THE BIG PICTURE: European Super League soccer concept radicalizes its opposition into solidarity on solidarity!

April 20, 2021

Just when you thought that no one could get together on anything:

“UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.

“If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we – UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations – will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.

“We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.”
~ 18 April statement by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)

“I cannot stress more strongly at this moment that UEFA and the footballing world stand united against the disgraceful, self-serving proposals we have seen from a select few clubs in Europe that are fuelled by greed above all else.

“Not only the football world is united. Society is united. Governments are united. We are all united against this nonsense of a project. …

“This idea is a spit in the face of all football lovers and of society as a whole. We will not allow them to take it away from us.

“Our game has become the greatest sport in the world based on open competition, integrity and sporting merit. We cannot and will not allow that to change. Never, ever. We urge everyone from the millions of football lovers around the world, the world’s media, politicians and football’s governing bodies to stand tall with us, as we do everything in our power to ensure this never ends up in fruition.”
~ 20 April statement by UEFA President Aleksandr Ceferin (SLO)

“But the last 48 hours obviously changed everything. And it seems there is only one topic that is of interest. Yesterday we’ve been hearing reading about ‘war’, ‘crime’ – terrible words, and even more terrible if linked with the game we all love; with football, that should give joy to everyone. Of course I’m speaking about this ‘Super League’ project. So let me be extremely clear from the very beginning. FIFA is an organisation which is built on values: the true values of sport, and our statutes which define the institutional framework, the pyramid, with FIFA, the Confederations, the associations, the leagues, the clubs, the players. And at FIFA we can only, and strongly, disapprove the creation of a Super League that is a closed shop and a breakaway from the current institutions – from the leagues, from the associations, from UEFA and from FIFA – and which is outside of the system. There is no doubt whatsoever of FIFA’s disapproval for this. …

“So if some elect to go their own way, then they must live with the consequences of their choice. They are responsible for their choice. Concretely, this means: either you are in, or you are out.”
~ 20 April remarks by FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI), at the opening of the 45th UEFA Congress

“The European Sport Model reflects the specific organisation, as well as the fundamental social and educational function, of sport. It is built on solidarity and volunteers. It is based on the twin principles of financial solidarity, which allows revenues generated at the elite level to be reinvested at the lower level. It is grounded in the openness of fair competition, which gives priority to sporting merit.

“But unfortunately, we have to realise that this European Sport Model is under threat today. In fact, the very existence of the values-, solidarity- and volunteer-based model is under threat. It is challenged by a purely profit-driven approach that ignores the intrinsic values and social mission of sport and the real needs of the post-coronavirus world. It is under threat because the social mission of sports organisations is losing ground to the purely profit-oriented goals of commercial sport providers and investors.

“If everything is only looked at from a business perspective, if only economic rules are applied to measure the impact of sport on society, then the social mission of sport is lost.”
~ 20 April remarks by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER), at the opening of the 45th UEFA Congress

Not since the founding of Poland’s “Solidarity” trade union in 1980 have we heard so much talk about “solidarity.” All this over European soccer?

Yes, and it has important implications for the entire Olympic Movement, not just soccer. In case you’re not following all of this:

● A group of 12 major European clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur from the English Premier League, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid from Spain’s La Liga and AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus from Italy’s Serie A – confirmed plans for a breakaway European league over the weekend.

However, the British “Football Daily” show reported on Twitter today that Chelsea and Manchester City might be pulling out due to the negative reaction to the announcement.

● The “European Super League” would include 15 core clubs, who could not be removed, plus five clubs to be invited in based on their results in domestic and other European competitions. The 20 teams would play home-and-away matches in two groups of 10, followed by playoffs.

● The games would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, preserving the domestic-league match schedules on weekends.

● The Super League would replace, for competing clubs, participation in the UEFA Champions League, a hugely-popular program which began in a smaller format in 1955. UEFA announced plans to expand the competition from 32 to 36 teams on Monday.

● J.P. Morgan Chase confirmed that it was financing the project, committing $4.8 billion over 23 years in support, charging 2-3% interest and expecting a major return from television and streaming rights. One report noted the clubs collect from £50-70 million annually in the Champions League (~$70-98 million), but could make up to £250 million (~$350 million) in the Super League.

The head of the Super League project, Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez said on a Spanish television program that “We have to explain to everybody that this is not a league for the rich clubs. It’s a league to save all the clubs. Otherwise, football will die.” He added:

“We are all going through a very difficult situation. When you don’t have revenue, the only way to change that is to attempt to have more competitive games, more attractive games. Football has to evolve, just like businesses have to evolve and everyone has to evolve. Football needs to adapt. We felt that we needed to change something to help make football more attractive.

“With the way revenues are now in the Champions League, all clubs will die. The big ones, medium ones and small ones. By 2024, when this new format is supposed to start, the clubs will all be gone.”

To help all of the other clubs not in the Super League, it would have its own “solidarity” program of $10 billion U.S. distributed over 23 years, promoted as three times more than is paid now.

There are a lot of holes in Perez’s reported comments, and the reaction against the Super League is quite real, especially in England, where six high-profile teams are part of the program.

There are lessons to be learned from this:

(1) For the breakaway clubs, this is about money. The high-profile European clubs which have worldwide fan bases feel they aren’t maximizing their revenue in a Champions League where they have to play early-round games against smaller teams of no interest (at least to them).

(2) For those against the Super League, the concept of an American-style “closed” league, without relegation, is anathema. The European tradition is that you have to play well every year to maintain your status as a top-tier club.

(3) The Super League concept raises questions – once again – about the “solidarity model” which Bach defined in his UEFA speech as an approach “which allows revenues generated at the elite level to be reinvested at the lower level.”

One of the reasons this is questioned is the invisibility of “solidarity” payments, not just in football, but especially at the Olympic level, both for the IOC and for the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees. In many quarters, the gaudy claims of millions paid to support sport are simply not believed.

Oh sure, the money is paid. But who gets it? Athletes? Coaches? Or does it go to federation officials and staff? No one really knows and this fracas over the Super League and the continued sniping at the IOC, federations and NOCs – like the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, whose finances will be examined by the new Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics – will not stop until a much better accounting is provided of who got what:

● The exact amounts paid – even with a copy of the bank transfer slips! – to supported organizations, like NOCs and national federations. As an example, check out the publicly-available Youth Sports Agreement between the City of Los Angeles and the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic organizers on how $160 million will be paid to support the City’s Recreation and Parks Department, the schedule of payments and how it will be spent.

● The exact amounts paid – just like in any other grant program – to athletes, coaches and clubs, by name, and an accounting of any other uses of money, for facilities, maintenance, insurance, anti-doping and so on.

● An accounting of the number of athletes, coaches and others paid and a comparison of the amounts paid to athletes, coaches and clubs in proportion to the total amounts provided.

Regardless of how the Super League mess turns out – it could fold altogether with an agreement with UEFA for better marketing and some more control by the larger clubs – the IOC, FIFA and others have once again staked out the social-responsibility ground as the foundation of their reasons for being. If they expect to stand on that ground, than they must, in the future, do much more to prove they are doing the good they actually believe they are.

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LANE ONE: Beijing 2022 is the IOC’s new challenge as it wrestles with changes to its Rule 50 on protests; FIFA is already in

Rich Perelman

April 19, 2021

tsx pix 2021-419 germany human rights 32521 — Germany's football team makes a statement before its World Cup qualifier on 25 March vs. Iceland in Duisburg

/Updated/Last month’s opening day of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualification matches in Europe’s Group G saw Norway win, as expected, at Gibraltar by 3-0 in a game that was even more lopsided than the final score.

But the story was the T-shirts worn by Norway’s players prior to the game, inscribed with the message: “Human Rights” in bold letters and “On and off the pitch” in smaller letters below.

The object of the shirts was to show support for migrant workers in Qatar, which will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022 and has built seven new stadiums for the event, primarily using construction workers from other countries. It has been reported that 37 workers directly involved with stadium construction have died, but also that since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010, there have been some 6,500 deaths among the migrant worker population, leading to heavy criticism of the Qatar government.

FIFA, the worldwide governing body for football, responded to the Norwegian incident with a statement including “FIFA believes in the freedom of speech, and in the power of football as a force for good. No disciplinary proceedings in relation to this matter will be opened by FIFA.”

The next day, 25 March, saw the first day of matches in Europe’s Group J, including powerhouse Germany hosting Iceland at the MSV Arena in Duisburg. It was also a 3-0 final, with the Germans scoring twice in the first seven minutes. But once again, the real action came before the game.

The German team lined up for introductions and its anthem wearing black shirts that spelled out “HUMANRIGHTS” in block letters, again focused on the activities in Qatar.

FIFA’s statement was essentially the same: “FIFA believes in freedom of expression and in the power of football to drive positive change.”

Football’s Laws of the Game covers this area in Law 4:

“Equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images. Players must not reveal undergarments that show political, religious, personal slogans, statements or images, or advertising other than the manufacturer’s logo. For any offence the player and/or the team will be sanctioned by the competition organiser, national football association or by FIFA.”

While shirts worn for warm-ups and not during competition could be considered a gray area, there’s no doubt that FIFA could have imposed sanctions. It didn’t and that’s worth remembering as the International Olympic Committee gets ready to receive recommendations from its Athletes’ Commission on possible changes to Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which reads:

“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

A set of guidelines was issued in January 2020 by the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission, prohibiting protests on the field of play, on the victory stand, during ceremonies and in the Olympic Village. But protests were welcomed on social media, within team meetings and in interactions with news media.

In the aftermath of multiple deaths in the U.S. later last year – including George Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May – the IOC’s Executive Board asked its Athletes’ Commission to revisit the issue and a lengthy consultation process will result in recommendations being sent back to the Executive Board this month.

As regards taking a knee or raising a fist on the victory stand, that outcome has already been telegraphed by Athletes’ Commission Chair Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) in a 10 December 2020 tweet that included:

“While the consultation is still ongoing, from what we have heard so far through the qualitative process, the majority:
● emphasise the right of free speech which is respected at the Olympic Games; and
● express support for preserving the ceremonies, the podium and the field of play.”

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has said that it will not sanction its athletes for such behavior at the Games, but has held off on formal regulations on protests for the Games until the IOC has concluded its review. (The USOPC has issued guidelines on protest activity at Olympic Trials events, here.)

And U.S. athletes are considering their options; Ashleigh Johnson, the gold-medal-winning goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s water polo team at Rio in 2016 – who is Black – said at the Team USA Media Summit:

“I think that how I developed, on field protests, versus from where I started to where I am now, has gone along with how I matured as an athlete. Like, it takes a while to see your role in the grand context and it takes a while to understand how you can apply your beliefs and clarify those, and how those translate to like, what’s going on. …

“It’s really hard to grow as an athlete when you’re so focused on your career, in the pool, or on the field, and like, there’s also this expectation to bringing this voice that has so much behind it, has so much greater reach than just you.

“I think that a lot of people are now taking the time to understand where they fit in, in the context of not just their sport, not just who they are as an individual, but like within the context of the Olympic Movement, within the context of the world, and what’s going on. … I think it just takes time to see yourself in that, and to understand like where your placement is.”

But as Tokyo 2020 looms, with possible protests from U.S. athletes concerning issues at home, the spectre of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China looms, and its treatment – already labeled as genocide by multiple governments, including the U.S. – of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province. The Chinese government has pushed back hard against any characterization of its treatment of the Uyghurs – including movement into “re-education camps” – as improper and promises an unspecified “response” to any actions, demonstrations or protests about the issue.

In considering the future of Rule 50, the IOC now faces the question of not just whether some American athletes will raise a fist or take a knee in Tokyo this summer, but how to handle protests against the Chinese regime in 2022.

What will be tolerated? What won’t?

My own view is that athlete boycotts are the wrong answer, because when teams are missing, so is their voice, both individually and collectively. But once we get past that, other questions open:

● Will governments support their teams by sending them – this applies to all countries except the U.S. – and then show their disgust with the Chinese government by recalling their ambassadors and shunning the Games by not sending any national representatives? U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who headed the 2002 Olympic Winter Games organizing committee in Salt Lake City, has eloquently expressed this view and much more in a 15 March editorial.

● It will be fascinating to see whether athletes – especially those in the U.S., whose voices have been the loudest on Rule 50 – take up the cause of the Uyghurs, whose situation appears to be even worse than for Germany’s Jews when the 1936 Olympic Games took place in Nazi-led Berlin, when the Beijing Games open next February.

● What will athletes and teams be able to do in Beijing – with IOC approval – to show their concern? Will Norwegian- or German-style T-shirts during warm-ups be accepted? What about special pins? What is national teams include a reference – by color or symbol – to the Uyghurs on their uniforms?

Interestingly, the pale-blue color used on the Uyghur flag is more-or-less already part of the Beijing 2022 logo!

● FIFA has already declared that it is willing to support at least some limited protests, and in circumstances that draw close attention from the television cameras, just prior to the start of matches. That’s a significant evolution for the federation.

Now, it’s the IOC’s turn, and its deliberations on Rule 50 cannot be limited to what American athletes might do in Tokyo, because an even bigger target is coming just seven months later.

Johnson was right: “it just takes time to see yourself in that, and to understand like where your placement is.” The time is almost here for the IOC to make some difficult decisions on how to accommodate expressions of athlete attitudes, potentially by U.S. athletes about their superpower home – which will host the 2028 Olympic Games – and by the U.S. and others about the actions of another superpower as it plays host to the 2022 Winter Games.

Rich Perelman
Editor

(Thanks to sharp-eyed reader Derrick Salisbury, noting that Mitt Romney helmed the 2002 OWG organizing committee, not 2022; now corrected. Thanks!)

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HIGHLIGHTS: World-leading 1:57.73 for Athing Mu; 2:04:30 marathon win for Kipchoge; Russia win ISU Figure Skating Team Trophy

Rich Perelman

April 18, 2021

tsx pix 2021-418 mu, ahting 800 CR 750 (TxAM) — She's at it again! Texas A&M's Athing Mu with a collegiate record 1:57.73! (Photo: Texas A&M/Tyler Pounds)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● Artistic Swimming ● The third leg of the FINA World Series was in Kazan (RUS) this weekend, with Russia dominating the event as expected.

Daria Kirsanova, age 15, won the Solo Technical (87.6972) and the Solo Free (90.7000); Olympic favorites Svetlana Kolesnichenko and Svetlana Romashina took the Duet Technical (96.1017) and Team Technical and Team Free events.

Japan’s Yukiko Inui and Megumu Yoshida won the Duet Free (93.0000) in the absence of Kolesnichenko and Romashina; Russia’s Violetta Evenko (16) and Elizaveta Minaeva (18) took silver (92.6000).

Russia’s veteran Mixed Duet team of Mayya Gurbanberdieva and Vladimir Maltsev won the Technical (92.5174) and Free (94.1333) events convincingly.

● Athletics ● What was supposed to be the Hamburg Marathon was changed to the NN Mission Marathon in Enschede (NED), but it made little difference to reigning Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge (KEN).

Running with two pacemakers, he was clear of the competition by the halfway mark and cruised home in a world-leading 2:04:30, his ninth-fastest marathon ever. Jonathan Korir, one of the pacesetters, actually continued on and was second in a lifetime best 2:06:30, with Goiten Kifle (ERI) third in a lifetime best of 2:08:07.

“Mission accomplished,” said Kipchoge. “The conditions were really good, a bit windy, but I had no complaints. The race was perfect. This was the real test towards Tokyo. It’s good to have a marathon a few months before the Olympics to test my fitness.”

More hot running in the U.S., especially at the Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, with world leaders including:

● Men/100 m: 9.94 (=), JoVaughn Martin (USA)
● Men/110 m hurdles: 13.07, Grant Holloway (USA)
● Women/100 m hurdles: 12.32, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR)

Martin’s 100 m win was unbelievable: in his first 100 m of the season, the Florida State sophomore improved his lifetime best from 10.40 in 2019 to an equal-world leading 9.94 (wind: +1.6 m/s)! He won by 0.29 in his section; the first section was won by Cravont Charleston (North Carolina State) in 10.15 over Georgia star Matt Boling (10.21).

In the Olympic Development 100 m that followed, Justin Gatlin (USA) beat a good field in 9.98, over Andre De Grasse (CAN: 9.99), Kenny Bednarek (USA: 10.03) and Noah Lyles (USA: 10.08). Lyles tweeted afterwards, “10:08 for my season opener and I’m proud of it.”

In the men’s 400 m, Steven Gardiner (BAH) showed he is in strong form with a 44.71 win, equal-second best for the year.

Holloway’s 13.07 win equaled his second-fastest time ever; in 2019, he ran 12.98-13.07-13.10-13.10-13.10 for his then-top five ever.

In the women’s 200 m on Friday,. Sha’Carri Richardson braved the rain and ran her second-fastest 200 m ever at 22.11 (+1.0 m/s); that’s no. 2 on the 2021 world list.

And Camacho-Quinn shattered her own national record in the 100 m hurdles, rising to equal-seventh on all-time performers list. Ignoring three Eastern European performers from the 1987-92, all of whom were likely chemically enhanced, Camacho-Quinn stands equal-fourth on the all-time list from 2000 on. Only world-record holder Keni Harrison (USA: 12.20), Rio Olympic champ Brianna McNeal (USA: 12.26) and London Olympic champ Sally Pearson (AUS: 12.28) are ahead of her, and 2015 World Champion Danielle Williams (JAM) is tied.

Texas A&M frosh Athing Mu continued to tear up the track, setting a collegiate record in the 800 m at the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco, Texas at 1:57.73. That smashed the prior collegiate best by Raevyn Rogers (Oregon) of 1:59.10 from 2017. It’s also the world leader for 2021.

Mu now owns the collegiate 800 m records indoors (1:58.40) and out. She won by more than three seconds in Waco; what will happen when she gets pushed?

More thrills from Christina Mboma, 17, of Namibia, who lowered her world-leading women’s 400 m mark – and World U-20 record – to 49.22 at the Namibian championships in Windhoek. She had run 49.24 in Zambia the week prior, but won the national title and now has the two fastest performances in the world this year.

Beatrice Masilingi, who chased her home in Lukasa last week, was second in 50.05 this time.

In South Africa, stars Akani Simbine and Wayde van Niekerk both showed fitness at the national championships in Pretoria. Simbine won the 100 m in 9.99 and van Niekerk won the 200 m in 20.38.

● Cycling ● The Amstel Gold Race was the focus of the UCI World Tours on Sunday, with the women’s race a 1-2-3 sweep for the home Dutch riders Marianne Vos, Demi Vollering and Annemiek van Vleuten.

The hilly, 116.3 km loop course from Valkenburg to Berg en Terblijt ended as expected in a mass sprint, with 10 riders in contention. While defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma (POL) and Italian star Elisa Longo Borghini had a small lead about 300 m out, Vos steamed by with 150 m to go and was followed by Vollering and van Vleuten – and others – at the finish. Vos was timed in 3:00.20; Longo Borghini was eighth across the line and Niewiadoma finished 10th. It was Vos’s first win in this race; she was third in 2019.

The men’s race, the 55th edition, was 218.6 km on the same loop course and ended with another sprint finish, this time favoring Belgian star Wout van Aert.

A large group raced together with about 20 km remaining, but then Britain’s Tom Pidcock broke free and only van Aert and Germany’s Maximilian Schachmann could stay with him; this trio had a lead of up to 20 seconds with 10 km remaining. The chase group kept attacking and closed in, but at the end it was van Aert and Pidcock and the Belgian lunged at the finish to claim the victory … which required a close look at the phototimer to confirm.

Van Aert claimed his fourth win of the season, after taking two stages of the Tirreno-Adriatico and Gent-Wevelgem on 28 March. His next appearance will be the Criterium du Dauphine in late May, to warm up for the Tour de France.

● Figure Skating ● The final major event of the ISU schedule was the seventh edition of the World Team Trophy competition in Osaka, Japan, which turned out to be a triumph for Russia and for American Nathan Chen.

The Russian entry won the trophy for the first time; the prior six titles had all been won by either Japan or the U.S. Anna Shcherbakova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva went 1-2 in the women’s Short Program and 1-3 in the Free Skate and the Russian entries of Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov (Pairs) and Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov (Ice Dance) both won. Adding in Mikhail Kolyada’s fifth in the men’s Short Program and third in the Free Skate and Evgeni Semenenko’s seventh and fifth, and Russia totaled 125 points to 110 for the U.S.

Chen was sensational, out-pointing double Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) by 109.65-107.12 in the Short Program and then by 203.24-193.76 in the Free Skate for a total of 312.89. Those were the only two wins for the U.S., as Jason Brown was third (Short) and eighth (Free) for the men and Bradie Tennell finished fifth and fourth for the women and Karen Chen was sixth in both events. Pairs skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were fourth (Short) and second (Free) and the Ice Dance pair of Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker were third in both the Rhythm Dance and Free Dance.

● Gymnastics ● Russian superstars Dina and Arina Averina were in good form and dominated the FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup stop in Tashkent (UZB).

Dina, a 13-time World Champion, won the All-Around at with 104.10 points, with Arina second, scoring 97.40, ahead of Anastasiia Salos (BLR: 96.50). American Laura Zeng was 12th (87.90).

In the apparatus finals, Dina won in Hoop (27.750), was second in Ball (28.150) and Clubs (28.150) and third in Ribbon (21.500), winning medals in all five events. Arina won the Ball (28.400) and Clubs (28.650) titles and Alina Harnasko (BLR) won in Ribbon (22.750).

Zeng made the finals in Hoop (7: 21.800) and Ball (8: 21.150).

● Judo ● Some 115 judoka from 20 countries gathered in Guadalajara, Mexico for the Pan American Championships on Thursday and Friday, with Brazil dominating the action: seven wins and 14 total medals.

Brazil claimed three men’s divisions: 66 kg (Willian Lima), 81 kg (Guilherme Schmidt) and +100 kg (two-time Olympic bronze medalist Rafael Silva). Four Brazilian women won: Larissa Pimenta at 52 kg; Ketleyn Quadros at 63 kg; Ellen Santana (70kg) and Beatriz Souza at +78 kg.

Ecuador and Cuba won two events each; the U.S. earned seven medals (0-2-5), with Angelica Delgado and Nina Cutro-Kelly making the final at 52 kg and +78 kg, respectively.

● Modern Pentathlon ● The second of two World Cup competitions in a row in Sofia (BUL) featured heavy rain, but impressive performances from no. 1-ranked Joseph Choong (GBR) and Michelle Gulyas (HUN).

Choong was strong in fencing (2nd), swimming (1st) and riding (8th) and paced his way to a clear win, finishing with 1,435 points. Belarus’s Ilya Palazkov made it close during the Laser Run, but finished second (1,427). Hungary’s Robert Kacsa was third (1,419).

Gulyas, 21, started fifth in the Laser Run, but won easily, finishing with 1,353 points to 1,345 for Francesca Summers (GBR) and 1,343 for 2018 World Champion Anastasiya Prokopenko (BLR). Gulyas was eighth in the fencing and fourth in swimming, but only 25th in riding. Her fourth-best time in the Laser Run pulled her through. It’s worth noting that Prokopenko recorded the fastest time in the Laser Run, at age 36!

The UIPM World Cup Final comes next, in Szekesfehervar (HUN) from 13-16 May.

● Rowing ● The second stage of the U.S Rowing Olympic Trials, held in West Windsor, New Jersey, resulted in a third Olympic berth for Gevvie Stone.

The silver medalist in the women’s Single Sculls in Rio in 2016, Stone finished second in the U.S. trials for that event in February. But she teamed up with the third-place finisher, Kristina Wagner, and now the two are headed to Tokyo as the winners of the Double Sculls.

Stone and Wagner had to come from behind in the final, trailing Meghan O’Leary and Ellen Tomek, but took charge with 650 m left. They crossed first in 7:07.21 for the 2,000 m course, with Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford coming up for second in 7:11.09 and O’Leary and Tomek third in 7:11.94.

It will be the third Games for Stone and the first for Wagner.

Two other U.S. boats will try to get to Tokyo through the World Rowing Final Olympic Qualifier in Lucerne (SUI) from 15-17 May. The men’s Quadruple Sculls team of Charles Anderson, Justin Keen, Eliot Putnam and Sorin Koszyk won in 5:57.57, with a margin of 4.14 seconds. The Pairs entry of Tom Peszek and Mike DiSanto won their uncontested race in 6:41.72, fast enough to move on to Lucerne. Both Peszek and DiSanto are Olympic veterans from 2012 and 2016, respectively.

● Sport Climbing ● The IFSC World Cup season opened, as usual, in Meiringen (SUI) with two of the medal favorites – Adam Ondra (CZE) and Janja Garnbret (SLO) – recording convincing wins in Bouldering.

Ondra, the 2014 World Champion in Bouldering, was the only men’s climber to complete three tops, ahead of Japan’s Yoshiyuki Ogata (JPN: 2T4Z) and Tomoaki Takata (1T4Z). Garnbret, the two-time defending World Bouldering Champion, also managed four tops (4T4Z) and won easily from Oriane Bertone (FRA: 2T4Z) and American Natalia Grossman, 19 (2T4Z), who won her first career World Cup medal.

● Swimming ● The USA Swimming national Open Water championships were held over the weekend at Ft. Myers Beach, Florida, with first-time winners in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

David Heron won the men’s 10 km race in 2:05:24, just ahead of Brennan Gravley (2:05:25), with Theodore Smith third in 2:06:25. It was the 10th Open Water 10 km nationals for Heron, and he finally won it. “I’m happy to finally win my first 10K after so many years,” he said. “It was a pretty smooth race— I felt pretty good. I never really felt like I was struggling and felt actually way stronger the last couple of laps there.”

Erica Sullivan won the women’s 10 km title, beating American stars (and Olympic qualifiers) Ashley Twichell and Haley Anderson, 2:02:43-2:03:01-2:05.21. “It’s really exciting, this is my first (10 km national title),” said Sullivan. “It hurt really bad because I was pretty much by myself for most of the race but I was pretty happy with it.”

Heron came back on Sunday to win the 5 km title – his third – over Gravley, 59:29-59:33. Twichell won the women’s 5 km – her fourth – over Anderson and Sullivan by 1:01:31-1:01:38-1:01:41.

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THE TICKER: Tokyo cancellation comes up again; Coleman’s suspension for Tokyo Games confirmed; Talakhadze lifts 1,069 pounds!

Rich Perelman

April 16, 2021

tsx pix 2021-416 talakhadze, lasha 750 insta — The guy in the middle is the world's strongest man: Lasha Talakhadze (GEO), all 6-6 and 389 lbs. of him, fresh from two world records at the European Championships! (Photo: Lasha Talakhadze Instagram account)

The latest news, notes and quotes from the worldwide Five-Ring Circus:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● It took less than a day after the “100 days to go” celebrations in Tokyo for the Secretary General of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party to bring up possible cancellation of the Games.

Toshihiro Nikai, considered the second-ranking member of the LDP, said on a television program on Thursday (15th):

“If it becomes impossible, then it should be called off. What is the point of the Olympics if it’s responsible for spreading infections? We will have to make a decision at that point.”

He added in a statement issued later: “What I meant was, if you are asking whether the Olympics and Paralympics should be held no matter what, I would say no.”

Kyodo News reported:

● “Nikai later downplayed his comments, saying the decision to cancel lies with organizers and that the LDP remains committed to supporting the games being staged in a safe and secure way.”

● “Taro Kono, the minister in charge of Japan’s vaccine rollout, said in a separate TV program the games will be held in ‘whatever way is possible,’ possibly without spectators.”

That’s the real upshot of these comments, that the Games could be held spectator-free. An announcement on possible capacities at the venues is expected by the end of this month, but could be pushed back into May.

Haruo Ozaki, the head of the Tokyo Medical Association, warned on Tuesday (13th), “”If infections spread further, in reality it would be difficult to hold the Olympics in its regular form with athletes coming from various countries, even if the Games are held with no spectators.”

All of the worry is predicated on worsening coronavirus infection rates in Japan, which at present are quite modest by European and U.S. standards.

On Friday, Seiko Hashimoto, the head of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and an LDP politician herself, told reporters, “I’m not thinking about cancellation. By taking measures to ensure safety and security, we are focusing on hosting the games.”

For those who felt that Russian athletes should have been banned from the Tokyo Games on account of the massive, state-backed doping scandal from 2011-15, Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov had bad news on Friday.

“All in all, we expect about 300-350 athletes to participate in the Olympic Games,” he said in a news conference. The delegation could include up to 650 members, including coaches and staff.

Russian participation in 2016 in Rio was also compromised to some extent by reaction to its doping program and 282 Russian athletes competed in 26 sports there. In London in 2012, a full Russian squad included 436 athletes, competing in 24 sports.

The coronavirus has significantly impacted the qualification for the Games in boxing, at least for the Americas region.

The International Olympic Committee’s Boxing Task Force announced on Thursday that the Americas qualifier tournament scheduled for 10-16 May has been cancelled:

“In recent weeks, tighter travel restrictions and lockdowns have been implemented across the region, which have significantly disrupted international travel and pose logistical challenges to teams travelling to and from Buenos Aires, jeopardising their ability to participate in the event. …

“[A]fter a thorough assessment and consultations with teams, the BTF’s Athlete Ambassadors and boxing experts plus the Local Organising Committee, the BTF has decided to cancel the event and restructure the Tokyo 2020 qualification pathway for the Americas region.”

Because of the late date and the number of people involved (400 expected in all), relocation of the tournament was considered impractical. So:

● “Considering that only the boxers registered to compete in the Americas qualifier would have had a chance to gain one of the Olympic quota places originally at stake in the event, the allocation of the 49 athlete quota places (33 for men, 16 for women) of the Americas Olympic Qualifier will remain exclusive to the athletes registered for the event.”

● “All 49 quota places of the Americas Olympic Boxing Qualifiers will be allocated via the BTF Ranking.”

There are an additional 13 quota places for the Americas which are due to come from the final World Olympic Qualifier and these will be allocated after the 49 places from the Americas qualifier are made.

USA Boxing issued a statement which included:

“[W]e are continuing to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and understand the safety and health of all those involved in this event, as well as fair opportunities for all boxers to compete, led to this extremely [sic] decision of canceling this event during such a close and crucial time to the Tokyo Olympics.”

It expects the 49 places from the cancelled American Qualifier to be awarded around 10 May and the additional 13 from the World Qualifier by 4 June.

This will likely not be the last chances to the qualifying program for boxing, or for other sports.

● Winter World University Games: Lucerne 2021 ● The long-delayed Winter Universiade in Lucerne, Switzerland and the surrounding area has been confirmed for 11-21 December of 2021, with 60 events over 10 sports and 11 days. There will be added costs:

“The budget for the Winter Universiade 2021 now amounts to CHF 42 million. The fact that the additional costs were kept to around 10 percent of the original budget is down to a number of factors. These include the early decision not to hold the event in January 2021, adaptations to the concept such as a slightly shorter stay for the competitors, and the goodwill of numerous partners such as those renting out the competition venues. The additional costs will be borne particularly by the members of the association, Swiss University Sports and Swiss Olympic.”

The CHF 42 million figure equates to about $45.54 million U.S., up from about $41.19 million U.S. originally. Keep those figures in mind as the 2023 Winter World University Games will be held in Lake Placid, New York.

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The wild back-and-forth tug-of-war on the use of trademarks like “Puma Tokyo 2021″ between the German sportswear company Puma S.E. and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ended quietly this week as Puma abandoned what always appeared to be a long-shot strike at use of Olympic-related marks in the U.S.

The exclusive use of the word “Olympic” and related terms are protected by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act in the U.S. and the USOPC filed suit against Puma’s attempt to trademark a whole series of phrases related to the Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024 Games, claiming the USOPC had abandoned the marks.

But on 2 April, Puma withdrew its applications, as well as some related to the FIFA World Cup. Law360.com reported that the USOPC filed to dismiss its suit against Puma last Monday (12th), ending the matter. A joint statement of the parties noted an “amicable settlement.”

● Athletics ● The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced its decision on U.S. sprinter – and World 100 m Champion – Christian Coleman’s appeal of his suspension for “whereabouts” failures, reducing his suspension to 18 months, which will rule him out of participation in the Tokyo Games.

A three-member panel heard the appeal by videoconference on 15 February; the statement noted:

“In coming to its decision, the CAS Panel determined that Christian Coleman had indeed committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation under Article 2.4 of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, but found the athlete’s degree of negligence to be lower than that established in the Challenged Decision: the Athlete was not at home during the 60-minute time slot on the day of the out-of-competition doping control (9 December 2019), as he should have been, and the Athlete should have been on ‘high-alert’ on that day, given the two existing whereabout failures against him. On the other hand, however, had the Athlete been called by the Doping Control Officer, he would have been able to return to his apartment during the 60-minute window and a test would have been concluded. Although a telephone call during the 60-minute window was not required by the rules, it was nevertheless reasonable for the Athlete to expect such a call, as a matter of standard practice among other Doping Control Officers.

“In conclusion, the CAS Panel determined that an 18-month period of ineligibility was the appropriate sanction in the circumstances.”

The suspension period dates to 14 May 2020, so Coleman will be eligible again on 14 November 2021, after the Tokyo Games, but in time for the full 2022 season, potentially including the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Coleman can appeal the Court of Arbitration for Sport finding to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which has only limited grounds for hearing it and is unlikely to disturb the ruling.

The Wanda Diamond League is still more than a month away, but it is already being reshaped by the coronavirus.

The circuit was supposed to start on 23 May in Rabat (MAR), but the situation there has caused the opener to be relocated to Gateshead, England instead. The annual Golden Gala Pietro Mennea in Rome (ITA) has had to be moved to Florence due to the European Championships in football taking over the Stadio Olimpico, and the date has changed from 4 June to 10 June.

That was to have been the date for the famed Bislett Games in Oslo (NOR), but the pandemic has changed that date, with the event re-scheduled (hopefully) for 1 July.

More changes are likely; stay tuned.

Race walking usually doesn’t get as much attention as other events, but it got big support on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! Show on Monday evening (12th) when the host and sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez got an in-person lesson from 1992 (20 km) and 1996 (50 km) U.S. Olympian Allen James.

The “Slow Road to Tokyo” segment included James whistling by both of them on a trip down the straightaway of a local track. Asked to evaluate the two, James offered:

“Guillermo, you’re probably about a 3 or a 4, somewhere in there,” and on Kimmel, he opined: “With your build, I’d say about a 4 to 5.” Those were on a scale of 10!

● Cycling ● Last February, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) adopted new regulations concerning the leaving of water bottles and trash along the course during road races, requiring that all such items can only be discarded in pre-set zones, effective on 1 April.

Along came the Tour of Flanders – Ronde van Vlaanderen on 4 April – during which Swiss rider Michael Schaer was disqualified for throwing aside a water bottle outside of a designated zone. He said he was throwing it as a souvenir for young fans, but the jury was unmoved.

On Thursday (14th), the Professional Cycling Council – which governs the UCI World Tour – and representatives from women’s road cycling amended the sanctions program:

● “Throwing bottles and waste outside dedicated zones provided by the organiser for this purpose remains forbidden. However, the riders have the possibility to get rid of their bottles and waste by giving them to team assistants positioned on the roadside, in charge of feeding, and to the following vehicles of teams and the organisers.

“Throwing bottles to the public, in particular, is a proven danger both for the riders and the public: on multiple occasions, crashes have been caused by bottles thrown to spectators and coming back onto the road, and spectators have been injured by bottles thrown by riders into the public. Moreover, the UCI wants to avoid fans, notably children, trying to get close to riders during races, to avoid accidents with potentially dramatic consequences (collision with riders or vehicles in the race caravan for example).”

● “At a one-day race, the first infringement will be punished by a fine and a deduction of UCI points (respectively 100 to 500 Swiss francs and 5 to 25 points depending on the class of event), whereas a second infringement will result in the disqualification of the offending rider. Previously, the regulation stipulated a fine, deduction of UCI points and immediate disqualification from the first violation.”

● “At stage races, the first infringement will be punished by a fine and a deduction of UCI points (respectively 100 to 500 Swiss francs and 5 to 25 points depending on the class of event). The second infringement will result in a time penalty (1 minute) and the third to disqualification. Previously, the regulation stipulated a fine, deduction of UCI points and a 30-second time penalty for the first infringement, a 2 minute time penalty for the second infringement and disqualification for the third.”

Thus, littering is still a bad idea.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended 52-year-old Masters division mountain biker Vahe Aivazian (Woodland Hills, California) for four years on Thursday, and nullified his results going back 10 years for the use of 10 different prohibited substances!

The USADA statement noted that its investigation was initiated from information provided to it by tipsters:

“This type of information led USADA to discover that Aivazian purchased products containing five different prohibited substances. After investigating further and reviewing additional materials, which USADA received in January and February 2021, USADA learned that Aivazian possessed and used and/or attempted to use five additional prohibited substances. …

“Aivazian’s four-year period of ineligibility began on April 7, 2021, the date on which he accepted the sanction. In addition, Aivazian’s competitive results obtained on and subsequent to June 16, 2010, the date on which he first used prohibited substances, have been disqualified, including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.”

The substance list included such doping favorites as Testosterone, Nandrolone, other anabolic agents and hormones. While he was found out, it is also true that he managed to dope successfully for at least 10 years, albeit in the less-scrutinized Masters division.

● Figure Skating ● The season-ending ISU Team Trophy competition in Osaka, Japan will end on Saturday with a team victory for the Russian team, but American star Nathan Chen has once again underscored his dominance in the men’s division.

Chen won both the Short Program and Free Skate in Osaka, both times besting two-time Olympic champ Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN). In the Short Program, Chen was the final starter and edged Hanyu, 109.65-107.12, winning on his Technical Element Score advantage. American Jason Brown was third (94.86).

In the Free Slate, Chen overwhelmed everyone, scoring 203.24 against 193.76 for Hanyu and 180.72 for Russian Mikhail Kolyada; Brown finished eighth (160.33).

Competition continues Saturday and an exhibition will be held on Sunday.

● Weightlifting ● The world’s strongest man is at it again!

Georgia’s Lasha Talakhadze set world marks for the Snatch lift and the Combined lifts total at the European Weightlifting Championships in Moscow last Sunday (11th), finishing with a mind-bending total of 485 kg or about 1,069 pounds.

Now 27, he successfully completed all six of his attempts and was rewarded with his fifth European title and two new world records:

● Snatch: 211 kg (~465 lbs.), 217 kg (~478), 222 kg (~489) World Record
● Clean & Jerk: 245 kg (~540), 253 kg (~558), 263 kg (~580)
● Total: 485 kg (~1,069 lbs.) World Record

Talakhadze broke his own marks of 220 kg in the Snatch from the 2019 World Championships and 484 kg total, also from the 2019 Worlds. He is now credited with a total of 20 world records across two weight classes, at +105 kg and +109 kg: eight in Snatch, four in Clean & Jerk and eight for the combined total.

In case you were wondering, Talakhadze is 6-6 and weighs 389 pounds, so he was lifting 126% of his bodyweight in the Snatch, 149% in the Clean & Jerk and 275% in the total! Wow!

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: Coronavirus fears dampen Japan’s Games enthusiasm; group tells Stanford to restore sports; Kynard wins 2012 OG high jump in court

Rich Perelman

April 14, 2021

tsx pix 2021-414 tokyo mascots TMG HQ (T2020) — Statues of Tokyo mascots Miraitowa (l) and Someity (r) at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters (Photo: Tokyo 2020)

News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● A Kyodo News poll of 1,015 Japanese citizens that was released Monday (12th) captured perfectly the link between the coronavirus and concerns over hosting the Olympic Games this summer:

“In the poll, 92.6 percent said they feel anxious about a resurgence of novel coronavirus infections, with 56.5 percent disapproving of the government’s handling of the pandemic and 35.9 percent expressing approval.

“Amid lingering concern over a fourth coronavirus wave and the slow progress of vaccination, the poll found 39.2 percent believe the postponed Olympics and Paralympics should be canceled, while 32.8 percent think they should be rescheduled. Only 24.5 percent responded that the games should be held as scheduled.”

Wednesday (14th) marked 100 days to go until the Opening Ceremony in the new National Stadium on 23 July. Several events were held in and around Tokyo, including the unveiling of a set of Olympic rings on Tokyo’s Mount Takao, and statues of the Olympic (“Miraitowa”) and Paralympic (“Someity”) mascots at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters.

The International Olympic Committee promoted the milestone with full throat on its Web site and social-media platforms, including a video news release with praise for Japan and the organizers from Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission chief John Coates (AUS):

“They will commence the Games on the 23rd of July, and I think this is a great credit to what President [Thomas] Bach and I and others have described as the best-prepared ever Games. And the work of the Organising Committee has just been quite outstanding in this regard and I have no hesitation in saying that the Games will take place and they’ll be the safest Games possible. All of the countermeasures have been put in place to deal with COVID to ensure that the public, the athletes and all of the other participants are safe. They will take place as scheduled.”

Kyodo reported last Sunday that coronavirus countermeasures will include the reservation of a 300-room hotel to sequester athletes who test positive for the virus, but have few or no symptoms.

The International Paralympic Committee announced Tuesday that it will minimize non-essential visitors to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in order to reduce foreign visitors to Japan.

Village guests, dignitaries, representatives of non-Paralympic sport federations, winter Paralympic federations and many other groups will not be accredited for the Games. However, there was no targeted number provided of the reductions to be made.

● XXIV Olympic Winter Games: Beijing 2022 ● The Beijing organizers, in cooperation with the Chinese government, was reported to have completed a 10-day trial of potential monitoring measures against the coronavirus at multiple test events.

Kyodo News reported on some of the measures, which should bring a chill to any supporter of individual civil liberties:

“At a venue for ice hockey, around 1,000 staff members had wireless chip-type thermometers placed under their arms and other parts of the body. The data was sent to the management center via smartphone. …

“Spectators have been allowed to enter some venues, but they have been prohibited from sitting side-by-side. Before the entry, they have also been required to present their health code on a smartphone, which can confirm whether they have a high risk of infection.

“The system, launched by the Chinese government in early 2020, assigns citizens multicolor QR codes to register where they went and whether they had contact with infected patients.

“With a green light shown on their smartphones, they are permitted onto trains and expressways and into shops, restaurants and office buildings.”

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The USOPC announced a digital platforms campaign called “We are Team USA.” The new program:

“highlights the collective competitive success and personal stories of Team USA athletes. Recognizing America’s elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes as the most diverse group of athletes in the world, the new ‘We Are Team USA’ campaign honors the beauty of differences and individual experiences coming together to represent the best of American possibility.”

The program is available on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and will run through the Paralympic Games in Tokyo; involved partners include DeVry University, Reese’s, Samsung, and United Airlines.

One of the program segments is “Road to Tokyo, presented by DeVry University,” as part of a re-formatted “Team USA Summer Fest – originally planned for 2020 as an interactive cross-country roadshow featuring activities and special moments with Team USA athletes – into a four-month journey across digital platforms.”

Although designed in time for the Tokyo Games to take place in 2020, USOPC uniform supplier Ralph Lauren had an updated unveiling of the Closing Ceremonies uniforms for the U.S. team for Tokyo.

The “Team USA Collection” is also on sale to the public, with polo shirts, jeans, belts and jackets offered from $98-495 for men and $98-550 for women.

On the NCAA front, a support group for the 11 sports announced to be cut by Stanford University – 36SportsStrong – met with the school’s administrators on Wednesday:

“We took the first step in reinstating the 11 cut sports at Stanford today. We met with Stanford leaders and the Board of Trustees members for about an hour in a video conference, and we presented our vision for a new partnership between the school and 36 Sports Strong.

“President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said he will take the next few weeks to consider our plan to reinstate the sports. We were encouraged by the meeting, and look forward to continuing to work with the president and Board. We believe President Tessier-Lavigne and the Board’s Athletics subcommittee are trying to lead an earnest effort to review the decision. We look forward to continuing the conversation about how this plan will work for Stanford students.”

The group solution to the funding of these sports is raising enough money to endow them permanently into the future. It is asking the university to provide “5 years of runway for the 11 sports to self-endow and instituting a new financial structure in which 34 sports become self-funded, while football and men’s basketball retain their profits.”

● Artistic Swimming ● A late report on last weekend’s second leg of the FINA World Series, held in Budapest (HUN). It was a showcase for Canada’s Jacqueline Simoneau, four-time Pan American Games gold medalist, who won the Solo Technical, Solo Free, and the Duet Technical and Duet Free with partner Claudia Holzner.

● Athletics ● One of the exciting aspects of an Olympic or World Championships year is to see unknowns suddenly come onto the scene, as from an all-comers meet in Lukasa, Zambia on Sunday.

In the women’s 400 m, Namibians Christine Mboma (17) and Beatrice Masilingi (18) ran the two fastest times of 2021, finishing in 49.24 – a World U-20 record – and 49.53. Mboma had won the 800 m on Saturday in 2:03.27, a lifetime best, but hardly a predictor of that 400 mark.

Lukasa is at altitude – 1,289 m – so that helped, but even so, it’s a big leap from her 2020 best of 51.57 and 50.42 for Masilingi!

Other world leaders reported from Sunday included a 77.89 m (255-6) hammer throw by American Rudy Winkler, giving the U.S. the world leaders in both the men’s and women’s hammer!

Japan’s Satoshi Maruo won the Japanese national walk championships 50 km race in Wajima (JPN) and claimed the world lead at 3:38:42, his first-ever win at the distance, in eight tries.

Ethiopian superstar Gudaf Tsegay, who set a World Indoor Record of 3:53.09 in the women’s 1,500 m in February, took the world lead in the women’s 5,000 m by winning at the Ethiopian nationals in Addis Ababa in 14:49.7 (hand time). Letesenbet Gidey was second, seven secons back in 14:56.7.

Kenya’s Angela Tanui won the elites-only Xiamen Marathon on Sunday, held in the Italian town of Ampugnano, Italy instead of in China due to the pandemic, in 2:20:08, to take the world lead in the women’s marathon. Kenyan Erick Kiptanui took the men’s race in 2:05:47 for no. 2 on the men’s world list for 2021.

Rio 2016 Olympic marathoner Des Linden did not make the U.S. marathon team for Tokyo, but now owns the world’s best time for the 50 km distance – 31.07 miles – winning the specially-arranged Brooks Running 50 km & Marathon on Tuesday (13th).

She finished in 2:59:54 on the loop course just outside of Eugene, Oregon (5:47 per mile average), smashing the prior best of 3:07:20 by Alyson Dixon (GBR) from 2019.

With the Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to suspend Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov for two years and nine months (through 31 October 2021), he also loses his 2012 Olympic victory in London in 2012 at 2.38 m (7-9 3/4).

The beneficiary is American Erik Kynard, who will be elevated to the gold medal spot after clearing 2.33 m (7-7 3/4) on the field. There will now be three silver medalists: Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT), Derek Drouin (CAN) and Robbie Grabarz (GBR), who all cleared 2.29 m (7-6).

Kynard, now 30, was sixth in Rio in 2016 and has already cleared 2.30 m (7-6 1/2) this season and is a serious contender to go to a third Games this summer. The International Olympic Committee has yet to formally re-allocate his medal from London, but perhaps – if he makes the U.S. team – it could happen in Tokyo!

● Curling ● One of the strangest World Championships in history finished near midnight last Sunday evening in Calgary, Canada, with Sweden winning a third men’s title in a row on a sensational finish by skip Niklas Edin.

Sweden and Scotland – skipped by Bruce Mouat – were deadlocked at 5-5 going into the ninth end. Sweden put four stones in the house and then Mouat placed a second Scot stone in the circle, but both were lined up so that a perfect shot by Edin could displace both. The Swedish star – now the only skip to win five world titles – did just that and gave his team five points and the win by 10-5. Said Edin:

“It was probably the toughest field ever at a World Championship. We were in really good form after winning the Worlds two years ago, and we were super pumped up and eager to play in the Worlds last year and when that got shut down. We didn’t really know if we were still that good [this year]. We are super confident normally going into events like this, but we couldn’t really know if our form and will to win was still the same, so I think winning this one feels unreal.”

Because of three positive tests to players not in the playoff round and then one from a team in the playoffs, competition was not held on Saturday and the entire playoff round – six matches – was held on Sunday.

Initially, the player from a playoff team – later identified as an American – who had tested positive was not going to be allowed to play. But he had a negative test on Saturday and was then, in consultation with medical officials, allowed to play, since he had been fully vaccinated before coming to the tournament.

However, Canada’s TSN network declined to show the Switzerland vs. USA quarterfinal game out of concerns over having an infected player on the ice. The U.S. was eliminated, and TSN resumed coverage, but without a cameraman at ice level, for the remainder of the tournament.

On Monday, the World Curling Federation announced

“After extensive reviews conducted with Alberta Health, the testing facilities, event medical officers and an expert in infectious disease, four positive tests for COVID-19 that put the World Men’s Curling Championship 2021 on hold for a day are now considered “False Positives” resulting from potentially contaminated samples.”

Wow.

● Football ● The U.S. Women’s National Team defeated France, 2-0, in Le Havre on Tuesday (13th), thanks to goals from Megan Rapinoe (5th minute, on a penalty shot) and Alex Morgan in the 19th minute. The Americans controlled 55% of the possession and had a 16-3 edge in shots.

The result was far better than the 1-1 tie against Sweden on 10 April, but the French squad was without six of its 2019 World Cup starters due to coronavirus complications. Nonetheless, the won extended the U.S. unbeaten streak to 39 straight games and coach Vlatko Andonovski is now 17-0-1 in his career with the women’s squad.

Last Friday, Federal District Court judge R. Gary Klausner approved, as expected, a settlement from last December between the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Soccer Federation on staffing and travel support. In legal terms, this creates a final decision on all aspects of the suit filed by the women’s team over unequal pay and other issues.

By doing so, the plaintiffs can now appeal Klausner’s summary judgement dismissal last May against the women’s team on its claims under the Equal Pay Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

FIFA suspended the national football federations of Chad (FTFA) and Pakistan (PFF) last week (7th), citing government interference in Chad and third-party meddling in Pakistan. In Chad:

“The suspension was prompted by the recent decisions of Chadian government authorities to permanently withdraw the powers delegated to the FTFA, establish a national committee for the temporary management of football and seize control of the FTFA’s premises.”

In Pakistan:

“This situation was prompted by the recent hostile takeover of the PFF headquarters in Lahore by a group of protestors and an alleged decision by certain individuals to remove the FIFA-appointed normalisation committee of the PFF led by Haroon Malik and to hand over the leadership of the PFF to Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah.”

● Skiing ● Two more U.S. retirements in alpine skiing, as Alice McKennis Duran and Laurenne Ross have both ended their careers.

Both were two-time Olympians, with McKennis Duran (now 31) in 2010 (Downhill) and 2018 (Downhill, Super-G) and Ross (32) in 2014 and 2018, in the Downhill and Super-G both times.

McKennis had 121 World Cup starts and won two medals, including a Downhill victory in 2013. Ross also won two World Cup medals – both silvers – in 153 starts.

McKennis wrote on Instagram that the fractured right ankle she suffered at the Val d’Isere World Cup last December proved too hard to come back from; Ross decided to race for a final time at the U.S. Nationals in Aspen, Colorado, then retire.

It was a good choice: Ross won the Downhill on Saturday (10th) with a combined time of 2:18.49, ahead of A.J. Hurt (2:18.94) and Lauren Macuga (2:19.38).

Thanks to some difficult weather, the U.S. Alpine National Championships are still ongoing, and are scheduled to finish on Friday (16th).

● Swimming ● The amazing Adam Peaty, reigning Olympic champ in the 100 m Breaststroke, won that event at the British Olympic Trials in London on Wednesday in 57.39. That’s the no. 5 performance in history and, amazingly, gives Peaty all of the top 20 performances in history!

Safe to say he’s the prohibitive favorite in the event for Tokyo.

Recovering Japanese star Rikako Ikee finished with four wins at the recent national championships, taking titles in the 50 and 100 m Freestyles and 50 and 100 m Butterfly events. She did not meet the national standards for Olympic entry as an individual, but did qualify for Olympic entry on at least two relay teams.

“Both my swimming and my times came back more quickly than I expected,’ Ikee told reporters in an online interview. ‘Now I have to build on that with the kind of normal growth I expect from myself. I’m looking forward to the real thing.’”

Pretty good for someone diagnosed with Leukemia two years ago!

● At the BuZZer ● Amid all the chatter over future Olympic boycotts, it’s worth remembering that Monday – 12 April – was the 41st anniversary of the darkest day in the U.S. Olympic Movement, when the United States Olympic Committee’s House of Delegates voted 1,704-697 to accede to demands from the Carter Administration and decline to participate in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, USSR.

The late Mike Moran, the long-time USOC spokesman, wrote, “The deplorable decision by the USOC came after intense pressure from the Carter administration that included pointed calls to USOC sponsors urging them not to make critical payments to the organization unless it supported the boycott.”

Moran noted other threats that included the loss of some of the Olympic Training Center property in Colorado Springs that still belonged to the Defense Department and possible elimination of the USOC’s charitable deductions for contributions.

Worth remembering with Beijing 2022 less than 10 months away.

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LANE THREE: At Team USA Media Summit, U.S. fans are “catching up” to women’s hoops; diver Boudia overcame fear of heights; validating skateboarding

Rich Perelman

April 14, 2021

tsx pix 2019-923 rogers-nye-kim-godley 71 kg wch 750 — Weightlifting history for Mattie Rogers (left, silver) and Katie Nye (gold) of the U.S. at the 2019 IWF 71 kg Worlds, with North Korea's Hyo-Sim Kim (bronze) and Emily Godley (GBR, fourth). (Photo: IWF)

(For part one of our Team USA Media Summit review: click here;
for part two: click here)

Last of a three-part review of last week’s online Team USA Media Summit, with some of the most noteworthy highlights (these are from the closed-caption transcripts, with errors corrected as identified).

These are U.S. Olympians-to-be (already qualified), or leading U.S. contenders; what they had to say was pretty interesting:

BASKETBALL/Sue Bird, 2004-08-12-16 Olympic gold medalist:

● “I think simply put, I think the world, America, our country, is catching up to us. We’ve already been here. We’ve already been doing the basketball thing. We’ve already had that product. It’s already been what it is, which is great. I think from just the thing we stand for in terms of social justice. We’ve always been doing this. I think that’s what I mean when I say the country is just seeing it now.

“And when it comes to Draymond [Green‘s comments], to be honest, he does have a platform and I think he has every chance to get in the nuance of this conversation because a lot of these conversations around the sport lives in the nuance. They’re nuanced topics and there’s reasons why. The investment is belated. The media coverage is belated. It’s not as simple as, oh, they don’t have revenue. That’s the easy way out. It’s unfortunate with all of the resources he does have, he didn’t have those conversations with the people he can. He could have hit me, he could have hit all of us up. It’s unfortunate he didn’t have the conversations to understand the nuance.

“Because again his platform now allows people to just jump on that, quote/unquote ‘necessity that’ quote/unquote ‘they don’t have the revenue train’ and that’s not what it is. And I see his point, his point is, why is company X going to be able to capitalize on talking about women during Women’s History Month, but not put their money where their mouth is and support women sport, WNBA, whatever the case may be. To his point, he tagged people; he should be tagging companies, having conversations with the companies that maybe endorsed him. That’s really my take on it.”

BASKETBALL/Nneka Ogwumike, 2014-18 FIBA Women’s World Cup gold medalist:

● “There’s been a lot of eyes on women’s sports especially in the last year. I think when it comes for us, the inside looking out, I think most of us on this call can say, like, we always knew how cool we are and it’s fun to see people on the outside really taking note. And not just in how we are able to lead our communities, but also in our game, you know. I think at the end of the day there’s no platform without what we do. and for us to be able to be highlighted in ways that extend to college, professional ranks, and now we’re here talking about us continuing on a record-breaking performance with team USA, I think now more than ever that we’re experiencing a pivot and a true appreciation for women in sports.”

BASKETBALL/Dawn Staley, 1996-2000-04 Olympic gold medalist, 2020 U.S. coach:

● “It’s why we play, it’s why we sacrifice, it’s why we’ve come to put that pressure on ourselves to win. We like winning. It is every time we step on the floor we like that pressure. we also like the fact that we can say we’re competing for our 7th, right, our 7th consecutive gold medal. I mean, it has an incredible ring to it. It is why we get our players to commit during the down times in their off season or sometimes during the season. It’s what our commitment is in and, you know, when you’ve experienced any type of USA Basketball team or competition you’ll understand how everybody is, you know, everybody’s coming at you with their very best and it’s the norm for us. We want to beat every team, every opponent that we face, including in the upcoming Olympic Games.”

DIVING/David Boudia, 2012 Olympic 10 m Champion; 2016 silver:

● “I’m actually in quarantine now … I was positive about six days ago, and it’s just another road block. … Where did it come from? Obviously it can happen to anyone, anywhere.

“We couldn’t figure it out but it doesn’t matter, my wife and daughter are negative. We’ve been testing them once every two days to see if they are, to make sure that we, just, know.

“Where do I start, I was supposed to leave for Tokyo on Sunday and they cancelled the [18-23 April FINA World Cup] event because of precautions and just not everything under control. I had just gotten in maybe three minutes ago, that they’re now scheduling it for May 1st. So again, I just go back to, just adversity and athletes, that is your best friend. If you can train through this, then the Olympics should be a breeze. You block out the cameras and media and everything that comes, and you just do your job there.

“I think my symptoms, definitely Monday and Tuesday, I wasn’t a believer, I was like, I’m young, I probably won’t get it, or if I do get it, I probably won’t have anything. But I was out cold, Monday and Tuesday, slept. … It’s definitely not a joke, and right now I’m feeling good. It’s maybe day five since I’ve had my symptoms.”

● “I think [overcoming my] fear of heights, you just, you have a goal, you want to accomplish it and so that’s just a stumbling block. And when I first started [diving from] three stories in the air, 33 feet high, going head first at 35 miles an hour, I think anyone would be petrified of getting up there and jumping off. But for me, I wanted to go to the Olympics since I was seven years old.

“That was just something I had to get over, because my drive, my ambition and my tenacity to get through to the Olympics was more than my fear of heights, so I pushed through it. I worked with a sports psychologist who was phenomenal out of Indianapolis to just learn how to set goals … and eventually just trusted my coaches and my parents and decided, all right, this is just something i have to get over.”

SKATEBOARDING/Mariah Duran, USA Skateboarding national team member:

● “You can take it wherever you want and I feel like the core of skateboarding will always be there. It’s not the ideal sport everyone goes for, can’t really get scholarships or whatever like that, but I feel like now being in the Olympics, the conversation for people to start skating will be a little bit more easier. Like with the parents allowing their kids to do it because now it’s, like, okay, there’s a future. Take that as a possibility. But, yeah, I think it’s all up to the skateboarders themselves where’s they want to take it. I feel like that’s the main thing that the USA, like, promotes, kind of just, like, if you want to do these things, this is how you enter the contest and just do it, if you don’t, they’re not pushing it on anybody. Whoever wants it goes for it. So I think that’s really cool.”

SKATEBOARDING/Heimana Reynolds, 2019 World Skate Park Champion:

● “I’m a professional skateboarder and I’m really excited for skateboarding to finally be part of the Olympics. and really exciting for skateboarding to be kind of recognized as, like, a real sport, I guess, and have it, just be, get the respect at, like, for skateboarders can get the respect being known as a real athlete instead of just a little skateboarding hobby they do on the side or delinquent kids do when they want to trespass and vandalize stuff. Ha Ha. Yeah, I’m just excited to be part of it. …

“And I think that once it’s in the Olympics, it’s just gonna be an awesome way to kind of open the eyes of people who don’t really know much about skateboarding. So, yeah, that’s how I think that it’s gonna be an awesome way for skateboarding when it does.”

● “Coming from Hawaii, we don’t have the best skate parks and I’m really hoping maybe after the Olympics that the city will see that this is something that is a respectable sport and we will build more skate parks, we will build better parks and places for people to want to skateboard, you know.”

SURFING/Kolohe Andino, qualified for Tokyo 2020:

● “The surf culture in Japan is huge. It was really cool just to be at that event and surf in front of the fans, and they’re very passionate about being a fan but also very polite which is kind of a unique thing, for me at least. Sometimes fans can be very passionate but overly passionate. But Japanese culture was very, very polite. Just their gestures, they wanted to shake your hand instead of yell at you. Yeah, it was super cool, super respectful, polite culture. I was really glad to be part of it. also for me, it’s nice to go somewhere new, that’s really rad too. So I’m really excited on a lot of levels to compete over there again.”

SURFING/Carissa Moore, 4-time Women’s Championship Tour; qualified for Tokyo 2020:

● “A year delay actually hasn’t been all that bad to be completely honest. I mean, I’ve just kind of been surfing and training like I was for a normal event and I think some more time I had actually let me kind of go back to really look at my surfing to make improvements in this season, this year, so, yeah, it’s been a whole other year to train and build excitement, and yeah, get excited.”

● “I don’t know what to expect with surfing being in the Olympics. It will be broadcast to a bigger audience so more people will see it, hopefully more people will fall in love with it and actually tune in on a more regular basis. And maybe it will even inspire them to get out and try it. I have seen, like, a boom of new surfers in the ocean just during this pandemic. So I don’t know how many more people the lineups can hold. but it will be interesting to see what happens.”

WEIGHTLIFTING/Katie Nye, 2019 World 71 kg Champion:

● “I think all of us as lifters, especially for me, a country like ours we have a very comprehensive anti-doping program, and it’s hard to see the [International Weightlifting Federation] make mistake after mistake – well, it’s not really a mistake if they’re doing it on purpose, I guess – and seeing that representatives from our country, our [USA Weightlifting chief executive] and they are trying to make changes at the head of the International Federation and as a result, the International Olympic Committee is threatening the IWF. It’s really hard to see it happen. For Tokyo I’m not that worried, but I’m absolutely worried for Paris.”

WEIGHTLIFTING/Mattie Rogers, two-time Worlds 69-71 kg silver medalist:

● “In weightlifting, we are lucky to need minimum requirements, so just a bar and weights you can train. I had to cut my carpet to make my garage level so I have a place to train, but I think, just in general [the pandemic has] made me a lot tougher as an athlete, mentally. I feel like I can train any time anywhere now, good for competition, you never know what is thrown at you. …

“Most normal garages they’re at a bit of a slope, and as a weightlifter you need a very level platform. I didn’t have basically the ground to do it on, so I had to make my garage a little bit more level. I couldn’t physically change anything because I rented at the time, so I cut up some carpet. I think I had cardboard boxes and did what I could to make the front a little bit higher so it’s kind of level and then tried various things to be able to drop the weight because noise was an issue as well. We weightlifters definitely got a little bit creative during this time.”

USOPC/Jessica Bartley, Director of Mental Health Services:

● “We historically had a program called ‘Pivot’ and we are completely revamping that and so we are prepared to do a post-Games transition program, so if athletes are looking to retire, looking to figure things out, we’re starting to plan a two-day workshop. I pitched Hawaii but that got turned down.

“But we’re looking for a fun location where athletes can come together with some experts in the field and talk about what does the post-Games blues look like for them, what is the next step, how do you make the decisions around sticking a sport or if you’re going to move on, are there losses of identity, grief and loss so there’s a lot of components that we’ve all started to talk about and how we can do that. At this point, we’re looking to do a two-day in-person workshop and a year-long virtual kind of group and so based on the interest that will break the athletes in different groups.

“One of the things I would also mention is we’re trying to focus on a post-Games blues model to start to normalize that and start to talk about what it could look like, what it might look like, what might be different. One of the newest support groups that we’ve opened up is actually for athletes who don’t qualify for the Games, so we’ve gotten that support group up and running and [with] quite a few athletes as they’re not qualifying.”

USOPC/Dr. Jonathan Finnoff, Chief Medical Officer:

● “Vaccinated individuals have to follow all of the same protocols unvaccinated individuals need to follow. While vaccinated individuals are certainly at lower risk of sustaining or acquiring a case of Covid-19, it’s not zero and if your community prevalence is relatively high and you have repetitive exposures, each time you get exposed you have an increased chance of developing a Covid-19 infection.

“So if you said vaccinated people do not have to actually follow any of the Covid mitigation protocols and there is a high community prevalence, you bring people from all over the world together, the chances that some vaccinated people will end up getting sick is relatively high, so it is appropriate to do screening tests, and to have Covid mitigation measures for people whether they’re vaccinated or whether they’ve had a prior infection, until the prevalence of Covid-19 has significantly decreased, therefore the exposure is much lower.”

● “If somebody tests positive, and they’re asymptomatic and they have no known exposure, they’re going to immediately receive two follow-up PCR tests. If either one of those follow-up PCR tests are positive, that individual is considered to have Covid-19 or be positive, then they will be subject to public health guidelines within Japan, which at this point [means] placing somebody into isolation for a specific period of time until they are no longer contagious. At this time, based on the information that we have available, these people will not be allowed to compete.”

● “We have a fantastic exercise physiology team who has put together an entire heat acclimatization plan for athletes [for Tokyo], working with them by team and on an individual basis to customize a program.

“Heat acclimatization takes time. If you’re not acclimatized, heat-related illness is a life-threatening condition, it is serious from a health-performance standpoint. We have a fantastic team in place led by Randy Wilbur, one of our exercise physiologists and I’m happy and excited to see the results of their work.”

USOPC/Lindsay Shaw, Senior Sport Psychophysiologist:

● “There are so many features of the sort of five-year quad into Tokyo which leads to a contrast three-year quad into Paris so I’ve had more athletes previously contemplating retirement saying oh, it’s only three years, I’m thinking seriously about Paris at this point. I think that will be a pretty novel quirk.

“I think every National Olympic Committee is preparing as ourselves for governing bodies, athletes, what will removal from play look like in Tokyo, something we don’t care to think about but we need to prepare carefully for.”

Just a small sample of the 500+ American athletes who are going, or trying to make the team for Tokyo this summer. Rest assured, you will hear many of their voices again, and likely much louder.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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For our 649-event International Sports Calendar for 2021 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LANE TWO: At Team USA Media Summit, Crouser throws medicine balls into bridges; diving scoring via Zoom; “it’s crazy to me to play a sport … and not be rewarded for it”

Rich Perelman

April 13, 2021

tsx pix 2019-726 crouser, ryan pre 750 — Shot put superstar Ryan Crouser (USA)

(For part one of our Team USA Media Summit review, click here)

/Updated/Last week’s online Team USA Media Summit gave Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls a chance to chat with news media from around the world. In part two of our review, here are some of the most noteworthy highlights (these are from the closed-caption transcripts, with errors corrected as identified).

These are U.S. Olympians-to-be (already qualified), or leading U.S. contenders; what they had to say was pretty interesting:

ATHLETICS/Michelle Carter, 2016 women’s Olympic Shot Put gold medalist:

● “ I would say winning a medal does help raise your profile, but I just kind of fell into the things that I loved to do, that I was already doing prior to winning. I have a youth camp where we build up the confidence in young female athletes to believe that they are great in who they are, on and off the field.

“So having a different platform can do that, and bring more eyes to the cause and to the nonprofit and one golden shot, and it has definitely helped, because for me, I definitely want to use my gift and pour that into others, especially the next generation, so that’s what I have spent time doing, and bring awareness to the issue with the young female athletes and female athletes in general. I guess that’s how I raised my profile by using the platform to help build up those who are around me, and those I get to touch and interact with on a regular basis.”

ATHLETICS/Ryan Crouser, 2016 men’s Olympic Shot Put gold medalist:

● “It was Monday afternoon [in March 2020], an e-mail came down from [the athletic department], saying you guys got to be out by 5 p.m. today. So that evening, I was at Home Depot buying plywood and getting in contact with track and field suppliers to build my own portable shot put ring and just kept that in the back of my truck, and would go to the elementary school by my house and would throw off this vacant lot. got some weird looks.

“It was around a jogging trail; people would come by and there were lot of comments with that. Pretty entertaining. … I was in [my coach’s] bigger garage with higher ceilings and he’s been really generous letting me lift in there, so I’ve been in there since March and still do half my workouts there when I can’t fit them in at the University of Arkansas.

“Probably the most unusual is med ball’s a big part of throwing, just developing rotational power and strength, so I’ve been doing my med-ball workouts underneath a bridge [between] the concrete supports. That also gets unusual looks. I’m on the same trail I’ve been throwing at off the sidewalk, so people see me throwing one way, and when they are running the other way they will see me throwing a med-ball into a concrete support. It’s definitely been a lot of improvising and figuring out ways to get what I need done, but I’ve enjoyed the challenge in the sense that I feel like I’ve been able to make a system that works for me.”

● “A touch on diet a little bit. I’m a big guy: 6’7″, around 320 and I’m always trying to maintain that weight. For me, it is difficult to keep my weight up. I hang around 5,000 calories a day to maintain, and do that over four or five meals, and my normal meal is a thousand calories.

“If you think of what the average person should eat in one day, take half of that and that is one of my four to five meals for a thousand calories. Four to five meals a day, a thousand calories each and the rest filled with snacks, and that is how you get to be 320 pounds.”

● “We’ve done lot of work with radar technology, that is used to track the shot. It is the same or almost the exact same technology that you see in golf and the telling you how far the drive goes. So it is tracking the shot, and it will give you release angle, velocity, you don’t have [golf] spin really on the shot, you don’t have wind resistance, so it makes it actually easier to track and you are just following projectile motion.

“So we use that technology and … where you make progress is reconciling the sports science side of things along with the throw-specific side of things, because you have physics telling you that 45 degrees is farthest, optimal for projectiles. But the human body throws a shot little better at 38-40 degrees, and for me personally, I seem to throw a shot better at 36 degrees. So just kind of figuring out how can we pick up distance using this analysis without getting too in-depth and just committing blindly to it. So that is kind of the art form to it.”

CANOE-KAYAK Sprint/Nevin Harrison, 2019 women’s C-1 World 200 m Champion:

● “Leading up to the Games, I will be over on the East Coast and it hasn’t been my favorite just because I love my [Seattle] home so much, but it’s been worth it. You know, we put so much hard work in we hardly have time to look around and see where we are.

“So, you know, it’s training and resting and kind of the daily schedule for me, obviously, I imagine for these women, too, so it’s been hard. It’s been challenging to be away from my family, away from my friends. I started training here when I was 17, so about a little over a year ago, so, it was definitely a hard transition for someone that was supposed to be a senior in high school and doing all those things, going to prom and having the regular life.

“I was living pretty much alone in training and competing, traveling all over the world and [then] Covid hitting me; everything slowed down a lot and maybe spending a lot more time in [her training base in] Georgia than I expected to.”

(Special thanks to reader Jean Folger for straightening out Harrison’s comments from those of Evy Leibfarth, following below.)

CANOE-KAYAK Slalom/Evy Leibfarth, 2018-2019 women’s U.S. K-1 champion:

● “I do buy my boats; when I travel, we check it in oversize [with airlines]. We are lucky to have that, you really hope it doesn’t get broken of course, things do happen. You kind of have to be prepared for that and have a back-up plan, but you saw those and I’m sure they’re all very customized, like this is the thing for you. So it is very hard to find another boat if that doesn’t happen or if you are not able to get it on the plane.”

DIVING/Kassidy Cook, 13th in the 2016 Rio Olympic women’s 3 m springboard:

● “I think what brought me back [in 2019] was just missing the sport, and feeling like I was regretting it if I didn’t at least try once more. After I graduated from college [in 2018], I was coming off a couple of injuries, I had had my third shoulder surgery the summer before my last season, and you know, my body was kind of exhausted and I got the senior-in-college feeling: what do I do for the rest of my life, I need to get a job and working and set myself up for after sports and I think the pressures combined with the toll that it took on my body ultimately led me to the decision to retire.

“But actually, with the retirement, I started feeling really good and working out and got into really good shape and I went and watched the USA team, which was in California, and the first time I went to a meet as a spectator and I was watching them, and it really made me miss it, and I was like, okay, like I think if I trained back, and you know, I quit my job, packed up from San Francisco and moved back to Texas to train with my coach that I went to the 2016 Olympics with, and the rest is history.

“I just really miss the sport and I knew that, you know, I’m able to dive and be an Olympic athlete for such a short period of my life and these years are special to me and I would regret if I wouldn’t at least try to go to the Olympics.”

● “For me, personally, when I’m Zooming mock competitions in practice, I do get that adrenaline and the nerves going, sometimes more than [an actual] competition,, because in a competition, you have a lot of downtime, [and] in between doing dives, you can calm yourself down, but in a mock meet, you don’t have that time, so you’re definitely thinking and definitely the nerves and the adrenaline are going. … It is really hard to replicate what it feels like in a competition so to be able to do that, you know, on a regular Friday during practice is really cool.”

FENCING/Alex Massialas, 2016 Olympic Foil bronze medalist:

● “When the [Stanford sports] cuts were announced, one of the first thoughts I had was that this would be, you know, devastating to not only the fencing pipeline – not just because Stanford has strong programs on the West Coast for fencing – but it sets an example among all of the rest of the NCAA schools as to how to have successful programs while also maintaining academic and athletic excellence across every single sport. …

“I was speaking with a lot of USOPC members and members of the Athletes [Advisory Council] over there, and their worry was that in eight years we would really start to see the effects of these cuts and as we can see that, since Stanford announced their cuts, we’ve seen so many other schools follow suit, and even have schools plagiarized Stanford’s announcement to cut sports.

“So it just shows that Stanford’s such a leader in these sports, and in this area right now, it is extremely dire, and I think everyone can acknowledge that at times the NCAA model is broken and that’s why there’s so many different people, so many different organizations, trying to fix this model and what we’re trying to do as alumni, what I’ve been trying to do is try to do that from within Stanford, to do it within the first school, to start with, and then hopefully, we can set the base, and really lead when it comes to building a successful platform for NCAA sports and Olympic sports moving on into the future.”

GYMNASTICS/Sam Mikulak, 2-time Olympian & 6-time U.S. All-Around champion:

● “What has changed the most [with the postponement] is the amount of time that it takes for me to be able to go in the gym and be [able] to continue doing the sport at a high level. Really what I was telling myself before, is I was younger and healthier of course when I was making those statements, but what has happened is, as I took like three months off in gymnastics and then I started coming back I realized how much harder it is to come back and do all these high-impact events and be able to do that safely because I started getting a lot of small injuries that just kept nagging and getting worse. …

“It was just becoming clear that my body can’t hold up and really the only way I’m able to keep going right now is because I’m doing about at least an hour of manual treatment every day, an hour of rehab a day, an hour of strength and conditioning and then I have to do gymnastics, and I think the big change is that I never had to do all of that just to be able to do gymnastics. Now it’s like, here’s my final push, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got the way I’ve always done it. The task on my body is so much more now than it’s ever been before and I just don’t want to do this for another three more years.”

SKATEBOARDING/Bryce Wettstein, 2019 U.S. women’s Skateboard Park champion (age 16):

● “The competition in the Games is, I think honestly, going to enlighten skateboarding a little more than ever because I think skateboarding has been known as this dynamic art. It’s basically kind of something that people illustrate, and it’s very fluid. There’s nothing that rigid about what skateboarding has to be and what it is. I think it’s a sport that makes you feel very introspective about yourself, and I think putting on a competition with a high platform, you’re finally meshing the art and the sport together, which is completely enhancing.

“I think skateboarding, people now know, that it doesn’t have to just be restricted as an art or a sport, it can be both. And the competition in the games, I think it’s really going to fulfill skateboarding and let everyone know you can do it because it doesn’t have to stick to one thing. It can be an art and a sport together … I think the competition is definitely going to light up skateboarding because it’s going to basically lift away the boundaries people thought were around skateboarding.”

● “Honestly, I can say that it means more than the world to me to be part of it because I think the first time just the notion that skateboarding was being drafted as a sport in the Olympics was already kind of mind-boggling to all of us.”

SOFTBALL/Haylie McCleney, 2016-2018 World Championships gold medalist (outfielder):

● “I think for our sport to be on the biggest stage in all of sports is extremely critical. For us, we want to constantly get our game in as many living rooms and as many family rooms and … wherever you are in the world, we want you to be able to watch and having access to our sport. It really is a beautiful sport.

“I think when you put softball on the biggest stage, more little girls will want to play it, more little girls will want to sign up, more little girls will want to come into our sport, realize how many life lessons they can learn from it. They will want to be us. That’s the point of us playing. I’m not playing right now so I can say I went to the Olympics in 2021. That’s not why I play. I play to give more women more opportunities, to give young women opportunities, like, we’re already thinking about essentially getting back in the [Games] in 2028 as well, in L.A.”

● “We need to, I think, get our sport in the eyes of more European countries to be honest and they hold a lot of votes in the IOC as well, so getting our game in front of people that have a vote and a say is critical. If those people were to give us a chance, I guarantee they will like what they see. They’re going to want to keep us in the Games full time.

“Our sport is literally the best sport, so many life lessons, so many women that played it, it deserves to be in the Olympics full time. We don’t have a lot of professional opportunities. This is our biggest stage and we, to be blunt, we fight like hell to make it you know the best sport and a real experience for people that actually watch it. So, I like where we’re headed, I think we are doing a lot of good things in sport. … We’re not in a European country. Go figure.”

● “It’s crazy to me to play a sport, to dedicate my life to a sport, to train as hard as I do, as seriously as I do, and then to not be rewarded for it as like if I was a man, I would be rewarded for it. It’s very, very difficult.

“You know, most people don’t know, we have to have two or three side jobs to make a decent living so we can train to play our sport. It’s mind blowing for us. I think it’s that way for a lot of other women’s sports as well. There is just not a lot of professional opportunities in the United States.”

SWIMMING/Katie Ledecky, five-time Olympic gold medalist (2012-16):

● “I actually graduated in the fall, this past fall [2020] I, as you said re-enrolled in classes at the start of the pandemic. The start of spring quarter at Stanford coincided perfectly with the postponement of the Olympics and the pandemic. I had been taking the 2019/2020 Olympic year off, and so in March of 2020 I was able to hop back into classes, virtually, and finish up my degree.

“It was great to have that to keep my mind occupied and to complete my degree earlier than I expected. It was a really nice silver lining for 2020 and I took some really interesting classes in the spring, which was right at the beginning of the pandemic. I took a class called ‘Global Change and Emerging Infectious Disease,’ and that class was scheduled before the pandemic really broke out. So they really adapted the class to focus on coronavirus … and so we got a little insight and it was really neat to just hear from experts. … I majored in psychology and finished up a minor in political science as well.”

● “I turned pro in April of 2018 coming off of my second national championship with Stanford, and … I am very happy with that decision. I’ve been able to continue to train with Stanford, the collegiate team along with a handful of professional swimmers who swam for Stanford, so we have … our little professional group as well as the Stanford swim team. It’s just a great team to be a part of and I feel very fortunate to have had the best of both worlds, really, to be able to compete for a college and really get that experience of having those friends, having those teammates. I have friends for life on that team.”

● “I haven’t seen my family in over a year, not one family member, so it is coming soon and I’m really excited about that.”

● “I’m not planning on competing in the 100 [m] Free in Tokyo, but I am working towards swimming the 200, 400, 800 and 1500 [m] and hopefully the 4×200 Freestyle relay as well. With the addition of the 1500 Free, there is the potential that there will be the prelims of those races … in the same session for the women, and the 200 and 1500 Free finals are also in the same session.

“So that is a little bit of a challenge for me and something I’m really trained for. I would point out the males don’t have that double. … but I am excited for the challenge and excited to really show my range and have that opportunity to both, you know, compete hopefully in the shorter races like the 200, which I swam in Rio and also in the 1500 for the first time at the Olympics for women, which is extremely exciting and just something that I want to kick off the U.S. on a good note for that race.”

TABLE TENNIS/Nikhil Kumar, 2019 Pan American Games men’s Team gold medalist:

● “So for me a day’s a little different than many of the professional athletes given that I’m still in high school [age 18]. Normally for me, I’m going to school during the first half of the day and 12:30, 1:00, I’m done with school. From then I end up going to a training club near my area in Santa Clara [California] and over there I start training about 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon, normally playing with my coach and other training partner.

“Most of it is on the table, training where I’m practicing, like different drills and putting the ball different locations on the table for about two to three hours every day and then after that I also do some physical training which involves normally like some cardio, a lot of agility and speed, change of direction, and then also some weight and resistance training too.”

TRIATHLON/Summer Rappaport, four-time World Triathlon Series medalist:

● “My NCAA career is actually what pushed me towards triathlon. My collegiate swim coach [at Villanova] put me in touch with USA Triathlon, and it let my Olympic dreams be realized … to be honest, I always struggled to pick up biking, especially in the beginning. But I’m somebody that doesn’t accept defeat, so I kept coming back every day even when it was really difficult, and here I am now.”

● ”I have tried to fill that [no-racing] gap with some race visualizations [that] I worked on with my sports psychologist in [2020] as we definitely tried to incorporate some aspects of racing that we weren’t worried about in 2019. I raced once in 2020 at the Hamburg World Triathlon Series event and I was really surprised at just how hard racing felt, so we really worked on incorporating some of the feelings of going hard and other feelings and emotions I remember feeling in that race that I was surprised about, so it won’t be as much of a surprise when we return to racing in the coming months.”

VOLLEYBALL-Beach/Alix Klineman, world-ranked no. 1 with April Ross:

● “I think we had a lot to gain from this extra time [from the postponement]. Obviously I’m really new to the beach game and to have an extra year has been a lot more time to keep learning and kind of bonding as a team.

“I also was able to get a little healthier too. I took a lot of that down time and trusted my physical therapy and things like that. I feel like we’re in a pretty good position after the pandemic and we’re really excited to get back on the court and looking forward to Tokyo.”

VOLLEYBALL-Beach/April Ross, 2012-2016 Olympic medalist:

● “I never really had a plan for after Tokyo, it was supposed to happen when it was supposed to happen. But now that there’s only three years between Tokyo and Paris it seems more attainable to do three more years. There are other things i want to do in life, so I might try to do those and see how things go, but I don’t want to retire prematurely.

“Physically, I feel great, still love competing, and I would love to go to Paris for the Olympics and like [U.S. men’s player Matt Anderson] said, have my family be able to be there if that’s going to be my last one. I think I will go forward with the intent of competing in Paris now that it’s only three years away … that is my argument with my husband all the time. …

“It can go quick. I have three kids, my oldest is 10 and I’m hoping that by Paris they can all come along and I hope if everything goes as planned and again still being worthy of being on the team, going out on home soil in L.A. would be really awesome. I don’t know that my husband is on board with that, though; we’re working on it.”

WATER POLO/Maggie Steffens, two-time Olympic gold medalist (defender):

● “For us, right now, we don’t get a chance to play games, but luckily, with this day and age, there’s a lot of video online, so there have been European games the past few months, there was the qualifier tournament for Europe, so we’ve actually been able to watch a lot of our competition online and been able to scout them from our computers.

“A little bit different than getting to play them physically and have the emotions involved, and have somebody grabbing your suit, and something you will remember when the game comes, but we have been really capitalizing on preparing our own team and making sure we’re the best Team USA, the most prepared Team USA we can, and competing against each other at the highest level at our training in SoCal, and then at the same time, making sure we are scouting these other team, watching old video, watching new games, being able to even like see each other’s faces on-screen reignites that competitive energy, that obviously [keeper] Ashleigh [Johnson] and I are craving, but we’re still able to get it, and we can be intelligent now with our scouting, just in a different way.”

Still one more column to come of comments from U.S. stars of this coming summer.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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LANE ONE: At Team USA Media Summit, Felix says 2021 is her last Games, King wants no protest limits, Gray says no Village partying for her

Rich Perelman

April 12, 2021

tsx pix 2019-919 gray, adeline wch wins 750 — For five-time World Champion Adeline Gray of the U.S., Tokyo is a business trip! (Photo: UWW)

(For our Highlights of the weekend’s top events, click here)

The coronavirus created another first last week as the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee held its Team USA Media Summit online instead of in-person, using Zoom to connect athletes and news media over three days and 32 sessions.

You may have seen some stories from these interviews, but there was also a lot of fact-gathering for later features that will run during U.S. Olympic Trials events or even during the Tokyo Games. There were a lot of questions about the impact of the pandemic, the postponement to 2021 and the normal challenges of getting to a Games, and even a little bit of actual news.

Here’s part one of our digest of some of the most noteworthy highlights from Olympic hopefuls and veterans, some of whom had a lot to say (these are from the closed-caption transcripts, with errors corrected as identified):

ARCHERY/Brady Ellison, 2019 World Champion:

● “I feel technically I’m better than I was in 2019 and easily 2020. My strength is coming back and if I can just figure out, you know, a few hiccups and my equipment and stuff that I have right now, I think I’ll be getting back to probably a level I wasn’t in before and way better than I was in 2019.”

ATHLETICS/Allyson Felix, 9-time Olympic medalist:

● “For me, you know, being [Camryn’s] mom is the number one job that I have.”

● “So right now I’m still preparing to run the 200 and the 400 trials. Now I’m just going to see how training unfolds. but I would like to participate in both at trials and, you know, see the outcome of that. That’s what i’m getting ready for.”

● “I do plan on this being my final Olympics. I’m going to take it as it comes as far as that. But I don’t see myself doing another Olympics.”

CYCLING-BMX/Connor Fields, 2016 Olympic Champion:

● “For whatever reason, people think that there is an added pressure because you are the past gold medalist [in BMX in 2016]. For me, I think it goes the other way. I feel, in a sense, less pressure. I’ve already done it. So now I just have this bonus opportunity to go for it again. But it’s not like somebody is going to come into any house and take my gold medal way from me. I will always be an Olympic champion.”

CYCLING-Mountain Bike/Kate Courtney, 2018 World Cross Country Champion:

● “I definitely was also hit hard by the cancellation, but at the same time knew that it was the right decision and was really grateful that they made that choice early and clearly and gave us all a new target to aim toward. but also the time that we needed as a community, as a country, as a world, to start to sort through this really big challenge. I think one of the things that, in my mind, that changed over the year, is I think as a young athlete your biggest fear is sometimes getting the opportunity and failing, like going and not having a great race and not having the performance that you want. and I feel like, for me, it was replaced all of a sudden by this new unforeseen thing of not getting the opportunity at all to compete. and so I think for me I now just really appreciate every start line I get to go to and especially, you know, lining up for the Olympics. that’s something that I no longer take for granted and I think I will just really appreciate the opportunity.”

FOOTBALL/Megan Rapinoe, 2012 Olympic gold medalist:

● “It’s always so difficult when you win because all of the amazing things come with it obviously. And I think, you know, more than anything, just the exhaustion and from a mental perspective and a physical perspective, all of it is the hardest part, so I mean, for us, this is a nice little silver lining obviously of Covid and of the pandemic, just to have, you know, a year to rest. you know. Some players played a lot, went overseas. some players like myself took more time for themselves, time that we never really get to get our bodies right and just to have that break, so I think, you know, of all the teams we probably have the most benefit just because we would have been so tired, particularly after all the wildness after [winning the Women’s World Cup in] ’19. So I think, yeah, everybody is feeling lucky for that.”

● “So my hope is that, again, and when we talk about, you know, equality in women’s sports, we always talk, first about investment, and funding and resources and marketing and branding and investing in – not just the players but the support staff and coaching and, you know, media, TV media, print media, all of it. Those are the things we talk about first, and I think anybody who, you know, watches us or follows us or has skin in the game and equal pay or equality in that sense knows that’s what we talk about first, and at the very end, we understand that if all of those things are done, then yes, we will most likely be requiring a much higher salary than we’re at.”

GYMNASTICS/Simone Biles, four-time Rio Olympic gold medalist:

● “Right now my main focus is the Olympic Games and then after I have a tour that we’ve put together, so I’m really excited to go around the U.S. with all the girls and do that thirty-six city tour and then afterwards, I’m not so sure because [my coaches] Cecile and Laurent [Landi] are from Paris and so they’ve kind of guilted me into at least being a specialist and coming back [for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games]. But, you know, the main goal is 2021 Olympics first, tour, and then we’ll have to see.”

● “I always feel like the Olympics are world peace, and that’s when everybody just comes together and no matter the differences any of the countries have, everybody’s rooting for each other and want the best for the athletes, for your country. And I think that’s really neat in itself. But it’ll be very, very strange because for a year now and some change, we’ve been kind of separated and only doing certain things. So, it’ll definitely be weird. Obviously, we’ll be in a bubble, but I think it’ll be some excitement. People are ready for athletics and sports to come together again, and it’ll be really exciting and it’ll be like nothing they’ve ever experienced before. And it’s going to be really special.”

GYMNASTICS/Yul Moldauer, 2017 World Champs Floor Exercise bronze medalist:

● “Growing up, I’ve heard the [anti-Asian] jokes, the stereotypes and I kind of just push it away. But last month I was driving and a lady cut me off and at the red light she yelled at me, “go back to China,” and for me, my job is to represent this country, so I take a lot of pride in it.

“And when i heard those words, I just kind of laughed and shrugged, because at the end of the day my job is to represent this country, no matter what. and no matter if an individual feels like they need to say something or harass me, I’m just going to push that away because there’s so many other great Americans in this country that I get to represent. so, for me, you’ve got to deal with some of the things that you don’t want to deal with. …

“The reason why I spoke out [on Instagram] is just to bring awareness and just trying to make people realize that things are going on. But at the end of the day, when I wear USA on my chest, I don’t think about those things. I’m there for a reason, I’m there for a job. so, for me, I take a lot of pride wearing those letters on my chest.”

SHOOTING/Ginny Thrasher, 2016 Olympic 10 m Air Rifle gold medalist:

● “I started rifle shooting when I was 14 years old as a freshman in high school. Five years later, I qualified for the Rio Olympics, and then I actually won the very first gold medal of the Olympic Games, and the day after the Olympics, I actually flew back to the U.S. to West Virginia University for my sophomore year of college and since then, I have graduated from West Virginia University, finished my NCAA career with a degree in biomedical engineering and then I moved about the time of Pan Am [Games] in 2019, I moved back to the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I have been here ever since.”

SWIMMING/Lilly King, 2016 Olympic 100 m Breaststroke gold medalist:

● “So I know that I personally have been drug tested 18 times since February of 2020, so the United States is doing everything they can to [test] athletes even more consistent with their testing at the start of 2021. So obviously we don’t know how the other countries will be testing so we can control what we can control, and I know the U.S. athletes are going to be tested.”

● “My mom likes to joke around that I am fourth generation of very strong females, so I think it stems from my family, and how we act, and that we, you know, we don’t really care what other people think about us, and we’re going to do what we set our minds to, and that’s just kind of who I am. It’s shocking, I enjoy being myself. It’s something that I need to deal with, and I’m not exactly hiding behind a wall, that’s not me. So it’s easier to be myself, and I’ve kind of always been like that, so might as well stick with it.”

● “Personally I don’t agree with the limitations on the protests. I know, you know, the Olympics is about the spirit of the Olympics, and fairness and fair play, and I don’t see why that should be restricted to just sports.”

TAEKWONDO/Paige McPherson, 2012 Olympic 67 kg bronze medalist:

● “Whenever we refer to the Olympics, we say it’s its own monster, and it’s solely because of those exterior pressures. In Taekwondo, generally so, we don’t necessarily have that big audience. Whenever we finally qualify to the Olympics, that crowd kind of gets to us, maybe. It’s just a different environment.”

WRESTLING/Adeline Gray, five-time World 67-75-76 kg Champion:

● “I spent a few more days at the [Rio Olympic Village] than Kyle [Snyder] did, but for the most part we trained at that other [USOPC training] location. We got into a little partying. They had some community events where a lot of different athletes that come and had music and dancing and just some different activities and you have a job to do. And some of those things are outside of your norm of what is a typical energy expenditure leading up to a major competition.

“A lot of it is kind of just distractions and I realized that in Rio I had a few too many distractions. So I had made a plan before Covid-19 and everything hit, that I wasn’t going to attend the opening ceremonies. I was going to limit my exposure when it comes to the media or some outside activities. And so I don’t know if I’m heartbroken by some of the changes that’s are going to go on, but I’m a little saddened for my teammates. This is their first Olympics, and just to have the chance to go through the experiences is nice. … But for me, I think it’s a positive thing to be able to just make it feel like a standard tournament, where we focus on each other and fairly protected and get to get our bouts in.”

WRESTLING/Kyle Snyder, 2016 Olympic 97 kg Freestyle gold medalist:

● “I’m going to let my talking happen when I’m on the mat, you know? The thing I really care about is getting the job done and winning when I’m on the mat and wrestle in a way I know I can wrestle. Interviews and social media and the other stuff, I don’t care about it. I just want to compete hard and dominate really. That’s what I’m focused on.”

USOPC/Bahati VanPelt, Chief of Athlete Services:

● “We will have five mental health experts on site in Tokyo for our athletes and staff, a Games first. We’ll have four mental health offices, two for the Olympic Games and two for the Paralympic Games along with our new mental health director, Jessica Bartley, who will be available to the staff and the athletes and [National Governing Body] staff in case something from the mental health side should arise. We’ll have increased background checks and require SafeSport training. many of these changes and improvements are based on athlete feedback.”

USOPC/Rick Adams, Chief of Sport Performance:

● “We will be having, as you said, a high-performance training center in Tokyo. It will be located in Setagaya City [a Tokyo district], where it will be more than a dozen sports that will be using that facility and we have got nutrition, sports science, we’ve got a track, multiple venues for our teams. We are, of course, are taking all of the precautions that we need to, to make sure that’s a safe and healthy environment and that involves everything from the transportation and athletes coming to and from the Village. But as it stands now, we do have a high-performance training center. Setagaya City has been an amazing partner for Team USA. We’re excited about the facilities, we’re excited about, as you said, competitively, what it will allow us to do. And so, we’re in a position where we want to replicate what we’ve done over the years at the summer Games.”

More in part two on the Team USA Media Summit!

Rich Perelman
Editor

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For our 649-event International Sports Calendar for 2021 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

HIGHLIGHTS: Richardson zooms to 10.72 in 100 m; U.S. women held to 1-1 tie in Sweden; four world leaders for Ledecky in Mission Viejo

Rich Perelman

April 11, 2021

tsx pix 2021-410 shacarri richardson 750 (usatf-gurnick) — World 100 m leader Sha'Carri Richardson (USA) (Photo: USATF/Josh Gurnick)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world/updated/:

● Archery ● The always-popular AAE Arizona Cup in Phoenix was not part of the U.S. Olympic selection process, but was the first step in qualifying for the U.S. World Championships team.

There were no surprises as the 72-arrow first qualifying stage was won by favorites Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold. Ellison shot 690, well ahead of Jack Williams (667), Matthew Nofel (667), Matthew Requa (658) and Josef Scarboro (656). Kaufhold, now 17, won her 72-arrow round at 668, ahead of Mackenzie Brown (648), Jennifer Mucino (641), Olympic veteran Khatuna Lorig (636) and Gabrielle Sasai (634).

Elimination rounds were held on Sunday to crown the Arizona Cup champions, with Ellison shutting out Nofel, 6-0 and Kaufhold edging Brown, 6-5. Williams won the men’s bronze over Requa, 6-4, and Sasai took the women’s bronze by defeating Mucino, 6-2.

● Athletics ● Sensational sprinting was on display in Miramar, Florida on Saturday for the Miramar Invitational, unfortunately with a lot of wind-aided marks. Still there were five world leaders:

● Men/400 m hurdles: 48.81, Kenny Selmon (USA)
● Men/Long Jump: 8.27 m (27-1 3/4), Tajay Gayle (JAM)

● Women/100 m: 10.72, Sha’Carri Richardson (USA)
● Women/400 m: 49.91, Shamier Little (USA)
● Women/100 m hurdles: 12.54, Keni Harrison (USA)

For Richardson, 21, her win was a lifetime best and moved her to no. 6 on the all-time world list in the event and no. 4 all-time U.S. She accelerated away from the field in the second half, and won the race alone as she cruised into the finish, with American Javianne Oliver well back at 11.07 for second. She tweeted afterwards, “Thank you for all the congratulations, It’s just the beginning.”

It’s worth noting that no one has ever run this fast this young. In her pre-doping days, Marion Jones ran 10.65 in 1998 at age 22, but Richardson’s 22nd birthday isn’t until 25 March 2022!

The men’s 100 m was won by Kyree King in 9.97, with Justin Gatlin close at 9.98, with a +1.9 m/s wind.

American Kenny Bednarek won the men’s 200 m in a superb 19.65, fastest in the world for 2021, but aided by a big 4.0 m/s wind aid; Emmanuel Matadi (LBR) was a well-beaten seconds at 20.20. American Jenna Prandini won the women’s 200 m in a wind-aided 22.29 (+2.3).

Little’s 400 m world leader was just enough to beat fellow American Quanera Hayes (49.92), with Kendall Ellis third at 50.48. She’s the 26th American to go sub-50 and is now a real threat for the U.S. team for Tokyo in the event. Much better known as a 400 m hurdler – the 2015 Worlds silver medalist in the event – Little had a 400 m best of 50.40 coming into the season, but has now run 50.19 and 49.91 in her two outdoor races!

In the short hurdles, Harrison’s 12.54 world leader came in the heats, with a +2.0 m/s wind reading. She ran a blistering 12.38 in the final to beat Britain’s Cindy Sember (12.55), but with an over-the-allowable 2.7 m/s aiding wind. Same in the men’s hurdles, where World Champion Grant Holloway of the U.S. had the fastest heat time (13.14) but with a 3.3 m/s wind aid; he won the final in 13.04 (+2.2) over fellow American Daniel Roberts (13.30).

On Friday, women’s World Hammer Champion DeAnna Price set an American Record of 78.60 m (257-7) in winning the Botts Invitational in Columbia, Missouri. She already owned the record at 78.24 m (256-8) in 2019, but moved to no. 3 on the all-time list in the fifth round and extended her world lead for 2021.

At the Wichita State Open on Saturday, fellow American Brooke Andersen reached a lifetime best of 78.18 m (256-6) to move to no. 4 on the all-time world list and no. 2 on the all-time U.S. list – just behind Price – also on her fifth throw. Wow!

Along with the still-active Gwen Berry, who has not yet competed in 2021, the U.S. now has the nos. 3-4-6 women’s hammer throwers in history, an astonishing achievement considering American women had not won a single medal in Olympic or World Championships competition until Price won in 2019!

There was other hot action in the U.S. on Saturday, including a world-leading 8,484 decathlon from Karel Tilga of Estonia, competing for the University of Georgia at the Spec Towns Invitational in Athens, Georgia.

● Curling ● The WCF men’s World Championships in Calgary (CAN) was set for the playoffs to begin, but had to stop due to a sudden incidence of the coronavirus on Friday (9th).

Three positive tests were returned from non-playoff teams and one more from a playoff team on Saturday morning, and the competition came to a halt. Everyone involved in the event was tested on Saturday morning and came back negative, allowing matches to resume on Sunday with the full playoff schedule condensed into one day.

At the close of the round-robin, Niklas Edin’s two-time defending champions from Sweden had an 11-2 record to qualify directly into the semifinals. Joining him was the surprise Russian team skipped by Sergey Glukhov, also 11-2. The next four qualified for the quarterfinals: the U.S., skipped by Olympic champ John Shuster (10-3), Canada (Brendan Bottcher: 9-4), Scotland (Bruce Mouat: 9-4) and Switzerland (Peter de Cruz: 8-5).

Both North American teams were eliminated in the qualification playoff games: Mouat’s Scottish team knocked out Canada, 5-3 and de Cruz and Switzerland scored two in the ninth end and defended expertly in the 10th end to preserve a 7-6 victory over Shuster and the U.S.

Edin and Sweden promptly knocked out the Swiss in the first semifinal, 11-3, while Mouat and Scotland eliminated Russia, 5-3, to place Scotland in the final for the first time since 2012.

In the final, Sweden and Scotland went back and forth, end by end, and were tied, 5-5 after eight ends. But Edin’s squad struck for five in the ninth end and came away with a third straight world title by a 10-5 final margin. It’s Edin’s fifth World Championship as skip in the last eight events and the 10th world title for Sweden overall, second only to Canada (36).

The bronze-medal match was another thriller, also tied 5-5, after nine ends. But the Swiss managed a point in the 10th end on a Benoit Schwarz shot and claimed the bronze medal, 6-5. It’s the second straight Worlds bronze for the Swiss and their fourth bronze in the last seven Worlds tournaments, all with de Cruz as skip.

● Cycling ● The 60th Itzulia Basque Country stage race ended on Saturday in Arrate (ESP) with favored Primoz Roglic of Slovenia – the 2019 and 2020 Vuelta a Espana champion – taking the title with a 52-second edge on Dane Jonas Vengegaard and 1:07 ahead of last year’s Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar (SLO).

It’s Roglic’s second win in this race – he also won in 2018 – and he led from the very start, winning the Individual Time Trial in Bilbao and finishing the six stages placing 1-6-2-14-7-2. Roglic gained time on the field with his second-place finish in stage 3, where Pogacar won at the line, but Roglic’s overall lead expanded from five seconds to 20.

But American Brandon McNulty took over the race lead after a third-place finish on the hilly fourth stage and maintained a 23-second edge after the hilly fifth stage.

But the final, sixth stage was always going to be decisive: a seven-climb, 111.9 km ride won by France’s David Gaudu in 3:05:42, with Roglic right behind. But everyone else was at least 35 seconds back, with McNulty finishing 7:57 in arrears, and gave Roglic his final margin of 52 seconds. McNulty ended up 17th overall.

● Football ● It always seems to be Sweden that challenges the U.S. Women’s National Team when it seems most unbeatable and that happened again on Saturday at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

The 41st game between the sides ended in a 1-1 tie after sub Megan Rapinoe converted a gift penalty handed to the U.S. when Sweden’s Sofia Jakobsson tackled defender Kelley O’Hara in the 87th minute just outside the penalty area. But the shot was called by referee Lina Lehtovaara (FIN) and Rapinoe saved the U.S. from its first loss since 2019.

Sweden dominated parts of the game, foiled U.S. counterattacks and ended a 610-minute shutout streak for the U.S. and a 938-minute scoreless streak for American keeper Alyssa Naeher in the 38th minute. A corner kick by Kosovare Asllani sailed toward the box and found the head of Sweden’s 5-10 Lina Hurtig, who redirected it into the U.S. net for a 1-0 lead. Naeher later made a brilliant save on a shot by striker Fridolina Rolfo in stoppage time at the very end of the first half.

Both sides had excellent second-half chances that were missed, but the Swedes found holes in the U.S. defense and the normally smooth U.S. offense was heavily pressured, and passes that normally resulted on shots on goal did not. The U.S. did control possession by 55-45%, and had a final 20-9 advantage on shots (6-2 on goal).

The tie ended a 16-game U.S. winning streak, all under coach Vlatko Andonovski, who is now 16-0-1. The U.S. women’s unbeaten streak extended to 38 games (34-0-4), going back to January 2019.

The U.S. women will play France in Le Havre (FRA) on Tuesday, at 3 p.m. Eastern time and shown on ESPN2.

● Golf ● The Masters resumed its normal April dates in Augusta, Georgia, and made more history with the first-ever Japanese winner of the tournament.

Going into the final round, the surprise leader was Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, 29, who shot a brilliant 65 to sit at -11 on Saturday, four shots clear of Justin Rose (ENG: 72), Xander Schauffele (USA: 68), Marc Leishman (AUS: 70) and Will Zalatoris (USA: 71) at -7.

On Sunday, Zalatoris made a final-round push with a two-under 70 to finish at 279, and Jordan Spieth (USA) also shot a 70 to move into third at 281. But Matsuyama was just steady enough, getting to -13 as late as the 14th, then giving back two shots and landing in a bunker at 18. But he got out and onto the green on his third shot and then two-putted for a one-over 73 on the day and a final score of 278 (-10).

Schauffele made a charge, reaching -10 after 15, but then suffered a triple-bogey on 16 and finished at -7, tied for third with Spieth.

Matsuyama’s win was his seventh on the PGA Tour and his first since 2017. His prior best at The Masters was a fifth in 2015 and he has finished in the top six in all four majors in his career.

● Modern Pentathlon ● The second UIPM World Cup of 2021 saw Korea’s Woongtae Jun confirm his contender status for Tokyo honors with an impressive win in Sofia (BUL). It’s his fourth career World Cup win and came after starting 16 seconds behind Ilya Palazkov (BLR). Jun took over after the final shooting stage and powered to the finish line first, just ahead of Robert Kasza (HUN), who also passed Palazkov, settling for third.

The final totals showed Jun with 1,457 points to 1,455 for Kasza and 1,451 for Palazkov, who won the fencing, but finished no higher than 12th in the other events.

France’s Marie Oteiza finished fifth in fencing, fifth in swimming and sixth in riding to take a 13-second lead into the Laser Run and that was enough, as she held on to win her second career World Cup (the first was also in Sofia, in 2019).

Pole Anna Maliszewska started second in the Laser Run, but British vet Kate French passed her quickly and actually grabbed the lead on the final lap before Oteiza finished with a flourish and took the victory. Oteiza scored 1,367 to 1,360 for French, 1,348 for Maliszewska and 1,342 for Britain’s Joanna Muir.

In the Mixed Relay, Vladislav Michshenko and Elena Potapenko won the fencing and never looked back, winning with 1,442 points over Pavel Tsikhanau and Kseniya Klimiankova (BLR: 1,420) and Korea’s Changwan Seo and Unju Kim (1,415).

● Swimming ● The Tyr Pro Swim Series in Mission Viejo, California was an important stepping stone for Tokyo as the schedule was arranged with morning finals, mimicking in a small way the Olympic schedule later this year.

What was obvious is that no matter what time the finals will be held, beating American distance superstar Katie Ledecky will be tough. There were four world-leading performances at the meet (and one tie) and Ledecky was the focus:

● Women/200 m Free: 1:54.40, Katie Ledecky (USA)
● Women/400 m Free: 4:01.37, Ledecky (in prelims)
● Women/400 m Free: 3:59.25, Ledecky
● Women/1,500 m Free: 15:40.55, Ledecky
● Women/100 m Breast: 1:05.32 (=), Lilly King (USA)

Ledecky said at the Team USA Media Summit last week that her Tokyo program would focus on the 200-400-800-1,500 m Freestyle events and the 4×200 m Free relay. But that does not mean she isn’t thinking about the 100 m Free, not so much to finish in the top two, but to get a spot on one or more of the relays. And she was the no. 2 qualifier in the 100 m Free at 54.26 and competing just an hour after winning the 1,500 m, moved from seventh to second on the final lap in the 100 m final at 54.22. Amazing.

Ledecky’s 200 m time of 1:54.40 is her second-fastest ever and equal-11th fastest in history; it’s also the second-fastest time in history before June 1! Her 3:29.25 in the 400 m Free is the 25th sub-4 time in history and she has 20 of them! And there is more history to be written.

Sprint superstar Caeleb Dressel was busy in Mission Viejo, winning the 200 m Free and the 100 m Fly, then second in the 50 m Free to Bruno Fratus (BRA), 21.80-21.83. He was the no. 2 qualifier in the 200 m Medley, but did not swim in the final.

Other two-event winners included Ryan Murphy in the 100 m-200 m Back; Nic Fink in the 100/200 m Breast events; Abbey Weitzeil in the 50/100 Frees and Lilly King in the 100/200 m Breaststrokes.

Two other performers moved to no. 2 on the world list for 2021: Hali Flickinger in the 200 m Fly prelims (2:06.68; she skipped the final), and Melanie Margalis in the 400 m Medley (4:35.18).

Elsewhere, American Claire Curzan, 16, jumped to the no. 2 spot on the 2021 world list with a 56.20 win on Saturday in the women’s 100 m Butterfly at the TAC Titans Premier Invitational in Cary, North Carolina; that’s no. 2 all-time U.S. and no. 8 on the all-time world list. Remember that name!

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THE TICKER: A Berlin-Tel Aviv Olympic bid for 2036? Four new Russian doping sanctions hit two Olympic champs; four Nassar survivors trying end-run in Calif. courts

Rich Perelman

April 9, 2021

The latest news, notes and quotes from the worldwide Five-Ring Circus /updated/:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● Osaka Prefecture Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura announced on Wednesday (7th) that owing to the area’s coronavirus infection levels, the Olympic Torch Relay will not be run on public streets on 13-14 April.

Instead, the relay segments will take place without spectators inside the Expo ‘70 Commemorative Park in the city of Sujita. The Osaka stop is the 10th of 47 stages of the relay that will end during the Opening Ceremony on 23 July.

● Games of the XXXIII Olympiad: Paris 2024 ● The French-language site FrancsJeux.com reported on Thursday (8th) that work has temporarily stopped on the renovation of the Parc Georges Valbon Park just north of Paris. A section of this enormous space – more than 1,025 acres – is expected to host sport climbing, shooting and be the media village site.

The Paris administrative court of appeal is hearing a challenge to the environmental authorization granted last year, and the stoppage is to allow the appeal process to be completed.

● Games of the XXXVI Olympiad: 2036 ● With the 2032 Games apparently to be awarded to Brisbane, Australia, the next available date is 2036. In Germany, this is an impossible year in which to host an Olympic Games, with echoes of the infamous Nazi Games of 1936 so obviously apparent.

Or is it?

Frank Kowalski, a lead organizer of the 2018 European track & field Championships in Berlin, and Richard Meng, President of the German Olympic Association (a club, not the National Olympic Committee) wrote in a guest column in last Saturday’s Berliner Morgenpost (shown in English per Google Translate):

“So why not send a completely new, strong signal of peace and reconciliation in 2036? A signal that does not displace the historical burden, but takes up the responsibility that arises from it? It would be such a signal if Germany and Israel apply together, more precisely: Berlin and Tel Aviv. With the sailing and surfing competitions on the eastern Mediterranean, but also with other sports such as beach volleyball in Israel’s lively metropolis. As a clear signal of how responsibility arises from obligation.

“It’s a vision, not any more. Germany is in the middle of the pandemic, faces a change in leadership in the federal elections and is currently quite a long way from long-term plans. Israel’s current Middle East policy remains difficult to integrate internationally, and there are no credible gestures of reconciliation in the immediate vicinity.

“Nevertheless: Berlin and Tel Aviv in particular, two liberal and pulsating metropolises, could stand together for a different spirit, for a perspective beyond the present. This could become clear in the application process, which also takes a few years. A sign that it is possible to learn from history.”

It’s only an idea, but it shows that once again, truth is stranger than fiction.

(Thanks to reader Dr. Holger Preuss (GER) for a correction on Meng’s affiliation).

● Athletics ● The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced a mass of decisions on sanctions and appeals cases on Russian athletes:

● Five appeals of sanctions imposed by the Court, with three having their sanctions reduced from four years to two years and nine months (Yuliya Kondakova/100 m hurdles, Svetlana Shkolina/high jump, Ivan Ukhov/high jump), one sanction reduced from four years to three years (Ekaterina Galitskaia/100 m hurdles) and one appeal dismissed (Lyukman Adams/triple jump). All of these dealt with cases from 2012, where Ukhov won the Olympic gold, but was disqualified due to doping. All are retired and expected to remain so.

● Two appeals against sanctions imposed by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency were struck down and one was upheld. Anna Knyazeva-Shirokova (1,500 m) and Andrey Isaychev (800 m) had their appeals granted and can compete. Rudolf Verkhovykh (400 m) had his appeal dismissed, but has resumed competing, having served his year’s suspension.

● Four first-time sanctions were imposed by the Court on actions by the Athletics Integrity Unit based on evidence from the McLaren reports. These included suspensions for Natalya Antyukh (2012 Olympic 400 m hurdles gold; 8 years); Oksana Kondratyeva (hammer; four years); Andrey Silnov (2008 Olympic high jump gold; four years) and Yelena Soboleva (1,500 m, set world indoor record of 3:58.28 in 2006; 8 years). Antyukh must forfeit her Olympic victory from London; Silnov’s 2008 win is not affected since his offense was from 2013.

Antyukh, 39, and Silnov, now 36, have both said they plan to appeal.

Australian Brett Clothier, the head of the AIU, commented on the importance of these cases:

“Yesterday’s CAS rulings confirm once again that the evidence underlying the McLaren Reports is reliable and is capable of establishing Anti-Doping Rule Violations for use of prohibited substances. The AIU has dedicated significant time and resources investigating and prosecuting these cases both at first instance and on appeal and, encouraged by these rulings, it will continue to investigate and bring forward new cases based on the McLaren evidence.”

A total of 13 suspensions of Russian athletes have been prosecuted based on the evidence collected in the McLaren reports.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced a 30-month suspension of U.S. 400 m runner Obi Igbokwe for use of the anabolic steroid DHCMT (oral turinabol) during an out-of-competition test on 26 May 2020.

His period of ineligibility began on that date and he has accepted the penalty. An All-American at Arkansas and Houston, Igbokwe had run 20.52 for 200 m in 2018 and 44.94 for 400 m, also in 2018. Now 24, he will be eligible again for the 2024 indoor season.

(Thanks to reader Shawn Price for updating Igbokwe’s A-A adventures to Houston as well.)

● Cross Country Skiing ● With the season completed, retirements are being announced. High on the list is Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby, 36, winner of five Olympic medals – including two golds in 2018 and four World Championships golds, including the 15 km Classical race in 2019. He earned 30 World Cup wins and 74 medals during his career.

Three notable American competitors announced retirements: Sadie Bjornsen and the husband-and-wife team of Simi Hamilton and Sophie Caldwell-Hamilton. Bjornsen, 31, won a World Championships bronze in the Team Sprint in 2017 and earned seven individual World Cup medals; she was a 2014 Olympian in Sochi.

Simi Hamilton, 33, joined the World Cup circuit in 2010 and had one World Cup win and four medals during his career and was a 2010 Olympian in Vancouver. Sophie Caldwell and Hamilton married in 2019; Caldwell joined the World Cup tour in 2013 and had two individual wins and 10 World Cup medals in her career, all in Sprint races. She was sixth in the 2014 Olympic Sprint in Sochi.

● Gymnastics ● There is still no discernible movement toward settlement in the USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case, but four survivors are making moves on their own, with the attorneys for USA Gymnastics calling for a dismissals of their “end run” appeals.

When the federation filed for bankruptcy in late 2018, it asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana to enforce a provision of U.S. Federal law that provided for an automatic freeze of all individual cases which could be brought against it. The newest filings state that four plaintiffs filed “alter ego” cases in California in 2020 for relief against the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and are now pursuing them in earnest:

● Tasha Schwikert-Warren, 2000 Olympic Team bronze medalist
● Jordan Cobbs, sister of Schwikert, also a U.S. national team member
● Kennedy Baker, 2009 U.S. Junior Champion on Bars
● Jane E.D. Doe (an alias; this plaintiff is not identified)

The USA Gymnastics lawyers have cried foul:

“The Four Plantiffs alleged in their pre-petition lawsuits that the USOPC is USAG’s alter ego – i.e., that the USOPC so dominated and controlled USAG that USAG’s act or omissions purportedly making USAG liable for claims of sexual abuse are, also, the acts and omissions of the USOPC, triggering the USOPC’s own liability. If these allegations are true (which USAG contests), all of the over 500 hundred [sic] sexual abuse claimants in this chapter 11 case could pursue an alter ego claim against the USOPC as the party with ultimate culpability for USAG’s purported misconduct.”

The federation’s view is that would fly in the face of the purpose of the automatic stay, that is to aggregate all of the like claims together to work toward a common solution. And the ongoing settlement conference, which includes USA Gymnastics and the USOPC as parties,

“remains pending and USAG continues to negotiate in earnest with the Survivors’ Committee, the USOPC and other interested parties concerning the terms of a consensual plan of reorganization. …

“Even though the parties have not yet reached a mutually agreeable settlement, USAG is hopeful that continued mediation amongst all parties, without distracting litigation on the side, will successfully result in the global resolution that all parties have stated they desire.”

The USA Gymnastics attorneys have asked the Bankruptcy Court to enforce the automatic stay, “barring the Four Plaintiffs from prosecuting their Pre-Petition lawsuits.” The matter will be argued during an online hearing on 28 April 2021.

● Swimming ● Japanese swim star – and leukemia survivor – Rikako Ikee won the women’s 100 m Freestyle at the national championships in 53.98 and will now be eligible to participate in the women’s 4×100 m Freestyle at the Tokyo Games.

Ikee’s time of 53.98 did not meet the Japanese swimming federation’s cut-off time to be entered in the individual event (53.31), but she and the top four finishers combined to qualify per the Japanese standards for the relay.

Ikee will have one more chance to qualify in an individual event in the women’s 50 m Free.

Katie Ledecky was back in the water on Thursday on the first day of the Tyr Pro Swim Series in Mission Viejo, California and claimed a world-leading win in the women’s 200 m Free in 1:54.40. That was nearly four seconds faster than runner-up Allison Schmidt (1:58.04), the 2012 Olympic Champion.

Sprint superstar Caeleb Dressel won the men’s 200 m Free in 1:47.57, overtaking fellow American (and 2018 national champion at this distance) Andrew Seliskar (1:47.69) on the final lap. The meet continues through Sunday.

FINA and the Tokyo 2020 organizers announced the re-scheduling of two qualifying events, including the FINA Diving World Cup now set for 1-6 May in Tokyo.

The Olympic Qualifier in Marathon Swimming will now be held in Setubal (POR) on 19-20 June, with the Artistic Swimming qualifying tournament still under discussion.

● Weightlifting ● USA Weightlifting published Thursday (8th) a 57-page report from the Boston-based law firm of Prince Lobel Tye LLP that began:

“USA Weightlifting (“USAW”) retained us to look into certain allegations of race discrimination and retaliation as well as the organization’s climate, policies, and procedures. Through representatives of its Board and USAW’s senior leadership, we were urged – over and over again – to probe deeply and widely, hunting for problems and gathering every conceivable suggestion for improvement. …

“Ultimately, we found no race discrimination or retaliation, much less a pattern. Few may be surprised by this general conclusion given the rule-bound nature of the sport and the difficulty of pointing to a decision, misunderstanding, mishap, or mistake that was intentionally directed at anyone, much less aimed at anyone’s race. Often, those disappointed by a rule or policy change were counterbalanced by others who benefitted.”

The body of the report noted:

“The specific allegations under review were raised in complaints filed with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee in May 2020 that primarily relate to USAW team selection and athlete funding decisions during the period 2014-2020. Our investigation focused on allegations of race discrimination as well as retaliation for certain public anti-doping commentary. Related social media posts have been taken into consideration as appropriate, but no specific findings are offered in this regard.” …

“While the overwhelming majority of weightlifters, including those of color, reported few if any recent examples of racism in the sport, we also heard that weightlifting can be ‘welcoming’ but at the same time ‘not inclusive.’ Some witnesses also spoke to broad, societal concerns regarding implicit bias, systemic inequality, and other inherent disadvantages disproportionately borne by people of color that inevitably also impact the sport as discussed further below.

“‘I just want to help make the sport better,’ witnesses nearly always told us at the end of their interviews, but they were often nonplussed when asked, ‘How?’ As one notable lifter of color despaired, ‘I’m not sure what else we can do; fix America?’”

The report made 15 findings, including “No General Pattern or Practice of Race Discrimination at USAW” and made 28 recommendations to advance diversity, equity and inclusion goals. But there was also this:

“More than a few witnesses acknowledged the importance of anti-discrimination efforts, diversity, and inclusion in weightlifting while warning of an even more immediate existential challenge: ‘our biggest crisis is the future of the sport.’ Not only have Olympic athlete quotas for weightlifters dropped to new lows not seen since the 1950s, but ‘sexy,’ new, ‘alternative’ sports are also simultaneously seeking official Olympic status. Everyone also seems attuned to the ongoing turmoil at the IWF and questions over its governance and commitment to clean sport. ‘It keeps me up at night,’ one leader confided. Some are more sanguine, predicting that such a ‘failure’ could spark a renaissance in lifting in the United States and around the world, with new organizational structures and rules.

“Others describe this as a tough pull, if not an impossible one. Time will tell, but current and former USAW representatives are campaigning for the future of the sport here at home and in the upcoming IWF elections.”

● The Last Word ● Finn Timmo Lumme, the head of the International Olympic Committee’s television and marketing services team told SportsProMedia that a major shift is ongoing in the way the Olympic Movement is promoted in the future.

In addition to the familiar territorial broadcast agreements with broadcasters around the world, Lumme said the IOC is planning ahead:

“We’ve begun a review to look at how this might look and what might be more appropriate in a streaming world or in an omnichannel media world. It’s something that we’re looking at now and it won’t be something that we change before Tokyo or even Beijing, but I think we would expect that there would be a revised regime, certainly, there for Paris.”

And look for the IOC to begin to use its enormous archive of Games footage to create new programs, on its Olympic Channel digital platform and elsewhere:

“We were focusing on content on our own platforms but I think we will gradually broaden this and do syndication deals. We’ve moved beyond trying to drive audience for our owned and operated platforms. Of course, that remains very important, but with this scaling that I mentioned earlier we’ll look for a broader third-party distribution for our content.

“I don’t think the IOC has ever been accused of being too fast, but by the same token I would hope that we’re not being too slow. I think that we’ll look at all the opportunities we have before us but it could be possible. I mean, we’ve had plenty of proposals in the past to have [IOC intellectual property]-based series and so forth, and they continue to come in. I think at the end of the day, it’s not necessarily about trying to create franchises. It’s about telling the story in the right way.”

★

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LANE ONE: “Gotcha” reporting of “possible” U.S. boycott of Beijing 2022 was not just wrong, but was itself a manufactured crisis

Rich Perelman

April 8, 2021

A commentary: In a November 2020 report on trust in news media, 69% of Americans thought “news organizations being too dramatic or too sensational in order to attract more readers or viewers” was a major problem.

No kidding.

Enter the stories coming from Tuesday’s U.S. State Department briefing in Washington, D.C. led by a post from the CNBC business channel headlined “State Department says U.S. considering a joint boycott with allies of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.”

The story was rewritten six hours later, with a new headline: “U.S. State Department backs away from the idea of a Beijing Olympics boycott.”

There was a lot of damage caused in those six hours. Let’s see what happened :

● The original story quoted State Department spokesperson Ned Price from a comment at the end of his Tuesday briefing. Asked “You seemed to suggest on the [Beijing Winter] Olympics that the U.S. is in consultations with allies discussing whether to consider or plan some sort of joint boycott. Is that the case?”

Price answered: “Well, it is something that we certainly wish to discuss and that it is certainly something that we understand that a coordinated approach will be not only in our interests but also in the interests of our allies and partners. So this is one of the issues that is on the agenda both now and going forward, and when we have something to announce, we will be sure to do that.”

That’s the quote that went out and was picked up almost instantly around the world, including by this site. Seems clear and to the point, right?

● But the State Department publishes full transcripts of its briefings and last night, the transcript appeared. Price’s answer to the original question on the Beijing 2022 Winter Games creates a whole different context for his follow-up answer:

“QUESTION: With regard to participating in the Beijing Olympics, can you detail how the State Department has been or will be involved in the administration’s decision on that front?

“MR PRICE: Well, part of our review of those Olympics and our thinking will involve close consultations with partners and allies around the world. We have consistently said, when it comes to our concerns with the government in Beijing, including Beijing’s egregious human rights violations, its conduct of genocide in the case of Xinjiang, that what the United States does is meaningful, what the United States does will have impact, but everything we do that is – that brings along our allies and partners will have all the more influence with Beijing.

“And so that is why the Department of State, as part of our thinking on the Beijing Olympics, is engaging with partners, with allies to coordinate – coordinate closely on decisions and approaches to the government in Beijing. You saw an illustration of that only the other week when the United States, together with United Kingdom, together with Canada, together with the [European Union], enacted a set of sanctions against those responsible for some of the atrocities in Xinjiang. So clearly, we are coordinating on all of these issues of concern, and, of course, the Beijing Olympics is an area that we will continue to discuss.

“QUESTION: And when do you think those discussions will – specifically on the Olympics will be concluded with partners and allies?

“MR PRICE: Well, of course, this is – we’re talking about 2022 and we are still in April of 2021. So these games remain some time away. I wouldn’t want to put a timeframe on it, but these discussions are underway.

“QUESTION: And how complicated would U.S.-China diplomacy become if the U.S. decided to boycott the Olympics?

“MR PRICE: Again, I wouldn’t want to comment on a hypothetical. We know that when it comes to our engagement with the government in Beijing, the – principally, it is a relationship predicated on competition. There are also adversarial aspects of that relationship. There are also some cooperative aspects of those relationships – of that relationship. Really, all three of those were on display [at the March meetings] in Anchorage, both in the session that was public as well as in the discussions that were behind closed doors.

“But with our approach to Beijing, we will continue to be guided by two things and two things only. Those are our interests, including the interests we share with allies and partners around the world, and our values. And those are the values we share with our allies and many of our closest partners around the world.”

Price never said the word “boycott,” only the reporters did. Price said “we are coordinating [with allies] on all of these issues of concern, and, of course, the Beijing Olympics is an area that we will continue to discuss.”

That’s the context in which his ending comment of “it is something that we certainly wish to discuss” was made and is far away from any current discussion of a possible joint boycott of the Beijing 2022 Games.

But Japan’s Kyodo News Service saw the reports in the U.S. media echo chamber and posted a story datelined Washington, D.C. that began:

“The U.S. State Department said Tuesday a potential boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is among issues Washington hopes to discuss with its allies and partners, amid growing criticism of China’s human rights record.”

In my opinion, the story from Price’s briefing misrepresented Price’s position-as-stated and used his standalone, final comment to give a false impression.

So, it was no surprise that the Price got after this quickly and CNBC (among others) changed its headline to “U.S. State Department backs away from the idea of a Beijing Olympics boycott” and quoted a State Department statement (apparently from Price), “Our position on the 2022 Olympics has not changed. We have not discussed and are not discussing any joint boycott with allies and partners.”

But CNBC doubled down on its original post adding (as did others):

“Department spokesman Ned Price had initially suggested during a press briefing earlier on Tuesday that a boycott of the Olympic Games was among the possibilities for addressing China’s human rights abuses.”

In my view, Price did no such thing and that CNBC and others used his comments out of context to say so does not make it true.

The response from China was quick and angry. The Associated Press reported Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian as promising a “robust Chinese response” to a potential boycott and

“The politicization of sports will damage the spirit of the Olympic Charter and the interests of athletes from all countries. The international community including the U.S. Olympic Committee will not accept it.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had to state the unchanged U.S. policy position again on Wednesday:

“Our position on the 2022 Olympics has not changed. We have not discussed and are not discussing any joint boycott with allies and partners. We, of course, consult closely with allies and partners at all levels to define our common concerns and establish a shared approach, but there’s no discussion underway of a change in our plans regarding the Beijing Olympics from the United States’ point of view.”

The persecution of the Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province is a serious, horrific matter, and the continued focus by national media on a 1980-style U.S. boycott of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games is not. There are good ways to make the point to the Chinese government, the Chinese public and to the rest of the world that the situation must change; I made a near-costless proposal in February.

But then, this site is also among the untrustworthy crowd of news media in the U.S., so who would want my advice, anyway?

Rich Perelman
Editor

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THE BIG PICTURE: U.S. State Department exploring boycott of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games (updated)

Rich Perelman

April 6, 2021

/This story has been updated; for a full follow-up, click here/ U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said at a briefing today (6th) that the American government is looking into a possible boycott of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China.

Asked about a possible boycott in concert with other countries, Price replied:

“It is something that we certainly wish to discuss.

“A coordinated approach will not only be in our interest but also in the interest of our allies and partners.”

China’s genocidal campaign against the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang province and anti-democracy moves in Hong Kong are the most visible concerns of the U.S. and other western governments. Calls for moves against China, including the 2022 Games, have come from politicians in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and other countries.

Asked a similar question on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee would be consulted before being cut off by the questioner.

China will respond strongly, according to a report from the Eurasia Group consulting firm:

“China will punish countries that boycott the Games with political sanctions and commercial retaliation, but with much greater severity in the athletic boycott scenario. …

“If a company does not boycott the Games, it risks reputational damage with Western consumers. But if it does, it risks being shut out of the Chinese market.”

The U.S. government was the lead player in the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, but has since stayed away from such tactics.

/Update: Some hours after this story first appeared, State Dept. spokesman Price issued a statement including: “Our position on the 2022 Olympics has not changed. We have not discussed and are not discussing any joint boycott with allies and partners.”/

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: North Korea to skip Tokyo? Japan’s leukemia survivor Ikee makes Tokyo team; 125 years since Athens 1896!

Rich Perelman

April 6, 2021

tsx pix 2020-405 1896 olympic OpCer 750 — Opening Ceremony of the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens (Photo: Wikipedia)

News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● Japan’s Kyodo News Service reported late Monday afternoon that “North Korea will not participate in this summer’s Tokyo Olympics to protect its athletes from the novel coronavirus, according to a North Korean website.”

North Korean athletes had participated in seven straight Games, dating back to 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. Moreover, the country won medals in all of those Games, with notable success in weightlifting, wrestling, boxing and judo.

The decision was seen in Japan as a setback for potential diplomatic discussions:

“North Korea’s decision to sit out the Tokyo Olympics this summer due to COVID-19 fears will likely prolong the diplomatic deadlock with neighboring Japan and South Korea and could delay the resumption of denuclearization talks with the United States.

“The announcement on a website run by North Korea’s sports ministry on Tuesday is a lost opportunity for a breakthrough in Tokyo’s efforts to secure the return of citizens abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s.”

● XXIV Olympic Winter Games: Beijing 2022 ● The subject of whether U.S. President Joe Biden approves of U.S. attendance in Beijing came up again at the White House press briefing last Friday (2nd):

“[W]hen can we expect a final determination from the President about the United States participating in the Beijing Olympics, given that he said the Chinese President doesn’t have a democratic bone in his body?”

The response from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was, “Well, I think the U.S. Olympic Committee would play a big role in …” before she was interrupted by the questioner. So, no change from prior comments.

● Athletics ● Beyond the 1:04:02 world Half Marathon record for Kenyan star Ruth Chepngetich in Istanbul on Sunday, there were more world-leading marks over the weekend in U.S. meets.

New world leaders in the women’s 100 and 200 m came from American Aleia Hobbs with her 10.99 win at the Battle of the Bayou meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and from Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) in the 200 m – 22.03 – at the Pure Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, Florida.

U.S. 400 m star Fred Kerley also lowered his lifetime best in the 100 m to 10.03 in winning in Clermont as well.

Anna Cockrell of the U.S. took the world lead in the women’s 400 m hurdles at 55.65, winning at the Florida Relays in Gainesville. American high jump star Vashti Cunningham claimed the women’s world outdoor lead in Chula Vista, California, winning at 1.97 m (6-5 1/2).

A fascinating story by Martin Fritz Huber from last Friday (2nd) on Outsideonline asks: “What Makes a Pro Runner Valuable to a Brand?”

The question is asked concerning American marathoner Noah Droody, whose 2:09:09 from last December has him at no. 9 on the all-time U.S. list, right between Meb Keflezighi and Alberto Salazar. From the story:

“In doing so, Droddy delivered for his sponsor, Saucony, by proving, among other things, that their rocket shoe could hold its own against the other rocket shoes on the market. Nonetheless, the brand opted not to renew his contract at the end of 2020. …

“That fact remains that for elite runners who are fortunate enough to get one, a shoe contract is the most dependable way to make a living as a pro. But while in previous eras an athlete’s value might be based primarily on podium finishes or qualification for marquee events like the Olympics, the brave new world of influencer marketing and social media has added another dimension.”

Huber asked Brooks marketing director Matt Weiss about that conflict; for Brooks, performance is still the highest point of interest. And for a brand which wants to show that its goods are world class, a world-class athlete can readily carry that message.

There are others who champion a big social-media following, but the question of how really impactful followers are on Instagram or Twitter continues to be hotly debated. For Droody, there are apparently offers coming. Let’s hope so.

● Basketball ● USA Basketball announced that 1996 Olympic gold medalist and 19-year NBA star Grant Hill will become the next Men’s National Team Managing Director.

Hill, 48, will replace Jerry Colangelo, 81, after the Tokyo Olympic tournament concludes. The place of the U.S. men as the dominant team in international basketball owes much to Colangelo; USA Basketball noted:

“Taking control in 2005 of a USA National Team that hadn’t won a major international competition since 2000, Colangelo rebuilt the program from the bottom up. Under Colangelo, the USA men have compiled a remarkable 97-4 overall record and have claimed top honors in six of eight FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions, including Olympic championships in 2008, 2012 and 2016.”

It is not much remembered any more than the 2004 U.S. Olympic men’s team struggled mightily at Athens, going 3-2 in group play and then losing to Argentina, 89-81, in the semifinals. The U.S. won the bronze medal game from Lithuania, 104-96. That 12-member team included 11 NBA players, including Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson, but was clearly not ready for international play. Colangelo changed the selection procedures, practice plan and created unbeatable squads for the last three Games which compiled a 24-0 record.

● Boxing ● When former Russian Boxing Federation Secretary-General Umar Kremlev was elected as AIBA President and pledged to reinvigorate the federation’s dismal finances, the likely source was focused on … Russia.

On Tuesday (6th), AIBA announced Russian state-owned energy giant PJSC Gazprom – and the largest company by revenue in Russia – not as a sponsor, but as “general partner” of the federation. Gazprom had 2019 revenues of more than $120 billion U.S. Said Kremlev:

“AIBA’s financial stability is one of our main goals. That is why the partnership with the largest companies in the world is important for us in order to jointly fulfill the tasks set for the boxing family. Today I am pleased to announce that PJSC Gazprom has become the General Partner of the International Boxing Association. This is a tremendous and extremely significant step for us.”

And of course, “The parties agreed not to disclose the content and commercial terms of the agreement.”

This relationship bears close watching, and even if Gazprom eliminates AIBA’s debt and provides working capital, its near-ownership status (especially as a state-owned entity) may run afoul of the International Olympic Committee’s concerns over the federation’s independence. This may be a masterstroke for Kremlev, or further cause the IOC to consider another solution for boxing besides AIBA, if the sport is to remain in the Games at all.

● Football ● In case you missed it, one of the stunners of the year came on 31 March in Duisberg, Germany as the hosts lost to North Macedonia by 2-1 and fell into third place in their World Cup qualifying group.

Germany had not lost a World Cup qualifying match at home since a 5-1 defeat to England in 2001, but it happened with a goal from Eljif Elmas on the 85th minute after Germany’s Ilkay Gundogan had tied it on a penalty shot in the 63rd minute.

The hosts had 69% of the possession during the game and 11 shots to six for North Macedonia, but it was not enough. “This is bitterly disappointing,” said German coach Joachim Loew. “We were not fresh enough, we made mistakes. When we played quickly we were dangerous but we did not find the tools to be really threatening. Overall, it was disappointing to lose like that at home.”

So now what?

Beyond the immediate shock of such a loss, the German squad will have to live with it until September, when it plays Liechtenstein, Armenia and Iceland in the next group of games. At present, after three of 10 games for each country in UEFA Group J, Armenia is 3-0 (9 points), North Macedonia is 2-1 (6) and Germany is 2-1 (6), but trails North Macedonia on goal differential! The group winner qualifies directly to Qatar 2022 and the runner-up will qualify for another round of play-offs.

Oh yes, there will be a re-match with North Macedonia on 11 October, but this time the Germans will be the visitors.

● Skiing ● Britain’s Sarah Lewis, who was fired by the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) last October after a long run as its highly-respected Secretary General, announced her candidacy to be the FIS President on Tuesday (6th).

Lewis’s firing was shrouded in secrecy, announced after a FIS Council meeting with no reason given other than “a complete loss of confidence” in her. She was not nominated by the British ski federation – which has its own candidate – but the Belgian federation and after decades of being an ultimate insider, is running essentially as an outsider after receiving many messages of support.

Current FIS President Gian Franco Kasper (SUI) is leaving after 23 years of sometimes controversial governance. Announced candidates include FIS Council member Mats Arjes (SWE), Swiss federation chief Urs Lehmann and Johan Eliasch (SWE), the Head skis chief (nominated by Britain). The vote is scheduled to be held online on 4 June.

● Swimming ● One of the feel-good stories of the Tokyo 2020 Games will be the appearance of Japanese star Rikako Ikee, whose remarkable recovery from leukemia landed her on the Olympic team last weekend.

Ikee, 20, won bronze medals in the 50 m and 100 m Fly at the 2016 World 25 m Championships and won six golds at the 2018 Asian Games in the 50/100 m Frees and Flys, plus relays. She was considered a medal contender for Tokyo, but was diagnosed with leukemia in early February 2019.

But just a little more than two years later, she won the 100 m Fly on Sunday at the Japanese championships in Tokyo in 57.77. That’s not fast enough to meet Japan’s super-stringent qualification mark of 57.10 to compete in the individual event, but will qualify Ikee to be part of the women’s Medley Relay.

The Japanese championships continue this week and Ikee could challenge for spots in the 50 m and 100 m Free events.

The Russian Olympic swimming trials are also underway, in Kazan, and if you’re looking forward to more torrid face-offs between reigning women’s Olympic 100 m Breaststroke champ Lilly King of the U.S. and Russian rival Yulia Efimova, half of the match is set.

Efimova, who won 2016 Rio silvers in the 100 and 200 m Breast events, qualified for the Russian 100 m Breast team on Monday, finishing second to 16-year-old prodigy Evgenia Chikunova, 1:06.06-1:07.07.

King, the world leader in the 100 m Breast at 1:05.32 this year, must qualify at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, in which she will be the big favorite in both the women’s 100 m and 200 m Breast events.

Tokyo 2020 and the International Aquatics Federation (FINA) are trying to re-arrange three late-stage qualifying events for the Games in view of the pandemic.

The Tokyo-based FINA Diving World Cup scheduled for 18-23 April, and FINA Artistic Swimming Qualification Tournament for 1-4 May are now shown as “to be confirmed” on the FINA competition calendar, as is the FINA Marathon Swimming Olympic qualifier in Fukuoka from 29-30 May.

A water polo test event scheduled for this week has also been postponed.

Amid a rise in coronavirus infections, Japan has adopted strict entry regulations which are affecting many businesses, as well as events scheduled as Olympic qualifiers and test events. A message on the FINA Web site indicates that further details on these events are expected next week.

Australian swimming star Mack Horton, who famously refused to stand on the podium during the awards ceremony for the men’s 400 m Freestyle during the 2019 FINA World Championships as a protest against perceived doper Yang Sun (CHN), said he would do so again in a similar situation in Tokyo.

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph in Australia, Horton told reporter Julian Linden:

“I did it because I didn’t want to regret not doing it or not saying something; so yeah, I would do something again.”

There was substantial reaction against Horton, especially from Chinese fans, but this died down after Sun was given an eight-year-ban in February 2020 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a doping-control incident in September 2018. The verdict was thrown out for possible bias on the part of one arbitrator and will re-heard with a new panel beginning on 24 May. Said Horton:

“It was obviously pretty brutal for a bit and it goes on. But you adapt. Everyone’s got used to it and we’ve obviously got a fair bit of support as well.”

The coronavirus has struck the U.S. Olympic Trials in swimming; USA Swimming announced today:

“In an effort to deliver the safest competition possible and to mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19, the venue seating map has been reconfigured, reducing daily session attendance capacity to approximately 50%. Given the June 2020 Trials had already sold tickets in excess of 90% of capacity, there will be a complete refund of tickets and re-sale beginning Friday, April 16. …

“Seats will be sold in physically distanced pods of two (2), four (4), or six (6) seats. Fans may purchase up to six (6) tickets for each session and tickets will be sold on a first-come first-serve basis.”

The CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska is the site for the Trials, which is being held in two sections: from 4-7 June for lower-ranked swimmers to qualify for the main Trials, from 13-20 June.

● Wrestling ● London Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs fell short of his goal of a second Olympic title in Tokyo, losing in a taut 74 kg Olympic Team Trials final to 79 kg World Champion Kyle Dake, 3-0 and 3-2 on Saturday. Ever the epitome of class and grace, Burroughs, now 32, tweeted the morning after:

“This road has been long and difficult. I’m gonna take some time away to reflect and rebuild. This isn’t the end for me. Thanks to everyone for their support. Congratulations to all this year’s Olympians.”

Twice an Olympic medalist and a four-time World Champion, if he never wrestles again, Burroughs stands as one of America’s greatest wrestlers.

Congratulations to USA Wrestling for its successful Olympic Team Trials over the weekend in Ft. Worth, Texas. Not only did the U.S. select a powerful team for Tokyo, it also set a high standard for getting its message out in a continuing pandemic.

The bouts were televised on NBCSN, NBC’s digital channels or Peacock, but traditional, on-site media access was not available. So USA Wrestling got busy and provided a full suite of media support services, maximizing remote access, information and support:

● Live results and scoring, plus brackets, were available via TrackWrestling.com for every match on all mats. No questions about who is doing what, where and when, in real time. Superb.

● Post-match interviews were made available to off-site media on two Zoom feeds, from the Challenge Tournament semifinals on Friday and the championship matches on Saturday. All of these interviews were recorded and made available on USA Wrestling’s YouTube channel, and available via Dropbox for further use, so that no one missed anything.

● Photography of all matches was available on a complimentary basis from Tony Rotundo via his site WrestlersAreWarriors.com. Downloads for editorial use were available to media via a password.

● USA Wrestling sent summary results of each session to media by e-mail, and also included a pre-finals distribution with short biographies of all 36 finalists. Excellent.

● The federation was in overdrive with coverage on its own Web site, including a special page on the Trials specifically, plus coverage on its social-media platforms. The stories on this page also included quotes from many of the finalists on Saturday.

In addition to the world-class wrestling, the performance of USA Wrestling Director of Communications Gary Abbott and his team was outstanding and to be commended for its scope and follow-through in difficult circumstances. Well done!

● At the BuZZer ● Tuesday (6th) marks the 125th anniversary of the opening of the first Olympic Games of the modern era, in Athens, Greece.

The brainchild of France’s Pierre de Coubertin became reality with the opening ceremony, and the Games had 176 competitors – all men – from 13 countries, competing in 43 events in nine sports. There was also competition on the first day, in track & field; per Olympedia:

“The first event of the modern Olympics was the first heat of the 100 metres, won by American Frank Lane, a student at Princeton. But the first championship decided was that of the triple jump, won by James Connolly, a Harvard student, who left the Cambridge school to compete in the Olympics. He became the first known Olympic champion since Varasdates of Armenia had won the boxing in 369 CE.”

Connolly took the triple jump at 13.71 m (44-11 3/4) and the other final on the first day was the discus, won by American Bob Garrett with a world record of 29.15 m (95-7).

The closing ceremony was on 15 April.

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LANE ONE: Now that the EOPAAA Commission is set, what will it do in its study of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee?

Rich Perelman

April 5, 2021

The Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020 (EOPAAA: S. 2330) became law on 30 October last year and created the potentially powerful Commission on the Study of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympics.

Its membership was completed last Friday, so now what?

The Commission make-up includes 16 members, of whom there are eight women and eight men, and ten are current or former Olympic, Paralympic or Pan American Games athletes:

Olympians (6):
● John Dane (sailing)
● Benita Fitzgerald Mosley (track & field)
● Nancy Hogshead-Makar (swimming)
● Edwin Moses (track & field)
● Brittney Reese (track & field)
● Jordyn Wieber (gymnastics)

Paralympians (3):
● Patty Cisneros Prevo (basketball)
● Karin Korb (tennis)
● Melissa Stockwell (swimming & triathlon)

USOPC Athletes Advisory Council (1):
● Han Xiou (ex-Chair; played table tennis)

The six non-athlete members include:

● Rob Cohen, Chair of IMA Financial Group and a USOPC Foundation trustee;
● Mitch Daniels, former White House OMB Director; two-term Governor of Indiana;
● Bill Hybl, chief executive, El Pomar Foundation; twice USOC President;
● Dionne Koller, Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore;
● Rob Mullens, Athletics Director at the University of Oregon;
● Joe Schmitz, former Inspector General of the U.S. Dept. of Defense.

It’s a powerful group, and no one can say that the “athlete voice” is not well represented, with 10 of the 16 members (62.5%). Koller has been announced as a co-chair and Xiao could be the other.

Now, what will the Commission do? Its responsibilities are outlined in detail, including 10 specified items:

● “a review of the most recent reforms undertaken by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee;

● “a description of proposed reforms to the structure of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee;

● “an assessment as to whether the board of directors of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee includes diverse members, including athletes;

● “an assessment of United States athlete participation levels in the Olympic and Paralympic Games;

● “a description of the status of any United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee licensing arrangement;

● “an assessment as to whether the United States is achieving the goals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games set by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee;

● “an analysis of the participation in amateur athletics of (I) women; (II) disabled individuals; and (III) minorities;

● “a description of ongoing efforts by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee to recruit the Olympic and Paralympic Games to the United States;

● “an evaluation of the functions of the national governing bodies (as defined in section 220501 of title 36, United States Code) and an analysis of the responsiveness of the national governing bodies to athletes with respect to the duties of the national governing bodies under section 220524(a)(3) of title 36, United States Code; and

● “an assessment of the finances and the financial organization of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.”

The Commission must meet within 30 days of the appointment of the final member, which means by 2 May 2021 and it will need to obtain funding and appoint a staff. It must hold at least one public hearing and has subpoena power. The Commission is charged with:

“Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress a report on the results of the study conducted … including a detailed statement of findings, conclusions, recommendations, and suggested policy changes.”

That would mean the Commission would have to finish its work by the end of July, while the Olympic Games in Tokyo are actually ongoing. That isn’t going to happen, and the deadline will no doubt be extended.

The Commission membership has a lot of athletes on it, but also some folks who know a lot about the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Hybl was a two-time president of the organization, Fitzgerald Mosley was the organization’s Chief of Organizational Excellence and later Chief Operating Officer. As a USOPC Foundation trustee, Cohen has a deep knowledge of the organization’s finances.

Moses has a long and highly distinguished career as an athlete advocate, but also a deep commitment to anti-doping and is one of the most highly-respected people in the Olympic Movement. Wieber, at 25, is not only an Olympic gold medalist, but also a Larry Nassar survivor and will add an important perspective on athlete safety.

Hogshead-Makar is a civil-rights and athlete-rights attorney and has been a virulent critic of the USOPC. No one can say that the organization’s harshest critics do not have a seat at the table; it remains to be seen how effective she will be in promoting meaningful change.

So what are the priorities?

● Money. No surprise there; the USOPC lives off of a percentage of the U.S. television rights payments to the International Olympic Committee and the IOC’s TOP sponsors. The question is how the organization spends it – for example, is it worth having the Olympic training centers? Should Olympic team members be paid training stipends? – and whether any worthwhile effort has been made towards new funding opportunities.

● Structure. The EOPAAA required changes in athlete representation at the USOPC level and for the U.S. National Governing Bodies. Those have, or are being implemented, but the Commission could go further. At its core, the U.S. Olympic Movement is a volunteer organization built on the grass-roots work of thousands of people who help young athletes learn, train and compete in sports. Will they get any help?

● Role of the National Governing Bodies. How much support should be given to the NGBs vs. the USOPC in Colorado Springs? This will be a major discussion point, especially since the USOPC provides significant funding for many of the NGBs. Can some of the NGBs even handle more funding?

● IOC relations ● The EOPAAA is clearly in conflict with the Olympic Charter, in the sections which give the U.S. Congress the power, by joint resolution, to “dissolve” the USOPC Board of Directors or to “terminate the recognition” of a National Governing Body. The IOC is fully aware of these issues, but has other priorities at present; what will the Commission recommend?

● Goals. Perhaps this question will be the most discussed. The then-U.S. Olympic Committee emphasized Olympic Games performance over grass-roots programming many years ago and quickly became the top medal-winning National Olympic Committee at the Olympic Games. Will that change?

A key element of that discussion will be a consideration of the statutory instructions for the USOPC, the Ted Stevens Act Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, 36 U.S.C. 2205, originally passed as the Amateur Sports Act of 1978.

It’s clear from the USOPC’s actions over many years that it has only limited understanding of what’s in the Ted Stevens Act and the Congress has even less. That’s why the Commission would be well served by appointing the architect of the Amateur Sports Act, Mike Harrigan, as its Executive Director.

Harrigan lives in the Washington, D.C. area and has been continuously active in pushing for more attention to the Act’s requirements that no one pays attention to (for many years). With his help, both the Commission and the USOPC will get a much stronger grip on what the Act requires and what it can do to help the Olympic Movement in the U.S.

There are those who see the Commission as the instrument to deconstruct the USOPC, if not destroy it altogether. There is no doubt that the organization must continue to modernize and it has serious weaknesses, but the Commission itself is also on the spot: it has the burden of making the right choices and recommending the right fixes, or the onus of failure will be on it.

As the saying goes: “For to whom much is given, much shall be required.”

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HIGHLIGHTS: Seven world champs win at U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials; Chepngetich crushes women’s world Half Marathon mark

Rich Perelman

April 4, 2021

tsx pix 2021-404 dake-burroughs 74 kg trials (rotundo) — Kyle Dake (l) battles with 2012 Olympic champ Jordan Burroughs in the 74 kg finals at the USA Wrestling Olympic Team Trials (Photo: Tony Rotundo/WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world /updated/:

● Wrestling ● USA Wrestling completed its Olympic selection process with a thrilling set of Olympic Team Trials matches over two days at the Dickies Arena in Ft. Worth, Texas. The result is a potentially outstanding team which includes two reigning Olympic champions and seven current or former World Champions.

The women’s Freestyle team alone will send four current or former World Champions to Tokyo:

● 53 kg: Jacarra Winchester, the 2019 55 kg World Champion
● 57 kg: Helen Maroulis, a two-time World Champion
● 68 kg: Tamyra Mensah-Stock, the 2019 68 kg World Champion
● 76 kg: Adeline Gray, a five-time World Champion

Maroulis is the reigning Olympic Champion at 53 kg, but has moved up one weight class for Tokyo.

Moreover, Sarah Hildebrandt (50 kg) is the 2018 Worlds silver medalist and Kayla Miracle, at 62 kg, was the 2019 World U-23 Championships silver medalist. Four of the six final bouts were straight-match wins for Hildebrandt, Winchester, Mensah-Stock and Gray by combined scores of 82-13. Maroulis won her first match against Jenna Burkert, 5-3, but lost in the second match by 6-5, forcing a final match in which Maroulis managed a pinfall in just 24 seconds. Miracle and Macey Kilty split their first two matches, but after a Miracle takedown to start the third match, Kilty was hurt and could not continue.

The men’s Freestyle finals also had plenty of drama, especially at 74 kg, where 2012 Olympic champ and 2016 bronze medalist Jordan Burroughs, 32, faced Kyle Dake, 30, the two-time World Champion at 79 kg. These two had been involved in many epic struggles and this was no different. But Dake had enough to win 3-0 and 3-2 and secure his first Olympic berth.

Rio’s 97 kg Olympic champ Kyle Snyder will get to defend his title after a 10-0, 5-1 victory over former Ohio State teammate Kollin Moore. Snyder has won two world titles at this weight and was the Worlds bronze medalist in 2019.

The 2018 World Champion at 86 kg, David Taylor, will also be going to Tokyo after defeating fellow Penn State alumnus Bo Nickal, 4-0 and 6-0.

Tom Gilman, the 2017 Worlds silver medalist at 57 kg, defeated Vitali Arujau to punch his Tokyo ticket and 20-year-old Gable Steveson – the 2017 World Junior Champion – upset two-time Worlds medalist Nick Gwiazdowski at 125 kg.

The U.S. did not qualify yet at 65 kg, but after a convincing win by Jordan Oliver over Joey McKenna, Oliver will get a chance to grab an Olympic berth in the World Olympic Qualifier in Sofia (BUL) from 6-9 May.

The U.S. has not won an Olympic medal in Greco-Roman since 2008, but there are high hopes for the four Olympic nominees and two qualifiers from Saturday’s finals. The 2018 Worlds silver medalist at 130 kg, Adam Coon, defeated Cohlton Schultz to win the weight class, but will have to get to Tokyo through the World Olympic Qualifier in Sofia next month.

At the lightest weight, 60 kg, Ildar Hafizov completed a remarkable return to the Olympic Games with a 7-0 and 8-0 win over Ryan Mango. Hafizov, now 33, competed for Uzbekistan in the 2008 Games in Beijing, then came to the U.S. and became a citizen and now will compete for the U.S.

Alejandro Sanchez (67 kg), John Stefanowicz (87 kg) and G’Angelo Hancock (97 kg) also qualified for Tokyo, while Jessie Porter (77 kg) won his weight class, but will also have to qualify in Sofia for the Games.

● Athletics ● Kenya’s reigning World Champion in the marathon, Ruth Chepngetich, smashed the world record in the Half Marathon, winning the women’s division of the Istanbul Half Marathon on Sunday in 1:04:02.

This was her third win in this race, and she was in a three-women race by 15 km with Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw and fellow Kenyan track and cross-country star Hellen Obiri. Chepngetich then broke free and won by 22 seconds over Yehualaw (1:04:23: no. 2 time ever) and by 49 seconds over Obiri (1:04:51: equal-fifth performer, equal-6th performance in history), who ran the fastest women’s debut Half ever! Chepngetich’s fastest Half had been 1:05:06 in November 2020.

Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie won the men’s Half in 59:35, a course record.

At the rainy and windy USATF Sprint Summit in Hollywood, Florida – a World Athletics Continental Tour silver event – 2018 U.S. 400 m hurdles champ Kenny Selmon won impressively in 48.89, his fifth-fastest ever and the world leader in the event for 2021.

American hammer star Brooke Andersen won her specialty at 74.86 m (245-7), a seasonal best and maintaining her spot as no. 3 on the world list for 2021.

At the Hayward Premiere meet in Eugene, Oregon soph sensation Cole Hocker – the NCAA Indoor mile and 3,000 m champion – had the top marks in the first meet in the new facility with wins in the 800 m (1:46.60) and 1,500 m (3:38.99).

Iowa State soph Wesley Kiptoo (KEN) won the men’s 10,000 m in 27:58.10 over college and country teammate Edwin Kurgat (27:58.33). BYU frosh Zach McWhorter won the men’s vault at 5.65 m (18-6 1/2).

● Curling ● The 2021 men’s World Championships are underway– in a sequestered environment – in Calgary, Canada, with the 14 teams working through round-robin play, which began on Friday (2nd).

The early leaders include Norway (4-0), Canada (3-0), Switzerland (3-0) and Russia (3-0), with the U.S. – skipped by Olympic champion John Shuster – at 2-1. The top six teams will advance to the playoffs, beginning on 9 April. The semifinals and final will be held next weekend.

● Cycling ● The spring Classics season continues unimpeded in Europe, with two of the famed races in Belgium highlighting the week.

● 31 March: At the 75th Dwars door Vlaanderen in Belgium, it was a runaway for Dutch rider Dylan van Baarle, 28, who scored his first UCI World Tour one-day-race win over the hilly, 184.1 km course from Roeselare to Waregem. He attacked on the eighth of the 13 climbs in the race – the Berg Ten Houte – with 52 km remaining and no one could stay with him. He cruised home 29 seconds ahead of runner-up Christophe Laporte (FRA).

● 4 April: The 105th running of the Tour of Flanders – Ronde van Vlaanderen – came down to a sprint between Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen, winner of the E3 Classic nine days before, and Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel at the line in Oudenaarde.

It was Asgreen the winner again by a narrow margin, for his third win in a World Tour race. He and van der Poel had freed themselves from 2016 Olympic champ Greg van Avermaet (BEL) with about 16 km to go in the 254.1 race, on the final climb up the Oude Kwaremont before heading to the finish. Asgreen had more power at the finish and had the race in hand in the final 50 m. Van Avermaet won the sprint for third, 32 seconds back.

● 4 April: Dutch superstar Annemiek van Vleuten is reaching peak form, winning her second consecutive race with a dominant performance in the 18th Ronde van Vlaanderen for women, winning in a sensational 26 seconds over a six-rider chase pack led by German Lisa Brennauer and Australia’s Grace Brown.

Van Vleuten, 38, outsprinted Poland’s Kasia Niewiadoma at the finish of the Dwars door Vlaanderen earlier in the week, but this time left no doubt, attacking 14 km from the finish of the 152 km route and sailing home with her second victory in this race after winning in 2011!

Coming up this week is the 60th running of the six-stage Itzulia Basque Country in Spain, with three prior winners in the field: Spanish stars Alejandro Valverde (won in 2017) and Ion Izagirre (2019) and Slovenian star Primoz Roglic (2018).

The UCI Women’s World Tour will continue on the 18th with the Amstel Gold Race in The Netherlands.

● Golf ● The first major of the LPGA season, the ANA Inspiration, was conducted in 100-degree heat at Mission Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, but the play was just as hot.

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko started the day in seventh place, but shot a sensational, final-round, 10-under 62 to finish at 272 of 16 under par. But emerging Thai star Patty Tavatanakit, 21, continued – and concluded – a steady march to the title that began with a first-round 66 and followed with a 69, 67 and a Sunday round of four under par (68).

She finished at 270 and won by two strokes after entering the final round with a five-shot lead. It’s Tavatanakit’s first LPGA Tour victory, and in a major no less! There was a four-way tie for third for China’s Shanshan Feng, Sei Young Kim (KOR), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (DEN) and American Nelly Korda at -11 (277). Kim, Madsen and Korda all moved up eight places on Sunday with 66s, the fourth-best rounds of the day.

● Judo ● The Antalya Grand Slam in Turkey drew a crowd of 432 judokas from 91 countries, with wins for 12 countries, including two each for Italy and Japan.

Italy went 1-2 in the women’s 48 kg class with Francesca Milani defeating Francesca Giorda in the final, and Fabio Basile won the men’s 73 kg class. Japan got wins from two-time World Champion Hifumi Abe in the men’s 66 kg class and from two-time Worlds gold medalist Shori Hamada in the women’s 78 kg division.

There was one other single-country final, in the women’s 57 kg class, where Canadians Christa Deguchi and Jessica Klimkait faced off, with 2019 World Champion Deguchi winning.

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THE TICKER: Final four members of EOPAAA Commission finally named; 2021 WUG in Chengdu postponed to ‘22; USA Wrestling Trials start today

Rich Perelman

April 2, 2021

tsx pix 122118 us capitol-front 750 — The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

The latest news, notes and quotes from the worldwide Five-Ring Circus:

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● It took five months since the passage of the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020, but the Commission on the Study of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics has finally been named.

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) held the last four appointment slots and finally named her selections two months after the other 12 members of the Commission had been announced. She named:

● Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the women’s 100 m hurdles, who worked for USA Track & Field as Chief of Sport Performance and the United States Olympic Committee as Chief of Organizational Excellence and later Chief Operating Officer. She is universally respected as one of the brightest, most insightful and most practical thinkers in Olympic sport in the U.S.

● Nancy Hogshead Makar, a four-time Olympic medalist in swimming in 1984, winning the women’s 100 m Freestyle and swimming on two winning relay teams. She is a well-known civil rights and athlete-rights attorney and one of the fiercest critics of the USOPC.

● Dionne Koller, a professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she specializes in Olympic and amateur sports law. She is also a member of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s Anti-Doping Review Board.

● Jordyn Wieber, a member of the Olympic champion U.S. women’s gymnastics team from the 2012 Olympic Games and currently the head coach of the University of Arkansas women’s gymnastics team. She is a Larry Nassar abuse survivor and spoke at his sentencing hearing.

With all 16 members now named, the Commission has – under the EOPAAA as passed, only four months left to deliver its recommendations and report. That end-of-July deadline will certainly be extended; the Commission must still be funded, appoint an Executive Director and staff. It is required to meet within 30 days of the last appointees being named, meaning by 2 May 2021, and must hold at least one public hearing.

Cantwell named Koller as a co-chair of the Commission; one other co-chair is still to be named.

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The Olympic Torch Relay may not visit the Osaka Prefecture in mid-April due to a coronavirus outbreak and a curtailment of public activities.

Begun on 25 March, the relay is moving through all 47 prefectures in the country, and had Osaka targeted for the 10th stage on 13-14 April. Restrictions on activities in Osaka and two other prefectures were imposed by the government for 5 April-5 May.

The Tokyo organizers said further discussions will be held with Osaka officials about whether and how the relay might continue there.

Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto told reporters on Friday (2nd) that no replacement would be named for former creative and ceremonies chief Hiroshi Sasaki: “Most of the (planning) has been done, and we are at a stage of brushing it up. We will perfect everything under the current team.”

To the surprise of no one who has actually been paying attention, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva (BUL), told Kyodo News Service that the absence of foreign spectators – and the related costs – will pose no significant impact to the Japanese economy:

“In terms of economic impact, it would be very minor. We’ve done some calculations and we concluded that it is not going to harm the Japanese recovery.”

Kyodo further reported:

“Even in the case that the games, already postponed by one year, will not be held at all, the IMF assessment is that it will not be ‘a major factor’ to the Japanese economy, she said.” Japan’s pre-pandemic economy reached $5.08 trillion in Gross Domestic Product in 2019.

● Games of the XXXV Olympiad: 2032 ● While Brisbane, Australia remains the favorite to be named as host for the 2032 Games, the Seoul metropolitan government submitted a proposal for a joint North-South Korean bid for that Games.

Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported:

“The metropolitan government said its co-hosting proposal contains a vision of ‘Beyond the Line, Toward the Future’ and five major concepts, including cost reduction and minimal environmental damage, inter-Korean connection and peace and a combination of cutting-edge technologies and Korean culture.

“In particular, the proposal elaborated on the realization of global peace through sports and other positive ripple effects from the co-hosting of the Olympics by Seoul and Pyongyang, the government said.”

The document was submitted to the IOC’s Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad, the group which recommended targeting Brisbane to host the 2032 Games.

● World University Games ● It seemed a little hard to believe that the 2021 World University Games in Chengdu, China was really going to take place as scheduled from 18-29 August. Now, it isn’t.

The International University Sports Federation (FISU) announced the WUG “will be postponed to 2022 due to global COVID-19 situation and international travel restrictions at present with rescheduled dates to be agreed by relative bodies.”

This makes good sense for everyone, and especially for FISU and the Chinese organizers, who would have had little chance to pick up any Tokyo Olympic athletes for the Games, which will end on 8 August.

● Athletics ● World Athletics posted its regulations for Russian athletes to apply for Authorized Neutral Athlete status on 31 March, asking for applications to be forwarded as soon as possible for consideration by a three-person panel.

The panel will review each athlete’s file against a 12-part test of whether the athlete has been tested for doping by one or more anti-doping organizations in which it has trust, when those tests took place, whether an athlete has previously been found to be doping, or has been in contact with, or under the supervision of coaches or others with doping histories. As for Tokyo:

“For applicants seeking to compete in a senior World Championships event or the Olympic Games, has the applicant, in the ten months prior to the competition, undergone at least three no notice out-of-competition tests, including (if they compete in any middle distance event from 800m upwards, a long distance event, a combined event or a race walk event) at least one [Athlete Biological Passport] and one EPO test, all such tests to be conducted no less than three weeks apart.”

The regulations ask that any applicant wishing to be declared eligible for a specific competition submit their application at least four weeks ahead of time.

Although the Penn Relays will not be held in 2021, the University of Pennsylvania has committed to hosting meets that will help area athletes with competition this spring. On Thursday, the “Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational” was announced, to take place on 24 April and feature “traditional Penn Relays events and individual events for qualification purposes. Events will include 4×100, 4×400, 4×800, both medleys, all field events, hurdles, the 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, and 10000m.”

Meet entry is by invitation only and meant for schools with 40 miles of the Penn campus. No spectators will be allowed.

A new world outdoor lead for the women’s 1,500 m – and the first sub-4 of the outdoor season – came in Melbourne as Australian star Linden Hall set a national record of 3:59.67 on Thursday (1st).

She had already run 1:59.22 for 800 m this year; Hall finished her 1,500 m record with a final lap of less than 62 seconds.

● Figure Skating ● U.S. Figure Skating announced its team for the ISU World Team Trophy competition, scheduled for 15-18 April in Osaka, Japan. Given the enhanced anti-virus measures being taken in that area, the event will be held in a sequestered format.

The U.S. will have most of its best skaters available, including World Champion Nathan Chen and Jason Brown for the men, Karen Chen and Bradie Tennell for the women, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier in Pairs and Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker in Ice Dance.

● Football ● The CONCACAF men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament concluded on Wednesday (31st) with the championship game, as Mexico out-lasted Honduras, 5-4, in a penalty shoot-out in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The game was tied 1-1 after regulation time, with goals from Edwin Rodriguez for Honduras in the 71st minute and the equalizer from Jose Macias on a penalty in the 80th minute. After extra time, the shoot-out commenced and while Mexico converted all five, keeper Sebastian Jurado denied Honduras’s Juan Carlos Obregon on the opening shot and that turned out to be the difference.

It was the third consecutive men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament win for Mexico and both teams will advance to the Tokyo Games.

Mexico’s Alexis Vega was named as Best Player, Honduran keeper Alex Guity was named as the top goalie and Mexico’s Sebastian Cordova was the top scorer, with four goals in five matches.

● Swimming ● The second hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport concerning Chinese swimmer Yang Sun and the World Anti-Doping Agency will take place from 24-28 May, online.

WADA appealed a light sentence imposed against Sun for doping violations by the International Federation for Aquatics Sports (FINA) in the first hearing, but was overturned on potential bias grounds by the Swiss Federal Tribunal, requiring a new hearing. A completely new panel of arbitrators will hear the matter.

● Weightlifting ● The International Weightlifting Federation announced that its Constitutional Congress will be held online (only) on 30 June, a key date for the federation to create a new organizational structure that will meet the requirements of the IOC.

The IWF also reversed some recent liberalizations of its anti-doping code, explaining:

“On anti-doping, upon advice from the IOC a revision to Article 12 of the IWF’s Anti-Doping Rules was approved. Recommendation for changes was made by the independent Anti-Doping Commission and the International Testing Agency and after reversing from 4 to 3 the threshold whereby a Member Federation would become eligible for sanction, possible sanctions for Member Federations breaching this threshold now include fines as high as $500,000, up from $300,000.”

All of this has been done with an eye toward pleasing the IOC, which has indicated it is quite ready to boot the sport out of the Olympic Games due to its continued doping incidence and poor (possibly even criminal) governance procedures.

● Wrestling ● USA Wrestling will choose its candidates for the Tokyo Games at its Olympic Team Trials, taking place in Ft. Worth, Texas on Friday and Saturday. Competition at the Dickies Arena will take place in a “challenge tournament” on Friday and part of Saturday, with the “championship series” on Saturday.

All of the action will be shown on NBCSN or the Peacock pay service.

The U.S. has Olympic berths in 15 of the 18 weight classes in men’s Freestyle (5), Greco-Roman (4) and women’s Freestyle (6). The Challenge Tournament winners in 14 classes (men’s Freestyle/4, Greco/4, women’s Freestyle/6) will face an already-determined finalist, who advanced directly by virtue of winning a medal at the 2019 UWW World Championships (men’s and women’s Freestyle) or 2020 Pan American Olympic Qualifier (Greco-Roman and women’s Freestyle).

A total of 221 wrestlers qualified for the Trials, including two high schoolers, both in the women’s competition. A late, unexpected scratch was J’den Cox, the 92 kg World Champion in 2018 and 2019. He was entered in the 97 kg class for the Trials – his 92 kg class is not part of the Olympic program – but did not make weight.

The biggest favorite to make the team is reigning women’s 68 km World Champion Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who has been thrashing everyone in sight for nearly two years, even beating 76 kg World Champion Adeline Gray in an exhibition earlier this year!

Look for results here.

● The Last Word ● The ReadySetGold! program, a unique legacy of the Los Angeles bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, named USOPC Board member John Naber as its Olympian of the Year.

ReadySetGold! was created by the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games as a legacy of its bid to be the U.S. candidate city for the 2016 Games and has continued to be a force in the Los Angeles-area community by sending Olympic and Paralympic athletes to work with students in elementary, middle and high schools. Over multiple sessions during each academic year, the athletes encourage students to maintain a positive attitude, respond as Olympians and Paralympians do to challenges and difficulties and to uplift their physical fitness.

Naber has been an RSG! Athlete mentor since the beginning in 2006, but also has served as the Chairman of RSG! since 2016. He was one of the superstars of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, winning four gold medals and a silver in swimming, as well as being a primary driver of four NCAA team titles for USC.

His contribution to the Olympic Movement was recognized by his U.S. peers with his recent election to the USOPC Board by members of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Association.

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For our 649-event International Sports Calendar for 2021 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

THE BIG PICTURE: California Supreme Court shields USOPC from athlete abuse suit against USA Taekwondo

Rich Perelman

April 2, 2021

A potentially significant case in the continuing tumult over sexual abuse of athletes came down on Thursday (1st), with the California Supreme Court unanimously confirming the ability of three female plaintiffs to sue USA Taekwondo, but not the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

The case, Yazmin Brown, et al vs. USA Taekwondo, et al (no. S259216) concerned allegations by three taekwondo athletes – Brown, Kendra Gatt and Brianna Borden – that their coach, Marc Gitelman, sexually abused them when they were teenagers, under the age of 18, at various times between 2007-11. Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger wrote:

“This went on for years until the sponsor of these competitions, USA Taekwondo (USAT), banned Gitelman from coaching. Gitelman was ultimately convicted of multiple felonies for the sexual abuse of the minor athletes he trained.”

The three women filed suit in October 2015 against Gitelman, USA Taekwondo, the USOPC, NV Taekwondo Fitness and Training Center, the Latin American International Taekwondo Federation and California United Taekwondo Federation.

USA Taekwondo and the USOPC filed demurrers, an objection contending that the facts alleged by the plaintiffs – assumed to be true at this stage only – do not constitute a legitimate action under the law. While Gitelman abused the plaintiffs, the two federations argued that they did not have a direct duty to prevent the abuse as Gitelman was not an employee of either organization.

The trial court agreed with both USA Taekwondo and the USOPC and ordered a dismissal of the suit against both. The plaintiffs appealed and the California Court of Appeal for the Second District held that while USA Taekwondo did have a duty to protect, the USOPC did not.

The plaintiffs appealed again and Justice Kruger explained why the state’s Supreme Court took the case:

“Distilling the principles articulated in prior cases, we now clarify that whether to recognize a duty to protect is governed by a two-step inquiry. First, the court must determine whether there exists a special relationship between the parties or some other set of circumstances giving rise to an affirmative duty to protect. Second, if so, the court must consult the factors described in [Rowland vs. Christian, 69 Cal.2d 108 (1968)] to determine whether relevant policy considerations counsel limiting that duty.”

These questions were dealt with at length in the Court of Appeal opinion, but it’s the Supreme Court’s opinion that counts. Justice Kruger noted that in California, the basic standard of care comes from sec. 1714 of the California Civil Code:

“First enacted in 1872, section 1714 provides: ‘Everyone is responsible … for an injury
occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person.’”

and added in a footnote:

“[I]t bears emphasis that the relevant legal question is whether the defendant has engaged in activities that created or increased the plaintiff’s risk of harm. A defendant may have greater involvement in the plaintiff’s activities than a chance spectator yet play no meaningful part in exposing the plaintiff to harm.”

But against this broad standard of non-liability, there is a duty – based on other cases – and:

“We here focus, along with the parties, on another basis for finding an affirmative duty: In a case involving harm caused by a third party, a person may have an affirmative duty to protect the victim of another’s harm if that person is in what the law calls a ‘special relationship’ with either the victim or the person who created the harm.”

The plaintiffs argued that the 1968 Rowland case allows for a “special relationship” to exist with USA Taekwondo and the USOPC. But the Court determined that the language in a 2018 case was the standard to be used:

“[A] typical setting for the recognition of a special relationship is where ‘the plaintiff is particularly vulnerable and dependent upon the defendant who, correspondingly, has some control over the plaintiff’s welfare.’”

In the Court of Appeal decision (cited as Brown vs. USA Taekwondo, 40 Cal.App.5th 1077), that Court found that the USOPC had no such relationship to the plaintiffs, but that USA Taekwondo did:

“We conclude USAT, which is the national governing body for the Olympic sport of taekwondo, had a special relationship with Gitelman because Gitelman was required to register with USAT to coach taekwondo at USAT-sponsored competitions, athletes could only compete in competitions with registered coaches, USAT could (and later did) implement policies and procedures to protect athletes from sexual abuse by their coaches, and USAT could (and later did) bar Gitelman from coaching athletes at taekwondo competitions for his violations of USAT’s policies and procedures. USAT was therefore in a unique position to protect taekwondo youth athletes from harm.”

But:

“By contrast, USOC did not owe a duty to plaintiffs because it did not have a special relationship with Gitelman or plaintiffs. Although USOC had the ability to control USAT, including requiring it to adopt policies to protect youth athletes, it did not have direct control over the conduct of coaches.”

Thus, the California Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeal’s decision, which sends the case back to the trial court for further proceedings – possibly including a trial – but without the USOPC as a defendant.

The upshot of this case – which is based on California law and therefore not universally applicable in the U.S. – is that U.S. National Governing Bodies could be held liable for athlete abuse – in California – by an individual affiliated with the sport, such as being required to register with that NGB. That will be applied against all U.S. NGBs, who have national authority over their sports, in cases filed in California.

At the same time, but again limited by the fact that this is a California case, the USOPC has no such duty, at least in situations in which it does not have “some control over the plaintiff’s welfare.”

In the ongoing proceedings against USA Gymnastics still at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, this case is not binding as it’s a state court decision. But many of the cases against USA Gymnastics and the USOPC in the Nassar abuse scandal have been filed in California and this new decision could impact those cases if there is no resolution to the continuing settlement conference and the cases go to trial.

However, it is also true that the USOPC could well be found to have the requisite “special relationship” once one or more of its officers were informed of the abuses by former USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar, reportedly in July of 2015.

For the USOPC, this decision is still good news, at least retrospectively. However, its increased responsibility for NGB oversight in the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020 means whatever advantage it received on Thursday from the California Supreme Court might be recalibrated in the future.

And the USOPC is certain to remain much concerned about the financial health of its NGBs in cases like this one where the federation could be subject to severe financial penalties.

The one sure result is that Brown, Gatt and Borden – and USA Taekwondo and the other defendants – are headed back to a California trial court.

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For our 649-event International Sports Calendar for 2021 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LANE ONE: After 22 months, “Hayward Field” opens in Eugene as a new temple for track & field

Rich Perelman

April 1, 2021

tsx pix 2021-401 hayward field tower view 750 (uo) — View from the tower of the new Hayward Field at the University of Oregon (Photo: University of Oregon)

After a controversial and seemingly-endless construction process, the new version of Oregon’s famed Hayward Field will open for competition tomorrow (2nd) with the “Hayward Premiere,” a meet for more than a dozen schools in a facility which was described in a Thursday news conference as a “theater designed specifically for track & field.”

University of Oregon head coach Robert Johnson told reporters that, specifically, this facility is about Oregon track & field:

“One of the things from the start, that was one of the premises, is that this is going to be a facility for the University of Oregon track and field. And so that was first and foremost, from the very first minute that I walked into my first [coordination committee] meeting two years ago is that, sure, the World Championships are here, and the NCAAs and all the other meets, but first and foremost, this was a facility that was going to house and showcase the University of Oregon track & field program.”

In that light, Creative Director and Visual Branding lead Todd Van Horne explained the emphasis:

“[W]hat we describe as athlete-centered design. And what we mean by that is that this wasn’t just a theater, or a stadium that we just going to be built and just going to be occupied on game day. I think Coach [Johnson] from the start challenged us to make this active, every single day of the week, every single moment of the day, you can train day and night, year-round, you have all of these avenues that just become, as we said, what the athlete needs and that’s what we put into this design.

“We really took to this notion about the future. We wanted to respect the past, and Hayward Field has 100 years of amazing history, and take all that respect of the past and present it for the future. Basically, we’re throwing down the gauntlet for track & field for the next 100 years and we’re really proud of that.”

Johnson expanded on the team effort involved that stretched way beyond the architects, coaches and planners:

“I’ve been a lot of places, and the attention to detail is uncanny. We talk about the athletes, but athletes were a huge piece, but everybody involved.

“[W]e talked to the janitors and what space they needed. We talked to the A/V people, what do they need? We talked to the grounds crew, what do they need? We talked to the track people and the surfacing people, what do they need? We talked to the wind study people, what do they need? We talked to AVI and the video screen people, what do they need? And we talked to concession people, what did they need? …

“So, there’s everything that’s been thought of for our student-athletes and everybody involved. And then least, but not least, don’t forget the fans. Like, why do we need 22-inch seats? Maybe I’m on the narrow side of things, but I don’t need 22-inch seats to sit in, that’s comfortable, that has cup holders. Why do we need to give enough space to where your knees aren’t jammed up on the seat in front of you? So, I challenge you guys to find what we missed.”

SRG Partners lead architect Jeff Yrazabal underscored the importance of the fans and Eugene’s long-time love affair with track & field:

“It really was all about intimacy, and you feel it when you’re there. It’s a big stadium, but it doesn’t feel like a big stadium. This is an intimate place, everyone is on top of the action, and all of that benefits the athletes when they feel that energy and emotion from everyone in the place. Intimacy, proximity, being on top of the track, feeling it on the track all the way around, on lane nine, the connection, really drove a lot of it.

“The continuous roof and the spatial enclosure is a big deal in creating the intimacy and a sense of place. Acoustics, you know that really plays into energy … it’s going to be loud. It’s going to be awesome when fans can finally be there and can cheer the athletes on. The roof plays a big role is really creating that noise and energy for the athletes to feel as they are running around the track. …

“We were challenged from the very beginning to say every single person who’s there has to have an incredible experience. And so, you start with some of the data, you know, there’s wider treads, more leg room, comfortable seats – 22 inches wide – for every single person in the facility. That’s unlike any other facility in the world. You see premium experiences for a select few in some venues; here, every single person at Hayward Field is going to have an awesome experience.”

Van Horne detailed a fascinating element of the project, dealing with the facility as it impacts the Oregon track team members:

“It’s about the functional part of the training, but it’s also about their life as well. So, there’s parts that are just woven in where they’ve got now, a team lounge and a team theater and even a barber shop area. You know, things that can address their whole life, that they’re not having to bounce around; it feels like a home for them. So I think that’s probably the most important thing.

“What they were saying is, dealing with the functional side of training is probably a little bit easier because it’s kind of, ‘oh, we need to do this, it’s nuts and bolts,’ but when you try to make somebody feel comfortable, and at home, and loved, you know, that’s probably a little bit harder equation. So I think that’s what we really tried to embed within the rest of the building, even beyond the functional spaces.”

In fact, Oregon team members have at their disposal in the new team area – per the colorful press kit distributed before the news conference– to:

● Blue Ribbon Business Office
● Duck Pond Team Lounge
● Equipment room and laundry
● Locker rooms
● Razor Bill’s barbershop and salon
● Sports medicine, treatment and rehabilitation center:
= Active & passive treatment
= Boost anti-gravity treadmills
= Hydrotherapy
= Massage
= Sleep pods
● Team auditorium
● Waffle shop nutrition area

Whatever happened to being part of the student body?

The nine-lane facility has seating for 12,650 and can be expanded to 25,000, with the ultimate expansion to no doubt be tested for the 2022 World Athletics Championships. There is a separate area for the hammer throw – a plus for safety – and apparently three permanent concession stands, which should be a significant upgrade from the primitive food services available in the old facility.

Nearly all of the seats are covered by the curved roof, which incorporates significant wooden elements as a salute to the important of lumber in Oregon’s history; the original Hayward Field build in 1919 was all-wood construction. A nine-story, 118-foot, eight-inch tower stands as a landmark along Agate Street, reminiscent of the giant, 235-foot tower (71.72 m) at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland.

After all the hubbub, Johnson said can’t wait for his own team to experience competition in the new facility:

“We have 106 people on our roster here, and there’s less than 30 people that’s ever competed at Hayward Field. … They don’t know what that Hayward magic is.”

Rich Perelman
Editor

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For our 649-event International Sports Calendar for 2021 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

HEARD AT HALFTIME: U.S. Tokyo ticket buyers to lose 20% CoSport fee; Milan-Cortina logo elected; Ross & Klineman clinch Tokyo berth

Rich Perelman

March 30, 2021

On their way to Tokyo: U.S. beach stars April Ross (l) and Alix Klineman (Photo: USA Volleyball)

News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport:

(For coverage of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s new protest regulations for trials events, click here)

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● CoSport is the authorized ticket reseller for the National Olympic Committees in Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Jordan, Norway, Sweden and the United States.

On Saturday (27th), CoSport USA e-mailed a letter signed by company president Robert Long which noted that the Tokyo 2020 organizers will refund the face value of tickets purchased and shipping costs, but not until the third quarter of 2021. Also:

“We hope you understand CoSport is unable to go beyond the Terms & Conditions [in the purchase agreement] and refund the rest of your costs, namely the 20 percent handling fee. Authorized Ticket Resellers, such as CoSport, conduct international ticket programs on behalf of organizing committees and are allowed to charge this fee for doing so. As the program was developed and mostly implemented a year ago, this fee has been expended. In fact, due to the refund process, some of our costs, such as financial transaction processing fees and currency conversion, will be doubled.”

The refund process – such as it is – for U.S. ticket buyers requires a submittal by purchasers by 9 April. The form cancels all ticket orders, and “release[s] CoSport from any further claim related to these orders.” That will not sit well with any attorneys who purchased tickets from CoSport.

There was a highly negative reaction to the letter on Twitter, of course, but also a posting of a notice from the broker – Team GB Live – in Great Britain which included:

“We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that if you have bought a travel package(s) through us, they are protected by our Covid-19 guarantee, offering a 100% refund.

“We will therefore be in touch as soon as possible with information on how you obtain your refund.”

This is only the beginning of this story; more to come.

Further to Monday’s Lane One story on the impact of Japan’s desire to cut as many as 30,000 accredited visitors to Japan for the Games, out of a total of 90,000, the IOC posted a question-and-answer session with several Olympic broadcasters.

Gary Zenkel, the head of the NBC Olympics unit, explained that the network may reduce its headcount in Tokyo by about 10% – it had 2,000 people in Rio in 2016 – but:

“If you are viewer of NBC’s Olympic coverage here in the USA, your experience, if it had taken place in the summer of 2020 versus what you will have the opportunity to watch in the summer of 2021, other than environmentally, [is] not going to be different.”

However, Francois Messier, the CBC Executive Producer of Productions and Sport indicated that the network had 285 staff in Sochi (RUS) for the 2014 Winter Games, but has been cutting back since. It plans for 130 staff in Tokyo and 250 more in studios in Canada in Toronto or Montreal:

“We will have a position in the Olympic Stadium for all the athletics [events] and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Also from the pool, where we [tend to] have good results for Canadian athletes. And the pool also includes diving, where we also have some good competitors. We will also be calling gymnastics and basketball. The rest will be called either from Toronto or Montreal.”

Achim Hammer, the creative director for German public network ZDF, which shares Olympic rights with the ARD public network, added:

“For the first time, due to the overall situation around COVID-19, we are organising production mainly from Germany. … Our aim is that the spectators receive the same service as they have been used to receiving from ARD and ZDF and do not notice the new production form.

“Editing is done in Germany. We have ENG [electronic news-gathering] crews with reporters onsite, who provide footage, interviews, etc. but editorially the pieces, stories, etc. are done in Germany. Most of the commentary is off-tube [from the televised feed] and comes from Germany. Only selected sports will have commentary positions onsite.”

All agreed that the use of remote production is only going to increase in the future.

The French-language site FrancsJeux polled a several press agencies, with Agence France Presse still planning to take 150-160 people to Tokyo. Emmanuel Pionnier said:

“The constraints linked to the health crisis will modify our coverage of the event. We will have to adapt and be more creative. For example, we used to have 8 journalists on athletics, all languages combined. We may not have as many seats in the stadium in the press gallery. Suddenly, we will go elsewhere, on sports that are usually less covered … We have to do our agency job, being where others are not.”

The famed French all-sport daily L’Equipe still plans to take up to 35: 25 reporters, three editors, 4-5 photographers and some support staff, but the AroundTheRings.com site in the U.S. – which specializes in the business of the Olympics rather than the competitions – will keep its staff home and have only its Japanese correspondents on the ground in Tokyo.

While Japan is committed to holding the Games beginning in July, there are warnings from in-country medical observers, such as infectious-disease specialist Dr. Norio Sugaya at Keiyu Hospital in Yokohama told The Associated Press:

“It is best to not hold the Olympics given the considerable risks. The risks are high in Japan. Japan is dangerous, not a safe place at all. Tens of thousands of foreigners are going to be entering the country, including mass media, in a short period of time … the challenges are going to be enormous.”

● Games of the XXXIV Olympiad: Los Angeles 2028 ● The LA28 Chief Marketing Officer, Amy Gleeson, shared a little more of the organizing committee’s view of its approach to the next seven years in a short interview with C-Suite Quarterly earlier this month:

“While we’re still very much in the early days, we are working to highlight the many voices of L.A. to write the LA28 story together. Los Angeles is a city that defies a singular identity. We’re a collection of individuals and stories that come together to make L.A. what it is: a city where everyone is different and where creativity flourishes in that diversity. …

“L.A.’s strength is in its diversity. It’s a place unlike any other. Here in L.A., we have hundreds of cultures coming together with different beliefs, different backgrounds, different languages, and deeply personal stories. We celebrate individuality and self-expression and make space for everyone while coming together as one community.

“The LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games are a chance to shine a light on those stories and be more inclusive and equitable around stories that may be underrepresented. One example is telling stories of people with disabilities. While 2028 will be the third time Los Angeles hosts the Olympic Games, it’s the first time the Paralympic Games will be in L.A. We have an unprecedented chance to raise awareness and understanding for people living with physical disabilities, not only in 2028, but ahead of the Games as well, through storytelling, policies, and advocacy.”

Gleeson, a U.C. San Diego grad, was the director of marketing for Madison Square Garden from 1998-2004 and then moved to credit-card giant Visa from 2005-17, where she managed – among other roles – the company’s Olympic marketing, global brand and sponsorship marketing for the 2012 Olympic and 2010 and 2014 Winter Games.

● XXV Olympic Winter Games: Milan-Cortina 2026 ● The logo for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy was chosen in a vote in which 871,000-plus votes were cast online (from 169 countries), and with almost 75% choosing the ice-on-white “Futura” design.

● U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee ● The USOPC’s Athletes Advisory Council and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency continued their campaign for change at the World Anti-Doping Agency with a joint statement on Monday (29th), which included:

“All athletes have been promised the opportunity for a fair, safe, and level-playing field and WADA must transform itself immediately to deliver on this agreement.

“As WADA has acknowledged the need to reform and now embarks on a governance reform consultation with stakeholders, athletes and NADOs call for more independence, transparency, and accountability at WADA. The only way WADA can achieve these objectives is to eliminate conflict of interest and truly embrace athlete input.”

The statement called for enhancement in the athlete’s share of voice, more independence in governance including a new rule that “no sport official should be permitted to serve on the WADA Executive Committee,” and fuller public transparency, with all Executive Committee and Foundation Board decisions made public.

A closing comment included, “Without athletes, WADA would cease to exist.” What is also true is without the funding by the IOC and national governments around the world, it would never have existed at all, or exist in the future.

● Athletics ● Marquise Goodwin was a 2012 Olympian in the long jump, finishing 10th but has spent most of his time playing wide receiver for Buffalo and San Francisco of the NFL. But as a free agent, he has time to go back to long jumping and showed he might have to be reckoned with at the Olympic Trials in June.

Goodwin, now 30, reached 8.12 m (26-7 3/4) to win the Florida International Pro Addition long jump last Saturday in Miramar, Florida, moving to fifth on the outdoor world list for 2021. He has a lifetime best of 8.45 m (27-8 3/4) from 2016. Stay tuned.

Another astonishing tale in the long-distance shoe wars came from Britain’s Chris Thompson, 39, won secured his place in Tokyo (actually, Sapporo) with a come-from-behind lifetime best of 2:10:52 to win the national Olympic Marathon Trials. He lowered his 2014 best of 2:11:19 and reached the Olympic qualifying standard easily.

Just as amazing was the report that despite being sponsored on On Running, he wore Nike VaporflyNext% shoes, which he painted over in all-black to obscure the Swoosh logo. Just as extraordinary was that he did so with On’s permission!

Canada’s Running Magazine reported, “While On Running does have a carbon-plated shoe, the Cloudboom, it is not yet up to the standards that Nike, Adidas, ASICS and other brands have created” and allowed Thompson to try for the Games in one of the best shoes available. However, at the awards ceremony, Thompson was once again wearing white On racers.

One of the mystery meets on the USA Track & Field “Journey to Gold” schedule has been fixed: the 24 April “USATF Grand Prix” will in fact be the Oregon Relays, to be held at the new Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. This will be a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet.

The USATF Throws Festival will be held in Tucson, Arizona on 22 May and will be a Continental Tour Silver meet.

● Basketball ● Many sports have worked tirelessly to introduce new competitions, leagues and series, most of which have failed to attract worldwide attention. That’s one of the reasons that the launch of the Basketball Africa League will be closely watched.

A project of the International Basketball Association (FIBA) and the NBA, the Basketball Africa League will start on 16 May in Kigali, Rwanda. The league includes 12 club teams, with one each from Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia. Each club will play an 18-game schedule, with eight teams qualifying for single-elimination playoffs.

Will this work? Can the NBA’s expertise create a unique, exciting and alluring new league in Africa? This is an experiment very much worth watching.

● Beach Volleyball ● “The ‘A Team’ now has 9,080 provisional Olympic ranking points and no U.S. team can move ahead of it.”

That’s from a USA Volleyball announcement that with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) confirming only five more beach volleyball World Tour events will be held in 2021, the team of April Ross and Alix Klineman have mathematically clinched a spot in the top two among American women’s teams and have qualified for Tokyo.

A maximum of two teams from one country can compete in the men’s and women’s beach tournaments in Tokyo. In addition to Ross and Klineman, currently ranked no. 1 in the FIVB standings, the other American contenders include (with current FIVB rankings):

5. Brooke Sweat/Kerri Walsh Jennings, 6,960 points
6. Kelly Claes/Sarah Sponcil, 6,720
7. Kelley Kolinske/Emily Stockman, 6,320

Among the men, the top U.S. contenders:

8. Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb, 7,000 points
13. Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, 6,400
14. Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb, 6,360

Sweat and Walsh Jennings have been moving up steadily, but the U.S. entries will be decided after a three-event program in Cancun (MEX) from 16 April-2 May, then tournaments in Sochi (RUS) and Ostrava (CZE).

● Equestrian ● The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) approved a return to competition beginning 12 April after a devastating outbreak of the Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) in Europe.

The disease “originated in Valencia (ESP) in February 2021 and has led to the FEI cancelling international events in 11 countries on the European mainland from 1 March to 11 April 2021.” Some 18 deaths of horses are linked to the virus, with cases reported in Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and Qatar.

Competitions were canceled in a dozen European countries, but can be held again starting next month, with added precautions being taken.

● Modern Pentathlon ● No more free modern pentathlon streaming from the UIPM!

The federation announced recently that full-length coverage of major competitions is now by subscription, at €29.99 (~$35.29 U.S.) for the year, but with 50% off available for the remainder of 2021.

Live coverage on the federation’s streaming service of the final event – the Laser Run – and highlights of the prior events, will remain available for free (with registration required). Per the federation:

“Subscribers will receive unlimited access for a full year to all live streams in the UIPM Pentathlon World Cup and World Championships. All disciplines are included: Swimming (World Cup Final, World Championships only), Fencing Bonus Round, Riding and Laser Run.”

The UIPM service started in 2016, and it’s the latest in a long line of sports content providers taking the direct-to-consumer route.

Unfortunately, in the first World Cup event of the season – and the first under the new access rules – the Laser Run finale in Budapest (HUN) on 27 March was not available: “[T]echnical issues prevented us from live-streaming the exciting climax of the day and we are sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment caused.”

● Swimming ● Perhaps it’s not really that important, but comebacking Ryan Lochte – the 12-time Olympic medal winner, now 36 – beat sprint superstar Caeleb Dressel in the 200 m Individual Medley at the ISCA Senior Cup in St. Petersburg, Florida on 24 March.

The time wasn’t amazing, 1:59.72 to 2:00.50, which moved Lochte to only no. 15 on the 2021 world list, but with heavy training continuing, it’s worth noting. Dressel is not likely to undertake this event at the Olympic Trials, but for Lochte to win against the likely dominant male swimmer of the upcoming Games is a measure of the veteran’s competitiveness, in an event in which he is a three-time Olympic medal winner.

● At the BuZZer ● One of the great coaches in swimming, Eddie Reese, 79, announced his retirement after his Texas Longhorns won the 2021 NCAA men’s Swimming Championship in Greensboro last weekend.

Reese won NCAA titles with Longhorn teams in the 1980s-90-00s-10s-20s, a sensational 15 in total. He was the U.S. Olympic swimming coach in 1992, 2004 and 2008, and was an assistant coach for the U.S. in 1996, 2000 and 2012.

Swimming World Magazine reported that Reese’s retirement came quickly:

“Reese said that he just decided within the last week that he would be retiring. Reese called Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte on Saturday (while he was at NCAAs but before Texas officially clinched the national championship) to tell Del Conte of his decision to retire, but Reese did not tell his swimmers until a 3 p.m. meeting Monday afternoon.”

An astonishing run for a coach who coached 22 Olympic gold-medal winners, and has been widely praised for his work over 43 seasons at Texas; he will continue to work with his athletes through the U.S. Olympic Trials, with assistant Wyatt Collins to take over in the future.

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THE BIG PICTURE: USOPC issues protest guidelines, but only for Olympic and Paralympic Trials events

Rich Perelman

March 30, 2021

The long-awaited regulations concerning acceptable forms of protest by American athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games … have not yet been issued.

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced today (30th) its “Participant Rules for Racial and Social Demonstrations,” a nine-page document that applies only to Olympic and Paralympic Trials events, to be held – of course – in the U.S.:

“The rules apply to all future U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Trials events and are not applicable to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, or any competition or forum outside of Trials venues. The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee have jurisdiction over the Olympic and Paralympic Games and enforce Rule 50 and Section 2.2. The USOPC’s guidance for the Games will be published separately in the coming months once the IOC and IPC issue their policies.”

This is an exceedingly careful and clever step by the USOPC, an organization which is literally surrounded on this issue on four sides:

● By its named and potential Olympic and Paralympic athletes, some of whom have expressed a deep desire for demonstrations and protests, at least at the Olympic Games;

● By the U.S. Congress, which will have the power in seven months time to “dissolve” the USOPC Board by a Joint Resolution, and which has created a commission to study the USOPC (but still waiting for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) to name her four appointees);

● By the IOC, which has telegraphed that the findings of its Athletes’ Commission will recommend no protests be allowed during victory or other formal ceremonies events at the Games, but will likely liberalize other “expression” opportunities;

● By American fans, who – in a politically divided country – may or may not tolerate athlete protests at the Games.

Further, by seeing the reaction of all four of these groups to the Trials regulations, the USOPC Board can gauge its next steps once the IOC’s own revision – if any – to Olympic Charter Rule 50 (which bans all protests and demonstrations) if made later this spring.

The new Trials regulations state “Racial and Social Demonstrations (as defined below) will not be punished or undermined by the USOPC, nor will they affect an athlete’s participation rights at a U.S. Olympic or Paralympic Trials event” and elaborated further as:

“As a general matter, Demonstrations are not permitted at Trials Venues. However, Participants may engage in [Racial and Social] Demonstrations at Trials Venues. A Participant’s choice to engage in an R&S Demonstration at a Trials Venue will not impact team selection, team participation, or results, to the extent it is within the control of the NGB or the USOPC. …

“If a Participant engages in a Demonstration that includes Impermissible Elements at a Trials Venue, then the USOPC will determine a proportionate consequence for the violation of these Rules, which may range from a warning to removal or disqualification, based on the severity of the violation. The USOPC will also determine, on a case-by-case basis, proportionate consequences for Other Demonstrations.”

There is a detailed procedure for reporting, weighing and deciding on any possible sanctions once reported. The questions will come from the definitions of acceptable protests; the document defines “Racial and Social Demonstrations” as:

“A Demonstration, which does not include any Impermissible Elements, that is aimed at (1) advancing racial and social justice; or (2) promoting the human dignity of individuals or groups that have historically been underrepresented, minoritized, or marginalized in their respective societal context.”

The document specifically includes in this definition:

● “Wearing a hat or face mask with phrases such as ‘Black Lives Matter’ or ‘Trans Lives Matter’ or words such ‘equality’ or ‘justice’.”

● “Orally advocating for equity/equal rights for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals, or other historically underrepresented, marginalized or minoritized populations.”

● “Holding up one’s fist at the start line or on the podium.”

● “Kneeling on the podium or at the start line during the national anthem”

● “Advocating for equal treatment of underrepresented, marginalized, or minoritized groups around the world, or against systemic barriers to such equal treatment.”

● “Advocating for communities free from police violence, or against systemic police discrimination against Black individuals or other marginalized populations.”

Impermissible elements are defined as:

“Any element of a Demonstration that (a) advocates specifically against other people, their dignity, or their rights, which may include Hate Speech, Racist Propaganda, or threatening, abusive, or Discriminatory Remarks; (b) physically impedes or discourages Trials or medal ceremony participation by another Participant; (c) causes physical harm to others or to property; or (d) violates applicable laws. Impermissible Elements include, for example, the use of slurs, discriminatory remarks or gestures that denigrate, ridicule, or mock a person or persons based upon their race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, economic status, nationality, or country of origin.”

Not surprisingly, the Confederate flag is considered impermissible. But impermissible conduct also includes “Protests aimed explicitly against a specific organization, person, or group of people.” How does that work in the case of protests in favor of the Uyghur minority in China, currently being horrifically oppressed by the Chinese government?

There are clearly some grey lines in the document and the USOPC offers both help and a warning in two footnotes:

● “No policy can provide specific or definitive guidance for every possible demonstration. If a Participant has a question about a particular demonstration or element of these Rules, they can reach out to USOPC Athlete Services at [email protected] to obtain guidance.”

● “The USOPC may review an athlete’s apparel and equipment before an athlete enters the Trials Venue to determine if any logos, markings, or other physical Demonstrations include Impermissible Elements or are Other Demonstrations.”

This rules document follows through on the USOPC’s commitment to issue rules well in advance of the Games, in this case for U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Trials events. The regulations themselves are part outlet valves for domestic interests, and part trial balloons to try and impact what is – at present – a losing position at the international level concerning the protest and demonstration rules for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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LANE ONE: Japan is serious, wants to chop foreign accreditees for Tokyo Games by 30,000 in added anti-Covid safety measure

Rich Perelman

March 29, 2021

If there was any doubt about how serious Japan is about hosting this summer’s Olympic Games as safely as is possible in the midst of a global pandemic, there is none now. On Friday (26th), the International Olympic Committee posted a message which included:

“[T]he Japanese government had made it very clear that [the foreign spectator ban] also requires a very significant reduction in the numbers of accredited participants who do not have essential and operational responsibilities. For obvious reasons, the IOC and IPC had to fully accept and respect these conclusions. …

“The IOC [Executive Board] has cancelled or reduced the IOC Guest Programme, the invitations to Olympic athlete legends and a number of other programmes. It will also not grant accreditation to any accompanying guest in any category.”

Kyodo News reported:

● “About 90,000 people had been expected to enter Japan from abroad, including about 30,000 athletes, coaches and team members.” This includes 11,000+ athletes for the Olympic Games and more than 4,000 for the Paralympic Games, and the accompanying staffs from their National Olympic Committees.

● That leaves about 60,000 others, of which the Japanese would like to see 30,000 cut. That includes news media, which take up a big part of that number.

For Rio in 2016, there were 25,696 news media accredited – that’s 43% of 60,000 – including:

(1) 12,912 from rights-holding broadcasters, including NBC from the U.S.

(2) 6,877 from the Host Broadcaster, the Olympic Broadcast Service (OBS)

(3) 5,897 press and photographers from around the world

There were an additional 6,695 news media who were supported by a special media center operated by the Rio de Janeiro government and not accredited for the Games. That program will have to essentially be eliminated.

To obtain the kind of reductions that the Japanese are looking for, there will be some hard conversations with broadcasters who have paid $1 billion or more – in the case of NBC – to broadcast the Games. True, broadcasters will be able to access the host signal in real time in their home studios via the new OBS Cloud service being provided by IOC sponsor Alibaba, but will that be enough? NBC alone had 2,000 production staff at the 2016 Games, working in the International Broadcast Center and the venues. Now what, especially since the host broadcast function really cannot be reduced?

Moreover, the reductions on entry for press and photographers, already facing difficult coverage restrictions from the IOC’s “playbook” requirements, will force some potentially devastating choices for National Olympic Committees, which are the entities responsible for assigning press and photo credentials from their country for the Games. No NOC will be shut out, but how will – for example – the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee make massive cuts in a country which is primarily regional in its news coverage, spread among newspapers, magazines and online services.

Much more pressure will descend on the international news agencies which service multiple countries, such as the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Presse. But they will be asked to bring less staff as well.

The same pressure will be applied – sparingly? – to the thousands of technicians who come to the Games to install, operate and maintain the scoring, timing, scoreboard, security and many other systems that are part of the event. Will this make a difference in the eventual operations, or even the outcome of matches, games or races? Let’s hope not.

A whole host of folks who are always part of a multi-sports event such as an Olympic Games will be pushed away:

● Accompanying guests (spouses)? Out.
● Guest programs? Out.
● International Federation board members who are not officiating? Out.
● International Federation congresses and meetings? No.
● Observers for future Games or other mega-events? Out.
● Sponsor guests? Out.

The result is that much less will be known about how the Tokyo Games are run – both good and bad – than in recent editions, simply because less people who work in Olympic sport will attend. That is not a long-term positive for the Olympic Movement.

In case you were wondering about the IOC itself, Friday’s message specifically noted: “IOC Members as the ultimate decision-making body of the IOC are playing such an essential and operational role and will attend the Games.”

It’s completely unclear what the future impact of Japan’s actions against the virus, especially this one, will be for future Games. For decades, the IOC and its national partners worked diligently to build up the Games and have as many media, guests and side events as could be handled by the organizing committee in an effort to make the Olympic Games as important, as big and as desirable as possible.

But the Games is now, first and foremost, a television event. With the worldwide connectivity we have all learned to use during the pandemic, is an Olympic experience in your own country – or even a highly desirable resort location in a third country – just as meaningful, with evening interviews with athletes, coaches or experts on big screens during and/or after dinner. Would an Olympic sponsor prefer a Paris 2024 guest program that could include betting, in Monte Carlo, instead?

It will be up to the Paris 2024 organizers to decide how it views non-spectator attendance at the Games. Other organizing committees have pushed back against some of the ancillary events, guests and partying and the IOC has worked to smooth over these concerns, up to a point. Paris could decide to make a major tourism push and invite everyone to come, or could be more circumspect.

The lesson of Japan’s insistence on slimming the Games to its core to protect its citizens from Covid-19 exposure is that as the Games get close, the organizing committee is more and more in charge. After all, what is the IOC going to do? Take the Games away?

No. The IOC knows this, of course, and there are members who remember well this lesson from the Beijing organizers in 2008 … and perhaps again next year.

As IOC chief Thomas Bach said in January: “We just have to ask for patience, and understanding, and we are asking for this patience, you know, from the athletes, from the National Olympic Committees, the IFs, the Japanese people, the organizing committee; everybody.”

Everybody. Yes, everybody.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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FOOTBALL: Honduras beats U.S., 2-1, in Olympic Qualifying Tourney semifinal to earn Tokyo berth; U.S. eliminated

Rich Perelman

March 28, 2021

/Updated to include Mexico-Canada report/ On a sunny, 90-degree afternoon in Guadalajara, Mexico, Honduras was more aggressive when it counted and got some luck to defeat the U.S. U-23 team, 2-1, in the first semifinal of the CONCACAF men’s (U-23) Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The win sends Honduras into the Olympic men’s tournament in Tokyo and the U.S. was eliminated, missing its third straight Olympic Games.

The game started slowly, with both sides playing cautiously for the first 26 minutes, then stopping for a water break thanks to the heat. Honduras got two clean shots at American keeper David Ochoa, first in the 18th from Edwin Rodriguez at top of the box and then from Luis Palma in the 21st minute. The U.S. had a couple of promising attacks, but no shots on goal.

Ochoa saved a third shot off the re-start, but the game degraded into an ineffective series of attacks until stoppage time. With just seconds left in the game, the game got chippy and after a yellow card was handed to U.S. defender Henry Kessler for a tackle against Juan Carlos Obregon, Honduras scored.

A scramble near the endline saw a cross to the front of the net that was saved by Ochoa, but then Obregon bodied the ball forward into the goal past Ochoa for a 1-0 lead. Possession was even in the half, but Honduras has five shots to two for the U.S. and the only real chances at scores.

The U.S. had to be more aggressive in the second half, but its Olympic fate was sealed just two minutes in, as Ochoa lazily cleared a backpass that was flicked at by Honduras striker Luis Palma and the ball rolled back, behind Ochoa and into the net for a 2-0 lead.

After Honduras’s Jose Reyes barely missed a third goal, American midfielder Jackson Yueill took control of the ball and then turned to the top of the box and sent a right-footed rocket curling into the top left corner of the Honduran goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 52nd minute.

The U.S. increased the pressure and Yueill just missed another score on a free kick that was saved by Honduran keeper Alex Guity, prior to another water break in the 73rd minute. The U.S. created chance after chance in the final 10 minutes, but was unable to get the ball into the goal again.

The U.S. ended with 57% of the possession, but was outshot, 10-7, and where Honduras made the most of its chances, the Americans did not.

Honduras will go to its fourth straight Olympic tournament, and defeats the U.S. for the second time in a row in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying semifinal; the score was 2-0 in October 2015. The last U.S. men’s Olympic appearance was in 2008.

The second semifinal between Mexico and Canada followed the U.S.-Honduras match, with the winner going to Tokyo. Despite having only 35% possession in the first half and being out-shot by 6-2, Canada held Mexico scoreless.

The 0-0 tie continued into the second half, but a Canadian mistake on a clearance resulted in a pass to Uriel Antuna at the right of the goal and he sent it onto the back of the net in the 58th minute for a 1-0 lead for Mexico.

Then a second goal in the 65th minute salted the game away. An elegant free kick from Sebastian Cordova found the head of Johan Vazquez, whose shot smashed into the crossbar. But it then hit Canadian defender Callum Montgomery on the rebound and fell right back to Vasquez’s feet, who finished into the open net.

Mexico finished with 62% of the possession and had a 18-3 advantage in shots, which accurately depicts the one-sided nature of the match. “El Tri” will now be appearing in the men’s Olympic tournament for the third straight time.

The two semifinal winners – Honduras and Mexico, both now on the way to Tokyo – will play for the tournament title on Tuesday, 30 March.

HIGHLIGHTS: Collegiate long jump record for Tara Davis; U.S.’s Gerek Meinhardt wins Foil Grand Prix; U.S. men edge Northern Ireland, 2-1

Rich Perelman

March 28, 2021

tsx pix 2021-328 davis, tara 750 (UnivTx) — Joy for NCAA Indoor Long Jump champ and now collegiate record-holder Tara Davis! (Photo: University of Texas)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

(For coverage of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, click here)

● Athletics ● The Texas Relays once again sizzled, with world-leading marks all over the place and a special performance by NCAA Indoor long jump champ Tara Davis of Texas. First, the outdoor world leaders:

● Men/100 m: 9.94, Ronnie Baker (USA)
● Men/200 m: 19.81, Terrance Laird (USA)
● Men/400 m: 44.62, Bryce Deadmon (USA)
● Men/110 m Hurdles: 13.22, Damion Thomas (JAM)
● Men/Pole Vault: 5.80 m (19-0 1/2), K.C. Lightfoot (USA)

● Women/100 m: 11.12 (=), Tiana Wilson (USA)
● Women/200 m: 22.17, Gabby Thomas (USA)
● Women/400 m: 50.19, Shamier Little (USA)
● Women/Long Jump: 7.14 m (23-5 1/4), Tara Davis (USA)

Davis’s sensational long jump came in the fourth round, after two fouls and a world-leading 6.97 m (22-10 1/2) third-round effort. She exploded off the board on her next try, with just a 1.0 m/s wind aid, reaching 7.14 m (23-5 1/4) to break Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s 6.99 m (22-11 1/4) mark for UCLA back in 1985.

Davis, the 2015 World Youth Champion in the event, entered 2021 with a best of 6.73 m (22-1) from 2017, but won the NCAA Indoor at 6.93 m (22-9) before the 6.97 m bomb in the third round and the 7.14 m crusher in round four. She passed the last two rounds, but now stands as the no. 5 long jumper in U.S. history!

Away from Austin, there were also world-leading efforts in the men’s 400 m hurdles (49.34) by Trevor Bassett at the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, North Carolina, and an 8,008-point decathlon by American Steve Bastien at the Adams-Klein multis in Santa Barbara, California.

At the New Zealand national championships in Hastings, men’s shot star Tomas Walsh won his 12th straight title with a world outdoor leading mark of 21.79 m (71-6) while two-time Olympic champ Valerie Adams won her 17th career national shot championship at 18.43 m (60-5 3/4).

● Biathlon ● The U.S. Biathlon national championships were on this week in West Yellowstone, Montana, with Sprint, Pursuit an Super-Sprint races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Joanne Reid and Scott Lacy were the big winners, with Reid sweeping all three of the women’s event. She won the 7.5 km Sprint on Friday ahead of Kelsey Dickinson, 23:39.2-24:44.2, with Lucy Hochschartner third (26:02.1). On Saturday. Reid took the 10 km Pursuit in 34:01.0, way in front of Dickinson (36:07.2) and Hochschartner (37:16.4). In Sunday’s 5 x1 km Sprint, the top three were the same again: Reid (20:18.0), Dickinson (22:37.5) and Hochschartner (23:28.9).

Lacy won the 10 km Sprint by more than a minute, finishing in 28:57.7 over Adam Farabaugh (28:59.4) and Luke Brown (30:17.4). On Saturday, Lacy scored again in the 12.5 km Pursuit, winning in 40:05.7, comfortably ahead of Brown (40:56.3) and Farabaugh (44:29.8.). Sunday saw Farabaugh win the 5 x 1 km Super Sprint in 23:40.9, with Brown second (23:44.8) and Lacy third (23:50.8).

● Cycling ● The week-long 100th edition of the Volta Ciclista de Catalunya ended on Sunday in Barcelona, finishing a busy week in Europe that included three of the spring’s famous one-day Classics:

● 24 March: Belgium’s 45th men’s Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne covered 203.9 km on a flat, sprinter’s course, with Ireland’s Sam Bennett continuing an already outstanding year by getting to the line first ahead of Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen and German sprinter Pascal Ackermann. Bennett moved had with 800 m and then got to the front with just 200 m to go, passing Philipsen and holding on for his fifth race win of the young season.

● 25 March: The Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne race for women on a flat, 158.8 km course was a breakaway win for Australia’s Grace Brown, 28, her first in a Women’s World Tour event. Not known as a sprinter, she surged with 10 km to go and a chase group of a dozen riders could not catch her. Dane Emma Norsgaard and Belgian stars Jolien D’Hoore and Lotte Kopecky finished 2-3-4 as the top chasers, ending seven seconds behind the winner.

● 26 March: Edition 64 of what is now known as the E3 Saxo Bank Classic covered 203.9 km on a hilly course in and around Harelbeke (BEL), with a runaway victory by Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen. His initial attack with 67 km remaining was finally reeled in by a chasing group of six with 12 km left, but his final move with 4.6 km left was too strong. He finished 32 seconds up on Florian Senechal (FRA), Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel, Belgian Oliver Naesen and defending champ Zdenek Stybar (CZE).

● 28 March: Both the men’s and women’s historic Gent-Wevelgem Races were run on Sunday, with the men covering 254 km from Ypres to Wevelgem and the women on 141.7 km course.

In the men’s race, a seven-man sprint coming to the finish and home favorite Wout van Aert the fastest to the line, just ahead of an Italian trio of Giacomo Nizzolo, Matteo Trentin and Sonny Colbrelli, all given times of 5:45:11. Van Aert scored his third win of the year, after two stage wins in the Tirreno-Adriatico.

Dutch star Marianne Vos, 33, the three-time World Champion, won Gent-Wevelgem for the first time in her historic career, reaching the line first in a final dash ahead of Belgium’s Kopecky, Lisa Brennauer (GER) and Italians Elisa Balsamo and Marta Bastianelli. Vos launched her final attack from 300 m to go and no one could stay with her. Kopecky and Brennauer finished 2-3 in 2021, repeating their positions from 2020!

● 28 March: The centennial edition of the Volta Ciclista de Catalunya was always going to decided in the three climbing stages in the middle of the race. After Australia’s Rohan Dennis conquered the Individual Time Trial in stage 2, Britain’s Adam Yates took charge.

He won the duel on the uphill finish of stage 3 at the 2,145 m top of Vall de Camprodon by 13 seconds over Esteban Chaves (COL) and 19 seconds on home favorite Alejandro Valverde (ESP). That gave him the overall lead in the race by 45 seconds on Australian star Richie Porte and 49 seconds on Portugtal’s Joao Almeida.

That margin did not change during the rest of the week. Chaves won stage 4, with its triple climbs, but Yates was just seven seconds back in fourth as part of the chase pack (with Porte and Valverde). The hilly fifth stage was a runaway for German Lennard Kamna – his third career win – by 39 seconds over Ruben Guerreiro (POR), but where Yates finished fourth, Almeida was 13th and lost time.

Saturday’s sixth stage was a hilly, 193.8 km course that sprint superstar Peter Sagan (SVK) win for his first victory of the year in a final dash over Daryl Impey (RSA) and Colombian Juan Sebastian Milano. Yates finished 20th and entered the final day’s ride in and around Barcelona with the same, 45-second lead on Porte and 49 seconds up on 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas (GBR).

Sunday’s finale in and around Barcelona ended with a runaway win for Belgian Thomas De Gendt, who won by 22 seconds over Matej Mohoric (SLO) and 1:42 over Hungary’s Attila Valter. The leaders followed and the final leaderboard showed Yates the winner by 45 seconds over Porte, , 49 seconds over Thomas and 1:03 over Valverde and Wilco Keldermann (NED).

For Yates, 28, he moved up from second in this race in 2019 to the top spot, winning a multi-stage race for the second consecutive year after a victory in the UAE Tour in 2020.

In the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships in Salinas, Puerto Rico, Jose Ulloe of Mexico was an impressive winner in the Elite Cross Country division, taking the six-lap race in 1:29:03.70, easily ahead of Jonathan Botero (COL: 1:30:29.28) and Cutriel Soto (ARG: 1:31:30.31).

Daniela Campazano completed the Mexican sweep, winning the women’s five-lap race in 1:27:02.70, almost a minute-and-a-half ahead of Sofia Gomez (ARG: 1:28:30.43) with American Kelsy Urban third (1:28:30.97).

● Fencing ● The revived FIE schedule brought the Foil stars to Doha, Qatar for the first Grand Prix of the season, with a significant win for American Gerek Meinhardt.

Ranked second worldwide, Meinhardt scored his third career Grand Prix win and now has a combined 14 career medals in Grand Prix and World Cup events. Meinhardt had to face teammate and fourth-ranked Race Imboden in the semifinals, winning by 15-8, then out-dueling Japan’s Takahiro Shikine in the final by 15-11. Imboden and France’s Alexandre Ediri shared the bronze. For Shikine, it was his first career Grand Prix or World Cup medal.

Russian superstar Inna Deriglazova, 31, shows no signs of slowing as she won her seventh career Grand Prix title and now has 20 combined wins in Grand Prix and World Cup events. Ranked no. 1 in the world coming in, she breezed by China’s Qingyuan Chen by 15-5 in the final, after a tough, 15-10 win over France’s Ysaora Thibus in the semis. Russian Marta Martyanova also shared the bronze medal. The three-time World Champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist Deriglazova remains the prohibitive favorite for Tokyo.

● Football ● The CONCACAF men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament reaches the semifinals today, with Honduras and the U.S. in the first semifinal and Canada and Mexico in the other, both being played in Guadalajara, Mexico this evening. The winners of these two matches will qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Games this summer. (Results will be posted later this evening.)

In the final games in Group B, Canada and Honduras tied, 1-1, giving Honduras the group victory on goal differential (3-2) as both finished 1-0-2 with five points. El Salvador defeated Haiti, 2-1, for third.

The U.S. men’s National Team was in Belfast for a friendly vs. Northern Ireland on Sunday, with goals from Gio Reyna in the first half and a penalty from Christian Pulisic in the second half for a 2-0 victory.

Northern Ireland came in standing 45th in the FIFA World Rankings, but the American side dominated play and created multiple chances from both the starting group and with substitutes in the last half-hour of the game. Reyna scored in the 30th minute with a right-footed shot from outside the box as the U.S. had a 6-3 edge in shots in the half, and 63% of the possession.

The U.S. continued on the attack in the second half and Pulisic was taken down in the box in the 59th minute, then converted the penalty with a hard, low shot past keeper Conor Hazard.

Northern Ireland did little on offense until a surprise goal in the 88th minute on a sensational rocket of a shot by substitute striker Niall McGinn from the right side of the box that flew past U.S. keeper Zack Steffen to cut the score to 2-1.

However, it ended that way and the U.S. ended with 62% of the possession in the game, while both teams had nine shots on goal. This was only the second-ever meeting of the two countries, with Northern Ireland having won, 5-0, back in 1948; the series is now at 1-1. The American side extended its unbeaten streak to nine games (8-0-1) dating back to November of 2019.

● Freestyle Skiing ● World Championships silver medalist Colby Stevenson of the U.S. won the final Slopestyle competition of the season in Silvaplana (SUI) and wrapped up the seasonal title as well.

Stevenson won last week in Aspen and was superb on Saturday (27th), taking the lead in round one at 94.25 – a score no one else reached – and then improving to 96.75 in round two. Norway’s Ferdinand Dahl scored 93.00 on his second trial to finish second, and Alex Hall of the U.S. grabbed third with his 92.25 effort in the second round. Stevenson ended the three-meet season with 245 points, easily ahead of Dahl (172).

The women’s Slopestyle event completed a season’s sweep – 3 for 3 – for France’s Tess Ledeux. Her second-round score of 88.75 bested Swiss Sarah Hoefflin (86.50) and Mathilde Gremaud (83.75). Ledeux ended with a perfect total of 300 points to 124 for Britain’s Kirsty Muir.

● Gymnastics ● Rhythmic gymnastics returned to World Cup competition in Sofia (BUL), with Israel’s Linoy Ashram confirming she will be a medal contender in Tokyo.

She won the All-Around competition with 98.450 points, just ahead of Boryana Kaelin (BUL: 98.250) and Alina Harnasko (BLR: 96.150). American Laura Zeng was seventh at 90.200.

Ashram then won in Ball (26.500), but Kaelyn was the star of the individual finals, winning in Hoop (26.150), Clubs (26.100) and Ribbon (22.150). Ashram also won a bronze in Hoop (26.100). Zeng made the finals in Hoop (6th: 21.800) and Ball (8th: 20.300).

● Judo ● A big field of 441 judoka from 80 countries gathered for the Tbilisi Grand Slam in Georgia, with Canada, Mongolia and Georgia each winning two classes. Many of the top stars did not compete, but that opened the door for others.

The hosts got gold-medal performances from Temur Nozadze (men’s 60 kg) and Gela Zaalishvili (men’s +100 kg); Mongolia enjoyed wins from Tosgtbaatar Tsend-Ochir in the men’s 73 kg class and from Urantsetseg Munkhbat in the women’s 48 kg class. Canadian winners were Shady Elnahas (men’s 100 kg) and veteran Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (women’s 63 kg). Georgia won the most medals overall with nine.

● Modern Pentathlon ● The UIPM World Cup season opened in Budapest (HUN), with a surprise finish in the men’s final, with a 1-2 finish by athletes who had never won a World Cup medal before.

Latvia’s Pavels Svecovs forged a strong lead with second-place finished in the fencing and riding events, plus a seventh in swimming. But he barely held on against a charge from behind by Egypt’s Ahmed Hamed (EGY), who started the Laser Run some 19 seconds down. Both were credited with 1,478 points. Hamed won the fencing and was fourth in riding, but was let down by his swimming, with a 32nd-place finish. Patrick Dogue (GER) finished third with 1,464 points.

Veteran Kate French had a meet to remember, leading a 1-2 finish for Great Britain, , scoring 1,403 points to 1,388 for teammate Joanna Muir. French had the best fencing record in the history of the sport, winning 31 of 35 matches for a record total of 286 points; the old best was 280 (30 wins in 35 matches) by Xiaonan Zhang (CHN: 2013) and Lena Schoeneborn (GER: 2015).

Although only 17th in the pool and 21st in riding, French posted the ninth-fastest Laser Run and won with style for her fourth career World Cup gold. Starting with a nine-second lead over the field, French eventually won by 15 seconds over Muir. Gintare Venckauskaite of Lithuania grabbed the bronze with a strong finish in the final segment of the Laser Run.

Great Britain’s Olivia Green and Joseph Choong won the Mixed Relay on Sunday after dueling with Hungary’s Sarolta Simon and Balazs Szep until the final 300 m of the race. Korea was third.

● Shooting ● Host India dominated the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, finishing with 30 medals (15-9-6) to eight (4-3-1) for the runner-up U.S.

India won the men’s Team Skeet, Mixed Team Skeet, men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions (Aishwary Tomar), went 1-2-3 in the women’s 25 m Pistol (Chinki Yadav, Rahi Sarnobat and Mahu Bhaker, with American Lexi Lagan sixth), women’s 25 m Team Pistol, Mixed Team 50 m Rifle/3 Positions, Men’s Team 50 m Rifle/3 Positions, went 1-2 in the Mixed Team 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol, and won the Mixed Team Trap and the men’s and women’s Team Trap event.

Slovenia’s Ziva Dvorsak won the women’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions (with American Mary Tucker fifth) and Poland won the women’s Team 50 m Rifle/3 Positions. Slovakia’s 2018 World Champion Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova took the women’s Trap title. Daniele Resca (ITA) won the men’s Trap event and Estonia’s Peeter Olesk took the men’s 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol title.

The U.S. trio of Keith Sanderson, Jack Leverett III and Henry Leverett won the men’s Team 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol final over India by 10-2; they were the only teams entered.

● Ski Jumping ● The final jumps of the 2020-21 World Cup season were in Planica (SLO) for the men and Chaykovsky (RUS) for the women.

The enormous 240 m ski-flying hill in Planica hosted three individual competitions and a team event, with Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud already having salted away the seasonal title. On Thursday (25th), it was former World Cup champ Ryoyu Kobayashi talking the win, scoring 452.5 points over Germans Markus Eisenbichler (445.1) and Karl Geiger (431.2).

Weather shortened the second event to one round, with Geiger the winner (237.3) and Kobayashi second (227.7) and Slovenia’s Bor Pavlovcic third (225.2). The final jumping on Sunday saw Geiger confirm his standing as the best ski-flyer of the season, winning at 459.3. Kobayashi completed an excellent end of the season in second (452.4) and Eisenbichler was third (447.9).

For the season, Granerud finished at 1,572 points, well ahead of Eisenbichler (1,190) with Pole Kamil Stoch third (955).

This final weekend of the season was marred by a tragic crash of Norwegian star Daniel Andre Tande, 27, a 2018 Olympic Team Large Hill gold medalist, on Thursday (25th). Competing on the giant 240 m ski-flying hill on a practice run in Planica, he tumbled down the hill after losing control on his skis.

Unconscious, he was airlifted to a hospital in Ljubljana, and placed into a medically-induced coma. He suffered a broken collarbone, but it was reported that his head and neck were undamaged and that he is in stable condition.

The women’s season concluded in Chaykovsky with the Russian Blue Bird Tour, with the two individual competitions on Friday and Sunday. Austria’s Marita Kramer won her third World Cup event in a row, this time off the 102 m hill, scoring 258.1 points to 234.8 for Japan’s Sara Takanashi and 223.4 for Slovenian Nika Kriznar.

On Sunday, jumping off the 140 m hill, Kramer won again – her seven win of the season in 13 events – scoring 136.1 for the single-round event, to 120.1 for Silje Opseth (NOR) and 115.4 for Kriznar. The seasonal race rewarded consistency and went to Kriznar, 21, who finished in the top six in 12 of 13 events and won with 871 points to 862 for Takanashi and 860 for Kramer.

American women’s ski jumping pioneer Sarah Hendrickson announced her retirement on Instagram account on Friday (26th), finishing with 13 World Cup wins, as the 2011-12 seasonal World Cup champion and as 2013 World Champion. But she won’t be far away, writing:

“My career in the sport of ski jumping has undeniably been a dream come true. I am forever in love with this sport and every opportunity and person it has included. As I step away from being an athlete, my dedication to bettering the sport remains a top priority in my life. I will never be too far from the ski jumping family, as I remain involved politically.”

● Snowboard ● The final Slopestyle event of the season was contested in Silvaplana (SUI), with Norway’s Markus Kleveland winning his second race in a row to take the seasonal title. Kleveland defeated Liam Brearley (CAN), 96.00-89.00 to win, with American Chris Corning third (83.25). That gave Kleveland 260 points for the season, well ahead of Brearley’s 116.

The women’s race in Silvaplana was a 1-2 for Japan, with Reira Iwabuchi scoring 91.00 to edge teammate Kokomo Murase (88.75), with Tess Coady (AUS) third at 86.25. Austria’s Olympic Big Air gold medalist Anna Gasser won the seasonal title with 195 points, ahead of Murase (166) and Coady (165).

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FIGURE SKATING: Chen sensational in third straight Figure Skating Worlds win; Russians sweep the rest!

Rich Perelman

March 27, 2021

tsx pix 2021-327 chen, nathan WCh 750 (USFS) — Three-time World Champion Nathan Chen of the U.S. (Photo: U.S. Figure Skating via Twitter)

Going into Saturday’s Free Skate, two-time defending World Champion Nathan Chen of the U.S. was in a hole.

He had finished only third in the Short Program, scoring 98.85 points to 106.98 for two-time Olympic champ Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, and also behind his teammate Yuma Kagiyama, in his first ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

But Chen’s reign as World Champion has been marked by steely concentration when he has needed it most and he produced a sensational Free Skate, including five quadruple jumps, to score a stunning 222.03 points to run away with the competition, at the Ericsson Globe arena in Stockholm (SWE).

Kagiyama had the unenviable task of following Chen, but skated well and scored 190.81. Hanyu, skating last, needed 213.91 to win, but was not in the same form as in the Short Program and scored just 89.78 to place fourth in the Free Skate and dropped to third overall.

Chen’s final tally of 320.88 points ended up winning by a superb 29.11 points over Kagiyama (291.77), followed by Hanyu (289.18), Japan’s Shoma Uno (277.44) and Russian Mikhail Kokyada (272.04). American Jason Brown finished seventh with 262.17.

Said the winner, still just 21: “It’s amazing; the fact that I’m able to be here at this World Championship after that unprecedented year; I’m very happy to be here. I’m very elated right now.

“I just didn’t want to lose that (quad) Lutz again. I had struggled on it a little bit at Nationals as well to start off my free program [where he fell] and I always don’t like starting with an error; it’s hard to regroup after that. My intent was ‘hit the Lutz, move on.’ In theory I can come back, but realistically I know these guys are going to lay [it] down [and I wanted] to be able to leave this competition satisfied with how I skated in the free. I was able to do that so I’m pretty thrilled.”

Chen’s third straight Worlds win is the first time since Canada’s Patrick Chan did it in 2011-12-13 and the first time by an American since Scott Hamilton won four in a row from 1981-84. The record is seven by Austria’s Karl Schaefer from 1930-36.

Russian skaters dominated the Women’s and Pairs.

Anna Shcherbakova, 16, won her first World Championships gold in her first appearance, winning the Short Program and finishing a very close second in the Free Skate. Her total of 233.17 – a lifetime best – was enough to outlast 2015 World Champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (24, 220.46 ~ third in both the Short Program and Free Skate) and teammate Alexandra Trusova (16, 217.20 ~ winner of the Free Skate., also in her first Worlds).

The Russian sweep was the first in the women’s division since 1991, when the U.S. trio of Kristi Yamaguchi, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan went 1-2-3. Russian women have now won five of the last six World titles and won 10 of the 18 total medals awarded in that span.

China’s Wenjing Sui and Cong Han entered as defending Pairs champs and had won two of the last three World titles, but lost out to first-time Worlds performers Anastasia Mishna (19) and Aleksandr Galliamov (21) of Russia.

Russian skaters Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii, in their second Worlds, led after the Short Program, with Sui and Han second. But Mishna and Galliamov rallied during the Free Skate and won it with 151.80 points to 148.09 for the Chinese, with Boikova and Kozlovskii dropping to fourth. That gave Mishna and Galliamov the gold medal at 227.59, to 225.71 for Sui and Han and 217.63 for Boikova and Kozlovskii. Two-time Worlds silver medalists Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov ended up a disappointed fourth (212.76).

American skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier finished seventh (192.10) and Ashley Cain-Gibble and Timothy Leduc were ninth (185.31).

The powerful U.S. Ice Dance entries had earned medals in five straight World Championships and were in good positions for more as Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and Madison Chock and Evan Bates stood 2-3 after the Rhythm Dance behind reigning Worlds silver medalists Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia: 88.15-86.05-85.15.

Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier put heavy pressure on the leaders with a 130.98 score in the Free Dance, and Chock and Bates fell behind them, scoring 127.54. Hubbell and Donohue were better, scoring 128.66 and standing second as Sinitsina and Katsalapov took the ice.

But the Russians came through with a brilliant, winning score of 133.02 to move up from second in 2019, and finished with 221.17 total points, to 214.71 for Hubbell and Donohue and 214.35 for Gilles and Poirier. Madison and Donohue won their third Worlds medal in succession, after a silver in 2018 and bronze in 2019.

The third American entry, Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, finished ninth (188.51).

The Championships will finish on Sunday with an exhibition from the medal winners. The ISU announced two positive Covid tests among he 184 skaters entered for the week-long event, which otherwise was able to be held to the surprise of many within the skating community.

THE TICKER: Olympic Torch Relay is off and running; Brisbane City Council approves 2032 bid; Hanyu superb, Chen falls at ISU Worlds

Rich Perelman

March 25, 2021

tsx pix 2021-325 tokyo relay 750 Iwashimizu Azusa — The start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay (Photo: Tokyo 2020)

The latest news, notes and quotes from the worldwide Five-Ring Circus:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The Olympic Torch Relay began on Thursday in Fukushima prefecture, site of the devastating 2011 earthquake, tsunami and follow-on nuclear disaster.

Members of the Nadeshiko Japan football squad that won the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup started the 121-day run at the J-Village sports complex, with defender Iwashimizu Azusa the first torchbearer. The relay will hit 859 cities and towns while touching all 47 of the country’s prefectures.

Kyodo News reported:

“[T]he relay might be suspended, or some routes of the program may be skipped, if too many people gather on roadsides. Fans are encouraged to turn to live online broadcasts and refrain from traveling outside of their home prefectures to watch the relay.

“Spectators must wear face masks and are also urged to clap rather than cheer. The runners, who will each carry a cherry blossom-motif torch over a distance of about 200 meters, are required to log their health information and asked not to dine out with others.”

The Torch Relay is being counted on as a rallying point for the Games. A Kyodo News poll conducted over last weekend saw only 23.2% in favor of the Olympic and Paralympic Games moving ahead as scheduled; 39.8% thought they should be canceled.

The Russian Olympic Committee has asked the International Olympic Committee for permission to use a one-minute segment from iconic Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in place of its national anthem at the Tokyo Games.

This music is being used this week at the International Skating Union’s World Figure Skating Championships, as the Russian anthem has been barred through 2022 according to the sanctions imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

● Games of the XXXV Olympiad: Brisbane 2032 ● In its first closed-door meeting since 2007, the Brisbane City Council approved the city’s bid for the 2032 Games. The eight-hour session included presentations by Australian Olympic Committee chief (and IOC member) John Coates and the Queensland tourism authority, among others. Council members were required to sign a confidentiality agreement prior to the meeting.

Only one of the 27 council members voted against the proposal.

The bid file, including government guarantees, is expected to be completed in April and forwarded to the International Olympic Committee. If properly submitted, Brisbane (and Queensland) could be formally selected to host the 2032 Games as early as the IOC Session in Tokyo in July.

● World University Games ● The sanctions against Russia imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency – as modified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport – has required the Russian Minister of Sport, Oleg Matytsin, to temporarily resign as the head of the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

The Russian news agency TASS reported, “Switzerland’s Leonz Eder was appointed the acting president of FISU until December 17, 2022, the year when Matytsin is expected to take the FISU presidential seat again.”

Several Russian officials have been required to step away from International Federation posts per the sanctions, which do not allow sitting government officials – like Matytsin – to serve during the penalty period.

● Figure Skating ● The ISU World Championships are underway in Stockholm (SWE), but despite the best intentions, the federation announced on Wednesday (24th):

“During the rigorous testing procedures in place, a second positive case was identified. The ISU and Organizing Committee will respect the privacy of the respective person and inform the remaining Event Participants internally of the situation.

“The ISU can confirm that both cases were detected following the PCR test upon arrival on site prior to accreditation. Consequently, neither person obtained an accreditation nor were they included in the competition bubble which remains secure.”

The women’s and Pairs Short Program was held on Wednesday and the men’s Short Program on Thursday morning. The remaining schedule:

● 25 March: Pairs Free Skate
● 26 March: Ice Dance Rhythm Dance, Women’s Free Skate
● 27 March: Men’s Free Skate, Ice Dance Free Skate

The men’s Short Program belonged to two-time Olympic champ Yuzuru Hanyu, who scored a sensational 106.98 – one of the highest scores ever – more than six points clear of teammate Yuma Kagiyama (100.96) and more than eight points ahead of defending champ Nathan Chen of the U.S. (98.85), who suffered a fall early in his program. Jason Brown of the U.S. was seventh at 91.25.

The women’s Short Program was won by Russia’s Anna Shcherbakova at 81.00, ahead of Rika Kihira (JPN: 79.08) and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS: 78.86). The top Americans were Karen Chen in fourth place (74.40) and Bradie Tennell in seventh (69.87).

Russian entries were 1-3-4 in the Pairs Short Program, led by Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii at 80.16, ahead of China’s Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (77.62). The U.S. entries were 6-7 with Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc (64.94) and Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier (64.67).

Look for complete results here.

● Football ● Competition in Group A of the CONCACAF men’s Olympic (U-23) Qualifying Tournament in Mexico concluded on Wednesday, with the hosts converting a U.S. error into a 1-0 win.

The game went back and forth during a scoreless first half, with the U.S. having 54% of the possession, but Mexico getting the better chances. But with only 30 seconds remaining, a poor clearance by U.S. forward Sebastian Soto led to a hard strike and a goal by Mexico’s Uriel Antuna from the left side of the box and that proved to be the difference.

While Mexico out-shot the U.S. in the first half by 8-1, there was better play from the Americans in the final half, but no goals. The U.S. got four shots on goal – as did Mexico – in the last half (12-5 for the game), but Mexico had control of the match at the end and finished with 51% of the possession time.

Costa Rica downed the Dominican Republic, 5-0, to finish third in the group at 1-2, with the Dominicans at 0-3. Mexico and the U.S. will move on to face the tournament semifinals and have the top two in Group B, to be decided on Thursday.

Honduras (1-0-1: 4 pts.) and Canada (1-0-1: 4 pts.) will face each other for the group title; El Salvador (0-1-1: 1 pt.) and Haiti (0-1-1: 1 pt.) will play in the opener. The semifinals – with the winners qualifying for Tokyo – will play on 28 March.

The U.S. Men’s National Team was in action against Jamaica on Thursday – in Wiener Neustadt, Austria of all places – in a friendly featuring American players who are part of European teams. It’s the first of a two-match schedule, with a match against Northern Ireland coming on the 28th.

In today’s match, the U.S. controlled most of the action, with 70% of the possession in the first half and 11 shots to four for Jamaica, but only one that really counted. That was a 35th-minute lob by left back Sergino Dest over the head of Jamaican keeper Jeadine White for the only goal of the first half (and Dest’s first goal for the U.S.).

The U.S. was back on offense to start the second half and a brilliant run down the left side of the Jamaican defense by Josh Sargent was followed by a perfect cross to a sprinting Brenden Aaronson in the 52nd minute for the second score. The American offense swarmed around the Jamaican goal almost continuously, but then the Reggae Boyz got back in the game in the 70th minute.

A run by Andre Gray on the right side led to a brilliant through-pass to a streaking Jamal Lowe, who lifted the ball over American keeper Zack Steffen from the right side of the goal to bring the Jamaicans close.

But the U.S. put the game away in the 83rd minute with a right-footed strike from a charging Sebastian Lletget, rushing to meet a well-timed cross at the top of the box from striker Nicholas Gioacchini.

Steffen made two saves on Jamaican chances in the 89th minute to keep the U.S. on top and then Lletget rushed forward for a final goal off a cross at the top of the box from midfielder Luca de la Torre in the 90th minute.

The U.S. finished with 68% of the possession and a 27-9 advantage on shots.

FIFA’s Ethics Committee, an group independent of the federation itself, returned guilty findings and imposed bans on former FIFA President Sepp Blatter (SUI) and former FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke (FRA). According to the FIFA statement:

“The investigations into Messrs Blatter and Valcke covered various charges, in particular concerning bonus payments in relation to FIFA competitions that were paid to top FIFA management officials, various amendments and extensions of employment contracts, as well as reimbursement by FIFA of private legal costs in the case of Mr Valcke.”

Both received sanctions – bans from all activities related to football – of six years and eight months and are required to pay a fine of CHF 1 million. And:

“As the previous bans from taking part in all football-related activity imposed on Messrs Blatter and Valcke by the independent Ethics Committee in 2015 and 2016 have not yet been purged, the bans notified today will only come into force upon the expiry of the previous bans (i.e. on 8 October 2021 and 8 October 2025, respectively).”

● Speedskating ● The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Dutch coach Wilma Boomstra was fired by U.S. Speedskating for a lack of achievement against the goals set for the Short Track team she was hired to guide since 2018.

Boomstra was the subject of three complaints by athletes during the past year and an inquiry ended with Boomstra being found to have bullied athletes. The Post story noted that “in an interview this month with Dutch newspaper Friesch Dagblad, Boomstra expressed no remorse and defended her coaching style while placing blame on the skaters.”

The U.S. will now need a new coach with 11 months remaining prior to the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

● Swimming ● The International Swimming League announced the first details on its pivotal third season, with a 10-team, six-week, 10-match schedule foreseen in late August and September – after the Olympic Games are concluded – in a sequestered format as was held in 2020.

The second phase will be a three-week, eight-team, six-match “playoff” program to select four teams for the ISL Final, which will be held in December.

The 10 teams will stay the same as in 2020 and the meet locations are still to be identified.

This is a far less ambitious program that has been proposed by ISL in the past, but in the still-uncertain atmosphere of the pandemic and the need to better control the multi-million dollar losses of the first two seasons, a shorter and more intense schedule makes a lot of sense.

Interestingly, the ISL schedule concept appears to be fully compatible with the FINA World Cup calendar. That program has two meets in early-to-mid August, then is off until October (and ends on 30 October). The FINA World 25 m Championships will be in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from 16-21 December.

● Table Tennis ● The leadership of the International Table Tennis Federation continues in chaos after the ITTF Executive Committee approved the reinstatement of Qatari Khalil Al-Mohannadi as Deputy President and declared:

“[T]he majority of the [Executive Committee] members informed the President that he had unfortunately lost their trust, confidence and support and accordingly it was agreed that all decisions should be made by majority within the EC until the next [Annual General Meeting].”

The ITTF President, since 2014 and elected in 2017 for another term, is German Thomas Weikert. His statement “announced legal action before the respective sports courts against the majority decision of the Executive Committee, calling it an ‘unauthorized interference with his rights and a blatant violation of the ITTF Constitution’.”

The Executive Committee statement emphasized that its assumption of more authority was “in order to unify the Executive Committee in the best interest of the ITTF.”

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LANE ONE: The IOC is not asleep; its new bidding system is designed avoid its current problems with Beijing 2022 and human rights

Rich Perelman

March 24, 2021

It’s pretty clear that the International Olympic Committee’s return to China as the host for the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in 2022 is going to be on a rocky road.

Elected officials in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the U.S. and others have called for the Games to be moved because of the actions of the Chinese government against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang province, termed “genocide,” as well as other issues.

In the latest move, U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida) wrote to IOC sponsors asking them to insist than the 2022 Winter Games be moved. Fox News reported that Scott’s letter was sent to “Airbnb, Alibaba Group, Allianz, Atos, Bridgestone, Coca-Cola, DOW, General Electric, Intel, Omega, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Toyota and Visa.”

In his letter, sent on Tuesday (23rd), Scott stated:

“As a sponsor of the IOC, you are uniquely positioned to join in this fight and demand the IOC stand for human rights and remove the games from Communist China, or lose your sponsorship and support. …

“I am sure you agree the crimes committed by General Secretary Xi are horrific. We cannot give a nation that is so overtly abusing human rights a platform to whitewash its crimes by hosting the Olympic Games. Therefore, I am asking you to stand for human rights and freedom, and use your considerable leverage as a sponsor of the 2022 Olympic Games to publicly urge the IOC to move the games to a nation that values human dignity and freedom.”

While Scott expressed confidence that the Games will be moved – he does not support a boycott of the Games – that’s hardly likely. But that does not mean that athletes are not conflicted or unaware; American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin said in an interview earlier this month:

“The Olympics is big, and it’s something that you shoot for, and you don’t want to miss it.

“And you certainly don’t want to be put in the position of having to choose between human rights, like morality versus being able to do your job, which on the other hand can bring light to some issues or can actually bring hope to the world at a very difficult time.”

And there are excellent ways for governments to show their displeasure with the government of China in and around the Games. Senior IOC member Dick Pound of Canada, in an editorial earlier this month on the subject, noted:

“With all due respect, Governments know perfectly well how to deliver strong messages of displeasure with the actions of other Governments. Chinese invitations to any Olympic-related events can be refused, Government officials can be instructed not to attend any Olympic events, ambassadors can be recalled for consultations during the Games, international trade and other agreements can be enforced and visa requirements can be reviewed.

“Governments acting in concert can easily take steps of that nature. And also, with respect, China can consider taking some steps to mitigate the reputational damage from certain aspects of its conduct: the world is too interconnected for any country, including China, to exist in isolation.”

What has not been widely noticed is that the IOC has taken important steps to try to ensure that the Games are not awarded in the future to a country which could become a controversial host.

Beijing was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Games in 2015, winning 44-40 over Almaty (KAZ) in a “lesser of two evils” choice after European favorites Oslo (NOR), Krakow (POL), Stockholm (SWE) and Lviv (UKR) all withdrew, worried over the costs involved.

The flight of the potential European hosts for the Winter Games was especially hard to take for the IOC, and President Thomas Bach (GER) got busy changing the rules.

The first step was transparency, with the IOC publicly posting in March of 2017 – for the first time – its Host City Contract prior to the selection of the host, and guaranteeing in writing its financial and value-in-kind contribution to the Games. For Paris in 2024, that’s $855 million in broadcast revenue, $410 million in sponsorship revenue and in-kind services adding up to a total of $1.7 billion U.S. The IOC has released the Host City Contracts for 2026 (Milan-Cortina) and 2028 (Los Angeles) as well.

The second, crucial step came in October 2019 with the naming of “Future Host Commissions” for both the Games of the Olympiad and the Olympic Winter Games, creating an “open dialogue” with cities or regions interested in a future Games.

After the 24 February news conference after Brisbane, Australia had been selected for “targeted dialogue” with a view to being named as the host for the 2032 Olympic Games, Bach underscored again the need for the new approach:

“We had to face there a situation where we could see that because the candidates were put against each other in this kind of contest, that we had exponentially less and less candidates because the candidates were being eliminated or losing a vote [and] could not justify towards their community to come back with another candidature right after. …

“And these were the reasons why we said we have to change this procedure and, there again, to follow the examples from the business world or other sports events organizers where you avoid this kind of situation, where one candidate is attacking the other, and ‘I am better here’ and ‘I am better here and the best’. I don’t need to explain [to] you; you have experience enough, having followed all these procedures, but I can understand that this is interesting for journalists, for media to follow such a situation. But you also know from this work that this was not the best procedure, neither for the future of the Games, nor for the reputation of the IOC.”

What was not said – but was obvious to anyone looking closely – is that this new procedure can be used to shape the IOC’s path toward hosts who will not engender the issues that China is now.

In a program of elections, with open entries and fixed deadlines for submittals, evaluations and votes, any country can force its way onto the ballot. Bach’s IOC, fixated on being a “values-based organization” in line with United Nations recommendations and regulations, is more attentive now than ever with where its events will go. And with some good luck, look where the post-2022 Games are headed, to leading western democracies:

● 2022 Winter: Beijing, China (direct election in 2015)
● 2024 Olympic: Paris, France (by acclimation by agreement)
● 2026 Winter: Milan-Cortina, Italy (by direct election in 2019)
● 2028 Olympic: Los Angeles, USA (by acclimation by agreement)
● 2030 Winter: unknown as yet
● 2032 Olympic: Brisbane, Australia “targeted” (could be agreed in 2021)

Further, the 2026 Youth Olympic Games will go to Dakar (SEN), giving Africa its first-ever, major IOC event, with the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games to Gangwon, Korea, using many of the venues from the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang and helping to support the legacy of that event.

It’s worth noting that even with the doping sanctions through most of 2022 on Russia that there will still be World Cup events held in that country and even a couple of world championships – shooting and sport climbing, for example – with little international notice taken. Only the Olympic Games draw enough attention to count at all.

And while there are those who miss the bidding free-for-all that began in 1985 and may well have ended in 2019 – including potential 2032 bidders in Germany, Hungary, India, Korea, Qatar and elsewhere – the future is clear that being aggressive, advanced and foresighted like Brisbane is now the ante.

That is, if – and only if – the IOC wants to place a Games in your country.

The re-elected Bach will serve through 2025 and by then, the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games will likely be placed, perhaps in Barcelona (ESP) and Salt Lake City, Utah? It’s too early for 2036.

But add to the accomplishments of Bach’s tenure a new approach which allows the IOC to skirt the inevitability of handing more high-profile events to authoritarian regimes because of a lack of candidates.

The question going forward may not be who is talking to the IOC, but who the IOC leadership and staff might be reaching out to via its membership as future hosts?

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: Tokyo ticket refund process for U.S. buyers is murky; Covid positive at figure skating Worlds; surfer killed by lightning!

Rich Perelman

March 23, 2021

News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● U.S. purchasers of ticket and accommodations packages to travel to the Tokyo Games from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s official vendor, Cosport, received notices over the weekend about possible refunds.

It’s anything but straightforward, as the message noted:

● “The refund process Tokyo 2020 will develop likely will be similar to the way refunds were provided for those who chose the option not to attend due to the postponement. We have learned from that unprecedented situation and are endeavoring to make the process smoother.

● “The Tokyo 2020 organizers first will have to return the necessary funds to CoSport because CoSport, as an intermediary, long ago forwarded your payments for your tickets to them.

● “Tokyo 2020 has confirmed it will honor this responsibility in its announcement.

● “If you have purchased ticket and hotel packages, we also will have to work with the Japanese hotels to refund the monies already provided to them to secure your rooms.

● “We will provide your refund as soon as the process allows; however, as the organizers continue to navigate the impact of COVID-19, the process likely will take some time. We ask for your patience and understanding in advance as the Olympic authorities and we work through the details.

● “For the reasons specified above, CoSport is unable to provide an immediate refund. Any attempt to obtain a refund through third parties, such as credit card companies, rather than directly from CoSport, prior to any final announcement related to the refund policy Tokyo 2020 will develop or before the entities mentioned above return your monies to CoSport, will not be honored. Experience has shown that attempts to circumvent the official process will complicate the process and delay your refund.”

CoSport, headquartered in Far Hills, New Jersey, is the authorized seller for National Olympic Committees in Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Jordan, Norway, Sweden and the United States. Its special terms for the postponement last March from 2020 to 2021, as posted on its Web site, included:

“For all Package purchases, within specified days of the official competition schedule being published by [Tokyo 2020] as a result of postponement, if the client’s place cannot be secured for the new date due to changes in schedule and/or venue, [CoSport] will offer you the following purchase return options:

“1. Receive CoSport credit of the full value of your package and apply it to future Games, such as Tokyo 2020 or Beijing 2022 where CoSport is already preparing to offer new inclusive packages.

“2. Resell your package through CoSport so you are refunded 95% of its full value once it is purchased by a new Tokyo customer. Should your package remain unsold by January 15, 2021, CoSport will refund you 75% of its value.

“3. Return your package directly to CoSport and be refunded 75% of its full value.”

As CoSport explained, the situation is going to take some time to resolve, especially since it is not clear how and when the Tokyo organizers are going to refund the ticket money, what the venue capacities might be for the Games and if some of these tickets can be re-sold, and what happens with hotel refunds.

Kyodo News Service reported that most of the volunteers coming from abroad to work at the Games will not be allowed to enter Japan:

“Officials with knowledge of the planning said the exception could be made for around 500 volunteers, whose roles cannot easily be performed by somebody living in Japan, such as those who are capable of speaking minority languages. …

“[Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro] Muto said about 2,300 foreign nationals living abroad have been registered as volunteers. …

“Japanese citizens living abroad are expected to be allowed to volunteer, according to the officials.”

What has not been specified yet are any further conditions or restrictions on foreigners coming as Games staff for International Federations, National Olympic Committees, rights-holding broadcasters and others. These folks are involved in the staging of the Games, but the organizers could ask them to lower their staff levels and/or replace them with Japanese nationals to the extent possible.

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● The first meeting in 2021 of the WADA Athlete Committee took place last week, and included a report noting:

“[R]egarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global anti-doping program. Members were told that testing is now back to about 80% of where it was in 2019; and, were reassured that COVID-19 vaccines would not interfere with anti-doping testing.”

● Athletics ● Britain’s Athletics Weekly reported that coronavirus infections were poorly controlled at the recent European Indoor Championships from 4-7 March in Torun, Poland:

“At least 10 members of the British squad have tested positive, leading to the entire party having to isolate for 10 days on their return to the UK. At least eight Dutch athletes also tested positive, with similar numbers in the German squad, a reported 15 in the Italian team and cases among the French, Irish and Danish teams too. …

“Belgian sprinter Eline Berings, meanwhile, criticised the testing procedures after having to pull out of the semi-finals of the 60m after what was she claimed was a false positive.”

European Athletics posted a message which went into great detail on the testing protocols used, and noted:

“All athletes, plus all member federation staff, guests, volunteers, technical suppliers and event staff, a total of 1,920 people, were tested according to this protocol. …

“[A]ll the positive cases that have been communicated to date can be traced back to two hotels where the affected teams were staying, although not all teams staying in these hotels posted positive cases. There have been no positive cases reported by member federations, or event staff, officials, volunteers or guests staying in the other hotels.

“Unfortunately the investigation also uncovered that the aforementioned strict sanitary protocol that should also have been followed in team hotels was not always fully respected.”

World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe (GBR) was asked about concerns for the World Relays, scheduled for 1-2 May and also in Poland (Silesia), and indicated that the federation’s Health and Science team is huddling with European Athletics to understand the issues in Torun.

World Athletics announced a unique “Global Conversation” about the future of the sport – open to anyone and everyone who wants contribute – as a prelude to the construction of a “World Plan for Athletics” for 2022-30:

“The World Plan will be a key document for all involved in the sport, setting out a roadmap for the growth and development of athletics through to 2030.

“Its purpose is to listen to the athletics community, to identify where the sport stands now throughout the world, and to establish a vision and direction for the period through to 2030, setting out how both World Athletics, its Member Federations and Area Associations, and other people involved in athletics can work together to develop and grow the sport across the world. The plan will contain clear roles and responsibilities, timelines, measurable outcomes and resource and budget implications. …

“This worldwide campaign will run for a six-week period in the form of a survey available in 12 different languages.”

The seven-member World Plan working group responsible for the program is chaired by U.S. World Athletics Council member Willie Banks, with assistance from the Deloitte Sport Business Group. The plan itself is to be developed by the middle of the year and the final plan submitted to the World Athletics Congress for approval in November.

The survey form can be accessed here.

Further world-leading performances from the weekend included a 49.48 in the men’s 400 m hurdles by American Kenny Selmon at the Panther Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia, and a 76.82 m (252-0) toss by World Champion DeAnna Price (USA) in the women’s hammer at the Cornell Invite in Carbondale, Illinois.

● Cycling ● The 100th edition of the seven-stage Volta Ciclista a Catalunya is underway in Spain, beginning in Calella and finishing on Sunday in Barcelona. Three-time winner Alejandro Valverde of Spain and four-time Tour de France champ Chris Froome (GBR) are the star attractions, but the first-stage winner on Monday (174.8 km) was Dane Andreas Kron, who won a downhill battle to the finish from Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP), Remy Rochas (FRA) and German Lennard Kamna.

After an Individual Time Trial tomorrow, the race will be decided in the three mountain stages on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

● Figure Skating ● The ISU World Championships in Stockholm (SWE) started on Monday, but the federation announced a positive test for the coronavirus in the sequestered athlete environment:

“The ISU and Organizing Committee will respect the privacy of the respective person and inform the remaining Event Participants internally of the situation.

“The protocol as set out in the ISU Health Regulations for Event participants is being followed namely:

“– the respective person will not be allowed to participate at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021

“ – the respective person has been quarantined and all the required measures have been followed

“– Close contact persons were identified and isolated for further checks and appropriate measures were taken

“– OC Medical Team/ISU Medical Advisor assessed the situation and followed the ISU Health Regulations for Event Participants in harmony with the Swedish public health guidelines”

The competitions begin on Wednesday with the women’s Short Program and Pairs Short Program and continue through Saturday. An all-star exhibition will be held on Sunday.

● Football ● Both of the Group B games at the CONCACAF men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament ended in draws on Monday, with Canada and Haiti finishing 0-0 and Honduras and El Salvador ending 1-1. So, Canada and Honduras both have four points, to one for Haiti and El Salvador. On Thursday, Canada and Honduras will play, as will El Salvador and Haiti. The top two in the group will advance to compete against Mexico and the U.S. in the tournament semifinals for the right to go to the Tokyo Games.

The final games in Group A on Wednesday have the U.S. (2-0) vs. Mexico (2-0) and the Dominican Republic (0-2) vs. Costa Rica (0-2).

● Gymnastics ● Former Canadian women’s national team coach Dave Brubaker was banned from the sport for life by Gymnastics Canada on Saturday (20th).

Brubaker was suspended when he was arrested in December 2017 on charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation; he was found not guilty in a trial that concluded in 2019.

The Canadian Press reported “Liz Brubaker, his wife, also was provisionally suspended in 2019 following the receipt of written complaints while she was a coach at Bluewater Gymnastics Club in Sarnia, Ontario. Gymnastics Canada says Liz Brubaker’s suspension has been extended until 2024.” Both bans can be appealed within 15 days.

Very little is happening – publicly – with the USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, while the parties continue in court-ordered settlement mediation.

However, the clock keeps ticking on attorney’s fees, as shown by the newest operations report through the end of February 2021. Total legal fees in the case are now up to $13.737 million, with $7.668 million paid to far (55.8%).

USA Gymnastics itself had a good month with $1.021 million in revenue, including $700,000 in membership dues. But it still finished in the red, due to 1.288 million in expenses, especially $264,322 to stage the Winter Cup and $795,373 in administrative expenses. The USAG balance sheet shows $9.140 million in cash available.

● Surfing ● A stunning and sad announcement from El Salvador confirmed that Katherine Diaz Hernandez, a surfer trying to qualify for the Tokyo Games, was killed by a lightning strike while she was paddling in the water last Friday (19th).

She was paddling to hug a friend in the water off of El Tunco Beach and apparently died instantly. She was brought to shore quickly, but could not be revived. She had been working toward the final Olympic qualifying tournament, the Surf City El Salvador ISA World Surfing Games, to begin on 29 May.

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LANE ONE: No surprise as Japan bans foreign fans for Games, but that’s only where the questions begin

Rich Perelman

March 22, 2021

tsx pix 2021-321 tokyo olympic stadium empty 750 — Will there be any fans at Tokyo 2020's Olympic Stadium for the Games? NOPE. (Photo: Tokyo 2020)

(For our Highlights recap of last week’s most noteworthy competitions, click here)

“Today, the Five Parties (the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG), the Organising Committee Tokyo 2020 and the Government of Japan) met virtually. During the meeting, the IOC and IPC were informed, as outlined below, about the conclusion of the Japanese parties not to allow entry into Japan for overseas spectators for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 due to the prevailing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Olympic and Paralympic tickets purchased by overseas residents from the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee will be refunded.”

Saturday’s statement from Tokyo 2020 was widely expected, but is still hard to take for the many thousands of Olympic fans, athlete family members and friends who want to be at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.

Many of the National Olympic Committees sell tickets and travel packages through so-called “Authorized Ticket Resellers.” Cartan Global, the highly-regarded ticket and travel coordinators for a host of Caribbean, Central and South American countries, posted a notice including:

“This is devastating news for everyone involved in the Olympic movement and can only imagine the disappointment for all our clients as well.

“Unfortunately, we have not received any specific details from Tokyo 2020 yet, but please know that we will work aggressively on your behalf to obtain all eligible and applicable refunds.”

U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland posted a letter which included:

“The grief, frustration and disappointment being felt by all whose plans have been ruined is understandable. It is truly sad that the families, friends and fans from around the world, who help make the Games a global celebration, will not be able to attend. We can only try to imagine the weight of the responsibility felt by the hosts – along with the IOC and IPC – to offer the participants and the host community the safest possible environment, and we acknowledge that safety has to be the priority.”

But the fan issues are only the beginning.

The International Olympic Committee’s statement – in which it fully accepted the Japanese decision – immediately identified the new responsibilities now expected from its largest financial partners:

“[T]he IOC’s top priority was, is and remains to organise safe Olympic and Paralympic Games for everyone: all the participants and, of course, our gracious hosts, the Japanese people. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder at the side of our Japanese partners and friends, without any kind of reservation, to make the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 a great success.

“Together with our Rights-Holding Broadcasters, we will make every effort so that the fans from around the world will be able to experience the Olympic spirit. In this way, the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be the light at the end of the tunnel and a safe manifestation of peace, solidarity and the resilience of humankind in overcoming the pandemic.”

How the IOC, the television networks and the attending press and photographers cover the Games becomes more important than ever. But these groups are under the same pressure as fans, with their working options compressed due to the pandemic. Kyodo News reported:

“In a related development, the Japanese organizers have determined that people living overseas will not be allowed to volunteer at the games in principle as part of precautions against the spread of the COVID-19 disease, officials with knowledge of the plan said on condition of anonymity.

“About 10 percent of the roughly 80,000 games volunteers were foreign nationals, the organizing committee said before the games were pushed back one year ago.

“The government will consider ways to permit the entry of volunteers from abroad whose roles are difficult to be replaced by somebody living in Japan, such as those who are capable of speaking minority languages.”

Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto said on Saturday of foreign nationals coming to the Games:

“If they are part of the operation of the games, if they are somewhat involved in the operation then there is still a possibility they may be able to enter into Japan. But solely as spectators for watching games — no, they will not be allowed to make an entry.”

That’s a potentially difficult issue for broadcasters, some support staff for press and photographers, and what about the pressure that will be applied to foreign officials for the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees?

For example, the significant working restrictions on press, photographers and television has already created enormous new pressures on National Olympic Committees to expand their support services for media reporting from home; now, how many NOC media officers will even be allowed to travel to Japan? Can viable local hires be substituted? How will they be trained?

Muto said that 600,000 tickets had been sold to foreign fans for the Games, compared to 4.45 million for Japanese residents. The actual number of spectators that can attend the Games – perhaps up to 50% of some venues – won’t be determined until April. The original total ticket inventory was expected to be 7.8 million.

The decision to prohibit foreign visitors for the Games was very much a response to the pressure on the Japanese government and the organizing committee from its public. Polls by media organizations in the country showed that because of the virus, as many as 80% of Japanese preferred to have the Games postponed again – not a possibility – or cancelled altogether.

Relatively speaking, the incidence of the coronavirus has been well controlled in Japan, but that has hardly stemmed the concern over the Games being a super-spreader event. Japan in total has logged 456,271 Covid-19 cases and 8,821 virus-related deaths. By comparison, in the U.S., Los Angeles County alone has suffered 1.21 million cases and 22,810 deaths.

The widely-publicized rejection of vaccination by some high-profile athletes – Jamaica’s four-time Olympic sprint medalist Yohan Blake said “I don’t want any vaccine, I’d rather miss the Olympics than take the vaccine, I am not taking it” – has not helped either, and it is clear that many Tokyo Olympians will not have been vaccinated.

The next step in the story will be the April release of the second versions of the “playbooks,” expected to have even more detailed and heavier protocols for testing of athletes, officials and support staff. The question of venue attendance will be settled and the organizers will have to determine whether additional tickets can be sold for some events, in seats that would have been filled by foreign fans.

Organizing an Olympic Games is extraordinary complex because of the scale of the operations. For the even-more-burdened television networks who will show the Games, as well as the Olympic Broadcast Services team that will provide the host signal, one of the aesthetic elements in every Games is to try and avoid showing empty seats within sight of the cameras, for the worldwide audience.

Now, how will that work? Will we really see a (now-familiar) campaign to allow fans – especially families of Olympians – to purchase photographic cut-outs of themselves to be placed at Olympic venues, at least within the primary camera shots?

Said Tokyo 2020 chief Seiko Hashimoto:

“[T]he Tokyo 2020 Games will be completely different to any previous Games. … We are currently working on specific plans to share support remotely from around the world and help bring people together in ways suited to our current times. Even if you are no longer able to come to Japan this summer, we hope very much that you will continue to support the Tokyo 2020 Games.”

Family members, get your best cheering photos ready!?!

Rich Perelman
Editor

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For our 649-event International Sports Calendar for 2021 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

FOOTBALL: U.S. sweeps past Dominican Republic, 4-0, in men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament

Rich Perelman

March 21, 2021

tsx pix 2021-321 yueill, jackson (noah salzman) — U.S. goal-scorer Jackson Yueill (Photo: Noah Salzman via Wikipedia)

After a difficult first hour, the U.S. Men’s U-23 National Team broke found its offense and skipped past the Dominican Republic, 4-0, in its second game of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mexico.

The first half was dominated by the U.S., which could not score. Despite having 67% of the possession, the Americans managed a modest six shots to two for the Dominicans. The situation was similar for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but then changed suddenly.

The best U.S. attack of the day included a Johnny Cardoso rocket that banged off the crossbar in the 60th minute, then ricocheted back to striker Sebastian Saucedo, who sent a laser toward the Dominican goal that was re-directed in the middle of the box by midfielder Jackson Yueill for the first score.

That changed the nature of the game and the U.S. began to get better opportunities, resulting in goals for substitute striker Hassani Dotson in the 73rd minute and then Dotson again five minutes later, both with assists from Djordje Mihailovic.

The Americans got a fourth goal, this time from Mihailovic in the 90th minute thanks to an endline pass from Benjamin Michel.

The game ended with the U.S. owning 66% of the possession and a 16-4 edge in shots. U.S. keeper James Marcinkowski didn’t not have to work too hard for the shutout.

The win advances the U.S. to the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying semifinals, although its opponent is unknown. A win there would propel the U.S. into the Tokyo Games.

In the nightcap game, Mexico defeated Costa Rica, 3-0, taking charge in the sixth minute on a Uriel Antuna goal. The 1-0 lead expanded in the second half with a 52nd-minute goal by Alexis Vega and then a final score from Sebastian Cordova in the 69th.

Mexico had 55% possession in the game, but the defenses were stingy, with only six shots – but three goals – from the winners, to five shots for Costa Rica.

The U.S. and Mexico, both 2-0, will meet on Wednesday to determine the group winner. Both will advance to a play-in game for the Tokyo Games in the tournament semifinals on 28 March in Guadalajara. The likely opponents are Canada and Honduras, both of which won their opening games in Group B on Friday.

HIGHLIGHTS: Two silvers for Shiffrin as Vlhova & Pinturault win Alpine World Cup; Chloe Kim wins World Cup Halfpipe; world 20 km Walk record

Rich Perelman

March 21, 2021

tsx pix 2021-321 kozeniesky, lucas 750 (us shoot) — Two ISSF World Cup golds for two-time U.S. Olympian Lucas Kozeniesky (Photo: USA Shooting)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● Alpine Skiing ● The FIS Alpine World Cup finished up on Sunday in Lenzerheide (SUI), surviving cancellations due to the coronavirus and the usual bad weather, to crown two new seasonal champions.

American Mikaela Shiffrin was a long-shot to pull out a seasonal win in Saturday’s Slalom, but ran into a hot Katharina Liensberger of Austria, who led after the first run, with Shiffrin third. But Liensberger poured on the gas in the second run and won convincingly, 1:49.77-1:51.01 over Shiffrin, who was third on the first run and second on the final time down the hill. Swiss Michelle Gisin was third (1:51.72), and American Paula Moltzan was seventh.

All that combined for Liensberger to take the seasonal Slalom title with 690 points, to 655 for Shiffrin and 652 for early-season leader Petra Vlhova (SLO).

But even with her sixth-place finish, Vlhova clinched the overall title over Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami and Gisin as the speed events were canceled earlier due to bad weather.

Sunday’s Giant Slalom looked like a possible season-ending win for Shiffrin, who led after the first run. But New Zealand’s Alice Robinson zoomed to the fastest clocking of the day, 1:07.63 on the second run and took over from Shiffrin (1:08.68) second run for a 2:19.48 total, ahead of Shiffrin’s 2:19.76, with Meta Hrovat (SLO: 2:19.96) third. Italy’s Marta Bassino won the seasonal G-S title at 546 points to 420 for Shiffrin and 391 for Tessa Worley (FRA).

All told, Vlhova finished with 1,416 points to 1,256 for Gut-Behrami, 1,130 for Gisin and 1,075 for Shiffrin.

As the Downhill and Super-G were lost to bad weather, Sofia Goggia (ITA) won the seasonal Crystal Globe for the Downhill with 480 points to 410 for Corinne Suter (SUI) and 383 for Gut-Behrami. Gut-Behrami won the Super-G title with 525 points over Federica Brignone (ITA: 323) and Suter (310).

In the men’s division, France’s Alexis Pinturault won his fifth race of the season in Saturday’s Giant Slalom and clinched his first World Cup overall title, ahead of Swiss Marco Odermatt and Austria’s Marco Schwarz.

Pinturault won four Giant Slaloms during the season and won that discipline with 700 points to 649 for Odermatt and 606 for Croatia’s Filip Zubcic. On Saturday, Zubcic finished second and France’s Mathieu Faivre was third.

Schwarz had already locked up the seasonal Slalom title going into Sunday’s finale, won by Austria’s Manuel Feller over Clement Noel (FRA) and Pinturault, 1:47.24-1:47.32-1:47.35. Schwarz ended with 665 points to 553 for Noel and 503 for Ramon Zenhaeusern (SUI).

Pinturault finished with 1,260 points to 1,093 for Odermatt and 814 for Schwarz.

With the speed events canceled, Swiss Beat Feuz was the seasonal Downhill champion, beating Matthias Mayer (AUT) and Dominik Paris (ITA) by 486-418-338. Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr took the Super-G title by 401-318 over Odermatt, with Mayer third at 276.

● Athletics ● China’s Jaiyu Wang crushed the women’s 20 km Walk world record with a stirring win in 1:23:49 at the Chinese nationals in Huangshan on Saturday (20th).

Rio Olympic champion Hong Liu had the record at 1:24:38 from 2015 in Spain, but Wang and Liu – in second in 1:24:27 – were both under that standard. Worlds silver medalist Shenjie Qieyang was third in 1:24:45, and was the race served as the Chinese Tokyo trials, all three earned a place on their Olympic team.

The men’s race was also a scorcher, with Kaihua Wang winning in 1:16:54, moving to no. 3 on the all-time list and the world leader for 2021. Zelin Cai, the Rio Olympic silver winner, and Lihong Cui went 2-3 with both timed at 1:17:39.

At the Chinese sprint meet in Shenzhen, Bingtian Su claimed the world lead at 100 m with a win in 10.05 and the Chinese 4×100 m relay timed 38.29 for another world lead.

● Badminton ● One of the season’s major events, the All-England Open was played as scheduled in Birmingham (ENG), with some skipping the event due to Covid restrictions, but with seven of the 10 finalists from Japan, and four of five event winners!

The only non-Japanese winner was sixth-seeded Zii Jia Lee (MAS), who upset second-seed Viktor Axelsen (DEN) in men’s Singles, 30-29, 20-22, 21-9. Second-seed Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) dispatched Pornpawee Chochuwong (THA), 21-12, 21-6 to win the women’s Singles.

All of the Doubles matches were all-Japan finals, with Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe beating Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda in men’s Doubles, 21-15, 17-21, 21-11; second-seeded Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagihara defeated top-seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, 21-18, 21-16 in the women’s final, and Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino eased past Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo, 21-14, 21-13, in the Mixed Doubles.

● Biathlon ● The IBU World Cup season ended in Ostersund (SWE) with a full program that saw Norway clinch a 1-2 seasonal finish in both the men’s and women’s standings.

In just his second World Cup season, 24-year-old Sturla Holm Laegreid (NOR) logged his seventh victory on Saturday in the 12.5 km Pursuit with a convincing win over seasonal leader Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) by 22.5 seconds. Laegreid had two shooting penalties, but Boe had three and that was sufficient. Italy’s Lukas Hofer was third, 32.4 seconds behind.

That meant that Sunday’s 15 km Mass Start race would settle the season title between Laegreid and Boe. However, the winner was France’s Simon Desthieux, who had two shooting penalties and won comfortably in 35:43.7 over Eduard Latypov (RUS: +8.9). Boe finished third, suffering three penalties and was 17.5 seconds behind the winner. That was enough for the seasonal title, as Laegreid finished eighth (+48.4). Boe finished with 1,052 points to 1,039 for Laegreid, with France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet third (930) and Tarjei Boe (NOR) fourth (893).

In the 10 km Sprint held on Friday, Hofer was the winner by 4.0 seconds over Sebastian Samuelsson (SWE), with Norway’s Tarjei Boe third (+14.4).

The women’s season title was already settled for Tiril Eckhoff, who came into Ostersund having won four races in a row. She won one more in the 7.5 km Sprint, finishing 2.5 seconds up on Italian star Dorothea Wierer, despite having one penalty to none for Wierer. Norway’s Ingrid Tandrevold was third (+6.7).

Echkoff’s streak was ended in Saturday’s 10 km Pursuit, won by teammate Marte Olsbu Roeiseland (NOR) in 32:54.8, despite four shooting penalties. Eckhoff also had four, and finished second, 29.3 seconds behind, with Hanna Sola (BLR) third (+44.0).

On Sunday, Tandrevold, 24, won her first World Cup gold despite five shooting penalties, winning the 12.5 km Mass Start in 34:53.1, with Dzinara Alimbekava (BLR) second (+6.9) and Franziska Preuss (GER: +11.1) third.

The final tally showed Eckhoff with 1,152 points to 963 for Roeiseland and 840 for Preuss.

● Cycling ● The sport of cycling is huge in Belgium and Jasper Stuyven is the hero of his country after a thrilling sprint victory in the 112th edition of Milan-Sanremo on Saturday in Italy.

It’s the biggest win of Stuyven’s career – at age 28 – and his second win in a spring Classics race after his victory in front of home fans at Omloop Het Niewusbald in 2020.

The 299 km race had a mid-route rise up the Colle de Giovo, but the decision was always going to depend on the race in from the final descent from the Poggio di Sanremo. Stuyven launched a fierce attack with 2 km left, then was challenged by Denmark’s Soren Kragh Andersen, who took the lead. But Stuyven moved in front for good with less than 1,000 m to go.

He got to the finish line first, just ahead of a mad dash by Australia’s Caleb Ewan, Wout van Aert (BEL), Peter Sagan (SVK) and Mathieu van der Poel (NED), among others. The first 17 riders across the line were given the same time.

The UCI Women’s World Tour lined up on Sunday for the traditional Trofeo Alfredo Binda of of 141.8 km from Cocquio Travisago to Cittiglio, with home favorite Elisa Longo Borghini dominating the race.

The winner of this event in 2013, Longo Borghini attacked with 25 km to go and steadily built a lead of more than a minute with about 7.5 km left and coasted home. The trailing pack was finally led by Dutch star Marianne Vos – the four-time and defending champion in this race – some 1:42 back, ahead of Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (DEN) and Kasia Niewiadoma (POL).

● Fencing ● The FIE World Cup schedule is back on track, with the Epee stars in Kazan (RUS) and familiar faces on the podium.

The men’s tournament ended in a 15-11 win for Ukraine’s Igor Reizlin over Gergely Siklosi of Hungary. For Reizlin, it was his second career World Cup win and fifth career medal, while the 23-year-old Siklosi – ranked no. 1 in the world – won his third career World Cup medal and first silver. Bronzes went to Elmir Alimzhanov (KAZ) and Ahmed El-Sayed (EGY).

The women’s title went to Korea’s no. 2-ranked In-jeong Choi for her second career World Cup win, in a 15-9 duel with Aliya Luty of France, 21, who earned her first World Cup medal. Korean Young Mi Kang and German Ricarda Multerer shared the bronze.

● Football ● The second round of games in the CONCACAF U-23 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mexico comes later today (Sunday: 21st) with the U.S. playing the Dominican Republic in Zapopan, followed by Mexico and Costa Rica.

The U.S. and Mexico both won their openers and will meet on Wednesday in Guadalajara to complete group play. The top two teams in each group will advance to the tournament semifinals, with the two winners obtaining a berth in the Tokyo Olympic tournament.

● Freestyle Skiing ● Due to the coronavirus and the weather, the one and only Halfpipe World Cup this season was held as part of the Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen, Colorado (USA) on Sunday.

American Aaron Blunck won his sixth career World Cup gold – and the seasonal title – with a come-from-behind win, scoring 96.50 points in the third round to move up from ninth! Canada’s Brendan MacKay led for most of the competition with his 92.75 score in the first round and even with a 95.00 routine in the third round, it wasn’t enough. New Zealand star Nico Porteous had the most consistent series of the day with scores of 84.75, 94.50 and 94.00 and finished third.

Canada’s Rachel Karker took the women’s event and seasonal title at 93.25, just ahead of Britain’s Zoe Atkin (91.50) and Americans Brita Sigourney (89.00) and Devin Logan (85.50).

In the Aspen Slopestyle competition, Americans grabbed a 1-2 in the men’s event, with Colby Stevenson winning here after a silver in the World Championships, over teammate Mac Forehand (19). Stevenson’s first run scored 89.58 and would have been enough to win, but he improved in the third round with the final score of 91.40. Forehand’s 86.60 in the first round was his best, with Swede Henrik Harlaut third (84.46). In the women’s competition, France’s Tess Ledeux won for the second time in two World Cup events, posting the best scores of the day in the second round (82.17) and again in the third round (83.90). Second was Kirsty Muir (GBR: 81.00) and Anastasia Tatalina (RUS: 78.55) was third. World Champion Eileen Gu (CHN) was fourth at 74.91.

The final Ski Cross World Cup was held Sunday in Veysonnaz (SUI), with Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann scoring his only win of the season, outlasting Jonathan Midol (FRA) and Tim Hronek (GER) in the men’s final. Canada’s Reece Howden won the seasonal title with 691 points over Jonas Lenherr (SUI: 405).

World Champion Sandra Naeslund (SWE) won her second event of the year and finished with gold or silver in her last four races in the women’s final. She finished ahead of Swiss star Fanny Smith and France’s Alizee Baron. Smith was the easy winner in the seasonal standings, piling up 945 points to 495 for Baron and 475 for Marielle Thompson (CAN).

● Nordic Skiing ● In Nordic Combined, Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber finished off his third straight World Cup overall title with two wins in the final stop of the season, in Klingenthal (GER). Jumping off a 140 m hill plus a 10.0 km race, Riiber barely beat former World Cup champ Akito Watabe (JPN) by 0.7 seconds on Saturday, with Johannes Lamparter (AUT: +1:05.3) third.

On Sunday, Riiber led a Norwegian 1-2, winning in 24:43.6, with Espen Bjoernstad (NOR) second by 3.7 seconds, and Fabian Riessle (GER: +17.2) third. For the season, Riiber scored 1,140 points, easily ahead of Vinzenz Geiger (GER: 810) and Watabe (757).

In Ski Jumping, the women’s tour landed in Nizhny Tagil (RUS) for two weeks of jumping in the second Russian Blue Bird Tour. Jumping off the 97 m Tramplin Stork hill, Austria’s Marita Kramer – who won three of the first four events of the year – won on Saturday and Sunday.

She out-pointed Japan’s Sara Takanashi on Saturday, 232.1-224.1, with Slovenia’s Nika Kriznar third (218.1). On Sunday, Kramer – still just 19 – upped her game to score 243.1, ahead of Kriznar (232.3) and Takanashi (230.0).

With two more events coming next week, the seasonal battle is right, with Kriznar at 751 points and Takanashi – a four-time World Cup winner – at 746, and Kramer rising at 660.

● Shooting ● American shooters were in good form in the opening events of the 12-day ISSF World Cup in New Delhi (IND).

Mary Tucker, 19, started the party, leading a 1-2 finish in the women’s 10 m Air Rifle, scoring 251.5 to edge Alison Weisz (250.4) with Hungary’s Eszter Denes third (230.2). Then Lucas Kozeniesky followed with his own win in the men’s 10 m Air Rifle; his score of 249.8 just edged Istvan Peni (HUN) at 249.7 with Divyansh Panwar (IND: 228.1) third.

Kozeniesky, Will Shaner and Tim Sherry combined to win the men’s Team Air Rifle by 15-14 over India. The U.S. women finished second to Denmark in the women’s Team Air Rifle, 16-8.

India scored three golds during the tournament’s first weekend. Yashaswini Deswal won the women’s 10 m Air Pistol, scoring 238.8 to 236.7 for teammate Manu Bhaker, with Viktoria Chaika (BLR) third at 215.9. Indian teams also won the women’s Air Pistol (over Poland) and the men’s Air Pistol (over Vietnam).

Iran’s Javad Foroughi took the men’s 10 m Air Pistol, edging India’s Chaudhary Saurabh by 243.6-243.2, with Abhishek Verma (IND) third at 221.8.

In Sunday’s men’s Skeet final, Dane Jesper Hansen scored 58 in the final to best Saif Bin Futais (UAE: 51) and Nasser Al-Attiya (QAT: 44). Britain’s Amber Hill took the women’s Skeet title, winning a shoot-off by 4-3 over Zoya Kravchenko (KAZ) after they tied at 51 after the first 60 shots. India’s Ganemat Sekhon (IND) was third at 40.

Competition continues through next Sunday.

● Snowboard ● World Cup competition wrapped up in three disciplines this weekend: SnowCross, Parallel Snowboard and Halfpipe, each in a different location.

The finale in SnowCross was in Veysonnaz (SUI), where Austria’s Alessandro Hammerle got to the line first ahead of American Hagen Kearney and Merlin Surget (FRA) in the men’s final, which confirmed Hammerle’s seasonal win with 430 points. Canada’s Eliot Grondin was second with 304, followed by Surget at 252.

Czech star Eva Samkova won her third race of the season to clinch her third career seasonal title, just ahead of Italy’s Michela Moioli, who finished second in the race and second on the season by just 450-430. Britain’s Charlotte Bankes was third in the race; American Faye Gulini took the seasonal bronze with 302 points.

The Parallel Slalom in Berchtesgaden (GER) was the last of the nine-race World Cup circuit, with Italian Aaron March winning for the second time this season and defeating Alexander Payer (AUT) in the final. Arvid Auner (AUT) won the bronze over Edwin Coratti (ITA). March took the Parallel seasonal title with 424 points to 339 for Andreas Prommegger (AUT), with Dmitry Loginov (RUS: 333) third. March also won the Parallel Slalom seasonal title at 238 points, over Loginov (191).

Swiss Julie Zogg won her second race – and fourth medal – of the season in the women’s Parallel Slalom, this time over German rival Selina Joerg by just 0.06. That gave her the seasonal Parallel Slalom title over Sofia Nadyrshina (RUS), by 295-249, but German Ramona Theresia Hofmeister won the seasonal Parallel overall title, 593-532 over Nadyrshina, with Zogg third (512).

On Saturday, the next-to-last Slopestyle event was held in Aspen, Colorado (USA) with World Champion Marcus Kleveland (NOR) scoring the win in the men’s division with 87.58 points. He topped Olympic champ Red Gerard of the U.S. (82.16) and Canadian Mark McMorris (81.90). The women’s title went to Austria’s Olympic champ Anna Gasser earning her ninth career World Cup gold, scoring 81.90, to 72.30 for American Hailey Langland and 71.91 for Finland’s Enna Rukajarvi.

The second and final World Cup in Halfpipe this season was also held in Aspen, on Sunday, with superstar Chloe Kim winning again and clinching the women’s season title. She put away the competition with her first-round run of 90.50, and was only challenged by Spain’s Queralt Castellet (86.00) and Japan’s Sena Tomita (82.50).

Like Kim, Japan’s Yuko Totsuka completed a short, undefeated season in men’s Halfpipe, winning his second World Cup competition by scoring 91.75 points in the first round. That held up against teammate Raibu Katayama (86.75) and German Andre Hofelich (84.00). Three-time Olympic champion Shaun White of the U.S. finished fourth (81.50).

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THE TICKER: Tokyo 2020 foreign-fan decision tomorrow? Paris 2024 to offer event ‘carbon calculator’; FIFA sees $4.7 billion revenue (!) for 2022

Rich Perelman

March 19, 2021

The latest news, notes and quotes from the worldwide Five-Ring Circus:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The question of whether foreign spectators will be allowed at the Tokyo Games may be decided tomorrow (20th).

A meeting is to be held with the Tokyo organizers, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Japanese national government, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee on the issue. Reports are circulating widely that the decision has been made by the Japanese government to ban foreign spectators as a precaution against further spread of the coronavirus.

Said Tokyo 2020 chief Seiko Hashimoto: “When we think of the need to provide arrangements to accept (overseas spectators) and also of people who have been preparing public transport and places to stay, a fast decision is expected from us.

“Immigration (policy) is up to the government, but in the end it will be set based on discussion between the five parties and their approval.”

Another foot-in-mouth embarrassment has cost the Tokyo organizers their creative director. Kyodo News Service reported on Thursday (18th):

“Hiroshi Sasaki admitted in a statement in the early hours of Thursday that he proposed last year to a group of planning team members that celebrity Naomi Watanabe come down from the sky in a pig costume to play the role of an ‘Olympig’ during the Olympic opening ceremony.”

Sasaki, 66, took over the direction of the ceremonies after the Games were postponed, replacing actor Nomura Mansai. Sasaki had been the director of the highly-regarded Rio 2016 “handover” program which saw then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as ‘Super Mario” and then the somber year-to-go ceremony at the new national stadium.

Whoever is selected to replace Sasaki will inherit enormous pressure to produce a quality program – in four months, on 23 July – that will appropriately celebrate the Games and the tumultuous path that Japan has taken through the pandemic.

Watanabe, 33, is well known in Japan as a comedian and now in fashion. Her agency released a statement which included, “In fact, I am happy with my figure. So, as usual, I would like to express myself as ‘Naomi Watanabe’ without being particular about being fat.”

It’s the second month in a row for a self-inflicted injury for Tokyo 2020, after former President Yoshiro Mori resigned in February following unkind comments about women serving on the board of the Japanese Olympic Committee.

● Games of the XXXIII Olympiad: Paris 2024 ● The Paris 2024 organizers announced on Wednesday (17th):

“The Paris 2024 Board of Directors has approved a climate strategy which commits Paris 2024 to organising the world’s first Olympic and Paralympic Games with a positive contribution to the climate. The strategy is based on three pillars: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, support for projects with a positive contribution to climate, and mobilisation of stakeholders to maximise long-term positive impact.

“Paris 2024’s primary objective is to prevent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to the event. This will be achieved through: a cost-effective and compact venue concept (95% of venues are existing or temporary), the inclusion of low-carbon solutions for all activities within the venues, the use of renewable energy for all venues which will all be accessible by public transport, a sustainable catering plan, a responsible digital plan, the use of low-carbon temporary equipment, and a reliance on principles of the circular economy .

“In total, Paris 2024 will reduce emissions linked to the event by 50% when compared to previous editions of the Games.”

The announcement, of course, begs the question of what the emissions of prior Games actually and who calculated them and how. But of more interest was another announcement later in the statement:

“By 2022, Paris 2024 will create a custom ‘carbon footprint calculator’ for sporting events
which will be made available to the industry.”

As the home country for the 2015 “Paris Agreement” on climate, Paris 2024 must respect this program and “is committed to offsetting all emissions that cannot be prevented by supporting CO2 avoidance and capture projects.”

Whatever the sentiment, it will be fascinating to see how the organizing committee keeps track of, and publishes, its emissions statistics as a matter of transparency. If credibly done, it could be a pivot-point in the production of mega-events in the future … or a wasted opportunity.

● Games of the XXXIV Olympiad: Los Angeles 2028 ● On Wednesday (17th), the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the Memorandum of Understanding adding the City to the California Olympic and Paralympic Public Safety Command.

This organization, including the California Office of Emergency Services and the LA28 organizing committee, will begin the security and safety planning for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Additional local agencies will be added in time and the overall responsibility for security will shift to the U.S. government when the 2028 Games are recognized as a National Special Security Event.

● National Olympic Committees ● More investigations into abuse allegations are springing up in Great Britain, where British Judo acknowledged that it received an allegation of bullying this week:

“We are conducting a full independent investigation, in accordance with internal procedures, into the allegations made.

“British Judo will not be making any further comment at this time due to it being an ongoing process.”

According to a BBC story, “The national governing bodies of swimming, Para-archery, canoeing, cycling, bobsleigh and most recently gymnastics have all been rocked by bullying scandals in recent years.”

In Australia, coach Paul Gaudoin of the fourth-ranked women’s hockey team resigned with just four months to go to Tokyo. Per ABC News Australia:

“Hockey Australia (HA) made the bombshell announcement on Wednesday evening, saying Gaudoin had tendered his resignation ahead of the release of findings and recommendations of an independent review.

“The review was launched after explosive allegations of bullying, body shaming and homophobic behaviour within the Hockeyroos’ set-up emerged late last year, throwing the elite women’s hockey program into chaos.”

The review came out on Thursday and found “broadly found a dysfunctional culture within the program” that was “not conducive to athlete wellbeing or sustained on-field success.”

However, retired star defender Anna Flanagan told FoxSports Australia that Gaudoin was only the fall guy:

“He’s the face of it, but it’s a bigger issue to do with the management and a lot of that was directed at the high performance manager [Toni Cumpston] who resigned as a result of all of these allegations. But they’ve had the backing of the board and CEO. I think it’s a much broader and bigger issue.

“There’s been letters sent in 2018, there’s been complaints made since 2017, 2016, all the way to 2010, when the players went to the board about the coaching.

“It’s a much bigger issue – I feel for Gaudoin because he’s definitely been the fall guy in all of this and it’s not necessarily his fault.”

The report made 29 recommendations, but the full text was not made public.

● Athletics ● The Athletics Integrity Unit announced that Dilshod Nazarov, the Rio 2016 men’s hammer gold medalist, was found to be doping at the 2011 IAAF World Championships, where he finished 10th.

In specific, the re-test from the Daegu Worlds showed DHCMT (dehydrochloromethyltestosterone, commercially known as Turinabol), and his results from 29 August 2011 to 29 August 2013 were voided. He is further ineligible for two years from 24 September 2019, which includes this summer’s Tokyo Games.

The decision is appealable, but nullifies his 2013 Asian Games gold and fifth-place finish at the 2013 World Championships. Nazarov’s last competition was in July of 2019.

Nazarov, 38, is also the President of the Tajik Athletics Federation and World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe (GBR) said at yesterday’s news conference, “There should be an expectation that this particular individual should not be involved as president of their national federation.”

There is, of course, interest in what a re-test of his 2016 doping samples may turn up in a re-testing program.

● Cycling ● British Cycling is in a tizzy over a finding by the British Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service last Friday that Dr. Richard Freeman had secured testosterone (brand name Testogel) for the purpose of doping a rider.

Freeman has been part of the medical team for British Cycling and the dominant Team Sky road cycling squad from 2009-17. He admitted to 18 of the 22 charges presented during his hearing, but claimed he had never obtained drugs for the purpose of doping:

“I have never doped a rider in my life. I’m still to see any evidence of who this rider supposedly was. I accept there are people who don’t believe me. They will say I’ve lied and changed my story and can’t trust anything I say. I’ve admitted to those lies.

“I’m still shocked at this verdict. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but I’m not a doping doctor.”

The tribunal found Freeman liable on three of the four remaining charges, and on Friday, revoked his medical license. Among the findings: “The tribunal considered that Dr Freeman’s conduct surrounding the order of the Testogel amounted to a long and considered pattern of very serious dishonesty.”

The 56th Tirreno-Adriatico race finished on Tuesday as expected, with Slovenian star Tadej Pogacar claiming the overall victory, 1:03 ahead of Belgian Wout van Aert and 3:57 up on Spain’s Mikel Landa.

Pogacar claimed the race lead after the difficult fourth stage, with its uphill finish to the Prati di Tivo and was never headed. He expanded his lead on the final three stages from 35 seconds to 1:03 with a second-place finish in Stage 5, 25th in the mass-finish sixth stage and then fourth in the final-day Individual Time Trial.

Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel claimed his second win of the race on stage five, 10 seconds up on Pogacar and Dane Mads Wurtz Schmidt won the hilly sixth stage. Van Aert won the time trial – after winning the opening stage also – by six seconds over Swiss Stefan Kung.

This weekend’s action stays in Italy with the famed Milan-Sanremo for the men on Saturday and the women’s tour back in action for the Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Cittiglio.

● Football ● The U.S. men’s U-23 team scored a tight, 1-0 win over Costa Rica in its first game in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico.

A Jesus Ferreira goal in the 35th minute was enough for the Americans to post the win, with Ferreira hitting the post on a try in the second minute, but making up for it later in the half. U.S. keeper David Ochoa managed to hold the Ticos at bay for the entire 90 minutes, recording eight saves as the U.S. was outshot, 19-7!

Mexico swamped the Dominican Republic by 4-1 on Thursday thanks to three second-half goals by Sebastian Cordova.

On Sunday, the U.S. will face the Dominican Republic (7 p.m. Eastern on FS1 and TUDN) and Mexico will play Costa Rica. The final game in group play comes on Wednesday with the U.S. meeting Mexico at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, also on FS1 and TUDN). The top two in the group will advance to winner-goes-to-Tokyo semifinals.

The FIFA Council took another step in matching the men’s and women’s World Cup by authorizing the FIFA Congress to make the selection of future Women’s World Cup hosts.

The Council had been making the selections, including the decision to go to Australia and New Zealand for 2023. But the future events, beginning in 2027 – if the event is to be held ever four years as opposed to every two years as some are proposing – will be awarded by FIFA’s full membership.

The FIFA financial statements for 2020 were released, showing $266.5 million in revenue for the year vs. $1.045 billion in expenses for a loss of $778.0 million before some positive investment results that brought the actual loss to $683.0 million. This is in line with the expectations, as FIFA spent $470.6 million on development activities and another $270.5 million in Covid relief to its member federations.

FIFA ended the year with $1.881 billion in reserves.

The budget for 2022 – a FIFA men’s World Cup year – shows revenue of a staggering $4.666 billion, with $3.807 billion already contracted by TV rights and sponsorships as of the end of 2020. FIFA will spend $1.696 billion on the Qatar World Cup, primarily on prize money, operations and television production. The total budgeted expenses for 2022 are $3.138 billion, forecasting a surplus of $1.528 billion.

● Skiing ● The FIS Alpine World Cup Final in Lenzerheide (SUI) has been doomed so far due to bad weather. Heavy fog and snow canceled the Downhill and Super-G events, with the Giant Slalom and Slalom hopefully to be run this weekend.

The cancellations left Swiss Beat Feuz as the men’s seasonal champ in the Downhill, 486-418 over Austrian Matthias Mayer, and Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr took the Super-G crown over Swiss Marco Odermatt, 401-318.

The women’s Downhill title went to Sofia Goggia of Italy by 480-410 over Swiss Corinne Suter and the Super-G winner is Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI: 525) over Federica Brignone (ITA: 323).

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LANE ONE: World Athletics Council agrees to allow Russian “neutral” athletes to compete in 2021; Continental Tour up to 85 meets in ‘21

Rich Perelman

March 18, 2021

tsx pix 2021-318 wath news conf-coe ridgeon 750 — World Athletics President Seb Coe (GBR) and chief executive Jon Ridgeon (GBR) during Thursday's news conference (Sorry, that's good as the online resolution got)

On its second of two days of online meetings, the World Athletics Council acted on the latest update from its Russia Task Force, chaired by Norwegian Rune Andersen:

“Council has accepted the Task Forde’s recommendation to allow Authorized Neutral Athletes to start competing again in international competitions, subject to a cap of 10 for the Olympic Games and for any World Athletics Series events. As a result of that decision, the Doping Review Board will start accepting applications for ANA status immediately.

“Council was clear that the ANA program depends on RusAF continuing to meet all the milestones for the implementation set up in the reinstatement plan. Subject to that, however, Russian athletes who can meet the specified criteria will be able to compete again, on a neutral basis, in international competitions.”

That means the three-member Doping Review Panel will begin receiving applications immediately, with a limit of 10 ANA athletes from Russia allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games and other World Athletics Series events in 2021. At least some approvals can be expected before the Diamond League meets begin in May.

Andersen noted that there are a lot of moving parts to the entire Russian status question:

“In my report to the World Athletics Council this afternoon, I confirmed that [the Russian Athletics Federation] has commenced to start the reinstatement plan that Council approved on 1st March. That plan was created by the RusAF Reinstatement Commission, with the support of international experts, and signed off by the Russia Task Force.

“I emphasized in my report, and Council members clearly agreed, that getting the plan into place is just the start, and it won’t mean anything until RusAF now carefully and consistently completes all of the enormous work that is required to implement the plan. And to begin the change in culture in athletics that it desperately needs.

“The President was clear that he wants the Task Force to monitor that work carefully and to report back to Council immediately if the expected progress is not achieved. The Task Force is well equipped to do this because the plan includes a detailed roadmap for implementation including detailed KPIs and milestones for each objective, and set deadlines to complete different tasks.

“In addition, we now have international experts on the ground in Russia, to act as our eyes and ears and to report back immediately if the plan is not being implemented as RusAF has promised.”

Andersen promised that if the Russian federation does not meet the numerous deadline and requirements of the plan, the Task Force will report this to the Council for potential future action.

But for now, this is good news for especially women’s high jump superstar Mariya Lasitskene and vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova, both of whom are reigning World Champions from Doha (QAT) in 2019. Former World Champion Sergey Shubenkov, the 2019 Worlds silver medalist in the 110 m hurdles, will now also be a contender for a medal this summer. Russia also won the silver and bronze medals in the men’s high jump in Doha, with Mikhail Akimenko and Ilya Ivanyuk, both of whom are also expected to apply for ANA status.

World Athletics has been the most demanding of all the federations in dealing with the Russian doping scandals, limiting Russia to one athlete in Rio in 2016 and now a maximum of 10 for Tokyo in 2021.

In what may have been its first-ever live-streamed news conference, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) emphasized the important of the return to competition and especially the growth of the World Athletics Continental Tour:

“We have a lot of new events, a lot of new cities coming onstream for our Continental Tour. Last year we had 29 events, this year, we’ll have 85, and this really has done what I wanted to do at the beginning of my term, which was really to breathe new, fresh life if you like into our one-day events.

“We have a lot of Council colleagues that owe their status in the sport to one-day events and I’m particularly pleased that 12 of them are going to be in the U.S.A., three of them are at Gold level. Montreal has a Bronze-level Continental Tour; that’s the first new athletics event in Canada this century. We’ve got a second Continental Tour event in Africa that will sit alongside the Nairobi event; in Oceania, we’ve gone from two to five events, and in Guyana, our CONSUDATLE – the South American federation, we’ve extended the footprint: we have an event there.”

World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon (GBR) added:

“[W]hat’s so encouraging … is, that certainly if you look over the last 20-30 years, there’s been a slight reduction every year in the amount of one-day meetings … and it’s great to see, particularly for the Continental Tour, that that process is now reversing and it’s not just reversing in the traditional heartland of strong competition, which is Europe, it’s reversing all the way across the world.”

The Continental Tour just inhaled the USA Track & Field “Journey to Gold” series into its schedule on Wednesday (17th), including the three above-mentioned Gold level meets:

● 24 April: USATF Grand Prix, at a site to be announced
● 09 May: USATF Golden Games, at Walnut, California
● 23 May: adidas Boost Boston Games, at Boston, Massachusetts

The Drake Relays on 24 April will be a Silver level meet, along with five other meets, and there will be three Bronze level events.

Ridgeon noted:

“The athletes are going to have more competition this summer than they have had before, there’s going to have more opportunities to earn a living than before and fans are going to have more opportunity around the world to see more competitions.”

The added competitions are being welcomed already, although the opportunity to “earn a living” in these meets is limited. The regulations stipulate that prize money in Continental Tour meets is:

● Gold: Minimum 12 events; $200,000 total prize purse, with $20,000 for core events ($6,000-4,500-3,000-2,000-1,500-1,200-1,000-800) or $10,000 for other events ($3,000-2,250-1,500-1,000-750-600-500-400).

● Silver: Minimum 12 events; $75,000 total prize purse, with $5,000 per event: $1,600-1,200-900-600-400-300.

● Bronze: Minimum 12 events, $25,000 total prize money in the meet (no per-event minimums.

These are, of course, far less than the Diamond League prize distribution of $25,000 per event for each event in each of the 13 meets in 2021, with more for the Diamond League Final.

On Tuesday, the first World Athletics Road Running Championships for 2023 has drawn interest from 12 cities worldwide. The cities (or countries) were not named, but the selection will be made in July. The World Half Marathon Championships and World 5 km Championships will be held, along with public-participation events, an expo, clinics and many other programs.

Asked about including a road mile championship, Coe admitted that as a former world-record holder in the event, he’s completely biased in any such discussion. Ridgeon, a former hurdles, liked the idea, but said it would be up to the eventual host organizer to decide whether to include it.

This is a potentially major new event for the sport, so look for a European host for 2023 (Copenhagen, perhaps?) and then a move to a North American city after that.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: Tokyo foreign spectator ban might come next week; LA28 adds Comcast as sponsor; Brisbane to get ‘32 in July?

Rich Perelman

March 16, 2021

News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport:

While the 137th Session of the International Olympic Committee dominated last week’s news, there were still a lot of other things going on:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The widely-expected decision to ban foreign spectators from the Tokyo Games may be confirmed next week. The Tokyo organizers are expected to meet with the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee and Japanese governmental entities as soon as Monday to try to come to a conclusion.

Kyodo News reported: “The Japanese government has already decided that welcoming spectators from abroad is impossible, given concerns among the public over the further spread of the virus and the fact that more contagious variants have been detected in various countries, officials with knowledge of the situation said earlier.”

IOC chief Thomas Bach (GER) has said that the decision of the organizers and the Japanese government would be respected, although there are many details to be finalized, such as for officials, coaches and support staff not formally part of national teams.

A decision on the number of (domestic) spectators to be allowed in the Olympic venues is expected by the end of April; the whispers are that around 50% capacity is expected to be approved.

No spectators at all will be present for the start of the Olympic Torch Relay that begins on 25 March in Fukushima.

Kyodo also reported that the Tokyo organizers are discussing plans to increase the coronavirus testing of athletes and officials in the Olympic Village to as often as daily. The issue is “whether an increase in the costs and manpower needed for giving COVID-19 tests daily could be kept to an acceptable level without affecting the general public’s access to the tests.”

The increase is testing frequency could be extended to in-country host towns and training camps to reach as many Village residents before they even come to Tokyo itself. The Kyodo story also noted:

“The International Olympic Committee has also been calling for the testing scheme to be ramped up after tests on the virus took place almost daily at the handball’s World Championships in January and the Australian Open tennis tournament in February.”

Anti-doping activities are also being heightened in a first-of-its size effort by the International Testing Agency. Where only 1,500 athletes were targeted for testing prior to Rio, a stunning 26,000 recommendations for testing have been made by the ITA, covering all 33 sports on the Tokyo program and to be completed over a six-month period.

These samples will be stored for up to 10 years, with a long-term holding facility already set up and receiving specimens. The ITA announcement also noted:

“Thousands of these recommendations have already triggered additional doping controls, and many more are already planned, resulting in over 9’000 tests to be completed in the coming weeks. The closer Tokyo 2020 gets and the smaller the pool of potentially participating athletes becomes through the qualification process, the more the recommendations will focus on the athletes who will definitely take part in the Games.”

The Japanese government is asking political delegations coming to the Games to salute their teams to keep their delegations small, with not more than 11 support staff. All visiting officials are expected to be asked to obtain a coronavirus test within 72 hours of departure for Japan as well.

Kyodo’s report noted a not-well-appreciated aspect of being an Olympic host for the Japanese government:

“The government is eager to welcome top officials to broaden diplomatic bonds. Prior to the games’ one-year postponement, it had made preparations for the attendance of government leaders and heads of states from more than 100 countries and regions during the opening ceremony.”

The Russian news agency TASS reported that the famed folk song “Katyusha” – for whom the feared World War II-era Soviet rocket-launcher system was named – will not be allowed to be used as a substitute Russian anthem in Tokyo.

The Russian Olympic Committee, acting on a request from its athletes’ advisory group, had proposed the song, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport declared it unsuitable: “The CAS panel considers that ‘any anthem linked to Russia’ extends to any song associated with, or with links to, Russia, which would include Katyusha.”

Next?

● Games of the XXXIV Olympiad: Los Angeles 2028 ● The LA28 organizers and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced Monday a second founding partner in Comcast, the U.S. communications giant.

Already deeply partnered with the Olympic Movement through its long-term television rights agreement through the 2032 Games via its NBCUniversal division, Comcast is also a major player in the U.S. cable services market under its own name and its Xfinity brand for consumers and businesses, as well as in wireless telephony.

Comcast was already a USOPC sponsor from 2017, and NBC has been the U.S. television rights holder for the summer Games since 1988 (Comcast acquired majority control of NBCUniversal in 2011). The announcement noted:

● “Under the new agreement, Comcast brands, including Xfinity and Comcast Business, will continue as the official communications services provider to consumers and businesses, including Internet, video distribution, wireless and electronic home security for Team USA for Beijing 2022, Paris 2024, Milan Cortina 2026 and Los Angeles 2028. Comcast has been an Official Partner of Team USA since 2017.”

● “As Founding Partner of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Comcast will work with LA28 over the next several years to drive lasting social change and build a more equitable and inclusive society, including by championing the Paralympic Movement as Los Angeles prepares for its first-ever Paralympic Games. These efforts will support LA28’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Collective, raising awareness for underrepresented communities.”

This is the second major sponsorship announced by LA28, with Delta Airlines announced in February of 2020.

● Games of the XXXV Olympiad: 2032 ● A special, closed meeting of the Brisbane City Council has been called for 23 March to review the plan for a 2032 Olympic Games, with documents apparently due back to the International Olympic Committee in April.

Brisbane Mayor Adrian Schrinner called the first closed meeting of the City Council since 2007:

“The information to which councillors will be privy to is not speculation on where venues might go but narrowing down to a more specific decision on where those venues will be. That does have impacts on things like the property market — significant impacts.

“So, councillors will be getting this information before general members of the public, and for that reason, it is important it is confidential.”

If the IOC’s 38-page Future Host Questionnaire is completed with the relevant governmental guarantees on time, the 2032 Games could be awarded as early as the IOC Session in Tokyo in July.

● Games of the XXXIX Olympiad: 2048 ● Believe it or not, there is already a candidate for the 2048 Olympic Games, as India announced its interest!

Deputy Chief Minister of New Delhi Manish Sisodia said during a city budget presentation:

“Our government aims to bring the sports facilities and the atmosphere towards sports competitions to such a level through the new Sports University that we can apply to host the 39th Olympic sports competitions for 2048.”

New Delhi has had Olympic aspirations since hosting the 1982 Asian Games, but its hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was widely seen as a disaster, with allegations of corruption and incompetence. There has also been discussions in India of hosting a Youth Olympic Games, an excellent way (if successful) to build trust for a future Olympic bid.

● XXV Olympic Winter Games: Milan-Cortina 2026 ● Fans are getting a unique opportunity to vote on the logo for the 2026 Winter Games, with a choice between a blue- green and red “Logo Dada” and a snowflake-white “Logo Futura.”

Online voting began on 6 March and will continue to 22 March, with a maximum of three votes per day per person. The winning design will be announced on a special Olympic and Paralympic Games edition of the Italian game show “Soliti Ignoti” on the national channelo RAI.

● National Olympic Committees ● More allegations of athlete abuse have come forward, one in a review of British Gymnastics and in a lawsuit filed in Canada by artistic swimmers.

In Great Britain, UK Sport and Sport England commissioned a report in August of 2020 by attorney Anne Whyte to look into abuse of British gymnasts. Her interim report was posted on 9 March, with the full report due in August.

Whyte’s findings were unsettling:

● Some 272 submissions of information were received through a specially-set-up Web site for the project, and another 118 submissions via the British Athletes Commission. Of the 400 submittals, 126 were by current and former gymnasts, 145 by parents or guardians, 46 by current and former coaches and even a small number by sports photographers!

● “Concerns have been raised about the practices and culture at clubs throughout England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Over 90 clubs and 100 coaches have been identified in submissions. Whilst many issues raised are at the elite level of the sport, this is not exclusively the case. Some of the re-occurring issues emerging from the information I have received are of bullying, belittling, extreme weight management, regular over-stretching, use of excessive physical force, training on serious injuries, gas-lighting, coercive control and a reluctance to raise complaints/lack of opportunity to do so. In a significant number of cases, the individual sharing their experiences with the Review continues to be impacted by their experiences in gymnastics, in some cases many years later.”

● Some 64 individual meetings have been held, with 19 more scheduled. The report notes:

“Due to the sensitive nature of the submissions and the desire to avoid causing further distress or trauma to potentially vulnerable individuals, these conversations about consent can be delicate and require experience in speaking with vulnerable individuals. Many individuals request that the referral be made anonymously with the primary reason provided that they remain involved in gymnastics and fear repercussions. To date, the Review has made 39 referrals to the statutory authorities.”

● British Gymnastics estimated that it received some 3,500 “complaints” of various kinds from 2008-20 – about 300 per year – but the numbers could not be more specific since the data was spread among various tracking systems over that time.

In Canada, five former members of the national artistic swimming squad filed a class-action suit against Canada Artistic Swimming. The CBC reported the suit alleged “psychological abuse and harassment suffered while training.

“The lawsuit would cover athletes who were training and competing between 2010 and 2020, and seeks compensation of $250,000 for punitive damages, as well as moral damages in the amount of $12,000 per athlete for each year they spent on the team.”

Specific complaints were made against four successive national-team coaches, including three women and one man, alleging body-shaming, excessive injuries, verbal abuse and more.

● Athletics ● World Athletics unveiled its 3-D, online Museum of World Athletics on Monday, with dozens of exhibits and a user experience that tries to replicate an actual walk-through of a physical museum. From the announcement:

“Demonstrating the unmatched universality of athletics, the museum features athletes from more than 30 countries and all six continental areas. The six areas (Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, Oceania and South America) each have a section devoted to the history of athletics in their region.

“The museum includes other carefully thought out details such as the lines of an athletics track on the virtual floor to guide visitors, and even features the shadows of the objects, providing a convincingly immersive experience for sports and museum fans.

“The project took six months to bring to life and was designed with the capacity to evolve over time.”

It’s a pretty impressive program for such a short development time; World Athletics has been collecting objects, souvenirs and memorabilia from athletes, fans and organizations for years and having them available online is an up-to-date way to share them with fans worldwide, for free.

The Athletics Integrity Unit announced that the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the appeal of the suspension of sprinter Michelle Lee Ahye (TTO). Her two-year ban for “Whereabouts” failures was confirmed, from 19 April 2019.

This allows Ayhe to return to competition in late April of 2021 and to be eligible for the Tokyo Games in July, a benefit for her of the postponement.

Double Olympic women’s 800 m champion Caster Semenya (RSA) is being financially supported with R12 million (~$895,495 U.S.) from the South African government in her appeal against the World Athletics regulations for individuals with Differences in Sex Development.

Athletics South Africa asked the government’s sports ministry for assistance. The Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation is also supporting Semenya and noted in a statement that “one of the fundamental elements of a just society is that the rules apply equally to every individual.

“It is sad how seldom this really happens. Whether or not the European Court of Human Rights rules in time for Semenya to take to the track in Tokyo later this year — and her lawyers don’t expect that to happen — hers is a test case for other athletes with differences in sex development.”

The World Athletics regulations apply only to events from 400 m to the mile; Semenya has said she is aiming for the 200 m for Tokyo.

● Figure Skating ● Figure skating coach John Zimmerman was suspended last week by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for “Abuse of Process, Emotional Misconduct, Failure to Report” incidents of abuse.

Reports noted that the incidents apparently involved French skater Morgan Cipres, who was accused of sending lewd photographs to an underage skater in 2017. Both Cipres and the minor skater were being coached by Zimmerman.

Zimmerman himself was a three-time U.S. Pairs champ, with Kyoko Ina and was a 2002 Olympian. The USCSS decision of a ban for up to two years is appealable.

● Football ● A major change in the way football is organized worldwide is being suggested by FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger (FRA), with discussions to begin in the spring.

In an interview with BeIN Sports, Wenger, 71, said

“Organise only competitions of meaning and kick all the parallel competitions out of the game. People must understand what is at stake and only have games with meaning.”

That could mean a FIFA men’s World Cup every two years perhaps, alternated with the European Championships and “Kick all the rest out.” The other confederations are hardly going to like the idea, but Wenger went further, also suggesting enforced breaks for players in what has become an all-year-round game.

Further, the 22-year manager of Arsenal in the English Premier League also suggested that the club calendar in Europe be adjusted to a March-to-November timeline so that all seasons are played inside the calendar year. This is done in Japan – where Wenger has also coached – and in Major League Soccer in the U.S.

These ideas would also impact women’s football, which Wenger noted must be more fully developed worldwide, and perhaps even the offside rule, perhaps the single rule which causes the most unhappiness in any sport in the world.

FIFA chief Gianni Infantino (SUI) has been urging a review of the international schedule with the idea to make the game more accessible and understandable to fans and less exhausting for players who have both club and national-team responsibilities.

The U.S. Women’s National Team, unbeaten in 37 straight matches, will head to Europe for its next friendlies, with challenging matches against Sweden and France coming in mid-April.

The American women will play at Friends Arena in Stockholm on 10 April, to be shown in the U.S. on Fox at 1 p.m. Eastern time; no spectators will be allowed. On 13 April, the U.S. will face France in Le Havre, to be shown on ESPN2 at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

The French handed the U.S. women their last loss, 3-1, at the Stade Oceane, in January of 2019.

The continuing battle between Swiss special prosecutor Stefan Keller and FIFA – especially President Infantino – saw a win for FIFA last Thursday.

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC) ruled that Keller has acted beyond his authority in investigating matters beyond the question of impropriety of former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber, in meeting with Infantino. FIFA released a statement which included:

“On 10 December 2020, Mr Keller issued a media release stating that there were ‘clear indications of criminal conduct on the part of the FIFA President’. Now it is clear that this unfounded and defamatory statement was made on the basis of an investigative act which was itself illegal, null and void.

“The FCC further states that it is the task of the supervisory authority to oversee the conduct of the office of the extraordinary Federal Prosecutor. FIFA trusts that in future it will actually do so.”

● Gymnastics ● An 80-page “Findings of Compliance Audit” was posted by USA Gymnastics on 10 March, reviewing the progress – or lack thereof – on the recommendations of the 2017 “Proposed Policy and Procedural Changes for the Protection of Young Athletes,” better known as the “Daniels Report” on changes needed at the federation.

The Krieg DeVault law firm, of which Daniels is a member, issued the new report, with generally high praise:

“In the nearly four-year period since the Report was submitted to USA Gymnastics in June 2017, the organization has made significant progress toward compliance with the recommendations made in the Report. This progress has been far more pronounced and strategic in the nearly two year period since the Board of Directors selected Li Li Leung to serve as president of USA Gymnastics. …

“Overall, we conclude that USA Gymnastics has made tremendous strides, in particular over the past two years, in achieving the goals of the original Report – including in particular the overarching goal of a compete cultural shift to a focus on athlete safety first. While some additional work remains to be done, primarily but not solely in the area of communication, what has been accomplished to date constitutes an impressive re-focusing of the entire organization on the well-being of athletes.”

More work was suggested in communications, oversight and tracking of abusers, more training of hearing panel members and “Continued improvement in the organization’s support of athletes ultimately evidenced by a more universal perception by athletes that they are in fact supported and protected by the organization.”

The work of the U.S. Center for SafeSport was also lauded, especially for creating “what appears to be highly effective training.”

This is an important, milestone report for USA Gymnastics, especially in possible de-certification hearings by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, or in any move by the U.S. Congress in the fall (under the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act) to de-certify the federation.

● Swimming ● Two-time Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller pled not guilty on 9 March to seven charges stemming from his presence during the U.S. Capitol riots on 6 January. His next hearing is scheduled for 6 April.

He was indicted by a grand jury in February, including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

● At the BuZZer ● Further to our 9 March note on the auction purchase of a 1972 Sapporo Session badge earlier this month for €1,500 (~$1,778 U.S.), long-time U.S. Olympic journalist and devoted collector Karen Rosen replied:

“The 1972 Sapporo IOC badges are extremely rare. One with the same ribbon just sold on eBay for a best offer of $2,000. In June 2018, [dealer] Ingrid O’Neill sold the same badge for $3,000 plus 15 percent commission, so $3,450.”

So, maybe a bargain, right?

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LANE ONE: IOC’s Agenda 2020+5 “Road to the Games” initiative is about money: for athletes, continental Games and an IOC takeover?

Rich Perelman

March 15, 2021

One of the most interesting and possibly pivotal exchanges during the six-hour discussion at last week’s 137th Session of the International Olympic Committee about the unanimously-passed Olympic Agenda 2020+5 was about Recommendation 6: “Enhance and promote to the Road to the Olympic Games.”

Said Federation Equestre International President Ingmar de Vos of Belgium:

“I believe that given the possibility to qualifying events to use Olympic branding will really be a big game-changer.”

Said PanAm Sports President Neven Ilic (CHI):

“[I]f we could qualify for the Olympic Games through the Pan American Games, we will have a completely different product, and we need to increase the level of the Pan American Games, having the best athletes and we will have the best athletes if we could qualify for the Olympic Games.”

Said seven-time Olympic medalist and Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission Kirsty Coventry (ZIM):

“[T]his opens up an enormous platform and opportunity for athletes coming from much smaller [National Olympic Committees], much smaller countries, where it’s a lot harder to find sponsorship, it’s a lot harder for their communities to actually acknowledge that you do train for four years before an Olympic Games and not just six months … I know this can really open up so many more opportunities for athletes, especially on my continent.”

This is about money, specifically having the IOC extend the use of “Olympic branding” – that’s the Olympic rings and related symbols – to the qualification events that take place as much as two years prior to an Olympic or Winter Games. The recommendation was introduced by Australian IOC member John Coates, who noted:

● “There are thousands of Olympic qualification events and the purpose of this recommendation is to address a gap that currently exists in the use of these qualification events as part of the overall Games promotion, as well as celebrating the participation of those athletes in these events as part of their qualifying journey. Of course, not all of them are going to qualify, but they should still be recognized.”

● “At the moment, the Olympic and organizing committee brands have little to no visibility as part of the qualification events. The qualification events happen, but not enough people know the purpose of them and where they are ending up, and so the journey for the athletes and the ability for the athletes to be able to promote that journey is not always clear.”

● “[W]e know we can do this through initiatives such as the Olympic Channel and the new IOC digital platforms. … At first instance, we’d look at granting the use of the [organizing committee] marks in association with these events.

“The concept of an Olympic qualifier series is something we’d like to explore, the potential to group together several sports in a qualification period, at the same time while respecting the competition of each of those and potentially streamlining what we know [is] already an extremely busy global sports calendar. … [W]e’d be talking about offering them digital assets which could be produced specifically for athletes according to, and to be used to share and promote their journey to the Games, tell their stories through the Olympic Channel.”

It’s an interesting idea, with roots in the CBS promotion of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament with its – this year – “Road to Indianapolis” theme (which itself was a play on the seven “Road to” movies made from 1940-62 starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour!).

One wonders whether the organizing committees in Paris (2024), Milan-Cortina (2026) and Los Angeles (2028) are happy about this; they’re already working overtime selling their own sponsorships and rights to use their trademarks during a global pandemic. Do they get anything out of this?

But this is an obvious lifeline – with low costs to the IOC – being thrown to allow athletes some use of Olympic marks outside of the Olympic Games period, and potentially to International Federations which can use a tie-in with the Olympic marks to raise the profile (and saleability) of their otherwise uninteresting events that have Olympic qualifying elements. It’s actually a much better approach to athlete promotion than the continuing battle over Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter about personal-sponsor visibility during a Games period.

It’s not surprising that two IF presidents heartily endorsed the idea: de Vos from the equestrian federation (FEI) and Marisol Casado (ESP) from the International Triathlon Union. Both are in the next-to-lowest (fourth) tier for revenue distribution from the IOC’s television rights revenue and are looking for help. Added de Vos:

“I hope there will not be too many requirements that will be imposed or put in place to allow the use of Olympic branding and then I am thinking specifically to the fact that athletes but also organizers – and the majority of the organizers of qualifier events specifically – depend on sponsors to be able to organize the events.”

Even more enthusiastic was Ilic, who is looking for ways to build up the Pan American Games, a once-mega-event whose profile has lagged significantly in recent editions:

“[W]e have to protect the Pan American Games and increase the level in all the different aspects. One is the competition, the second one is the sponsorship, the third one is the media, how the media is watching our Games. And in this regard, I think that if, through this recommendation, the International Olympic Committee will consider the Pan American Games or the five continental Games like part of the ‘Road to Tokyo’, it will be incredible for us.

“[W]e need to feel that we are part of this Road and mainly to qualify directly to the Olympic Games. Only one spot in each of the sports will make a very different Pan American Games. I think this is tremendously important for us.”

Coates concurred, adding: “[T]he last Pacific [Islands] Games was starting to include Olympic qualifications in some of the events and I think that certainly lifted the profile of those events for the organizers and for the same reasons as you said, Neven. It helps them get sponsors, it helps them get general recognition.”

Dominican IOC member Luis Oviedo, who is also the President of Centro Caribe Sports, then jumped in and asked to extend the concept even further (per the Spanish interpreter): “What we would like to see is [Central American and Caribbean Games] that could then be qualifiers for the Pan American Games. This would add value to the [CAC] Games.”

In other words, it’s all about the Olympic Games and very little else. There are multiple International Federations who will have lots of questions, starting with FIFA (which doesn’t need any help). But most of the IFs – two-thirds for sure – will embrace this.

Coates floated some weak concepts that have been discussed by the IOC staff and underlined the goal:

“We want to be able to help the athletes tell their story of how they qualify and if we give them some identification they can use, I think it’s going to help them, help them with their expenses and hopefully help enhance the visibility of the qualification events themselves as well.”

The discussion of Recommendation 6 was followed by a presentation by Swedish IOC member Gunilla Lindberg, also the Secretary General of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) concerning the next recommendation, on “harmonizing” the international sports calendar. She noted:

“Over recent years, the sport calendar has become more congested, not less. More money has come into sport through sponsorship and broadcast rights. More cities and regions have sought events to promote themselves. New evolutions in sport have come, like urban and beach forms of sport. Both NOCs and IFs have sought more events in order to generate revenue and promotion which they could use to develop their sport.”

She and her working group – which dates back to 2015 – hoped to have a proposal coming within the next few months. What this will look like is anyone’s guess.

Both Coates and Lindberg stayed far away from one of the easy-to-make interpretations of Recommendations 6 and 7: that the groundwork is being laid for the IOC to take over parts of the process. This is even contemplated in the comment to Recommendation 6:

“Beyond the individual stand-alone events, some multi-sports qualification events could be developed by the IOC in collaboration with IFs, which would help streamline the qualification calendar and also potentially add value for the Hosts, IFs and athletes involved. These events, grouping sports by type or by culture (e.g. combat sports, urban sports), could also serve to build excitement for the Olympic Games.”

The discussion during the Session was focused on the promotion of athletes and existing events rather than having the IOC create new ones. But it isn’t hard to imagine an IOC initiative that would see the IOC co-opt major qualifying events like the African Games, Asian Games, and Pan American Games, create new multi-sport events and take an interest in specific IF world championships, producing the content for both the Olympic Channel and national broadcasters (on TV and online), using the Olympic Cloud distribution system pioneered by TOP sponsor Alibaba and managed by its Olympic Broadcast Systems subsidiary.

It could concentrate enormous authority over almost the entire Olympic-sport “system” in the IOC. Is this bad? Consider that as the IOC pieces together this assembly, it could also take over the television and sponsorship rights sales for these events, but with a twist. As it already supports the IFs and NOCs through distribution of the Olympic television rights sales, what if the distribution of funds for these qualifying events went 50/50 to the organizing committees – which desperately need the money – and the remaining half as prize money to support those athletes competing in the qualifying events?

Isn’t that the whole point?

Rich Perelman
Editor

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THE BIG PICTURE: Mitt Romney’s “The Right Way to Boycott the Beijing Olympics”

Rich Perelman

March 15, 2021

Former Massachusetts Governor, former President of the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games organizing committee and current U.S. Senator from Utah Mitt Romney posted a 703-word opinion piece on his Web site this morning, and was also published in The New York Times.

It’s excellent advice and well worth reading carefully:

The Right Way to Boycott the Beijing Olympics

The United States can repudiate Chinese policy
without unfairly punishing our athletes

As the Beijing Olympic Games approach, it is increasingly clear that China, under the control of the Chinese Communist Party does not deserve an Olympic showcase. Because it is too late to move the Winter Games scheduled for Beijing next February, some have proposed, understandably, that the United States boycott the Games.

China deserves our condemnation. The Chinese Communist Party has reneged on its agreement to allow Hong Kong self rule; it has brutally suppressed peaceful demonstrators and incarcerated respected journalists. It is exacting genocide against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities; Uighur women are forcefully sterilized or impregnated by Han Chinese men. Adults, ripped from their families, are sentenced into forced labor and concentration camps. Among ethnic Chinese, access to uncensored broadcast news and social media is prohibited. Citizens are surveyed, spied upon and penalized for attending religious services or expressing dissent.

Prohibiting our athletes from competing in China is the easy, but wrong, answer. Our athletes have trained their entire lives for this competition and have primed their abilities to peak in 2022. When I helped organize the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, I gained an understanding of the enormous sacrifice made by our Olympic hopefuls and their families. It would be unfair to ask a few hundred young American athletes to shoulder the burden of our disapproval.

It could also be counterproductive. The Olympic Games aren’t just a showcase for the host nation, but a platform for values both American and universal. If our athletes skip the Games, millions of young Americans at home might skip watching it. And the Olympic Games are one of the most enduring demonstrations of the great qualities of the human spirit on the world stage: We witness determination, sacrifice, patriotism, endurance, sportsmanship. We would also lose the global symbolism of our young American heroes standing atop the medals podium, hand to their hearts, as “The Star-Spangled Banner” plays on Chinese soil.

Moreover, if an athlete boycott is meant to influence the behavior of the home country or delegitimize its government, it probably won’t work. When President Jimmy Carter applied an athlete boycott to the Moscow Olympics in 1980, the result was more medals for Russians and dashed dreams for American athletes. No one seriously believes it improved Soviet behavior.

So if we shouldn’t forbid American athletes from competing, then how should we meaningfully repudiate China’s atrocities? The right answer is an economic and diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics. American spectators — other than families of our athletes and coaches — should stay at home, preventing us from contributing to the enormous revenues the Chinese Communist Party will raise from hotels, meals and tickets. American corporations that routinely send large groups of their customers and associates to the Games should send them to U.S. venues instead.

Rather than send the traditional delegation of diplomats and White House officials to Beijing, the president should invite Chinese dissidents, religious leaders and ethnic minorities to represent us.

An economic and diplomatic boycott should include collaboration with NBC, which has already done important work to reveal the reality of the Chinese Communist Party’s repression and brutality. NBC can refrain from showing any jingoistic elements of the opening and closing ceremonies and instead broadcast documented reports of China’s abuses.

We should enlist our friends around the world to join our economic boycott. Limiting spectators, selectively shaping our respective delegations and refraining from broadcasting Chinese propaganda would prevent China from reaping many of the rewards it expects from the Olympics.

Finally, America and the nations of the free world need to have a heart-to-heart with the International Olympic Committee. The I.O.C. has hoped that awarding Games to repressive regimes would tend to lessen their abuses. But hope has too often met a different reality — in Hitler’s Germany, Putin’s Russia and Xi’s China. In authoritarian states, the Olympics has more often been a tool of propaganda than a lever of reform.

Let us demonstrate our repudiation of China’s abuses in a way that will hurt the Chinese Communist Party rather than our American athletes: reduce China’s revenues, shut down their propaganda, and expose their abuses. An economic and diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics — while proceeding with the Games — is the right answer.

HIGHLIGHTS: Another world title for Chloe Kim, Diggins clinches World Cup X-C title; Ross & Klineman win first women’s beach tourney in Qatar!

Rich Perelman

March 14, 2021

tsx pix 2021-314 diggins, jesse wcup title 750 (usski) — History for FIS Cross Country World Cup winner Jessica Diggins of the U.S. (Photo: U.S. Ski Team Twitter feed)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● Alpine Skiing ● The FIS World Cup neared its conclusion with the penultimate stops prior to the World Cup Final next week in Lenzerheide (SUI).

The men’s tour was in Kranjska Gora (SLO), with Swiss Marco Odermatt winning his straight World Cup on Saturday in the Giant Slalom, for his third win of the year. Odermatt finished with a combined time of 2:12.87, 1.06 seconds ahead of countryman Loic Meillard and 1.09 up on Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner. Odermatt now leads the seasonal Giant Slalom standings, 625-600 over France’s Alexis Pinturault with one race left.

French star Clement Noel won the Sunday Slalom, ahead of countryman Victor Muffat-Jeandet, 1:47.51-1:48.13, with Swiss Ramon Zenhaeusern third (1:48.22). Austria’s Marco Schwarz has already clinched the seasonal Slalom title with 625 points, ahead of Zenhaeusern (503).

The women were in Are (SWE) for two Slalom races, with American Mikaela Shiffrin in the mix for another seasonal title. On Friday, it was seasonal leader Petra Vlhova winning her sixth race of the season in 1:45.16 after taking a big lead, 49.72-50.13 over Shiffin on the first run. Austria’s Katharina Liensberger skied well on the second run to move up to second from the third spot, while Shiffrin faded (10th on the second run); Vlhova was fifth-fastest on the second run, but had an 0.20 margin at the end over Liensbeger (1:45.26) and Shiffrin (1:45.80).

On Saturday, Shiffrin got out fastest on the first run, leading Liensberger, 52.75-52.94, but while the Austrian posted the second-best second run of 54.99, Shiffrin faded to 10th again on the second run, but ended up second overall, 1:47.93-1:48.65. Swiss Wendy Holdener was third in 1:49.58. Vlhova was eighth. With one race left, Vlhova has the seasonal lead with 612 points to 590 for Liensberger and 575 for Shiffrin.

● Athletics ● The NCAA Indoor Championships at Fayetteville, Arkansas essentially ended an eventful indoor season and produced five world-leading marks:

● Men/200 m: 20.19, Matthew Boling (USA/Georgia)
● Men/400 m: 44.71, Noah Williams (USA/LSU)
● Men/Long Jump: 8.45 m (27-8 3/4), JuVaughn Harrison (USA/LSU)

● Women/200 m: 22.38 Abby Steiner (USA/Kentucky)
● Women/Long Jump: 6.93 m (22-9), Tara Davis (USA/Texas)

The men’s events had two multi-event winners, including Cole Hocker (USA/Oregon) in the mile (3:53.71) and 3,000 m (7:46.15), and Harrison in the high jump (2.30 m/7-6 1/2) and the long jump. The women had one, with Trinidad & Tobago’s Kyra Gittens (Texas A&M) winning the high jump (1.90 m/6-2 3/4) and the Pentathlon (4,746, a national record).

Boling, still a sophomore, moved to equal-6th on the all-time world 200 m list with his 20.19 win, and Williams – who had a lifetime best of 45.72 coming in this year in the 400 m – is now no. 4 all-time, with the fifth-fastest performance ever! He had to run that fast as the winner of the first section of the 400 m, North Carolina A&T’s Randolph Ross (USA) ran 44.99! Also impressive were Baylor’s K.C. Lightfoot, the vault winner at 5.93 m (19-5 1/2) and Arizona State’s Turner Washington at 21.36 m (70-1) in the shot.

Among the women, Kentucky junior Steiner’s 200 m win places her in a tie for no. 5 on the all-time list and just 0.05 from Gwen Torrence’s 1996 American Record! Texas star Davis claimed the Collegiate Record with her 6.92 m (22-9) jump and is now the no. 6 American in the history of the event.

Outdoors, there were three early-season outdoor world leaders at the Canberra Track Classic, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meet in Canberra (AUS), with Peter Bol (AUS) winning the men’s 800 m in 1:45.23 and Chris Douglas (AUS) taking the 400 m hurdles in 50.12. Australia’s Linden Hall won the women’s 1,500 m in 4:02.02.

● Beach Volleyball ● The Katara Cup in Doha (QAT) was eagerly anticipated as the first major event on the FIVB World Tour in the 2021 season, and it was a good one for the U.S.

Most importantly, the duo of April Ross and Alix Klineman reached the top of the podium with an impressive 22-20, 21-18 win over Canadian stars (and 2019 World Champions) Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes in the final. In fact, Ross and Klineman won their six matches by a combined total of 12-1 sets; this was their fifth FIVB World Tour win together for one of the top medal contenders for Tokyo.

And it was historic: this was the first-ever women’s tournament in Qatar, and that was not lost on the winners.

Sais Ross, “It means so much! We are so grateful to be here. We felt so welcome here. It was an amazing tournament, amazingly run, and to come out on top, especially at the first event in so long is so exciting. We worked as hard as we could work and it still feels like there is a lot of room for improvement. Against that team, it’s really tough and I felt like we pushed each other. So we are going to take notes, go back and continue to work hard.”

The bronze medal went to Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Duda Lisboa with a 21-13, 21-14 win over Americans Emily Stockman and Kelley Kolinske.

The men’s title was a breakthrough win for unheralded, 14th-seeded Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner (CZE), winning 21-16, 21-19 over Evandro Oliveira and Gustavo Carvalhaes (BRA), for their first career World Tour victory. The all-U.S. bronze-medal match saw Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb out-last Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhauser, 21-9, 23-21.

The World Tour will resume in a sequestered hub in Cancun (MEX) for three tournaments in mid-through-late April.

● Biathlon ● The second week of racing in Nove Mesto (CZE) was a never-to-be-forgotten experience for 28-year-old French star Quentin Fillon-Maillet, and Norwegian star Tiril Eckhoff.

Fillon-Maillet won both the 10 km Sprint and the 12.5 km Pursuit, and moved to third in the overall seasonal standings. In the Sprint, he shot clean and finished in 22:07.2, 11.3 seconds clear of runner-up Tarjei Boe (NOR) and 14.8 up on Italy’s Lukas Hofer. In the Pursuit, he suffered two shooting penalties, but no one was perfect, and the Frenchman recorded his sixth career World Cup win in 28:46.7, 8.0 seconds ahead of Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe and 14.6 seconds ahead of fellow Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin.

Going into the final week of the season, J.T. Boe has 1,011 points, ahead of Sturla Holm Langreid (NOR: 986) and Fillon Maillet (872).

The women’s races in Nove Mesto – last week and this week – belonged to Norwegian star Eckhoff. The winner of two World Championships golds, she won both the 7.5 km Sprint and 10 km Pursuit for her third and fourth straight World Cup wins! She has now won 12 races this season out of 23 total races!

In the Sprint, Eckhoff won by 6.1 seconds over Denise Hermann (GER), despite one penalty to none for Hermann, and 10.5 seconds ahead of Dorothea Weirer (ITA). American Susan Dunklee had a fine race, shooting clean and finishing eighth (+37.2).

In the Pursuit, Eckhoff missed one on the range, but was untouchable anyway, winning by 34.6 seconds over Dzinara Alimbekava (BLR) and 40.2 over Franziska Preuss (GER). Dunklee was eighth again, with just one penalty and finishing 1:12.9 behind the winner.

Eckhoff leads the season standings with 1,043 points vs. 903 for teammate Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and 824 for Swede Hanna Oeberg.

● Cycling ● One of the great races of any season – the 79th edition of Paris-Nice – saw a stunning, surprise finish as shoo-in Vuelta a Espana winner Primoz Roglic (SLO) crashed twice on the final, hilly stage into Levens and Germany’s Maximillan Schachmann ended up as the overall winner.

Roglic took over the leadership of the race after winning the fourth stage (of eight) and then won stages six and seven to pile up a seemingly insurmountable 52-second edge on Schachmann and 1:11 on Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS).

But on Sunday, Roglic crashed on an early descent and then again on the same area of the loop course about 25 km from the finish. All of that caused him to finish 56th on the stage, some 3:08 behind winner Magnus Cort (DEN). Schachmann finished 10th in the same time (2:16:58 for the 97.2 km course) and ended with a total time of 28:49:51, winning by 19 seconds over Vlasov with Ion Izagirre (ESP) third (-0:23). Roglic ended up 15th, 2:16 behind the winner. American Matteo Jorgenson was eighth (-1:29).

Further east, the 56th Tirreno-Adriatico race completed its fifth stage and will finish with an Individual Time Trial on Tuesday. Dutch star Wout van Aert took the lead right away in the first stage and led for the first three stages, but when Saturday’s difficult fourth climbing stage came, it was reigning Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar (SLO) who took charge.

Only Britain’s Simon Yates could stay with Pogacar on the steep, uphill finish of the 148 km route to the Prati di Tivo, with Pogacar winning by six seconds and then 29 seconds over third-placer Sergio Higuita (COL). Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel won the hilly fifth stage on Sunday – his second stage win of the race – but with Pogacar just 10 seconds behind in second place.

So, with two stages left, Pogacar leads by 1:15 over van Aert and 3:00 over Mikel Landa (ESP). Barring crashes, Pogacar should be a convincing winner come Tuesday in San Benedetto del Tronto.

● Fencing ● After just more than a year away from competition, the sabre-rattlers got back on the piste in Budapest (HUN) for the first FIE World Cup since March of 2020.

Both men’s and women’s Sabre events were held, and even with the layoff, with familiar results.

Korea’s reigning World Champion, Sang-Uk Oh, won the men’s Sabre in a 15-14 thriller with home favorite Aron Szilagyi, the 2012-16 Olympic gold medalist. Georgia’s Sandro Bazadze and Germany’s Matyas Szabo took home bronze medals.

Hungary’s Anna Marton, the 2015 Worlds bronze medalist, scored a win in the women’s Sebre, besting France’s two-time Worlds medalist Cecilia Bender, 15-9 in the final. Hungarian teammate Lisa Pusztai and Korea’s Jisu Yoon shared the bronze.

● Freestyle Skiing ● The World Championships in Moguls and Aerials were held in Almaty (KAZ), separately from the other disciplines as part of the adaptations to the coronavirus pandemic from Monday through Thursday, but the faces on the podium were quite familiar.

Canadian superstar Mikael Kingsbury won both the Moguls and Dual Moguls, defending both of his 2019 world titles and giving him six Worlds golds in his career … at age 28. Kingsbuty scored 87.36 in the final to easily outdistance Benjamin Cavet (FRA: 82.43) and home favorite Pavel Kolmakov (KAZ: 82.23). Kingsbury defeated Australia’s Matt Graham, 80.51-67.57 in the Dual Moguls final, with Ikuma Horishima (JPN) winning the bronze over Brenden Kelly (CAN).

Reigning Olympic champ Perrine Laffont (FRA) won her third World Championships gold, but first in Moguls in Almaty, scoring 82.11 against 79.52 for Kazakh star Yuilya Galysheva and 79.41 for Anastasiia Smirnova (RUS). In the Dual Moguls, two-time defending champ Laffont was eliminated in the quarter-finals and Smirnova, 18, took the gold over Russian Viktoriia Lazarenko. Kazakhstan’s Anastassiya Gorodko won the bronze over Canadian Sofiane Gagnon.

In Aerials, Russian star Maxim Burov has five wins on the 2020-21 World Cup circuit and won again here, defending his 2019 World Championship, scoring 135.00 to out-point American Chris Lillis (133.50) and fellow Russian Pavel Krotov (127.50).

Australia’s Laura Peel had won four medals in six World Cup events coming into the Worlds, and she won the Aerials title for the second time – also in 2015 – with a finals score of 106.46. American Ashley Caldwell – the 2017 World Champion – was second (101.74) and Lyubov Nikitina (RUS: 94.47) was third.

The Aerials World Cup season continued right away in Almaty, with Pirmin Werner (SUI) moving up from fourth at the World Championships to win on Saturday, ahead of fellow Swiss Nicolas Gygax and Lewis Irving (CAN), 121.72-119.46-113.28. This was the final event of the World Cup season in Aerials and Burov was the easy winner with 526 points, ahead of Noe Roth (SUI: 320) and Werner (305).

The women’s Aerials event was won by Canadian Marion Thenault for her first World Cup medal of the season, scoring 89.88 to best Nikitina (86.36) and Kazakh Zhanbota Aldabergenova (84.99). Peel won the seasonal title with 450 points, up on American Winter Vinecki (343) and Canada’s Thenault (312).

The World Championships in Halfpipe and Slopestyle are underway in Aspen, Colorado, with the Big Air finals coming later this week.

The Halfpipe title was claimed by New Zealand’s Nico Porteous, scoring 94.50, to defeat Canadian Simon D’Artois (91.25) and American Birk Irving (89.75), ahead of fellow American stars Alex Ferreira (84.75) and Aaron Blunck (83.25). The men’s Slopestyle gold was taken by Swiss Andri Ragettli, 22, for his first Worlds medal, scoring 90.65 over Colby Stevenson (USA: 89.65) and Alex Hall of the U.S. (86.01).

The women’s events were dominated by San Francisco-born Eileen Ailing Gu, 17, who now competes for China. She won the Halfpipe on Friday at 93.00, besting Canada’s Rachel Karker (91.75) and Zoe Atkin (GBR: 90.50), with Americans Hanna Faulhaber (86.75), Brita Sigourney (86.25) and Devin Logan (79.25) finishing 4-5-6. Gu then won the Slopestyle title on Saturday, scoring 84.23, ahead of Mathilde Gremaud (SUI: 77.15) and Canadian Megan Oldham (76.18). American Marin Hamill was fifth (71.18).

In the Ski Cross World Cup in Sunny Valley (RUS), seasonal stars Reece Howden (CAN) and Fanny Smith (SUI) were winners again. Howden won his fourth event of the season, ahead of Ryo Sugai (JPN) and Joos Berry (SUI), while Smith took her sixth win, beating Swedish star Sandra Naeslund and Austria’s Katrin Ofner in the final.

● Karate ● The Karate 1 Premier League was able to resume this week in Istanbul (TUR), with 584 competitors present for a full program.

Iran scored two wins in the men’s events, with Zabiollah Poorshab winning the 84 kg division and Sajad Ganjzadeh taking the +84 kg title. Home favorite Eray Samdan won the 60 kg class for Turkey.

Two reigning women’s World Champions won in Istanbul: Sandra Sanchez (ESP) in Kata and Serbia’s Jovana Prekovic at 61 kg. Turkey scored another win, as Serap Ozcelik, the 50 kg silver medalist at the 2018 Worlds, triumphed over German Shara Hubrich.

● Nordic Skiing ● History was made by Jessie Diggins, who became the first woman and the second American to win a FIS seasonal World Cup in Cross Country Skiing!

With the World Cup season shortened by the cancellation of the expected final events in China and with Norway also closing down, the final races of the season were held in Engadin (SUI).

The women’s program included a 10 km Classical Mass Start and a 30 km Freestyle Pursuit. The same three women won all the medals in both: Russian Yulia Stupak won the Mass Start ahead of Heidi Weng (NOR: +7.1) and Swede Ebba Andersson (+8.5), with Diggins fifth (+20.7). Then Weng won the Pursuit in 1:28:11.6, up 4.5 seconds over Andersson with Stupak 33.7 seconds back and Diggins in fourth (+37.3).

Added up, Diggins won the Crystal Globe with 1,347 points thanks to six World Cup victories and 13 World Cup medals, over Stupak (1,079) and Andersson (1,011) with American Rosie Brennan fourth at 919. True, Norway’s stars did not compete for big chunks of the season, but the trophies are handed out those who compete, not those who stay home. Diggins also won the Distance title, with 653 points over Andersson (640) and Stupak (619), with Brennan also fourth (484). Diggins was fourth on the Sprint table (262) as well.

Bill Koch, back in 1981-82, had been the only American to win the Cross Country overall World Cup title.

“It was really really nice to finish this season of my wildest dreams and it happened because of the team,” said Diggins. “We have so much incredible support behind the scenes. We have people back in the States, and an amazing crew over here. Through the four months that we were over here we really just held tight together as a team and took care of one another and had a great atmosphere. Everyone worked so hard and put their heart and soul into this, and I couldn’t be more grateful. The chance to race at all is amazing, but the chance to have a season like this, with a team like this is just incredible. I couldn’t be more thankful to be part of this team and get to celebrate this thing that we’ve achieved together.”

The men’s events completed the second consecutive overall title for Russian Alexander Bolshunov, who win his ninth event of the season in the 15 km Mass Start, finishing 18.4 and 18.9 seconds ahead of Norwegians Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Paal Golberg. In the 50 km Pursuit, Simen Hegstad Krueger (NOR) won in 2:10:41.4, beating Hans Christer Holund (NOR: +1.2) at the line with Swede Jens Burman (+3.0) just behind.

For the season, Bolsuhov piled up 1,765 points to overwhelm the field; teammate Ivan Yakimushkin was second at 800. Bolshunov also won the title with 921 points.

● Snowboard ● The amazing Chloe Kim added to her legend at the World Championships in Aspen this week, winning the Halfpipe title in stunning fashion.

Despite wind, snow and a sprained ankle from a practice run, Kim simply crushed the field, scoring 90.00 on her first run – a score no one else achieved – then exploding to 93.75 on her second try, winning easily over fellow American Maddie Mastro, who scored 89.00 on her final try to rise from sixth to second in the final round. Spain’s Queralt Castellet had two bad runs of 11.25 and 27.25 before uncorking a 87.50 in the final round to grab the bronze.

Kim, 20, celebrated her second straight World Championships gold in the event. Mastro, 21, improved on her bronze at the 2019 Worlds. Said the winner, “I am feeling really good . I am so grateful to be out here and happy the weather held up for the contest. Winning feels really good!”

In Slopestyle, New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott defended her 2019 women’s title with a 85.95-81.10 over 2014-2018 Olympic champ Jamie Anderson, 30, of the U.S. Australia’s Tess Coady finished third at 78.13.

In men’s Halfpipe, Japan’s Yuko Totsuka won his first world title with a brilliant 96.25 run, ahead of Australia’s three-time defending champion Scotty James (90.50) and Swiss Jan Scherrer (87.00). Americans Chase Josey (81.00) and Chase Blackwell (80.50) finished 5-6.

The men’s Slopestyle winner, Norway’s Marcus Kleveland won his first Worlds medal in this event – he has a 2017 bronze in Big Air – with a 90.66 score, well ahead of Sebastien Toutant (CAN: 82.53) and Finn Rene Rinnekangas (82.51). American Red Gerard, the 2018 Olympic champ, finished fourth (82.28).

● Swimming ● The first leg of the 2021 FINA Marathon World Series was held in Doha (QAT) on Saturday, using a 2,000 loop course off Katara Beach.

A total of 99 swimmers from 27 countries were in the water for the 10 km race, with France’s two-time Worlds medal winner Marc-Antoine Olivier getting to the touchplate first in 1:52:02.40, just 3.10 seconds up on Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky (1:52:05.50) and 5.50 seconds ahead of the 2016 Olympic 1,500 m champ, Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA).

The indefatigable, five-time Open Water World Champion Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil, 28, won the women’s race in 2:01:30.30, out-touching newcomer Oceane Cassignol, 20, by just 0.50 seconds, with 21-year-old Lea Boy (GER) third, just 1.60 seconds behind. The mass finish saw eight swimmers touch within five seconds of Cunha and the 11 finished within seven seconds of the winner.

Some $30,000 in prize money was available in each race, with the top eight place winners receiving $3,500-3,000-2,500-1,700-1,500-1,200-950-650.

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 649-event International Sports Calendar for 2021 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LANE ONE: IOC approves Olympic Agenda 2020+5 after six-hour discussion; Tokyo spectator decision not final; human rights & Beijing 2022 collide

Rich Perelman

March 12, 2021

tsx pix 2021-312 ioc session day 3 (ioc) — Thomas Bach (center left) leading the final day discussion during the 137th IOC Session (Photo: IOC/Greg Martin)

For those who expected the International Olympic Committee’s discussion of the 15-part Olympic Agenda 2020+5 to be completed by a voice vote in less than 10 minutes must have been in shock for most of Friday’s live stream of the final day of the 137th IOC Session.

The presentation and discussion of the 2020+5 program ran on for more than six hours, beginning at noon in Lausanne, Switzerland. But the final result was not in doubt.

The IOC membership, after making some very interesting and conflicting remarks, approved the Olympic Agenda 2020+5 package unanimously, at least based on a show of hands, to which IOC chief Thomas Bach (GER) saw no abstentions or votes against.

The discussions themselves did not change any of the recommendations, and the potential implications of the program are enormous. Beyond the many suggestions and questions raised, the implementation phase will now begin and the many changes contemplated will have to be worked on and worked out.

The 15 recommendations centered around solidarity of the Olympic Movement, digitalization, sustainability, credibility and economic and financial resilience. There were a lot of ideas tossed out, and Bach emphasized in opening remarks:

● “Digitalisation is a huge opportunity for us to address people more directly, engage with youth, and promote our Olympic values. Keeping in mind that about half the world’s population is still digitally underserved, our core value of solidarity will guide us in addressing also this part of our global society.”

● “Year after year, studies like the Edelman Trust Barometer highlight the ‘implosion of trust’ that define our times. …

“This ‘implosion of trust’, this risk of functioning of all our societies, is deeply affecting
governments, social institutions, businesses, and NGOs like the IOC. In fact, anyone who is
perceived to be part of the so-called establishment is scrutinised by a mistrusting public like never before. This trend is strengthened, or worsened, by a lack of open-minded discussion because many people are just living in their echo-chambers which only confirm their opinion and prejudices.”

Among the many points discussed was athlete protests and the athlete voice. During the discussion of the first recommendation, William Blick, a former rugby player and the President of the Ugandan National Olympic Committee, offered:

“Mr. President, I do not agree with athlete’s protests in areas of competition or on the podium. I think this should never happen, as discussed before, but I think we should now use and promote areas that we believe are more suitable for athletes to be able to air their voices on issues they find at heart and we should be able to continuously use these areas that we believe are most suitable leading up to the Games so that at least people can know that there is a platform that athletes can be able to use.”

The athlete’s voice issues were taken up further by IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), who explained the process, and commented on the critics:

“[W]e have seen groups with special interests who claim to represent athletes, without a mandate from athletes or for any accountability. There have been calls for reviewing commercial and financial models across the Olympic Movement. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we don’t only listen, and consider, the voices of a few, but ensure we give equal recognition to the voice of all athletes: athletes from all regions, cultures and backgrounds. We are a global movement and we must continue to reflect this in collecting athlete’s views in our decision making. …

“We have consulted with more than 3,500 elite athletes and Olympians, representing 185 NOCs from all Olympic sports. In addition, we have also had many one-on-one consultations with many NOC athlete commissions and International Federations commissions and what we’re doing now is we’re putting all of that feedback and information back together, and I must say a lot of National Olympic Committee athlete commissions have also done their own surveys and those have all been shared with us.

“We’re now compiling and putting all of that information together. We also have an independent expert who is putting their recommendations together and then give to the Athletes’ Commission. We will then have the huge task of going through all of that. We will come up with recommendations and those recommendations will go to the Executive Board for further discussion.”

On Thursday, the Session heard reports from the organizing committees for Tokyo 2020, the Beijing 2022 Winter Games and Paris 2024. The issue of whether foreign spectators will be allowed to attend the Tokyo Games continues to be front and center. In his end-of-Session news conference, Bach said:

“[T]his will be the decision of our Japanese partners and friends and we will respect and accept this decision, and this also concerns the timing of the decision because only they can know what it means for the health regulations in their country, what it means for the organizing committee and what it means for the overall situation in Japan. So, this is why I said in my opening speech already, that we are standing at the side of Japan without any reservation.”

Tokyo 2020 chief Seiko Hashimoto denied reports that a final decision to bar foreign spectators has been made and indicated the actual decision will come by 25 March, the date of the start of the Olympic Torch Relay in Japan.

Vaccines became an even bigger issue on Thursday, as the IOC announced:

“[T]he IOC has received an offer from the Chinese Olympic Committee, the host of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, to assist in making vaccines available. [Bach] noted that the plan was to make vaccine doses available to NOCs in whose territories the Chinese vaccine has been approved by the relevant national health authority.

“Although the details are still being worked out, President Bach confirmed that the IOC is ready to pay for these additional doses of vaccines for not only the Olympic but also the Paralympic teams, as well as for two further doses, which can be made available to the population in the respective countries according to their needs.”

Asked about vaccine requirements for the Games and whether the IOC would ask for athletes to be vaccinated – potentially ahead of the general public – at his news conference, Bach added:

“We have said from the very beginning and we are sticking to this principle that we are following and also the athletes and the National Olympic Committees should follow there the national regulations on vaccination. This is a clear government responsibility and in this we will not interfere. This is not within our expertise or remits; each government has to decide there, following the circumstances in their respective country.”

Part of the Olympic Agenda 2020+5 concerned human rights, which led to news conference questions about Beijing 2022 and Chinese treatment of its Uyghur minority, of Tibet and Hong Kong. Bach offered interesting answers, including perhaps the most brilliant statement ever made on athlete boycotts:

“We are redressing it within our remits and this was a part of the discussion there today, that within our remits, our responsibility, all these questions are being addressed. A number of these questions are a part of the Host City Contract and this is our responsibility, and this responsibility we are taking very seriously.

“This leads directly to the question which is behind there, of boycott discussion. And there, we can only repeat once again and give advice to learn from history, a boycott of the Olympic Games has never achieved anything. …

“Be mindful of the boycott in Moscow 1980, which was because of the intervention of the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. The Soviet Army withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, nine years after this boycott. So it really served nothing but punishing their own athletes and then led to the counter-boycott in Los Angeles.

“It also has no logic. Why would you punish the athletes from your own country if you have a dispute with the government from another country? This just makes no real sense. And the athletes would be the ones who are suffering.”

Pushed further, Bach also added:

“I think this has been very clear today, that within the remit of the IOC, we are taking this very seriously. This means, with everything, what is related to the Olympic Games – human rights, labor rights and others – are or will be part of the Host City Contract and on this we are working very closely with the organizing committee. There we are also monitoring; this includes, for instance, supply chains or labor rights and freedom of press and many other issues. This is our responsibility and again, this responsibility has been acknowledged by the United Nations, by the international community and this we are taking very seriously.

“We are not a super-world government, where the IOC could solve or even address issues for which not the U.N. Security Council, no G-7, no G-20 has solutions. This is in the remits of politics. We have to live up to our responsibilities within our area of responsibilities, and the governments have to live up to their responsibilities in their remits.”

On the future of the sports program and the inclusion of electronic sports that mirror physical sport, Bach said this is a long-term issue:

“Obviously, this is a question for my successor; we are not talking about Paris, this is probably more a question for Los Angeles. But as far as I am concerned, it would be in addition to; it would be additional, not in place of . It would not replace sports as we know it.”

There was a lot to process from this Session, not to much from the decisions taken there, but from where Bach has placed the IOC strategically for the future. But first will come the challenges of staging the Tokyo Games and then turning quickly to the Beijing Winter Games, where the questions about athletic performance will be rivaled by those about the hosts.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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THE BIG PICTURE: New USOPC Board readies for Tokyo, wants no Beijing boycott, still negotiating on Nassar survivor settlement

Rich Perelman

March 11, 2021

While the International Olympic Committee was re-electing Thomas Bach, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee was also busy with its own Board meetings, concluding on Wednesday.

There were no blockbuster announcements, but a steady effort to prepare for the Tokyo Games this summer and to make sure the USOPC is well positioned against talk of a boycott of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China. USOPC Chair Susanne Lyons and chief executive Sarah Hirshland took questions from reporters following the conclusion of the meetings yesterday afternoon.

Noted Lyons:

“This meeting today with our Board was the first meeting with six of our new Board members, and represents a new configuration that really is based on the new governance reforms we incorporated over the past year or two.

“It has increased the representation of our athlete population and those athlete representatives are directly elected by their peer group. Athlete representation is now, in fact, well over the 33% threshold that we’ve now established; in fact, it’s almost half of the Board. We have nine of our Board members who are Olympic and Paralympic athletes either recent or from some time past.”

On Tokyo, Hirshland explained that the Board had multiple discussions:

“We heard [Tuesday] morning, directly, from one of our Tokyo-hopeful Team USA athletes, who offered perspective on the challenging training environment and continued lack of stability and certainty. And despite these challenges, our Sport team offered a very strong report on the High Performance outlook for Team USA. …

“We’re feeling quite positive around the progress we’re seeing here in the United States around vaccines, both in its advantage to our U.S. athletes, but also to those international athletes who may be living and training in our country right now, and we know there are always a number of international athletes, and so we’re happy that the vaccine situation here is looking very positive to help ensure that the broad base of athletes may have that access sooner than we initially thought might be possible. …

“[The coronavirus] will absolutely impede on the athletes’ typical experience, and that is the most unfortunate part of all of this. No one can be blamed for the fact that we are living through a global pandemic, but we all will have to make sacrifices in regard to that, and the experience of athletes and certainly anyone else who is going to be at the Tokyo Games will look very differently than it has in the past. And that’s something that we’re all prepared for and will continue to manage everyone’s expectations around. …

“We’re going to have to play to the safest common denominator to ensure that we reduce risk for everyone involved across the world and that’s just the reality of the situation we’re in.”

Lyons was direct that the USOPC is not going to caught flatfooted on any talk of a boycott in Beijing in 2022:

“We just wanted to acknowledge that there has been a steady drumbeat of concern about the human rights situation in Beijing as well as some calls for an athlete boycott. And while we would never want to minimize what is happening from a human rights perspective in China, as a valued-based organization, we support inclusion, respect and equality for all, but I do want to state, as I did in a statement that we released earlier this month, that we do not support an athlete boycott.

“We believe that such boycotts have not been effective in the past, particularly in 1980 as we can look back to history. We believe those boycotts have only hurt athletes who’ve trained their entire lives for this opportunity to represent their country. And we believe this is an issue which should be addressed at the government-to-government level with China. …

“Our strategy at the moment is to ensure that there is dialogue with many of the people in Congress who are, obviously, for good reasons concerned about the human rights issues in China, but need to understand what the impact was in 1980 when we boycotted. I think there are, actually, a lot of people who understand that what was meant to be accomplished by that boycott did not get accomplished, and in fact, all that happened was the hopes and dreams of a large number of athletes just never came to fruition. …

“[Utah Senator and Salt Lake City 2002 organizing committee chief] Mitt Romney is very knowledgeable about this. He’s shared his experience with a lot of his colleagues, and in large group meetings. And he’s actually not alone; there are others who are also talking with their peers about other potential options, such as a diplomatic boycott vs. an athlete boycott.”

Hirshland was asked about the status of the USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case – still in a court-ordered settlement conference – which is dragging on without resolution and to which the USOPC is a party:

“Let me start by saying we remain incredibly committed to finding and achieving a mediated settlement for the first and most important reason that the survivors deserve that closure and that finality. I can’t comment on the likelihood of [a settlement] and will tell you we remain very much committed to being at the table doing everything we can to facilitate that outcome as our preferred outcome without a doubt.

“I can’t confirm the details of the process. I can confirm that the process has remained active and that there are absolutely ongoing and active conversations occurring.”

Hirshland also saluted Tom Osborne, the chief executive of the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, who passed away on Wednesday at age 65. Osborne had been deeply involved with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Movement, serving on the USOC Board’s Executive Committee from 1996-2000 and had been the head of the Sports Corp. since 2003.

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LANE ONE: Thomas Bach wins re-election as IOC President by 93-1, asks for “more solidarity” but underlines limits of what IOC can or will do

Rich Perelman

March 10, 2021

tsx pix 2021-310 bach reelected 750 (ioc-greg martin) — Thomas Bach accepting re-election as International Olympic Committee President at the 137th IOC Session (Photo: IOC/Greg Martin)

The second consecutive annual meeting of the whole of the International Olympic Committee by videoconference concluded its first of three days with a 93-1 vote to re-elect Germany’s Thomas Bach as its president.

The 137th IOC Session opening by Bach underscored the determination to hold the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo (JPN) this summer, and highlighted the continuing return to competition worldwide:

“The many world championships that have been held during these recent weeks and months are proof that sport can be organised safely and successfully, even under present restrictions. Here our thanks go to the International Federations who have organised over 270 major sporting events, meaning world championships or world cups, since September 2020. Cumulatively, these events have involved over 30,000 athletes. All of them had rigorous health and safety protocols in place, including extensive testing regimes, which far exceeded 200,000 tests.

“Not a single of these events turned into a virus-spreader. So we have clear and obvious proof that very big international sport events with a large number of international participants can be organised while safeguarding the health of everyone.

“This fact is even more significant because none of these events could benefit from vaccinations. In contrast, we are now in the very fortunate position that several vaccines are already widely in use. A considerable number of Olympic athletes is even already or about to be vaccinated in time for Tokyo. This situation will continue to improve greatly the closer we get to the Opening Ceremony.”

Bach also gave a lengthy address on the Olympic Agenda 2020 reform package which has been the foundation of his first term, including:

● “To put our reforms into a broader perspective, let us not forget the “sea of troubles” we had to navigate since 2014.

“There was the unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games with the systemic manipulation of the anti-doping system at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014. We responded with our toughest sanction: the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee from the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

“The Olympic Games Rio 2016 were on the brink before and during the Olympic Games
because of the unprecedented political, economic, ethical and social crisis in Brazil. We met
this challenge with an equally unprecedented investment and concerted effort by the IOC,
the IFs and NOCs. …

“The Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 were on the brink because of the threat of
war and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, just a few months before the opening.”

● “A major way that we have strengthened the credibility of the IOC was by revolutionising the candidature procedure for Olympic Games. Let us not forget the situation we were facing before Olympic Agenda 2020. The procedure was like applying for a business franchise – the IOC setting the conditions for the tender. Potential candidates wanting to outbid each other spent tens of millions in the process. When not being elected, the candidates were considered as losers at home and could not justify another candidature anymore. On top of that, we were facing serious ethical problems because of lobbying misconduct. As a result, we had less and less candidates and our reputation suffered.

“With Olympic Agenda 2020, we have turned this page. We introduced a more targeted and flexible approach to electing future hosts. We are ensuring that the Olympic Games are now fully aligned with the long-term plans and needs of Olympic hosts and of their communities. The new approach is focused on keeping costs to a minimum and it prevents undue influence and lobbying.

“Our revolution had immediate positive results.

“Soon after you approved the reforms in 2019, we received declarations of interest from more parties than we had seen for many, many years.

“Costs were significantly reduced. Before Olympic Agenda 2020, the average budget of candidates for the Olympic Winter Games 2022 was approximately 35 million US dollars. With the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms, this average budget for the Olympic Winter Games 2026 was down to less than 5 million dollars – a reduction of 80 per cent. According to all information we have, we can safely expect the same reduction or even better with regards to the Olympic Games 2032.”

● “The credibility and trust we now enjoy with our Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms can even be measured in figures. Before Olympic Agenda 2020, the revenues from the TOP Programme were at about 1 billion dollars. With Olympic Agenda 2020, they are projected to triple to 3 billion for the Olympiad 2021-2024. What is more, we have already now, in 2021, secured contracts worth 4.1 billion dollars with TOP Partners and Rights-Holding Broadcasters for the Olympiad 2029-2032.”

In his acceptance remarks after being re-elected for a four-year term that will end in 2025, Bach doubled down on his devotion to solidarity, suggesting that the Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius by modified by the addition of “– communis” or “Faster, Higher, Stronger – together.”

Bach gave a short news conference afterwards, passing on specifics about foreign spectators at the Tokyo Games until after tomorrow’s presentation by the Tokyo organizers, but noting that while the question of foreign spectators needs to be resolved soon, the question of how many fans can attend the Games should wait as long as possible to take advantage of the latest development in safety.

He was also chided about the lack of dissent within the IOC over his reforms and actions; Bach had a ready reply which is instructive not only now, but for the future:

“Good governance is not only there if the people agree with your opinion or the opinion of others. Good governance is about that everybody has the opportunity to express his or her opinion.”

Bach was also asked about future challenges. Although not aimed at discussions about Beijing 2022 and China’s persecution of its Uyghur population especially, he offered a key insight:

“We will continue – within our remit – to contribute to a better and more inclusive society. Whether it’s about sustainability, whether it’s about climate change, whether it’s about credibility or you name it; but we have to stick to our remits there. (Emphasis added)

“I have not been elected there today to be a political leader and the IOC has no political mandate. And we can accomplish our mission only as we have it enshrined in the Olympic Charter, if we respect the political neutrality. And all what you have seen today, how we are working with the U.N. system, and with so many stakeholders; all this is only possible if we stick to this political neutrality, but emphasize in the same way … that we are reinforcing and strengthening our efforts how sport can be a really important enabler for achieving the U.N. Sustainable development goals through and with sport.”

For those not deeply conversant with the British noun “remit,” it is defined as:

“The area that a person or group of people in authority has responsibility for or control over.”

Translation: look for the IOC to stay as far away as it can from questions about China and the Uyghurs ahead of the 2022 Winter Games. Bach has succeeded greatly as IOC President in making his organization in specific and the Olympic Movement in general more accountable, more responsible and better managed, but he sees no way that the Olympic Games can effectively impact a government’s actions through something as actually trivial as competitive sport.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: Bach re-election coming Wednesday; China offers vaccines for Olympians; $21,343 for a Lillehammer torch!

Rich Perelman

March 9, 2021

tsx pix 2021-308 yi wang 750 (foreign min) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang promises Covid vaccine for Olympians! (Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry)

News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport:

● International Olympic Committee ● The 137th Session of the International Olympic Committee will be held by videoconference over three days from Wednesday through Friday of this week, headlined by the re-election of Thomas Bach as President.

The agenda runs from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Lausanne time on each day, which will make for some bleary-eyed members in some parts of the world. Wednesday has a long list of Commission reports and the re-election of Germany’s Bach – running unopposed – for a four-year term into 2025. For those interested, the Sessions can be viewed on the IOC’s YouTube channel.

Thursday will have reports on upcoming Games, including Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024. No reports are scheduled for Milan-Cortina for the 2026 Winter Games or for Los Angeles 2028. A report from the Future Host Commissions is expected.

Friday’s program is dominated by Olympic Agenda 2020+5, essentially Bach’s blueprint for the next four years. It is expected to be approved, of course.

At Monday’s IOC Executive Board meeting, there were further, provisional sanctions approved against the National Olympic Committee of Belarus, specifically not to recognize the election of Viktor Lukashenko as the new NOC President. Lukashenko is the son of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, whose electoral victory last year has been continuously protested. Further, the IOC has – in response to numerous complaints from athletes in that country – “requested” that:

“[T]he NOC of Belarus and its member federations to ensure that there is no political discrimination in the participation of the Belarusian athletes in qualification events, and in the final selection of the team of the NOC of Belarus, for all Olympic Games.”

The Session program does not include any specific consideration of the status of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) or the International Weightlifting Federation.

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The biggest news concerning the Tokyo Games came from Beijing (CHN) on Sunday, from a news conference held by Chinese Foreign Minister Yi Wang (family name: Wang), in which he declared:

“China is a steadfast advocate for equitable vaccine distribution. We have joined COVAX, under which China has undertaken to provide an initial 10 million doses for emergency use in developing countries. So far, China has donated or is donating COVID vaccines to 69 developing countries in urgent need, and is exporting vaccines to 43 countries. Responding to a U.N. appeal, we have donated vaccines to peacekeepers from various countries. We are also ready to work with the International Olympic Committee to provide vaccines to Olympians. It is our hope that Chinese vaccines will inject more confidence and hope into the global fight against the virus.” (Emphasis added)

This is a new development and a new offer from China, and sure to be discussed with Bach at his scheduled news conference on Wednesday evening (also available on the IOC’s YouTube channel). While the IOC and the Tokyo organizers have encouraged vaccination, it is not being required to compete at the Games.

● Basketball ● NBA star Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers confirmed over the weekend that he plans to play for the U.S. at this summer’s Tokyo Games.

“My plan is to go,” he said, adding “If I feel up to it and feel ready to go around that time, then I’m going to play.” Leonard would be reunited with Gregg Popovich, his coach at San Antonio, on the U.S. Olympic Team.

The issue is scheduling. The Games begin on 25 July, and Leonard could be playing with the Los Angeles Clippers teammates as late as 22 July if in a seven-game NBA Finals. USA Basketball is asking for flexibility in substituting players during the Games, a possible benefit not only to the U.S., but to other teams with NBA players.

But where the U.S. had trouble fielding a quality team for the FIBA World Championships in 2019, the cream of the American NBA talent appears ready to go for Tokyo … schedule permitting.

● Curling ● A world championship has returned from the dead, as the World Curling Federation announced that the Women’s World Championship will be held after all.

Originally scheduled for Schaffhausen (SUI) from 19-28 March, the event was cancelled due to the coronavirus, but now re-scheduled for 30 April-9 May at the WinSport Arena in Calgary, Canada.

A sequestered format for the men’s World Championship in Calgary from 2-11 April will be extended to include the women’s event, with significant 2022 Olympic Winter Games implications:

“The LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2021 will feature 14 teams – Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, The Russian Curling Federation Team, Scotland, Sweden, reigning champions Switzerland and United States competing for the world title. The six highest ranking National Olympic Committees will earn their place in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games women’s team competition.”

As a result, the World Mixed Doubles Championship, scheduled for 24 April-1 May, will be moved to 16-23 May, at a venue to be named. But this is good news for women’s curling, reinstating the key event in the selection of much of the 2022 Beijing field.

● Ice Hockey ● The coronavirus is playing havoc with the IIHF Women’s World Championship, which had been scheduled for 7-17 April in Nova Scotia, Canada (in Halifax and Truro). Now the event has been pushed back to 6-16 May, pending approval of the federal and provincial governments.

Nova Scotia has a low incidence of the coronavirus and a full set of precautions are planned:

“In order to eliminate any negative impact on the epidemiological situation and health care system in the province, participants travelling to the province will have to go through a thorough quarantine and COVID-19 testing process prior to travel to Canada. The tournament will be operated in accordance with Nova Scotia Government mandated protocols which will include but not be limited to regular COVID-19 testing, quarantine, masking and physical distancing.”

Sad news from Minnesota on 5 March, with the passing of American legend Mark Pavelich, one of the members of the 1980 Olympic “Miracle on Ice” champions. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted:

“Pavelich, who turned 63 a week ago, died at Eagle’s Healing Nest [in Sauk Centre, Minnesota], according to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office. He had received mental health treatment there for the past several months. At the time of his death he was under civil commitment for a violent assault on a North Shore neighbor nearly 1½ years ago.”

A star at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, he played seven seasons in the National Hockey League following his Olympic season, a part of one season in Great Britain and two seasons in Bolzano, Italy. He was a land developer after his hockey career ended, but suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and after injuring a neighbor, was confined by a judge for treatment, including in Sauk Centre. The specific cause of death has not been announced.

● Speed Skating ● Good news from the 2021 ISU World Cup and World Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen (NED), with no Covid-19 infections reported during the five-week sequestration period.

In order to salvage some portion of its 2020-21 season, the International Skating Union created a five-week program of two World Cups, the European Championships and the World Championships across 38 days. With more than 2,000 coronavirus tests administered during the period, none came back positive from the 196 athletes, plus coaches and officials.

There will be more to come on the achievement, as the ISU noted:

“A documentary was filmed to capture life in the bubble and document this unforgettable and unique situation. It will be released in due time as part of the ISU’s #UpAgain campaign and will serve as a memento of all these weeks that the Speed Skating community showed the World that it is possible to overcome life’s challenges to achieve ones full potential.”

● Weightlifting ● Score another first for USA Weightlifting, which just concluded a first-of-its-kind “hybrid” competition for the North American Open and National University Championships, with both in-person and online lifting as part of the same event!

USA Weightlifting announced that about 400 athletes were present at the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City, Utah and about 600 competed at home via the online Zoom meeting platform. The North American Open included youth, open and masters divisions for men and women; it’s more a development meet than a championship, but a key step toward national class.

Said USA Weightlifting chief executive Phil Andrews (GBR): “We made the decision back in December to run this as a hybrid event without spectators and I believe that we’ve shown that it can be done.

“The initial survey feedback shows that the event was well received by everyone involved and I anticipate that hybrid events will become a key part of the weightlifting calendar moving forward.”

It was not lost on the competitors or the federation that having remote lifting allowed many athletes to participate without the cost of travel and accommodations, a possibly important opportunity for further expansion of the sport in the future.

● At the BuZZer ● Lots of action at Saturday’s “SPORLYMPIQUE VI” auction by Vermot & Associates in Paris (FRA), with 471 lots available, including multiple Olympic torches:

● Tokyo 1964:, expected to bring €2,800-3,000, did not sell.
● Montreal 1976: expected to bring €2,500-3,500, sold for €4,000 (~$4,742).
● Moscow 1980: expected to bring €1,500-1,800, sold for €1,600 (~$1,897).
● Lillehammer 1994: expected to bring €20,000-30,000, sold for €18,000 (~$21,339).
● Sydney 2000: expected to bring €2,500-3,500, sold for €4,000 (~$4,742).
● Athens 2004: expected to bring €1,800-2,000, sold for €4,200 (~$4,979).
● London 2012: expected to bring €2,500-3,500, sold for €4,500 (~$5,335).

Two participation medals from the 1896 Athens Games went for €750 (~$889 U.S.) and €1,100 (~$1,304). An non-inscribed bronze medal from the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal – meaning it may not have been awarded – sold for €2,800 or about $3,319 U.S.

Perhaps the most amazing sale was for a medal-and-cloth badge from the 72nd IOC Session in Sapporo (JPN) in 1972, in good condition, expected to sell for €200-300, but which ended up selling for €1,500 (~$1,778). Really?

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HIGHLIGHTS: Ledecky wins four in Tyr Pro Swim; Shiffrin slaloms to 69th World Cup win; U.S. wrestlers win six in Rome

Rich Perelman

March 7, 2021

tsx pix 2019-728 ledecky, katie 800 free (usas) — Olympics-bound American Freestyle superstar Katie Ledecky (Photo: USA Swimming)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● Alpine Skiing ● The women’s FIS World Cup is coming down to the final races of the season, with rivals Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. and Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova fighting it out for the Slalom crown.

On Saturday, Shiffrin came from behind to win her 69th career World Cup victory, this time in the Slalom at Jasna, Slovakia. Vlhova posted a sensational first run, 0.27 ahead of Shiffrin and the rest of the field, but the American ripped through the second run with the fastest time in the field, while Vlhova was third-fastest in the second round. That left Shiffrin on top, 1:44.28-1:44.52, with a 0.61 differential on the second time down. Swiss Wendy Holdener was third.

Sunday’s Giant Slalom was a win for Vlhova, who also had to come from behind. This time it was Shiffrin who had the lead, 1:08.35-1:08.51. But as Shiffrin had trouble and was only 11th-fastest on the second run, Vlhova was steady and her third-fastest time of 1:08.15 proved to be enough for a 2:16.66 win, with New Zealand’s Alice Robinson getting second (2:16:82) and Shiffrin finishing third (2:17:03).

In the seasonal Slalom standings, there are three races to go and Vlhova is holding a 480-435 lead, with two Slaloms next week at Are (SWE). Those may be decisive.

The men’s World Cup was in Saalbach (AUT) for races originally slated for Kvitfjell (NOR). One Downhill race was cancelled due to bad weather, but Saturday’s Downhill was run and was yet another triumph for World Champion Vincent Kreichmayr of Austria. His 1:53.07 mark was 0.17 better than former World Champion Beat Feuz (SUI) and 0.27 better than Austrian teammate Matthias Mayer. It was Kriechmayr’s third on the World Cup circuit this season.

Sunday’s Super-G was another medal-winning performance for Kriechmayr, but a bronze this time. Swiss Marco Odermatt, still just 23, claimed his third career World Cup win in 1:23.59, up 0.62 seconds on France’s Matthieu Bailet (first career World Cup medal) and 0.81 ahead of Kriechmayr.

In the overall World Cup standings, France’s Alexis Pinturault still leads Odermatt, 1050-969 after 31 of 37 races.

● Athletics ● The European Championships in Torun (POL) was the star attraction of the weekend, with world-leading marks in eight events:

● Men/60 m: 6.47, Lamont Marcell Jacobs (ITA)
● Men/High Jump: 2.37 m (7-9 1/4), Maksim Nedasekau (BLR)
● Men/Long Jump: 8.35 m (27-43/4), Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE)
● Men/Heptathlon: 6,392, Kevin Mayer (FRA)

● Women/60 m: 7.03, Alja del Ponte (SUI)
● Women/60 m hurdles: 7.77, Nadine Visser (GER)
● Women/Long Jump: 6.92 m (22-8 1/2), Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (UKR)
● Women/Pentathlon: 4,904, Nafi Thiam (BEL)

Jacobs, 26, is an emerging sprinter to watch; born in El Paso, Texas, he moved to Italy as a child and has a 100 m best of 10.03 from 2019. He won easily in Torun, up 0.13 on German Kevin Kranz.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen won both the men’s 1,500 m (3:37.56) and 3,000 m (7:48.20), although he was disqualified in the 1,500 m and later reinstated. France’s Wilhem Belocian won the 60 m hurdles over Britain’s Andrew Pozzi, 7.42-7.43; that’s not Grant Holloway territory, but nos. 2-3 on the 2021 world list.

Nedasekau won a great duel with prior world leader Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA), who cleared 2.35 m (7-8 1/2), but could not negotiate 2.37 m (7-9 1/4), which the winner cleared on his first try. Mondo Duplantis (SWE) won the vault with a sensational 6.05 m (19-10 1/4) clearance, a height only he, Renaud Lavillenie (FRA), Sergey Bubka (UKR) and Steve Hooker (AUS) have ever cleated indoors. Portugal’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo unleashed his second-best performance of the season – 17.30 m (56-9 1/4) – to win the triple jump.

In the women’s high jump, world leader Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) won at 2.00 m (6-6 3/4), but missed at 2.07 m (6-9 1/2). Thiam’s 4,904 pentathlon score moves her to no. 7 on the all-time list.

At the latest Sound Running Invitational at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, California, two great 5,000 m races provided world-leading and Olympic qualifying marks.

The top five women all ran under the Olympic qualifying standard of 15:10.00, with Emily Sisson leading the way at 14:55.82, followed by Allie Buchalski (USA: 14:57.54), Weini Kilati (ERI: 14:58.24), Alicia Monson (USA: 15:07.65) and 2016 Olympic Triathlon gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen (USA: 15:08.28). Three more achieved the U.S. Olympic Trials standard of 15:20.00. It’s a huge breakthrough for Sisson, who claimed a lifetime best by 14.80 seconds!

The men’s 5,000 m was a win and lifetime best for former Stanford star Grant Fisher, who ran a 55.38 last lap to pull away from Britain’s Marc Scott and win in 13:02.53, with Scott at 13:05.13, Sean McGorty (USA) at 13:06.45 and Joe Klecker at 13:06.67. The top five met the Olympic standard and four more got the U.S. Trials standard. Fisher’s prior best had been 13:11.68 in 2020.

In the women’s 1,500 m, Sinclaire Johnson and Elise Cranny (both U.S.) ran 4:05.91 and 4:06.23 for nos. 2-3 on the world list in 2021; neither was under the Olympic qualifying mark of 4:04.20. The men’s 1,500 m was a 3:35.78 win for Josh Kerr (GBR) over Amos Bartelmeyer (USA: 3:38.54) and Johnny Gregorek (USA: 3:38.76).

● Badminton ● The level 300 Swiss Open in Basel (SUI) attracted a strong field in view of the paucity of competitions this season, and ended with stars Viktor Axelsen (DEN) and Olympic champ Carolina Marin (ESP) in the winner’s circle.

Axelsen, the top seed in the men’s Singles, sailed past eighth-seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA), 21-16, 21-21-6. Marin similarly dispatched India’s V. Sindhu Pusarla by 21-12 and 21-5. Both winners figure to be medal contenders in Tokyo.

Surprises ruled the doubles events, with unseeded Pearly Tan and Mura Thinaah (MAS) taking the women’s title over third-seeds Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria, 21-19, 21-12. Sixth-seed Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen (DEN) won the men’s title over unseeded Germans Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel, 21-16, 21-11. The Mixed Doubles class was won by sixth-seeds Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue (FRA) by 21-19, 21-19 against Danes Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje.

● Biathlon ● Heading toward the end of the 2020-21 season, the IBU World Cup resumed in Nove Mesto (CZE) for the first of two weeks of competition, this time for Sprint and Pursuit races.

Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff won the women’s World Championships in the Sprint and Pursuit and keep right on going in Nove Mesto, winning both again to increase her lead in the women’s seasonal standings. Even with one shooting penalty, she took the 7.5 km Sprint on Saturday by 9.3 seconds (18:48.4) over Yuliia Dzhima (UKR) and 15.0 seconds over Italy’s Lisa Vitozzi, who both shot clean. Eckhoff then overpowered everyone in the 10 km Pursuit despite three penalties! Even so, she won in 27:28.0, a sensational 24.0 seconds up on Denise Hermann (GER; 1 penalty) and 29.9 seconds up on fellow Norwegian Marte Olsbu Roeiseland (3 penalties).

On the season, Eckhoff now leads Roeiseland, 923-843, with Swede Hanna Oeberg third with 798 points.

The men’s 10 km Sprint saw France’s Simon Desthieux take his first World Cup individual victory, finishing 2.4 seconds ahead of Sebastian Samuelsson (SWE) and 4.4 seconds ahead of Arnd Peiffer (GER), as all three shot clean. Sunday’s 12.5 km Pursuit was the third win of the season for Tarjei Boe, the older brother of seasonal leader Johannes Thingnes Boe. The brothers went 1-2 as Tarjei finished 8.2 seconds up in 28:17.3, aided by one shooting penalty while J.T. had two. Desthieux took third, 11.5 seconds back, with two penalties.

With five races left, J.T. Boe leads the men’s seasonal standings with 955 points, ahead of Sturla Holm Langreid (922) and Tarjei Boe (763).

● Cycling ● The famed Strade Bianche race in and around Siena (ITA) was held Sunday, with Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel overpowering France’s Julian Alaphilippe and Colombia’s Egan Bernal in the final 1,000 m stretch of the hilly, 184 km course.

Van der Poel, 26, claimed his eighth World Tour victory by accelerating into the final 12 km stretch and pulling Alaphilippe and Bernal with him. But neither could stand his finishing blast, which gave him a five-second margin on the French star and 20 seconds on Bernal.

The women’s Strade Bianche covered 136 km and another late break made the difference. This time it as 2017 World Champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak who dashed away from the field with six km left, taking Italian star Elisa Longo Borghini with her. The two were unchallenged into Siena and the Dutch star had enough to power through the finish seven seconds clear, with Anna van der Breggen (NED) closing to nine seconds down at the line to grab third ahead of fellow star Annemiek van Vleuten (+:11).

The first stage of the 79th Paris-Nice race began on Sunday in Saint-Cyr-L’Ecole, with a hilly 165.8 km race made for the sprinters. It was Irish star Sam Bennett who won the final dash, leading France’s Arnaud Demare, Mads Pedersen (DEN), Jasper Philipsen (BEL) and Bryan Coquard (FRA) across the line. It’s Bennett’s third won of the season after two triumphs during the season-opening UAE Tour. It was also his fourth career Paris-Nice stage win.

The eight-stage race runs through next weekend, with Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic, the two-time Vuelta a Espana winner, expected to be a top contender.

● Judo ● Japan fielded a strong team at the Tashkent Grand Slam (UZB) and dominated the competition, winning 11 medals, including nine golds.

Their winners included Ryuju Nagayama in the men’s 60 kg class, Kenta Nagasawa at 90 kg and Kokoro Kageura at +100 kg. Japan won six of the seven women’s classes, including Uta Abe at 52 kg, Momo Tamaoki at 57 kg, Miku Tashiro at 63 kg, Chizuru Arai at 70 kg, Mami Umeki at 78 kg and Akira Sone at +78 kg.

Korea won six medals (1-1-4) including a victory from Baul An in the men’s 66 kg class. Mongolia (2-2-1) won five medals, with wins from Tsogtbaatar Tsend-Ochir in the men’s 73 kg category and Urantsetseg Munkhbat in the women’s 48 kg class.

● Nordic Skiing ● The legend of Norwegian Cross-Country star Therese Johaug added new chapters as the FIS Nordic Skiing World Championships closed in Obertsdorf, Germany.

In Cross Country, Johaug completed a brilliant Worlds with a fourth gold medal in the 30 km Classical Mass Start race, winning by a staggering 2:34.2 over countrywoman Heidi Weng (1:24:56.3-1:27:30.5), with Swede Frida Karlsson winning her third individual medal of the Championships in third (1:27:31.1). Sadie Bjornsen was the top American finisher, in 15th (1:29:38.7).

Johaug won four golds in Obertsdorf, in the 10 km Freestyle, 15 km Skiathlon, 30 km Mass start and on the 4×5 km relay with Weng, Tiril Udnes Weng, and Helene Fossesholm. She now owns 19 World Champs medals, of which 14 are gold, from 2011-21. Amazing, and at 32, she will be a prime contender for Beijing 2022 medals as well.

The men’s 50 km Classical Mass Start was another Norwegian win, this time for Emil Iversen, his first individual World Championships gold, after three on relays. He won a tight race to the finish with Russian star Alexander Bolshunov, finally winning by 2:10:52.9-2:10:53.6! The bronze medal went to Simen Hegsted Krueger (NOR), some 8.2 seconds back in 2:11:01.1. American Scott Patterson was 10th, in 2:12:17.6.

Iversen had also been on Norway’s winning men’s 4×10 km relay, with Pal Golberg, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Hans Christer Holund. They combined for an impressive 12.0-second win over Russia (with Bolshunov on anchor) and France, 1:52:39.0-1:52:51.0-1:53:51.6. Krueger’s bronze in the 50 km was his third individual medal of the Worlds.

In Nordic Combined, the Gundersen Large Hill + 10 km race was a stunning win for 19-year-old Johannes Lamparter of Austria, who dusted the field by 37.1 seconds, trouncing Norwegian superstar Jarl Magnus Riiber and former World Cup champ Akito Watabe (JPN) by 23:11.1-23:48.2-23:56.9. Coming into the event, Lamparter had one exactly one World Cup medal in his career and was seventh in the Worlds Normal Hill/10 km event. Now, he is a World Champion.

And he collected a second gold in concert with Lukas Greiderer in the Team Sprint/Large Hill 2×7.5 km event, beating Norway’s Riiber and Espen Andersen, 29:29.7-30:09.3, with Germany third. A star is born!

In Ski Jumping, Austrian veteran Stefan Kraft won the 137 m Large Hill title for his third Worlds gold medal; he also won the Large Hill gold in 2017. He out-pointed Norway’s Robert Johansson, 276.5-272.1, with Karl Geiger (GER) third with 267.4. Geiger helped Germany win the men’s team gold, with Pius Paschke, Severin Freund and Markus Eisenbichler, 1,046.6-1,035.5 over Kraft’s Austria team, with Philipp Aschenwald, Jan Horl and Daniel Huber, with Poland third.

Overall, Norway dominated the Worlds, piling up 31 total medals (13-11-7) to seven for Austria (4-1-2) and Sweden (2-2-3). The U.S. did not win a medal.

● Shooting ● The ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Cairo (EGY) finished on Friday (5th), with Russian shooters finishing with four golds among the nine events contested and eight medals in all.

During the final-week competitions in Trap, Croatia’s two-time Worlds medalist Anton Glasnovic carried away two golds with wins in the men’s competition and men’s team event. He won the individual crown with a 47-44 win over Joan Garcia (ESP), with Spanish teammate Alberto Fernandez third (34). The team title was a 6-2 win for Glasnovic, Giovanni Cernogoraz and Rio gold medalist Josip Glasnovic (Anton’s younger brother by three years), over Russia.

Spain scored a Trap gold with 2015 World Champion Fatima Galvez, who tied with Russia’s Daria Semianova at 44-44, then won the shoot-off by 5-4 in the first round. Russian Ekaterina Subbotina was third at 33.

The women’s and Mixed team events were Russian showcases. Semianova and Alexey Alipov won the Mixed event by 41-34 over Egypt’s Maggy Ashmawy and Ahmed Zaher, and Semianova, Subbotina and Iulliia Saveleva won the women’s team title by 6-4 over India’s Manisha Keer, Rajeshwari Kumari and Kirti Gupta.

Russia ended up leading the overall medal table with nine, followed by Spain with four and the Czech Republic with three.

● Snowboard ● The FIS World Cup circuit in SnowCross resumed this week, with the racers in Bakuriani (GEO) on 4-5 March. There were two new faces on top of the men’s podium, as Canada’s Eliot Grondin and Italian veteran Omar Visintin collected the golds. Grondin won on Thursday for his second World Cup medal of the season, sliding in ahead of Lukas Pachner (AUT) and Italy’s Lorenzo Sommariva. Visintin won on Saturday, beating Swiss Kalle Koblet (first medal of the season) and veteran Alessandro Hammerle (AUT). With one race left later this month, Hammerle leads the seasonal standings by 330-268 over Grondin.

Czech star Eva Samkova, the Sochi 2014 gold medalist, won her 16th career World Cup with a victory on Thursday over France’s Julia Pereira de Sousa Mabileau and American star Lindsey Jacobellis. Friday’s race produced three new medal winners: Britain’s Charlotte Bankes, the 2021 World Champion, won for the first time on the World Cup tour this season, ahead of French star Chloe Trespeuch and American Faye Gulini, who took a third medal in five World Cup races this season. With one race to go, Samkova and Michela Moioli have 350 points each, with Gulini at 282.

The Parallel racers were in Rogla (SLO), with home favorite Zan Kosir taking the final Parallel Giant Slalom of the season – his third World Cup medal in 2020-21 – over Andrey Sobolev (RUS) and Poland’s Oskar Kwiatkowski. The overall Parallel racing standings are tight, with Aaron March (ITA) with 324 points to 322 to Dmitry Loginov (RUS) and 311 for Kosir.

Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister won the Parallel Giant Slalom seasonal title with her third win in the five races, beating Russian Parallel Slalom World Champion Sofia Nadyrshina and Swiss star Julie Zogg. Hofmeister has a 553-503-412 lead in the overall Parallel standings over Nadyrshina and Zogg with one race remaining.

● Short Track ● The ISU World Short Track Championships was held in Dordrecht (NED), with multiple top squads either skipping the event in view of little training time, or sending secondary entries; Asian powerhouses China, Japan and Korea did not compete at all.

This meant that European skaters had the edge, and won seven of the eight events. The men’s competition was dominated by the Hungarian brothers Shaoang Liu and Shaolin Sandor Liu. Shaoang won the 500 m (40.524) over Semion Elistratov (RUS: 40.603) and Italy’s Pietro Sighei (40.673). Shaolin Sandor won the 1,000 m over Shaoang, 1:25.901-1:26:00 with Sighei third again (1:26.803). Canadian star Charles Hamelin took the 1,500 m (2:18.143) over Itzhak de Laat (NED: 2:18.202) and Elistratov (2:18.296). The Netherlands, Hungary and the Russians went 1-2-3 in the relay.

The women’s event were all won by Dutch skaters. PyeongChang Olympic 1,000 m winner Suzanne Schulting won the 500 m, 1,000 m and 1,500 m plus a leg on the 3,000 m relay to give her a career total of eight Worlds racing golds. She also won the Overall title for the second time.

None of the races were that close; Schulting won the 500 m by 42.661-42.719 over Italian Arianna Fontana; the 1,000 m by 1:26.854-1:26.993 against Belgian Hanne Desmet and the 1,500 m by 2:36.884-2:37.089 over Canada’s Courtney Sarault. The Dutch squad won the relay by more than two seconds over France, with Italy third.

All told, the Dutch won nine medals (6-1-2) with Hungary (3-3-0) and Italy (0-1-5) with six each.

● Speed Skating ● The USA Speedskating nationals were on, although spectator-free, at the famed Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah from Friday through Sunday. Two races were held in the 500 m and 1,000 m for men and women, one each at 1,500 m and the men raced at 5,000 m and 1,000 m while the women contested the 3,000 m and 5,000 m.

The men’s Sprints were headed by Austin Kleba, who won Sunday’s 500 m over Cooper McLeod, 34.89-34.90, with Jordan Stolz third (35.07). Stolz won Friday’s 500 m over Kleba, 34.99-35.10 with Kimani Griffin third (35.13).

Saturday’s 1,000 m winner was Conor McDermott-Mostowy in 1:08.12, over Griffin (1:08.54) and Stoltz (1:08.57), with Kleba fourth. World Mass Start champ Joey Mantia won Sunday’s 1,000 m at 1:08.01, beating Griffin (1:08.32) and McDermott-Mostowy (1:08.61).

Ethan Cepuran won the 5,000 m (6:18.21) ahead of Emery Lehman (6:19.72), with Mantia fourth. Casey Dawson took the 10,000 m in 13:04.12, beating Cepuran (13:16.92).

Superstar Brittany Bowe did not compete this weekend, leaving the women’s sprints and middle distances up for grabs. Erin Jackson won Friday’s 500 m in 37.63, over Kimi Goetz (37.92) and Brianna Bocox (38.92), but then Goetz won Sunday’s round in 37.60, with Jackson at 37.64 and Sarah Warren third in 39.16.

Goetz took Saturday’s 1,000 m race in 1:14.42, with Jackson (1:16.34), Bocox and Warren finishing 2-3-4, but well behind. Goetz cleaned house again on Sunday, cruising to a 1:13.86 seasonal best, with Bocox at 1:16.20, followed by Mia Kilburg, Warren and Jackson.

Kilburg starred in the longer races, winning the 1,500 m in a lifetime best of 1:54.85, followed by Bocox (1:59.99) and Paige Schwartzburg (2:02.77). Kilburg won the 3,000 m (4:07.12) and 5,000 m (7:08.52) with ease, to equal Goetz’s three wins on the weekend.

● Swimming ● Many of the top U.S. swimmers were back in action in San Antonio at the second Tyr Pro Swim Series meet of 2021, with distance superstar Katie Ledecky leading the way.

She won four events – the women’s 200-400-800-1,500 m Freestyles – and claimed world-leading marks in the 800 m (8:13.64) and 1,500 m (15:42.92), winning both events easily. She also finished third in the 100 m Free, clocking 54.74, behind Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel’s 54.62.

Ledecky, Manuel and Rio 2016 double Backstroke gold medalist Ryan Murphy were the multi-event winners. Manuel won the women’s 50 m and 100 m Frees, while Murphy doubled in the 100 m and 200 m men’s Backstrokes.

Most of the swimmers are still in heavy training, but Ledecky was her usual impressive self, which is bad news for the rest of the world’s women distance freestylers.

● Wrestling ● The U.S. sent a massive squad of 36 wrestlers to the United World Wrestling ranking series tournament Matteo Pellicone in Rome, Italy and made a significant impression.

Three of the four U.S. women entered claimed wins:

● 50 kg: Victoria Anthony won a thriller over European champ Miglena Selishka (BUL), taking the lead for good only in the final minute after giving up a 9-3 lead after the first period. “It was the biggest win for me in recent history which is like five years,” said Anthony afterwards. “This is the first tournament where I have wrestled to my potential, peak ability. I am really happy with that.”

● 59 kg: Abby Nette out-fought Diana Kayumova (KAZ), 6-0, to win her first international tournament gold.

● 68 kg: Tamyra Mensah-Stock showed she is a force to be reckoned with, as she stomped Mimi Hristova (BUL) by 11-0 in the final, after winning her first two matches by 7-4 and 10-0.

The three U.S. wins were the most in the women’s division, trailed by Canada, which had victories from Michelle Fazzari at 62 kg and Erica Wiebe at 76 kg.

The U.S. men’s Freestyle team also scored three wins:

● 70 kg: Alec Pantaleo defeated 2019 Worlds silver medalist Daulet Niyazbekov (KAZ), 4-0, in the final, after defeating him by 6-2 in the preliminary rounds.

● 86 kg: Zahid Valencia faced fellow American Mark Hall in the final and won an overwhelming 11-0 victory for a technical fall.

● 97 kg: Kollin Moore faced Iran’s Worlds silver winner Alireza Karimimachiani and went down 3-1 at the end of the first period, but then scored on a double-leg takedown and won on criteria after a 3-3 tie.

American wrestlers also collected silver medals at 57 kg (Nick Suriano lost to Nurislam Sanayev/KAZ, 4-2); at 74 kg (2012 Olympic champ Jordan Burroughs lost to long-time rival Frank Chamizo/ITA, 3-2); and at 79 kg (David McFadden lost to Galymzhan Usserbayev/KAZ, 6-5).

The U.S. men won the Freestyle division with 190 points, ahead of Kazakhstan (175), which had three wins from Sanayev, Usserbayev and Adlan Askarov at 61 kg.

In Greco-Roman, Russia claimed four wins and Hungary three to dominate the division. Viktor Vedernikov (55 kg), Emin Sefershaev (60 kg), Adlan Akiev (82 kg) and Musa Evloev (97 kg) took the titles for Russia. Robert Fritsch (72 kg), Zoltan Levai (77 kg) and Istvan Takacs (87 kg) won for Hungary.

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THE TICKER: Foreign fans expected to be barred from Tokyo 2020; IWF committee member Chinen calls out Exec Board “gangsters”!

Rich Perelman

March 5, 2021

tsx pix 2021-305 gangsters 750 — The International Weightlifting Federation Executive Board has gangsters?!

The latest news, notes and quotes from the worldwide Five-Ring Circus:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● “We would really like people from around the world to come to the full stadium, but unless we are prepared to accept them and the medical situation in Japan is perfect, it will cause a great deal of trouble also to visitors from overseas.”

That’s Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto, setting the stage for an announcement later this month that no foreign fans will be allowed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Kyodo News reported:

“The heads of the organizing bodies of the Summer Games are expected to hold a virtual meeting in mid-March to make a decision on the issue, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But one of them said, ‘Practically, the course has already been set.’”

The target date for announcing the decision on foreign spectators is 25 March, the starting date for the Olympic Torch Relay. The question of how many fans can be admitted to each site is to be made in April.

● Athletics ● A run at the men’s American Indoor 5,000 m record last night (4th) resulted in the no. 2 performance in American history as Emmanuel Bor win the FireFly Recovery 5,000 m in 13:05.60 at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.

The race had been set up for Paul Chelimo to take a shot at Galen Rupp’s 2014 mark of 13:01.26, but Bor was a clear winner, with Chelimo second in 13:12.51 and Willy Fink third in 13:34.00.

At the European Championships in Torun (POL), two world-leading marks came out of the second day (Friday), as Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou reached 8.35 m (27-4 3/4) in the long jump and reigning Olympic Heptathlon Champion Nafi Thiam (BEL) won the Pentathlon at 4,904, moving her to no. 7 on the all-time list.

Czech Tomas Stanek won the men’s shot at 21.62 m (70-11 1/4), ahead of Pole Michal Haratyk (21.02 m/68-11 3/4).

More cancellations from the coronavirus, as USA Track & Field announced the elimination of the 2021 U-20 Championships from the schedule on Wednesday (3rd). As for the 2021 Pan American Junior Championships in Chile in July, selections will be “based on performance rank order for the period Friday, January 1, 2021 through Sunday, June 13, 2021.”

The 2021 Penn Relays will also not held in its usual format. The University of Pennsylvania announced on Thursday (4th) that a program of three meets will be held., with a collegiate-only meet for Philadelphia-area Division I-II-III teams on 24 April. In addition, “The Penn Relays will also aim to host a meet for open and professional athletes in the coming months and a scholastic meet this summer.” The elite-athlete meet will be held prior to the deadline for Olympic qualifying marks.

The Athletics Integrity Unit sanctioned ex-Kenyan 800 m runner Nelly Jepkosgei with a three-year sanction for “Tampering with any part of Doping Control,” nullifying marks from 15 June 2020 and suspending her through 1 February 2024.

Now 29, Jepkosgei was scheduled to run for Bahrain beginning on 13 August 2021 and has bests of 1:58.96 from 2018 and 4:00.99 in the 1,500 m (also 2018). She missed a doping test scheduled for 18 March 2020 and then said she missed the test because she was at a local hospital in Kapsabet (KEN) following up on her sister, who had been in a car crash. The excuse was a lie and the “supporting” documentation from the hospital was faked. Hence, the suspension.

● Figure Skating ● The Russian TASS News Agency reported on Wednesday (3rd) that Alena Kostornaia, 17, the 2020 European Champion, wants to return to her old coach, Eteri Tutberidze. Kostornaia had left in July 2020 to train with Evgeni Plushenko, but after contracting the Covid-19 virus and then some uneven performances, she prefers to be trained by Tutberidze again … if the coach will agree.

The 2016 and 2017 World Champion, Evgenia Medvedeva, 21, reunited with Tutberidze in 2020 after two years with Canadian coach Brian Orser. Medvedeva also had the virus in late 2020 and has competed sparingly during the current season due to back injuries.

Retired Russian skater Maria Sotskova, eighth at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and twice an eight-place finisher in the ISU World Championships, was suspended for 10 years for doping by the Russian Skating Federation. According to Reuters, she “submitted a forged document to explain a doping violation.” Sotskova announced that she was retiring from the sport in 2020.

● Football ● U.S. announced two European dates for the American men’s team, both in Europe. The U.S. men will play Jamaica on 25 March at the Wiener Neustadt Stadion in Wiener Neustadt (AUT) and then Northern Ireland on 28 March in Windsor Park in Belfast.

Playing Jamaica in Austria? Huh?

● Weightlifting ● The ongoing saga of the International Weightlifting Federation is now taking on the quality of a soap opera. The latest developments:

● Following the IOC’s letter of 24 February listing its concerns over the IWF’s management of the sport (and itself), the IWF issued a letter from Interim President Dr. Michael Irani (GBR) and Secretary General Mohammed Jalood (IRQ) to all member federations confirming that – in accordance with the IOC’s wishes, a Constitutional Congress will be held ahead of elections, instead of vice versa.

A draft Constitution has been prepared and is proposed to be circulated for comments, to be received by 31 March 2021.

● Later on Wednesday, Japan’s Reiko Chinen, a member of the IWF Technical Committee opined on Twitter:

“Changing order of Electoral and Constitutional Congresses is not enough. #IWF [Executive Board] hasn’t understood deeply yet #IOC Christophe De Kepper addressed, ‘in a satisfactory and TIMELY way’ – means Constitutional [congress] must be done at latest by end of [April] and Election by OG”

and

“Actually there exist wise and normal Members in #IWF board, who has same opinion as mine. Unfortunately we have too many gangsters in its [Executive Board], therefore we need more [Member Federations] realize our problem and speak out same opinion as mine.”

● Separately, former Interim IWF President and now candidate Ursula Papandrea of the U.S. sent out her own letter on Thursday (4th) to the IWF Executive Board and the member federations, including:

“My intent is to express my enduring concern that the Board has reacted to the IOC concerns insufficiently. I am particularly alarmed at the risks this presents to our sport and athletes.

“My concern extends to the reactive versus proactive decision making. While I congratulate you on reacting to part of the IOC warning letter, you have only addressed a fraction of their message by changing course on several points. I request that you address all facets of the warning letter from the IOC by addressing ALL of the listed concerns.”

Papandrea suggested a more aggressive timeline, with comments on the new constitution back by 25 March, the resulting document circulated by 24 April and a Congress by videoconference by 25 May. That would be followed by elections, with a 5 May deadline for applications, 4 June confirmation of the ballot and elections on 4-5 July, well prior to the start of Tokyo 2020.

In addition, she asked for action on anti-doping programs:

“As we have been given notice of a zero positive tolerance warning for the upcoming Olympic Games, it seems prudent to identify the Olympic athlete pool for out of competition testing as soon as possible. Once the testing pool has been identified, the IWF should require ADAMS registration to be maintained from now until the time of the Olympic Games, approximately four months. Waiting on continental championships, that may or may not happen, and the potential that some athletes may not be capable of participating shall the continental championships proceed as scheduled, does not seem to be a fair process.”

● The IWF issued a notice on its Web site on Thursday, posting its new constitution and expecting a Constitutional Congress in June, with elections in October!

Expect the IOC Executive Board to have more to say about this at its meetings next week.

● The Last Word ● The Commission on the Study of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics is at a standstill, before it has held even a single meeting. The reason is Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington).

While 12 members of the Commission have been named, with Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) the last to announce his selections on 27 January, Cantwell has been silent. Well, not exactly silent: her office has posted 33 news releases since that date, but none about the Commission.

The statute (S. 2330) requires the Commission to complete its work essentially at the end of July, while the 2020 Tokyo Games are going on. An extension is obviously going to be needed, but unless Cantwell awakens, the Commission may not meet until after Tokyo is over. Maybe Beijing 2022 too?

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LANE ONE: IOC’s preference for Brisbane shows the bids of the future, and is perfect for Salt Lake City

Rich Perelman

March 4, 2021

tsx pix 2021-304 speed and technology world 750 — Queensland combined speed and perseverance and was rewarded with an opportunity to be selected to host the 2032 Olympic Games. Who else is ready to step up?

The International Olympic Committee’s announcement last week that the bid from the Queensland region of Australia – centered around Brisbane – was now “targeted” as the first-in-line choice for the Games of the XXXV Olympiad in 2032 was a surprise to a lot of people.

It shouldn’t have been.

IOC chief Thomas Bach told reporters during his online news conference that this selection was the outcome of the enormous changes made in the Olympic bid process, which were badly needed:

“We had to face there a situation where we could see that because the candidates were put against each other in this kind of [voting] contest, that we had exponentially less and less candidates because the candidates were being eliminated or losing a vote could not justify towards their community to come back with another candidature right after. …

So what happened? A bid effort which was developed with serious intentions, moved forward with significant support from the National Olympic Committee in its country and all levels of government and which pushed all of the IOC’s hot buttons has the opportunity to land the 2032 Games.

Good for Queensland and Australia. Hard work paid off. Sloth, talk and speeches did not. The IOC noted in its announcement that:

“The main reasons why Brisbane 2032 was proposed for the targeted dialogue are:

● “The very advanced Games concept, which is fully aligned with Olympic Agenda 2020 and using 80 to 90 per cent existing or temporary venues.

● “The venue masterplan, which has already been discussed with International Sports Federations and the International Paralympic Committee. …

● “The existing and planned transport infrastructure and experience in traffic management, which can adequately meet the demands of the Olympic Games and were successfully implemented for the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

● “The existing hotel accommodation inventory, which already meets Games requirements.

● “Strong support from all three levels of government, as confirmed on several occasions by highest-level representatives from the City of Brisbane, the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors, the State of Queensland and the federal government.”

There was plenty of head-shaking from other potential bidders for the Games who were caught flat-footed by the Queensland selection. Jurgen Kessing of the German Athletics Federation (DLV) asked the pertinent question:

“I think we have to ask ourselves how we can get into pole position with possible future Olympic bids.”

They, and others had their chance; they talked while Queensland walked. Norwegian IOC member Kristen Kloster Aasen, chair of the Future Hosts Commission, told reporters:

“In December, we asked the interested parties for a full update on their status and had discussions with all of them. The Commission gave the opportunity of a presentation and discussion to the interested parties that were in continuous dialogue and this resulted in meetings on the 3rd, the 8th and 9th of February this year. The Commission has also engaged with those NOCs which have chosen not to be in continuous dialogue at this stage.”

The German NOC indicated it was not ready to be part of the “continuous dialogue.” The disconnect between one or more potential German bidders and their National Olympic Committee eliminated them. Same for other bids which were more an idea than a reality, in Hungary, Indonesia, India, Korea and others. They were asleep while Queensland was awake, and its bid – more than two years in the making – won after originally targeting 2028, then being disappointed that Los Angeles was awarded that Games. Queensland didn’t whine, they got on with trying to win for 2032.

This is business. The first mover has the advantage, but has to be highly credible. Queensland did that while others talked about it. That’s the future.

Which brings us to Salt Lake City, Utah, which staged a brilliant Winter Games in 2002 and is ready to do so again. It already formed a bid committee a year ago, after being designated as the bid city for the United States by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee in 2018. In addition to having existing venues, accommodations and infrastructure in place, it also has the advantage of multiple veterans of the 2002 organizing committee deeply involved, including former chief Operating Officer Fraser Bullock, and Colin Hilton, now the head of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, which cares for many of the Olympic venues, continuously in use since 2002.

Salt Lake City is in line to be awarded a Winter Games, probably for 2034, with the only question on how to coordinate the timing to follow the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad in Los Angeles in 2028.

The IOC is also moving forward. The introduction of its “Agenda 2020+5” provides clear, new opportunities for countries and regions to show off their attributes in partnership with the IOC in future Olympic qualifying competitions, a clear gateway to future Olympic bids without the expense of a pricey continental Games or a Youth Olympic Games. The “Agenda 2020+5″ recommendation 6 explanation includes:

“Depending on the definition, there are hundreds or even thousands of events which act as Olympic qualifiers. However, today, there are very few opportunities to connect these events with the Olympic Games through branding and other initiatives. The Olympic and OCOG brands effectively have no visibility and therefore the Road to the Olympic Games is not as visible as it should be.

“An opportunity therefore exists to create additional associations between the Olympic Games and Olympic qualification events. This would have benefits for all parties – the Hosts of the events, the NOCs / NFs of the athletes, the IFs governing the events and the athletes themselves. …

“New types of qualifying events could also be explored. Beyond the individual stand-alone events, some multi-sports qualification events could be developed by the IOC in collaboration with IFs, which would help streamline the qualification calendar and also potentially add value for the Hosts, IFs and athletes involved. These events, grouping sports by type or by culture (e.g. combat sports, urban sports), could also serve to build excitement for the Olympic Games.” (Emphasis added)

There is little doubt that the “2020+5″ package will be passed by the IOC Session later this month. Potential Olympic bid cities and regions should then be calling on Kloster Aasen and her Winter Games Commission counterpart, Octavian Morariu (ROU), about these events – which don’t even exist yet – and how they can help create, develop and stage these programs; one good starting point is just to catalog all of the seasonal World Cup events already staged in a city, region or country!

(The IOC’s concept is hardly a new idea, either, especially in Germany. Berlin combined 10 national championships into a single week in 2019, called “Die Finals,” and drew 178,000 spectators!)

The 2032 Games should be in Queensland, but nothing is sure until the event is officially awarded, perhaps in 2021. The “losers” may be sulking now, but the IOC’s new process saved them the embarrassment of explaining how millions of publicly-provided dollars, euros or other currency were spent on nothing after losing an election.

Queensland is now the standard and Salt Lake City is not far behind. As the Sugar Hill Gang famously advised in 1981:

Tonto, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it
Kemosabe, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it
Custer, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it
Apache, jump on it, jump on it!

Rich Perelman
Editor

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SKIING & SNOWBOARD: Norway celebrates 12th Worlds gold for Johaug, second for Lundby; Russia’s Nadyrshina the teen queen in Snowboard

Rich Perelman

March 3, 2021

tsx pix 2019-227 johaug therese 750 finish — Norwegian Cross Country superstar Therese Johaug wins again!

Congratulations to the Federation Internationale de Ski, which is managing to get its 2021 World Championships in Nordic Skiing and Snowboard staged during the pandemic, albeit in unusual fashion. Here’s what happened since the weekend:

● Cross Country Skiing ● Norway – and distance superstar Therese Johaug – continued their winning ways at the Nordic World Champs in Obertsdorf (GER) with Johaug’s dominant win in the women’s 10 km Freestyle event on Tuesday (2nd).

Leading essentially from the start, the 32-year-old Johaug raced away from everyone in the final half and won in 23:09.8, a staggering 54.2 seconds ahead of runner-up Frida Karlsson (SWE). The win gives Johaug 12 World Championships gold medals, nine of which are in individual events. It’s her second gold of this Championships and she will be the overwhelming favorite in the 30 km Mass Start event on the weekend.

The fight for third saw American star Jessie Diggins holding the bronze-medal position into the final kilometer, but she faded to fourth as Swede Ebba Andersson took third at 24:16.7, with Diggins at 24:21.8.

The men’s 15 km Freestyle was a Norwegian sweep, their second in these Championships, with Hans Christer Holund winning in 33:48.7, trailed by Simen Hegstad Krueger (34:08.9) and Harald Ostberg Amundsen (34:24.3). Holund won his second medal of 2021, following his third in the Skiathlon; he also owns a 2019 Worlds golds for the 50 km Freestyle, coming up this weekend.

● Nordic Combined ● The next competition comes on Thursday (4th), with the men’s Gundersen off a 137 m hill and 10 km race. Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber, already the winner of the Normal Hill-10 km event, is again the favorite.

● Ski Jumping ● The women’s Large Hill (137 m) competition on Wednesday (3rd) was once again a Norwegian showcase, with Maren Lundby winning her second medal of these Championships and winning the first large-hill event for women in the Nordic Worlds.

After finishing second in the Normal Hill event (106 m) on 25 February, Lundby produced technically excellent jumps in both rounds to compile 296.6 points, ahead of Japan’s Sara Takanashi – the Normal Hill bronze medalist – by 8.7 points (287.9). Slovenia’s Nika Kriznar won the bronze at 287.1 points.

The Normal Hill winner, Eva Klinec (SLO) produced the longest jump of the day, in the second round, at 139.5 m (~458 feet!), but scored only 146.3 points; she finished sixth overall.

After 16 events in the Nordic Worlds, Norway leads with 22 of the 48 medals awarded; Sweden (2-2-2) and Slovenia (1-1-4) have six each.

● Snowboard ● The World Championships in Parallel events was held in Rogla (SLO) on 1-2 March, with strong results for Russia and Germany.

The Russians are, of course, required to compete as the “Russian Ski Federation” during their suspension period, but that did not stop Dmitry Loginov and Andrey Sobolev from winning half of the men’s medals available.

In the Parallel Giant Slalom, Loginov – still only 21 – defended his 2019 Worlds victory successfully, finishing ahead of Italian veteran Roland Fischnaller by just 0.01, with Sobolev winning the bronze by 0.21 over Korea’s Sangkyum Kim. It was Fischnaller’s sixth Worlds medal from 2011-21 and an amazing feat at age 40!

Sobolev, who was Parallel Giant Slalom World Champion in 2015, won his fourth career Worlds medal.

The Parallel Slalom was a 1-2 finish for Austria, with Benjamin Karl, 35, winning his fifth World title by 0.09 over countryman Andreas Prommegger, 40, who won his first career Worlds medal. Loginov won the bronze in the all-Russian third-place race by 0.02 over Sobolev.

The women’s Parallel races were dominated by Germany’s Selina Joerg and Russian Sofia Nadyrshina, who each won two medals. Joerg, 33, defended her 2019 Parallel Giant Slalom title with a 0.12 edge in the final against Nadyrshina – age 17 – who won her first Worlds medal. Austria’s Julia Drujmovits won the bronze over teammate Claudia Riegler by 1.05 seconds.

In the Parallel Slalom, Nadyrshina took the gold over Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister, 24, who did not finish in the final. Joerg won the bronze by 0.08 in a tight duel with Canadian Megan Farrell.

The final stage of the Snowboard Worlds, broken into pieces for 2021, will feature Big Air, Aerials and Moguls, and will be held in Aspen, Colorado (USA), from 10-16 March.

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: Tokyo 2020 to elect 12 women to board; massive changes to Olympic TV coverage; Russia’s 20-step path to T&F reinstatement

Rich Perelman

March 2, 2021

tsx pix 2021-302 broadcast center 750 (ioc) — Technology is bringing major changes to the way the Olympic Games are broadcast worldwide (Photo: IOC)

News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport/updated/:

● Games of the XXXV Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee voted Tuesday (2nd) to expand its executive board from 35 to 45 members, accepted one resignation and then nominated 12 women to fill the open spots.

Once confirmed – the advisory committee vote is expected on Wednesday – the new members will bring the total number of women to 19 out of 45, or 42.2%, slightly ahead of the 40% goal set by new organizing committee chief Seiko Hashimoto.

She noted “We need to deal with the issue quickly to restore (public) confidence in the organizing committee and to produce results.” Reported as among the nominees are 2000 Sydney Olympic marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi and two-time Paralympic alpine skiing champion Kuniko Obinata.

A major change in the way the Olympic Games are televised is underway as the combination of new technologies and the pandemic is shrinking one of the biggest users of space, power and people.

The IOC Web site posted an important story on Tuesday (2nd), entitled “Olympic Games broadcasting via the cloud: technology at the service of storytelling,” underscoring the massive changes taking place in Tokyo.

Key to this is the introduction of a cloud-based signal distribution (noted in detail last October), which eliminates the need for a broadcaster to actually be on-site in Tokyo to produce live coverage of the Games.

Said Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) Chief Executive Yiannis Exarchos (GRE):

“We were lucky in the sense that we have the TOP partnership with Alibaba. Alibaba is one of the key players in the world in cloud technology, and together with them we developed what we call the OBS Cloud, which is a platform which allows broadcasters to receive content remotely on the cloud and even to work on this content remotely on a cloud basis.

“The major thinking, and what we want them to do and help them to do, is reduce the presence [of broadcast staff] that can happen anywhere in the world. To be shipping servers and setting up equipment in a city for things that can happen on the cloud is one of the things we want to avoid.

“If you have a journalist in the mixed zone you can receive everything [else] back in your home country.”

This is a major change in Games organization and will have far-reaching impacts:

● The massive amount of space, time and money needed to assemble an International Broadcast Center in the host city will be dramatically reduced. This is a benefit to the organizers, to the broadcasters and to fans, who will be able to access thousands of hotel rooms used by broadcast technicians.

● The space needed for broadcast commentary positions inside stadia will be markedly reduced over time, again freeing up hundreds of seats for spectators at most sites. Broadcasters pay for these positions to be installed and each one takes up 6-12 spectator seats, depending on the configuration in each venue. The experience of commentators calling events remotely during the pandemic will be a permanent change for many Olympic events that will now be available in real time anywhere in the world.

● The “mixed zone” area, where media can meet athletes as they exit the field of play, will become increasingly important. Introduced on a Games-wide basis in Los Angeles in 1984, the space needed for this function, and for formal news conference-style settings, will now increase exponentially, especially for Paris 2024 and beyond.

The IOC story notes:

“The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Tokyo is going to be 25 per cent smaller than the Rio IBC, with 27 per cent fewer broadcasters present. This trend is going only one way. The IBC for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 is already small enough for the Organising Committee to have combined it with the Main Press Centre.”

All of this opens substantial new opportunities for Games coverage, and the rights-holders, press, photographers and non-rights-holding broadcasters will be scrambling to take advantage. How future organizers and the IOC are able to adapt to this could allow for a huge expansion of the impact of the Games worldwide; it’s one of the most exciting changes to Games coverage ever.

● Games of the XXXIV Olympiad: Los Angeles 2028 ● The Los Angeles City Council tabled until 17 March discussion of the “2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games Public Safety Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2028 (LA 2028), and the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) to establish the California Olympic and Paralympic Public Safety Command (COPPSC).”

The memorandum spends no money and authorizes nothing except to have the City join the new COPPSC to begin joint planning and collaboration on public safety for the 2028 Games. Four public comments were posted on this item – three of which were anonymous – all repeating what will be a recurring theme of trying to use the 2028 Games as a straw man for protests on other issues. The most pithy: “Do no [sic] support, Defund the police.”

● National Olympic Committees ● Last December, the IOC sanctioned the NOC of Belarus, with IOC chief Thomas Bach stating that “The IOC has come to the conclusion that it appears that the current leadership has not appropriately protected the Belarussian athletes from political discrimination within the NOC, their member federations or the sports movement.” It banned then-NOC President Alexander Lukashenko – also the country’s President – and his son, Viktor, from attending any Olympic functions.

Last Friday (26th), Alexander Lukashenko left his NOC post with Viktor appointed in his place. The father has been under pressure from political protests against him following elections last fall, which have been criticized as unfairly held; the results gave him a sixth term. The IOC is sure to be irritated by the results and further sanctions may be forthcoming.

In the U.S., 19 National Governing Bodies, including USA Archery, USA Artistic Swimming, USA Baseball, USA Bobsled & Skeleton, USA Cycling, USA Diving, USA Fencing, USA Field Hockey, USA Football, USA Gymnastics, USA Hockey, USA Karate, US Lacrosse, US Ski & Snowboard, US Soccer, US Speedskating, USA Taekwondo, USA Triathlon and USA Wrestling, have signed on for the new CrashCourse Concussion Story Wall produced by the Brain Injury Association of America.

The program features an interactive database of 700 individual’s stories relating to how a brain injury occurred, the symptoms experienced, and personal suggestions from those who have been injured by a concussion (also known as a mild traumatic brain injury). It is intended as a comprehensive resource to help develop an understanding of the injury and appreciation for the whole person for the many who are impacted (athletes, parents, coaches, officials, teachers and military veterans).

It’s free to access here.

● Alpine Skiing ● The brutal injuries to alpine skiers Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (NOR) and Rosina Schneeberger (AUT) during the Super-G races at Val di Fassa (ITA) last weekend are healing, according to reports.

Vickhoff Lie suffered a broken left leg from her crash and had surgery on Sunday in Innsbruck (AUT). The Federation Internationale de Ski Alpine Twitter feed noted:

“[A]fter yesterday’s crash, Rosina Schneeberger was diagnosed with a fracture of the right tibia and fibula. She was successfully operated in the evening in Innsbruck. The fracture was stabilised with an intramedullary nail.”

Both are recovering in the same room!

● Athletics ● The World Athletics Council approved a detailed program for the reinstatement of the Russian Athletics Federation on Monday (1st), including a 31-page plan with dozens of requirements to be met. The Plan reviewed the situation, noting:

● “A history of extensive and sometimes blatant anti-doping rule violations involving athletes, coaches and officials is acknowledged. The root causes of an extensive doping and covering-up culture involving athletes, coaches and officials arose from inheriting a post-Soviet doping culture aimed at winning by all means including doping.”

● “The Strategic Plan, together with the Operational Roadmap that supports the Plan, are designed to deal with the root causes of previous systemic and systematic doping issues and achieve positive changes in both culture and practice regionally and nationally. To do this, the entire system of RusAF’s operations and Russian athletics must be changed, with core integrity-based behaviours and anti-doping values at its heart and at all levels within the sport.”

● “Pathways for clean athletes to come to the fore must exclude old coaching approaches based on doping practices. Measures to reward regions changing to clean athletics are required, and to punish those regions resisting changes. Increased athlete representation to support clean athletics must occur.”

● “It would be extremely erroneous to suggest that RusAF reinstatement per se is the ultimate goal of the Plan. Indeed, RusAF reinstatement is an important landmark, but it is merely a step towards a better future for Russian athletics. The main goal of this plan is to ingrain the sustainable change in culture throughout RusAF’s processes and decision-making and rehabilitate RusAF’s management and oversight of athletics in Russia so that doping no longer occurs in a systemic and systematic way in Russian athletics, and through its emphatic actions to deal with doping violations RUSAF becomes a trusted ally of World Athletics in the fight for clean sport.”

The plan explains that “[t]he consequences of ‘the Lysenko case’ were almost fatal for RusAF” and that the prior plan to reinstate the federation collapsed under the cover-up of “whereabouts” failures for former World Indoor High Jump champ Danil Lysenko. So, everything started over.

The new project specifies goals in nine groups are required to be met by 1 April, 1 September and reviewed with an audit by 2 March of 2022. There are 20 items with specific deadlines to be implemented – in the anti-doping and governance areas – by 1 April (8 items), 1 June (6), 1 July (1), 1 August (3) and 1 September (2).

The question on reinstating the “Authorized Neutral Athlete” program in time to allow some Russian athletes to compete in Tokyo will be considered by the World Athletics Council at its meeting from 17-18 March. In terms of incentive to implement the Plan requirements, perhaps provisional approval of Authorized Neutral Athletes, conditioned on meeting the 15 requirements for April, June and July, could be adopted.

The USA Track & Field National Championships in the men’s 50 km walk and women’s 35 km walk were held in Santee, California on Sunday. Nick Christie, 36, won the men’s 50 km race for what is believed to be his 18th national title at various distances in 4:10:53, ahead of A.J. Gruttadauro (4:19:18) and Joel Phahler (4:47:45), with 1992 and 1996 Olympian Allen James fourth (4:52:00). Defending champion Andreas Gustafsson was disqualified.

The women’s 35 km walk was taken by 37-year-old Robyn Stevens for her third straight national title, this time at the new distance, in 3:01:11. Stephanie Casey was second (3:05:21) and Amberly Melendez was third (3:23:14). The top finishers in each race received $8,000-6,000-4,000-3,000-2,000-1,000-1,000 for the top eight places, but only six men and five women finished.

(Thanks to U.S. Olympic walker and sharped-eyed reader Elliott Denman for a correction on A.J. Gruttadauro’s name and spelling!)

USA Track & Field announced a 10-meet “Journey to Gold” spring series from April into June, with six events already specified with a date and location. Three of those will be held at Prairie View A&M on 3 April, 25 May and 6 June. Prize money totaling $1 million is promised for the series, with details to come later.

World Athletics confirmed the final points standings of its World Indoor Tour and the event winners who earned a wild-card entry into the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade (SRB) and $10,000 prize money:

Men/400 m: Pavel Maslak (CZE)
Men/1500 m: Selemon Barega (ETH)
Men/60 m hurdles: Grant Holloway (USA)
Men/High jump: Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA)
Men/Long jump: Juan Miguel Echevarria (CUB)

Women/60 m: Javianne Oliver (USA)
Women/800 m: Habitam Alemu (ETH)
Women/3000 m: Lemlem Hailu (ETH)
Women/Pole vault: Iryna Zhuk (BLR)
Women/Triple jump: Liadagmis Povea (CUB)
Women/Shot put: Auriol Dongmo (POR)

● Cycling ● The organizers of the 2023 UCI all-disciplines World Championships in and around Glasgow (SCO) are working with the UCI to market “purpose-led sponsorships” which bring companies together with “key societal themes and outcomes.”

In an interview with SportBusiness, organizing committee commercial director Jonathan Rigby (GBR) explained, “So if we want to get more people on bikes more often, then there’s a fantastic opportunity for a mobility partner to work with us and identify how cars and bikes can co-exist in future cities.”

A technology partner could focus on second-screen engagement with the races and encouraging participation in cycling. An automaker could showcase electric or hybrid vehicles and/or promote road safety with cyclists. Whether this is the future of sponsorship or more of an experiment to yet to be seen.

The report noted that “Ahead of Scotland being awarded the hosting rights, it was forecast that the hosting budget would be £45.8m (€53m/$64.8m), with Glasgow City Council providing £15m in support.”

● Judo ● The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision in the appeal of sanctions by the Iran Judo Federation “concluded that the kind of sanction (unlimited suspension) imposed in the challenged decision of 22 October 2019 had no legal basis in the IJF regulations. Accordingly, the Panel partially upheld the appeal and annulled the decision taken by the IJF Disciplinary Commission on 22 October 2019. The matter has been referred back to the IJF Disciplinary Commission for its eventual further.”

The International Judo Federation posted only a short note on its Web site in reply that the federation “is currently considering what further action and decisions will be taken.”

One item clearly on the agenda of a future IJF Congress is to amend its rules to allow indefinite suspensions for political interference.

● Volleyball ● An in-depth review of the massive investment in the creation of a new “Volleyball World” commercial agency to promote the sport worldwide by SportBusiness revealed that $100 million was contributed to the new venture by Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners, which represents one-third of the ownership of the new entity.

FIVB Secretary General Fernando Lima (BRA) explained that volleyball has huge opportunities for growth based on its enormous viewership at the Olympic Games, a metric which other sports have tried to leverage but found difficult. Said Lima: “Most international sport federations, like basketball and football, or even market-specific sports like rugby and cricket, found ways to connect with fans in the last century via different platforms and media. Volleyball missed that trajectory – its mission was to deliver the events and competitions, hand out the medals and then we’d all go home. We didn’t create a strong brand.”

The revenue opportunities targeted to start will include events, the fan experience, media rights strategies, data/digital opportunities and sponsorship.

● Weightlifting ● While the International Weightlifting Federation immediately conceded to the IOC demands for athlete representation on the Executive Board and the re-scheduling of the Congresses for adopting a new constitution and then for elections, the IOC’s letter also included other matters that can have a long-lasting impact. The letter, from IOC Director General Christophe de Kepper (SUI) objected to:

● “The large number of candidates for the upcoming elections that have been involved with the IWF leadership over the recent period”;

● “Lack of any age restrictions or restrictions on candidates from suspended or sanctioned national federations” and

● “The lack of engagement with the elected athlete representatives …”

The letter also notes concerns with the anti-doping program for the upcoming Olympic qualification events and the resolution of issues raised by the McLaren Global Sport Services Report and ongoing investigations by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Testing Agency and Hungarian police!

As the IOC’s dealings with the AIBA over boxing have shown, the IWF’s path out of the Games is clearer than its path to staying in.

● Wrestling ● USA Wrestling has re-scheduled its Olympic Trials for Ft. Worth, Texas for 2-3 April, moving it from its original site at Penn State due to the pandemic. In that announcement was some good news for wrestling fans: “there were 12,000 tickets sold for the Olympic Trials at Penn State before the pandemic began.”

That’s good news for wrestling in the U.S. and not to be taken lightly for the future. The new capacity at the Dickies Arena will be limited to 4,900.

● At the BuZZer ● A significant auction of sports memorabilia is scheduled for Paris on 6 March called “SPORLYMPIQUE VI.”

On offer are 471 lots, with some significant Olympic items including two participation medals from the 1896 Athens Games (expected to sell individually for €400-800 each) and Olympic torches from Tokyo 1964 (expected €2800-3000), Montreal 1976 (€2500-3500), Moscow 1980 (€1500-1800), Lillehammer 1994 (€20,000-30,000!!!), Sydney 2000 (€2500-3500), Athens 2004 (€1800-2000) and London 2012 (€2500-3500).

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LANE ONE: Coronavirus, Beijing, Larry Nassar, weightlifting, doping: is the apocalypse right around the corner?

Rich Perelman

March 1, 2021

tsx pix 82318 last judgement damned man750 — From Michelangelo's immortal "The Last Judgment" (1535-41) in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

Our Highlights of last weekend’s noteworthy competitions around the world is here.

In December, 1776, American political activist Thomas Paine began his first American Crisis pamphlet with the words, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

Those words apply now – to men and women – just as they have for many periods since the Revolutionary War. For those in the world of international sport, the last month seems like the planet is spinning off of its axis:

● Tokyo 2020’s Mori implodes, but the coronavirus still looms

The Tokyo 2020 organizers already had their hands full when committee chief, former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, complained on 3 February about women talking too much during Board meetings. It took only about 10 days for him to resign, with federal Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto taking his place.

Many more women will be added to the Tokyo 2020 Board in what may be (or may not be) a catalytic moment for women in Japanese society. But none of this changes the coronavirus situation, the question of whether fans – foreign or domestic – will be able to attend the Games this summer, the difficulty in holding qualifying events, and the low public enthusiasm for the Games in Japan itself.

Hashimoto said last week that the spectator question should be clearer by the time the Olympic Torch Relay begins on 25 March; IOC chief Thomas Bach thought the decision will be needed by the end of April or beginning of May. But how many people will care?

● Beijing 2022 boycott talk continues, ominously

The consensus in the sports world is that athlete boycotts do not create the kind of change required to make them worthwhile. After all, the Nazi-organized Games of 1936 gave us Jesse Owens, while the U.S.-led boycott of 1980 hardly impacted the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

But that does not mean that politicians aren’t enamored of the idea to prick Chinese pride by having their country’s athletes skip the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The continuing brutality of the Chinese regime in Hong Kong, against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province, the threats against Taiwan and more has energized elected officials in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and elsewhere. Those governments are the primary funders of their National Olympic Committees.

Even in the U.S., last Thursday’s comment by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki showed the question of what to do about the Beijing Winter Games was on the radar. Asked whether U.S. President Joe Biden would “participate” in the Games, Psaki replied, “There hasn’t been a final decision made on that. And, of course, we would look for guidance from the U.S. Olympic Committee.”

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee is not in favor of a boycott, of course. But it will be fascinating to see if the USOPC and its Team USA Council on Racial and Social Justice and Athletes’ Advisory Council will take a stand on the issue, or take a pass.

Interestingly, the new Chair of the Athletes’ Advisory Council is former Bobsled and Skeleton racer Bree Schaaf, whose LinkedIn profile lists her as a Program Manager for the athlete’s rights start-up Global Athlete. Concerning Beijing 2022, that organization tweeted on 27 February:

“Thousands of athletes are caught in the middle. For most, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance for fame and a medal. But they’re on their own. Those who speak out may be banned by @Olympics bodies, dropped by sponsors, and threatened by the Chinese state.”

The USOPC is hardly an individual athlete; the U.S. will have one of the largest teams in Beijing. And it could undertake – and lead other nations in – a silent protest that would speak volumes; one suggestion on how to do so is here. It will be fascinating to see what the USOPC and Schaaf do, or don’t do.

● Geddert suicide only complicates the endless Nassar scandal

The story of the Larry Nassar abuse scandal took a deadly turn last week when former U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach John Geddert, the long-time owner of the Twistars USA Gymnastics club in Michigan, was charged with 24 felony counts by state prosecutors last Thursday (25th) and then shot himself later that day.

Geddert had been charged with 20 counts of human trafficking, two counts of criminal sexual conduct, criminal racketeering and lying to police. He killed himself in his car while at a rest stop off I-96 in Grand Ledge, Michigan. According to clickondetroit.com, “Nassar worked for Geddert as a team physician and Twistars’ medical expert for about 20 years.”

In the meantime, there is no end in sight to the ongoing USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Indiana. A court-mandated settlement conference that was ordered last September, mediated by Judge James Carr, has produced no results to date, after a proposed $217.1 million settlement offered in February 2020 for the abuse survivors was rejected.

● International Weightlifting Federation in chaos after IOC letter reiterates complaints

After stating for months its displeasure with the activities of the International Weightlifting Federation, the International Olympic Committee sent a letter to the IWF President and General Secretary listing its issues, and copying it to all IWF national federations and the 206 National Olympic Committees last Wednesday (24th).

After doing very little for a long time, the IWF Executive Board held an emergency meeting on Saturday (27th) and immediately reversed course in a number of areas. Postpone its electoral and Constitutional Congresses scheduled for March and April, so that a Constitution can be adopted before elections? Done. Allow the Chair and Vice Chair of the Athletes Commission to vote at Executive Board meetings? Done. Tell us what else to do? Sure, absolutely.

The future of weightlifting on the Olympic program, and perhaps as an international sport of any significance, depends on its reforms along the lines that the IOC is demanding. But very few people give up power willingly and the IOC is essentially telling the IWF that anyone who has been part of the governing effort while potentially criminal activities have been taking place in IWF finances, doping cover-ups, bribery and more, must go. The elections, to be held sometime this spring, will likely determine the IWF fate for Paris 2024 and beyond.

The same goes for AIBA and boxing, which the IOC has already said is so far behind the curve in its reform efforts that its review committee will not even meet with them.

● Court of Arbitration for Sport lets Iran off the hook, for now

The celebrated case of judoka Saeid Mollaei, a former World Champion, who was forced to lose matches at the 2019 Worlds in order not to face, and not to have to stand on the podium with, Israeli star Sagi Muki (the eventual winner), resulted in the Iranian Judo Federation to be suspended indefinitely by the International Judo Federation.

Mollaei fled the World Championships in Japan for Germany and was eventually welcomed to Mongolia, for which he now competes. The Iranian Judo Federation appealed its indefinite sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

On Monday, the arbitration panel decision “annulled” the sanction, stating:

“The CAS Panel determined that the I.R.I. JF committed severe violations of the IJF rules and that sanctions compliant with the IJF regulations should be imposed on it. However, the CAS Panel concluded that the kind of sanction (unlimited suspension) imposed in the challenged decision of 22 October 2019 had no legal basis in the IJF regulations. Accordingly, the Panel partially upheld the appeal and annulled the decision taken by the IJF Disciplinary Commission on 22 October 2019. The matter has been referred back to the IJF Disciplinary Commission for its eventual further decisions.”

So while the Iranians are not off the hook, they get to complain about how unfairly they have been treated. What was the reinstatement criteria required? According to the Court, “Iran Judo Federation [must give] strong guarantees and proves that they will respect the IJF Statutes and accept that their athletes fight against Israeli athletes.”

Perhaps we will see shirts with “Israeli judokas matter” in Iran? Not likely, at least any time soon.

All of this makes one wonder if international sport is headed off of a cliff, even after the pandemic is tamed thanks to widening use of vaccines.

The answer will come this summer, and in February of 2022 when the Olympic Winter Games take place. If people around the world – and especially in the United States and Europe – watch the Games in droves, all will be well.

The reality is that most – but not all – of the sports that make up the Games program are dependent on the IOC’s distribution of its enormous television revenue. If the Games viewing audience shrinks, the IOC’s ability to support these sports, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the World Anti-Doping Agency and so on, will be compromised.

You see, it really isn’t all about the athletes. Television viewership of this summer’s Games and the 2022 Winter Games will be the ultimate arbiter of the future of the Olympic Movement, and will either reinvigorate Pierre de Coubertin’s project, or begin the slow path to its last judgement.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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GYMNASTICS: Bock, Chiles claim USA Gymnastics’ Winter Cup All-Around titles

Rich Perelman

February 28, 2021

tsx pix 2021-228 chiles, jordan 750 — Winter Cup All-Around champion Jordan Chiles (Photo: Facebook page of Jordan Chiles)

The first step toward the U.S. Olympic Team in Artistic Gymnastics came this weekend in Indianapolis, Indiana with the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup, with Cameron Bock and Jordan Chiles claiming top honors in the All-Around competitions.

There was considerable anticipation for the first appearance since 2016 for women’s Olympic Team member and gold medalist Laurie Hernandez, but Saturday’s All-Around competition belonged to Chiles, 19, the 2017 U.S. All-Around silver medalist.

Chiles won or tied for the best score on the Vault (14.900), Beam (14.500 tie) and Floor (13.600) and was fourth on the Uneven Bars (14.050) to score 57.050, winning by almost two points. She was followed by Shilese Jones (2: 55.100), Emily Lee (3: 53.400), Lilly Lippeatt (4: 53.250) and Amari Dayton (5: 52.950). The top four qualified for the U.S. National Team for 2021.

Among the U.S. national-team stars who competed in some of the events, Jade Carey was second on Vault (14.800) and sixth and ninth on Uneven Bars and Beam; Riley McCusker was second on the Uneven Bars (14.650) and 10th on Vault and 19th on Beam; Sunisa Lee won the Uneven Bars (15.050) and was third on Beam (14.250).

Hernandez competed on Beam and was fifth (13.950) and Floor, finishing 13th (12.050). Other stars, including World Champions Simone Biles and Morgan Hurd, did not compete.

Among the men, the University of Michigan’s Bock was the most consistent of the men’s performers on Friday’s All-Around, finishing second or third on four of the six apparatus to finish with 84.150 points, almost a full point up on Riley Loos of Stanford (83.250). Third went to veteran star Shane Muldauer (82.600), followed by Shane Wiskus (Minnesota: 81.250), Allan Bower (Oklahoma: 81.150) and Paul Juda (Michigan: 79.850). The top six qualified for the 2021 national team.

The individual event winners were determined by the two-day scores on each apparatus. Wiskus won the Floor (28.550 two-day score); Alec Yoder took the Pommel Horse (29.500); Alex Diab won Rings at 29.800; Eddie Penev won the Vault at 29.150; Moldauer won the Parallel Bars with 28.150 and Genki Suzuki was tops on the High Bar at 27.250.

The USA Gymnastics National Championships in Artistic Gymnastics are from 3-6 June in Ft. Worth, Texas, and the Olympic Trials will be in St. Louis, Missouri from 24-27 June.

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HIGHLIGHTS: Gut-Behrami on fire on snow; A&M frosh Mu runs 1:58.40; 42 sub-2:10 finishers in Lake Biwa Marathon!

Rich Perelman

February 28, 2021

tsx pix 2021-228 mu 158.40 WJR 750 (TxAM) — Texas A&M's amazing Athing Mu wins the SEC Indoor title with a World U-20 Record of 1:58.40! (Photo: Texas A&M)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● Alpine Skiing ● The FIS Alpine World Cup got back into action this weekend, with Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami sprinting into the overall lead with two wins and a silver in Val di Fassa (ITA).

Gut-Behrami won the last two races prior to the World Championships – both Super-Gs – then won the Super-G and Giant Slalom, plus a bronze in the Downhill at the Worlds. This time, she won the Downhills on Friday and Saturday and then claimed a silver medal in the Super-G on Sunday.

Her Swiss teammate, Corinne Suter – the Downhill World Champion – also won three medals in three days, finishing third in Friday’s Downhill, second in Saturday’s Downhill and third in Sunday’s Super-G. That left only Sunday’s gold for home favorite Federica Brignone, her 16th career World Cup win, a silver for Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT) on Friday and a bronze for Kira Weidle (GER) in Saturday’s Downhill as the remaining medal winners.

Sunday’s Super-G was marred by two severe crashes. Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (NOR), the 13th starter, skied off the course and into the safety nets, and then Rosina Schneeberger (AUT) also ran off into the nets. Both had to be removed from the site by helicopter for further attention.

Once all of the results were tallied, Gut-Behrami – who won the overall World Cup title in 2016 – with the overall lead after 25 of 33 races. She leads Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova by 1,227-1,040, with Swiss Michelle Gisin third (892). The schedule favors Vlhova, with four slaloms left, two Giant Slaloms, one Downhill and one Super-G, but Gut-Behrami is on a roll.

The men’s racing was in Bansko (BUL) for two Giant Slalom races. Filip Zubcic, the Worlds silver medalist in the Parallel, won his third World Cup gold on Saturday, just ahead of the Giant Slalom World Champion, France’s Mathieu Faivre, 2:20.62-2:21.02, with Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner third (2:21.55).

Faivre got to the top of the podium on Sunday, winning his second career World Cup race – and first since 2016 – by 75/100ths of a second over Swiss veteran Marco Odermatt, 2:25.29-2:26.04, with French star Alexis Pinturault third (2:26.10).

Pintuault remains in the overall lead by 1,034-824 over Odermatt after 29 of 38 races, with Marco Schwarz (AUT) well back in third with 718 points.

● Athletics ● The track & field season is heating up as the indoor season ends and outdoors starts, but nowhere more so than Fayetteville, Arkansas at the SEC Indoor Championships:

● Men/200 m: Three world leads in this event, with Georgia soph Matthew Boling running 20.37 in the heats, then Joe Fahnbulleh (Florida soph) winning the first section of the finals in 20.32, followed by a win in the second section for Terrence Laird (LSU senior) in 20.28! That puts Laird in the no. 8 spot all-time U.S. What about Boling? He was disqualified for a lane violation in the final, but still claimed a school record from his heat time.

● Men/400 m: LSU junior Noah Williams won in 45.26 for sixth on the 2021 world list, with Georgia junior Elija Godwin second in 45.37, good for ninth in the world.

● Men/Long Jump: LSU senior JuVaughn Harrison equaled the world lead at 8.33 m (27-4) and also won the high jump at 2.20 m (7-2 1/2)!

● Men/Triple Jump: Tennessee junior Carey McLeod (JAM) won at 17.17 m (56-4) to move to no. 3 on the 2021 year list on his final jump.

● Women/400 m: Florida freshman Talitha Diggs ran a lifetime best 51.14 to win, placing her no. 5 on the 2021 world list, while Florida senior Taylor Manson was second at 51.82, now ninth on the world list.

● Women/800 m: The amazing Athing Mu (Texas A&M) won in 1:58.40, the no. 2 performance in U.S. history behind Ajee Wilson’s 1:58.29 from 2020. Mu won by almost four-and-a-half seconds and set a World U-20 Record in the process, a Collegiate indoor record and is the best-ever all-conditions Collegiate mark at 800 m, as the outdoor record is 1:59.40 by Oregon’s Raevyn Rogers from 2017. Wow!

Mu had a clear lead after a lap and just keep pouring it on, splitting 28.65, 29.32 [57.96], 29.64 and 30.81 to win by 1:58.40-2:02.85 over Florida soph Gabrielle Wilkinson!

At the “All-Star Perche” meet in Aubiere (FRA), the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the men’s vault, France’s Renaud Lavillenie cleared 6.06 m (19-10 1/2), his highest clearance since 2014!

It’s the =14th best performance of all-time indoors, showing that at age 34, he cannot be counted out coming Tokyo time. He won the event at 5.96 m (19-6 1/2) from Menno Vloon of The Netherlands (26), who set a national record, but cleared on this third try, while Lavillenie cleared on his second. Lavillenie also tried 6.20 m (20-4), but missed all three times. Chris Nilsen (USA) was third at 5.86 m (19-2 3/4).

The latest mystery meet was the Texas Qualifier, a distances event in Austin, Texas on Friday and Saturday, with Olympic qualification in mind. The top marks:

● 10,000 m: German Konstanze Klosterhalfen won the fastest women’s section easily in 31:01.71, well under the Olympic qualifying mark of 31:25.00. Her mark was also good for a German national record in her first 10,000 m track race ever. Keira D’Amato was second in 32:16.82.

● 5,000 m: Ellie Purrier continued her hot running with a win in 15:08.61 in the fastest women’s section, easily making the Olympic qualifying time (15:10.00) and taking the world outdoor lead. Eritrea’s Weini Kelati was second in 15:13.12, a lifetime best.

● 800 m: Ajee Wilson took the world outdoor lead by winning in 1:58.93, ahead of Kaela Edwards (1:59.86) and Hannah Seagrave (2:01.33). Isaiah Harris won the fastest men’s 800 race in 1:46.19, also the fastest outdoor time this year.

A World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meet was held in Auckland (NZL) on Saturday, with two-time Olympic women’s shot champ Valerie Adams (NZL) taking the world outdoor lead with a win at 19.65 m (64-5 3/4). That’s her best since 2016!

In the men’s shot, New Zealand stars Tomas Walsh and Jacko Gill faced off again, but with Walsh winning this round, 21.60 m (70-10 1/2) to 21.44 m (70-4 1/4).

Unbelievable might be too tame for the results of the 76th Lake Biwa Marathon in Otsu, Japan on Sunday, with Kengo Suzuki won with a lifetime best and national record of 2:04:56.

In his fifth career marathon, Suzuki left the field behind with a break at 36 km and was never headed, setting a PR by more than five minutes from his old best of 2:10:21 from 2018.

“I never imagined such a time was possible, so, I am the one most surprised with the record,” Suzuki said. “The big factor of my success was that I was able to train for a year without any injury. My training since the new year went great.”

There was more to it than that; the entire race was a record-maker. An elites-only race with 369 starters, Hidekazu Hijikata finished second at 2:06:26, and Kyohei Hosoya third with 2:06:35. World Athletics reported:

“[F]ive runners cracked the 2:07 barrier with personal bests. Fifteen ran under 2:08 (the record for a race is 17 from the 2020 Tokyo Marathon) and a record 28 runners cracked 2:09, breaking the previous record of 24, also set at last year’s Tokyo Marathon. A record 42 runners finished in under 2:10, smashing the previous best of 30 from last year’s Valencia Marathon.”

To answer your next question, no report was filed on the shoes worn by the top 42.

● Beach Volleyball ● The FIVB World Tour returned to the sand for the first time in almost a year, in Doha (QAT), with the home team taking the win at the one-star Doha Beach Volleyball Cup on Saturday.

Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan were the top seeds and won Qatar’s second World Tour gold with a 21-15, 21-19 victory over Swiss Quentin Metral and Yves Haussener. Cherif had been part of the first Qatari win in the World Tour in 2016, but this was the first win for Cherif and Ahmed together.

Russia’s Alexey Gusev and Pavel Shustrov won the bronze-medal match by 19-21, 21-15, 19-17 over Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe of Turkey. The four-star Katara Cup in Doha will start on 8 March.

● Cycling ● After building a solid lead in the uphill fifth stage, Slovenia’s reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar won the UCI World Tour season opener, the UAE Tour, on Saturday.

He finished the seven-stage event in 24:00.28, thirty-five seconds ahead of Adam Yates (GBR) and 1:02 in front of Portugal’s Joao Almeida. Australian Chris Harper (+1:42) and American Neilson Powless (+1:45) were fourth and fifth.

The last two stages were flat routes for the sprinters, and Ireland’s Sam Bennett edged Elia Viviani (ITA) in the 165 km sixth stage (3:32:23), and Australian star Caleb Ewan got to the line first in the 147 km final stage in 3:18:29, just ahead of Bennett.

The first of the World Tour Classics races in Europe was on Saturday, the 76th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad from Ghent to Ninove in Belgium. The 200.5 km route ended in a bunch sprint, with Italian Davide Ballerini claiming his second career World Tour win, and his first in a one-day race.

Ballerini managed to get to the line just ahead of Jake Stewart (GBR) and Sep Vanmarcke (BEL), with the first 45 riders given the same time of 4:43:03.

● Freestyle Skiing ● The Ski Cross stars were in Bakuriani (GEO) for the resumption of the FIS Freestyle World Cup, with Swiss star Fanny Smith taking her fifth win of the season over long-time rival Sandra Naeslund of Sweden.

This was the eight medal of the season for Smith in nine races (5-2-1) compared to two for Naeslund and clinched the Ski Cross title for 2020-21 for Smith. France’s Marielle Berger Sabbatel was third, winning her second World Cup medal of the season.

The men’s race was the first career World Cup victory for Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann, 25, who got to the line first ahead of Swede David Mobaerg and Canada’s Jared Schmidt, 2, who won his first World Cup medal.

● Gymnastics ● The USA Gymnastics Winter Cup is being held in Indianapolis, Indiana; a separate report will be posted later today.

● Nordic Skiing ● The 42nd World Nordic Skiing Championships are on in Obertsdorf (GER), with Norway already running away with the medal count.

In Cross Country, Sweden’s Jonna Sundling won the first gold medal of the Championships, taking the women’s 1.2 km Classical Sprint in 2:36.76, just ahead of Maiken Caspersen Falla (NOR) and Anamarija Lampic (SLO), just 2.32 and 2.35 seconds behind. American Jessie Diggins reached the quarterfinals, but did not advance.

The men’s 1.5 km Classical Sprint was a Norwegian sweep, with defending champion Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo winning a tight race from teammates Erik Valnes and Havard Solas Taugboel, 3:01.30-3:01.96-3:02.10.

The women’s 7.5 km Classical/7.5 km Freestyle Skiathlon was the eighth career individual world title for Norwegian superstar Therese Johaug, who won in 38:35.5, a cool 30.0 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Frida Karlsson (39:05.5) and 30.2 ahead of Ebba Andersson (39:05.7). Diggins was 15th at 40:35.0.

The men’s 15 km Classical/15 km Freestyle Skiathlon was the first career Worlds gold for Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov, who won at the finish by 1.1 seconds over Simen Hegstead Krueger (NOR), 1:11.33.9-1:11:35.0 and 1.7 seconds up on Hans Christer Holund (1:11:35.6) as Norway went 2-3-4-5-6.

Sunday’s Team Sprints were won by Norway (Klaebo and Valnes) for the men, over Finland and Russia, and Sweden (Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist), over Switzerland and Slovenia.

In Nordic Combined, the first-ever women’s World Championships event was held on a 106 m hill and 5 km race. Norway swept the medals behind Gyda Westvold Hansen, who won in 13:10.4, followed by sisters Mari Leinan Lind (13:24.2) and Marte Leinan Lund (13:39.2). American Tera Geraghty Moats finished fifth in 14:19.8.

The first of two men’s individual events, this one off the 106 m hill and a 10 km race, was a second straight world title for Norway’s star Jarl Magnus Riiber, who won in 23:01.2, just ahead of Finland’s Ilkka Herola (23:01.6) and Jens Luras Oftebro (NOR: 23:02.1).

The men’s team relay was an easy win for Norway (including Riiber and Oftebro), over Germany and Austria, 43:57.7-44:40.4-44:36.8.

In Ski Jumping, Slovenia’s Ema Klinec won the women’s Normal Hill title, scoring 279.6 points to edge defending champion Maren Lundby (NOR: 276.5) and Japan’s Sara Takanashi (276.3). The women’s team title was won by Austria (959.3) over Slovenia (957.9) and Norway (942.1).

The men’s Normal Hill title went to Poland’s Piotr Zyla for his first individual Worlds gold, scoring 268.8 to 265.2 for German Karl Geiger – his second straight Worlds silver – and 261.5 for Anze Lanisek (SLO).

The Mixed Team event was a win for Germany (including Geiger), over Norway and Austria.

The Worlds continue through this coming week. After 13 events, Norway owns 17 medals (6-6-5), with Slovenia next at 5 (1-1-3) and Sweden with four (2-1-1).

● Rowing ● A ticket to Tokyo was on the line in the women’s Single Sculls at the first stage of the US Rowing Olympic Trials in Sarasota, Florida, claimed by 2019 World Rowing Championships bronze medalist Kara Kohler.

The 2,000 m race quickly developed into Kohler vs. Gevvie Stone, the Rio silver medalist in the event, but Kohler opened the lead by 1,000 m, extending it to the finish in 7:23.37, with Stone at 7:27.17 and Kristina Wagner at 7:39.29.

Said Kohler: “It’s a huge relief. I’ve worked incredibly hard the past few years to race the single in Tokyo, so there was a lot riding on today’s race. But, I had fun and trusted everything I’ve done up to this point. So, that was what I was thinking about while racing – trusting my preparation, thinking about my teammates, my coach and my family.”

In the men’s Single Sculls, John Graves won in 6:59.08, ahead of Lucas Bellows (7:03.50) and Kevin Meador (7:04.73). The men’s Double Sculls winners were Kevin Cardno and Jonathan Kirkegaard (6:22.07), beating Justin Keen and Sorin Koszyk (6:23.03) and Charles Anderson and Eliot Putnam (6:24.87).

The winners in the men’s Single Sculls, Double Sculls and lightweight men’s and women’s Double Sculls must race at the World Rowing Final Olympic Qualification Regatta from 15-17 May in Lucerne (SUI) to confirm their Olympic spots.

● Shooting ● The first half of the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Cairo (EGY) has been completed, including the men’s and women’s Skeet events and the three team Skeet events.

The men’s individual event was a 53-52 final victory for 2000 Olympic gold medalist Mikola Milchev (UKR) over Jesper Hansen (DEN), with Rashid Hamad (QAT) third at 48. Milchev and Hansen both hit of their first 20, then Milchev hit 18 of his next 20, while Hansen hit 17. In the last 20 shots, both hit 18.

The women’s title went to Czech Dante Bartekova, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, who scored a 55-53 win over Russian Alina Fazylzyanova, with Konstantia Nikolaou (CYP) third at 43. The difference came in the final 20 shots, as Bartekova hit 19 and Fazylzyanova, 17.

Russia swept the team events, defeating Poland, 35-31, in the Mixed Team, and beat the Czech Republic in both the men’s and women’s team events, by 6-0 and 6-2, respectively.

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THE TICKER: Tokyo fan decision in April? Puma declares “war” on USOPC marks; hurdles world record for U.S.’s Grant Holloway!

Rich Perelman

February 25, 2021

tsx pix 2021-225 holloway WR madrid 750 — World record 7.29 in the 60 m hurdles for Grant Holloway (USA) in Madrid! (Photo via Twitter)

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The latest news, notes and quotes from the worldwide Five-Ring Circus:

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● Asked about when a decision on spectator attendance at the Tokyo Games will be made, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) said on Wednesday:

“[W]e are very well aware that there, even if we would like to, to benefit from positive developments with regard to the coronavirus, that if we would like to wait until the very last moment, but this is not possible because the ticketing program has to be organized, the logistics has to be taken into consideration and then organized; this is about also immigration rules and so on. … I would say maybe April, early May, roundabout, that we would have to take this decision, but this is very much based on the technical factors.”

The decision to allow fans at the Games will be separate from the determination whether Covid-19 protocols will allow foreign spectators to attend.

Kyodo News reported that “roughly 1,000″ of the planned 80,000 volunteers for this summer’s Games resigned in the aftermath of comments by former Tokyo organizing committee chief Yoshiro Mori on 3 February.

The blowback from the comments, critical of women serving as members of boards of directors, forced Mori to resign. He was replaced by veteran Olympic and politician Seiko Hashimoto, who had been the government’s Olympics minister.

● Games of the XXXIV Olympiad: Los Angeles 2028 ● The Los Angeles City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Olympic Games reviewed the proposed creation of the California Olympic and Paralympic Safety Command and sent the Memorandum of Understanding to the City Council for final approval.

The committee voted 5-0 (with two absences) to forward the Memorandum for action.

● Games of the XXXV Olympiad 2032 ● Wednesday’s announcement that the bid from Queensland and specifically Brisbane for the 2032 Games has been selected for “targeted dialogue” raised the question of whether the IOC will now award the Games 10 or 11 years in advance instead of seven as has been the case since Seoul was awarded the 1988 Games back in 1981.

IOC member Kristin Kloster Aasen (NOR), Chair of the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad, answered it this way:

“The structure of the new process answers your question, because one of the [advantages] about the new approach is to actually see the world as it is at the moment and seize the opportunity when it presents itself. …

“This is an ongoing approach, where we assess the risks and the opportunities in terms of several different factors. It’s not a given, 11 years, or a given, seven years, it’s based on whichever context the world is in at that moment.”

Translation: the Commission saw a good opportunity to engage a quality, proven partner in Australia for 2032 and with the coronavirus still raging and some years of economic recovery ahead, thought this was a good time to get a deal done.

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The USOPC filed suit on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Colorado against Germany’s Puma S.E and its North American affiliate, Puma North America, for “trademark infringement, unfair competition, and declaratory relief” against Puma.

The Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act grants the USOPC “the exclusive right to use and control the use of Olympic terminology and imagery within the United States.” The complaint explains the wide scope of the protections on so-called “Games Marks” and then declares:

“PUMA has declared war on Games Marks, tried to register them for itself, and petitioned to cancel Games Marks registrations. PUMA’s declaration of war on the Games Marks is a thinly veiled attempt to benefit from association with the Olympics without becoming a TOP [IOC] Sponsor.”

In specific, the complaint cites Puma’s filing trademarks for apparel, footwear and bags for “Puma Tokyo 2021,” “Puma Tokyo 2022,” “Puma Beijing 2022,” and “Puma Paris 2024.” The Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024 registration filings were rejected by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office; Puma then filed a new action asking for cancellations of multiple Games-related trademarks and that the USOPC “abandoned” the “Tokyo 2020″ and “Beijing 2022″ marks. The USOPC’s reply:

“This orchestrated global attack on Future Games Marks destabilizes the foundation of USOPC’s financial structure and threatens the ability of the USOPC to deliver on its mission, which includes the direct financial support of U.S. Olympic athletes.”

The USOPC asks for a jury trial, for cancellation of all of Puma’s suits, confirmation of the validity of the USOPC’s ownership of the marks and damages. By the way, Puma may not be Nike or adidas, but it had revenues of about $6.9 billion worldwide in 2019. Stay tuned.

● Athletics ● Even with multiple world indoor marks set during the 2021 indoor season, there hasn’t been anyone hotter than American hurdler Grant Holloway.

The 2019 World Champion in the 110 m hurdles, Holloway ran in five indoor meets and won them all, setting an American Record of 7.32 on 9 February. On Wednesday, he ran 7.32 in his heat of the Villa de Madrid meet in Spain and then improved on the 7.30 world record by Britain’s Colin Jackson in 1994 with a 7.29 time in the final. Britain’s Andrew Pozzi was second in 7.51.

Said Holloway: “I wouldn’t say it was a perfect race, but I tied my PR in the heat and that usually means I run faster in the final. I just went out there and executed my race to the best of my ability.

“I said before the race that if the record fell, it fell. But my main goal was just to have fun and that’s what I did. I know that it is not going to be in the record books forever and when I fall asleep tonight – if I fall asleep – it will already be in the past. Now I will start looking forward. I want to get back to Gainesville, talk to Coach [Mike] Holloway [who are not related], have a big old steak and go through the film.

“The world record outdoors (12.80 by Aries Merritt in 2012) is definitely in my sights but I want to let all this soak in first, then my priority is win the Olympic Trials and then the Olympic gold medal.”

That was not the only star performance in Madrid. Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay powered to a world-leading 8:22.65 in the women’s 3,000 m, moving her to no. 2 on the all-time list. Dutch hurdler Nadine Visser also claimed the world lead in the women’s 60 m hurdles, winning in 7.81.

On Wednesday on Belgrade (SRB), Swedish vault star Mondo Duplantis increased his world lead to 6.10 m (20-0) at the Serbian Open meet, with Brazil’s Thiago Braz and Pole Piotr Lisek tying for second at 5.70 m (18-8 1/4).

On Sunday in Moscow, Russia’s World Champion in the women’s vault, Anzhelika Sidorova, scored a world-leading 4.90 (16-0 3/4). In Ancona (ITA), star high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi cleared 2.35 m (7-8 1/2) in the men’s long jump for the world indoor lead.

Double Olympic 800 m champion Caster Semenya (RSA) is filing an appeal of the World Athletics regulations on women with “Differences in Sex Development” with the European Court of Human Rights.

This will be the third try in court for Semenya, who challenged the regulations in the Court of Arbitration for Sport and lost, and was unsuccessful in an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal. Even a judgement of the European Court of Human Rights is not final, as it can be appealed to a larger panel of the Court.

It is also not clear that the proceedings will be finalized prior to the Tokyo Games this summer, but Semenya’s attorneys will push for a prompt resolution.

The American Track League IV meet in Arkansas did not draw 200,000 viewers on ESPN on Sunday and was not reported on reports of weekly television ratings. The final round of the PGA Tour’s Genesis Open, held at the same time, drew a 2.24 household rating and 3.62 million viewers.

● Beach Volleyball ● The “bikini boycott” of the Katara Cup 4-star FIVB World Tour tournament in Doha (QAT) from 8-12 March is off, as the Federation Internationale de Volleyball declared:

“The FIVB believes strongly that women’s beach volleyball, as all sport, should be judged on performance and effort, and not on uniform. Therefore, during the competition in Doha, should players request to wear the standard uniform, they will be free to do so.”

German stars Julia Sude and Karla Borger had said they would not play in the Katara Cup if required to wear the Qatar-proposed “short sleeve t-shirt … and wear knee-long sports shorts.” However, on Tuesday, the FIVB “clarified” that there would be “no restrictions on female players wearing standard uniforms.”

● Cycling ● The UCI World Tour season opener, the UAE Tour, is heading toward the finish this weekend, but Thursday’s fifth stage may have been decisive. The most demanding of the race, the 170 km stage featured an uphill finish, and was won by Dane Jonas Vingegaard, just three seconds up on race leader Tadej Pogacar (SLO), the reigning Tour de France champion, with British star Adam Yates alongside.

Pogacar won the hilly third stage over Yates at the finish line, then was 20th in the fourth stage, a flat sprinter’s duel won by Ireland’s Sam Bennett. Going into Thursday’s fifth stage, he had a 43-second overall lead on Yates and 1:03 on Portugal’s Joao Almeida.

With two flat stages remaining, Pogacar is 45 seconds up on Yates and is almost a sure winner. Almeida is 1:12 back and then Chris Harper (AUS) is 1:54 behind.

● Football ● The U.S. Women’s National Team won the 2021 SheBelieves Cup in style with a 6-0 win over Argentina at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday night. Coupled with Brazil’s 2-0 win over Canada, the U.S. finished with a perfect 3-0 mark and nine points, trailed by the Brazilians (2-1: 6), Canada (1-2: 3) and Argentina (0-3: 0).

The American squad was hot from the start on Wednesday, with Megan Rapinoe scoring in the 16th and 26th minutes, followed by Carli Lloyd (35th) and Kristie Mewis (41st) for a 4-0 halftime edge. Alex Morgan scored in the 84th minute and Christen Press finished with a goal in the 88th minute for the 6-0 final. The U.S. had a 26-1 edge in shots.

U.S. midfielder Rose Lavelle was voted the SheBelieves Cup Most Valuable Player. The USWNT extended its unbeaten streak to 37 games, going back to January of 2019. Its next match won’t be until April.

● Gymnastics ● A former U.S. Olympic coach, whose gymnastics club has been sued in parallel actions with the Larry Nassar abuse scandal, has now been charged by the State of Michigan with sexual assault and human trafficking.

According to The Associated Press, John Geddert was charged with “sexual assault, 20 counts of human trafficking and running a criminal enterprise. Geddert is accused of injuring people through forced labor and recruiting minors for forced labor.”

Geddert, now 63, was one of the coaches for the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s gymnastics team at the 2012 London Games and owned the Twistars USA Gymnastics club in Lansing, Michigan. Twistars is a defendant in multiple suits entwined with the USA Gymnastics bankruptcy case now before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana. Geddert retired in 2018 and transferred ownership of Twistars to his wife. The club was sold and renamed earlier this month.

No word of any breakthrough in the court-ordered settlement conference between the parties in the USA Gymnastics bankruptcy suit at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, but a report of operations through 31 January has been filed.

Total legal fees in the case from filing in December 2018 are now at $13.74 million, with $7.52 million actually paid so far. The rest is still due.

For January only, USA Gymnastics had $1.48 million in revenue, but spent $1.51 million for a loss of $33,435.

● Weightlifting ● Further to the forthcoming International Weightlifting Federation elections in March, a new controversy has arisen due to the proposed “hybrid” nature of the voting, with some delegates to be physically present in a room and others voting remotely.

The Samoa Weightlifting Federation, Weightlifting Fiji, USA Weightlifting and the Chinese Weightlifting Federation combined on a letter to the IWF Executive Board including:

● “We, hereby, request that the IWF Executive Board rescind their decision and proceed with a virtual election in order to ensure that all candidates and delegates be given an equal opportunity for participation. We also request that the name of the firm conducting the election be disclosed.”

● “We question the validity of the procedures used to vet candidates including the implementation and notification after the submission of candidacy; the lack of an appeals process; and notification of the eligibility of a candidate (March 15) in such close proximity to the election date (March 26, 27).”

● “Further, in the spirit of transparency and fair play, we additionally request that the eligible voting Member Federations, Delegate Names, and Positions, be circulated to all candidates and Member Federations; and contact emails be shared with all candidates.”

The letter also questioned the candidature of interim President Dr. Michael Irani (GBR) as he is a member of an appeals board of Sports Resolutions, the firm tasked by the IWF to provide the Eligibility Determination Panel for the elections.

In addition to the federations submitting the letter, candidates from Germany, Great Britain and Greece have also added their endorsement.

At a time when the IWF should be doing everything possible to avoid controversy, it only seems to create more problems.

As IOC chief Bach noted in his Wednesday news conference: “We then had to turn again, unfortunately, to the International Weightlifting Federation, whose situation, as I mentioned, is becoming more and more grave. The [Executive Board] expressed its extreme concern, particularly by the lack of significant changes, with regard to the management and the culture there in IWF.”

On Tuesday, the International Testing Agency, which now runs the IWF anti-doping program, recommended that the IWF’s independent sanctions panel penalize the Romanian Weightlifting Federation “as a consequence of numerous Anti-Doping Rule Violations.”

The sanctions relate to five doping positives dating back to the 2012 London Games, four of which were caught during the re-testing of samples in 2019 and 2020. Under the applicable IWF rules, “these circumstances lead to the imposition of sanctions against the RWF, which can go up to two years of suspension and a fine.”

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LANE ONE: Brisbane on the verge of getting 2032 Games; weightlifting on the verge of being thrown out of 2024 Games

Rich Perelman

February 24, 2021

tsx pix 2021-224 ioc bach news conf 750 — The IOC Executive Board meeting in Lausanne, with President Thomas Bach at right (Photo: IOC video screenshot)

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With just less than seven months left prior to the Tokyo Games, the news conference following the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board meeting was dominated by the news that the Brisbane 2032 bid is now the sole target to be host of the Games of the XXXV Olympiad.

However, IOC chief Thomas Bach (GER) also noted that significant discussion was also given to the unhappy situation of the International Weightlifting Federation. But Brisbane was the big news:

● Using the IOC’s new selection process, the Brisbane 2032 bid was selected by the Future Host Commission of the Games of the Olympiad to graduate from the “continuous dialogue” phase with multiple possible hosts to the “targeted dialogue” phase.

● Future Host Commission Chair Kristin Kloster Aasen (NOR) told reporters, “It’s not a done deal … It’s a process.” She explained:

“The objective of the targeted dialogue is to co-create an Olympic project with the preferred host. Where there was continuous dialogue, [there was] no formal submission by interested parties; the preferred host is now asked to submit some documents in the targeted dialogue, [including] in the form of guarantees. And these documents will be studied by the Future Host Commission and we will report back to the Executive Board in due course.”

The IOC’s announcement of the “targeted dialogue” phase with Brisbane 2032 was very specific as to why their proposal was preferred:

“- The very advanced Games concept, which is fully aligned with Olympic Agenda 2020 and using 80 to 90 per cent existing or temporary venues.

“- The venue masterplan, which has already been discussed with International Sports Federations and the International Paralympic Committee.

“- The high level of experience in hosting major international sports events.

“- The favourable climate conditions for athletes in July and August, despite the current global challenges caused by climate change.

“- The alignment of the proposed Games with South-East Queensland’s long-term strategy (“SEQ City Deal”, February 2019) to improve local transport infrastructure, absorb demographic change and promote economic growth.

“- Australia’s sporting success throughout modern Olympic history. The last Games in Oceania were Sydney 2000, which would mean the Games returning to the continent 32 years later.

“- The existing and planned transport infrastructure and experience in traffic management, which can adequately meet the demands of the Olympic Games and were successfully implemented for the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

“- The existing hotel accommodation inventory, which already meets Games requirements.

“- Strong support from all three levels of government, as confirmed on several occasions by highest-level representatives from the City of Brisbane, the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors, the State of Queensland and the federal government.

“- The strong public support and that of the private sector.

“- Australia’s high scores on human development indices, in particular its great progress towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“In evaluating Brisbane 2032’s proposal, the IOC also took into consideration detailed information from independent third-party sources, including the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and numerous UN agencies including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).”

As to why this was done now, Kloster Aasen added:

“The decision to advance the process was taken now given the uncertainty the world is facing at this moment, which is expected to continue even after the Covid-19 health crisis is over. The IOC is seizing the momentum offered by the excellent prospect of Brisbane 2032 and the Australian Olympic Committee, in this way bringing stability to the Olympic Games, the athletes, the IOC and the whole Olympic Movement.”

There were no timeline provided for the ultimate selection of Brisbane, but the carefully-worded comments indicated that the next steps are to negotiate the Host City Contract for 2032 and likely award the Games not later than 2022, some ten years ahead of time.

Tokyo 2020 wasn’t exactly forgotten, but fell to the background at today’s briefing. However:

● The Executive Board did get a report from the Tokyo organizing committee, now led by former Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto. Bach noted:

“She highlighted her strategic priorities, which will focus on safety, on gender equality and legacy and this is, as you know, fully aligned with the vision of delivered safe and secure Games for everybody.”

Bach also announced that the IOC is finalizing its refugee program for Tokyo, including:

“Related to Tokyo 2020, we have also discussed the IOC Refugee Olympic Team. There, Olympic Solidarity is currently supporting 55 promising refugee athletes, originating from 13 countries and being hosted by 21 NOCs across all five continents and representing 12 sports. Since the Olympic Games Rio 2016, Olympic Solidarity has invested more than two million U.S. dollars in support for refugee Olympic scholarship holders, preparing for the Olympic Games.”

As to the possibility for foreign spectators to attend the Games, Bach confirmed that the IOC and the organizers will wait as long as possible before a decision is taken, likely in mid-to-late April or possibly early May.

Then there is weightlifting. Said Bach:

“We then had to turn again, unfortunately, to the International Weightlifting Federation, whose situation, as I mentioned, is becoming more and more grave. The EB expressed its extreme concern, particularly by the lack of significant changes, with regard to the management and the culture there in IWF. We acknowledged that one change in the IWF anti-doping rules has been reversed after the intervention of the Executive Board, but we had also to note that many other requested changes and advice from the IOC, from the ITA, and from external experts, hae been ignored by IWF despite all the warnings we have issued.

“So there, the EB wants to be very clear by saying that if these concerns are not addressed in a satisfactory and timely way, the IOC EB will have to review the place of weightlifting on the program of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, and future Olympic Games.”

The IWF has scheduled elections for 26-27, with a separate vote on a new federation constitution to take place in April. As previously noted on this site earlier in February, many of the candidates for the “new” IWF Executive Board are veterans of the existing Board which has steered the federation into disrepute.

It’s an open question whether the IWF membership is awake enough to follow the IOC’s lead in reforming its operations. But it is certain that the debate in Queensland – and Australia – about whether it can afford to host the 2032 Games will be a hot topic for the next several months.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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The Right Way to Boycott the Beijing Olympics

The United States can repudiate Chinese policy without unfairly punishing our athletes

The United States can repudiate Chinese policy
without unfairly punishing our athletes