamed advertising agency may have paid Takahashi to influence the selection of a client as a sponsor for the Tokyo Games.

Takahashi’s consulting firm received ¥51 million (~$363,727 U.S. today) in installments from Aoki Holdings. Takahashi has not disputed that he received the money, but said it was for legal purposes.

2.
Hockey legend Esposito against NHL Olympic participation

One of the greatest players in history believes National Hockey League players should not be participating in the Olympic Winter Games.

Canadian Phil Esposito, 80, a Hockey Hall of Fame forward and two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Boston Bruins, a head coach of the New York Rangers, and one of the founders of the Tampa Bay Lightning and one of its radio broadcasters today, told the Russian TASS news agency:

“I’m not the fan of the Olympics… I don’t believe in closing your business down and giving your product for nothing. I just don’t believe in it.

“Basketball plays there in the Olympics in the summer time. There is no reason why hockey could not do that in September, like we did that with the Super Series in 1972 or with the World Cups. Olympics should be for amateurs and amateurs only.”

He said he has been against the idea when it was first approved in 1995 for the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano (JPN), when he was the Lightning’s President and General Manager:

“I voted against it in 1998, when it first started, because I was doing the Lightning then, and I never changed my mind about it since then.

“If they are getting paid by somebody under the table, then that’s a different story. They need to make a living too. But I don’t believe in guys making nine, ten million dollars a year just leaving their jobs and going overseas to play in the Olympics. I do not believe in that.”

NHL players played in the 1998-2002-2006-2010-2014 Winter Games, but not in PyeongChang in 2018 or Beijing in 2022. Discussions are ongoing about the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

3.
NCAA Division I rejects unlimited transfers,
designates time windows

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted down a proposal to allow athletes to transfer as many times as they wish and to be immediately eligible.

A student-athlete may still transfer once and be immediately eligible, but must sit out one year after a second transfer. New regulations voted in last Wednesday now limit the times when transfers may be made:

● “Fall sports: a 45-day window beginning the day after championships selections are made in their sport, or May 1-15. Reasonable accommodations will be made for participants in the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision championship games.

● “Winter sports: a 60-day window beginning the day after championships selections are made in the sport.

● “Spring sports: Dec. 1-15, or a 45-day window beginning the day after selections are made in the sport.

“The legislation also establishes exceptions to the new windows for student-athletes who experience head coach changes or have athletics aid reduced, canceled or not renewed.”

The Division I Board also required that “[s]tudent-athletes who transfer will be guaranteed their financial aid at their next school through graduation.”

All of this is designed to narrow the transfer periods and tamp down some of the craziness seen in some sports; the NCAA reported that 5,072 undergraduates and 1,631 graduates entered the transfer portal in 2020 and expanded to 6,475 undergrads and 3,092 grads in 2021.

Major-college football had 1,427 who entered the transfer portal in 2021, compared to 1,138 in men’s basketball and 747 in women’s basketball. Baseball had 975 transfers, the third-highest total. Men’s track & field and cross country had 587 combined, and women’s track & field and cross country had 656 combined.

Finding a new school is hardly guaranteed. Data from 2020 and 2021 show 49% of those who enter the transfer portal find a spot at another school; 43% stay in the portal, meaning they found no new destination and 7% withdraw from the portal.

4.
Lyles, Holloway, Allman win at ISTAF before 37,000

A big crowd of 37,000-plus was on hand at Berlin’s Olympiastadion for the annual ISTAF meet, with some strong results, especially for American stars Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway and Valarie Allman.

Lyles ran a rare 100 m, winning in 9.95 (wind: +0.3 m/s), clear of Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala (10.11). Holloway led a U.S. sweep in the 110 m hurdles in 13.05, over Freddie Crittenden (13.07) and Daniel Roberts. And Allman, the Tokyo Olympic champ, won the discus at 70.06 m (229-10), her fourth-best throw ever and the second-furthest throw in the world in 2022. She was nearly 5 m up on the rest of the field.

There were also three German winners, with Julian Weber in the men’s javelin (84.90 m/278-6), Luna Thiel in the women’s 400 m (51.28) and Olympic and World champ Malaika Mihambo in the women’s long jump at 6.92 m (22-8 1/2).

Norway’s Karsten Warholm was supreme in the men’s 400 m hurdles, winning by more than a second in 47.24, his no. 2 time of the season. Nigeria’s World Champion and world-record setter Tobi Amusan won the women’s 100 m hurdles in 12.45 (-0.3) ahead of American Tia Jones (12.58).

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet won the women’s 5,000 m in 14:44.25, but American Elly Henes was second in a lifetime best of 14:52.87, moving to no. 14 on the all-time U.S. outdoor list.

At the 35th Citta di Padova in Italy, Notre Dame’s 2019 NCAA 1,500 m champ Yared Nuguse continues to improve, running the fastest time by an American this year, winning in a lifetime best of 3:33.26 over fellow American Cole Hocker (3:35.18).

Nuguse is now no. 17 on the all-time U.S. outdoor list and at age 23, he’s got a bright future! Americans Drew Hunter (3:36.37) and Sam Prakel (3:36.90) ran well, finishing in fifth and seventh. Nuguse’s win was one of eight for the U.S. on the day.

American Bryce Deadmon won the men’s 400 m at 44.76, ahead of countryman Michael Cherry (45.23). There was another sweep in the men’s 110 m hurdles, this time led by Worlds silver winner Trey Cunningham (13.21; -0.1) over Jamal Britt (13.27) and Eric Edwards (13.39).

Canada’s Aaron Brown won the men’s 100 m over Worlds silver medalist Marvin Bracy of the U.S., 10.12 to 10.13 (-1.6). On the infield, Jamaica’s 2019 World Champion Tajay Gayle won the long jump at 8.26 m (27-1 1/4) – his best of the year – with American Marquis Dendy third at 7.90 m (25-11). Rogers Steen of the U.S. won the shot at 21.38 m (70-1 3/4)

U.S. women went 1-2-3-4 in the 400 m, with Jaide Stepter Baynes the winner (51.43), followed by Courtney Okolo (51.57), Kaylin Whitney (51.67) and Kyra Jefferson (52.15). Allie Wilson posted another solid 800 m race, winning in 1:58.37 over Britain’s Jemma Reekie (1:58.71) and fellow American Nia Akins (1:59.56). Tonea Marshall won the 100 m hurdles in 12.93 (-0.7) with Gabbi Cunningham third (13.08), and Dalilah Muhammad won the 400 m hurdles in a meet record 53.84.

5.
Evenepoel’s lead shrinks (a lot) at La Vuelta

The 152.6 km Stage 14 of the 77th La Vuelta a Espana might be the cruelest of all, with a 1,731 m climb over the last 32 km to the Alto Hoya de la Mora in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But it made for great racing, with Spain’s Marc Soler leading as the ascent started, but he was caught by 22-year-old Thymen Arensman (NED), who attacked and soloed to his biggest win ever over the last 6.5 km in 4:17:17. That was a solid 1:23 up on Spain’s Enric Mas and 1:25 ahead of Miguel Angel Lopez (COL).

Race leader Remco Evenepoel (BEL) finished 10th, 1:59 behind and gave back more of his lead as three-time winner Primoz Roglic (SLO) was fifth (+1:44). With seven stages left, Evenepoel’s lead – 2:41 on Friday – is down to 1:34 over Roglic and 2:01 over Mas.

Roglic had first cut into Evenepoel’s lead on Saturday, gaining 52 seconds as the race leader faltered on the brutal final 23 km climb up the Sierra de la Pandera, gaining about 1,200 m in altitude to the finish. Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz – the 2019 Giro d’Italia winner – won his second stage in the last three in 4:09:27 with a breakaway in the final 3 km. Lopez and Roglic finished 2-3, eight seconds behind, with Evenepoel coming in eighth (+0:56). That brought down the Belgian’s lead to 1:49 over Roglic and 2:43 over Mas.

Friday’s mostly downhill, 168 km route from Ronda to Montilla came down to the expected sprint, with Denmark’s Mads Pedersen finally getting a win after runner-up finishes in Stages 2-3-4 in 3:46:01, ahead of Bryan Coquard (FRA) and Pascal Ackermann (GER).

The final week begins on Tuesday with two flat stages, then three climbing stages before the final ride into Madrid on the 11th.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Ice Hockey ● The U.S. came into the final of the 2022 IIHF Women’s World Championship at the KVIK Hockey Arena in Herning (DEN) having outscored their opponents by 52-5, including a 5-2 win over Canada in the group stage.

But the Canadians had beaten all but the U.S. by 30-8 and parlayed superior defense into a 2-1 win and their second World title in a row.

The first period was scoreless, but then the Canadians got two goals from Brianne Jenner within 84 seconds. She scored first at 9:30 of the period and then got a power-play goal at 10:54 for 2-0 lead. Abby Roque got a power-play goal with Jenner off for interference with 21 seconds to go as the second period ended, 2-1.

The U.S. came out hot in the third period, but could not get another shot past Canada’s Olympic hero goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens, despite a 12-6 edge on shots in the final 20 minutes.

It was the 12th World title for Canada, now 12-8 against the U.S. in gold-medal finals. The American women have made the final in all 21 editions of the Women’s Worlds, but are now 9-12 in those games, with all of the losses to Canada.

The Czech Republic defeated Switzerland, 4-2, for the bronze medal, its first-ever medal in the Women’s Worlds. The Swiss were fourth for the second consecutive year.

● Swimming ● At the FINA World Junior Championships in Lima (PER), Romania’s world-record-setting sprinter David Popovici won three golds, but had the spotlight stolen by Portugal’s Diogo Ribeiro, who set the only World Junior Record of the meet.

Ribeiro’s record swim was his win in the 50 m Fly (22.96), and he took the 100 m Fly (52.03) and the 50 m Free (21.92). Popovici won his specialty, the 100 m Free, in 47.13, and the 200 m Free (1:46.18) – both by more than two seconds! – and led off (in 47.07) the winning men’s 4×100 m Free Relay. He also won a silver as the lead-off leg on the Mixed 4×100 m Free Relay (47.23).

Multiple winners of individual men’s events included Carlos Garach (ESP) in the 800-1,500 m Freestyles and Ksawery Masiuk (POL) in the 50-100 m Backstrokes. Masiuk won two more golds on the 4×100 m Medley and Mixed 4×100 m Medley relays.

Turkey’s Merve Tuncel won three women’s golds in the 400-800-1,500 m Freestyles, but was out-medaled by Hungarian sprinter Nikolett Padar, who won the 100-200 m Frees and then on the 4×100 m Free, 4×200 m Free and Mixed 4×100 m Free relays for five total wins!

Poland’s Karolina Piechowicz won the women’s 50-100 m Breaststroke events and Japan’s Mio Narita took the 200-400 m Individual Medleys. Both won a third gold on relays.

Italy led the medal table with 20 (2-8-10), but Japan had 19 with seven golds, eight silvers and four bronze. Hungary and Poland also won seven events. The meet was limited to men aged 15-18 and women 14-17.

● Volleyball ● At the FIVB men’s World Championship being played in Poland and Slovenia, the U.S, team advanced through the round of 16 with a dramatic 3-2 win over Turkey that ended with a 15-12 fifth-set victory after losing two straight sets. David Smith led the American men with 17 points, including three blocks.

In the quarters, the U.S. will play defending champion Poland, which swept aside Tunisia in straight sets, 3-0. The Poles beat the U.S., 3-1, back on 30 August in group play.

In the other half of the bracket, co-host Slovenia stopped Germany, 3-1, and Italy took out Cuba, also by three sets to one. Round-of-16 play continues on Monday and Tuesday, with the quarterfinals set to start on 7 September.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● Sad news that two-time Olympic silver medalist and former indoor world-record holder George Woods has passed at age 79.

The obituary states that he died on 30 August in Edwardsville, Illinois. A big man at 6-2 and 300 lbs., he was gentle, but fast and precise in the ring, using the glide technique. He made the 1968 U.S. Olympic team and finished second to Randy Matson in Mexico City (20.12 m/66-0 1/4) and was second by a centimeter in Munich in 1972 at 21.17 m (69-5 1/2).

He electrified the track world with a sensational win at the Los Angeles Times Games in 1974 with a world indoor record of 22.02 m (72-3), which would be his best ever. He set his outdoor best later the same year at the California Relays in Modesto at 21.63 m (70-10 3/4) and equaled it in 1976, again in Modesto. He still ranks 15th on the all-time world indoor list.

He made the American Olympic team for a third time in 1976, but finished seventh in Montreal in 20.26 m (66-5 3/4). His last competition was in 1980.

He worked at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville through retirement in 2001. He is survived by his wife Jean, children Andrew and Lisa and many nephews and nieces.

French coach and commentator P.J. Vazel has weighed in on the Mondo Duplantis (SWE) vs. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) 100 m at the 2023 Memorial Van Damme in Brussels:

● “How fast is @mondohoss600? 10.2 m/s with a pole on 10-5m section runup for one of his jumps in @WCHoregon22

● “How fast is @realshellyannfp? 10.9 m/s during her 100m PB

“My bet: SAFP leads from the gun to half way then Mondo gets late surge and wins in the last 20m in 10.5″

● Basketball ● The FIBA men’s AmeriCup – the regional championship – is being held in Recife, Brazil, with plenty of surprises on the first weekend.

The first stunner came on Friday (2nd), with Mexico defeating the favored U.S., 73-67, in Group C. The American team consists of players from the G League and from some foreign teams, with no current NBA players, but Mexico forged a 56-48 lead after three quarters and after the U.S. tied the game at 58 in the fourth quarter, the Mexicans scored the next six points and held on.

On Sunday, the U.S. was beating up on Venezuela, 48-21, at halftime when rains seeped into the Geraldao Arena and the game has to be stopped and FIBA announced that it would be continued later … sometime.

The last game of the group is scheduled for Monday, with the U.S. facing Panama; the top two teams in each group and the top two third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals.

● Cycling ● At the final stop on the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, at Val di Sole in Italy, France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot dominated the competition.

The 2014 World Champion won the Cross Country Olympic race for her second victory and third medal of the season in 1:20:23, far ahead of countrywomen Loana Lecomte (1:21:50), Tokyo Olympic champ Jolanda Neff (SUI: 1:22:52) and American Haley Batten (1:23:41). Ferrand-Prevot also won the women’s Short-Course race in 20:56, just ahead of Lecomte (also 20:56), with Neff (21:03) fourth and American Kate Courtney (the 2018 World Champion) fifth (21:20).

France also swept the men’s races, with Titouan Carod winning both events. He took the Cross Country Olympic race at 1:22:02, comfortably ahead of Swiss legend Nino Schurter (1:22:37) and fellow Frenchman Jordan Sarrou (1:23:10). Carod won the Short-Course race in 22:28, ahead of South African Alan Hatherly (22:32).

Schurter won the Cross Country Olympic seasonal series for the eighth time in his career, scoring 1,723 points to 1,620 for Carod. Switzerland’s Alessandra Keller was the seasonal champ with 1,682 points, over Rebecca McConnell (AUS: 1,626). In the Short Track season series, Hatherly won the men’s title (1,342 points) and Keller took the women’s crown (1,460).

In the Downhill, France’s Loris Vergier won the men’s event in 3:39.774, with Americans Dakotah Norton and Aaron Gwin third and fourth. Myriam Nicole completed another French sweep in the women’s race in 4:21.804. The men’s seasonal title went to Amaury Pierron (FRA) with 1,253 points; Swiss Camille Balanche won the women’s season championship with 1,465 points to 1,405 for Nicole.

● Football ● The U.S. Women’s National Team had no trouble with Nigeria in a friendly in Kansas City, Kansas on Saturday, winning 4-0 after scoring three times in the first half.

Sophia Smith got the first goal, in the 14th minute, after a bad Nigerian clearance and a left-footed laser into the net. Lindsey Horan got a pass from Smith on another failed clearance and Horan maneuvered into the middle of the box and scored on a left-footed shot in the 25th minute.

The U.S. had other chances, but didn’t score again until one minute into stoppage time, as Emily Fox’s run down the left sideline drew the defenders to her and she found Smith for the re-direction into the goal for a 3-0 advantage. The U.S. had 58% of the possession and a 9-3 shots edge in the half.

The only score of the second half came from Alex Morgan, scoring her 119th international goal on a penalty kick after a foul on Mallory Pugh. The Americans ended with 56% of the possession and a 14-8 shots advantage.

Alyssa Naeher got the shutout in goal for the ninth consecutive scoreless performance for the Women’s National Team, equaling its third-longest streak ever. The U.S. will play Nigeria again on Tuesday (6th) in Washington, D.C. at 6 p.m. Eastern time (on ESPN2).

● Shooting ● The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF), headed by Russian billionaire Vladimir Lisin, has moved the 2023 World Championships from Russia to Azerbaijan, to be held in Baku.

The one-line announcement was included in a summary of ISSF executive Committee actions on Friday at a meeting in Cyprus. This brings the ISSF in line with the International Olympic Committee’s February recommendations not to hold any events in Russia or Belarus in view of the continuing invasion of Ukraine.

● Swimming ● FINA has approved a swimming cap style specially designed for “afro hair” after rejecting it prior to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The cap was not approved in 2021 because it did not conform to “the natural form of the head.” Now, according to FINA Executive Director Brent Nowicki (USA):

“This announcement follows a period of review and discussion on cap design between FINA and SOUL CAP over the past year. Promoting diversity and inclusivity is at the heart of FINA’s work, and it is very important that all aquatic athletes have access to the appropriate swimwear.”

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ATHLETICS: Sensational meet in Brussels, with three world leads and American Records for Winger and Fisher!

By
Rich Perelman
-
A deliriously happy Kara Winger of the U.S. after an American Record and world-leading win in the javelin at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels on Friday (Photo: Diamond League AG)

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

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

The penultimate Diamond League meet of 2022 was worth the wait, as Friday’s Memorial Van Damme was one of the best of the season, producing world-leading marks in three events:

● Men/5,000 m: 12:45.71, Jacob Krop (KEN)
● Women/High Jump: 2.05 m (6-8 3/4), Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR)
● Women/Javelin: 68.11 m (223-5), Kara Winger (USA)

For American fans, two national records were set, first by Winger and then by Grant Fisher, runner-up in the men’s 5,000 m in 12:46.96!

The biggest surprise had to be Winger, 36, who said she will retire at the end of the season and won a stunning World Championships silver medal in Eugene in July on her final throw. In Brussels, she led the competition heading into the final round, at 63.82 m (209-4), then got hold of her sixth-round throw that finally landed at 68.11 m (223-5); she was celebrating while it was still in the air!

That shattered Maggie Malone’s U.S. mark of 67.40 m (221-1) from 2021 and Winger was celebrating with her husband Russ in the stands; she said afterwards that maybe she won’t retire:

“I feel so incredible my last personal best was twelve years ago in 2010 and I had two surgeries since then, but I felt really amazing this year. I was so consistent and with my husband as my coach and the best support system around me it has just been such a cool year of great decision-making for me and doing what is right for me. …

“It was the same this year in Eugene and now in Brussels. I felt very at home here. I’ll definitely return here. Just perfect conditions and fabulous women to compete with, a wonderful meeting overall. I just cannot believe it yet. I´m so happy.”

Winger is now the no. 12 thrower of all time; Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi was a distant second at 63.45 m (208-2).

There was a hot pace in the men’s 5,000 m from the beginning, with Kenya’s Worlds silver medalist Krop separating from a group of four on the final lap, with only Fisher giving chase. They were shoulder-to-shoulder off the turn, but Krop had more in the tank and his 12:45.71 win moves him to no. 6 on the all-time list. Fisher was game, but had to settle for second and shattering Bernard Lagat’s 12:53.60 mark from 2011. At 12:46.96, Fisher now ranks 12th all-time.

The top six all broke 13 minutes, with Nicholas Kipkorir (KEN) third in 12:50.97; Americans Woody Kincaid and Joe Klecker finished 12-13 in 13:13.90 and 13:15.17.

In the women’s high jump, Mahuchikh, 20, was the only one to clear 1.97 m (6-5 1/2), 2.02 m (6-7 1/2) and then a lifetime best and world-leading 2.05 m (6-8 3/4) in her second attempt. She had three good tries at a world-record 2.10 m (6-10 3/4), but failed to clear. It’s Mahuchikh’s second-highest jump ever, as she has cleared 2.06 m (6-9) indoors, in 2021.

And there were more shocks:

● Men/Vault: Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis came in with an undefeated season and 20 straight wins dating back to last year. But despite being way over the bar at 5.91 m (19-4 3/4), he came down on it three straight times and had to settle for second to E.J. Obiena (PHI), who cleared 5.91 m on his third try. American Chris Nilsen was third at 5.71 m (18-8 3/4).

● Women/100 m: Jamaica’s five-time World Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce rocketed out of the blocks as usual, but was reeled in by teammate and World 200 m Champion Shericka Jackson in the final 10 m, 10.73-10.74 (wind: +0.6 m/s). That ended Fraser-Pryce’s undefeated season at six meets; Americans Aleia Hobbs, Sha’Carri Richardson and Tamara Clark went 4-5-6 in 10.91-10.93 and 11.03.

● Women/1,500 m: Surely, British star Laura Muir, the Commonwealth and European champ, was the one to beat, but it was Ethiopian Diribe Welteji who looked like the winner with 100 m to go when Ireland’s Ciara Mageean flew by and stormed to an unexpected win in a lifetime best and national record of 3:56.63, moving to no. 4 in 2022. Welteji was passed by countrywoman Freweyni Hailu on the straightaway, but Muir passed her for second at the line, 3:56.86 to 3:56.94.

American Heather MacLean was fifth with a lifetime best of 3:58.76, making her the no. 7 performer in American history. Elise Cranny was right behind in sixth in 3:59.61.

In the sprints, American Erriyon Knighton had to work hard on the straightaway to win the men’s 200 m in 20.07 into a 2.9 m/s headwind, well ahead of Alexander Ogando (DOM: 20.18). The men’s 400 hurdles was another triumph for World Champion Alison Dos Santos (BRA), winning in 47.54 ahead of American Khallifah Rosser (47.88). American C.J. Allen was third in 47.96, a lifetime best, but was disqualified for a trail-leg violation.

The women’s 400 m was a win for Dominican Fiordalize Cofil, who came on late to beat Sada Williams (BAR) with a lifetime best of 49.80 to 50.15. Olympic champ Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) overcame a strong start by American Keni Harrison and steamed to a quick 12.27 win (+0.1) in the 100 m hurdles, the equal-11th fastest time ever! American Tia Jones came up for second in a lifetime best of 12.38 (no 10 all-time U.S.) and Harrison was third in 12.40.

In the distances, World 1,500 m gold medalist Jake Wightman (GBR) continued his dream season with an impressive win in the men’s 800 m in a lifetime best of 1:43.65 – now no. 4 in 2022 – over Djamel Sedjati (ALG) and Olympic and World Champion Emmanuel Korir (KEN), both in 1:44.12. Kenya’s Jackline Chepkoech ran away with the women’s Steeple, winning in 9:02.43 – no. 5 on the season – with Werhuka Getachew (ETH: 9:03.44) second. Americans Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs were eighth and 10th in 9:14.43 and 9:20.93.

Cuba’s World Indoor Champion in the men’s triple jump, Lazaro Martinez, got a big mark of 17.49 m (57-4 3/4) in the second round to win, with recovering American star Christian Taylor getting a seasonal best of 16.72 m (54-10 1/4) for fourth. Nigeria’s Ese Brume – the Worlds silver medalist – got her first Diamond League win of the year in the women’s long jump at 6.83 m (22-5), ahead of American Quanesha Burks (6.54 m/21-5 1/2).

Quite a meet, with a strong crowd in the King Badouin Stadium that was fully in tune with the field-eventers, especially. The Diamond League season will conclude with the Weltklasse in Zurich on 7-8 September next week.

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TSX REPORT: Paris 2024 is looking to save money anywhere; eSports at Pan Am Games ‘23; Fraser-Pryce vs. Mondo at 100 m at Brussels 2023?!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. French Sports Minister asks for lowered specs for Paris 2024
2. Pan American Esports Championships with PanAm Games ‘23
3. Korea vs. U.S. Universiade 2027 selection process heating up
4. Kovacs 74-2 1/4 in Brussels; Fraser-Pryce vs. Duplantis at 100 m?
5. Ecuador’s Carapaz wins La Vuelta Stage 12 on final ascent

The cost pressures on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are real, real enough for the French Sports and Olympics minister to ask the Coordination Commission of the International Olympic Committee this week to revise some of its technical specs “a little downwards.” A Pan American Esports Championships will be mounted in parallel with the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, extending a run of closer relations in multi-sport games with the electronic gaming community. The 2027 World University Games will be in Korea or in North Carolina in the U.S. and the bid pace is increasing with second sets of visits underway from the International University Sports Federation (FISU). At the Diamond League Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, American shot star Joe Kovacs won with a brilliant 21.61 m (74-2 1/4) in the second round, and Jamaican sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce challenged Olympic and world men’s vault champ Mondo Duplantis of Sweden to a 100 m race next year! At the Vuelta a Espana, Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz won Stage 12 with a brilliant final climb while Remco Evenepoel of Belgium remained in the overall lead.

1.
French Sports Minister asks for lowered specs for 2024

The FrancsJeux.com site reports that the French Minister for Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games asked the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission to look at relaxing some of its technical requirements for the Paris 2024 Games, in the name of saving money.

In her remarks at the organizing committee’s offices on Tuesday, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra told the CoComm (computer translation of the original French):

“We will have to deal with the adverse effects of inflation.

“It will sometimes be necessary to re-discuss with you certain specifications and see the reasonable side of revising them a little downwards. Moderate all forms of costs and be on the hunt for ‘waste.’ There is no room for bureaucracy, there is no room for unnecessary coordination costs. It may sometimes be necessary to work on optimizations, and sometimes on optimizations of lesser recipes.”

Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet underscored the need:

“In the current context, with the health, economic and geopolitical crises that have been linked for two years, maintaining the level of ambition until the end will be a real challenge.

“We are going to need your help to find new sources of optimization and to go even further in the savings to be made.”

At the Wednesday news conference at the end of the meetings, the Commission chair, Belgian Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant was enthusiastic about the hunt for savings and his confidence in the outcome:

“No stone will be left unturned! We will turn over all of those stones to find efficiency and we are going to think outside the box, be flexible, look at getting those creative juices flowing, so that we’re able to ensure that the work linked to optimizing the costs is put into place. It is a collective responsibility that we must take on. …

“We are leaving Paris with the conviction, with the belief that Paris 2024 is on track and will be able to overcome the [budget] challenge and the challenges that may present themselves in the upcoming weeks and months. The teams are ready, the projects are in place, and I have blind faith in Paris 2024.”

For openers, Paris 2024 chief executive Etienne Thobois mentioned that the rental periods for competition and training sites is being evaluated based on the now-available sports schedule and the number of vehicles being acquired could perhaps be dropped by 30-40% vs. Tokyo given the proximity of the venues and available public transportation. He noted that savings will be made on a case-by-case basis, a process that will continue not only up to the Games, but through them as well.

2.
Pan American Esports Championships with PanAm Games ‘23

PanAm Sports and the Global Esports Federation announced the first Pan American Esports Championships, to be staged alongside the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile in 2023.

This is the latest move to incorporate eSports into the Olympic Movement. The 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia had a six-game program included as a demonstration program and will have eight games included as medal events at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou (CHN), postponed to 2023.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (ENG) also included eSports as a demonstration program, with three games contested and open and women’s divisions.

Similarly, the 2023 Pan American Esports Championships will be held “in parallel” with the Pan American Games in Santiago, scheduled for 20 October-5 November, with 414 events in 39 sports. In addition, the Global Esports Federation will be showcased with a “GEF Festival” – described as “a celebratory showcase of the diverse esports culture” and “GEFcon,” a conference on the future of eSports.

The specifics of the 2023 event have not been worked out; the announcement noted only, “The GEF and Panam Sports will jointly establish the governance structures to oversee the coordination of the Pan American Esports Championships.”

3.
Korea vs. U.S. Universiade 2027 selection process heating up

The International University Sports Federation (FISU) will decide on the host for the 2027 World University Games in November, with the federation busy evaluating both candidate regions for the 12-day, 19-sport, 6,000-athlete event.

After seeing the Korean bid in early July, a three-member FISU technical team visited the North Carolina bid committee in late July, inspecting venues and reviewing the plan offered for the event.

Just completed – on Wednesday – was a visit by a four-member FISU senior management team to Korea to review the plan offered by the Chungcheong Megacity bid committee, including Acting FISU President Leonz Eder (SUI), Vice President Marian Dymalski (POL), Secretary General Eric Saintrond (BEL), Games Director Jing Zhao (CHN) along with Byong-jin You (KOR), a member of FISU’s Executive Committee.

Eder, Dymalski, Saintrond and Zhao are headed for North Carolina now for a 17-21 September review of its bid. The North Carolina organizers describe this as “a more high level tour intended to meet our state leaders, as well as local government, bid, sponsor, and sport key executives. Our guests will also spend time at primary venues, Games Villages, and on our Games plan and bid.”

The formal bid documents for the North Carolina bid were also completed this week and transmitted to FISU. The U.S. has hosted the summer World University Games once, in Buffalo in 1993, but will host the Winter WUG for a second time this coming January in Lake Placid.

4.
Kovacs 74-2 1/4 in Brussels; Fraser-Pryce vs. Duplantis
at 100 m?

The next-to-last Diamond League meet for 2022, the Memorial Van Damme, began on Thursday with the men’s shot put at the Marche aux Poissons in mid-town Brussels with a superb win for two-time World Champion Joe Kovacs (USA), at 22.61 m (74-2 1/4).

Here’s how good a season Kovacs – the Worlds silver medalist – is having: the winning distance was his ninth-best throw of the season. But: “I think there’s more in the tank, but hopefully in Zurich or Zagreb I can get out a few big throws and get towards the 23-meter line.”

Kovacs took the lead in the second round and was never challenged. New Zealand star Tom Walsh was second at 21.60 m (70-10 1/2) with teammate Jacko Gill third (21.32 m/69-11 1/2).

At the news conference ahead of Friday’s main meet, five-time women’s 100 m World Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM: 35) challenged Sweden’s pole vault icon Mondo Duplantis (22) to a race! This was hysterical (partial transcript):

SAFP: How fast can you say you can do in the 100 meters … against me?

Mondo: Wait, what’d you say?

SAFP: Against me.

Mondo: Against you? I would beat you, yeah.

SAFP: Explain to us how sprinting and pole vault work; I don’t see you doing a lot of sprint work.

Mondo: How do you know what I do?

SAFP: I know, because I saw the backyard pole vault thing; I didn’t see you do any … I mean, 20 meters? 10 meters run-up [to vault]?

Mondo: Forty-five meters.

SAFP: 45? Are you sure?

Mondo: I should be sure. Of my own run, yeah. I ran the 100 meter a few times in high school.

SAFP: ‘18, ‘19, ‘20, ‘21 … that’s five years ago.

Mondo: And I’m a lot faster than five years ago.

SAFP: Wanna bet?

Mondo: I would want to bet a lot!

SAFP: OK (handshake).

Duplantis said he’s fine with a race in Brussels in 2023, “just me against Shelly-Ann.”

Now this would be classic, as Duplantis ran 10.73 for the 100 m back in 2018, and 10.57w, with a slight 2.1 m/s wind-aid. Fraser-Pryce, of course, ran 10.60 in 2021 and has run 10.70 or faster 10 times (with legal wind) in her career.

The Memorial Van Damme on Friday will be shown on NBC’s Peacock subscription service from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Eastern time, with highlights on NBC on Saturday from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.

5.
Ecuador’s Carapaz wins La Vuelta Stage 12 on final ascent

Ecuadorian star Richard Carapaz, the Tokyo Olympic road race gold medalist, showed off his climbing skills with an impressive win in Stage 12 of the 77th La Vuelta a Espana. He broke away in the final 2 km of the misery-inducing finishing ascent up the Penas Blancas in the Andulucia region of Spain and finished nine seconds up on Wilco Keldermann (NED) and 24 seconds ahead of Marc Soler (ESP).

A breakaway group of 32 riders took a bid lead a quarter of the way into the 192.7 km route, but only 10 were left when the ride up the Penas Blancas started, with Carapaz finishing the strongest. Well behind him was the group of race leaders, with Remco Evenepoel (BEL) maintaining his 2:41 lead on three-time defending champion Primoz Roglic (SLO) and 3:03 on Spain’s Enric Mas.

While Friday’s stage is flat, the weekend stages both have climbing finishes; will Roglic try to strike at Evenepoel on either?

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● The twice-postponed World Indoor Championships in Nanjing (CHN) was postponed again in view of the continuing no-Covid policy in China.

World Athletics announced that the Nanjing meet, originally attributed for 2020, then slated for 2021 and then March of 2023, will now take place in 2025.

The World Indoors used to be held on a two-year cycle, with the next edition in Glasgow (GBR) in 2024. The statement noted that as “the bid process has already commenced for the 2026 edition of the championships,” the Nanjing event is being slotted for 2025.

The Philadelphia Eagles re-signed rookie wide receiver – and three-time national 110 m hurdles champion – Devon Allen to its practice squad on Wednesday after releasing him on Tuesday.

Allen, the no. 3 hurdler in history at 12.84 earlier this season, cleared waivers and will now be held in reserve; according to NBCSports.com:

“The NFL weekly practice squad minimum is now $11,500 for rookies, so they can make $207,000 if they remain on the practice squad the entire season. …

“With the NFL’s game-day call-up rules now, practice squad players earn a game-day active-roster minimum-wage salary of $39,167 for every week they’re promoted.”

● Ice Hockey ● At the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark, the U.S. women continued their march, stomping Hungary in the quarterfinals by 12-1 on Thursday. Canada defeated Sweden by 3-0, the Czech Republic upset Finland by 2-1 in overtime and Switzerland edged Japan, 2-1, in a shoot-out.

The re-seeded semifinals will see the U.S. play the Czechs and Canada face Switzerland, both on Saturday. The medal matches will be on Sunday.

The U.S. has the top two goal scorers so far in the tournament, with Taylor Heise and Hannah Bilka both with five. The Americans have outscored their five opponents by 42-4.

● Wrestling ● Ellis Coleman, a U.S. Olympian in the 60 kg Greco-Roman division at the London 2012 Olympic Games, had his sanction for use of a steroid confirmed by an arbitrator in late July, according to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Coleman, 31, a five-time U.S. Open champion at 67 kg, tested positive at an out-of-competition test in December 2021. According to the announcement, “USADA determined that Coleman used a supplement that listed the prohibited anabolic agent DHEA on the label.”

Coleman challenged the finding and the “arbitrator concluded that Coleman’s degree of fault was significant due to a number of factors, including the athlete’s extensive anti-doping education and failure to check the ingredients on the label to determine for himself whether it contained a prohibited substance.”

The sanction is for two years, through 28 February 2024.

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TSX REPORT: Rowing confirms move to Long Beach for LA28; IOC CoComm says Paris 2024 “on track”; Germany settles with Munich Massacre families

By
Rich Perelman
-
An aerial view of the historic Long Beach Marine Stadium, with the Davies Bridge visible at the bottom. (Photo: Google Maps)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. World Rowing confirms move to Long Beach for LA 2028
2. IOC CoComm chief says Paris 2024 “on track”
3. Germany agrees on added compensation to Munich Massacre families
4. Meyers-Taylor elected to USOPC Board for 2023-26
5. Australia’s Groves wins La Vuelta Stage 11 sprint

A three-year process to move the 2028 Olympic rowing competition from Lake Perris to the historic Long Beach Marine Stadium was confirmed by World Rowing, agreeing to a one-time change to a 1,500 m race course. The head of the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission for the Paris 2024 Games said the project is “on track” and is fully confident in the preparations and even the budget so far. The German government, with the State of Bavaria and City of Munich contributing, announced a compensation settlement with the families of the 11 Israeli athletes, coaches and officials killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, days ahead of the official, 50-year commemoration ceremony. Four-time Olympian and Olympic and Worlds bobsled medalist Elana Meyers Taylor was elected by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Athletes Advisory Council to serve on the USOPC Board of Directors starting in January. At the Vuelta a Espana, Australian Kaden Groves won the sprint finish to Stage 11, while Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel continues in the overall lead.

1.
World Rowing confirms move to Long Beach for LA 2028

/Updated/Among the 142 pages of the agenda and reports for the 2022 World Rowing Congress to be held on 26 September is the introduction by President Jean-Christophe Rolland (FRA) that includes the federation’s agreement to move to the rowing events for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles:

“For some time now, I have widely shared our analysis on the opportunity to organise the Olympic and Paralympic regattas in Long Beach, rather than on Lake Perris as initially proposed in the bid file, in order to adapt to the context and to be in perfect harmony with the 2020 Olympic Agenda. Following our investigations, measurements and technical analyses, the Board has decided to formally accept this option proposed by the LA28 OGOC. We consider that reducing to 1500m, adapting to the technical and environmental constraints was a significant and justified effort, but one that will of course remain exceptional and unique. I would like to remind you that only the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic regattas are affected by this exceptional decision. Our existing Rules will continue to apply to all other official competitions. The ball is now in the Organising Committee’s court for the next steps.”

Translation: Moving the events from Lake Perris to Long Beach ostensibly removes a separate housing issue in Riverside County for the LA28 organizers, and makes the Games more compact and hopefully, saves money. The original request from LA28 was made in early 2019 and informally agreed by World Rowing in November of 2021. Now it’s final.

The Long Beach Marine Stadium is historic, having been used for the 1932 Olympic Games, but with the installation of the J.H. Davies Bridge in 1955, the course length is restricted and a full course of 2,000 m cannot be accommodated. So, the competitions will be shorter, at 1,500 m.

The 2,000 m course length was adopted for Stockholm in 1912; it was 1,750 m for Paris 1900, 3,218 m for St. Louis in 1904 and 2,414 m for London 1908. And for the post-war 1948 Games in London, the course was 1,850 m, so a different distance is not unprecedented. But this will be the shortest course in Olympic history.

The Marine Stadium, however, is adjacent to the Pacific Ocean and is impacted by tidal issues. Morning competitions will be called for and so there may be a need for some housing support close to the venue to keep crews from making pre-dawn bus rides from the Village at UCLA to Long Beach. That is yet to be determined.

The change of venue for rowing naturally means that the Canoeing competitions needs to be moved as well. The International Canoe Federation is already on board with this and has been since last year. A November 2021 inquiry at an ICF Council meeting was replied to with: “We are in Long Beach. LA28 wants it there.”

The rowing folks, however, are continuing to negotiate with the International Olympic Committee and LA28 about the program for 2028. The IOC has long been trying to eliminate the Lightweight division in the Games, which included the Double Sculls for men and women at Tokyo 2020 and listed for Paris 2024. Rolland wrote:

“[T]he objective remains to propose the inclusion of three Coastal Rowing events for Los Angeles 2028, a proactive and ambitious attitude in the face of the IOC’s position to eliminate lightweight events. We are entering the final phase of this phase, including an evaluation according to very precise criteria in line with Agenda 2020+5. This centres around aspects of costs and complexity, popularity and interest for the host country, universality, and gender equality and relevance for young people.

“In order to put the odds in our favour, the Council decided, based on the analysis and recommendation of the Coastal Rowing Commission, to focus on the ‘beach sprint’ format which, in the context of Los Angeles 2028, potentially Brisbane 2032 and the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026, offers a more relevant and powerful argument.”

Note that World Rowing is trying to add another event to its existing total of 14. That decision should come in 2023.

(Thanks to reader Paul Roberts for spotting a typo on the 1904  – not 2004 – St. Louis Olympic Games.)

2.
IOC CoComm chief says Paris 2024 “on track”

“I can say, on behalf of all of the members of the Coordination Commission, that we were blown away by the level of accuracy, the precision, and the state of preparation for these Games.”

That’s IOC member Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant (BEL), the head of the Paris 2024 Coordination Commission, as interpreted into English during a Wednesday news conference following three days of meetings with the organizing committee.

He left no doubt of his confidence in the 2024 Games:

● “It is obviously normal for things to change, we have had adaptations, but over the course of the adaptations that have been made, this project has been strengthened on all different fronts. The vision [remains] to make these Olympic Games as spectacular as possible, emblematic, also the use of different emblematic sites in Paris, that Paris can offer.

“We are looking at sustainable, we are looking at responsible Games, and also Games that will be useful for French society and the world of tomorrow. All of the different pieces of the puzzle are intact, and they have been well prepared, and I think that they are very much well alive.”

● “Preparations for Paris 2024 are underway; we are on the right track for meeting different deadlines and this for us is a fundamental issue. Why? If you’re slightly off-track six years out, that’s fine, but two years out, we have to be following the different steps that have been outlined. And this is the case, which will allow us to deliver on the Olympic Games.

“We are two years out, in fact, less than two years out, and despite all of the different constraints that were imposed because of the pandemic and because of the economic crisis and geopolitical crisis that we have seen the past eight months, it’s remarkable that they’ve still managed to stay on track, and therefore, I would like to commend all the different stakeholders involved in Paris 2024 that have been here over the course of the last few days.

“We are leaving with strengthened trust in the leadership of Paris 2024.”

● “Collectively, all together, all of the different stakeholders, we want to deliver on this vision of Paris 2024, the elements of the ambition and the vision that will ensure that Paris 2024 and its Olympic Games will be a turning point in the history of the modern Olympic Games. They will be unique, useful, with real legacy left for France. In fact, a legacy which is already showing and will continue beyond the closing of the Olympic Games.”

Multiple questions were raised about the budget, which Paris 2024 head Tony Estanguet (FRA) has said is under pressure from the worldwide inflationary pressures and supply-chain issues. A third comprehensive budget will be released at the end of the year and the IOC and Paris 2024 are already engaged in an “optimization” process to find cost efficiencies wherever possible. Said Beckers-Vieujant:

“We are leaving Paris with the conviction, with the belief that Paris 2024 is on track and will be able to overcome the [budget] challenge and the challenges that may present themselves in the upcoming weeks and months. The teams are ready, the projects are in place, and I have blind faith in Paris 2024.”

As for the organizing committee’s domestic sponsorship sales effort, Beckers-Vieujant was optimistic:

“They’re still on track and happy that it’s going to reach the percentage it’s aiming for – 80% by the end of the year – then there’s no reason for concern. In fact, there are discussions on different levels – tier one, two and three – that are ongoing. There’s quite a lot in the pipeline and I know the teams are very busy with this. It is important, of course, because it’s over the next few months that we’re going to have to bring all of these marketing programs to a positive end. But we’re very happy with the level of involvement on the part of certain companies, and so at this stage, no reason for concern.”

Beckers-Vieujant said there had been no discussions about lowering the capacity along the River Seine for the Opening Ceremony from 600,000 to perhaps 400,000. Estanguet noted that discussions are continuing with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) about the use of the well-known Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille – built in 2012 with a retractable roof – for preliminary basketball matches, with the federation asking if the facility can be air-conditioned … at the expense of Paris 2024, of course.

3.
Germany agrees on added compensation to
Munich Massacre families

German media reported that an agreement on added compensation to the families of the 11 Israeli athletes and officials killed by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games had been reached, with family members now expected to attend the formal, 50-year memorial ceremony in Munich on 5 September.

The German government previously made payments to the families in 1972 and again in 2002, but these were derided as trivial in view of amounts paid to the victims of other tragedies.

Reports indicated that €28 million (about $28.02 million U.S.) will be paid in total, principally by the German government (€22.5 million), with smaller shares contributed by the State of Bavaria (€5 million) and the City of Munich (€500,000).

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said:

“The German government welcomes the fact that it has now been possible to reach an agreement with the relatives on an overall concept to mark the 50th anniversary.

“This includes the reappraisal of the events by a commission of German and Israeli historians, the release of files in accordance with the law, the classification and acceptance of political responsibility within the framework of the commemoration ceremony, as well as the provision of further recognition services by the federal government, by the state of Bavaria and by the city of Munich.”

In a joint statement, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Israeli President Isaac Herzog noted:

“The agreement cannot heal all wounds. But it opens a door to each other. With this agreement, the German state acknowledges its responsibility and recognizes the terrible suffering of the murdered and their relatives, which we will commemorate next week.”

4.
Meyers-Taylor elected to USOPC Board for 2023-26

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Athletes Advisory Council (AAC) elected four-time Olympian – and five-time medal winner – Elana Meyers Taylor to serve on the USOPC Board of Directors from 2023-26.

Meyers Taylor will replace Steve Mesler – also a bobsledder – as one of three AAC-elected, athlete representatives on the 18-member USOPC Board. Her term will begin on 1 January 2023.

Meyers Taylor is widely respected not only as an athlete – winning five Olympic medals from 2010-22 (0-3-2) and eight World Championships medals (4-2-2) – but also for her leadership. She was elected to be a U.S. team’s flagbearer at the Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony, but could not participate due to Covid, and was then elected to be flagbearer at the Closing Ceremony.

No stranger to board rooms, she has served on the board of USA Bobsled & Skeleton and as President of the Women’s Sports Foundation, and had a two-month internship in 2014 at the International Olympic Committee.

5.
Australia’s Groves wins La Vuelta Stage 11 sprint

The mildly hilly, 191.2 km 11th stage of the 77th La Vuelta a Espana ended with a flat finish into Cabo de Gata, meaning the stage was for the sprinters.

German John Degenkolb made the first move toward the finish, but was passed by Sebastian Molano (COL), but the trio of Kaden Groves (AUS), Danny van Poppel (NED) and Tim Merlier (BEL) blew by to finish 1-2-3 in 5:03:14, with the top 120 riders all given the same time. It was Groves’ first career win in a Grand Tour.

No change in the overall standings, with Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel leading three-time defending champ Primoz Roglic (SLO) by 2:41 and Spain’s Enric Mas by 3:03. Thursday’s stage is a lengthy 192.7 km, finishing with a brutal final climb to the finish in Penas Blancas with a rise of 1,260 m in the final 20 km.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● Remember Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, the Belarusian sprinter who criticized her coaches at Tokyo 2020, then escaped at the Tokyo airport and eventually was granted asylum in Poland?

She’s a Polish citizen now, and on an Instagram post as Kristi Timanovskaya, she wrote in part (in Polish):

“Last Saturday, the Polish Team Championship took place, where I won the individual 100 meters, and our team @azsawf took second place

“This was my first official competition in which I participated not as a Belarusian, but as a Pole.

“After all, after such a long time, I can go to the track without any problems and represent my club. …

“Thank you @polishathletics for welcoming me and giving me the chance to continue my sports career.

“This season has been strange and difficult for me, but now I am going to rest and prepare for the new season with renewed vigor. I’m sure everything will be different now and my results will increase a lot.”

Timanovskaya, now 25, has run 11.31 this season and has a best of 11.04 from 2018; if she could regain that form, she could be one of her country’s best sprinters.

● Football ● The European Football Union (UEFA) announced impressive audience figures for the 2022 Women’s European Championship held in July, with 365 million estimated to have watched some part of the tournament worldwide.

That’s from 60 broadcast partners around the world, including ESPN in the U.S. and is an all-time record. The growth of interest in the women’s game was demonstrated by comparison to the two prior tournaments that drew 116 million in 2013 and 178 million in 2017.

The in-person attendance of 574,875 at the 10 different stadia in England that hosted game shredded the prior high of 240,055 from 2017 in The Netherlands. The per-match average of 18,544 was also a record.

● Sailing ● This is about Russian and Belarusian officials. World Sailing suspended eight individuals from the federation’s board and committees on late May, with the suspensions quickly appealed.

The World Sailing Judicial Board appointed an independent panel to hear the cases and a 12 August decision upheld the federation’s suspensions for all offices actually held. Other bodies, such as the IOC, do not want Russian or Belarusian athletes to compete, but have not suspended officials from those countries. World Sailing’s governing Council will review this policy in November.

● Swimming ● Marijuana use is looked at liberally in some countries, but not in Singapore. Rio 2016 hero Joseph Schooling – who swam at the University of Texas and won the 100 m Butterfly over American icon Michael Phelps – knows this only too well.

Now 27, Schooling has not reached the same level since Rio, but has been a consistent medal winner at regional competitions, including the important Asian Games. His two-year National Service conscription to the military was deferred through the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games last year and while he began serving in January 2022, he was allowed time off for training and competitions.

That ended on Tuesday (30th) as he admitted to cannabis use in preparation for and during the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi (VIE). The military will no longer allow “disruptions” to his service for training or competitions, and his case will be handled by the military as he is considered an active-duty service member.

He tested negative for marijuana at the Southeast Asian Games, but admitted the use in May. He could be sentenced to detention in a military facility, and the case is ongoing.

● Volleyball ● Defending champion Poland completed group play undefeated, along with five other teams at the FIVB Men’s World Championship being played in Katowice (POL) and Ljubljana (SLO).

Italy, Serbia, Poland, Brazil, France and the Netherlands all went 3-0 in their groups and advanced as winners to the round of 16, single-elimination playoffs that start on 3 September. The U.S. men were 2-1 – losing to Poland in four sets – in Group C and are seeded eight, playing Turkey on 4 September in Gilwice (POL); a victory would send the U.S. against the winner of Poland-Tunisia in the 8 September quarterfinals.

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TSX REPORT: Fanatics joins LA28 as retail partner; U.S.’s Cobb named IBU Secretary General; strict security in Qatar for FIFA World Cup

By
Rich Perelman
-
A July poll said Americans like the 2028 Olympics being in Los Angeles by 78-4%!

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. LA28, USOPC ink Fanatics deal for souvenirs and staff
2. USA Biathlon’s Max Cobb named Int’l Biathlon Union Secretary General
3. Infantino: very strict security coming at Qatar 2022
4. Three-year anniversary of Iran’s “Blue Girl” shame on Friday
5. Evenepoel and Roglic go 1-2 in La Vuelta time trial

More good news for the LA28 revenue side, as licensed merchandise giant Fanatics officially signs on as the retail partner for both the 2028 Olympic Games and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. U.S. Biathlon chief Max Cobb will be the new Secretary General of the International Biathlon Union, extending a growing American presence at International Federations. FIFA President Gianni Infantino, noting that fans of all 32 teams will be in proximity as never before at the compact Qatar ‘22 World Cup, promises zero tolerance for trouble makers. The three-year anniversary of the tragic death of Iranian football fan – “Blue Girl” – Sahar Khodayari, caused by her arrest while trying to watch her favorite team, was remembered by women fans allowed to attend a domestic-league match for the first time in more than 40 years. Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel extended his lead at the Vuelta a Espana over defending champ Primoz Roglic of Slovenia in the Stage 10 time trial, but the mountain stages beckon.

1.
LA28, USOPC ink Fanatics deal for souvenirs and staff

Tuesday’s announcement was no surprise:

“Today, LA28 and Team USA announced a comprehensive merchandise and omnichannel retail agreement with digital sports platform, Fanatics, to elevate the fan shopping experience before, during, and after the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

After all, the limited, existing LA28 merchandise program was already being handled by Fanatics and organizing committee chair Casey Wasserman had told the Los Angeles City Council last December that Fanatics was already deeply financially committed to the success of the 2028 Games.

And the scope of the agreement includes in-person retail spaces in addition to online shopping:

“A key aspect of the agreement is creating physical retail spaces with Fanatics operating the suite of on-site shopping locations within the LA28 Games footprint, as well as other locations throughout Los Angeles. The significant undertaking will work across many Games venues and stadiums with multiple touchpoints and experiences at each.”

But it was the next-to-last sentence which was an eye-opener:

“For the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Fanatics will outfit the tens of thousands of volunteers.”

Most often, an apparel company such as adidas, ASICS or Nike has been the primary supplier of uniforms for officials, staff and volunteers. Fanatics, with its wide sourcing and manufacturing capabilities, is certainly capable of outfitting LA28 volunteers, but no mention of officials or staff was included, so a separate program may be under consideration.

No financial terms of the agreement were disclosed and Fanatics was described as the “official retail partner” of LA28 and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (Fanatics has been the USOPC’s online retail vendor since 2009).

This is more good news on the marketing side for LA28 and another direct-to-consumer company involved with the Games, along with Delta Airlines and The Hershey Company. LA28 is also sponsored by entertainment giant Comcast (primarily NBC), professional services firm Deloitte and software provider Salesforce.

An LA28 agreement has long been expected with Nike; some, but not all, of the existing merchandise offered by Fanatics is Nike-branded and no competitive makers are shown to be used. The USOPC has used Ralph Lauren as its parade uniform supplier for its Olympic teams.

2.
U.S. Biathlon’s Max Cobb named Int’l Biathlon Union
Secretary General

Until fairly recently, almost no Americans were serving as Presidents or chief executives of International Federations, but that is slowly changing. On Tuesday, the International Biathlon Union ended a lengthy search and named American Max Cobb as its new Secretary General.

Cobb, 57, is no stranger to the biathlon community. He joined U.S. Biathlon as a race director in 1989, was an assistant coach and manager of the national team, became the federation’s program director in 1994, was named Executive Director in 2006 and has been in charge of the federation ever since.

At the international level, he was the head of the IBU’s Technical Committee and then elected to the IBU Executive Board in 2016 (his term will end in October). He will move to Salzburg (AUT) to start in October.

Cobb also served as the Vice Chair and then Chair of the U.S. National Governing Bodies Council, working with the USOPC on the complex issues that face individual sports within the U.S. Olympic Movement. At the IBU, he will be working with 60 national federations.

While there is only one American serving as an International Federation President – David Haggerty for the International Tennis Association – Cobb becomes the second American chief executive of a winter-sport federation, after Dwight Bell, Secretary-General of the Federation Internationale de Luge (FIL).

Further, Americans serving as summer federation Secretaries-General include Brent Nowicki for FINA (aquatics), Debbie Gawrych for sport climbing (IFSC) and Bob Fasulo for the International Surfing Association. The list is getting longer.

3.
Infantino: very strict security coming at Qatar 2022

You have been warned.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) made clear the view of the federation and the organizing committee for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar concerning security. Have a good time, and that’s all.

Speaking at a ceremony dedicating a new football field in San Jose, Costa Rica on the fringes of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup that concluded over the weekend:

“All fans around the world are welcome to celebrate, party, watch the matches.

“But if anyone wants to come and start a fight or whatever, obviously they won’t be welcome and we’re all going to be very strict, because everyone’s safety is the most important thing.

“We’re going to have fans from all countries in the same city, not just those from both countries playing a game one day, but everyone will be there all the time. There are many issues that need to be considered in terms of security, accommodation, transportation and every possible and imaginable effort is made to make it a party for everyone. For football fans, it will be a unique experience.”

Infantino made an important point, in that the 2022 World Cup stadia are so close together that fans of all 32 teams will see each other consistently during the group stage. This kind of closeness is a first and might be the last for quite a while. It all starts on 20 November.

4.
Three-year anniversary of Iran’s “Blue Girl” shame on Friday

Last Thursday (25th), about 500 Iranian women were allowed – reportedly for the first time since 1979 – to attend a domestic-league soccer match as spectators to the Esteghlal FC vs. Sanat Mes Kerman FC match at Tehran’s 78,226-seat Azadi Stadium.

It came almost three years to be day after the death of “Blue Girl,” an incident almost too awful to be true. But it happened.

In March of 2019, Sahar Khodayari – known as “Blue Girl” on social media for her affection for the Esteghlal club, whose primary color is blue – tried attend a home match dressed as a man since women were barred under an Islamic edict. She was arrested; during a hearing on 2 September, she was told that she was subject to a six-month jail sentence. Upon leaving the court, she poured gasoline on herself, lit a match and was burned on over 90% of her body. She died on 9 September at age 29.

The “Blue Girl” movement drew worldwide attention and FIFA demanded that Iran make some accommodation for women to attend international matches, which are under FIFA’s purview. Women were allowed to attend – in very small numbers – an Iran-Lebanon match in October 2019.

But a report on the International Sports Journalists Association (AIPS) Web site noted that women were again denied entry for an Iran-Lebanon match in March 2022, despite having bought 2,000 of the 12,500 available tickets! This drew a threat of suspension of FIFA.

At the Esteghlal match on the 25th, the women attending chanted “Blue Girl” as a tribute to Khodayari’s actions, and the team’s Web site posted a welcome message picturing the women fans and the caption, “We are happy you are present at Azadi Stadium today”

This is progress, but slow and grudging. But to its credit, FIFA is watching and so are media inside and outside of Iran.

5.
Evenepoel and Roglic go 1-2 in La Vuelta time trial

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel came into the 2022 La Vuelta a Espana as the 2019 European time trial champion and this year’s Belgian time trial national champ, so he was ready for Tuesday’s flat, 30.9 km ride from Elche to Alicante.

Already the race leader, he dominated from the final starting position, posting the fastest time of the day (33:18), 48 seconds faster than three-time defending champ Primoz Roglic (SLO), who finished second (34:06) and a full minute up on France’s Remi Cavagna.

Going into tomorrow’s 11th stage (out of 21), Evenepoel now leads Roglic by 2:41 and Enric Mas (ESP) by 3:03, but with five major climbing stages remaining, beginning on Saturday and Sunday. The 22-year-old Belgian is the leader, but not quite yet the favorite to win.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● Consistent headwinds in the sprints led to mostly modest performances in Luzern (SUI) on Tuesday, but American sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson appeared for the first time since the U.S. National Championships and scored an 11.29-11.30 win over Jamaican icon Elaine Thompson-Herah in the women’s 100 m (wind: -2.0 m/s).

American Tia Jones won the 100 m hurdles over Olympic champ Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR), 12.78 to 12.86 (wind -2.4). Olympic champ Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S. won the 400 m hurdles in 54.57.

Marvin Bracy (USA) won the men’s 100 m in 10.17 (-1.7) and Bryce Deadmon (USA) won the 400 m over world-record holder Wayde van Niekerk (RSA), 45.11-45.19. Ryan Crouser of the U.S. won the men’s shot at a modest – for him – 22.08 m (72-5 1/4).

In Rovereto (ITA), TeeTee Terry (USA) won the women’s 100 m in 11.02 (+0.3), and Americans Allie Wilson and Olivia Baker were 1-2 in the women’s 800 m in 1:58.53 and 1:58.83. Michael Cherry of the U.S. won the men’s 400 m in 45.27 and Britain’s Kyle Langford won in a lifetime best of 1:44.49.

Two-time Olympic relay gold medalist and eight-time World Championships gold medalist – all on relays – Natasha Hastings announced her retirement on Monday in an essay on The Players’ Tribune:

“I’m so much more than just someone who runs fast. And knowing that — realizing it with absolute certainty — is why making this decision to retire from the sport that’s been a huge part of my life since I was nine … it wasn’t really something that I agonized over.

“I’m 36 now — a mom, a graduate student. It’s time to move on. I feel it in my heart.

“I’m good with it.

“And all that passion that I had for running? The drive, the focus, the determination? I’ve found a new place to put it all. And I couldn’t be more excited for what’s next.

“Right now I’m doing my master’s in clinical mental health, and after I earn my degree my plan is to become a psychologist.”

A national-class runner by 2005 and a world-class 400 m star with a best of 49.84 from 2007, she was the 2013 U.S. national champ (49.94 in Des Moines). She finished fourth at the Rio 2016 Games in the women’s 400 m, but won golds on the women’s 4×400 m relay teams at Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016, plus World Champs 4×400 m golds in 2007-09-11-13-17 and indoors in 2010-14-16.

She will be remembered for her toughness, perseverance and ultimate reliability with a baton in her hand. Her best of 49.84 ranks her equal-20th all-time U.S.

● Basketball ● The U.S. men’s national team cruised past Colombia in Barranquilla, 95-77, in the last of a two-game window in the Americas Qualifying tournament for the FIBA 2023 World Cup.

The American men had a 45-32 halftime lead that expanded in the second half. Guard John Jenkins again led the U.S. in scoring with 26 points on 8-14 on three-pointers. Sub guard Langston Galloway and forward DaQuan Jeffries had 14 points each.

The U.S. is now 7-1 and leading Group F over Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay, all 5-3. There are four more games in group play, with the next two games coming on 11-14 November.

● Chess ● You can forget about chess making into the Olympic Games any time soon, said former World Champion Anatoly Karpov (RUS). In a TASS interview, he explained:

“I think that in our lifetime, mind sports will not be included in the program of the Olympic Games. We missed this chance in the ‘90s: the former head of the International Olympic Committee [Juan Antonio] Samaranch [ESP] supported us, there were even forms of interaction.

“We submitted a joint application with the Draughts and Bridge federations to include mind sports in the program of the Winter Games, since there was a break of 4-5 hours between the morning and evening competitions, when the fans had nothing to do with themselves.

“At first, [former FIDE President] Kirsan Ilyumzhinov [RUS] was very active, but then a scandal erupted in the IOC, and those who supported us were removed from their posts. Now there is no chance to enter the Games program, but work can be done.”

In the current situation, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) re-elected Russian Arkady Dvorkovich as President, but the national chess teams of Russia and Belarus are barred from team competitions. Grandmasters are allowed to play in individual tournaments in a neutral status. Said Karpov:

“Dvorkovich told me about the pressure and that FIDE had to follow the recommendations of the IOC, but the recommendation is not an order. We hope that gradually these outrages will be removed from the chess world and chess players will be able to play in peace. The only time for political reasons that they suspended the membership of the South African federation, They had separate chess clubs for blacks and whites, but the South Africans could easily play under their own flag in individual competitions; a year later they corrected themselves. Those decisions that were made this year in chess cannot be understood by a normal person.”

● Football ● In a rematch of the 2018 FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup final, Spain defeated Japan, 3-1, to win its first tournament title, in San Jose, Costa Rica. Although the result was reversed from four years ago, the score was identical!

Spain dominated from the start and had a 3-0 lead at half after goals by Inma Gabarro (12th minute) and two from Salma Paralluelo, in the 22nd minute and in the 27th on a penalty. Japan scored the only second-half goal, in the 47th minute, by Suzu Amano.

Brazil won its first medal since 2006 with a 4-1 win over the Netherlands, in the third-place game. The U.S. women were eliminated in the group stage.

● Ice Hockey ● At the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark, the U.S. concluded a dominant group stage, winning its third and fourth games with a 9-0 whitewash of Switzerland and a 5-2 win over Canada, thanks to three goals in the final period.

The U.S. out-scored its four opponents by 30-3 (vs. 19-7 for 3-1 Canada) and rolls into the playoffs as the top seed. The Americans will play Hungary (1-3 with one overtime loss) on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

● Swimming ● The head of the Russian Swimming Federation, four-time Olympic gold medalist Vladimir Salnikov, told the TASS news agency that the current ban on Russian swimmers is wholly political:

“We have competitions that have been canceled – they have not been canceled forever – they are conditionally in the stage of postponement: the European Championship, and the World Cup. It is conditionally determined that they are postponed for some remote period.

“Answering the question ‘when,’ this is probably more of a political question. Now I will not answer it, because everyone expects some events, probably, improving the general atmosphere associated with the reaction of unfriendly countries, first of all. But it sits in everyone’s head that it’s time to do this. We won’t miss it [the decision], but we are waiting.”

Three-time U.S. Olympic relay gold medalist Blake Pieroni, 26, best known as a  Freestyle sprinter, announced his retirement from competitive swimming on Instagram last week:

“Big life update for everyone, I am retiring from the sport of swimming, I have loved all my years in the sport, the friends I’ve met and the doors that swimming has opened for me. However, I don’t feel a burning passion to be the very best that I can be. My lifetime goal from when I was young watching @m_phelps00 in Beijing was always to be olympian and I achieved that twice. Thank you to everyone who cheered for me and sent me encouraging messages. I still enjoy the sport and I hope to be around in some capacity in the future.”

He swam in the heats of the Rio 2016 men’s 4×100 m Free relay, was on the second leg of the winning Tokyo 2020 men’s 4×100 m Free relay and in the heats of the men’s 4×100 m Medley relay (which the U.S. eventually won). He also swam in the prelims of the men’s 4×200 m Free relay, but did not win a medal as the U.S. finished fourth in the final.

Pieroni also won six Worlds relay medals (4-0-2) in 2017 and 2019 and finishes with impressive Freestyle bests of 22.03 (50 m), 47.87 (100 m), 1:45.93 (200 m) and 3:53.98 (400 m).

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: Ingebrigtsen gets world lead in Lausanne; 1.47 million attend Euro Champs; lessons in government relations from World Games ‘22

By
Rich Perelman
-
A big crowd at Munich's Olympiastadion during the 2022 European Championships (Photo by Thomas Niedenmueller, courtesy European Championships Munich 2022)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Ingebrightsen 3:29.05, upsets by Hobbs & Broadbell in Lausanne
2. European Championships drew 1.47 million spectators!
3. World Games organizers failed to inform the politicians
4. California legislature OKs 10-year in-state tuition for student-athletes
5. Evenepoel extends lead at La Vuelta a Espana

The Lausanne Diamond League meet showcased Norway’s distance star Jakob Ingebtigtsen, who won with a world-leading 3:29.05 in the men’s 1,500 m. But the meet was also marked by upset wins for American Aleia Hobbs (women’s 100 m) and Jamaican Rasheed Broadbell (men’s 110 m hurdles) and a speedy 19.56 200 m win for Noah Lyles of the U.S. The just-completed European Championships in Munich drew 1.47 million spectators in total and drew excellent television audiences as well, a good sign for an event in just its second edition. The 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, was an aesthetic and athletic success, but not a financial one, as it ended with a $15.66 million deficit, with the City Council angered because it was not kept informed. Nevertheless, it allocated $5 million to help more government help apparently on the way. The California legislature approved a bill to give Olympic-sport athletes in-state tuition rates through 2032; it now goes to Governor Gavin Newsom for signature. At the Vuelta a Espana, the third uphill finish in a row saw Belgium’s 22-year-old star Remco Evenepoel hold on to the lead for the fourth straight stage, heading into Monday’s rest day.

1.
Ingebrightsen 3:29.05, upsets by Hobbs & Broadbell in Lausanne

/Updated/The 11th of 13 Diamond League meets for 2022 saw one world-leading performance, but some amazing upsets in the sprints and hurdles on Friday in Lausanne’s Athletissima meet.

Norway’s Olympic 1,500 m champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen was the only one willing to follow the swift pacesetting, passing 800 m in 1:51.5 and continuing on through 1,200 m in 2:47.8. He was never challenged, finishing his last lap in 55.2 to cross the line in a world-leading 3:29.05. Kenyan Abel Kipsang out-dueled Australian Stewart McSweyn, 3:29.93 to 3:30.18 for second.

The sprints were another story. In the eagerly-anticipated women’s 100 m, Jamaica’s five-time World Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce withdrew with an injury during warm-ups and twice Olympic champ Elaine Thompson-Herah was disqualified for a false start! When the running finally got going, it was American Aleia Hobbs with the lead with 20 m and she survived a late rush by Jamaica’s World 200 m champ Shericka Jackson for the win by 10.87-10.88 (wind 0)! Americans Tamari Davis and TeeTee Terry went 4-5 in 10.94 and 11.13. Said the winner:

“I had a good start today and I know that if I start well I can get great times.”

In the men’s 110 m hurdles, World Champion Grant Holloway of the U.S. got out to his usual strong start and had control of the race after seven hurdles. But Commonwealth Games champ Rasheed Broadbell (JAM) came on strong as did Worlds silver winner Trey Cunningham of the U.S. and they went 1-2 in 12.99 (lifetime best) and 13.10, with Holloway slipping to third in 13.11 (wind 0).

Not every event was an upset. American Noah Lyles was challenged on the turn of the men’s 200 m by World 400 m gold medalist Michael Norman, but took over in the final 50 m to win in a speedy 19.56 (wind: +1.3 m/s) to 19.76 with Jereem Richards (TTO: 19.95) third. U.S. teen star Erriyon Knighton was sixth in 20.13. It’s the equal-16th performance of all-time for Lyles, who said afterwards:

“I would have taken anything under 19.60, so 19.56 is alright for tonight. I could have gone faster but I am not going to fret too much about it.

“I am going to run the 100 m in Berlin and 200 m in Zurich, so there are quite a few meets in the coming weeks. … I feel if I have a 19.30 in me, I will not be too far from a 9.70 in the 100.”

Olympic and World Champion Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) ran away with the men’s Steeple, winning in 8:02.45, the no. 5 time of the year. American Evan Jager was eighth in a season’s best of 8:16.99. Cuba swept the men’s triple jump, with Andy Diaz (17.67 m/57-11 3/4), Lazaro Martinez (17.50 m/57-5) and Jordan Diaz (17.44 m/57-2 3/4); Americans Donald Scott and Christian Taylor were 6-7 at 16.81 m (55-2) and 16.45 m (53-11 3/4). Olympic champ Neeraj Chopra (IND) got a big, 89.08 m (292-3) throw in the first round and that held up to win the javelin; American Curtis Thompson was third (83.72 m/274-8).

In the women’s 400 m, Dominican star Marileidy Paulino used a late rush to win, 49,87 to 49.94 over Sada Williams (BAR). European silver medalist Renelle Lamote (FRA) held on in the final meters to edge Allie Wilson of the U.S. in the women’s 800 m, 1:57.84 to 1:58.09 in lifetime bests for both. And it looked like American Alicia Monson was going to steal the women’s 3,000 m with her steady, hard pace, but was overtaken at the line by favored Francine Niyonsaba (BDI), 8:26.80 to 8:26.81 (lifetime best, no. 4 all-time U.S.). Dutch star Sifan Hassan was fourth (8:28.28) and American Elise Cranny got a lifetime best in sixth in 8:29.95, moving to no. 8 all-time U.S..

Femke Bol (NED) continued her superstar streak from the Europeans with a convincing 52.95 win, with Rio Olympic champ Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S. out strongly, but fading to seventh in 56.03.

Olympic champ Jasmine Camacho-Quinn took a swift 100 m hurdles in 12.34 (wind: -0.9) ahead of world-record holder Tobi Amusan (NGR: 12.45) and Americans Tia Jones (3: 12.47), Nia Ali (4: 12.59) and Keni Harrison (6: 12.59). Slovenia’s Tina Sutej won the vault at 4.70 m (15-5) and Olympic and World Champion Yulimar Rojas (VEN) took the triple jump at 15.31 m (50-2 3/4).

In the men’s high jump, Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko faired best in the cool conditions at 2.24 m (7-4 1/4), ahead of World Champion Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) and JuVaughn Harrison of the U.S. In the men’s shot, two-time World Champion Joe Kovacs of the U.S. scored a minor upset over countryman Ryan Crouser, 22.65 m (74-3 3/4) to 22.05 m (72-4 1/4), with Crouser saying afterwards:

“I have just recovered from a long Covid and have not had any training in the last three weeks.

Considering that, tonight was not at all bad, Joe had a great series and I felt I was in the mix with the other guys.”

Next up is the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels next Friday (2 September).

2.
European Championships drew 1.47 million spectators!

The nine-sport European Championships Munich 2022 organizers released some statistics on the 12-day program, which has been widely regarded as a considerable success.

At the top of the figures was a whopping total attendance of 1.47 million, including the free public events, led by 200,000-plus for the men’s cycling road race; there were 55,000 for the opening ceremony in the Munich Olympiastadion. And:

● 4,024 athletes competing in 175 medal events in 116 sessions
● “The Roofs” festival added 150 musical performances
● Munich 2022 had 1,595 staff on-site and 6,000+ volunteers

A really unique program sure to be replicated elsewhere was the Sportabzeichen or “Sports Badge” project, in which visitors to Munich 2022 could try out each of the nine included sports for themselves. Each completed “sport” earned a single badge and more than 4,000 people completed all nine sports. The concept was to encourage more exercise.

The International Fair Play Committee awarded a “Special Fair Play Trophy” to Andorra’s Nahuel Carabana, who stopped to help the fallen Danish runner Axel Vang Christiansen in heat one of the men’s 3,000 m Steeplechase on 16 August. Christiansen – an 8:29 Steepler – had slammed into one of the barriers and crumpled in a heap on the track when Carabana (an 8:32 man) stopped to help him and get him out of the path of runners coming around again.

When the medical help came, Carabana continued, now hopelessly behind the other runners, and finished last in the heat at 9:37.74.

The television audience for the European Championships was also impressive, with the events shown on more than 50 public broadcasting channels in Europe via the European Broadcasting Union. Some 700 hours were shown live and 3,500 hours combined including on-demand video of other events.

The top draw in Germany was track & field, with an average audience on ARD of 4.48 million, followed by 2.4 million for triathlon and 2.1 million for gymnastics. Its audience peaked at about six million for Konstanze Klosterhalfen’s women’s 5,000 m win. The ZDF channel had a peak of 6.7 million, also for track & field, on the final day, with the entire session averaging 5.1 million viewers. ZDF had audiences that averaged 2.85 million for beach volleyball and track cycling (2.3 million).

Stars meant a lot and Swedish television (SVT) had a 60% audience share in the country for the men’s vault final, starring home favorite Mondo Duplantis on 20 August. Neighboring Norway’s NHK reported a 63% audience share for the track & field broadcast on 19 August that included the men’s 400 m hurdles final, starring Olympic champ Karsten Warholm.

The takeaway is that the program as a whole in Munich was more than the sum of its parts. That’s not easy to do, but this was – helped by being part of the 50-year commemoration of the Munich 1972 Olympic Games – a great example of what is possible.

3.
World Games organizers failed to inform the politicians

In a loud and forthright commentary, AL.com columnist Roy Johnson – a 2021 Pulitzer Prize winner – praised the 2022 World Games organizing committee for staging a remarkable event in a town which had never hosted anything like it, and condemned them for not sharing the financial realities as they went along:

“Yes, the World Games was a gargantuan feat. One executed with minimal glitches and seismic successes. One for which there was no viable economic blueprint, no sensible model for an event few on this side of the pond had even heard of until a handful of local businessmen and then-Mayor William Bell sought it out eight years ago – at least not one in which the math added up. …

“And yet, as [chief executive Nick] Sellers and crew fully know now: They should have said something sooner, much sooner. They should have alerted city and business leaders not just that there would be a deficit (which they did) but as soon as it was clear the hole was deeper than expected – $14 million deep.”

In fact, the debt was $15.66 million in all, with the Birmingham City Council agreeing to pick up $5 million of it, on what Johnson explained was a 7-2 vote. “I deeply resent being left in the dark,” said Councilor Valerie Abbott, one of the votes against the bailout. Sellers apologized, but Johnson noted that the Jefferson County Commission will be asked to vote on a $4 million grant and the Convention & Visitors Bureau for $1 million. That’s $10 million in all, with Sellers trying to raise the remainder from sponsors and supporters.

Said Councilor Clinton Woods:

“When we’re in the dark we’re in a terrible situation out there telling residents what we believe to be the truth. …

“In order to most effectively run the city, the public has to have faith in us – telling them the truth when we say we can’t give them what they want. We can say we didn’t know, but they see it as we should have known. They see it as a World Games versus the neighborhoods discussion. That is not the case. We got to do a better job.”

Observed: Long-time observers of the Olympic Movement will remember the broken relationship between the 1996 Olympic organizers and the City of Atlanta, which had terrible consequences for the short-term and long-term reputation of the event, such as from the non-sponsor commercial displays in the downtown area.

But in Birmingham – even with a deficit looming – the local and regional governments and the organizers ensured that the event went off well and are now trying to solve the remaining issues. That’s to the credit of both sides, with Birmingham looking to future on how it can capitalize on putting on a quality show for 3,600 athletes from 110 countries. Now they need to take the knowledge they have and make it pay off in the years to come.

4.
California legislature OKs 10-year in-state tuition
for student-athletes

The California Assembly and Senate have passed AB 2747 (2021-22), which will allow college students from anywhere who train in California to obtain in-state tuition rates and fees for the next 10 years:

“Any Team USA student athlete who trains in the state in an elite level program approved by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee is entitled to resident classification for tuition and fee purposes until the athlete has resided in the state the minimum time necessary to become a resident.”

Being a “Team USA athlete” only means being eligible under the rules of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the relevant National Governing Body.

The legislation was endorsed by the LA28 organizing committee, the USOPC, the National Governing Bodies Council and others. It’s in force as written through 30 June 2032; after that, it applies only to “any student athlete in training at the United States Olympic Training Center in the City of Chula Vista” (actually now named the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center).

It passed by 40-0 in the Senate and the final amended version was approved, 76-0, by the Assembly. California Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign it.

5.
Evenepoel extends lead at La Vuelta a Espana

Sunday’s 171.4 km route for Stage 9 at the 77th Vuelta a Espana featured yet another uphill finish, this time a brutal climb up Les Praeres in Nava in Asturias, rising almost 500 m in the final 3.8 km.

It was South Africa’s Louis Meintjes who mastered the climb best, catching the three riders ahead of him with 2.5 km left and storming to the finish in 4:32:39, ahead of Samuele Battistella (ITA: +1:01) and Edoardo Zambinini (ITA: +1:14).

Behind them was Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (+1:34), who added to his overall lead, now 1:12 up on Enric Mas (ESP) and 1:53 on three-time defending champ Primoz Roglic (SLO). Just 22, Evenepoel has already had three UCI World Tour wins this season and continues in the lead for fourth straight stage.

The overall race did not change on Friday’s single-climb, 190 km ride from Camargo to Cistierna, with home favorite Jesus Herrada winning the final sprint from Battistella (ITA) and Fred Wright (GBR) with the top five all timed in 4:30:58. Saturday’s more arduous, 153.4 km route ended with a nasty climb on the Collau Fancuaya in Astuias in northwest Spain at 1,084 m, conquered by Stage 6 winner Jay Vine (AUS) with a solo attack over the last 6 km. He finished 43 seconds up on Marc Soler (ESP) and Estonia’s Rein Taaramae.

Monday is a rest day, with a time trial on Tuesday, two more flat stages, two hilly stages and two mountain stages coming up through next Sunday.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Badminton ● The 27th BWF World Championships was held in Tokyo, with China claiming two of the five titles decided on the final day.

In the women’s Doubles, defending champions Qing Chen Chen and Yi Fan Jia (CHN) out-lasted 2021 bronze medalists So Yeong Kim and Hee Yong Kong (KOR), 22-20 and 21-14; it’s the third world title for Chen and Jia (also in 2017). In the Si Wei Zhang and Ya Qiong Huang (CHN) won their third career Mixed Doubles title together by 21-13, 21-16 over Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino (JPN), silver medalists for the second consecutive year.

The hosts celebrated a win in the women’s Singles, as top-seeded and defending champion Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) defeated Yu Fei Chen (CHN), 21-12, 10-21, 21-14. Chen won her third Worlds medal in the last five editions, after bronzes in 2017 and 2019.

Viktor Axelsen (DEN) won his second career world title with a 21-5, 21-16 rout of Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA). Axelsen also won in 2017; Vititsarn was the first-ever Thai finalist in this event.

Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Wool Yik Soh won the country’s first-ever men’s Doubles world title, upsetting three-time champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan (INA), 21-19, 21-14.

● Cycling ● The Mountain Bike World Championships returned to Les Gets (FRA) for the first time in 18 years, with the amazing Nino Schurter (SUI) winning his 10th career Worlds gold in the men’s Cross Country final.

Schurter, now 36, was in the lead or close to it during the entire seven-lap, 24.01 km race, producing the fastest laps in the field on the final two laps to finish in 1:21:13. That was nine seconds up on Spain’s David Valero (1:21:22) and 29 seconds ahead of Italian Luca Braidot (1:21:42), both first-time medal winners. Schurter came in as the defending champ and has now won seven of the last eight world titles.

French star Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, 30, won her third world title in the past four seasons and fourth overall in 1:22:08 for the six-lap, 20.58 km course. She was a clear winner, some 1:35 up on 2017 Worlds winner Jolanda Neff (SUI) and 2:13 ahead of American Haley Batten, who won her first career Worlds medal and the first for the U.S. since 2018.

In the men’s 12.0 km short-track racing, New Zealand’s Sam Gaze – the two-time Commonwealth Games Cross Country winner – managed a three-second win over Swiss Filippo Colombo, 22:21 to 22:24 in the men’s race, with fellow Swiss Thomas Litscher third (22:27). France’s Ferrand-Prevot moved up from the bronze medal in the women’s division in 2021 to the top of the podium, winning the 10.8 km race in 21:56, 18 seconds up on Alessandra Keller (SUI: 22:14) and 21 seconds ahead of American Gwen Gibson. Fellow Americans Kate Courtney finished eighth and Savilla Blunk was 10th.

The non-Olympic downhill was a French sweep for the men, with Loic Bruni winning his fifth world title in 3:20.478 over Amaury Pierron (3:23.059) and Loris Vergier (3:23.864). Dakotah Norton and Aaron Gwin finished 7-8 for the U.S. Austria’s Valentina Hoell, 20, scored an upset win in the women’s race in 3:53.857, ahead of Nina Hoffmann (GER: 3:54.763) and defending champion Myriam Nicole (FRA: 3:57.304).

● Ice Hockey ● The annual IIHF Women’s World Championship is underway in Denmark, with the U.S. off to a hot start with a 10-0 rout of Japan and a 6-1 win over Finland, both at the KVIK Hockey Arena in Herning. Canada is 3-0 and has out-scored its opponents by 17-2 so far.

Canada and the U.S. will play on 30 August; the playoffs begin on 1 September with the medal matches on 4 September.

● Volleyball ● The 2022 FIVB men’s World Championship is underway in Poland and Slovenia, with pool play through the 30th, followed by playoffs beginning on 3 September.

The U.S. is in Pool C in Katowice (POL) along with defending champion Poland, and is 2-0 after defeating Mexico and Bulgaria in straight sets. The Americans and Poles will play in the final pool match on the 30th; the top 16 teams (out of 24) advance to the playoffs.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● National Olympic Committees ● The Russian sports minister, Oleg Matytsin, well respected from his time as the head of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), now is in a difficult position during the Russian war against Ukraine.

But given his FISU experience, his recent comments were an interesting gauge of what makes a sport important. At the All-Russian Spartakiad in Kazan, he visited the break dancing competition and told reporters:

“Everything that is interesting to people, everything that is interesting to young people deserves the closest attention and support.

“Moreover, this sport is Olympic, and the Federation of Dance Sports and Acrobatic Rock and Roll Russia is actively developing it in our country.”

On this basis, there are multiple Olympic-program sports which have low participation among youth and could be jettisoned. Time will tell if his view prevails.

● Athletics ● The Athletics Integrity Unit posted provisional suspensions for two more Kenyan marathoners late last week, alleging use of prohibited substances against Michael Kunyuga and Maiyo Johnstone Kibet (also known as Johnstone Maiyo).

Kunyuga, 35, a 2:06:43 man from 2020, was sanctioned for use of the steroid Norandrosterone, and Kibet, 33, with a 2:10:02 best from 2011, for the oxygen-support drug erythropoietin (EPO).

The AIU database shows 49 Kenyans as ineligible (45 are distance runners), not counting seven others on the provisional suspension list.

● Badminton ● Sydney 2000 women’s bronze medalist Zhaoying Ye of China told Denmark’s TV2 television on Saturday that she was ordered to lose to teammate Zhichao Gong in the Olympic semifinals in order to give Gong an edge going into the gold-medal match.

Gong “defeated” Ye, 11-8, 11-8, to advance to the final, which she won in straight sets over Denmark’s Camilla Martin. Said Ye:

“They asked me to do this. They told me not to let it look like I was losing on purpose. But at the same time, they wanted me not to tire Gong Zhichao too much. They wanted me to lose in two sets, not in three sets, so that I wouldn’t tire her out too much.

“You can go and watch it again. I would purposely put points out of bounds, stuff like that, or make sure (the shuttlecock) did not go over the net. I had no choice.”

Ye, now 48, won her bronze-medal match against fellow Chinese Yun Dai, and added, “We feel very helpless, because we are alone against the system. The Olympics is almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an athlete, so it’s really sad. But as an individual, I couldn’t argue with the system.”

She and her husband, Haidong Hao, 52, a former Chinese football star striker, live in exile in Malaga (ESP) after Hao’s criticism of the regime in 2020.

The Badminton World Federation, in response to the story, noted that much stronger competition manipulation oversight tools are available today.

● Basketball ● The U.S. men’s national team crushed Uruguay, 105-71, in Las Vegas to win its first of six matches in Group F of the Americas qualifying window for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

Guard John Jenkins – who plays professionally in France – the U.S. with 22 points, followed by sub guard Langston Galloway (18) and forward DaQuan Jeffries (16), as the team shot a blistering 63.6% from the field, including 51.7% (15-29) from three-point range.

The American squad will travel to Barranquilla for a Monday match against Colombia; the next qualifying window will be in November.

● Football ● FIFA lifted its suspension of the All India Football Federation on Friday, in view of the return of control of the federation’s operations from the court-appointed Committee of Administrators. The good news:

“As a consequence, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 scheduled to take place on 11-30 October 2022 will be held in India as planned.”

● Rugby Sevens ● The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series came to the Los Angeles area over the weekend, playing the ninth and final stage of the season at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, the proposed site for the 2028 Olympic tournament.

Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa all cruised through pool play with 3-0 records. Those four all won their quarterfinals and then Fiji crushed the Aussies, 29-10 in one semi and New Zealand edged Samoa, 28-26 in the other.

However, Australia, which had never finished better than second way back in 2000-01, defeated Samoa, 21-7, in the bronze-medal march and won its first-ever team title with 126 points.

The gold-medal final saw a 14-14 tie at half, but New Zealand winning late, 28-21, for its first tournament win of the season.

Defending champion South Africa, which won the first four tournaments of the season, finished second overall with 124, with Fiji third (122), Argentina fourth (118) and Ireland (92) fifth. The U.S. was sixth (87).

● Wrestling ● U.S. wrestler Pat Smith won the Greco-Roman 60 kg gold for the only American win at the Slaven, Halfen, Weinberg & Gottfruend Memorial, held in Be’er Sheva (ISR) in memory of four members of the Israeli delegation who were murdered at the 1972 Olympic Games by Palestinian terrorists.

The seven-nation tournament saw Israel win nine titles overall (Greco and Freestyle), followed by Germany and Morocco with three each and Greece and the U.S. with one each.

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TSX REPORT: Remembering Munich ‘72 on its 50th anniversary; FIFA World Cup in Qatar to get heavy security; Mexico for the 2036 Games?

By
Rich Perelman
-
Otl Aicher's iconic pictograms for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Exactly 50 years ago: the opening of the Munich Games
2. Seven-nation wrestling fest in Israel salutes ‘72 victims
3. FIFA World Cup ‘22 security aid from Pakistan and Turkey
4. Mexico now looking to bid for 2036 Olympic Games
5. Vine takes La Vuelta stage 6; Evenepoel is the new leader

Today is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Games of the XX Olympiad in Munich, West Germany, an event full of promise that collapsed into tragedy with the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and officials by Palestinian terrorists. Even so, it was a Games that brought design, technology and architecture to the highest levels in support of international sport, and changed how all future major sporting events would be organized and staged. As a Munich memorial, a remarkable, seven-nation wrestling tournament is being held in Israel, including the U.S., with Munich ‘72 team members and Olympic medalists John and Ben Peterson as part of the American delegation. In Qatar, the security for the upcoming FIFA World Cup will be extensive, with support from the Pakistani military, Turkish police and 15,000 surveillance cameras. The Mexican Olympic Committee has signaled its interest in exploring a hosting of the 2036 Olympic Games with the International Olympic Committee. At the Vuelta a Espana cycling extravaganza, Australian Jay Vine took a surprise win in Stage 6, but three-time defending champ Primoz Roglic of Slovenia moved back up, close to the overall lead.

1.
Exactly 50 years ago: the opening of the Munich Games

/Updated/One of the most consequential Olympic Games ever held opened 50 years ago – 26 August 1972 – at the sparkling new Olympiastadion in Munich, then in West Germany, with the flame lit by distance runner Gunther Zahn.

Held 36 years after the infamous, Nazi-dominated 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and 27 years after the end of World War II, the event was designed to showcase the progress made in West Germany and was promoted as “The Cheerful Games.”

It was enthusiastically received by the West Germans, who supported the Games with ravenous purchases of Olympic coins (profit of 731 million marks, about $223.3 million U.S. at the time, or $1.58 billion in 2022), the Olympic lottery and related games (DM 437 million in sales through 1974, about $133.5 million U.S. at the time, or $946.2 million in 2022) and even postage stamps. All told, the Munich organizers realized DM 1.28 billion in revenue (about $391 million U.S. at the time, or $2.77 billion today), 64% of the total budget of the Games, actually reducing the public funding of the event by the federal, state and local governments!

(Thanks to Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist for pointing out our mis-conversions to U.S. dollars in our original post.)

A heavy promotional campaign emphasized the “new” Munich, using a pastel color scheme and a brilliant set of new venues, especially the futuristic-looking Olympiapark, with its iconic acrylic rooflines. The clean, precise lines of the logo and pictograms by designer Otl Aicher were hailed as a new standard in design:

“[Aicher] drew an extensive series of pictograms on a modular grid divided by horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. A very good example of German cold geometry that emerged as a complete standardised visual language due to all of his drawings being designed under strict mathematical control. Aicher’s pictograms were an unavoidable milestone in the design of pictographic systems.”

Munich also introduced the first summer Olympic Games mascot, the multi-colored Waldi, the dachshund.

Behind the scenes, new technologies were at work, especially in the computerized timing and scoring systems designed by Siemens and Junghans. This was to be the most modern, technically perfect Games ever.

It started well, with a then-record 121 nations attending and 7,114 athletes. Russian teenager Olga Korbut debuted a fascinating, new, technical approach to gymnastics that earned her three gold medals. American Mark Spitz set a new standard for excellence in swimming, winning an unprecedented seven gold medals, winning the 100 and 200 m Freestyles and Butterflys and with legs on three winning U.S. relay teams, all in world-record times. Finland’s Lasse Viren fell during the final of the men’s 10,000 m on the track, but got up and not only won, but in a world record of 27:38.4. He later won the 5,000 m as well.

But on 5 September – 11 days into the Games – the happiness ended with the capture and murder of 11 Israeli athletes and officials by Palestinian terrorists. A day of mourning was held on 6 September, with International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage (USA) telling an audience of 80,000 in the Olympiastadion, in pertinent part:

“We have only the strength of a great ideal. I am sure the public will agree that we cannot allow a handful of terrorists to destroy this nucleus of international cooperation and goodwill we have in the Olympic Movement.

“The Games must go on and we must continue our efforts to keep them clear, pure and honest and try to extend sportsmanship of the athletic field to other areas. We declare today a day of mourning and will continue all the events one day later than scheduled.”

The next day, Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett of the U.S. went 1-2 in the men’s 400 m and staged a passive protest on the awards podium by standing casually while the American anthem was played. They were disqualified from further participation in the Games (specifically the 4×400 m relay). On 10 September, American Frank Shorter – born in Munich – won the marathon in 2:12:20, one of the catalytic events of the “running boom” of the 1970s.

Munich was a success on many levels, but will always be remembered for its failure in security and the “Munich Massacre.” Security at the Games, and all other major events, has not been the same since.

2.
Seven-nation wrestling fest in Israel salutes ‘72 victims

A unique remembrance of the Munich Massacre is concluding in Be’er Sheva, Israel, with seven nations competing in the “Slavin, Halfen, Weinberg & Gottfreund Memorial.”

Of the 11 victims in Munich, four were wrestling-related, including athletes Eliezer Halfin and Mark Slavin, referee Yossef Gutfreund and coach Moshe Weinberg; weightlifting also had four victims, with three athletes and an official killed.

The 2022 tournament features athletes from Israel, the United States, Morocco, Germany, Greece, Switzerland and Tajikistan, in Freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions. A training camp program for youth wrestlers, including some Americans, is also included.

Two members of the American team from 1972 are part of the delegation, brothers John and Ben Peterson. Ben won the Olympic Freestyle gold at 90 kg and John was the 82 kg silver medalist. Also of note is the presence of the Moroccan team; Jake Kornblatt (USA) of the Israeli Wrestling Federation explained:

“A very significant part of this event is that it follows the Abraham Accords, in which Israel and Morocco signed a peace agreement. The delegation of 17 Moroccans have arrived in Israel for a week and the Moroccan Wrestling Federation President will be signing an agreement of cooperation with the President of the Israeli Wrestling Federation in the presence of the Chairperson of the Israeli Olympic Committee and the Moroccan Ambassador to Israel.”

The unofficial title of the competition is “Wrestle for Peace.”

3.
FIFA World Cup ‘22 security aid from Pakistan and Turkey

An agreement in principle between FIFA World Cup host Qatar and Pakistan will see Pakistani troops on the ground to help provide security during the event that begins on 20 November.

Reuters reported that the Pakistan government has approved the plan, ahead of a visit during the week by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. A statement explained, “The two sides will discuss bilateral relations between the two countries, especially to move forward cooperation in energy, trade, and investment opportunities.”

No further details about the specific number of troops or other aid to be provided for the World Cup were disclosed. Pakistan, suffering through continuing financial crises, is to receive $2 billion in aid from Qatar, along with $1 billion in financing from both Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The security arrangements for the World Cup include a heavy use of security cameras and facial recognition. An Agence France Presse story explained that the security program will include 3,000 Turkish police and the use of 15,000 security cameras across the eight stadiums and drones on the surrounding streets, trains and buses to gauge crowd control requirements. The camera systems have been equipped with facial recognition technology.

According to Biometricupdate.com, “Access to events will be controlled through the Hayya Card, a digital identity document that must be applied for by submitting passport scan, along with a high-quality facial image.” China’s Huawei was reported as the “system integrator for the facial recognition capability” and is providing network infrastructure for the organizers.

The interconnections between the stadia will allow a simultaneous announcement to be made in all eight at the same time.

Said Qatar 22 Chief Technology Officer Niyas Abdulrahiman (QAT), “What you see here is a new standard, a new trend in venue operations, this is our contribution from Qatar to the world of sport. What you see here is the future of stadium operations.”

Quite possible with eight stadia within 43 miles, but harder for larger, multi-sport events with more distant venues.

4.
Mexico now looking to bid for 2036 Olympic Games

ESPN Mexico reported that the Comite Olimpico Mexicano (COM) has made contact with the International Olympic Committee to open a dialogue about a second Olympic Games in Mexico in 2036.

The COM President, Mari Jose Alcala – a four-time Olympian in diving – was on the video call on Tuesday (23rd) to begin the discussion, ostensibly with the IOC’s Future Hosts Commission. The 1968 Olympic Games was held in Mexico City, following unsuccessful bids for the 1956 and 1960 Games.

However, a 2036 bid could be made with Guadalajara or Monterrey as the lead city, no doubt with events spread out to maximize the use of existing sites, as per the IOC’s desire. Mexico hosted the 1955 and 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City and the 2011 edition in Guadalajara, and the 1986 FIFA World Cup (in 12 stadia in seven states). In 2026, FIFA World Cup matches will be played in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.

There are plenty of other contenders for 2036, and the decision is not expected to be made until after current IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) leaves office in 2025.

5.
Vine takes La Vuelta stage 6; Evenepoel is the new leader

The first major climbing stage of the 77th Vuelta a Espana finished with a 12.6 km march up the Pico Jano that gained more than 800 m in elevation at the end of Thursday’s 181.2 km stage. At the end, it was Australia’s Jay Vine, 26, with his first-ever win on the UCI World Tour.

Ukraine’s Mark Padun was the leader at the start of the final climb, but he was overhauled by Vine and then Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel and Spain’s Enric Mas, who finished 1-2-3 in 4:38:00, 4:38:15 and 4:38:16.

Padun faded to 20th, but three-time winner Primoz Roglic (SLO) led the main contender pack in fifth place, just 1:37 back. While Evenepoel has the overall lead, Roglic chopped three minutes off of his deficit at the start of the day and is only 1:01 back in fourth. France’s Rudy Molard, the leader coming in, is now second (+0:21) and Mas is third (0:28).

A hilly stage on Friday will be followed by mountain stages on Saturday and Sunday in northwest Spain, both with uphill finishes.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reports that UEFA director Michele Uva is the leading candidate to become the head of the Milan Cortina organizing committee, asked to speed up the recruitment of domestic sponsors and the organization of the event.

The Italian government has seen the costs for its contribution of the Games rise substantially, even to the level of providing a substantial loan to the organizers to help with cash flow. A new chief executive is desired; others consistently mentioned are Paolo Scaroni, the chair of the AC Milan football club and banking executive Alessandro Profumo, the current head of Leonardo S.p.A.

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: Vancouver ● The attitude of the British Columbia provincial government toward a possible Vancouver bid for 2030 remains uncertain.

Questions raised by the province were expected to be answered in a 15 August submittal from the Canadian Olympic Committee and the four First Nations who are leading the bid effort, but some information was not available. Reports indicated that the British Columbia government will not give or refuse approval until the fall or early winter. The main questions: cost, financing, governance and who is ultimately responsible in case of a deficit.

The Canadian national government’s view towards the bid is said to be dependent on the provincial decision. In the meantime, the IOC expects to decide on a preferred candidate for 2030 by December with Sapporo and Salt Lake City considerably in the lead.

● Athletics ● Sweden’s superstar vaulter, Mondo Duplantis, triumphed in Lausanne in a city-center pole vault on Thursday ahead of the main session of the Athletissima Diamond League meet on Friday (on NBC’s Peacock service from 2-4 p.m. Eastern time).

He continued his undefeated season by winning his 17th competition (and 20th in a row over two seasons) at 6.10 m (20-0) on his third attempt. He was the only one to clear 5.90 m (19-4 1/4) and 6.00 m (19-8 1/4), with American Chris Nilsen second at 5.80 m (19-0 1/4).

Russian national long jump champion Yelena Sokolova, the London 2012 silver medalist, told the Russian news agency TASS that the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) is not the only one to blame for its continuous suspension for doping and governance issues since 2015:

“I won’t blame the ARAF for all the troubles. The international federation [World Athletics] is absolutely to blame. I don’t understand why there are no questions for them, but they blame the ARAF. I agree that and we must work together to improve, and not blame each other for everything.”

Russian Minister of Sport Oleg Matytsin echoed the sentiment, but in a different way, on Thursday in Kazan, with the multi-sport Spartakiad is continuing:

“We are not isolating ourselves, all questions are for the opposite side. We are ready for an open dialogue at any time, and Russian athletes are ready to compete and please our fans and the entire world community with their performances at any time.”

No mention of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, of course.

World women’s vault leader Anzhelika Sidorova, 31, the 2019 World Champion, told reporters that she is unsure about her future in the sport given the continuing suspension of the Russian federation:

“I’m going on vacation, and then I don’t know what will happen. … How can I be satisfied with the season if it was not?”

● Bobsled ● Canada’s Justin Kripps, the PyeongChang 2018 co-Olympic gold medalist in the Two-Man event, announced his retirement at age 35. He also piloted the Beijing 2022 bronze medalists in the Four-Man sled and won five World Championships medals (0-2-3) from 2012-19.

Originally a sprinter at Simon Fraser University, he saw bobsledding as a mix of track and auto racing and was a consistently dangerous performer. He won the 2017-18 seasonal World Cup title in the Two-Man division. He wrote on Instagram:

“16 years of living my dream, wearing the maple leaf proudly while representing this great country all over the world. It’s been my greatest challenge and the most rewarding adventure of my life. I pushed myself further than I thought possible and learned who I was in the process. I wouldn’t change even the worst day or the hardest struggle I had because my greatest moments seemed to arrive right after the most difficult times.”

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TSX REPORT: Birmingham gives $5 million for World Games debt; more Qatar labor protests as World Cup nears; $5 million to update Utah Olympic Park!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Birmingham City Council approves $5 million for World Games bailout
2. Labor arrests in Qatar add further focus on FIFA World Cup
3. Salt Lake City Olympic bid helped by $5 million for Utah Olympic Park
4. Soler’s breakaway scrambles La Vuelta leaderboard
5. A dozen World Champions at Lausanne Diamond League

The 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama ended up $15.66 million in debt, but achieved a first step in paying more than 100 creditors with a $5 million grant from the Birmingham City Council. A protest in 108-degree weather over unpaid wages against a private company in Qatar, followed by arrests and deportations has raised the issue of labor rights once again, with the FIFA World Cup coming in November; the country’s labor ministry says it will make good all of the payments. A $5 million donation to the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation will complete payments on the second phase of an upgrade series, with positive consequences for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics bid for 2030 (or 2034). A late breakaway during Stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana led to a shuffling of the leaderboard, with three-time champ Primoz Roglic of Slovenia falling from first to fifth. The annual Athletissima meet in Lausanne comes Friday, with a dozen 2022 World Champions expected to compete, including Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and American Noah Lyles.

1.
Birmingham City Council approves $5 million for
World Games bailout

Once the bills were all added up, the organizers of the 2022 World Games in Birmingham owe $15,656,173 to more than 100 individuals or companies. On Tuesday, the City Council approved a $5 million grant to the World Games Birmingham Foundation.

World Games chief executive Nick Sellers explained that the event was organized to cost $75 million, but was reduced as the program was developed. But it became clear there was going to be a deficit; said Sellers:

“We believed we could do it for $60 million. We were tracking $57 million in real revenue.”

But sponsorships that would have brought in $2.5 million evaporated in May and then ticket sales failed to materialize as hoped:

“We had to recalibrate from $7 million down to $4 million in ticket revenues. That was a $6 million hit. We expected $57 million; we ended at $51 million.” Some 200,000 tickets were expected to be sold; actual sales were about 60,000 and the year’s delay in the event due to pandemic did not help.

Sellers also noted an important aspect of the shortfall was that many fewer out-of-area visitors came to see the Games than had been anticipated, especially in the bid phase.

That revenue total included $27 million in sponsorship revenue, but the costs ended up just above $66 million for the $15.66 million loss. Among the largest creditors are host broadcaster ISB television (owed $1.182 million), Swiss Timing ($1.155 million), Van Wagner for sports production services ($938,680), Miller Media for sports production and signage ($878,000) and Revel XP for bleachers, staging and tents ($852,000).

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin lobbied for the grant and later released a statement that included:

“The World Games 2022 was a success on many levels. We expect a strong economic impact when numbers are finalized. There are multiple economic development leads based on The World Games. You can’t put a dollar amount on the boost to civic pride and positive coverage of Birmingham worldwide due to the games.

“Let me stress, Birmingham benefitted greatly from this event. Taking the next steps to leverage the data and expertise from the Birmingham Organizing Committee while ensuring the Games and vendors close out on a positive note is critical to maintaining the momentum we have experienced in Birmingham.

“This event changed the funding model for The World Games. Previous events relied almost entirely on government funding. The 2022 World Games relied heavily on private funding. Funding by sponsors at the Birmingham games outpaced all other host cities combined.”

Sellers is next expected to ask Jefferson County Commission and the Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau for added funds, along with soliciting private-sector donations.

Birmingham has doubled down on events, as the City Council approved a $2 million grant to support the 2025 World Police and Fire Games. Some 8,500 competitors from 70 countries are expected to attend.

2.
Labor arrests in Qatar add further focus on FIFA World Cup

A labor protest over unpaid wages by at least 60 foreign workers in downtown Doha (QAT) on 14 August resulted in multiple arrests and some deportations.

The workers were protesting against a private company, Al Bandary International Group, which had reportedly not paid some workers for as long as seven months.

The Associated Press reported that “Qatar’s government acknowledged that ‘a number of protesters were detained for breaching public safety laws,’” but provided no specifics on the number of arrests or deportations.

According to the AP and other reports, the government agreed that Al Bandary International had not paid the workers and that “its Labor Ministry would pay ‘all delayed salaries and benefits’ to those affected.” The government statement added:

“The company was already under investigation by the authorities for nonpayment of wages before the incident, and now further action is being taken after a deadline to settle outstanding salary payments was missed.”

According to British-based labor-rights organization Equidem, the protesting workers are from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Egypt and the Philippines, who stood outside in 108-degree temperatures. Equidem and many others have protested against the award of the FIFA World Cup to Qatar – under questionable circumstances – in 2010 and ever since, especially in regard to the country’s treatment of foreign labor, a necessity in a country of just 2.8 million residents.

3.
Salt Lake City Olympic bid helped by $5 million
for Utah Olympic Park

The organizers of the Salt Lake City bid for the 2030 (or 2034) Olympic Winter Games have made it clear that it needs to build no new venues to host the event. Now, it won’t have to worry about some of the costs thanks to a $5 million donation by the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, announced last Thursday (18th).

The grant will be used to pay off the remaining cost of the $17.5 million second phase of the multi-year upgrade program for the Utah Olympic Park, which hosted the ski jumping and sliding events at the 2022 Winter Games.

Expected to be completed in time for the coming winter season, the upgrades include a competition-grade Alpine Giant Slalom course and a competition course for Moguls skiing, a better chairlift, lighting and snowmaking machinery. Both are expected to be heavily used by the public, regardless of when the Winter Games return.

According to Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation chief executive Colin Hilton, the gift is the largest private donation ever received. He noted:

“It most certainly will be used for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. … [but] “the true value of this mountain is to have a dedicated training and competition venue that doesn’t have the challenges of being within a ski resort. That allows us to focus on athlete training and events. To have the terrain at a facility right here at the Olympic Park is just terrific for all parties.”

4.
Soler’s breakaway scrambles La Vuelta leaderboard

Stage 5 of the 77th edition of the Vuelta a Espana saw the script torn up and thrown away as a breakaway group turned into a 15 km solo by Spanish star Marc Soler that upset the race leaderboard.

The hilly stage of 187.2 km from Irun to Bilbao had five climbs in the final half, and 18 riders took off at midway. On the final climb up the Alto de Vivero, Soler took off, passing Jake Stewart (GBR) for the lead and soloing to the finish. He ended up four seconds up on Daryl Impey (RSA), Fred Wright (GBR) and Rudy Molard (FRA).

For Soler, 28, it was his second career La Vuelta stage – also in 2020 – but it was Moland who jumped from 20th to first in the overall standings. Three-time winner Primoz Roglic (SLO) finished with the other overall contenders in 23rd, some 5:09 back of the winner. Molard now has a two-second edge on Wright, 1:09 on Niklas Arndt (GER) and 4:09 on Roglic, now in fifth.

The major climbing stages start on Thursday with a four-climb stage that ends with a ferocious uphill finish to the 1,131 m altitude finish at San Miguel de Aguayo.

5.
A dozen World Champions at Lausanne Diamond League

The final chapter of the Wanda Diamond League for 2022 begins on Friday in Lausanne (SUI), with the annual Athletissima meet, with 12 of the World Championships gold medalists from Eugene expected to be on the starting lines.

The sprints will be featured, with Jamaican stars including five-time women’s 100 m champ Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce meeting 200 m champ Shericka Jackson and 100-200 m Olympic winner Elaine Thompson-Herah.

American stars Noah Lyles and Erriyon Knighton, 1-3 at 200 m in Eugene, will face off once again, along with 400 m World Champion Michael Norman. World 110 m hurdles winner Grant Holloway of the U.S. will take on Eugene silver winner Trey Cunningham and Olympic winner Hansle Parchment (JAM).

Nigeria’s world-record setter and World 100 m hurdles champ Tobi Amusan will face Eugene medalists Britany Anderson (JAM), Olympic winner Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) and Olympic silver medalist Keni Harrison of the U.S. In the women’s 400 m hurdles, Dutch star Femke Bol, the Worlds silver medalist in 2022, will face 2016 Olympic champ and 2022 Worlds bronze medalist Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S.

More World Champions: Norway’s Worlds 5,000 m winner Jakob Ingebrigtsen will run the 1,500 m – where he said he was disappointed to be second – and Eugene winner Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) will feature in the men’s Steeple.

In the field, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis will contest an in-city vault on Thursday evening; gold medalists Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT), Ryan Crouser (USA) and Yulimar Rojas (VEN) are the favorites in the men’s high jump and shot and women’s triple jump on Friday.

In the U.S., NBC will show the meet live only on its Peacock streaming service from 2-4 p.m. Eastern time on Friday. A replay on cable channel CNBC is scheduled for 1-3 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.

The Diamond League will conclude with the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels on 2 September and the final in Zurich on 7-8 September.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● Another poll of French attitudes towards the Games, this time from the magazine Sponsoring.fr, as reported by FrancsJeux.com.

This one is favorable to the Games, with 66% “happy” that Paris has the Games and 12% against. About 25% plan to attend the events. But as for finances, 54% believe the event will have a negative impact as to the cost borne by taxpayers.

The legacy of the Games? Some 87% say the practice of sport will be encouraged and 85% think tourism will be helped.

● Paralympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● The International Paralympic Committee celebrated exactly 10 years to go until the opening of the 2032 Paralympic Games, with Paralympics Australia chief exec Catherine Clark explaining:

“The Brisbane Paralympics presents a unique chance for Australia to make great strides towards becoming a truly barrier-free society. These Games will be a catalyst to drive greater social inclusion for Australians living with a disability, including in education, employment, transport and accommodation.”

The IPC story also editorialized:

“Since Sydney 2000, the success of host cities has been largely determined by the quality of delivery of their Paralympic Games. London 2012 was widely regarded as the ‘best Games ever’ after its highly successful Paralympic component.”

Observed: “Largely determined”? More than the Olympic Games? Really? The story was not bylined; perhaps the World Anti-Doping Agency should be made aware and issue a test request?

● Field Hockey ● Argentina’s Sofia Maccari won an Olympic silver medal as a forward on the women’s hockey squads in London in 2012 and Tokyo in 2021, and was going to show her Tokyo medal to friends on 8 September last year when she was the victim of an armed robbery.

Her car, phone, money and her Tokyo medal were all taken, beginning an extortion effort by the thieves for the return of the medal. Maccari went to the police; one of the suspects, aged 17, was arrested, but the medal has not been retrieved.

A long process then began to try and get a replacement medal and with the assistance of the Argentine Olympic Committee, Maccari received a replica medal in mid-August from the International Olympic Committee. Said the two-time silver medalist:

“This moment is very important for me because it represents all the effort that one makes for a long time to get this medal. With all my heart I want to thank all the people of the Argentine Olympic Committee, all those who helped on social networks and the girls of the team, who helped me make a huge mobilization, I thank the International Olympic Committee for having returned this medal that I loved so much. I want to share it with the girls and the team’s coaching staff.”

● Freestyle Skiing ● “Where do I even begin? 3 Olympic Games, 1 Olympic Silver Medal, World Cup podiums, X-Games medals, FIS globes, Dew Tour podiums, 1 Acl, 2-3 meniscus repairs, cartilage damage, broken bones, 2 dislocated shoulders, 5 total knee surgeries, and endless memories with amazing teammates, coaches, friends, and family. With all the good does come some bad but I wouldn’t trade anything for the experiences I’ve had the last decade. Skiing has given me a love for the outdoors, lifelong friends, and has given me a chance to see the world. Skiing has been my everything since I was 6 years old.

“I am retiring from competitive skiing! It is bittersweet but everything must come to an end. Not going to lie, I’m a little scared for the future because skiing has been all I’ve know basically my whole life, but I’m also excited for what’s next.”

American Freestyle Halfpipe and Slopestyle star Devin Logan, now 29, retires with an impressive trophy case, starting with her Olympic Freestyle Slopestyle silver in Sochi in 2014. She was a fixture on the FIS World Cup circuit and collected 14 medals from the 2010-11 season through 2021-22, including three wins. So, what is next?

“I’m finally going to be finishing my degree, have the time at home for house projects, and can even get a dog! I’m still going to ski as much as possible because that’s who I am but I’m also excited to discover other parts of myself outside of the bib.”

● Swimming ● FINA announced a nearly $1.2 million prize pool for the upcoming, three-meet FINA World Cup from mid-October to early November.

At each stop, $224,000 in prizes will be awarded to the top finishers ($112,000 per gender) for a three-meet total of $672,000. On top of this will be a “total series prize purse” of $262,000 per gender to the top eight finishers ($524,000 total), so total prizes will be $1,196,000.

Bonuses for world records ($10,000 each) and for event sweeps – wins in all three meets – of $10,000 will also be awarded.

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: Saudi Arabia looking to future FIFA World Cup, Olympics; Simone Manuel emerges in Tempe; 1.5 million watch USA Gymnastics champs

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

Thank you to our 23 donors, who have covered 33% of our summer funding goal for operating costs. Can you help? Please donate here. Comments? Click here.

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Saudi sports ambitions growing despite “sportswashing” criticism
2. Manuel joins growing pro stars roster at Arizona State
3. U.S. viewers like women’s gymnastics, but less in 2022 than in 2021
4. Women’s triathlon gets 41st NCAA school with Arizona
5. Roglic takes lead at La Vuelta after terrific Stage 4 win

Despite wide concerns about repression, Saudi Arabia is aggressively looking to establish itself as a sports hosting and tourism destination, up to and including the FIFA World Cup and a future Olympic Games. America’s best women’s swimming sprinter, Simone Manuel, has been quiet since the Tokyo Games, but has re-emerged as part of the growing – and impressive – pro training group in Tempe, Arizona under Michael Phelps’ old coach, Bob Bowman. The USA Gymnastics Artistic nationals drew a nice TV audience on NBC for its final women’s session, but only a fraction of the size of that for the 2021 Olympic Trials. Thanks to a long campaign by USA Triathlon, women’s tri is on the way to becoming an NCAA championship sport in the next couple of years, with the University of Arizona announcing its will field a varsity team in fall 2023. At the Vuelta a Espana, three-time defending champ Primoz Roglic of Slovenia showed he is going to be hard to de-throne with an impressive attack on the final climb of Stage 4 and took over the race lead.

1.
Saudi sports ambitions growing despite “sportswashing” criticism

More and more events are being staged in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia is in overdrive, trying to bring high-profile sports programs, well beyond its controversial LIV Golf project.

“Our main focus now is the 2034 [Asian Games in Riyadh],” said Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal in an interview with Agence France Presse on Sunday.

“We’re open to discuss with the [International Olympic Committee] about [the Olympic Games] for the future. I think Saudi Arabia has showcased that we can host such events.

“Definitely, the Olympics would be an ultimate goal for us … But we’re open to that and I think we can.”

But that is not all:

● On Sunday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) was a guest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at the heavyweight boxing match in Jeddah, where Oleksandr Usyk (UKR) upset Britain’s Anthony Joshua.

InsideWorldFootball.com reported, “It is understood that Saudi Arabia wants to host the 2030 World Cup with Egypt proposing to team up with Saudi Arabia and Greece to stage the global finals.”

The Saudis have bid to host the 2027 Asian Cup, the continental football championship tournament.

● Last Friday (19th), International Boxing Association President Umar Kremlev (RUS) visited the Saudi Arabian Boxing Federation, with its President, Abdullah Hamad Al Harbi, expressing interest in hosting both continental and World Championships. A youth boxing academy is being considered.

Said Kremlev, “Saudi Arabia has a great experience in the organization of big sports events. We are looking forward to seeing boxing tournaments in the country in the future.”

● In addition to the massive Asian Games in 2034, Saudi Arabia is apparently the only bidder for the smaller but still complex 2029 Asian Winter Games, to be allocated in October.

All of this interest follows the success of other Middle Eastern hosts of major events, especially Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Doha, Qatar, site of the 2019 World Athletics Championships and the forthcoming host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Critics of the Saudi regime and especially its human-rights record decry the sports outreach as a way to deflect attention from harsh governance, limited freedom of expression and rights issues – known as “sportswashing” – but Saudi officials explain it’s part of a formal diversification plan away from energy, instituted in 2016.

“We’re progressing, we’re moving towards a better society, we’re moving towards a better quality of life, a better country, for the future,” said the sports minister. “And the facts show that hosting these events benefit our people and benefit these changes that are happening and benefits living in Saudi.”

Britain’s The Guardian reported on a 2021 study, noting “Saudi Arabia has spent at least $1.5bn on high-profile international sporting events in a bid to bolster its reputation” through events in auto racing, boxing, chess, football, golf, horse racing, tennis and others. The story referenced the national “Vision2030″ plan, but pointed out:

“[T]he plan, touted as a watershed that will transform the Kingdom socially as well as economically, was followed by a broad crackdown on dissent, including the arrest of feminist activists and religious clerics.”

Lucy Rae (GBR), a director of the Grant Liberty human-rights group, accused Saudi Arabia of “committing human rights abuses on an industrial scale.

“The world’s leading sports stars might not have asked to be part of a cynical marketing plan to distract the world from the brutality – but that’s what is happening.”

The Saudi plan for the future has suffered bumps in the road. Sports Minister Abdulaziz told AFP that the furor over the LIV Golf project, funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was unexpected. His view: “I think that if there’s a benefit for the sport, then why not, whoever does it.”

2.
Manuel joins growing pro stars roster at Arizona State

Although he will forever be known as the coach of swimming icon Michael Phelps, the winner of the most Olympic medals in history, Bob Bowman is suddenly once again perhaps the hottest swim coach in America.

The head coach at Arizona State from April 2015, Bowman, 57, enters his eighth season at ASU after a sixth-place finish in the men’s NCAA Championships in 2022 with four-event star Leon Marchand (FRA) leading the squad.

But beyond his collegiate squad, Bowman is also now coaching multiple star professionals, with Rio 2016 two-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel, 26, the latest to head to Tempe. Bowman’s pro roster also includes:

● Ryan Held (27), Rio 2016 4×100 m Free gold medalist
● Chase Kalisz (28), Tokyo 400 m Medley champ
● Jay Litherland (26), Tokyo 400 m Medley silver medalist
● Sierra Schmidt (24), 6th-8th-7th at ‘21 U.S. Olympic Trials 400-800-1,500 m Frees
● Regan Smith (20), 2019 World 200 m Back champ, 2022 World 100 m Back champ
● Olivia Smoliga (27), 2019 World 50 m Back Champion

Manuel essentially disappeared after the 2021 season, making the U.S. team in the 50 m Free and reaching the Olympic semis, then winning a bronze on the U.S. 4×100 m Freestyle relay. That’s a far cry from her four medals (2-2-0) in Rio in 2016 or her stunning 16 World Championships medals (11-3-2) from 2013-19. She announced her move to Tempe on Instagram on Monday.

In addition, French star Marchand (20) only completed his freshman season at ASU in 2021-22 and burst into prominence at the Budapest World Championships last June, winning the 200 and 400 m medleys – which Kalisz won in 2017 – plus a silver in the 200 m Butterfly.

With the exceptions of Smith (20), the rest of the pros now training with Bowman are getting up in years for swimmers and are looking for perhaps a final surge in their training with Paris 2024 coming fast.

3.
U.S. viewers like women’s gymnastics,
but less in 2022 than in 2021

The USA Gymnastics Artistic national championships in Tampa Bay drew good television audiences last Sunday for both men and women.

The final day of the women’s competition was shown live on NBC and had the no. 10 audience of the week, with an average audience of 1.539 million for the session that began at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The men’s final day – held on Saturday – was shown live on CNBC, but the audience was not reported, meaning it was less than 200,000.

However, a Sunday replay of the men’s session shown on NBC drew 642,000, quite respectable.

The women’s TV audience, of course, pales in comparison to the 2021 Olympic Trials a year ago, where the two women’s broadcasts averaged 5.287 million on NBC. The men’s replay show on NBC did better than the one live Olympic Trials show on NBCSN last year, which drew 461,000. Being on cable is great; being on the network is a lot better.

4.
Women’s triathlon gets 41st NCAA school with Arizona

Women’s triathlon is on its way to being an NCAA Championship sport, having reached the 40-school plateau in February with the addition of Cal Poly Humboldt. But the project, begun by USA Triathlon back in 2008, is continuing to grow with the University of Arizona announcing it will begin competition in the sport in the fall of 2023.

This raises the number of NCAA schools offering the sport to 41, but with 12 now at the Division I level, including Arizona State, the University of San Francisco and Texas Christian. The collegiate format uses the “sprint” distances of a 750 m swim, 20 km bike phase and 5 km run.

Triathlon is slotted as a fall sport; its current format includes two national qualifiers and a national collegiate championship in November. There are several further administrative steps before the sport has a full-fledged NCAA championship, “including committee, council, divisional and budget approvals.” This is a major boost to women’s triathlon in the U.S., assuming – of course – that the NCAA structure remains intact.

5.
Roglic takes lead at La Vuelta after terrific Stage 4 win

Slovenian star Primoz Roglic has won the last three editions of the famed Vuelta a Espana and no one has ever won four in a row. He’s going to be hard to beat.

With the race now back in Spain after spending the first three stages in the Netherlands, Roglic showed his formidable talents with a brilliant surge on the final climb to Laguardia in the Basque Country to win Stage 4.

His time of 3:31:05 was the same as given to Denmark’s Mads Pedersen, who finished second for the third stage in a row! But Roglic attacked beautifully on the final incline with 800 m remaining and took the race lead by 13 seconds over American Sepp Kuss and 26 seconds over Britain’s Ethan Hayter and Tao Geoghegan Hart and France’s Pavel Sivakov.

Roglic, 32, won his 10th career stage at La Vuelta, and might be able to break the race open this week, with three climbing stages coming on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in the mountains of northwest Spain. Given his form so far in 2022, no one would be surprised.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Pan American Games 2023: Santiago ● The XIX Pan American Games will take place in Santiago, Chile beginning 20 October next year and the call for volunteers has now begun.

The organizing committee is looking for 17,000 volunteers to help with the Games, expected to include 7,000 athletes from 41 countries to compete in 412 events in 39 sports. The Parapan American Games will have about 2,000 athletes contesting 17 sports.

The call for 17,000 volunteer staff compares with about 3,300 volunteers for the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama (3,600 athletes in 30 sports) and about 14,000 for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England (5,054 athletes in 20 sports).

The Olympic Games is at an entirely different level. The first full-on use of volunteer staff was sat the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles – with 33,500 – but the total was more than 80,000 for the Tokyo 2020 Games, including those recruited to help as city guides for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

● National Olympic Committees ● A temporary reprieve for the Indian Olympic Association, which is still in charge of its own affairs … for now.

The Indian Supreme Court issued an order on Monday that extends the status quo for four weeks, instead of turning the IOA’s operations over to a Committee of Administrators. The IOA has run afoul of the national Sports Code but not moving toward elections in the aftermath of the resignation of former chief Narinder Batra.

The International Olympic Committee, which selected Mumbai as the site for its 2023 Session next May, will have its Executive Board review the India situation at its September meeting.

● Athletics ● Sad news of the passing of former discus world-record holder John Powell, on 19 August in Las Vegas, Nevada, at 75. The obituary stated that he died after a long illness.

Intense and impressive to watch, the San Jose State grad was one of the world’s best throwers from 1972 to 1987. Powell was fourth at the 1972 Munich Games, an Olympic bronze medalist at the 1976 Montreal Games and in 1984 in Los Angeles. A seven-time U.S. champion, he set a world record of 69.08 m (226-8) on 4 May 1975 in Long Beach, California and won the Worlds silver in Rome in 1987.

A San Jose policeman by profession, he never lost his love of the throws and was a devoted coach at camps and at Stanford University from 1981-90. He is survived by his wife Wally Powell, his daughter Julie Powell, and grandchildren Maddie and Tyler McGivern.

The European Athletics Championships in Munich was great, but it wasn’t perfect. On Saturday, after the British team won the men’s 4×400 m in an impressive 2:59.35, they arrived for the medal ceremony … only no anthem was played, due to a technical issue. Per The Mirror:

“The runners were seen looking around in confusion before the fans were asked to applaud, with officials explaining they were unable to play the anthem.”

BBC announcer Gabby Logan made light of the situation, telling viewers, “Talk about milking the moment. Very un-German like, the precision engineering or whatever equipment has failed them there. Bit disappointed there wasn’t an Alexa or something, or a phone, or something they could use to enjoy the moment. Hopefully they’re enjoying the attention anyway.”

● Cycling ● British track cyclist Dan Bigham earned a silver medal in the Team Pursuit at the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham as a member of the English team, but now owns a world record by himself.

Last Friday (19th), he set a new standard for the one hour, covering 55.548 km (34.52 miles) at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen (SUI). He broke Belgian star Victor Campanaerts’ 2019 mark of 55.089 km with room to spare. Said Bigham:

“I guess you’ve never got it until you’ve ridden the [250 m] laps. That’s the scary thing. You’re on pace but you still have to cover the distance. I had a bit of a wobbly in my head just after the halfway mark, like ‘how am I going to ride 16s for the next half hour?’ In my head I wanted 55.5 km so put another 48 metres on it, I am pretty pleased with that!”

● Football ● More on India, the country’s Supreme Court returned control of the All India Football Federation, and away from the High Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, on Monday. Elections are scheduled for early September and if the rules are properly followed and a properly-elected Board is seated, the FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup could remain in India for its scheduled dates in October.

● Ice Hockey ● International Ice Hockey Federation chief Luc Tardif (FRA) confirmed the continuing ban on Russia and Belarus from IIHF tournament in view of the invasion of Ukraine. At a news conference near the end of the men’s World Junior Championship in Edmonton (CAN), Tardif noted:

“We do it year by year. For the 2022/2023 season they are not going to play. …

“When the war started, the solidarity of the IIHF family was fantastic. Hundreds of players had the chance to go and play in other countries in Europe with the support of many national ice hockey associations. The NHL and NHLPA also participated with equipment support, the IOC helped. We helped the [Ukraine] men’s senior and U18 national teams to go and train abroad and be able to participate in our tournaments. We had to organize buses from the border, find places where they can play, find places to live for the players and their families. Most of them are still abroad and we don’t know when they can return. When I look at everything that was done, I’m proud to be the IIHF President. …

“We are financially still alive and what is important is to keep our activities alive. We sometimes played in a bubble because of Covid, we have to play without Russia because of the war and we cannot do anything about it. When there’s a pandemic and a war many things change, teams cannot travel that easily.”

● Weightlifting ● USA Weightlifting announced that U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Chief Operating Officer Matt Sicchio will take over as the federation’s chief executive in October. He has previously worked with the U.S. Soccer Federation and has a deep background in insurance and risk management. It’s another strong statement by USAW in its commitment against doping in a sport whose survival on the Olympic program depends on anti-doping control and better governance.

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LANE ONE: Judo, a hands-on sport, goes digital with new NFT project to promote the IJF World Tour and the sport itself

By
Rich Perelman
-

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In today’s digital age, things that were old are new again.

Trading cards were apparently a U.S. phenomenon, starting as far back as the 1860s, used by sporting goods companies to promote their products and stores and quickly became a collecting passion for children. Although baseball cards became the best-known card type, 19th Century cards issued by candy, gum, tobacco and other companies featured all kinds of subjects.

Today, the trading card industry – and it is an industry – is both physical and digital and the digital side is expanding wildly. The newest rage – started in 2014 – is the non-fungible token (NFT), defined as “cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other.”

Individual athletes in major sports like baseball, basketball, football, hockey and others are already on this bandwagon. But sports governing bodies have been less active.

Now, the Olympic world and specifically the International Judo Federation is in the NFT business with the launch of its Judoverse.org sales channel. Promoted with a new, eight-minute video on the IJF Web site that features Director General Vlad Marinescu (HUN), the project is described as a way to bring judo closer to today’s indispensable accessory: your mobile phone.

So, what is the offer?

● “The International Judo Federation has entered the world of NFTs, by officially licensing over 30,000 uniquely generated collectables that feature one of five characters (lion, tiger, bear, gorilla, dog) in a piece of digital art on the polygon Blockchain.”

These are specially-created drawings, with each character presented in a variety of backgrounds and with different messages, all branded for the World Judo Tour.

● In a clever way to create scarcity and more purchases – at €54.95 each, about $54.64 U.S. today – buying an NFT results in a random issuance. You could get any of the five characters in any of several backgrounds, but more importantly, your random token comes with additional, real-world benefits:

(1) A “Bronze” token – 15,000 pieces or 50% of the available total – also gets the buyer (a) a year’s subscription to the direct-to-consumer Judo.tv streaming channel and (b) a free admission to all World Judo Tour events, including the World Championships.

(2) A “Silver” token – 9,000 pieces (30%) – adds in a second year of free admission to all World Judo Tour events.

(3) A “Gold” token – 4,500 pieces (15%) – adds a third year of free World Judo Tour admissions.

(4) A “Platinum” token – 1,500 pieces (4%) – gets two free years of Judo.tv and three years of World Judo Tour admissions.

(5) A “Diamond” token – 300 pieces (1%) – gets a lifetime subscription to Judo.tv, three years of World Judo Tour admissions and two years of “VIP” passes to tour events.

Remember, what you get is randomly generated, with a limit of 10 NFTs in a single transaction. Apparently, depictions of the characters wearing a gi (judo uniform) are to be especially rare.

There is also a giveaway program with prizes as the program generates sales. The ultimate prize, to be awarded once the entire inventory (30,000) is sold:

“3 investors will be invited to the 2022 Tashkent World Judo Championships as a VIP with accreditation, accommodation and travel.”

The 2022 Worlds starts on 6 October, so the federation is expected a runaway sales hit right away.

● It is important to note that the NFT offer specifies, “You will own full intellectual properties of purchased NFT and have various kinds of perks and benefits related to the IJF World Judo Tour.”

This is critical, as ownership allows later sale. The idea is that the small-issuance tokens – especially the Diamond and Platinum ones – will eventually re-sell for more than the purchase price.

Why is the IJF doing this? It says:

“First, we would like all members of the Judo family and beyond to enjoy the benefits of NFTs through our sport. We believe that NFTs are an excellent tool for the promotion and development of judo, as well as an opportunity for our community to benefit and grow. The second is to sell products in order to invest the profits in the development of our sport, for example by buying and sending materials to developing countries, therefore fostering the practice of judo throughout the world.”

It’s not going to make the federation super-rich overnight. At €54.95 per NFT, sales of 30,000 would gross €1,648,500 or about $1.64 million U.S. at today’s exchange. That’s not a difference maker for a federation that had $24.8 million in revenues in the pandemic year of 2020 and reserves of $17.6 million.

But it is a start, and a way to get judo onto people’s phones – especially youngsters, with whom cartoon characters and NFTs are highly popular – and more deeply ingrained in people’s lives.

Is this a good thing? Maybe. Should kids be hitting up their parents for digital artworks at €55 a pop? Not sure about that. Is this absolutely the future? Yes.

If this works, the next step will be to license the images of famous judokas – past and present – and all kinds of special-issue NFTs will follow, just as the history of baseball cards (and all kinds of other cards) has shown over more than a century.

As someone who has collected trading cards, comic books and a lot of other things over the past decades (and been both successful as an investor, and been burned), I am wary of entry into the new and not-always-truthful sector of digital art. But it is the future and if the IJF can successfully carry off this project, it will open an enormous door for the Olympic world to not only make money, but to use digital art as a promotional tool for the youth of today and tomorrow.

Credit the Budapest-based IJF, which has been resolutely forward looking and willing to lead, rather than follow, for this new project, which will have the attention of every Olympic-related entity worldwide. Especially if it gets the attention of buyers, whether young or old.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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TSX REPORT: FIFA World Cup 2022 now 81% sold out; Dutch star Bol wins 400-400H-4×400 at Euro Champs; McClain and Malone take USA Gymnastics crowns

By
Rich Perelman
-
Munich 2022 triple gold medalist Femke Bol (NED) (Photo: Diamond League AG)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. FIFA reports 2.45 million tix sold for Qatar 2022
2. European Championships a hit with television viewers
3. Bol storms to 400-400H-4×400 triple at European Champs
4. McClain and Malone win at USA Gymnastics Champs
5. Bennett pulls off back-to-back stage wins to start Vuelta a Espana

FIFA announced the results of the latest ticket sales effort for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with more than 520,000 tickets taken and now 81% of all tickets sold. A final sales period is expected to begin in late September. The 2022 European Championships in Munich has been widely viewed in Europe and especially in the major markets of Germany, Great Britain and Italy, a significant boost for the viability of the multi-sport concept in just its second edition. At Munich’s Olympiastadion, Dutch star Femke Bol won an unprecedented triple in the women’s 400 m, 400 m hurdles and the 4×400 m relay to headline the final weekend of track & field competitions, with Britain winning the most medals. Teenager Konnor McClain was the surprise winner of the USA Gymnastics women’s All-Around, edging Shilese Jones on the final rotation as the post-Simone Biles era gets started in earnest. Stanford’s Brody Malone defended his men’s All-Around title decisively. At the 77th Vuelta a Espana, Ireland’s Sam Bennett won both the second and third stages with sprints to the line, the first time in eight years that anyone has won back-to-back stages in this race.

1.
FIFA reports 2.45 million tix sold for Qatar 2022

More than 81% of all tickets for the 2022 FIFA World Cup have been sold, with FIFA announcing that 520,532 tickets were taken during the last sales period which ended on 16 August.

Agence France Presse reported that there are expected to be 3,010,679 tickets available in total, and a final sales period will open in late September or shortly thereafter; the first match will be played on Sunday, 20 November.

In terms of the countries with the most purchases, the top 10 are Qatar, the U.S., England, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the UAE, France, Argentina, Brazil and Germany.

In a somewhat related matter, the suspended CONMEBOL qualifying match between Argentina and Brazil from 5 September 2021, in which Brazilian health officials objected to the use of three Argentine players – coming from Europe – who had not met Brazil’s anti-Covid quarantine regulations, was finally canceled.

FIFA had ordered the game to be completed (and was scheduled for 22 September), but as its outcome meant nothing in the final qualifying standings in South America and the World Cup draw has already been completed, there was no reason to hold the match. FIFA’s order to hold the match and fines on both the Argentina and Brazilian federations was appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but was resolved before a decision was announced.

2.
European Championships a hit with television viewers

The 11-day European Championships in Munich (GER) has proved a success not only with local attendees, but with fans watching on television across Europe.

The second edition of the nine-sport program is being shown by the European Broadcasting Union’s 40 national broadcasters across the continent, with impressive viewership reported for the first six days that ended on Tuesday, 16 August:

● Germany: The top audience was 4.15 million for track & field on 16 August (Tuesday), and 3.07 million on 15 August (Monday). Beach volleyball on 15 August drew 2.85 million and 2.40 million watched triathlon on 14 August (Sunday).

● Great Britain: The largest single-sport audience was 1.5 million for track & field on 15 August and its afternoon programs on 16 August (Tuesday) had a 19.4% audience share.

● Italy: Track & field was again the leader, with 1.6 million viewers on 16 August; some 900,000 watched gymnastics on 14 August.

The appearance of individual stars made a difference, of course, with Norwegian distance star Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s race in the men’s 5,000 m on 16 August (Tuesday) giving national broadcaster NRK a 55.2% audience share for athletics that evening. In Sweden, the opening night of track drew a 35% viewing share.

The event concluded on Sunday, but these are impressive statistics and a boost for the viability of the European Championships concept – held this time without swimming – for the future.

Observed: More data is needed for a better evaluation, but the concept of ganging together multiple national or regional championships into a festival program that becomes more than the sum of its parts appears to be quite popular.

The U.S. has no such program at present, but the idea could be a popular promotion for Olympic sport at a cost far less than the cost of the old U.S. Olympic Festival. And if the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has no interest in this – it produces no national events at all any more – it could be created by the National Governing Bodies as a group, or by an independent entity like the multiple national championships event in Germany known as “Die Finals,” produced in cooperation with national broadcasters ARD and ZDF.

Said European Triathlon Union president Renato Bertrandi (ITA), “Well, for us, this is impossible to match with a standard European Championship. … We had the possibility to be shown to millions of spectators. Those numbers are very, very difficult to reach without events like this.”

3.
Bol storms to 400-400H-4×400 triple at European Champs

A very successful 25th edition of the European Athletics Championships concluded at the Munich Olympiastadion, with Dutch star Femke Bol winning an unprecedented triple gold in the women’s 400 m, 400 m hurdles and 4×400 m relay!

Bol won the 400 m going away on Wednesday in 49.44, then took the hurdles on Friday with a meet record of 52.67, winning by an impressive 1.63 seconds over Ukraine’s Viktoriya Tkachuk (54.30). Said the winner:

“Winning this gold medal is a big relief. It was a great race for me. I am very surprised to achieve such a fast time. I was very hard mentally to race the 400 m without hurdles. I am so proud to achieve the double. I will never do the double again. Well, maybe. Never say never!”

She also won a third gold with a brilliant 48.52 anchor on the Dutch women’s 4×400 m relay winners.

Bol wasn’t the only one to set a meet record in the final days. In the men’s 400 m hurdles, Norway’s world-record holder Karsten Warholm showed he has regained his fitness, moving to no. 3 on the year at 47.12, way ahead of France’s Wilfried Happio (48.56). Lithuania’s Worlds silver medalist Mykolas Alekna – age 19 and the NCAA runner-up for Cal – won the men’s discus, just as his father, Virgilijus Alekna, did in 2008! The young Alekna threw 69.78 m (228-11), his no. 2 throw ever, to upset World Champion Kristjian Ceh (SLO: 68.28 m/224-0).

Sweden’s Olympic and World Champion Mondo Duplantis triumphed – as expected – in the men’s vault, with a meet record of 6.06 m (19-10 1/2). Albanian Luiza Gega, fifth at the Worlds, won the women’s Steeple in 9:11.31, a meet record and her fourth national record of the season.

Britain won the most medals with 20 (6-6-8); over the weekend, Keely Hodgkinson got the win in the women’s 800 m (1:59.04), defending champion Laura Muir won the 1,500 m decisively in 4:01.08, Zharnel Hughes won the men’s 200 m (20.07) and the British men won the 4×100 m and 4×400 m relays.

Germany was no. 2 on the medals table at 16 (7-7-2), but had the most wins – to the delight of the home crowd – including Julian Weber in the men’s jav at 87.66 m (287-7) and the women’s 4×100 m. Ukraine got two wins from its women’s stars Yaroslava Mahuchikh (high jump: 1.95 m/6-4 3/4) and Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (triple jump: 15.02 m/49-3 1/2, no. 2 in 2022).

Other winners on the weekend included Spain’s Mariano Garcia in the men’s 800 m (1:44.85); Finland’s Topi Raitanan in the Steeple (8:21.80), Italian Yemaneberhan Crippa in the men’s 10,000 m (27:46.13), Swiss star Mujinga Kambudji in the women’s 200 m (22.32) and Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska – still just 21 – in the women’s 100 m hurdles (12.53).

Greece’s Elina Tzengko won the women’s javelin with a lifetime best of 65.81 m (215-11), with 41-year-old, two-time Olympic champ Barbora Spotakova (CZE) earning the bronze at 60.68 m (199-1). Greek Antigoni Drisbioti completed a double in the women’s walks, winning the 20 km race in 1:29:03. Spain won both men’s walks, with Alvaro Martin winning the 20 km in a lifetime best of 1:19:11.

4.
McClain and Malone win at USA Gymnastics Champs

The post-Simone Biles era in U.S. women’s gymnastics showcased a stunning turnaround and final-rotation drama at the USA Gymnastics Championships in Tampa, Florida that ended Sunday evening.

Seventeen-year-old Konnor McClain, an emerging star in 2021 whose training went so wrong that she did not even compete at the Olympic Trials, put on a rush on Sunday to pass first-day leader Shilese Jones and win the All-Around competition by 112.750 to 112.000.

Jones, 12th in the All-Around at the 2019 and 2021 U.S. championships, led at 57.200 on Saturday, followed by McClain (56.400) and Tokyo Olympic Team silver medalist Jordan Chiles (56.150). Carey had the highest score on Vault (14.800), while Jones won on Uneven Bars (14.850) and Floor (14.100). McClain won on Beam (14.800).

On Sunday, Jones and McClain dueled throughput the four-event program, with McClain’s score of 112.750 within Jones’s reach on her final apparatus, the Uneven Bars, on which she led all scorers on Saturday. But Jones fell on her dismount and scored only 13.600 to leave McClain in first place. McClain’s second-day score of 56.350 was tops in the field by a large margin in gymnastics: 0.60 points over Chiles.

Chiles ended up third (111.900), ahead of 2021 Worlds bronze medalist Kayla DiCello (110.950) and Tokyo Olympic Floor gold medalist Jade Carey (110.900). Leanne Wong, the 2021 Worlds All-Around silver winner, had a foot injury and contested only the Uneven Bars and Beam.

The individual event champions – using the two-day scores – were Carey on Vault (29.450), Jones and Wong on the Uneven Bars (28.450), McClain on Beam (28.900) and Jones on Floor (28.350).

In the men’s competition, reigning U.S. champ Brody Malone won again and decisively, leading both sessions of the All-Around and finishing with 176.590 points. That was well ahead of veteran Donnell Whittenburg (171.571), newcomers Asher Hong (171.210) and Fred Richard (169.166) and 2017 U.S. champ Yul Moldauer (169.139).

In the two-round scores for each apparatus, Malone won on Floor Exercise and Horizontal Bar and was second on Pommel Horse. Whittenburg won on Rings and was second on Vault. Hong was the Vault winner; Curren Phillips won on Parallel Bars and World Champion Stephen Nedoroscik won as expected on Pommel Horse.

5.
Bennett pulls off back-to-back stage wins to start Vuelta a Espana

The final Grand Tour of the 2022 cycling season, the 77th La Vuelta Ciclista de Espana, got underway over the weekend, with some noteworthy history already from Irish sprint star Sam Bennett.

The opening stages were in the Netherlands this year, with the Dutch Jumbo-Visma team – with three-time defending champ Primoz Roglic (SLO) aboard – taking the opening Team Time Trial. The second stage was a flat, 175.1 km ride to Utrecht, with Bennett winning the final sprint over Mads Pedersen (DEN) and Tim Merlier (BEL) in 3:49:34.

Sunday’s third stage was another sprinter’s race, 193.1 km in and around Breda and it was Bennett and Pedersen finishing 1-2 at the line again (!), this time with Britain’s Daniel McQuay third, all in 4:05:53. For Bennett, it was his 34th World Tour victory – at age 31 – and his fifth career stage win at the Vuelta a Espana. It’s the first time anyone has won back-to-back stages in this race since 2014, when German sprinter John Degenkolb pulled it off in stages 4-5.

The racing returns to Spain on Tuesday, with the first hilly stage and three climbing stages with uphill finishes on the program for next week. The 21-stage event continues through 11 September.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● The European Championships was not the only regional title event going on, with the three-day North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) meet on in Freeport (BAH).

Although this meet – in its fourth edition – is not that well known, the U.S. sent a pretty good team and the results showed: out of 43 total events, the Americans won 29 of them!

The top races were in the hurdles, with 2019 Pan American Games runner-up Freddie Crittenden (USA) setting a lifetime best of 13.00 (wind: +0.3 m/s) to beat countryman Jamal Britt (13.08, lifetime best). Crittenden moved to equal-third on the 2022 world list and is the 16th man to run 13.00 or better in U.S. history.

In the men’s 400 m hurdles, Commonwealth Games champ Kyron McMaster (IVB) scored a season’s best 47.34 to win over Americans Khallifah Rosser (lifetime best 47.59, no. 13 all-time U.S.) and C.J. Allen (48.23).

The U.S. men’s victories on the track also included Jonah Koech (800 m: 1:45.87), Eric Holt (1,500 m: 3:37.62), a heartening victory for Evan Jager in the Steeple (8:22.55), Woody Kincaid in the 5,000 m (14:48.58) and Sean McGorty in the 10,000 m (29:23.77). On the infield, William Williams took the long jump (7.89 m/25-10 3/4), Chris Benard won the triple jump (16.40 m/53-9 3/4), Roger Steen won the shot (20.78 m/68-2 1/4), Rudy Winkler won the hammer (78.29 m/256-10) and Curtis Thompson took the jav (84.23 m/276-4).

The U.S. women scored wins on the track by Brittany Brown (200 m: 22.35); by Ajee Wilson in the 800 m over Allie Wilson, 1:58.47 to 1:58.48; Heather MacLean in the 1,500 m (4:04.53); Gabrielle Jennings led a sweep in the Steeple (9:34.36); a medals sweep in the 5,000 m was led by Natosha Rogers (15:11.68); Stephanie Bruce led a 1-2 in the 10,000 m in 33:12.52, and Alaysha Johnson won the 100 m hurdles in 12.62.

On the infield, Vashti Cunningham took the high jump at 1.92 m (6-3 1/2), Alina McDonald won the vault at 4.50 m (14-9) and Quanesha Burks won the long jump at 6.75 m (22-1 3/4). In the throws, Laulauga Tausaga-Collins won the discus at 63.18 m (207-3) and Worlds silver medalist Kara Winger won the javelin at 64.68 m (212-2). In the women’s hammer, World bronze medalist Janee Kassanavoid won over teammate (and World Champion) Brooke Andersen, 71.51 m (234-7) to 69.66 m (228-6).

The American squad won all five relays: the men’s 4×100 m in 38.29 and the 4×400 m in 3:01.79; the women’s 4×100 m in 42.35 and the 4×400 m in 3:23.54. The Mixed 4×400 m of Quincy Hall, Jaide Stepter Baynes, Ismail Turner and Kaylin Whitney won in a speedy 3:12.05, the no. 5 performance of 2022 and no. 5 in U.S. history.

In addition to the American win parade, Jamaica’s World 200 m Champion Shericka Jackson continued to impress, winning the women’s 100 m in 10.83 and teammates Ackeem Blake (9.98) and Andrew Hudson (19.87) won the men’s 100 m and 200 m. World Champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) favored the home crowd with a dominant, 49.40 win in the women’s 400 m.

● Cycling ● Swiss Mountain Bike star Mathias Flueckiger, the Tokyo Olympic Cross Country silver medalist and 2021 World Cup winner, has been provisionally suspended by the Swiss anti-doping agency, just before the European Mountain Bike Championships in Munich were set to start.

Flueckiger was informed of a positive test for Zeranol, an anabolic agent used mostly in livestock. Now 33, Flueckiger’s test from 5 June at the Swiss national championships came back positive and he was informed on 18 August. His second (“B”) sample has yet to be tested for confirmation.

● Football ● The FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica has reached the semifinal stage, to be held on Thursday (25th) in San Jose.

In the quarters, Spain defeated Mexico, 1-0, and Brazil also won by 1-0 against Colombia on Saturday. On Sunday, the Netherlands steamed past Nigeria, 2-0, and Japan defeated France on penalties (5-3) following a 3-3 tie after extra time.

In the semis, Spain will play the Netherlands and Brazil will face Japan.

The medal matches will be played on the 28th. The U.S. women did not advance past the group stage.

● Ice Hockey ● Host Canada won the IIHF World Junior (U-20) Championship in Edmonton with an overtime, 3-2 win against Finland.

It’s the 19th title for the Canadians, far more than anyone else (the USSR won eight), and they won seven games without a loss in the tournament, scoring 41 goals to 14 for its opponents.

In the final, Canada had a 2-0 lead after two periods, but the Finns tied it up with two scores in the first 10:46 of the third period. Forward Kent Johnson won it at 3:20 of overtime by knocking in a loose puck in front of the Finnish goal.

Sweden defeated the Czech Republic, 3-1, to win the bronze medal. The U.S. had gone 4-0 in group play, but were upset in the quarterfinals by the Czechs, 4-2.

● Swimming ● The revival of the “Duel in the Pool” between the U.S. and Australia was a popular attraction at the Sydney Aquatic Centre (AUS), with the Americans breaking away late in the meet for a 309-283 victory on Sunday.

U.S. star Michael Andrew was everywhere, scoring wins in the men’s 50 m Back Skins race, 50 m Breast Skins race and the 100 m Breast, and a second in the 50 m Fly Skins. Shaine Casas won the 50 m Fly Skins and the 100 m Fly and Ryan Held took the 50 m Free Skins and the 100 m Free. Bella Sims won the 200 m Free and the “broken” (segmented) 400 m Free.

Australia’s stars Emma McKeon and Kaylee McKeown were in form. McKeon won the women’s 50 m Fly Skins and 100 m Fly, while McKeown took the 50 m Back Skins, the 100 m Back and the 200 m “mystery” Medley. Among the men, Mack Horton won the “broken” 400 m and 800 m Freestyle races.

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: World Games 2022 finishes with $14 million deficit; USA Gymnastics bankruptcy ends, but abortion laws now in focus for events

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

Beautiful! With a new (23rd) donor, 33% of our summer funding goal for operating costs has been covered. Can you help? Please donate here. Comments? Click here.

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. World Games in Birmingham left with $14 million deficit
2. Final Decree granted in USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case
3. USA Gymnastics to consider abortion laws in site selection
4. Tokyo 2020 bribery case involves sponsorship discount
5. Ingebrigtsen completes Euro double with 1,500 m win

The 2022 World Games Birmingham, Alabama were a success on the field, but a financial  loser off of it, with a $14 million deficit on a $65 million spend. The local and regional government may pick up most of it, but there is more fund-raising to go. The end has come for the USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case in Indiana (probably), but the organization’s chief exec says that abortion laws will impact their future event site selections. The bribery case involving a former Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member took a wild turn with a report that the company he was helping got a 67% discount on its sponsorship fee! And Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen completed a 1,500-5,000 m double at the European Athletics Championships.

1.
World Games in Birmingham left with $14 million deficit

After a highly-successful World Games in July, the bills have come due in August. The World Games organizing committee in Birmingham, Alabama cost about $65 million to put on, but raised only $51 million, leaving a $14 million deficit (21.5% of the total spend).

That means there is a list of vendors who are owed money, with Birmingham City Council member Darrell O’Quinn telling WBRC Television:

“We don’t need any Birmingham businesses failing. We can’t leave these vendors hanging. I mean some of them are owed very substantial amounts of money. I know one vendor in particular, it’s an excess of $1 million that they are owed.”

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin asked the City Council to appropriate $5 million to help cover part of the debt; O’Quinn added:

“Their plan is have the city of Birmingham cover one portion.

“Then, the Jefferson County Commission cover another big chunk, and then talk to the Convention and Visitors Bureau to have them cover a portion as well. Then, the remaining balance, I believe is about $3 million, they would raise from private sector. That’s the plan.”

World Games head Nick Sellers explained:

“I couldn’t be more proud of our team at The World Games 2022 Birmingham Organizing Committee. We delivered an amazing event for $65 million, $10M under the original budget of $75M. This event is a major platform for the Summer Olympic Games. And we delivered an Olympic caliber program.

“However, for many reasons, our revenues left us with a $14 million deficit. We are working with our public and private partners to close the gap as quickly as possible and satisfy all of our debts.

“We have every intention to raise the associated funds and pay our vendors. …

“Many factors contributed to the disappointing shortage. Due to the latest COVID spike, fewer than expected international travelers attended the games, particularly from China and Europe. That contributed to weaker-than-hoped-for ticket sales, and some open hotel room nights outside of the city’s core. The virus also delayed the Games a year, adding significantly to our costs. Finally, a challenging economy caused two large sponsors to withdraw support just weeks prior to The Games.”

Observed: The Birmingham organizers did an excellent job and put on a fine Games under the difficult circumstances of a year’s postponement and a lousy sponsorship sales environment. It is noteworthy that the city and county governments are immediately willing to help with most of the debt, which will make the asks for private support much easier.

Events, especially large multi-sport ones, are expensive, hard to stage and not for the feint of heart. Birmingham’s interest in the World Games was as a platform to seek more events that will fill its hotel rooms and raise its visibility. That was achieved, but the investment is going to be a bit more than expected. Birmingham appears to be OK with this; other cities will not be and the financial results of this event will scare some potential bidders for future events away.

2.
Final Decree granted in USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case

The long and winding path of the USA Gymnastics bankruptcy proceeding before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana has finally – maybe – come to an end.

On Wednesday (17th), the Court heard a motion for the closure of the case, and without objections from any party and the approval of the U.S. Trustee, the motion was granted.

The order includes “[T]he Bankruptcy Court hereby enters this Final Decree and orders this Chapter 11 Case closed,” but a dispute between USA Gymnastics and Liberty Insurance Underwriters will specifically remain open.

Also, “Entry of this Final Decree is without prejudice to the rights of any party in interest
to seek to reopen these cases for good cause shown.”

The case began with USA Gymnastics filing for voluntary, Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 5 December 2018; the Effective Date of the agreed-to reorganization plan was declared on 25 April 2022. The settlements process is underway, with insurers for USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and others paying in $339.46 million to the claimants, plus related expenses.

3.
USA Gymnastics to consider abortion laws in site selection

With the USA Gymnastics national championships in Artistic Gymnastics underway in Tampa, Florida through Sunday, the federation’s chief executive said that future site selections will consider the local laws on abortion.

Li Li Leung told the Associated Press, “We want to be able to align with cities and locations that are also aligned with our value system … We are about empowerment. We are about choice. We are about agency.”

She said that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year to return abortion rules to the states was contradictory to USAG values.

The booking of the Tampa site for the 2022 Artistic Nationals was made prior to the Supreme Court’s decision. The preliminary calendar for women’s Artistic Gymnastics in 2023 shows national qualifying events in Nevada in January, Ohio, Florida and Texas in February and in Virginia in March, but no sites selected yet for the Winter Cup (February), U.S. Classic (August), or the national championships (August).

However, there is a heavy schedule of 17 Elite Developmental and National Team training camp programs throughout the year, plus the American Cup competition in July and a World Championships selection event from 20-23 September, all in Katy, Texas. That state passed a law in 2021 which prohibits abortion after about six weeks and is being litigated at present.

Although not primarily a competition-site issue, will USA Gymnastics now move its main training facility out of Texas?

Leung also unveiled a new logo for the organization on Thursday afternoon, part of a rebranding effort which will continue through the fall.

4.
Tokyo 2020 bribery case involves sponsorship discount

Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported Thursday that the bribery case involving former Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member Haruyuki Takahashi and publicly-traded, 600-store business-suit retailer Aoki Holdings involves a “discount” of more than 65% on its Tokyo 2020 supporter license.

Aoki Holdings was granted designation as an tier-three “Official Supporter” in 2018, reported to ordinarily cost about ¥1.5 billion (~$11.04 million) or more, but that Aoki actually paid only ¥500 million (~$3.68 million). The idea is that Takahashi used his influence, as a former senior managing director of sponsorship agency Dentsu, Inc., to have Aoki (1) selected and (2) at a reduced fee.

Takahashi admits to receiving a “consulting fee” from Aoki Holdings, reportedly ¥1 million per month (~$7,360) from September 2017 into March of 2022, but has said there was nothing illegal about the arrangement. Aoki Holdings reportedly created a separate ¥250 million (~$1.84 million) fund for athlete support for the Games, with 92% of it going to Takahashi’s consulting company, ostensibly to fund these activities.

The Kyodo story included:

“Takahashi reportedly told investigators during questioning that he approached Aoki with a proposal to sponsor the games. He connected the retailer to an executive in the marketing division after the firm said it was interested in the deal if ‘fees were cheap.’”

5.
Ingebrigtsen completes Euro double with 1,500 m win

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen was unhappy with his silver-medal performance in the men’s 1,500 m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene in July, but came back to win the 5,000 m title in splendid form.

He got both golds at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, completing his 1,500-5,000 m double on Thursday with a nearly wire-to-wire victory in the 1,500 m in 3:32.76, decisively ahead of Jake Heyward (GBR: 3:34.44) and Mario Garcia (ESP: 3:34.88). Ingebrigtsen led at the bell and ran his final lap in a speedy 55.25.

Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki finished second to countryman Pawel Fajdek at the Worlds in Eugene, but he won his second European men’s hammer title in style on Thursday with a world-leading throw of 82.00 m (269-0), his second-best ever. That’s two centimeters more than Fajdek threw at the Worlds and gave Nowicki a second consecutive Europeans win; Hungary’s Bence Halasz won the silver with a lifetime best of 80.92 m (265-6).

The men’s high jump was less thrilling, with Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi the only one to clear 2.30 m (7-6 1/2), with Tobias Potye (GER) and Ukraine’s Andriy Potsenko at 2.27 m (7-5 1/4). It’s Tamberi’s second European title, after his win in 2016.

Home favorite Konstanze Klosterhalfen (GER) won the women’s 5,000 m in a one-on-one duel with Turkey’s 10,000 m winner, Yasemin Can. The two ran together from just after halfway, with Klosterhalfen sprinting away on the final lap to win, 14:50.47 to 14:56.91. Britain’s Eilish McColgan, second in the 10,000 m, was third (14:59.34).

Germany’s Olympic, World and 2018 European women’s long jump champ, Malaika Mihambo, may have been the favorite, but she couldn’t catch up to the brilliant 7.06 m (23-2) first-round jump by Ivana Vuleta (SRB). Mihambo got out to 7.03 m (23-0 3/4) in round two, but no further, giving Vuleta – rebounding from a seventh-place finish in Eugene – her second European title, also in 2016.

World Champion Nafi Thiam (BEL) was a clear winner in the women’s heptathlon, scoring 6,628 points to best Adrianna Sulek (POL: 6,532).

Dutch star Femke Bol easily led the qualifying in the women’s 400 m hurdles (53.73) and will go for an unprecedented 400-400 hurdles double tomorrow.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● National Olympic Committees ● Two hopeful signs for sport in India. First, a Wednesday meeting of the Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH) and the three-member Committee of Administrators agreed on the path forward for the Indian federation and for the men’s Hockey World Cup in January 2023.

A new draft constitution for Hockey India was presented and an elections schedule was agreed, to be completed by 9 October, to bring the federation in compliance with the Sport Code of India. In view of this, no plan to change or remove the men’s Hockey World Cup was discussed.

Second, the country’s Supreme Court stayed a High Court decree that appointed another Committee of Administrators to operate the Indian Olympic Association, in view of its non-compliance with the country’s Sports Code. As the All India Football Federation was similarly taken over and quickly suspended by FIFA, there was great concern that the IOC would do the same. The Indian Olympic Association’s appeal of the High Court decree will be heard on 22 August.

● Football ● The U.S. women were eliminated during the group stage of the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup, ongoing in Costa Rica. An opening 3-0 win over Ghana was followed by a 3-0 loss to the Netherlands and a 3-1 loss to Japan.

The group winners were Spain from Group A (2-0-1), Colombia from Group B (2-0-1), Nigeria (3-0) from Group C and Japan (3-0) in Group D. The quarterfinals will be on the weekend and the medal matches on the 28th.

● Sport Climbing ● The new Olympic format of Boulder + Lead together and separate from Speed debuted at the European Championships in Munich (GER), but the women’s winner was no surprise: Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Janja Garnbret (SLO).

She dominated the event, winning the individual Bouldering and Lead events and then taking the new, combined event with a near-perfect 199.9 out of 200, ahead of teammate Mia Krampl (180.9) and Jessica Pilz (AUT: 180.6). Make Garnbret the early favorite for Paris, still just 23.

The men’s event was much closer, with Austria’s Tokyo bronze medalist Jakob Schubert outlasting five-time World Champion Adam Ondra (CZE), 175.6 to 170.8 for the victory in the new event.

● Swimming ● The U.S. vs. Australia “Duel in the Pool” is back! With a lot of twists.

Not held since 2015, this edition is not a seriously-scored, nation-on-nation dual meet, but a mixture of traditional and novelty events to be held mostly on Saturday and Sunday at the 10,000-capacity Sydney Aquatics Centre in Australia.

There’s a 4×800 m open-water relay on Friday, and pool events with relays using six legs with three winners taking two legs each; Skins events in the sprint distances, combined able-bodied and para swimmer events, segmented (“broken”) 400 m and 800 m Free events, bonus scoring options and so on.

USA Swimming will have streaming coverage of the event on Saturday and Sunday, and neither side will have all of its best swimmers competing. It will be perhaps most interesting to see what the attendance is like, as Australians take their swimming quite seriously.

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TSX REPORT: Milan Cortina 2026 government spend balloons past $2 billion; Sjostrom wins 28th career Euro swim medal; Tokyo 2020 board member arrested

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Government spending for Milano Cortina 2026 at €2.165 billion?
2. Euro Champs swimming ends with Sjostrom’s 28th career medal
3. Success of Munich ‘22 driving Olympic dreams for Germany
4. Indian High Court now takes over Indian Olympic Association
5. Former Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member arrested for bribes

The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games is supposed to be a cost-efficient event, but new government reports show possible spending related (broadly) to the Games will eclipse €2 billion and that the organizing committee will be provided with a loan equal to 25% of its projected budget! The European Championships in swimming finished in Rome with Italy the top medal winner, but Swedish sprinter Sarah Sjostrom becoming the all-time individual medal winner with 28. The so-far-successful, nine-sport European Championships in Munich is driving new interest in a future Olympic bid for Germany, but it is seen as a long process with a pro-Olympic referendum likely. After India’s national football federation was suspended for government interference by FIFA, now the country’s National Olympic Committee is being taken over by a three-member committee appointed by the Delhi High Court; what will the IOC do? In Tokyo, a former Executive Board member of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and the heads of a major clothing firm that was an “Official Supporter” of the Games were arrested on bribery charges. It never ends.

1.
Government spending for Milano Cortina 2026 at €2.165 billion?

In the typically confused cost accounting attached to an Olympic Games, the originally-promised €1 billion in governmental support spending for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games has now increased to perhaps €2.165 billion ($1 U.S. = €1.02 at present).

Reported in an update from the infrastructure company set up for works related to the Games in a bulletin of the regional government of Veneto, the spending list details projected costs in three different groups, each divided into “essential non-deferrable works” – these are must-haves to conduct the Games – and “essential” programs, many of which are long-term infrastructure items which are being done now as they can be lumped in with the Games.

The must-have programs total €286 million but the less-important “essential” items now total €1.879 billion. Samples of the must-have items, many of which also have long-term uses:

● €85.0 million to renovate the Cortina bobsled-luge run
● €50.0 million to renovate the speed skating arena
● €47.8 million for the Olympic Village in Cortina
● €23.5 million to renovate the ski-jumping facility
● €20.0 million for a new cableway system for alpine skiing
● €17.6 million for a new cableway system for freestyle and snowboard
● €11.5 million for the cross-country skiing stadium
● €11.0 million for the Olympic Village in Guardia di Finanza
● €10.0 million to create the medal plaza and other renovations
● €6.5 million for snow-making equipment for biathlon

(During the bid phase, the International Olympic Committee proposed that bobsled, luge and skeleton could be held at the existing facility in St. Moritz, Switzerland, saving a lot of effort and money. A Cortina City Council member has now suggested moving the events to Innsbruck, Austria.)

Then there are the other projects, characterized in one report as “works that have been awaited for decades” and are road and railway programs that are not required for the Games, but have been approved to support it. Originally tagged at €1 billion, the cost of these projects has risen 88% in three years!

According to the Rome newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, much of the added spending on the actual Games-related costs and some of the infrastructure spending is relieving the financial pressure on the regional governments, who “would have had to redo at their own expense” and now will benefit “without in any way burdening the state coffers.”

Moreover, the concern over the work of the organizing committee, formed in 2019, is such that the federal funding decree also allows for a €400 million loan for the staging of the Games, which has a budget of €1.58 billion; that’s 25%! No wonder the Italian government has decreed that a new Board be installed.

The International Olympic Committee will provide $652 million in cash to Milan Cortina, but as for the expected €550 million in domestic sponsorship revenue, the newspaper sniffs, “to date, a pure utopia.” And:

“It must be said that between 2019 and today times, as [Lombardy President Attilio Fontana] also recalled, have definitely changed between pandemics and the increase in the prices of raw materials and energy, which added to bureaucracy, delays and the inaction of the [organizing committee] have created a paralysis and an enormous delay in the preparation of the event. Thus, the formula of state support ultimately turned out to be the best, perhaps the only one, for the ‘Olympics of autonomy’ and ‘at no cost’. Or presumed such.”

The budget pressures on Milan Cortina 2026 come along only weeks after the Paris 2024 organizers also noted the difficulties of keeping spending on track due to inflation and supply-chain disruptions. It isn’t easy.

2.
Euro Champs swimming ends with Sjostrom’s 28th career medal

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, 29, is one of the great sprinters in the history of the sport, with four Olympic medals and 20 World Championships medals in her career. And she added to her career lead in European Championships medals with a swift anchor on the women’s 4×100 m Medley Relay to bring Sweden home first.

Swimming at the Foro Italico in Rome in her seventh Euros, Sjostrom had to come from behind with a blazing 52.04 final leg to earn Sweden the win in 3:55.25 to 3:56.36 for France. It was her third gold in Rome and fifth total medal to give her 28 career European medals (17-7-4), more than anyone in history.

Lithuanian comeback star – and 2022 World Champion – Ruta Meilutyte defeated world-record holder Benedetta Pilato (ITA) to win the women’s 50 m Breast final, 29.59-29.71. It’s the no. 2 performance in the world for 2022 and the second European title for Meilutyte in the event; she also won in 2014.

Sixteen-year-old Lana Pudar (BIH) won the women’s 200 m fly in 2:06.81, a national record and now no. 6 on the 2022 world list. German Isabel Gose won the women’s 400 m Free in 4:04.13 to deny home favorite Simona Quadarella (ITA: 4:04.77) a triple-triple: Quadarella had won the last three Europeans in the 800 and 1,500 m Frees and was going for three in a row in the 400.

Britain’s Ben Proud completed a rare World Championships + Commonwealth Games + European Championships triple, winning the men’s 50 m Free in 21.58, adding to his win in this event in 2018. Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, the World Champion in the 100 m Back, took his first European title in 52.21; he also won the 50 m Fly earlier. Germany’s Lukas Maertens, the Worlds runner-up, won the 400 m Free in 3:42.50, the third-fastest time of the year; he has three of the top four.

Italy dominated the final swimming medal count with 35 total (13-13-9) to 15 for Hungary (5-7-3) and Great Britain (4-5-6). A total of 20 countries won medals.

3.
Success of Munich ‘22 driving Olympic dreams for Germany

The head of the German National Olympic Committee (DOSB), Thomas Weikert, said during a national ARD television interview that the success of the nine-sport European Championships in Munich over the past week has rekindled interest in a future Olympic bid.

“I think you can organize Olympic Games without everything being on a massive scale. Here is a very good event with nine sports and you can see that you can build on that …

“We are thinking about Olympic Games in Germany – winter or summer. We are thinking about it but will first ask the members. We will issue a timeframe at the next [DOSB] general assembly in December.”

Berlin tried for the 2000 Games and numerous bids from other cities have failed since the 1972 Games were held in Munich. But last Thursday, more than 55,000 showed up for the opening of the European Championships – a centerpiece of the 50-year commemoration of the 1972 Games – and interest in the sports has been high. The German national ARD channel reported an average television audience of 4.15 million (18.1% market share) for the athletics competitions on Tuesday evening.

DOSB Vice President Verena Bentele told ARD, “If we have a concept that involves people, that is sustainable, then we will also be able to trigger enthusiasm for the Olympic and Paralympic Games here. And that is our job now, and we will work on it.”

An ARD commentary notes that the view of the populace will be the key. Referendums killed the potential bids from Munich for the 2022 Winter Games and Hamburg for 2024. And with the current political factions in Germany at present, “no new application without a pro-Olympic referendum.”

This is a long-term project that should push German ambitions beyond a 2036 Games, which would be 100 years since the infamous Nazi Games of 1936. But for the future and noting the enormous success of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and now the Munich Europeans, Olympic ambitions in Germany are more than dreams.

4.
Indian High Court now takes over Indian Olympic Association

A few months ago, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had aspirations of hosting a future Olympic Games and bidding for a Youth Olympic Games. It will host – as of now – the International Olympic Committee as its 2023 Session in Mumbai.

But the IOA may be suspended by then.

The Delhi High Court – the highest authority in the New Delhi region, but subordinate to the Supreme Court of India – issued a ruling on Tuesday that placed the IOA under the control of a three-member Committee of Administrators:

“It is better that a legitimate body represents the cause of sportspersons than one simply masquerading as the real champion of Indian sports. Fairness and legitimacy need to imbue all public affairs. Recalcitrant entities which defy adherence to rules of the game, while continuing to unjustly enjoy government’s largesse and patronage, must be called-out.”

The IOA is in trouble for not following the Indian Sports Code regarding elections in the aftermath of the resignation of Narinder Batra in July, who is also being investigated for misuse of Hockey India funds.

However, FIFA just suspended the All India Football Federation as it was also taken over by court order for similar issues; such direct governmental control is seen as impermissible under the FIFA Statutes. How long will the IOC wait before issuing a similar order?

Observed: The situation in India is confused as Batra was at the center of sport in the country, as head of the IOA, as the President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and as an IOC member. He has resigned all three posts and the resulting power vacuum has created multiple problems for multiple sports bodies with the Indian Sports Code regarding elections and representation.

But it demonstrates that even large countries can have major complications that run their National Olympic Committees and national sports federations afoul of their governments – who fund them – as well as the IOC and the International Federations.

5.
Former Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member arrested for bribes

Tokyo prosecutors arrested former Tokyo 2020 organizing committee Executive Board member Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, on Wednesday in a case concerning bribes of about ¥51 million (~$380,000) from a Tokyo 2020 supplier.

Takahashi, a former senior managing director of Japan’s largest advertising agency Dentsu, is accused of receiving money from the publicly-traded, 600-store men’s clothing firm Aoki Holdings for “preferential treatment in the process of selecting sponsors from January 2017 to June 2021.”

Aoki Holdings became an “official supporter” of the Tokyo Games in 2018, which allowed it to create apparel – primarily men’s business suits – with the Games logo. The former Aoki chair, Hironori Aoki, his brother Takahisa Aoki, and executive Katsuhisa Ueda, were also arrested

Takahashi had admitted receiving money from Aoki Holdings, but says it was an independent consulting arrangement, and not related to his position as a Tokyo 2020 board member. The prosecutors believe Takahashi used his position to assist Aoki Holdings obtain its status as a licensee.

Observed: It’s another minor stain on the fringes of the successful Tokyo 2020 Games, and a reminder that those who have deep connections that are highly valued by an organizing committee may be susceptible to outside offers. One more headache.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● The FrancsJeux.com site reports that contracts to make Tahiti the site for surfing for the 2024 Olympic Games were signed this week with the Paris 2024 organizing committee.

Commitments for infrastructure, security and the torch relay were all concluded and organizing committee chief Tony Estanguet said of the Olympic preparations, “Adjustments are necessary, but most will be temporary so as not to distort the sites.”

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● A shock for WADA with the sudden passing of Chief Operating Officer Frederic Donze (SUI) on Tuesday.

A WADA statement noted that he “died suddenly today, following a short illness, in Montreal, Canada, at the age of 50.” The statement also included:

“Fred joined WADA in 2002 in the role of Media Relations and Communications Manager. In 2011, he became Director of WADA’s Europe Office and International Federation Relations, in Lausanne, before being appointed COO in 2016. Prior to joining WADA, Fred was a journalist in his native Switzerland, including sports editor of the Geneva-based newspaper, Le Temps.”

● Archery ● An innovative idea that is sure to be copied has come from World Archery, asking to be included in the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Australia.

The sport is not on the proposed program, which has 16 sports so far, including Paralympic events. So the archery federation is suggesting inclusion of a combined able-bodied and para archery program, with (1) four mixed team events (Recurve and Compound) and four doubles events for men and women with one able-bodied and one para archer, or (2) eight individual events (able and para) and the combined doubles events.

Up to five added sports are expected to be added to the 2026 Commonwealth program, with the decision expected by the end of the year. Watch for more of these kinds of proposals.

● Athletics ● Dutch star Femke Bol started her unprecedented quest to win both the 400 m and 400 m hurdles at a major championship with a victory in the women’s 400 m at the European Athletics Championships in Munich.

She won in 49.44, a national record and second in 2022 only to World Champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH), and well ahead of runner-up Natalia Kaczmarek (49.94). Bol will run the 400 m hurdles semis on Thursday and, if qualified, the 400 m hurdles final on Friday. She’s the overwhelming favorite after finishing second at the World Championships in 52.27.

There was a major upset in the women’s vault, as two-time European Champion and Rio 2016 Olympic gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi (GRE) was beaten by Finland’s Wilma Murto. The Finn, fifth at the Eugene Worlds, cleared a national record 4.85 m (15-11) – equal-second in the world this year – while Stefanidi managed 4.75 m (15-7). Former Arkansas star Tina Sutej (SLO) was third, also at 4.75 m.

Olympic and World Champion Pedro Pablo Pichardo (POR) won the men’s triple jump at 17.50 m (57-5) in the second round, far ahead of Italy’s Andrea Dallavalle (17.04 m/55-11).

Favored Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) won the men’s 400 m at 44.53 and Spain’s Asier Martinez was called the winner of the men’s 110 m hurdles over 2018 champ Pascale Martinot-Lagarde (FRA), by 1/1000th of a second – 13.137 to 13.138 – with both given 13.14 (wind: -0.2 m/s). Romania’s Bianca Ghelber – sixth in Tokyo and sixth in Eugene – pulled an upset as the winner of the women’s hammer at 72.72 m (238-7).

● Cycling ● Colombian star Nairo Quintana, 32, the 2014 Giro d’Italia and 2016 Vuelta a Espana champion, was disqualified from his sixth-place finish at this year’s Tour de France for the use of an opioid.

The Union Cycliste Internationale announced the sanction Wednesday:

“The analyses of two dried blood samples provided by the rider on 8 and 13 July during the 2022 Tour de France revealed the presence of tramadol and its two main metabolites.

“In accordance with the UCI Medical Rules, the rider is disqualified from the 2022 Tour de France. This decision may be appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within the next 10 days.”

Per the UCI Medical Code:

“Tramadol is a synthetic opioid analgesic (painkiller) prescribed for the treatment of moderate to moderately severe pain. It is a centrally acting analgesic that affects the way the brain and nervous system respond to pain. In addition to the risk of dependence and addiction, commonly reported adverse side effects of tramadol are dizziness, drowsiness and loss of attention, which are incompatible with competitive cycling and endanger other competitors.

“In light of the foregoing, in order to protect each rider’s health and physical integrity and to ensure the safety of the competitions, tramadol is prohibited in-competition.”

Tramadol use is not considered a doping violation and Quintana is not suspended; he is listed as a starter for the 2022 Vuelta a Espana which starts Friday in Utrecht (NED).

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For our updated, 620-event International Sports Calendar for 2022 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX REPORT: Study compares track athlete pay with second-tier leagues; Italian gov’t taking charge of Milan Cortina 2026; FIFA blows up U-17 World Cup!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

Thank you to our 22 donors, who have covered 31% of our summer funding goal for operating costs. Can you help? Please donate here. Comments? Click here.

★ To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Quick study shows T&F athlete pay in line with “other non-major sports”
2. Shake-up coming as government gets involved in Milan Cortina 2026
3. FIFA suspends India; what of the U-17 Women’s World Cup?
4. Biathlon federation to consider extending Russian ban
5. Sjostrom sets all-time medals record with Euro women’s 50 Free win

A review of player pay in second-tier U.S. professional leagues demonstrates the level of pay that U.S. track & field athletes can expect; a lot of it has to do with home-game attendance. The Italian government, which is itself in crisis, has moved to take a role in the governance of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games in view of not enough action from the organizing committee. FIFA, meanwhile, has suspended India in view of a government takeover and will not hold the women’s U-17 World Cup – scheduled for November – in that country! The Int’l Biathlon Union membership will vote next month on a continued suspension of Russia and Belarus, and on emergency powers for its Executive Board in case of another war. At the European Championships in Rome, Swedish sprint star Sarah Sjostrom set an all-time medal record with her third career win in the 50 m Freestyle.

1.
Quick study shows T&F athlete pay in line with
“other non-major sports”

A limited but fascinating examination of athlete salaries in second-tier U.S. professional leagues shows that many U.S. track & field performers – and perhaps others in Olympic sports – are being paid at about the same level.

NAL Athletics founder George Perry studied the salary data for leagues such as the U.S. Football League (USFL), XFL, National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), Premier Hockey Federation (women’s ice hockey), the Premier Lacrosse League and others, as well as attendance figures for home games, in a Tuesday post.

What he found is an interesting correlation between average in-person attendance and player pay:

● 1,000 per game/$15,000 avg. salary: Premier Hockey Federation (20 games/team)

● 4,000 per game/$45,000 avg. salary: U.S. Football League (10 games)

● 4,227 per game/$35,000 avg. salary: Premier Lacrosse League (10 games)

● 7,500 per game/$35,000 avg. salary: National Women’s Soccer League (22 games)

● 18,126 per game/$55,000 avg. salary: XFL (10 games)

In comparison, the recent World Athletics Championships in Eugene drew 146,033 across 16 ticketed sessions or 9,127 on average. The problem is, as Perry points out, that the Worlds were a single show across 10 days, not a season-long promotion:

“If people want track & field athletes to make more money, they don’t need to look for more ways to get more people to attend USAs or Worlds or the Olympics. They need an everything, everywhere, but not all-at-once, spread out over 6-8 month season approach. Two thousand fans at each of 30 events across six cities has greater commercial viability than 60,000 fans for a weekend, not that track & field is getting 60,000 fans on a weekend. That would be the most effective and sustainable way to move track & field athletes up and to the right on the curve their peers in other sports have already defined.”

His charting of leagues, average player salaries and average attendance per game, compared with the Eugene Worlds, showed:

“Using the relationship from the graph above, track & field athletes should average $48,419 per year.”

There are quite a few athletes making that much, but a lot fewer than the 1,720 who showed up in Eugene; at that average, the total payroll for the Worlds would have been $83.28 million! The prize purse at the 2022 Worlds was $8.498 million or 10.2% of that figure. And that $8.498 million was distributed to 392 place winners across 49 events (average $21,679 per placing).

Looking at the number of athletes in the football, hockey and lacrosse leagues above, a true professional U.S. track & field league could be expected to support perhaps 400-500 athletes at maximum, but across how many events? Discounting relays, road and multi-events, the Eugene Worlds had 36 events for men and women combined, so 12-15 per event, max?

Is that a good number? At what pay rate? Not even today’s performers know, since as U.S. superstar women’s 400 m hurdler Sydney McLaughlin said in Eugene of her coach, the legendary Bobby Kersee, “I just do what Bobby tells me.”

It would be interesting to bring the real players together to talk through what a true, professional track & field commercial project would look like: athletes for sure, but also coaches and agents, as they often control the lives of their athletes … whether everyone wants to admit it or not.

And such a conference has no guarantee of success. Ukranian billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin did exactly this with his International Swimming League, which debuted in late 2019 with lots of excitement, but only a tepid response from the public. That’s partly due to the format decided on and a lack of promotion; Grigorishin has said he lost $20 million per season for his first three seasons, then had to freeze the ISL program due to the Russian invasion of his homeland. But several hundred swimmers got paid a salary and benefits for three seasons, more than they have ever received before.

World Athletics Council member Willie Banks (USA) – the former world-record holder in the triple jump – said prior to the Eugene Worlds that USA Track & Field was “mulling how to put top performers on the payroll” with “athlete payments [that] would derive from revenues of USATF, corporate sponsors and USATF Foundation grants (which until now has handed out stipends of $5,000 and less).” He envisions a “living wage” payment level of $80,000 or more a year.

How? “I am not at liberty to give you the plan right now,” he said.

Perry, and a lot of others, will be very interested when he does.

2.
Shake-up coming as government gets involved in
Milan Cortina 2026

Italy is in crisis. Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigned on 21 July and the Italian Parliament was dissolved the same day, with elections coming on 25 September.

Nevertheless, the Italian government is now getting more directly involved in the development of the 2026 project, decreeing that a revamped organizing committee Board of Directors would be made up of 14 members. Seven would be named by the government, in consultation with the Italian National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee. The other seven will be representatives of the regions where the event will take place, expected to include Lombardy, Veneto, Trento, Bolzano, Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Why? According to the newspaper La Repubblica:

“Since the IOC (24 June 2019) assigned us the Winter Games, too little has been done and some works, among those that are not essential, will never be done. Lost opportunity. But on the rest you have to run.”

The expectation is that chief executive Vincenzo Novari will be replaced, with multiple names already being floated. La Repubblica noted that the domestic sponsorship program has only one company under contract – retailer Esselunga – opining “Now we really have to run, there is no longer the Covid alibi.”

There are expectations of sponsor agreements coming with professional services provider Deloitte, supplement maker Herbalife and staffing giant Randstad, but still well short of the €575 million budget target.

3.
FIFA suspends India; what of the U-17 Women’s World Cup?

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has been suspended by FIFA “with immediate effect due to undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA Statutes.

“The suspension will be lifted once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs.”

At issue is the takeover of the AIFF by a Committee of Administrators following a Supreme Court decree to hold overdue elections from 2020; said committee chair, retired Justice Anil Dave:

“It is really deplorable that for almost last two years, the body, whose term had already been completed, had continued in an absolutely undemocratic and illegal manner, no action was taken. But when the Hon’ble Supreme Court passed an order to set things right so as to see that a democratically elected body takes charge, and when the CoA and the Sports Ministry were doing their best for the implementation of the Order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the order of the suspension was passed by FIFA.”

This is once again a question of governmental interference, but in this case significantly impacts an upcoming competition:

“The suspension means that the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022, scheduled to take place in India on 11-30 October 2022, cannot currently be held in India as planned. FIFA is assessing the next steps with regard to the tournament and will refer the matter to the Bureau of the Council if and when necessary. FIFA is in constant constructive contact with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in India and is hopeful that a positive outcome to the case may still be achieved.”

The U.S., five-time CONCACAF women’s U-17 champions, was eliminated in the group stage in 2012-16-18 after finishing second in 2008. It was drawn into a group for 2022 with India, Morocco and Brazil, but a replacement team for the host will be needed.

The suspension is another blow to sports in India, which saw Narinder Batra, the President of the International Hockey Federation and of the Indian Olympic Committee, resign his posts earlier this year after suspicions of improper use of public funds surfaced. Batra had been leading the charge for India to bid for the 2036 Olympic Games and a future Youth Olympic Games, but those projects are now sidelined.

4.
Biathlon federation to consider extending Russian ban

The International Biathlon Union Executive Board recommended that the suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes and of their national federations be continued by the IBU Congress in September.

The original ban from 29 March 2022 requires that the status of the suspension be reviewed by the IBU Congress. In specific:

“The IBU Executive Board’s motion proposes that the RBU’s and BiFB’s membership will be suspended until they demonstrate their full commitment to support and promote the purposes and principles of the IBU, for example clearly distancing themselves from the war in Ukraine and ensuring that none of their officials or athletes are actively involved in the Russian military and/or take any part in the war effort.

“The IBU Executive Board will monitor the implementation of the conditions above and may provisionally lift the suspension imposed until the next Congress, if it considers in its absolute discretion that the above-mentioned conditions have been fulfilled.”

The decision of the Congress will have quick impacts, as the IBU World Cup season will begin on 29 November in Kontiolahti, Finland.

The Russian Biathlon Union issued a statement that included:

“We believe that today’s IBU Executive Board voiced recommendations in regard to athletes from Russia and Belarus were hypocritical and politicized, just like their March decisions. They contradict the IBU Constitution and inflict damage upon the global sport of biathlon.”

An IBU constitutional amendment is also being proposed to allow the Executive Board to implement “exceptional protective measures” in case of circumstances beyond the federation’s control, such as war. This is in line with measures discussed at other federations to deal with the situations raised by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

5.
Sjostrom sets all-time medals record with
Euro women’s 50 Free win

With a bronze on Sweden’s Mixed 4×100 m Freestyle relay, Sarah Sjostrom equaled the record for the most career European Championships medals with 26 (16-7-4), held by Russian sprinter Alexander Popov from 1991 to 2004.

On Tuesday at the Foro Italico in Rome, Sjostrom grabbed the record for herself with a 27th career medal, winning the women’s 50 m Free in style, with a world-leading time of 23.91, seven 100ths faster than her winning time at the 2022 Worlds in Budapest.

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte – the London 2012 gold medalist in the 100 m Breast – continued her comeback with a world-leading 29.44 in the semis of the women’s 50 m Breaststroke, setting a national record, with the no. 4 performance of all-time (and now the no. 3 performer). She won the world title in this event earlier this year in Budapest.

Margherita Panziera (ITA) completed a women’s 100-200 m Backstroke double, winning the shorter race in 59.40.

Hungary’s Kristof Milak completed his 100-200 Fly double, winning the longer race in 1:52.01, a time only he has bettered in 2022. It’s the no. 7 performance in history, with six by Milak, who now has five medals at the 2022 Europeans. Italy’s Niccolo Martinenghi completed the 50-100 m Breast double, winning the 50 m race in a world-leading 26.33, moving him to equal-2nd all-time with Felipe Lima (BRA: 2019).

Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk upset World Champion Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) in the men’s 1,500 m, 14:36.10 to 14:39.79, to defend his title from the 2020 Europeans. It’s the no. 2 performance of the season and moves the Ukrainian to no. 4 all-time.

The swimming events conclude on Wednesday.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Athletics ● At the European Championships in Munich, Olympic 100 m champ Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy finally got back on the winning track.

He won the men’s 100 m in a modest 9.95 (wind: +0.1 m/s), to 9.99 for Britain’s Zharnel Hughes and 10.13 for Jeremiah Azu (GBR). It’s his fastest time of the season and only his third final due to injury; it equals his fourth-fastest time ever, in his first European final.

World 5,000 m Champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) completed his Eugene-Munich double, winning by 13:21.13 to 13:22.98 over Spain’s Mohamed Katir.

Greece’s Tokyo Olympic winner Miltiadis Tentoglu defended his 2018 European title with the big jump he had been looking for all season – a world-leading 8.52 m (27-11 1/2) – in the fourth round. He had two other jumps good enough to win as well. In the decathlon, 2019 World Champion Niklas Kaul (GER) won with 8,545 points over Swiss Simon Ehammer, who set a national record at 8,468. Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez won the men’s 35 km walk in 2:26:49.

The women’s 100 m wasn’t especially fast, but it was close with Gina Luckenkemper (GER) edging Swiss Mujinga Kambundji, 10.984 to 10.989, with both officially in 10.99 (+0.1). Britain’s Daryll Neita was third in 11.00!

Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic, 32, won an amazing sixth European title in the discus at 67.95 m (222-11), just ahead of Germany’s Kristin Prudenz (67.87 m/222-8 lifetime best). Greek Antigoni Drisbioti won the 35 km walk by more than two minutes in 2:47:00.

● Basketball ● On Monday, American star Brittney Griner’s attorneys filed her appeal against the nine-year prison sentence handed down on 4 August. This is a separate move from the continuing discussions between the U.S. government and Russia concerning a possible prisoner exchange.

Griner has been locked up since mid-February and the U.S. government continues to consider her “unlawfully detained.”

● Football ● U.S. Soccer announced the remaining pre-World Cup friendly for its Men’s National Team on 23 September, facing World Cup qualifier Japan in Dusseldorf (GER), to be shown on ESPN2, UniMas and TUDN.

The American men will play Saudi Arabia, also a World Cup team, on 27 September in Murcia, Spain, in its final warm-up match. The first U.S. World Cup match will be against Wales on 21 November.

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TSX REPORT: Russian ban chatter heats up; teen Popovici threatens another world swim mark; Israel wins Euro team marathon, dedicates to ‘72 victims

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. War of words over Russia continues; IOC’s Bach holds firm
2. Popovici scares untouchable 200 m Free world mark: 1:42.97!
3. Israel wins Euro Champs marathon team title; dedicated to 1972 victims
4. Future of the European Championships still up in the air
5. Vuelta a Espana and USA Gymnastics Champs this week

While the international ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes continues mostly in force, Canadian law professor Richard McLaren told German television he thought the ban was unfair, but IOC chief Thomas Bach says no change in status is coming. At the European Championships in swimming in Rome, Romanian teen star David Popovici scared the 2009 world record in the men’s 200 m Freestyle, while at the European Athletics Championships in Munich, Israel won the men’s marathon team gold and dedicated the win to the victims of the 1972 Munich Massacre. Can the multi-sport European Championships survive beyond the current success in Munich, to 2026? It’s confusing. And look for the start of the three-week La Vuelta a Espana on Friday and the USA Gymnastics nationals this weekend in Florida.

1.
War of words over Russia continues; IOC’s Bach holds firm

“Those responsible for this war of aggression have to be punished: that is the Russian government. We have successfully appealed to all international federations that there should be no international sporting events in Russian and Belarusian. We have issued this recommendation and it remains in force. Now is not the time to reverse this recommendation and change the position. We also recommend not to invite Russian or Belarusian athletes: no anthems, no flags, no colors.”

That was International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER), speaking with the German Bild.de site last week, re-confirming the IOC’s stance on Russian and Belarusian participation in international sport. He added:

“I am grateful to the international federations for following us. That athletes who support the war, who appear or advertise with the infamous ‘Z,’ are sanctioned.”

Over the weekend, the national “Sportschau” program on the German ARD network aired an interview with Richard McLaren, the Canadian law professor whose reports detailed Russia’s state-sponsored doping program from 2011-15 and has been deeply involved in integrity investigations in other sports. He took a different position:

“The way they are treated is not fair.

“The athletes did not start this conflict and are not responsible for its course. Those are two good reasons to let them participate again. … [But] as long as the conflict lasts, the international sports community will not change the decision it has made.”

This brought cheers from Russia, as reported by the TASS news agency, from Russian Wrestling Federation chief Mikhail Mamiashvili: “I believe that McLaren is a very honest person regarding his own world perception since he had the courage to make such statement.”

Famed figure skating coach Tatiana Tarasova added: “Perhaps, his voiced opinion would have some impact regarding our [Russian] return to the world arena.

“I believe that countries in the West come to realize that tournaments without the participation of Russian athletes are dull and incomplete.”

There are other voices, including continued criticism of IOC and federation policies which allow Russian and Belarusian officials to continue to function. German Viola von Cramon, a Green Party member of the European Parliament since 2019, told Sportschau:

“Russia has managed to optimize its influence over the years – through very generous financial donations to international sport, to national sports associations, to professional associations, to organizers.

“It has the institutions hollowed out from the inside, undermined, corrupted that no one dares to take action against these Russian officials. Russia can still use its influence even if the athletes are no longer allowed to compete.”

She is calling for the IOC and the federations to “suspend, sanction and withdraw all of their rights.”

The IOC issued a lengthy update on Monday, recounting its support for more than 3,000 Ukrainian athletes in multiple sports, and noting the contributions of sports organizations including, but not limited to World Athletics, European Athletics, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, the PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation, the Slovak Olympic & Sports Committee, the 2022 World Games organizing committee in Birmingham (USA), the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation and others.

2.
Popovici scares untouchable 200 m Free world mark: 1:42.97!

Romania’s 17-year-old Freestyle sensation David Popovici starred again at the European Championships in Rome, swimming the fastest-ever men’s 200 m Freestyle in a textile suit, winning in 1:42.97.

After breaking Brazilian Cesar Cielo’s 2009 record in the 100 m Free – set in a since-outlawed plasticized suit in 2009 – at 46.86 last Friday, Popovici approached the seemingly-unapproachable mark of 1:42.00 by German Paul Biedermann – also from 2009 and also set in Rome – on Monday.

Popovici led from start to finish and set another World Junior Record with his 1:42.97 final time, the no. 4 performance in history. Only Biederman (1:42.00 and 1:42.81 on a relay leg, both in 2009) and Michael Phelps’s 1:42.96 from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are faster. All three of those performances were from the “supersuit” era; the fastest in a textile suit had been 1:43.14 from France’s Yannick Agnel at the London 2012 Games.

Popovici now owns two of the six fastest times in history and brings the 200 m Free mark within range, but only for himself. No. 2 on the year list is Sun-woo Hwang (KOR) at 1:44.47, and second in Rome on Monday was Antonio Djakovic (SUI) at 1:45.60.

3.
Israel wins Euro Champs marathon team title;
dedicated to 1972 victims

“It was an excellent team effort of the team Israel. We are very pleased with it especially because these championships mark the 50th anniversary of the tragic events that took place here in Munich in 1972. I would like to dedicate this medal to all the families of the victims, and to send my love to everyone. As soon, as we realized that these championships were going to take place here in Munich, we felt it in the heart, an inner strength to the best we can to honor those families.”

That was European Championships men’s marathon silver medalist Maru Teferi of Israel, after the country won four medals on the opening day of the European Athletics Championships, taking place at the Munich Olympiastadion with the road-race finishes at the Odeonplatz.

Teferi looked like a possible winner, but was passed in the final strides by Germany’s Richard Ringer, 2:10:21 to 2:10:23, in 75-degree (F) weather at the finish. Israel’s Gashau Ayale was third (2:10:29), with Yimer Getahun seventh (2:10:56) and Girmaw Amare ninth (2:11:32). The top three finishers gave Israel the team title, 6:31:48 to 6:35:52, over Germany.

In addition, Israel’s Lonah Salpeter won the bronze in the women’s 10,000 m, behind Yasemin Can (TUR) and Britain’s Eilish McColgan, 30:32.57-30:41.05-30:46.37.

The women’s marathon was a win for Poland’s Aleksandra Lisowska (2:28:36), with Germany winning the team title over Spain and Poland.

On the infield, the men’s shot went to European Indoor bronze winner Filip Mihaljevic (CRO), throwing 21.88 m (71-9 1/2) , ahead of Serb Armin Sinancevic (21.39 m/70-2 1/4). Worlds bronze medalist Jessica Schilder (NED) won the women’s shot at 20.24 m (66-5). The meet continued through the 21st.

4.
Future of the European Championships still up in the air

While the Asian Games (1951), Pan American Games (1951) and African Games (1965) have been around for decades, Europe got along without a region-wide competition until 2015 with the first European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. The third edition will take place in Krakow (POL) in 2023.

In 2018, a second multi-sport program was launched, the European Championships, a conglomeration of events in seven individual sports. The second edition is going on now, with competitions in athletics, beach volleyball, canoe-kayak (sprint), cycling (4 disciplines), gymnastics (artistic), rowing, sport climbing, table tennis and triathlon.

Can these two survive? Can either? In the case of the current European Championships, the interest in the events in Munich, Germany, as part of the 50th anniversary program of the 1972 Olympic Games, has been solid, as has viewership in Germany.

Some 40 members of the European Broadcasting Union is showing more than 3,500 hours of coverage across 50 channels and SportBusiness reported that “Gymnastics, sport climbing and triathlon events at Munich’s European Championships have all attracted audiences of over 2 million viewers on ARD, the German public-service broadcaster” on Sunday (14th):

● 3:30 p.m.: 2.19 million for Gymnastics
● 5:30 p.m.: 2.01 million for Sport Climbing
● 6:00 p.m.: 2.40 million for Triathlon (mixed relay)

These figures represent more than 14% of the national audience and are impressive; rowing did 1.52 million and table tennis, 1.49 million, earlier on Sunday. The reception has not been lost on European Athletics, one of the key anchors of the event. Although it had previously announced that it would go its own way in the future, President Dobromir Karamarinov (BUL) said “We support the multisport concept, but with important adjustments. …

“After the event we will very carefully study the concept in our Council, but of course we will be happy if we can continue together with some kind of multi-sports format.”

European Athletics will hold its 2024 championship meet in Rome (ITA) and said in June that its 2026 candidates are Birmingham (GBR) and Budapest (HUN), with chief executive Christian Milz (SUI) adding:

“European Athletics would also like to confirm, following a recent European Athletics Council decision, that the 2026 European Athletics Championships will be organised as a stand-alone event like that in Rome in two years time.”

Confused? So is everyone else. No host for a 2026 European Championships has been identified and it’s hard to imagine a choice as compelling as Munich and its 50-year commemoration of the 1972 Olympic Games. The Euro Champs continue through the weekend.

5.
Vuelta a Espana and USA Gymnastics Champs this week

Beyond the European Championships this week are the start of the third of cycling’s annual Grand Tours and the 2022 USA Gymnastics nationals in Tampa, Florida.

The 21-stage, 77th Vuelta a Espana will begin on Friday (19th) in Utrecht (NED) with a team time trial and continue in Holland for two more stages before heading for Spain. There are nine flat stages, four hilly stages and eight mountain stages, with the final ride a flat stage into Madrid on 11 September.

Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic has won the last three Vueltas – no one has ever won four straight – and will contend with 2022 Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley (AUS), runner-up Richard Carapaz (ECU, the 2020 Vuelta runner-up), 2018 winner Simon Yates (GBR) and two-time Vuelta runner-up Enric Mas (ESP). The race will be televised in the U.S. only on NBC’s Peacock streaming service.

The OOFOS U.S. Gymnastics Championships mark the start of the post-Biles era for the American women’s program, with Tokyo Olympic Floor Ex winner Jade Carey and Team silver medalist Jordan Chiles the headliners. Leanne Wong, the 2021 Worlds All-Around runner-up and Kayla DiCello, the All-Around bronze winner, are also expected to contend.

The men’s competition includes three Tokyo team members: Brody Malone (the defending national All-Around champ), Yul Moldauer and Shane Wiskus, along with Worlds medalists Donnell Wittenburg (2015 vault bronze) and 2021 World Pommel Horse gold medalist Stephen Nedoroscik.

Thursday (men) and Friday (women) sessions will be carried on NBC’s Olympic Channel, with Saturday’s men’s finals on CNBC at 7 p.m. Eastern and Sunday’s women’s finals on NBC at 7 p.m.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Curling ● The skip of the Beijing 2022 women’s gold medalists, Eve Muirhead (GBR), announced her retirement last Thursday at age 32, concluding a brilliant career.

Muirhead represented Great Britain and Scotland during four Olympic Games, nine World Championships appearances and 13 European Championships from 2010-22. Her teams won the Olympic bronze in 2014 and the gold in 2022, the 2013 World Championship, a silver medal in 2010 and a bronze in 2017 and 10 European Championships medals, including three golds.

● Football ● U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave preliminary approval to the announced settlement between members of the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Soccer Federation last Friday. He set a hearing for 5 December for final approval.

The two sides agreed on a $24 million settlement, with $22 million for the plaintiffs (to be distributed based on playing time) and $2 million in post-career support services.

Along with all the other preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, FIFA held three-day seminars in May and June for all 129 referees, assistant referees and video review officials who will work the matches in November:

“The three-day seminars enabled officials from each confederation to come together in Asuncion, Paraguay (CONCACAF/Conmebol), Doha, Qatar (AFC/OFC/CAF), and Madrid, Spain (UEFA), led by Pierluigi Collina, Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, and Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Director of Refereeing.

“The match officials were put to the test in both theoretical classes and on-the-field training sessions each day, allowing the officials to simulate and practice various live-match situations.

“‘Our objective is to prepare the referee as best as possible to avoid using technology, but technology is there to reduce the possibility of human mistake that can affect the outcome of a match,’” said Collina.

● Skeleton ● One of the greatest racer in history, Latvia’s Martins Dukurs, announced his retirement – after 22 seasons – on Monday.

Now 38, he finishes with Olympic silvers in 2010 and 2014, six World Championships golds, 12 European Championships wins, 61 World Cup race victories and 11 seasonal World Cup titles. His first World Cup win came in 2008 and he finished in style in the 2021-22 season, winning the overall title once again and ending his racing career with two straight wins at Winterberg (GER) and St. Moritz (SUI).

Such was his popularity in his home country that he was depicted on a Latvian postage stamp issued in 2014 after his Sochi Olympic Winter silver medal.

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TSX REPORT: World Athletics starts U.S. fan-dev program with video series; Qatar World Cup starts 20 November; Brisbane 2032 costs already in dispute

By
Rich Perelman
-
American sprinter Aleia Hobbs at the 2022 World Championships, wearing a QR code on her left thigh, which leads to a new video series called "Going the Distance" on the World Athletics Web site! (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletics)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. World Athletics’ U.S. promo program starts with QR codes
2. FIFA confirms Sunday, 20 November start for Qatar 2022
3. Brisbane 2032 Olympic stadium budget fight well underway
4. Families of Munich Massacre victims to boycott memorial ceremony
5. Teen Popovici shatters world 100 m Freestyle mark in Rome

World Athletics has opened its promotional program in the U.S. with a series of seven “Going the Distance” video programs profiling stars like Ryan Crouser, Grant Holloway, Athing Mu and four others. The change in the FIFA World Cup schedule has been approved, with Qatar and Ecuador opening the tournament now on Sunday, 20 November. The arguing over costs has already started for the Brisbane 2032 Games and the Queensland plan to renovate the main stadium and adjoining area. Most, if not all, of the families of the victims of the 1972 Munich Massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and officials, will not attend the official commemoration ceremony in a fight over compensation with the German government. In Rome, 17-year-old David Popovici of Romania broke one of the long-standing records in swimming, winning the European title in the men’s 100 m free in 46.86!

1.
World Athletics’ U.S. promo program begins with QR codes

American sprinter Aleia Hobbs, a Tokyo Olympic 4×100 m silver medalist, shared a new promotional program for American track & field after the recent Diamond League meet in Poland:

“I was running with a QR code on my hip here. It is a project we have been doing with World Athletics. By scanning the code, it links you directly to a series of films called ´Going the Distance with Aleia Hobbs´ on their YouTube account. You can go there to discover more about me.”

What? Jackie Brock-Doyle (GBR), the World Athletics communications chief, explains:

“World Athletics and USATF selected 7 athletes we thought GenZ would relate to and spent a day with each one doing some filming and a series of quick fire question and answer sessions to give people more insight to the person behind the performance.

“We then created individual playlists of 4-6 short videos on World Athletics’ YouTube channel under the heading ‘Going the Distance Series’.”

The program actually debuted at the World Championships in Eugene, but also included one athlete who didn’t make the team. The athletes:

● Ryan Crouser, the Olympic and World Champion in the men’s shot;

● Aleia Hobbs, who was also wearing it at the Diamond League meet;

● Grant Holloway, the 2019 and 2022 World men’s 100 m hurdles winner;

● Athing Mu, the women’s 800 m Olympic and World Champion;

● Elle St. Pierre, the World Indoor women’s 3,000 m silver medalist;

● Cooper Teare, the U.S. Olympic Trials winner in the men’s 1,500 m;

● Gabby Thomas, the Tokyo Olympic women’s 200 m bronze medalist.

This part of a promised push toward expanding the popularity of track & field inside the U.S. by World Athletics, on the six-year run-up to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) has made no secret of his appreciation for the role that the Netflix documentary series “Drive to Survive” – which debuted in 2019 – has played in increased interest for Formula 1 racing.

The Drive to Survive programs are 34-52 minutes each in length, so the World Athletics concept is more bite-sized in style and easy to view quickly. The Going the Distance videos with Hobbs ran 1:36, 1:35, 1:29 and 1:39 across the four episodes; Holloway’s series has five parts. First up were the series on Crouser and St. Pierre on 15 July, the first day of the Eugene World Championships; Thomas’s series was the last to be posted, on 5 August.

The most popular segments so far – remember, the series has not even been officially announced as yet; that will come at the end of the Diamond League season in September – are the opening videos for Mu (8,202 views) and Teare (7,533).

These are well done and an extension of a very vibrant YouTube channel for World Athletics, which has 1.03 million subscribers and 442.04 million views of its videos since beginning the service in 2010. Will it move the needle in the U.S.?

2.
FIFA confirms Sunday, 20 November start for Qatar 2022

The FIFA World Cup in Qatar will officially open one day earlier, on 20 November 2022, with Qatar playing Ecuador at 7 p.m. at the Al Bayt Stadium, following approval by the Bureau of the FIFA Council last week.

The move of this match from Monday (21st) to Sunday (20th) also allows the Netherlands-Senegal – which was to have been the tournament opener – to kick off later in the day, at 7 p.m. instead of at 1 p.m., in cooler temperatures. The announcement noted:

“The change ensures the continuity of a long-standing tradition of marking the start of the FIFA World Cup with an opening ceremony on the occasion of the first match featuring either the hosts or the defending champions.

“The decision followed an assessment of the competition and operational implications, as well as a thorough consultation process and an agreement with key stakeholders and the host country.”

What about added costs for spectators due to the change? “FIFA will seek to address any issues arising from this change in a case-by-case basis.”

One group which will be impacted directly is the U.S. broadcaster FOX, which will now have to deal with a match beginning at noon Eastern, in the middle of its NFL Sunday programming. The likely result is the opening match of the World Cup on FS1 instead of the over-the-air network.

3.
Brisbane 2032 Olympic stadium budget fight well underway

Yes, the Games of the XXXV Olympiad is 10 years away, but the political infighting concerning Brisbane 2022 is already here.

The government’s plan to renovate not only the Brisbane Cricket Ground – known as “The Gabba” – but the surrounding area into a major entertainment and sports area was expected to cost perhaps A$1 billion (~$712.7 million U.S.), but the costs could escalate. The Brisbane Times reported last week:

“The Queensland government will push on with plans to demolish and rebuild the Gabba for the 2032 Olympic Games, even if required changes to the precinct’s critical infrastructure cause a cost blow-out.”

A major concern is whether the site is large enough to handle the proposed expansion. Questions have also been raised about the Australian federal funding commitment to the project, especially with the Labour Party taking control of the government from the Liberal Party in May, with Anthony Albanese now the Prime Minister instead of Scott Morrison.

Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace told lawmakers during a late July budget review session:

“Final design, final works on that stadium have not been completed. … You are operating in a vacuum: we do not know the footprint, we do not know the design, we’ve got a schematic sketch, we’re still stabbing in the dark, it is still 10 years away.”

Yep, 10 years away.

4.
Families of Munich Massacre victims to boycott memorial ceremony

A long-simmering dispute between the families of the 11 Israeli delegation members murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Games has exploded with the public release of a letter last Friday from two of the widows stating they will boycott the official, 50-year memorial ceremony on 5 September.

The New York-based newspaper The Algemeiner noted:

“The letter from the two women emphasized that they had made three demands of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Firstly, a formal apology for the refusal of the German authorities to allow Israeli special forces to conduct the rescue operation – during the hostage situation, the German-led attempt to free the Israelis ended with all the Israeli athletes murdered on the tarmac of the Furstenfeldbruck airbase. Secondly, they called for the full opening of state archives related to the massacre, and finally, ‘adequate compensation.’”

The first two items have been concluded, but the fight now is over compensation, with the widows demanding a much higher amount than the $2.98 in payments made in 2002. One widow, Ilana Romano, said the German government had “abused” the families, “but in a polite manner and with a nice smile.”

At least some of the family members of the victims will attend another ceremony, to be held on London on 5 September.

5.
Teen Popovici shatters world 100 m Freestyle mark in Rome

The European Championships are underway in Rome (ITA), with Romanian teen sensation David Popovici, 17, wiping away a 13-year-old world mark in one of the sport’s glamour events on Saturday (13th).

After becoming only the fourth man in history to break 47 seconds in the men’s 100 m Freestyle in the semis at 46.98, he removed Brazil’s Cesar Cielo and his 2009 mark of 46.91 in the day-three final, winning in 46.86!

Popovici came from behind to win, trailing France’s Maxime Grousset by 0.02 at the turn, then stormed away to win by 0.61 over Hungary’s Olympic 200 m Fly champion, Kristof Milak (47.47). Popovici now owns the top five times of 2022 and now two of the five sub-47 performances in history!

Even more amazing is that Popovici’s swim was in the same pool – at the Parco del Foro Italico – where Cielo set his mark in 2009. On Sunday, Popovici led the semi-finals in the 200 m Free in 1:44.91; he’s already the world leader in 2022 in 1:43.21. Also of note:

In the men’s 100 m Breast, World Champion Niccolo Martinenghi (ITA) equaled his winning time from the Budapest Worlds – fastest in the world this year – at 58.26. World Champion Milak won the 100 m Fly in 50.33, the no. 5 performance of 2022.

In the women’s 50 m Fly, Sweden’s sprint superstar Sarah Sjostrom won her fifth European title in 24.96, just a 100th off her world-leading time in winning the world title in Budapest in June.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Equestrian ● The Federation Equestre Internationale dispensed with its all-in-one World Equestrian Games after the 2018 edition and held its World Championships for Dressage, Jumping and the non-Olympic Vaulting discipline in Herning (DEN) last week.

The medal winners for the Dressage Special and Dressage Freestyle were exactly the same: Britain’s Charlotte Fry, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour (DEN) and Dinja van Liere of the Netherlands. Fry, on Glamourdale, won the Special with a score of 82.508% – first place by six of the seven judges – and received the €30,800 first prize. Laudrup-Dufour (on Vamos Amigos) was close at 81.322% and won €18,100. Defending champion Isabell Werth (GER), trying for a fourth world title in the event, finished fourth; Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin, the 2014 champion, was sixth; American Adrienne Lyle finished ninth.

The Dressage Freestyle was another close decision, with Fry scoring 90.654% (again, with six judges in favor) to Laudrup-Defour’s 89.11%, winning €40,500 to €25,000. Lyle was sixth; Werth was ninth and Dujardin, finished 10th.

On Sunday, Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann won his first individual World Jumping title, aboard King Edward, with only 0.58 faults. That earned him the gold and €86,016! Belgium’s Jerome Guery (aboard Quel Homme de Hus) was second (3.35), worth €67,968, and Maikel van der Vleuten (NED: Beauville Z) was third, earning €50.468.

It was von Eckermann’s second gold of the Championships as he was a member of Sweden’s Team winners, just as he was at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Sweden had only 7.69 total faults to 19.31 for the Netherlands and 22.66 for Britain. The U.S., the defending champion, was 11th.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2036 ● Jurgen Kessing, the head of the German Athletics Federation (DLV) told Deutsche Presse Agentur that a Berlin bid for the 2036 Games – a century after the infamous Nazi Games of 1936 – should be publicly discussed.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, who is German, said recently that a German bid for 2026 should not be ruled out on account of the 1936 Games.

Berlin bid for the 2000 Olympic Games, but was eliminated in the second round.

● Archery ● The 138th United States National Target Championships once again concluded with international stars Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold winning the national Recurve (Olympic division) titles.

The 144-arrow Nationals was held in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with Ellison – the 2019 World Champion – scoring 1,348 to 1,319 for Gabe Anderson and Matt Nofel. Kaufhold, still just 18 and the 2021 World silver medalist, scored 1,333 to win the women’s Recurve division. Catalina G’Noriega was second at 1,283 and Isabella Frederick was third (1,265).

In Saturday’s elimination-play U.S. Open, 20-year-old Nicholas D’Amour of the U.S. Virgin Islands upset Ellison in the final, 6-0, while Atlanta 1996 gold medalist Justin Huish – now 47 – won the bronze over Jackson Mirich, 7-1. It’s Huish’s best performance since returning to the sport three years ago. Frederick won the women’s title, 6-4, over Gabriella Sasai.

● Athletics ● U.S. sprinter Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry was fun to read on Twitter last week prior to the Diamond League meet in Monaco. After anchoring the U.S. to a stunning women’s 4×100 m gold at the World Championships, she set a lifetime best of 10.82 in Nashville on 30 July.

Then off to Europe, where her bags got lost and she ran poorly in Chorzow (POL) on 6 August – eighth in 11.20 – and tweeted:

“I need to figure out how to run the first 10 meters by tomorrow.”

She was better at the Gyulai Memorial in Hungary on the 8th, finishing fourth in 11.02 and then finished fifth at 10.90 – her fourth-fastest ever – in finishing fifth at the Herculis Diamond League meet in Monaco. Her tweet:

“10.90 man I will take that… I’ve literally been on go back to back since Worlds.”

The full-house crowds for track & field at the refurbished Alexander Stadium in Birmingham (GBR) during the just-completed Commonwealth Games – 30,000-plus per session – has one British columnist ready to forget London, with the Daily Mail’s Martin Samuel writing last week:

“After the success of this summer, a further refurbishment will mean the capacity of the [Alexander Stadium] can switch between 18,000 and 40,000, according to demand. It is perfect for athletics. Compact when it needs to be, with the potential for expansion. It could not be more different from athletics’ current home. A giant, unwieldy and costly white elephant in — where else? — London.

“The unloved London Stadium will host its first Diamond League meeting since 2019 in July next year. And that should be its farewell, too. We have sufficient distance from London 2012 for this not to be seen as a legacy betrayal.

“We know about the drugs cheats. We know much of what we saw, particularly at the track, was false. The romance has gone. We also know it costs £4-6 million to convert the venue for athletics’ use. So, in effect, athletics has no home. It rents a room in a football stadium for a few weeks in the summer. And the country picks up the tab.”

At the same time, he also poured some cold water on thoughts for the 2036 Olympic Games and Birmingham:

“Birmingham 2036. An Olympic Games for the Second City. That’s where euphoria gets you. Pipe dreams, castles in the sky. This country last hosted in 2012 — so it would be a short gap of 24 years. That’s not how the modern Olympics works.

“Australia will wait 32 years between Sydney 2000 and Brisbane 2032. France’s 2024 edition will nod to the centenary of the last summer Games in Paris. Tokyo 2020 was 56 years on from 1964. The wait for Athens was 108 years. The exception is the 12 years that passed between Los Angeles 1984 and Atlanta 1996 — but Atlanta is widely regarded as the worst Olympics of the post-war era. So lesson learned.”

Two-time World Javelin Champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, 24, was assaulted on a party boat last Wednesday (10th), apparently by six members of the crew, and thrown into the water off St. George’s in Grenada.

Police arrested six men, all from Trinidad & Tobago, who will appear in court on Monday (15th), on charges of grievous harm and stealing for five of them and assault for the sixth.

Peters apparently suffered only minor injuries. He had just returned from a silver-medal performance at the Commonwealth Games on 7 August.

● Beach Volleyball ● The fifth Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 tournament was in Hamburg (GER) over the weekend, with Americans Kelly Cheng and Betsi Flint defeating 2021 European champs Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli (SUI), 21-19, 21-18 to finish off a sixth straight opponent.

It’s the first American medal – men or women – in an Elite 16-level tournament in the reformatted world beach tour program. For Flint, it’s her fifth win in an FIVB event, but by far her biggest and first with Cheng. For Cheng (nee Claes), it’s her third career FIVB event win, after two victories with Sarah Sponcil in 2021.

In the men’s final, Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl won their fourth event on tour this season – three prior Challenge tournament wins – by out-lasting 2013 World Champions Alex Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen (NED) by 21-18, 16-21, 29-27.

● Football ● More on our Lane One story last week about the closer and closer ties between FIFA and the National Football League, from Todd Parker, the Director of Marketing for the World Cup USA 1994 organizing committee and now at Overtime Sports & Entertainment.

Of the 1994 World Cup, the first ever in the U.S., he noted, “this FIFA/NFL crossover has been building for nearly 30 years.

“Our nine venues were all U.S. football stadiums serving NFL and/or college team tenants. The massive aggregate capacity allowed the World Cup USA 1994 event to set tournament attendance records and demonstrate to FIFA and the U.S. corporate community our country’s potential to launch a deserving first-division professional soccer league.

“Many NFL owners greatly contributed to the event’s success including organizing committee Board member [and Kansas City Chiefs owner] Lamar Hunt and World Cup 2026 Honorary Board chair [and New England Patriots owner] Robert Kraft. Interestingly, former head of NFL Europe Don Garber has been MLS’ longstanding commissioner.”

Of the nine venues used for the 1994 World Cup, five were NFL facilities and four were used for college football, including the Rose Bowl, where the final was played, and the since-downsized Stanford Stadium.

It’s worth remembering that FIFA’s belief in the U.S. as a country ready to embrace soccer came 38 years ago last week with the semifinals and finals of the 1984 Olympic tournament. To the amazement of then-FIFA President Joao Havelange (BRA) and then-Secretary General Sepp Blatter (SUI), the two semis drew 83,642 at Stanford and 97,451 at the Rose Bowl. The medal matches – both at the Rose Bowl – drew 100,374 for the bronze-medal game where Yugoslavia defeated Italy, 2-1, and a stunning 101,799 for France’s 2-0 shutout of Brazil in the championship final.

The United States was selected to host the 1994 World Cup just less than four years later.

● Judo ● Congratulate Jack Yonezuka, 19, of West Long Branch, New Jersey, for his World Junior bronze medal in the International Judo Federation’s World Junior Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

A third-generation judoka, Yonezuka won his medal at 73 kg, becoming the first U.S. men’s World Junior medal winner since 1992! He was the only American medalist in the event.

● Skateboarding ● ESPN reported that the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has filed a decertification complaint against National Governing Body USA Skateboarding.

The USOPC is alleging a lack of compliance with various rules; the story noted:

“The deficiencies included not requiring background checks for staff, judges, athletes, board members and contractors, having their tax status revoked by the IRS in June 2021 and not having an anti-doping policy. The audit also deemed the NGB deficient in child protection and found ‘a number of significant concerns raised during the review, including athlete representation, conflicts of interest, USOPC funding, athlete safety and managerial capabilities.’”

The decertification process is a slow one, requiring a hearing and then a decision, which can be appealed. In the interim, USA Skateboarding remains the U.S. governing body for the sport.

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TSX REPORT: Fraser-Pryce 10.62! Lyles 19.46! Holloway 12.99 in Monaco; Ukraine sports minister says more than 100 athletes dead in Russian war

By
Rich Perelman
-
Jamaica's amazing Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce after winning the women's 100 m at the Diamond League in Monaco on Wednesday (Photo: Diamond League AG)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Sprint stars and four world leads at Monaco Diamond League
2. Ukraine sports minister reports 100+ athletes dead in war so far
3. Late schedule revision will see FIFA World Cup start a day early?
4. Birmingham Commonwealth Games reach 28.6 million in Britain
5. Indonesian Olympic bid to be for new capital city!

Jamaica’s amazing, ageless Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the women’s 100 m at the Diamond League meet in Monaco in a stunning 10.62, her sixth win in six finals this season and all between 10.62 and 10.67. There were plenty of other highlights, including three other world-leading performances and an American Record from Grant Fisher in the men’s 3,000 m. That was exciting and in contrast to a letter from the Ukrainian sports minister that more than 100 athletes have died at the hands of the Russian aggressors in the six-month-old war in his country. FIFA will apparently move the opening of the 2022 Qatar World Cup up by one day to allow the home side to play in the opening match. The 2022 Commonwealth Games did very well on British television, with nearly 43% of the country tuning in at some point. And Indonesia is building a new capital city, so why not program in facilities for an Olympic bid for 2036?

1.
Sprint stars and four world leads at Monaco Diamond League

It’s pretty late in the 2022 season, so to see four world-leading performances means the racing was superb at the Stade Louis II in Monaco at the Diamond League Herculis meet on Wednesday:

● Men/1,000 m: 2:13.88, Jake Wightman (GBR)
● Men/3,000 m: 7:25.93, Thierry Ndikumwenayo (BDI)

● Women/100 m: 10.62, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)
● Women/1,500 m: 3:50.37, Faith Kipyegon (KEN)

And that was hardly all, as there were many other excellent marks, especially among the sprinters.

At the top of the list has to be Jamaican icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who stormed out of the blocks and raced away to sixth win in six finals this season in a stunning 10.62, the equal-6th-best performance of all time and her second-fastest time ever, even at age 35 (wind: +0.4 m/s)..

She dominated a field which was ran brilliantly behind her: teammate Shericka Jackson was second in a lifetime best of 10.71 to move to no. 6 all-time; Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV) ran a lifetime best of 10.72 to become equal-7th all-time in third; Americans Aleia Hobbs and TeeTee Terry ran 10.81 and 10.90 and were fourth and fifth, and fellow American Tamara Clark was seventh in 10.96!

Fraser-Pryce’s six finals this season have been 10.67, 10.67, 10.67, 10.66, 10.67 and now 10.62. Astonishing. And there are more meets to come.

World 200 m champ Noah Lyles headlined a fabulous field in the men’s 200 m, including Worlds silver medalist Erriyon Knighton (still 18), World 400 m winner Michael Norman of the U.S., NCAA champ Joseph Fahnbulleh (LBA) and even brother Josephus Lyles. But the race was all about Noah, running out of lane seven. Norman got the best start and made up some ground on Knighton, but Lyles was flying around the turn and in the lead into the straight. He never let up on the accelerator and won by daylight in 19.46 (+0.8), the no. 9 performance of all-time and his second-fastest ever. Knighton got up for second on the straightaway over Norman, 19.84-19.95 and Josephus Lyles was sixth in 20.26 with Fahnbulleh seventh (20.46).

In the men’s 110 m hurdles, World Champion Grant Holloway got his patented hot start and once again faded slightly before the end, but got across the line first with a heavy lean in 12.99, the no. 2 mark for 2022 (+0.6), ahead of Worlds silver winner Trey Cunningham (USA: 13.03), Olympic champ Hansle Parchment (JAM: 13.08) and American Daniel Roberts (13.20). It’s Holloway’s fourth time under 13 seconds.

There were world-record scares in the distances races as well. Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon owns two Olympic golds from Rio and Tokyo and Worlds golds from 2017 and 2022. She has nothing to prove. But she went for the world record of 3:50.07, set in Monaco in 2015 by Genzebe Dibaba (ETH). And she nearly got it.

Running alone after 900 m, Kipyegon had run laps of 60.5 and 62.1, then took the bell after another 62.1 lap and powered home in a tantalizing 3:50.37, just 0.3 off the world mark, but the no. 2 performance in history. She ran he last 400 m in 60.3.

Behind Kipyegon were Americans Heather MacLean and Elise Cranny, who had worked their way up through the chase pack and finished 2-3 in lifetime bests of 3:58.89 and 3:59.06, moving to no. 8 and no. 9 all-time U.S. Americans Cory McGee and Sinclaire Johnson were fifth (4:00.70) and ninth (4:02.87).

Ethiopia’s Berhanu Aregawi, the Tokyo 10,000 m fourth-placer, stormed after Kenyan Daniel Komen’s outstanding 3,000 m world mark of 7:20.67 from 1996, but faded on the final two laps and was then passed by Ndikumwenayo in the final half-lap, 7:25.93-7:26.81, becoming the nos. 7 and 11 performers of all time. American Grant Fisher was third in 7:28.48, an American Record, bettering Bernard Lagat’s 7:29.00 from 2010.

In the rarely-run 1,000 m, World 1,500 m champ Wightman struck again, passing Canada’s Marco Arop on the final straight to win in a world-leading 2:13.88, moving to no. 9 on the all-time list. Arop was second in 2:14.35 (no. 18 all-time) and American Clayton Murphy charged from eighth to third on the straight, finishing in 2:15.73, the no. 2 performance in U.S. history. Countrymen Bryce Hoppel and Josh Thompson were fourth and fifth (2:15.99 and 2:16.38) to now stand fourth and eighth all-time U.S.

Those were the headlines! There was a lot more:

● In the field, World champ Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) won the men’s high jump at 2.30 m (7-6 1/2) in a jump-off with Korea’s Sang-hyeok Woo, and Cuban Maykel Masso won the long jump at 8.35 m (27-4 3/4) to move to no. 5 on the 2022 year list. Olympic champ Miltiadis Tentoglu (GRE) and American Marquis Dendy both jumped 8.31 m (27-3 1/4) – a season’s best for Dendy – with Tentoglu taking second on a better back-up jump.

● The women’s 400 m was a runaway for World Champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH), powering away down the straight to win in 49.28, while Jamaica’s Natoya Goule scored a seasonal best of 1:56.98 to win the women’s 800 m – no. 4 in the world for 2022 – over Americans Sage Hurta (1:57.85 lifetime best) and Olivia Baker (1:58.05 lifetime best).

● American Emma Coburn led the women’s Steeple for most of the back half of the race before being passed by Ethiopia’s Werhuka Getachew, who won in 9:06.19; Coburn faded to fourth, getting a seasonal best of 9:07.93. NCAA champ Courtney Wayment of the U.S. got a lifetime best of 9:09.91 in sixth, now no. 3 all-time U.S. In the 400 m hurdles, Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton ran a lifetime best of 53.33 to win and move to no. 5 in the world.

● Venezuela’s triple jump icon Yulimar Rojas fouled her first two jumps, but then got a fair third try and won the event on her fourth at 15.01 m (49-3). American Tori Franklin got a lifetime best on her final jump at 14.86 m (48-9) for third, a lifetime best and the no. 2 jump in U.S. history! American record holder Keturah Orji was fifth at 14.56 m (47-9 1/4).

● In the women’s vault, Australia’s Nina Kennedy, American Sandi Morris and Greece’s Katerina Stefanidi all cleared 4.66 m (15-3 1/2), with Kennedy the winner on fewer misses. The women’s javelin went to World Champion Kelsey-Lee Barber (AUS) at 64.50 m (211-7) in the third round; American Kara Winger was fourth at 60.95 m (199-11).

The circuit now takes two weeks off for the European Championships and resumes in Lausanne on 26 August, with meets in Brussels and Zurich to finish the season.

2.
Ukraine sports minister reports 100+ athletes dead in war so far

“More than 3,000 athletes have gone to war to defend their country. More than 100 of them are already dead. It is impossible to continue sports training under air attacks and artillery fire. In addition, 111 sports facilities have been destroyed so far by the Russians, including one of the largest fencing centers, Club ‘Unifekht’ in Kharkiv. Thousands of young athletes are forced to leave their homes to escape war.”

This from a letter reported by FrancsJeux.com from Vadym Guttsait, Ukrainian Minister of Youth and Sports and President of the Ukranian fencing federation, sent at the beginning of August to the Federation Internationale de Escrime (FIE) and all of its member federations. Guttsait added:

“No Russian or Belarusian athlete has spoken out against the war. Therefore, the Ukrainian Fencing Federation urges the FIE and all national federations to follow the recommendations of the IOC and not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in official competitions, even under the FIE flag.

“The Ukrainian Fencing Federation believes that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed to participate in international tournaments only after the end of this bloody war.”

3.
Late schedule revision will see FIFA World Cup start 20 November?

While not announced officially, Reuters reported that FIFA is expected to move the date of the Qatar-Ecuador match forward by one day, to 20 November, to allow the host country to play the first competition of the tournament.

The Qatar-Ecuador game – with an attached opening ceremony – had been scheduled as the third of the event, behind Netherlands-Senegal and England-Iran on Monday, 21 November. A approval vote by FIFA’s six confederations and President Gianni Infantino (SUI) is expected to go through, perhaps as soon as Thursday.

It’s highly unusual to move dates for a major event like the FIFA World Cup so close to the start and it will have implications for television broadcasters such as FOX in the U.S. If the gametime is maintained at 7 p.m. local time, that’s noon Eastern time and in the midst of its NFL Sunday broadcast programming. But it would also allow the Netherlands-Senegal match to be moved later than its posted 1 p.m. start and beat some of the midday heat in Qatar.

The Reuters story noted that any added expenses for spectators such as changes in accommodations or travel due to the change will be covered.

4.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games reach 28.6 million in Britain

Viewing interest in the XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in the host county was quite good, with the BBC reporting that its coverage reached 28.6 million in Great Britain. That’s about 42.6% of the entire country (67.2 million total population).

The 28.6 million viewers is way up from the 2018 Commonwealth Games in a tougher time zone in Australia (22.8 million), but trailed the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, which drew 35.3 million viewers. Still, this is good news for the Commonwealth Games Foundation, which is now looking to attribute the 2030 Games, likely to go to Hamilton (CAN), site of the first British Empire Games in 1930.

The BBC noted that the biggest audience of the 2022 Games was for swimming:

“The highest peak being 6.6m ahead of the men and women’s 100m backstroke and breaststroke finals on day 3, followed by the Opening Ceremony, which had a 5 minute peak of 5.2m viewers.”

Streaming was, as expected, way up, with 57.1 million individual streams, more than six times the total for 2018.

Swimming proved popular in the U.S. as well, even for a re-run!

Nielsen reporting for last week showed that the NBC re-run of highlights of the USA Swimming National Championships from Irvine, California aired last Saturday (6th) drew 548,000 viewers. That just behind the 572,000 who watched the highlight program the prior Sunday (31st)!

5.
Indonesian Olympic bid to be for new capital city!

The selection of the host of the Games of the XXXVI Olympiad in 2036 is a ways off, perhaps enough time to consider its placement in the new capital of Indonesia.

While Jakarta co-hosted the massive 2018 Asian Games, GamesBids.com reported that Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, has recommended that a large sports training center be included in the city plan, a possible focus of an Olympic venue plan.

Called Nusantara, the new city – on the island of Borneo – began construction in mid-2022 and is pegged for completion in 2024. It will replace Jakarta – on the island of Java – as the national capital. The Indonesian National Olympic Committee is already in discussions with the International Olympic Committee’s Future Hosts Commission about the possibility of a future Games.

Indonesia is hardly alone with interest in 2036; possible suitors include China, Egypt, Great Britain, India, Qatar, Turkey and even Russia.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Olympic Games 2020: Tokyo ● On the anniversary of the Tokyo Games, Dr. Brian McCloskey (GBR) looked back on the preparations made to allow the event to take place despite the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.

“Just one year ago, I was heading the Independent Expert Panel of the International Olympic Committee to work alongside the Japanese authorities and design together the COVID-19 countermeasures for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics. We were in the middle of the pandemic, vaccination was not yet available across the globe, and we expected 11,300 athletes and tens of thousands of participants to come to Japan. …

“Today we can say: what Tokyo 2020 did, in a historic way, was to show that the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO) was right. By following basic public health measures, and by layering a testing programme on top, we have shown that it is possible to keep a pandemic at bay.

“As the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 reach their one-year anniversary and we are in our third summer grappling with COVID-19, we can clearly see the impact these Games had in paving the way. Major events, including the Commonwealth Games, are a regular feature in the calendar again, and no longer a matter of global concern.”

McCloskey noted that with the preventative measures in place, there were only 33 positive cases among the athletes, and 464 among the entire accredited population attending the Games. In the end, “the Games’ universal reach that gave them the potential to demonstrate that, if we pulled together as a global community, people could start to see that the pandemic did not have to control their lives forever.”

● Athletics ● The Athletics Integrity Unit announced on Twitter a list of sanctioned athletes last Friday, including three Kenyan athletes, three Russian athletes from the mid-2010s and an Indian sprinter.

The Kenyans included a notice of allegation against road runner Philemon Kacheran (2:05:19 marathon in 2021); a seven-year ban on half-marathoner Tabitha Wambui (1:08:18 in 2019) for steroids and tampering, and charges against Eglay Nalyanya (women’s 400-800 m) for steroid use and tampering.

Russian sanctions came from the Moscow Laboratory database and McLaren reports for offenses by 2004 women’s Olympic high jump winner Yelena Slesarenko – now 40 – with her results annulled from July 2013 to October 2016; by Yelena Arzhakova (now 32), with a two-year ban from July 2022 and all results annulled from January 2015 to July 2022; and hammer thrower Kiril Ikonnikov (now 38), already serving an eight-year ban from 2016-24 and now with an added two years to April 2026. All three are no longer active.

● Football ● The African Football Confederation (CAF) announced the creation of an African Super League, with $100 million in prize money and 24 clubs from 16 countries to compete in the tournament.

The project is due to launch in August 2023

Coverage of Wednesday’s announcement has noted the approval of FIFA, in contrast to the disastrous European Super League concept which crashed amid public anger days after it was revealed in news reports last year. The difference: the African Super League is designed to raise the level of football and financing on the continent, where the European Super League was criticized for removing its clubs from the rest of the continent.

A solidarity fund is also to be established that will channel $1 million per year to each of the 54 African federations to fund further development of the game.

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LANE ONE: The 2026 World Cup is where FIFA is meeting the NFL, with enormous future implications

By
Rich Perelman
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The FIFA World Cup trophy; what impact will be 2026 World Cup have on the National Football League?

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Under Swiss President Gianni Infantino, FIFA – the international football federation – has undertaken to grow the game even beyond its present status as the world’s most popular spectator sport. His touchphrase:

“Making football truly global, at every level, is the core task for FIFA to pursue over the coming years.”

While November’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be a spectacle and full of controversy – all World Cups are – it’s fascinating to see how the federation has looked to the future in selecting its U.S. venues for the mammoth 2026 World Cup.

This will be first edition of a 48-team World Cup, with the format not completely set at either 16 groups of three teams or 12 groups of four, to be played at 11 U.S. sites, three in Mexico and two in Canada. In any case, a lengthy application and review process finally concluded with the announcement on 16 June 2022 of the 16 sites that will host matches.

Did the U.S. selections feature the shiny new Major League Soccer stadiums which have popped up across the country, such as the elegant Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles (opened 2018), or Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota (2019), or Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas (2021)?

Nope. Not a one.

Instead, FIFA chose 11 U.S. facilities which are primarily home to National Football League franchises, three of which also host MLS teams. The U.S. sites:

● Atlanta: Mercedes Benz Stadium (75,000)
● Dallas: AT&T Stadium (92,967)
● East Rutherford: MetLife Stadium (87,157)
● Foxborough: Gillette Stadium (70,000)
● Houston: NRG Stadium (72,220)
● Kansas City: Arrowhead Stadium (76,640)
● Los Angeles: SoFi Stadium (70,240)
● Miami: Hard Rock Stadium (67,518)
● Philadelphia: Lincoln Financial Field (69,328)
● Santa Clara: Levi’s Stadium (70,909)
● Seattle: Lumen Field (69,000)

These stadia are big, two to four times bigger than the new MLS venues; the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles seats 22,000, for example. But there is perhaps much more going on here.

Not only will these state-of-the-art NFL stadiums generate far more ticket and ancillary income for FIFA, which is serving as the direct organizer of the 2026 World Cup – a first for the federation – but it brings Association Football (FIFA) and American Football (NFL) closer than they have ever been.

And they are already close, as six of the owners of the NFL teams whose stadia will be used are already involved – or wanted to be – in soccer. Consider the soccer backgrounds of these NFL owners whose stadia will be used for the 2026 FIFA World Cup:

● Atlanta: Falcons owner Arthur Blank owns Atlanta United F.C. of the MLS (which plays in a reduced-capacity Mercedes Benz Stadium).

● Kansas City: Chiefs owner Clark Hunt was an original owner-investor in Major League Soccer and owns F.C. Dallas.

● Los Angeles: Rams owner Stan Kroenke not only owns the Colorado Rapids of the MLS, but Arsenal of the English Premier League.

● New England: Patriots owner Robert Kraft was the original and still owner of the New England Revolution (which plays in a reduced-capacity Gillette Stadium).

● Seattle: Seahawks owner Jody Allen is a minority owner of the MLS’s Seattle Sounders (which plays in a reduced-capacity Lumen Field).

Let’s add in New York Jets co-owner Woody Johnson, the former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, who unsuccessfully bid for Chelsea F.C. of the English Premier League earlier this year.

That’s six of 11 NFL facilities in which the team owners are either owners, or wanted to be an owner of an MLS or English Premier League club.

That’s close. The other five NFL owners whose clubs play in host venues for 2026 are not known to own soccer clubs – Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Janice McNair of the Houston Texans, Steve Ross of the Miami Dolphins, Jeffrey Lurie of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Denise DeBartolo York of the San Francisco 49ers – but is there any doubt that they will learn a lot more about soccer as 2026 approaches?

And the NFL owner meetings are already teeming with more soccer club owners:

● Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper also owns Charlotte F.C. of the MLS;

● Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam also own the Columbus Crew of the MLS;

● Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan also owns Fulham F.C., advanced to the English Premier League for 2022-23;

● Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf is a part-owner of the new Nashville Soccer Club, which began MLS play in 2020;

● Tampa Bay owners, the Glazer Family, own the fabled Manchester United club of the English Premier League.

The count is up to 11 of the 32 NFL owners with a direct tie (or intended tie) to soccer club ownership.

The future implications are clear: FIFA and the NFL’s owners will get to be even more familiar as the 2026 World Cup approaches. More opportunities for soccer in the U.S.? This appears sure.

But what about help in expanding the NFL’s impact – which it desires – in Europe and South America, the heartlands of soccer? A joint venture between the NFL and FIFA perhaps? Maybe introductions to tie-ins with some of Europe’s blue-blood football clubs?

These closer and closer ties between the most successful North American sports league and the world’s most impactful sports federation will be a sideline to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the first to be played in three countries. But it’s worth watching to see the business impact of the world’s largest single-sport event on (or with) the owners of America’s flagship league. And there will be an impact.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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