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LANE ONE: Vise is tightening on Tokyo 2020 as USA Swimming, USA Track & Field, Norway all ask for postponement

By
Rich Perelman
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Until Friday, the calls for postponement or cancellation of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games had mostly come from individual athletes. Some were expansive, some were curt, like 110 m hurdles favorite Grant Holloway of the U.S.:

But on Friday, the situation changed and quite dramatically, especially in the U.S.

During an 8:30 a.m. teleconference from Colorado Springs, Colorado, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Chair, Susanne Lyons, told reporters that “there is no circumstance when the USOPC would send our athletes into harm’s way if we did not believe it was safe.”

Asked about the comments received from athletes, chief executive Sarah Hirshland said:

“We are getting incredible feedback from athletes that is, as you might imagine, you know, as diverse as our athletes are, so too are their perspectives on this issue, which adds to the complication factor.

“There are, as you might imagine, there are athletes out there for whom this feels like their opportunity, their only opportunity, their one chance. And there, as Susanne alluded to, the environment – even in different parts of our country – is quite different. The reaction from people and what they’re feeling is quite different, and we’re seeing that in the feedback we’re getting from the athlete community for certain.”

But just hours later, a letter from USA Swimming chief executive Tim Hinchey was posted, asking the USOPC to request a postponement of the 2020 Games. Wrote Hinchey in part:

“Our world class swimmers are always willing to race anyone, anytime and anywhere; however, pressing forward amidst the global health crisis this summer is not the answer.

“The right and responsible thing to do is to prioritize everyone’s health and safety and appropriately recognize the toll this global pandemic is taking on athletic preparations. It has transcended borders and wreaked havoc on entire populations, including those of our respected competitors.

“Everyone has experienced unimaginable disruptions, mere months before the Olympic Games, which calls into question the authenticity of a level playing field for all.

“Our athletes are under tremendous pressure, stress and anxiety, and their mental health and wellness should be among the highest priorities.

“It is with the burden of these serious concerns that we respectfully request that the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee advocate for the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 by one year.”

USA Swimming was first, but was not alone for long. Early Saturday (21st), a similar letter was released on Twitter by USA Track & Field, signed by chief executive Max Siegel. His letter mirrored Hinchey’s, asked for a postponement and noted:

“[T]he alternative of moving forward in light of the current global situation would not be in the best interest of our athletes (as difficult as that decision may be).

“We acknowledge that there are no perfect answers, and that this is a very complex and difficult decision, but position at least provides our athletes with the comfort of knowing that they will have adequate time to properly prepare themselves physically, mentally and emotionally to be able to participate in a safe and successful Olympic Games, and that they can shift their focus toward taking care of themselves and their families.”

These are just any two U.S. federations; they are the engine of American medal production. Between them, swimming and track accounted for 65 of 121 U.S. medals in Rio in 2016 (54%) and 63% of all golds (29./46).

In addition, The Athletics Association – the nascent organization of all professional track athletes – has posted a 13-question online survey to collect input and said it has received “almost 1500 replies from professional athletes in just over 12 hours.” (No survey results have been posted as yet.)

This adds to the pressure now mounting from other organizations, including:

● The head of UK Athletics, the national track & field federation in Great Britain, told The Telegraph that the Tokyo Games must be put off. Nic Coward said “From my perspective, right now, I think that will have to lead to the conclusion that the Games must be [postponed]; that the decision has to be made that the Olympic and Paralympic Games can’t take place as currently scheduled” and “[I]t seems to be absolutely what has to happen. And look, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that these very personal experiences take time to come through to the IOC level. I can understand that.”

● The National Olympic Committee for Norway sent a letter on Friday to the IOC, asking:

“In the light of the challenging situation we all face, we would appreciate if the IOC could give us insight on the central milestones in the process leading up to the final decision on Tokyo 2020. Our clear recommendation is that the Olympic Games in Tokyo shall not take place before the COVID-19 situation is under firm control on a global scale.”

National Olympic Committees in Brazil and Slovenia also echoed the call for postponement.

These are not simply individual athletes speaking out; the NOCs are one of the IOC’s primary stakeholders and the organizations primarily responsible for sending national teams to the Games.

The difficulty in training has become a primary concern for NOCs as athlete after athlete scrambles to find a gym or pool or track to continue preparing for competition … whenever it comes. And then there is the spectre of doping.

Tweeted USA Weightlifting chief executive Phil Andrews (GBR):

“One big fear for me – dopers taking advantage. I understand the dilemma facing anti doping agencies, and the almost impossible social distancing. However, it cannot be open season for the cheats.”

Most national anti-doping organizations have cut back their testing to conform with social-distancing recommendations from health authorities, and the conspiracy mongers are already out in force.

What does the IOC do now? Clearly, the vice is tightening on it and the Japanese government to share some kind of plan on a postponement, cancellation, or at least when a decision will be made.

The request for a more definitive timeline was echoed from 1996 triple Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson, now a BBC commentator, who tweeted:

“IOC should communicate the window for deciding on the ‘20 Olympics. Athletes must keep training but for many there’s nowhere to train! They may risk their lives and others trying to continue training. Answer isn’t just cancel ASAP. But communicate the process to the athletes!”

However, it is also true that any decision to postpone will create a whole new series of questions:

● When will the Games take place?

● What qualifying structure will be used?

● Will athletes or teams already qualified remain qualified?

● What doping controls will be instituted to catch cheaters who used the hiatus for doping?

● What happens to other events scheduled in the time frame not to be used for the Games?

The IOC, of course, will be expected to have all of these answers at the same time it makes the announcement of a postponement (but will not have to face those questions if the Games are canceled!).

It’s a mess, but as IOC chief Thomas Bach told The New York Times that different scenarios are being reviewed and that “We are not living in a bubble or on another planet. We are in the middle of our societies.” Bach said once again, that cancellation was “not on the agenda.”

But the vise is tightening, daily.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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THE TICKER: “No circumstance where the USOPC would send our athletes into harm’s way if we did not believe it was safe”

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

“I think the decision about the Games themselves does not lie directly with us. It lies with a combination of the World Health Organization, the Japanese government and the IOC. But I can assure you that there is no circumstance where the USOPC would send our athletes into harm’s way if we did not believe it was safe.”

That’s the view from Susanne Lyons, the Chair of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, on the situation with the Tokyo 2020 Games. During a teleconference on Friday morning, she explained further the current stance of the USOPC Board, which just completed meetings in Colorado Springs:

“We have expressed all the concerns and challenges that they [the International Olympic Committee] are obviously very well aware of, that we and the rest of the world are facing. I think we would concur with them to say we need more expert advice and information than we have today, to make a decision and we don’t have to make a decision.

“Our Games are not next week or two weeks from now, they are four months from now and I think a lot may change in that time period, so we are affording the IOC the opportunity to gather that information and expert advice and at this point in time, we do not feel it is necessary for us to insist that they make a decision.”

Lyons and Chief Executive Officer Sarah Hirshland reviewed the situation – and confusion – regarding the Games due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19. Said Hirshland:

“We’ll rely on the advice of public health professionals to determine when an environment and what a safe environment looks like.

“But at this point, we feel like we can continue to put ourselves in a position to be prepared should there be a Games in Tokyo. We are continuing to take the actions that we would need to take in order to be ready, and we have not had to make any significant decisions to alter that path at this point. Clearly, that will evolve, over the course of time, but our priority, and frankly, we view it as our obligation to the athletes we serve, is to be ready if there is an opportunity for them, we’re not going to be the reason they don’t have that opportunity. We will be there and we will be ready.”

Asked about the view of athletes – current and former – on the USOPC Board and those who have communicated with the USOPC and the National Governing Bodies, both make it clear that there are a “diversity” of opinions. Some want cancellation or postponement, but Hirshland also noted:

“There are athletes for whom they view this as their only chance and their last chance, and so the ambiguity is what makes it so difficult and certainly we’ll all living with a pretty high degree of uncertainty and a lack of clarity right now and we absolutely hope that we can have clarity as soon as that’s practical.”

The USOPC has ramped up the availability of mental-health support for athletes and has arranged for meal service for those athletes who are resident at its Olympic Training Centers in Lake Placid, New York and Colorado Springs, Colorado, even though those facilities are otherwise closed.

But on today’s issue of training availability and a fair selection process for Tokyo – if it happens – Hirshland indicated that issue is well recognized:

“We’re also asking athletes, if it is available to them, in a safe environment, and in an appropriate environment, based on local health official guidance , to continue to do what they can, to prepare themselves for competition. We know that the training schedules of many of our athletes have been significantly disrupted, and as we are having to be creative and nimble and adapting our lives, we’re asking athletes to do the same, but to put their safety first and foremost.

“You also heard Susanne talk a bit about the right to compete and team selection. Many of you have seen stories or heard stories of concern about the qualification process. The disruptions to qualifications for the Games has been significant and likely will continue to be significant. Our teams are working very hard with our partner National Governing Body and the athlete representatives from those sports to determine how to adapt team selection criteria, so that we are prepared for a variety of potential outcomes. It’s very important to us, and one of the fundamental principles of our organization is athlete’s right to compete, and a fair process by which they have the ability to do that, and we’re incredibly focused on ensuring that we protect those rights, and that we protect that process as much as possible.”

But nothing is for certain. Hirshland said that the USOPC is working with the idea that the Games will happen, but with no assurance:

“It is our hope that our athletes have the ability to achieve their dreams in some capacity. Certainly, we are focused on Tokyo 2020 and will continue to be as long as that possibility stays ahead of us. We’ll do everything we can not to give up on our athletes and to make sure we’re here doing everything we can to support them and their preparations for their opportunity to compete at the Olympic or Paralympic Games.”

As Lyons noted, however, it’s not up to them.

LANE ONE: No change in the IOC position on Tokyo 2020 on Wednesday, or was there? The dial is turning …

By
Rich Perelman
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“I think the goal is definitely to get to the 24th July and the Tokyo Olympic Games but we also have to be realistic and not panic at this stage and know that this landscape is changing hourly and daily for everyone around the world and we share the concerns.”

That was South Africa’s Kirsty Coventry, the head of the IOC’s Athletes Commission – and a seven-time Olympic medalist in swimming – commenting after a two-hour conference call with 220 athlete representatives, who asked 40 questions to her, IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) and the top IOC staff members.

There was no change in the IOC’s position that there is considerable time left prior to the 14 July opening of the Olympic Village in Tokyo and the Opening Ceremony on 24 July. But that is quickly becoming secondary, as the voice of the elite athlete – the folks who are in contention for medals – is being heard louder and louder.

Brazilian sprinter Bruno Fratus, a four-time World Championships medalist, replied to Coventry on Twitter:

“1/Kirsty, as a fellow swimmer and olympian I’d urge you to reconsider and consult with some other athletes around the world.

“Not sure if you’re aware of the the many athletes like myself incapable of even training.

“2/Also, the advice of “keep doing what you’re doing” seems disconnected with reality when we have world leaders daily on television asking people to stay home and isolate ourselves.

“3/Postponing the Olympic Games would not only give the world peace of mind but also allow that everyone could prepare properly, ensure fairness and maintain the technical level of the competition. Much love from Brazil #tokyo2021″

The difficulties in training and the possibly unequal opportunities to be ready for Tokyo among the medal-class athletes is now an increasingly louder voice. On Wednesday, USA Today reported that the U.S. Olympic Training Centers in Colorado Springs and Lake Placid are both being closed for the next 30 days and possibly longer.

Wrote Sam Mikulak, the top American hope for medals in men’s gymnastics, “Out of training for a month. I know I’m not alone on this, how is everyone else dealing with their Olympic preparation in these times?”

A USA Today column by Christine Brennan quoted reigning Olympic breaststroke champ Lilly King, who trained at Indiana University in Bloomington:

“The athletes’ lives have truly been turned upside down by this. Most of us are struggling to find places to let us in to work out. Many don’t know where they are training tomorrow. We have to prepare as if the Olympics are going on as planned, even if our training plans have completely changed within the last week.”

and

“A lot of the swimmers are based out of the university. We don’t really have a place to train right now. So it’s just been kind of bouncing back and forth to training at a YMCA, seeing if we can get in a country club somewhere.”

The matter was put more bluntly by Comite Olimpico Espana President Alejandro Blanco, in a statement carried by Reuters:

“The decision is for the International Olympic Committee [to make] after getting reports from the World Health Organisation and the organising committee.

“The news that we get every day is uncomfortable for all countries in the world, but for us the most important thing is that our sportspeople cannot train and to celebrate the Games would result in unequal conditions.

“We want the Olympics to take place, but with security. We’re an important country in the world and four months before the Games, our athletes can’t arrive in equal conditions.”

This is a completely different question than whether the coronavirus will subside in Japan sufficiently to allow the Games to take place as scheduled. On Thursday (19th), the state of emergency on the northern island of Hokkaido – which includes Sapporo, where the marathons and race walks are scheduled – was lifted as planned, after three weeks.

How this plays forward is impossible to tell, given the difficult conditions for athletes in Europe and the U.S. to finding training time, facilities, sports medicine support and all the rest.

IOC President Bach said after the conference call, “We will address this action and we will keep acting in a responsible way that is in the interest of the athletes whilst always respecting our two principles. The first priority being safeguarding the health of the athletes and contributing to the containment of the virus and secondly to protect the interest of the athletes and Olympic sport and this was the spirit of this very productive call.”

What is becoming clearer is that there are differing interests among athletes: those who want to compete in an event which will be the highlight of their lives, and those for whom Tokyo is a business trip, a very serious business trip, with significant risks and rewards.

And they want to be at the top of their game … but will that be possible?

Rich Perelman
Editor

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here.

THE BIG PICTURE: IOC continues to plan for Tokyo Games as scheduled, but key decision drivers are changing

By
Rich Perelman
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“[W]ith more than four months to go before the Games there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive.”

That’s the key point made in a lengthy statement released Tuesday by the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board and supported by the International Federations. The IOC has additional conference calls planned to discuss the situation with the National Olympic Committees, broadcasters and sponsors.

The statement further noted that 57% of the athletes or teams for the Games have been identified, with 43% of the qualifiers yet to be determined. That’s quite a lot. The statement noted that qualifying process will have to be flexible and that, if qualifying events cannot be held, that admission to the Games should be based on:

“a) based on on-field results (e.g. IF ranking or historical results); and

“b) reflect where possible the existing principles of the respective qualification systems (e.g. use of rankings or continental/regional specific event results).”

and

“Any necessary revisions to the Tokyo 2020 qualification systems by sport will be published by the beginning of April 2020 and communicated to all stakeholders.”

That’s the official statement from the IOC. None of the International Federations made any substantive additions to the IOC’s statement on their own sites.

So, we’re in a holding pattern, which some feel is prudent and others slam as impractical or even reckless. But this is only part of the story:

● Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe participated in a first-ever G-7 meeting by videoconference and told the other leaders “We are doing everything in our power to prepare (for the Games), and we want to aim for a complete event as proof that mankind can defeat the new coronavirus.”

Japanese coverage of his comments pointedly noted that Abe “dodged” questions about whether the Games would be held on the scheduled dates.

● Reuters reported that “An Asahi newspaper poll published on Tuesday showed 63% of people across Japan said the games should be postponed, while 23% said they should be held as planned. A similar poll by Kyodo News published on Monday showed almost 70% of respondents do not think Tokyo will be able to host the gathering as planned.”

This is a critical new development, as the interest of the Japanese public has been almost fanatical in support of the Games. A public recognition – even resignation – that the event may have to be postponed is a crucial step that provides the potential for political movement on the Games.

● Japan already has entry restrictions on visitors from some parts of China, Iran, Italy and South Korea and there are reports of plans for more restrictions for visitors from Spain, Switzerland and Iceland and more areas of Italy. Self-quarantine procedures – for 14 days – may be required for visitors from most other European nations.

This isn’t good, but the current stance is to wait and see how the virus spreads further … or doesn’t.

● A startling story from Jamaica reported comments from a radio show last Saturday (14th) by Jamaica Olympic Association President Christopher Samuda that “Above any economic or commercial concerns must be the well-being and welfare of our athletes and that has to be the governing consideration. I cannot afford to take a reckless decision fully well knowing that the situation is not controlled and placing our athletes at risk.

“And therefore, if we do not get the opinions of the experts that it (the virus outbreak) is being managed and that the risk has been minimized, we must take a decision in the interest of our athletes and then say we will not be participating.”

IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) has been clear in recent statements that the key player is all of this is the World Health Organization. So far, there has been no reported recommendation to do anything about the Games, and there is no state of emergency declared in Japan itself. Both of those things appear to be necessary to move the IOC or the Japanese government off of their plans – for now – to host the Games as scheduled.

In the U.S., the Atlantic Coast Conference joined the Pac-12 in canceling all athletic activities, including practices, for the remainder of the school year. The SEC announced today that it has canceled all spring-sports competitions; practices remain suspended on 15 April and will be reevaluated then.

The Big 10 Conference has a suspension of activities in place until 6 April, and the Big XII has the same through 29 March.

The Penn Relays, held for 125 consecutive years, has been canceled. The Drake Relays has not announced what it plans to do yet.

World Athletics postponed its first three meets in the Wanda Diamond League, in Doha (QAT), Shanghai (CHN) and another meet to be held in China; the first meet now on the schedule is the Bauhaus Galan in Stockholm (SWE) on 24 May. Both the mammoth Euro 2020 soccer championship and the Copa America tournament were pushed off to 2021.

The one thread through all of these announcements, no matter where issued, is that the situation is fluid. That’s going to be the case going forward.

LANE ONE: The new threat to Tokyo 2020 is not in Japan, but that athletes can’t qualify or even get to the Games

By
Rich Perelman
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Renovation complete: the new Hilmer Lodge Stadium at Mt. SAC in Walnut, California

We have reached critical mass in the worldwide sports response to the COVID-19 virus, with mass postponements – if not cancellations – of events, including dozens of Olympic qualifiers for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo.

While the spread of the virus continues to be quite modest in Japan, the inability to qualify may end up being a greater threat to holding the Games:

● According to the Johns Hopkins CSSE dashboard, there were 162,687 confirmed cases of coronavirus reported through Sunday (15th), but just 773 in Japan, with 117 declared recovered and 22 deaths. This compares to 12 European nations with more cases, plus China, South Korea, Iran and the U.S. The number of daily cases being reported is skyrocketing worldwide, even while the total inside Japan itself remains low.

Interestingly, Japan’s final qualifying event for the 20 km race walks was held as scheduled on Sunday in Nomi, with Koki Ikeda (1:18:22) and Nanako Fujii (1:33:20) winning and securing spots on the home team for Tokyo.

● The expansion of the virus and the attendant measures to control its spread in Europe and the U.S. especially has collapsed the international sports schedule just at the time when many of the Olympic sports are headed to the heaviest period for domestic competitions as we move into springtime.

● Perhaps the most aggressive of all the International Federations is the Federation Internationale de Soceties d’Aviron (FISA), which governs rowing. On Saturday, it posted a statement noting that “government actions to attempt to contain the transmission of the virus make it very difficult and unadvisable to stage international competitions during the months of March, April and through to May 2020.”

May? The FISA canceled all of its Olympic qualifying regattas through the middle of May, canceled the third World Cup (22-24 May) and added:

“FISA is now in close contact with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in order to finalise proposals regarding the changes to the respective qualification systems. The next communication will take place on Tuesday, 17 March 2020.”

● Other federations have postponed or suspended competitions through the end of March (at least) and for many, into April. Many events are now re-slotted in June. The aquatics federation, FINA, has pushed off most of its events through the end of the month; the gymnastics folks (FIG) have pushed off most of its events through April, again into June. World Athletics still plans to hold its Diamond League opener in Doha (QAT) on 16-17 April, but many events held by others have been canceled or postponed.

● In the U.S., the collegiate sports season is about to collapse completely. The Pac-12 Conference has canceled all competitions through the end of the academic year and will make a determination by the end of the month concerning practices and other “organized team activities.” The Atlantic 10 Conference has shut down both competitions and practices until further notice and the Big 10 has done the same through 6 April. The Big XII has shut down athletic activities at all campuses through 29 March and the Southeastern Conference has done the same through 15 April.

The major college-based spring relay circuit has seen cancellations of the Florida Relays, Kansas Relays, Texas Relays and Mt. SAC Relays, although Mt. SAC might stage a one-day meet (without spectators) for the purpose of competing for Olympic Trials qualifying marks. Drake University stated that it is continuing to “closely monitor” the situation with the 24-27 April Drake Relays.

The University of Pennsylvania is “continuing to evaluate” the status of the Penn Relays (23-25 April), but the Jamaican government has instructed schools not to attend “this year because that travel and the location could involve levels of risks that we would like to discourage and we are putting an advisory out against that travel.”

So now the question about the staging of the Olympic Games in Tokyo is perhaps shifting from whether it can be held in Japan – where the coronavirus outbreak has been mild so far – to whether there will be:

(1) Appropriate and fair qualifying opportunities for athletes to get to the Games, and

(2) Whether there will be safe and sane travel options to get teams to already-arranged training camps ahead of the Games, and then to Tokyo itself.

If the spread of the virus continues for several more weeks in Europe, the cry for delay will reach a deafening level from athletes who either are prevented from competing due to travel restrictions in their own country, or in countries where events are taking place, or who do not wish to expose themselves to mass travel. It’s worth remembering that the fields in athletics and swimming are based on meeting qualifying standards, or an athlete’s place on the current world list.

Moreover, the training situation for many athletes is getting confused, and the ban on collegiate activities is already a problem for American athletes and for the many foreign athletes who are members of college teams.

Despite the calls from those who already hate the International Olympic Committee for other reasons to cancel or postpone the Games, the situation is not yet ripe for resolution. The Japanese are steadfast that the Games must go on. For the IOC, the situation in late April will be critical and the decision time will come then.

(The silliest comments have come from the haters who rip the IOC for not deciding what to do now, with the Games still four months away, and who praise as “leaders” the professional leagues like the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and the European football leagues, whose seasons are actually in operation! A double standard to be sure, but that never stopped stupidity before … nor will it in the future.)

In the midst of all of this, however, it’s worth noting that there are competitions ongoing in track & field, including an indoor throws meet in Beijing – of all places – where World Champion Lijiao Gong of China scored a win in the women’s shot with a world-leading 19.70 m (64-7 3/4) throw. The Chinese federation stated that meets scheduled for April are expected to be held. In Pretoria (RSA), star sprinter Akane Simbine ran a world-leading 9.91 in the heats of the 100 m at a regional championship meet, and won the final in 10.01. Very interesting.

One of the events which has been canceled in the wake of the virus was the 4 April grand opening of the newly-renovated Hilmer Lodge Stadium at Mt. SAC in Walnut, California (pictured above), to be followed by the return of the Mt. SAC Relays on 16-18 April.

You may remember that after selecting the site for the 2020 Olympic Trials in June of 2017, USA Track & Field rescinded the appointment in May 2018, citing concerns that the facility would not be completed in time due to local lawsuits. Well, the stadium renovation is complete.

In the meantime, construction has been accelerated in Eugene to finish the new Hayward Field in time for the U.S. Trials in June. It was supposed to open for the Pac-12 Championships in mid-May, but that meet has been canceled and ticket sales for the Prefontaine Classic (6-7 June) have been stopped until the situation for that meet becomes clearer. The U.S. Olympic Trials for track & field are scheduled for 19-28 June.

If needed, Mt. SAC is ready … as it promised it would be.

Rich Perelman
Editor

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here.

HIGHLIGHTS: Maroulis returns to the mat as U.S. secures 11 spots for Tokyo; final race is a win for Biathlon star Fourcade

By
Rich Perelman
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Back in action: Olympic and World Champion Helen Maroulis of the U.S.

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

Many of the international federations shut down their sports this past week, with most events canceled or postponed into April, but there was still a fair amount of action that did take place, including the return of an American wrestling superstar.

● BADMINTON ● The All-England Open in Birmingham was completed this week, while the BWF World Tour will go on hiatus until (at least) 12 April.

In Birmingham, second-seeded Viktor Axelsen (DEN) got past top-seeded Tien Chen Chou (TPE), 21-13, 21-4, while Taipei’s no. 2-seed Tzu-Ying Tai took the women’s Singles over top-seeded Yufei Chen (CHN), 21-19, 21-15.

Japanese teams dominated Doubles play: Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe scored a rare win over Indonesian stars Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, 21-18, 12-21, 21-19, while Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota won the women’s title, dispatching Yue Du and Yin Hui Li (CHN), 21-13, 21-15. Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan and Melati Oktavianti won the Mixed Doubles over Thai stars Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, 21-15, 17-21, 21-8. Full results here.

● BEACH VOLLEYBALL ● The first four-star tournament of 2020 on the FIVB World Tour was for men only in Doha (QAT) with seventh-seeded Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek (POL) taking their first win of the season over Mexico’s Josue Gaxiola and Jose Luis Rubio (16-21, 21-19, 15-11).

Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo won the bronze medal over Evandro Oliveira and Bruno Oscar Schmidt (BRA). The FIVB announced that it would evaluate World Tour events on a one-by-one basis relative to the threat in each country in which a tournament is held, so play continues. Full results from Doha are here.

● BIATHLON ● The IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti (FIN) began on time on 8 March, but the final two days were canceled and the season-ending World Cup Final in Oslo was also canceled, ending the season.

In the men’s racing that did take place, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe won the 10 km Sprint ahead of France’s retiring Martin Fourcade and Emilien Jacquelin. Fourcade came back to win the 12 km Pursuit in a French sweep, with Quentin Fillon Maillet and Jacquelin second and third, and Boe fourth.

Those results gave Boe the seasonal title – his second in a row – by just two points, 913-911, over Fourcade with Fillon Maillet third (843).

The Pursuit win was Fourcade’s final race, completing his brilliant career at 31, with seven World Cup overall titles, five Olympic gold medals and 13 World Championships golds.

There was similar drama in the women’s races, with German Denise Herrmann winning her third race of the season in the 7.5 km Sprint, this time over teammate Franziska Preuss and Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff. France’s Julia Simon won the 10 km Pursuit for her first-ever World Cup win, ahead of Swiss Selina Gasparin.

Italy’s Dorothea Wierer finished 19th in the Sprint and 11th in the Pursuit, but that was enough to hold onto the seasonal title, with 793 points to 786 for Eckhoff and 745 for Herrmann. Full results here.

● CYCLING ● This should be the busiest time of the season in Europe, but the UCI World Tour and Women’s World Tour are both shut down until the beginning of April at the earliest.

However, the 78th edition of Paris-Nice that began on 8 March was concluded on Saturday, shortened by one day due to the coronavirus. Germany’s Maximilian Schachmann won the hilly first stage and was never headed. He stayed close to the front on every stage, finishing 1-8-13-2-17-12-6 and won his first career multi-stage race by 18 seconds over Tiesj Benoot (BEL) and by 58 seconds over Sergio Higuita (COL) with Italian star Vincenzo Nibali fourth (+1:16). See the results summary here.

Colombia’s Nairo Quintana won the main mountain stage on Saturday from Nice to Valdeblore de Colmiane, ahead of Benoot (+0:46) and Thibault Pinot (FRA: +0:56).

● GYMNASTICS ● The FIG Artistic World Cup for the AGF Trophy in Baku (AZE) completed the qualifying rounds on Thursday and Friday, but the finals were canceled.

Qualifying results are here. Greece’s 2016 Olympic Rings Champion Eleftherios Petrounias was the most noteworthy qualifying leader, scoring 15.100 in his specialty. Future events are on hold.

● NORDIC SKIING ● In Ski Jumping, the season was ended this week while the jumpers were in Norway for the Raw Air tournament that should have finished on Sunday. In the men’s events, Slovenia’s Peter Prevc scored his first win of the season last Monday in a wind-delayed competition in Lillehammer, ahead of German Markus Eisenbichler. Poland’s Kamil Stoch won the second individual event in Lillehammer, ahead of Slovenians Ziga Jelar and Timi Zajc.

The qualification event in Trondheim was held on the 11th, with a win for Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi, but that was the last one for the season. Austria’s Stefan Kraft won his second World Cup title with 1,659 points to 1,519 for Karl Geiger (GER) and 1,178 for defending champ Kobayashi.

The women’s situation was the same, with Japan’s Sara Takanashi getting her first win of the season in Lillehammer last Monday, ahead of Maren Lundby (NOR). Lundby won in Lillehammer on Tuesday and managed to defend her seasonal title – her third in a row – with 1,220 points. Austrians Chiara Holzl (1,155) and Eva Pinkelnig (1,029) were second and third.

Trondheim results are here.

● SWIMMING ● Although the Artistic Swimming season is at a standstill, the late-reported results from the first FINA World Cup meet in Paris (FRA) from 6-8 March should be noted.

Ukrainian swimmers were the stars, with Marta Fiedina defeating American Ruby Remati in the Solo Technical, 89.6571-79.8813, and American Anita Alvarez in the Solo Free, 91.8000-86.1333.

Fiedina and Anastasiya Savchuk won the Duet Technical over Laura and Charlotte Tremble (FRA), 90.8721-85.7933, and Duet Free, ahead of Tremble & Tremble, 92.8667-87.8667. The Ukrainians won the women’s Team Free and Free Combination and Team Highlight, all with Fiedina included, so she won seven golds in all!

France won the women’s Team Technical; full results here.

● TAEKWONDO ● World Taekwondo has stopped its competition schedule, but the Pan American Olympic qualifying tournament was held in San Jose (CRC) on Wednesday and Thursday.

A total of 16 quota positions – two per weight class – were available with Lucas Guzman (ARG: 58 kg), Pie Bernardo (DOM: 68 kg), Lucas Hernandez (DOM: 80 kg) and Rafael Alba (CUB: +80 kg) winning the men’s divisions. Andrea Ramirez Vargas (COL: 49 kg), Fernanda Aguirre (CHI: 57 kg), Aliyah Shipman (HAI: 67 kg) and Briselda Acosta (MEX: +67 kg) won the women’s class. American Anastasija Zolotic, 17, took the 57 kg silver and also qualified for Tokyo.

● WRESTLING ● The Pan American Championships in Ottawa (CAN) finished last Monday for most of the men’s Freestyle division, with the U.S. coming away with seven wins in 10 divisions. In addition to the early victories for Anthony Ashnault (70 kg) and Jason Nolf (79 kg), five more U.S. wrestlers won their classes. These included previous Olympic champs Jordan Burroughs (74 kg) and Kyle Snyder (97 kg), plus Tyler Graff (61 kg), John Diakomihalis (65 kg) and Anthony Nelson (125 kg).

The Pan American Olympic qualifier was held in Ottawa this weekend, but without spectators. The finalists in each weight earned a quota spot for Tokyo and in the Greco-Roman bouts, Cuba won three of the six divisions: Luis Orta Sanchez (60 kg), Yosvanys Pena Flores (77 kg) and Gabriel Kindelan (97 kg). American Joe Rau won at 87 kg as Cuban Daniel Hechavarria defaulted due to injury. Silver medalists Ildar Hafizov (60 kg), Alejandro Sanchez (67 kg) and G’Angelo Hancock (97 kg) all earned places for the U.S. in Tokyo.

The women’s bouts saw the return of 2016 Olympic gold medalist Helen Maroulis of the U.S., who had been suffering through a long recovery from a concussion and then shoulder surgery over the past two years. But she stormed through her bracket, winning her bouts by 10-2, 9-0, 6-2 and 11-0 to reach the final. But all four American women who reached the final – and earned a quota spot for Tokyo – defaulted and left with silver medals. This includes Sarah Hildebrandt (50 kg), Jacarra Winchester (53 kg), Maroulis at 57 kg and Kayla Miracle at 62 kg.

The men’s Freestyle competition on Sunday saw U.S. wrestlers Tom Gilman (57 kg), David Taylor (86 kg) and Nick Gwiazdowski (125 kg) all advance to the finals of their classes and earn a quota spot for Tokyo. All were gold medalists as their opponents defaulted in the final. Zain Retherford won a bronze at 65 kg, pinning Albaro Rudesindo (DOM) in 2:45.

Full results here. The U.S. Olympic Team will be decided at the Olympic Trials, now postponed from their original 4-5 April dates.

THE TICKER: Thursday changed the U.S. Olympic Team for Tokyo; World Athletics gives Russia one more chance

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● Thursday’s implosion of the American sports leagues and most of collegiate sports in view of the coronavirus threat will be a day long remembered. It will also change, in some significant ways, the composition of the United States Olympic Team for the Tokyo Games this summer.

Consider the impact of the actions taken by, especially, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA):

(1) The NBA suspended its season as of 12 March, with a review to be undertaken in 30 days. Most teams still have 17-18 games left on their 82-game regular-season schedule before going into the playoffs. Even playing a few more regular-season games as a warm-up for the playoffs, the season could stretch out considerably, even into August.

That would eliminate players on playoff teams from participating in the Tokyo Games, not only for the U.S., but for many other teams whose stars play now in the NBA, such as reigning Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo of Greece (Milwaukee Bucks).

(2) The NCAA not only canceled its men’s and women’s basketball championships, but all of its winter and spring sports championships. This includes, among others, wrestling, swimming & diving and indoor and outdoor track & field. The indoor track nationals had been set to start Friday (13th) in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Further, all of the major conferences – Atlantic Coast, Big 10, Big XII, Pac-12 and SEC – have suspended competitions at least until the end of the month. The Big 10 canceled all “organized team activities” until at least 6 April and the SEC suspended “all athletics activities” through at least 15 April. Within the Pac-12, UCLA has suspended all “team activities” through at least 29 March and USC has suspended all practices and competitions “until further notice.”

This places the top collegiate athletes in the devastating position of not being able to be coached or receive any support services such as athletic training and weight room access for at least a couple of weeks and maybe longer. There is the follow-up question of access to the sports facilities at some campuses where post-collegiate athletes – from many countries – continue to work with their coaches (who may or may not be affiliated with the university) in training for the U.S. Trials in their sport, or the Games in Tokyo if already selected.

There can be little doubt that if the universities are shut down for any significant period after 1 April that the performances of college athletes will be impacted and the look of the U.S. teams, especially in track, swimming and wrestling, will be different.

The first test of this was going to be the USA Wrestling Olympic Trials, scheduled for 4-5 April at Penn State University, but the event was postponed today (13th). The major American trials:

● Diving: 14-21 June in Indianapolis
● Athletics: 19-28 June in Eugene
● Swimming: 21-28 June in Omaha
● Artistic Gymnastics: 25-28 June in St. Louis

The question on everyone’s mind is how long will the crisis last? Events in China, where the coronavirus epidemic began, are shedding some light on this question.

The first reports of the virus came on 31 December of 2019, with the spread of the virus outside China conformed by the middle of January. The Chinese Basketball Association – which does not have a team in Wuhan or the Hubei Province – suspended its season on 30 January, but is now calling players back. An 11 March memo asked players to return to their clubs to prepare for a re-start to their season on 2 April.

The CBA teams are apparently quite serious about this, “threatening lifetime bans for players who refuse to return and loss of league agency licenses for 2-3 years for their representation.”

However, let’s assume for a moment – and it’s a big assumption – that the virus is under some form of control in China. If so, then the “quarantine” period from 30 January to a projected re-start of the season in April is 8-9 weeks. If we apply this as a loose timetable to the U.S. situation, then activities might be forecast to resume sometime in middle-to-late May.

If so, that’s enough time to get an Olympic Team selected, even if the people on it might not be the same as if the pandemic hadn’t happened. The Chinese Basketball Association example will also be instructive to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the International Olympic Committee on how to judge the future of the Games in Tokyo for the summer. Right now, the news of a CBA re-start would point to Tokyo Games being held as scheduled.

The Olympic Flame was lit in ancient Olympia on Thursday (12th) with no public spectators present. However, there were significant crowds that gathered to watch the relay that followed, despite requests from the Greek government for people to avoid coming out to see the event.

Thus, the Hellenic Olympic Committee canceled the remainder of the relay in Greece, citing “this was the best possible decision in order to contribute to the containment of the virus.” The flame will be transferred to the Japanese organizers as scheduled on 19 March in Athens, again with no spectators allowed.

● Athletics ● “Council acknowledges the new RusAF Board’s decision to admit the charges and apologise for the effect of RusAF’s misconduct on the athletics community. In light of that admission and apology, Council will not call a special Congress meeting of all member federations to consider the expulsion of RusAF from membership of World Athletics at this time.”

That’s from the World Athletics summary of its decision to give the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) essentially one more chance to observe the anti-doping and other rules of the worldwide governing body, or be expelled. The World Athletics Council, meeting in Monaco on Thursday, decided:

(1) To fine the Russian federation $10 million, of which $5 million must be paid by 1 July, or RusAF will be suspended. The remaining $5 million is essentially a probationary-period fine that must be paid if Russia “commits a further breach of the Anti-Doping Rules … or fails to make meaningful progress toward satisfying the reinstatement conditions fixed by Council.”

(2) The program of “Authorized Neutral Athletes” under which some Russian stars had been competing since the end of 2015, was reinstated with a limit of 10 total entries for the 2020 Olympic Games, 2020 European Championships, the World Half Marathon Champs and the World Race Walking Team Championships.

(3) The “Authorized Neutral Athlete” program will be reviewed at the end of 2020 and a decision will be made as to whether it will be continued for 2021.

(4) A new program for Russian reinstatement will be proposed to the World Athletics Congress in Tokyo, requiring the federation to institute a plan “to ingrain … a culture of zero tolerance for doping,” to be monitored by the existing World Athletics Russia Taskforce.

The key was the letter of “admission and apology” sent by new RusAF chief Evgeniy Yurchenko on 3 March. Short of that, Russia would likely have been on the road to expulsion.

This is good news for Russian stars such as high jumper Mariya Lasitskene, vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova and hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, all medal contenders for Tokyo. But changing the culture in Russian athletics will neither be an easy or short process.

● Football ● In the aftermath of the court filing by the U.S. Soccer Federation which clumsily tried to define differences between the men’s and women’s National teams as part as its defense to the discrimination lawsuit filed by the women’s team, USSF President Carlos Cordeiro resigned on Thursday.

He was replaced by USSF Vice President Cindy Parlow Cone, herself a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team from 1996-2004 and was a member of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup winners and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She was elected in 2019 to fill out Cordeiro’s term when he was elected as President and will be President until February of 2021, when an election for the remaining year of Cordeiro’s term will be held.

HEARD AT HALFTIME: Tokyo 2020’s Mori reports apology from Board member suggesting delay; new filing vs. USA Gymnastics

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The head of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee rejected the comments of Haruyuki Takahashi, one of his Board members, that the Games will likely be delayed.

The Associated Press reported that Yoshiro Mori, president of the organizing committee, told reporters that “I have spoken to Mr. Takahashi and he has apologized. He certainly said an outlandish thing.

“There is no plan now to change our plans.”

● Vox Populi ● Reader Greg Cornell, a member of the 1984 Olympic Games organizing committee in Los Angeles, opined on the coronavirus sitation, writing:

“The 2020 Olympics will be canceled because the virus is increasing. They are making a tactical error by making their decision on actual count not on forecasted count. They will have no choice but to close down the Olympics.”

The news on Wednesday came from Geneva, Switzerland, where the World Health Organization confirmed the COVID-19 spread as a pandemic. Multiple International Federations have canceled or postponed events, including Olympic qualifiers, due to the virus, some of which are noted below.

A lengthy list of events cancelled or postponed as of 11 March was compiled by the Associated Press here.

● Alpine Skiing ● The Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) announced the cancellation of the final weekend of the women’s World Cup races in Are (SWE) “after new recommendations from the Public Health Agency of Sweden.”

Because the World Cup Finals scheduled for Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA) have been cancelled, the races in Are were to have been the last of the season … and so the women’s World Cup season is over. American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin was ready to return to the slopes following the death of her father in early February, but will not be racing now.

This means that Italy’s Federica Brignone is the overall winner of the women’s World Cup for 2019-20, with 1,378 points over just a 30-race schedule – out of 41 expected – with Shiffrin second with 1,225. Slovenia’s Petra Vlhova was third with 1,189.

The discipline titles went to Corinne Suter (SUI) in Downhill and Super-G; Brignone in Giant Slalom (Shiffrin third) and Vlhova in Slalom (Shiffrin second).

In the men’s World Cup, this weekend’s Giant Slalom and Slalom races in Kranjska Gora (SLO) will be held without spectators. With the World Cup Final canceled, the season’s final races are this weekend, with Norway’s Alexsander Aamodt Kilde leading with 1,202 points. France’s Alexis Pinturault is second (1,148) and Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) third with 1,041.

● Athletics ● Very good news on Monday for U.S. fans and for sprinter-jumper Jarrion Lawson, as the Court of Arbitration for Sport declared him immediately eligible:

“The CAS Panel has set aside the decision rendered by the IAAF Disciplinary Tribunal in May 2019 (the Challenged Decision) and replaced it with a new decision in which Jarrion Lawson is found to have committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) for which he bears no fault or negligence and for which no period of ineligibility shall be imposed on him.”

Lawson tested positive for steroids in June 2018, and was banned for four years beginning in May 2019. However, the arbitration panel found that he had ingested contaminated beef on the night before the test and found that no “bore no fault or negligence.”

Lawson, 25, won the 100 m, 200 m and long jump for Arkansas at the 2016 NCAA Championships, a triple only accomplished previously by Jesse Owens of Ohio State in 1936. He was fourth at the Rio Games in a long jump and won a Worlds silver medal in 2017.

● Figure Skating ● The International Skating Union cancelled the World Figure Skating Championships scheduled for 16-22 March in Montreal (CAN). The ISU announcement noted in detail:

“Considering the current uncertain developments surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic, a rescheduling and/or relocation of the above-mentioned Championships within the current season, even if the season would be extended by several weeks after its normal end in early April, cannot be reasonably considered. During the coming weeks, the ISU will evaluate in cooperation with all stakeholders whether the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2020 could possibly be held later in the year, but in any case not before October 2020. Before taking a final decision, the ISU will remain in close contact with Skate Canada and ISU Members.”

● Football ● The U.S. Women’s National Team wrapped up a SheBelieves Cup tournament victory on Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory over Japan in Frisco, Texas. Megan Rapinoe and Christen Press scored in the first half and although Mana Iwabuchi cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 58th minute, Lindsey Horan scored in the 83rd minute to ice the game and the tournament title.

The Japanese were the only team to score on the U.S. during the three games and had the edge in possession (55%) and shots-on-goal by 11-7. But the American women are now unbeaten in their last 31 games.

Coupled with Spain’s 1-0 win over England, the final standings saw the U.S. with a perfect 3-0 mark, followed by Spain (2-1), England at 1-2 and Japan at 0-3. The U.S. women are next scheduled to face Australia on 10 April in Sandy, Utah and Brazil on 14 April in San Jose, California.

U.S. Soccer Federation President Carlos Cordeiro released a statement during the final minutes of the USA-Japan game that was read on the air on ESPN, apologizing for a court filing earlier this week which argued that the men’s and women’s teams have “materially different jobs” that would preclude a discrimination case under U.S. law due to physical differences, abusive fans in men’s games and other items. The filing sparked public outrage, including multiple USSF sponsors, some of whom requested meetings with the federation.

Cordeiro’s statement read in part:

“On behalf of U.S. Soccer, I sincerely apologize for the offense and pain caused by language in this week’s court filing, which did not reflect the values of our federation or our tremendous admiration of our women’s national team.”

He further noted that the highly-respected national firm of Latham & Watkins will be more deeply involved in the federation’s defense of the suit, which is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles on 5 May.

Will this impact the outcome of the suit? Not very likely, as there are many other more important issues in the case, notably that the women are operating under a collective-bargaining agreement that runs through 2021 which created a different compensation structure than the U.S. Men’s National Team. But somebody is going to lose their job over this.

● Gymnastics ● There were new developments in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court case between the Nassar abuse survivors and USA Gymnastics (and others), including a new request for damages outside of the liability insurance offer now pending.

On Monday (9th), the request of the Survivors Committee to hire an outside financial advisor to determine how much money could be taken from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and still allow it to operate was denied by the Court. No further orders were entered.

On Wednesday, a request was made to amend a class-action claim headed by survivor Marcia Frederick Blanchette – the 1978 World Uneven Bars Champion – that might allow some claimants to pursue actions against the Directors & Officers insurance policies held by USA Gymnastics.

These “D&O” policies are described in the request had a limit of $5 million, and none of this amount was factored into the proposed plan being offered to the entire survivors community; in fact, the policy was issued by an as-yet-uninvolved insurer. The filing asks the Court to allow the class-action claim to be restated so that (1) damages would be limited to $150,000 per claimant as provided under statute and that (2) only those who claims which arose after the passage of the federal Safe Sport Act in 2017.

The claim’s chances rest on some technical aspects of the Bankruptcy Code and what the claimants characterize as “easy” logistics. A hearing was requested for late April.

● At the BuZZer ● In the midst of a lot of bad news, there was a stunning announcement by the Commonwealth Games Foundation that it has signed Swiss timing company Longines as “Official Partner and Timekeeper” for the 2022-26-30 Commonwealth Games.

This is the first time that a sponsor has signed up for more than one Commonwealth Games, which began back in 1930. Longines was given the designation as “Inaugural Partner of the Commonwealth Sport Movement” and will be the “Presenting Partner” of Athletics, Gymnastics, Rugby Sevens and Table Tennis for each Games.

It’s a significant boost for the Commonwealth Games, which has been one of the most underrated of the “regional” games, but regularly draws some of the world’s top athletes. The next edition is scheduled for Birmingham (ENG) in 2022, with archery and shooting events to take place several months earlier in India.

LANE ONE: In a crisis, discipline and focus are hard to maintain, as Tokyo 2020 is finding out

By
Rich Perelman
-

The coronavirus is a major public-health crisis which is having impacts in many countries and is causing the cancellation, delay or implosion of mass gatherings, a list that may possibly include the Games of the XXXII Olympiad this summer in Tokyo, Japan.

In such times, it’s crucial not to panic, and to focus on the tasks ahead and the available options.

For a group like the Tokyo Olympic organizers, with the Games scheduled to start on 24 July and the Olympic Village opening on 14 July, discipline is key. That discipline broke down on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal published a story headlined “If Olympics Can’t Be Held This Summer, Best to Postpone 1-2 Years: Japan Organizing Official,” quoting Haruyuki Takahashi, a Tokyo 2020 Board member, and formerly a senior managing director at the Japanese marketing giant Dentsu.

The story quoted Takahashi as saying “I don’t think the Games could be canceled; it’d be a delay. The International Olympic Committee would be in trouble if there’s a cancellation. American TV rights alone provide them with a huge amount” and “We’ll have to start talking about this seriously from April.”

Seeing a comment like this from a Tokyo 2020 Board member and not from CEO Yoshiro Mori – a former Prime Minister of Japan – or national Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto or Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, is astounding.

Having worked on 20 multi-day, multi-site events in my own career, including five Olympic/Olympic Winter Games, this kind of behavior has always been unacceptable. Just about 36 years ago, in early 1984, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee also faced a major threat from a potential Soviet boycott – as retaliation for the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games – with the possibility that the event could come apart.

As the Vice President for Press Operations in those days, I was leading a planning team of 25 staff getting ready for 8,700 news media – including broadcasters – coming to cover the Games. As LAOOC employees, our protocol was clear: talk to the press, without permission, and you were subject to being fired … immediately. Same for the LAOOC Board members. Any official word would come from chief executive Peter Ueberroth, or through News Secretary Amy Quinn.

When the announcement of the Soviet boycott came on 8 May – also the day the coast-to-coast Olympic Torch Relay began – the LAOOC staff was called together in the cavernous former Hughes Helicopter design facility that was our headquarters by the late Harry Usher, our Executive Vice President/General Manager. His message was clear: no one talks to the press other than Ueberroth, Quinn and the news relations staff.

But there was also a plan of action. The race was now on to recruit countries to come to the Los Angeles Games, and not join the Soviet boycott. After 92 countries attended the Montreal Games in 1976 – which was boycotted by 29 African nations – only 80 competed in Moscow in 1980 as 66 countries stayed away as part of the U.S.-led boycott effort.

If the Soviet-led boycott gained steam, there was a contractual possibility that a significant part of the $225 million ABC-TV rights fees could be withheld, or even disappear.

Although LAOOC employees went silent to news media calls for comments, they burned up the phone and telex lines with outreach efforts to National Olympic Committee officials they knew. In our department, our athlete-information researcher, Nejat Kok, had a close relationship with the NOC of Turkey and made direct contacts to get the Turks to formally commit to come to the Games. With staff members from several dozen countries on the LAOOC, the numbers added up quickly.

In the end, a record total of 140 nations came to the Los Angeles Games, in part because the communications efforts were aimed at a goal of assuring the success of the event, not talking to the news media.

Has Takahashi helped or hurt the situation?

I suggest that he has hurt the Tokyo organizing efforts by continuing to take the attention away from the promotion of the summer’s potential stars and away from the Games, and playing up the speculation aspect. He may be proved right, but there is no way to know now.

Takahashi also created an entirely new discussion, of when a postponed Tokyo Games would take place. He opined that a 2022 Games would be more likely, since there was already so much activity planned for 2021. He knows what he’s talking about:

● 2021:
Jul. 15-25: World Games in Birmingham, Alabama (USA)
Jul. 16-Aug. 1: FINA World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka (JPN)
Aug. 6-15: World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon (USA)

● 2022:
Feb. 4-20: Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN)
Jul. 27-Aug. 7: Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (GBR)
Sep. 10-25: Asian Games in Hangzhou (CHN)
Nov. 21-Dec. 19: FIFA World Cup in Qatar

A 2022 Olympic Games in July and early August would upset the Commonwealth Games program completely – possibly delayed to 2023 – but would (unusually) steer clear of the World Cup thanks to its being held so late due to the high heat of the Middle East summer.

Someone who does have the standing to talk about what to do about the Games is the senior member of the International Olympic Committee, Canadian Dick Pound. In late February , he told the Associated Press that a decision would have to be taken by late May to either cancel – which he thought more probable – or postpone the Tokyo Games. He said:

“In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’”

So let’s wait. Despite assurances that everything is “full steam ahead” right now, there can be little doubt that studies of the issue are underway inside the Tokyo organizing committee and Takahashi’s comments reflect that. But there is no clear outcome, and the massive shutdown in Italy is designed to break the cycle of expansion seen in the virus in that country.

Readers of this column sent comments in January questioning how the SportsAccord conference scheduled for Beijing in mid-April could be held. Lo and behold, on 20 February, the event was moved to Lausanne, Switzerland … which is now facing its own coronavirus threat and the event could be postponed, or moved again, or canceled.

Serious decisions, made by serious people, come when the issue is ripe for determination, not before. Pound says the decision point is likely in May and given his 60-year experience with the Olympic Games, that should be respected, especially since no contrary viewpoint to his comments has come from the IOC otherwise.

One more thing. The calls to make a determination about the Games now, or to set “red lines” that would trigger a specific decision, are the most athlete-unfriendly action the IOC or the Tokyo organizers could take at this time. The athletes want to compete and are continuing to train for the Games, or qualify to get there. They deserve that chance, and advancing scenarios to make as early a decision on the Games as possible doesn’t help them at all. As Pound said with clarity two weeks ago, “All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure that the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation.”

Did Takahashi’s comments help move the Tokyo organizers forward? It’s hard to see how, especially at a time when discipline and focus are needed, and needed now.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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LANE ONE: Sure, the Tokyo Games are threatened by Covid-19, but what about Beijing 2022?

By
Rich Perelman
-

The spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) around the world is wreaking havoc with sporting events all over the globe and is threatening the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo this summer.

International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach (GER) posted an open letter on Friday (6th) on the IOC’s Athlete365 site, noting in part:

“As a result of the many consultations we had and are having with the World Health Organization (WHO), with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, with the Tokyo Metropolitan government, the Japanese government and many authorities around the world, in particular the Chinese, I can assure you that the IOC is fully committed to successful Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, starting 24 July. These regular consultations are continuing so that we can address any new developments.”

But while the clock is ticking toward Tokyo – the Olympic Village will open on 14 July – there is already significant action concerning the forthcoming Olympic Winter Games in China in 2022. Consider:

● Who knows what will happen with Covid-19? The epidemic started in China, in and around the Wuhan area in the centrally-located province of Hubei. The city of Beijing is 655 miles (1,054 km) to the northeast, part of the Heibei province, so a fair distance away, a little less than from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City (688 miles).

You can follow the spread of the Covid-19 situation on this dashboard provided by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering. Hubei remains the center of impact, with 45,235 recoveries and 2,986 deaths out of the 80,699 cases reported in China.

● Once the Tokyo situation is concluded – in whichever way it works out – we’ll be in late August 2020. From that point, it’s just more than 17 months prior to the Opening Ceremony on 4 February 2022 … and that means a decision will be right in the lap of the IOC almost immediately after the Tokyo Games end.

It will be impossible to guess what the situation will be as we go through 2020, so there will no talk of postponement. But if the 2022 Winter Games were to be threatened by a late-2020 outbreak in Heibei province, or in neighboring Tianjin province, the IOC realistically would have perhaps five months to decide what to do.

It will take a decision made not less than a full year before the Games in order to allow another city to get ready, re-arrange contractual details and hastily organize the event. In the one instance where a Winter Games was re-located, Innsbruck (AUT) was selected in 1973 to host the 1976 Games, after Denver, Colorado withdrew as the elected host.

● The drumbeat against China as an inappropriate host of the 2022 Winter Games, in view of its human-rights record, has begun.

Back in December, U.S. Senators Rick Scott (R-Florida) and Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) sent a letter to NBCUniversal, including “We urge NBC to stand with us and request that the IOC re-bid the 2022 Olympics or refuse to air the 2022 games.” That went nowhere, of course, but last Wednesday, Scott and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) “introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of China and rebid it to a country unless Beijing addresses its violation of human rights. This resolution was also sponsored by Senators Jim Inhofe, Dick Durbin, Martha McSally, Doug Jones, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Todd Young, Marsha Blackburn and Mike Braun.”

Said Scott, “Communist China should not be allowed to host the 2022 Olympic Games while simultaneously running concentration camps, violating human rights and oppressing the people of Hong Kong. The Olympic Games are an incredible opportunity to allow the world’s best athletes to represent their countries and unite our nations, and should not be hosted by one of the world’s worst human rights abusers.”

● This view isn’t only coming from the U.S.

German investigative journalist Hajo Seppalt, who broke the Russian doping scandal wide open in 2014 and recently led the ARD documentary team which accused the International Weightlifting Federation of corruption, tweeted on 3 March (in English via Google Translate):

“In this country, Thomas Bach leaves Olympus in 2022. Play games. Analogy to 2008. No public word of protest. Always revealing how the IOC is silent about dictators and autocrats. // Chinese journalist: reported from Wuhan – and disappeared”

and

“Foreign Journalists are under pressure in China. Question: What does IOC say about this, the 2022 Olympics. To host the Winter Games in Beijing? Forecast: Bach will not say a word about this publicly. For this we can prepare ourselves for hand-shake photos by Bach + Xi Jinping.”

This is only the beginning and will intensify after the Tokyo Games (however held) end in August. Bach will remind the inquisitors that only Beijing and Almaty (KAZ) wanted the Games, after withdrawals from Oslo (NOR), Stockholm (SWE), Krakow (POL) and Lviv (UKR) and discussions with many other cities; referendums killed potential bids from Munich (GER) and St. Moritz and Davos in Switzerland. The vote for Beijing was hardly a landslide, with a final tally of 44 votes against 40 for Almaty.

Moreover, any ideas about changing Beijing as a host for 2022 will require an alternative and there is only one real option: Salt Lake City. The host of the successful 2002 Winter Games has the venues available to organize on short notice and with a year to prepare, would have time for an agreement with the University of Utah to arrange a break in classes to allow use of its student housing for the main Olympic Village.

Salt Lake City is already the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s choice to be its next Winter Games candidate and a bid has strong political backing in the state. It’s worth remembering that the 2002 Games ran an actual surplus, including paying the State of Utah back for the cost of a voter-approved measure to build the jumping and sliding venues in Park City (!).

Further, the Salt Lake City bid committee has experienced leadership with deep understanding of how to make this event work, notably including Fraser Bullock – the chief operating officer of 2002 organizing committee – and Colin Hilton, a venue director in 2002 who has served as the chief of the Olympic legacy foundation since the end of the Games.

How all of this might work with the USOPC, NBC and especially the Los Angeles 2028 organizers, is open to speculation, but could likely be worked out.

And, interestingly, if the Chinese are actually as serious as they say they are about using the 2022 Winter Games to introduce winter sports to more of its population, they might welcome a postponement of this hosting responsibility to 2030, after the Milan-Cortina Winter Games in 2026. That would be a lot better than insisting on hosting an event of this scale if the spread of the virus in late 2020 continues apace.

There was a lot of pushback against Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games because of its human-rights record, and there were issues with things as simple as Internet access for news media during the Games. Depending on what happens with the status of Covid-19 later this year, the Chinese might welcome an option to go long with its Winter Games plans.

Bach might not mind, either. But, Tokyo comes first.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HIGHLIGHTS: Ledecky leads U.S. swimmers as 12 new world-leading marks set in Des Moines; U.S. women edge Spain, 1-0

By
Rich Perelman
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Olympics-bound American Freestyle superstar Katie Ledecky (Photo: USA Swimming)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● ALPINE SKIING ● Bad weather canceled the Super-G racing on Sunday in Kvitfjell (NOR) after Austria’s Matthias Mayer won the final Downhill of the FIS Alpine World Cup season on Saturday.

Mayer finished ahead of Norway’s Alexsander Aamodt Kilde and Swiss Carlo Janka, but Swiss stars Beat Feuz (Downhill) and Mauro Caviezel (Super-G) won the seasonal Crystal Globes. The overall leader remains Aamodt Kilde, with 1,202 points, ahead of France’s Alexis Pinturault (1,148) and Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR: 1,041). The season will conclude – weather permitting – in Kranjska Gora (SLO) with a Giant Slalom and Slalom, good events for Pinturault and Kristoffersen. Full results here.

The women’s racing in Ofterschwang (GER) was canceled for bad weather; the final races of the season will be a Parallel Slalom, Giant Slalom and Slalom in Are (SWE). Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. has said she will be in Are, but is not sure if she will race or how well. She’s in the second in the overall standings by 1,225-1,378 to Italy’s Federica Brignone.

● BIATHLON ● The seventh of nine stops in the IBU World Cup was in Nove Mesto (CZE), with a battle royal on for the men’s title, between the seven-time champion Martin Fourcade (FRA) and defending champion Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway.

Boe got a lot closer to Fourcade by winning both races in Nove Mesto, a 10 km Sprint and a 15 km Mass Start. France was second in both races, with Quentin Fillon Maillet (Sprint) and Emilien Jacquelin (Mass Start). Fourcade was sixth and 14th, but still leads the standings, with five events to go, by 853-810-800 with Boe and Fillon Maillet in hot pursuit.

The women’s races went to Denise Herrmann (GER) in the 7.5 km Sprint and Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff (12 km Mass Start), the latter’s seventh win of the season. Heading into the final two events of the season, Italy’s Dorothea Wierer still leads with 776 points, ahead of Eckhoff (707) and Sweden’s Hanna Oberg (705). Full results here.

● BOBSLED & SKELETON ● Competition in the new women’s Monobob continued in La Plagne (FRA), with Breeana Walker of New Zealand winning on Saturday over Karlein Sleper (NED), 0.78 seconds, and then repeating the victory on Sunday, finishing ahead of Romanian Andreea Grecu by just 0.07. It’s the third win of the season for Walker; the eight-race tour will finish on 3 April in Lake Placid. Full results here.

● FENCING ● Three events were scheduled, with the men’s Sabre Grand Prix moved from Padua (ITA) to Luxembourg and two Olympic stars showing they are more than ready for Tokyo.

In Luxembourg, Hungary’s Aron Szilagyi demonstrated that he’s aiming for a third straight Olympic title in Sabre, taking the final from Korea’s Bong-Il Gu, 15-12. Sang-Uk Oh (KOR) and Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS) finished third. The victory was the seventh career World Cup gold for Szilagyi, still just 30.

In Athens (GRE), the women’s Sabre, it was American star Mariel Zagunis who took her first World Cup title since 2000, out-pointing Hungary’s Lisa Pusztai, 15-6 in the final. It was Zagunis’ first win in a World Cup since taking the 2016 Athens title. Now 35, she won back-to-back Sabre golds in 2004 and 2008 and after taking a maternity leave, is now back among the medal contenders for Tokyo.

In the Epee Grand Prix in Budapest (HUN), Japan’s Masaru Yamada, 25, scored his first-ever Grand Prix win with a surprise victory over France’s Yannick Borel, the 2018 World Champion, by 15-11. A similar shocker came in the women’s division, as France’s Alexandra Louis Marie, 24, topped Korea’s Sera Song, 26, by 15-13, in a final where neither had ever made a Grand Prix final. Links to results are here.

● FOOTBALL ● Spain gave the U.S. its toughest match of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, losing 2-1, and underlined that result on Sunday in front of a boisterous crowd of 26,500 at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. But the result was almost exactly the same.

Both sides had excellent scoring chances, with Spain knocking a possible goal off the U.S. post, but in the 87th minute, Julie Ertz got to a driving free kick from Christen Press and headed it off the hand of keeper Sandra Panos and into the Spanish goal for a 1-0 win in the second session of the SheBelieves Cup.

Spain held possession for 60% of the game and both sides had nine shots at goal; that’s how close it was. The U.S. has now won both of its games; England (1-1) defeated Japan, 1-0, in the opening game and the U.S. women can win the tournament with a draw or victory against Japan on 11 March in Frisco, Texas (8 p.m. Eastern).

The U.S. Women’s U-20 team romped to victory in the CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship, played in the Dominican Republic.

The American juniors whitewashed its three pool-play opponents by 24-0, then defeated St. Lucia (6-0), Canada (4-0), the Dominican Republic for a second time (6-0) and finally Mexico in the final by 4-1. That’s a goals-against total of 44-1 and the sixth title for the U.S. in this tournament.

The leading scorer was Haiti’s Melchie Dumomay with 14 goals, followed by Mia Fishel of the U.S. with 13; Fishel won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s top player. Both the U.S. and Mexico qualified for the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup, to be played later this year.

● FREESTYLE SKIING ● In the final Aerials competition of the season, in Krasnoyarsk (RUS), Swiss Noe Roth won the men’s competition over home favorite Pavel Krotov, while Australia’s Laura Peel won her second event of the tour, ahead of Sicun Xu (CHN) and Ashley Caldwell of the U.S.

The seasonal crowns went to Roth, ahead of Krotov by 386-334, and to Peel, by 469-351 ahead of China’s Mengtao Xu. Full results here.

● GYMNASTICS ● The annual American Cup, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, confirmed once again that Sam Mikulak is a real medal contender for Tokyo and that Morgan Hurd should not be counted out in the U.S. women’s Olympic Team race.

Mikulak won the All-Around for the second time (also in 2014), scoring 85.332 to impressively out-distance Ukraine’s Rio All-Around silver medalist, Oleg Verniaiev (83.064) and Britain’s James Hall (82.999). American Shane Wiskus (82.797) was fourth. Mikulak won on Floor and Parallel Bars was third on Rings, second on Vault and third on the High Bar. Verniaiev won on Pommel Horse and tied with Hall for first on Rings.

Hurd won for the second time in the last three years, scoring 55.832, ahead of Kayla Di Cello (USA: 55.132) and Hitomi Hatakeda (JPN: 53.799). After missing the U.S. World Championships team last season, Hurd – the 2017 World All-Around Champion – won won on Uneven Bars, was second on Beam and third on Vault and Floor. Di Cello won the Vault and was third on Beam and Floor. Full results here.

● NORDIC SKIING ● The FIS Cross Country World Cup came to one of its iconic venues this weekend, at Oslo’s Holmenkollen, but no spectators were allowed to watch to protect against the spread of the coronavirus.

On Saturday, World Cup overall leader Therese Johaug was beaten in a distance race for only the second time this season in 17 starts. Sweden’s Frida Karlsson made a huge move over the last two laps on the 6.2 km course and skied past Johaug in the final meters for a dramatic win in the 30 km Classical Mass Start race. Even with the second-place finish, Johaug has clinched the overall World Cup for the season, her third.

The men’s 50 km Classical Mass Start was won for the second year in a row by Russian Alexander Bolshunov. Despite heavy fog, rain and wind, he triumphed over Norway’s Simen Hegstad Kruger by 0.9 seconds, chasing him down after a breakaway on the final lap. The win nearly (but not quite) clinches the season title for Bolshunov, who has a 2,221-1,726 lead over Sprint specialist Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), with three Sprints and two distance races remaining. Full results here.

There was also a mid-week Sprint on Wednesday in Konnerud (NOR), with Sweden’s Jonna Sundling winning the women’s race over Nadine Fahndrich (SUI), and Norwegians Klaebo, Havard Taugbol and Eirik Brandsdal sweeping the men’s race.

The Nordic Combined season ended on Saturday with the final race in Oslo, as the World Cup Final program in Schonach (GER), set for next week, was canceled due to lack of snow. But it wouldn’t have made any difference to the winner, Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber.

Completing perhaps the greatest season in history, Riiber won his 14th race in 17 held this season – a record – and defended his 2018-19 title in style, winning by 54.1 seconds in front of his home fans, over Fabian Riessle (GER). Riiber finished with 1,586 points, far ahead of Jorgen Graabak (NOR: 1,106) with Vinzenz Geiger (GER: 917) third. Full results here.

The Ski Jumping World Cup was also in Oslo, beginning the Raw Air Tournament for men and women that will continue for a week. The men’s and women’s individual competitions on Sunday were blown away by high winds and will be held on Monday in Lillehammer, on the famed Lysgardsbakken 140 m hill.

● RUGBY ● The men’s Sevens Series tournament in Vancouver (CAN) saw New Zealand’s All Blacks win for the third time, edging Australia, 17-14, in the final. Canada got into the third-place match and defeated South Africa, 26-19, for the bronze medal. Full results here.

After six of 10 stages in the 2019-20 season, New Zealand continues to lead with 115 points, trailed by South Africa (104), Fiji (83), Australia (81) and England (77).

● SNOWBOARD ● The penultimate SnowCross races were held in Sierra Nevada, Spain, with excellent showings by the home favorites. Lucas Eguibar, the 2017 Worlds silver medalist at Sierra Nevada, won on his favorite course, ahead of Alessandro Hammerle (AUT) and Paul Berg (GER). With one race left, Hammerle now leads, 2,960-2,950-2,130 over Italians Lorenzo Sommariva and Omar Visintin.

The women’s race was won by French star Chloe Trespeuch, taking her first gold of the season, with Michaela Moioli (ITA) continuing her streak of medals in all five events this season. Australia’s Belle Brockhoff won her fourth medal of the season in third. Going into the final event of the tour on 15 March in Switzerland, Moioli leads Brockhoff, 4,400-3,500, with Eva Samkova (CZE) third at 2,710. Full results here.

● SPEED SKATING ● The ISU World Cup concluded in Heerenveen (NED), with the home team winning six of the 12 races on the schedule and collecting four season titles.

In the men’s events, Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama left no doubt who is the best sprinter in the world this season, with wins in both 500 m races – both times beating Canada’s Laurent Dubrueil – and taking the seasonal title by 482-433 over Russia’s Viktor Mushtakov, with Dubreuil third (420).

The Netherlands dominated most of the remaining events, with Thomas Krol winning the 1,000 m over Dubreuil and taking the seasonal title over teammate Kai Verbij, 294-272, with Dubreuil third (251). Kjeld Nuis won his second career season title at 1,500 m, winning the race over Krol, and out-pointing China Zhongyan Ning by 282-266, with Krol third (259).

Dutch distance star Patrick Roest won the 5,000 m and the seasonal title (360); Canada’s Graeme Fish was second in the race, but third on the season (306) to Russian Danila Semerkov (323). The Mass Start title went to Belgian Bart Swings, who finished second in Heerenveen to Korea’s Jae-Won Chung, with Joey Mantia of the U.S. third. Swings won his second career Mass Start title by just a single point, 570-569, over Mantia, with Chung a distant third (462).

In the women’s Sprints, Vanessa Herzog (AUT) and Russian Angelina Golikova won the two 500 m races, but Japanese star Nao Kodaira – third and second in Heerenveen – took the season title with 528 points to 504 for Golikova. It’s Kodaira’s third.

Jutta Leerdam of The Netherlands defeated American star Brittany Bowe in the 1,000 m by 0.28 seconds, 1:13.699-1:13.981, but Bowe easily won her second straight and fourth career World Cup title at the distance by 326-256 over Kodaira with Russia’s Olga Fatkulina third (242). The 1,500 m was a runaway for Ireen Wust (NED), who won the race and breezed to her third career seasonal title. 342-260 over Japan’s Miho Takagi (second in the race as well) and Russian Evgeniia Lalenkova (both 260).

The 3,000 m was won by Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann over Antoinette de Jong (NED), her second win of the season, but it wasn’t enough to keep Czech superstar Martina Sabilkova – who finished fourth – from collecting her 13th career World Cup distances title. Sabilkova won two races and was second twice in the six events to win again, but by only 357-353 over Weidemann.

Canada’s Ivanie Blondin finished third in the seasonal distance category, but won the season Mass Start title easily, scoring 548 points to 492 for Dutch star Irene Schouten and 442 for Japan’s Nana Takagi. Melissa Wijfje won the race in Heerenveen, ahead of Maryna Zuyeva (BLR) and Schouten. Full results here.

● SWIMMING ● The third leg of the Tyr Pro Swim Series for 2020 was held in Des Moines, Iowa, with a sensational showing for American stars, who claimed 2020 world-leading marks in 12 events:

● Men’s 50 m Freestyle: 21.51, Caeleb Dressel
● Men’s 200 m Backstroke: 1:55.22, Ryan Murphy
● Men’s 100 m Butterfly: 50.92, Dressel

● Women’s 200 m Freestyle: 1:54.59, Katie Ledecky
● Women’s 400 m Freestyle: 3:59.66, Ledecky
● Women’s 800 m Freestyle: 8:16.23, Ledecky (en route)
● Women’s 1,500 m Freestyle: 15:29.51, Ledecky
● Women’s 100 m Backstroke: 58.18, Regan Smith
● Women’s 100 m Breaststroke: 1:05.74, Lilly King
● Women’s 200 m Breaststroke: 2:21.67, Annie Lazor
● Women’s 200 m Butterfly: 2:06.11, Hali Flickinger
● Women’s 400 m Medley: 4:32.53, Melanie Margalis

Make no mistake about it, Ledecky is back at full strength. She won the 200-400-1,500 m Frees and her performance at 1,500 m was the fifth-fastest in history. But perhaps even more impressive was her 200 m win, in her fourth-fastest time ever and fastest since 2018. It was the no. 18 performance in history; she now owns five of the top 20 times ever in that event.

Among the men, Dressel (50 m Free and 100 m Fly), Murphy (100-200 m Back) and Michael Andrew (100 m Breast and 200 m Medley) each won two events. In addition to Ledecky, Regan Smith won the 100 and 200 m Backstroke events. Pretty impressive; full results here.

● TABLE TENNIS ● The ITTF World Tour Qatar Open did take place in Doha, with two-time World Championships Singles medalist Zhendong Fan of China winning the men’s Singles title over surprise finalist Liam Pitchford of England, 4-1, as part of a powerful statement by the Chinese, who won four of the five divisions.

In men’s Doubles, Long Ma and Xin Xu defeated Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall (ENG), 3-1, and China swept the women’s events with Meng Chen beating Mima Ito (JPN), 4-1, and Manyu Wang and Yuling Zhu (CHN) easing past Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki (JPN), 3-1, in women’s Doubles.

Japan’s Jun Mizutani and Ito won the Mixed Doubles by 3-1 over China’s Chuqin Wang and Yingsha Sun. Full results here.

● TRIATHLON ● The first stage of the World Triathlon Series was scheduled for Abu Dhabi (UAE), but was postponed as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus. A new date later in March, or in April is hoped for. The next scheduled event is Bermuda, for 18 April.

● WRESTLING ● The U.S. has dominated the Pan-American Championships being held in Ottawa (CAN), winning seven titles so far, with more competition on Monday.

In Greco-Roman, the American men won medals in every weight class, with Max Nowry (55 kg), Ray Bunker (72 kg), John Stefanowicz Jr. (82 kg), Josef Rau (87 kg) and G’Angelo Hancock (97 kg) all winning their divisions.

Mallory Velte and Tamyra Mensah-Stock won the women’s classes in the 62 kg and 68 kg classes for the only U.S. women’s titles. Reigning World Champion and Olympic favorite Adeline Gray was injured and was not able to compete in the 76 kg final, won by default by Canada’s Justina Di Stasio.

Jason Nolf won the men’s Freestyle title at 79 kg; the men’s Freestyle program concludes on Monday; you can find full results here.

THE TICKER: Coronavirus kills FIS Alpine finals; Russian athletics finally contrite; more Nassar abuse tug-of-war

By
Rich Perelman
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Kenyan women's Flyweight boxer Christine Ongare, who "punched her ticket" to Tokyo with a third-place finish at the African qualifiers (Photo: IOC)

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

● Alpine Skiing ● The coronavirus danger in Italy has cancelled the FIS Alpine World Cup Finals. The Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) announced today (Friday) that “The recommendation of the FIS Council was made during an emergency conference call where the latest information and recommendations from the Italian, International and National Health Authorities of participating nations were presented. The main issue that steered the recommendation of the Council affecting the organisation of the Finals in Cortina was the travel restrictions imposed by an increasing number of National Authorities, which would have likely limited the participation of several athletes.”

This means the men’s World Cup schedule is down to two events, in Kvitfjell (NOR) this weekend (Downhill, Super-G) and Kranjska Gora in Slovenia on 14-15 March (Giant Slalom, Slalom). The women’s World Cup has only one event remaining, in Are (SWE) on 12-13-14 March (Parallel Slalom, Giant Slalom, Slalom).

The women’s Downhill and Super-G seasons are thus completed, with Corinne Suter (SUI) winning the Downhill over Czech star Ester Ledecka and overall leader Federica Brignone, 477-322-320. Suter also won the Super-G over Brignone, 360-341, with Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT, 217) third.

Brignone leads the overall standings, 1,378-1,225-1,189 over Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. and Petra Vlhova, but with three races left, the race is still up for grabs. Shiffrin announced on Instagram that she will race in Are, but wrote “I have no promises if I’ll actually be able to race when the time comes, and I don’t really even have goals. I just hope to make a few good turns. I think that would make my dad happy.”

The men’s World Cup chase is tight, with France’s Alexis Pinturault leading Norwegians Alexsander Aamodt Kilde and Henrik Kristoffersen, 1,148-1,122-1,041.

● Athletics ● World Athletics postponed its World Half Marathon Championships, scheduled for 29 March in Gdynia (POL) to 17 October in light of the coronavirus.

An important break in behavior was noted in the continuing suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation. On Monday (2 March), the newly-elected head of RusAF, Yevgeny Yurchenko, admitted that the federation has submitted false paperwork to try and preserve the eligibility of 2018 World Indoor Championships high jump gold medalist Danil Lysenko for “whereabouts” reporting failures in 2018.

The Associated Press reported Yurchenko’s comments, including “’I have fully accepted the charges’” against the federation “’related to the actions of the previous leadership in the Lysenko case.’

“Yurchenko said the federation apologizes for its conduct.

“‘I very much hope that, even belatedly, our actions make it possible to remove from the agenda the matter of expelling RusAF from World Athletics, and will make it possible to start the procedure of reinstating RusAF in World Athletics as a full member, and also to resume the process of issuing neutral status to our athletes.’‘

Yurchenko said on Wednesday that “I am planning soon to send to international member federations of World Athletics official letters in a bid to present them a new stance of RusAF’s new administration over the recent developments in the Russian track and field athletics in order to establish a trustworthy and constructive dialogue.”

There are significant additional issues beyond the Lysenko case that will have to be dealt with, but this is a change in tone from Russia, notably since the appointment of FISU head Oleg Matytsin as sports minister in February.

There was some serious business at the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which announced a long-expected four-year ban on 2016 Olympic Champion and former world-record holder Ruth Jebet of Bahrain (formerly of Kenya).

She tested positive for erythropoietin (r-EPO) in an out-of-competition sample on 1 December 2017. She contended that she did not ingest any prohibited substance with any intention to dope, but the Disciplinary Tribunal found that Jebet did so and confirmed a four-year suspension as of 4 February 2018.

This immediately lit a fire on social networks, especially from Rio Olympic bronze medalist Emma Coburn of the U.S., on Twitter:

“1/The Olympic Gold Medalist is now serving a 4 year ban for using EPO. I won Bronze that day. She tested positive in 2017 so Rio results still stand. Sometimes if a performance seems too good to be true, it is. My Bronze will shine brighter than her Gold.

“2/In the 18 months prior to her positive EPO test, Ruth Jebet cost me $100,000 in bonuses & prize money. In the 18 months prior to her positive EPO test, she set the WR twice, won Olympic Gold & was 5th at Worlds 2107 [sic].

“3/I’m not bitter, I am not broken by this, but I wanted to show the real financial consequences that clean athletes face when its not a level playing field.”

Other commenters noted that Jebet ran 9:15.40 for the Steeple in 2015, then exploded for a world record of 8:52.78 in 2016 and the Olympic gold medal.

The AIU also announced a suspension of Kenyan marathoner (2:10:19 ‘19) Peter Kwemoi for the use of EPO, based on an in-competition test in November of 2019. He is suspended, subject to appeal, for four years from 17 December 2019.

Finally, the AIU published its annual classification of national track & field federations according to their “obligations” under the World Anti-Doping Code. The list of category “A” federations considered most susceptible to doping violations was enlarged from five to seven, with the addition of Morocco and Nigeria. The existing five federations already included are Bahrain, Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ukraine.

Category B includes 15 federations, among them the U.S. and Canada and most of the larger European countries. Category C includes the 155 others that are part of World Athletics.

● Baseball ● An agreement between the World Baseball Softball Confederation, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced on Tuesday (3rd) will allow all players not on the active, 26-man rosters to compete in both the Olympic qualifying tournaments and in the Olympic Games this summer in Tokyo.

Previously, the entire 40-man rosters had been off-limits to Olympic play. The Americas qualifier comes up from 22-26 March in Arizona and the final qualifier is in June in Chinese Taipei. This is not the same as having Major League players in the Olympic Games, but it is a significant step closer and will increase the talent level in the qualifiers and at the Games.

● Boxing ● An International Olympic Committee task force is overseeing the regional qualification tournaments in boxing for the 2020 Tokyo Games and someone had a really fun idea.

The oft-used phrase of an athlete or team “punching their ticket” in qualifying for an event was taken literally at the African Qualifying Tournament in Dakar (SEN). There, the top three finishers (in most weights) qualified for Tokyo, including Kenyan women’s flyweight bronze medalist Christine Ongare (pictured above).

After winning her third-place bout, she was indeed presented with a “ticket” stating “You have qualified for Tokyo 2020.” That’s one of the best tickets anyone can hope to receive!

● Cycling ● The coronavirus is shredding the worldwide cycling calendar, just as the European season gets underway.

The spread of the disease in Italy has led to the postponement, possibly until October, of major races including the Strade Bianche (Siena) scheduled for this weekend, as well as the seven-stage Tirreno-Adriatico (11-17 March) and the famed Milan-SanRemo (21 March).

The 78th edition of Paris-Nice from 8-15 March is expected to be held as planned, but future events in Italy – which has been hit hard by the virus – will be scrutinized. The first of the annual Grand Tours, the Giro d’Italia, is not until 9 May.

● Football ● The SheBelieves Cup started on Thursday in Orlando, Florida, with Spain defeating Japan, 3-1, and the U.S. earning a 2-0 win over England.

The no. 1-ranked American women created the most chances in the first half, but neither side could score. From the start of the second half, the U.S. kept the pressure on and Christen Press scored in the 53rd minute to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead off an assist from Carli Lloyd. Continued pressure led to a Lloyd goal just two minutes later, off a cross to the mouth of the goal by Lindsey Horan. The English mounted multiple attacks in the final half-hour, but were unable to convert; the American women outshot the English, 22-8 for the game.

The U.S. and Spain will meet on Sunday in Harrison, New Jersey at 5 p.m. Eastern time and telecast on ESPN, and TUDN in Spanish. Spain gave the U.S. its toughest game at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with the Americans winning, 2-1, in the Round of 16 thanks to two penalty kicks by Megan Rapinoe.

The third matches will be played on Wednesday, 11 March in Frisco, Texas (8 p.m. Eastern) with the U.S. playing Japan and England facing Spain.

● Gymnastics ● The Nassar-abuse legal proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana have continued to heat up. A very well-coordinated series of public appearances and tweets by Survivors Committee member Aly Raisman pounded the proposed USA Gymnastics reorganization plan as inadequate, complaining vociferously that it did not address her questions about the entire issues:

“How’d it begin? WE DON’T KNOW! Who looked away? WE DON’T KNOW! Why’d they stay? WE DON’T KNOW! Who tried 2 help & got pushed out? WE DON’T KNOW! Who didn’t try & just snuck out? WE DON’T KNOW! They come, they go. What did they know? Where’d they go? WE DON’T KNOW! WE DON’T KNOW!”

Scott Reid of the Orange County Register wrote in a 4 March story that “Attorneys for 512 of the 517 survivors who said they were sexually abused by former U.S. Olympic and women’s national team physician Larry Nassar and other USOPC and USA Gymnastics national team coaches and officials told [Southern California News Group] this week that none of their clients would vote to accept the proposed settlement.”

That was, however, hardly the last word on the subject. Two more filings were made with the Bankruptcy Court on Friday. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee filed a statement to “correct errors and misstatements” in the Survivors Committee request. USA Gymnastics objected to the appointment of a financial advisor for the Survivors Committee to evaluate how much money could be taken from the USOPC and still allow it to operate.

The USAG motion noted Reid’s article and others like it, and stated that:

“In light of the recent public statements by counsel representing nearly half of the sexual abuse claimants, as well as by Committee members themselves, that the Plan’s Settlement Election is unacceptable and should be rejected, it makes little sense for the Committee to spend estate resources evaluating third-party releases that exist only under the Settlement Election.”

A footnote added that “Collectively, two firms represent at least 256 of the 517 sexual abuse claimants (excluding sexual abuse claims that are duplicative, withdrawn, disallowed, or subject to pending objection).”

The next step is a hearing on Monday concerning the proposed reorganization plan from USA Gymnastics. Stay tuned.

● Weightlifting ● The International Weightlifting Federation postponed the 2020 Asian Championships, to have been held in Tashkent (UZB) from 16-25 April and canceled the 2020 World Junior Championships in Bucharest (ROU) from 13-21 March.

In the meantime, the independent inquiry into the corruption allegations made in an ARD television (GER) documentary by the Canada-based McLaren Global Sport Solutions has opened a Web site for whistleblower reporting, with communications support for 108 languages.

The first progress report to the IWF Council on the investigation is expected later this month.

● The Last Word ● Michael Payne was the IOC’s marketing chief for 17 years and knows a whole lot about companies and why they commit to sponsorships. He was bemused by a stunning 4 March tweet from the IOC’s Athlete365 account:

“Do you need help securing a sponsor? Look no further for expert advice

“1. Understand why companies sponsor
“2. Prepare by building an audience
“3. Decide what kind of sponsorship you want
“4. Figure out who to contact
“5. Make contact

“Learn more: https://www.olympic.org/athlete365/finance/5-easy-steps-to-find-sponsors/”

His reply, firmly tongue-in-cheek:

“Now we see how IOC sells TOP programme. Real simple.”

As anyone who has sold sponsorships can tell you, there is nothing easy or simple about it. The IOC’s Athlete365 group should know better, much better.

LANE ONE: Bach gets 13 of 14 questions about the coronavirus and Tokyo, but remains “fully committed”

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC President Thomas Bach of Germany

It was obvious that something was up, as Wednesday’s news conference with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER) was much more crowded than previous editions at the new IOC headquarters building in Lausanne, Switzerland.

And after the fifth straight question concerning the spreading coronavirus and July’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Bach smiled slightly and asked the assembled media:

“Do you have an agreement among yourselves that you try to get me into speculation there, finally?

“I can assure you I will not get tired, and to repeat the statement I made: the IOC is fully committed and we are not participating in any kind of speculation.”

No agreement was necessary and the questions continued, with Bach remaining resolute and focused, but he did add some worthwhile details:

● “I can tell you that today, in the meeting of the Executive Board, neither the word ‘cancellation’ not the word ‘postponement’ was even mentioned. And of course, we are a responsible organization; this is why we have this joint task force, which is having regular meetings, and there we are addressing there any issues which may arise. But we are not speculating on any kind of future developments.”

The joint task force includes the IOC, the Tokyo 2020 organizers, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the government of Japan and the World Health Organization.

● Two of the last three questions were essentially the same, asking how Bach could be so confident that the Games will go on as scheduled:

“Because we are in contact with all of these leading experts. The World Health Organization is a member of the joint task force. We have our own task force within the IOC with experts; the organizing committee has a task force and then we are getting together in the joint task force. And based on this information, on this consultation, we are fully committed to the success of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.”

and

“I had a conversation with the Director General of the World Health Organization and the leading people in the organization last Friday, and when we say we are fully committed to the success of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, we took this conversation into consideration as, as well as the contribution and advice the World Health Organization is giving on a regular basis to the joint task force.”

● Bach also quoted some figures from the Tokyo 2020 organizers from their report which underlines the importance of maintaining a positive outlook for the Games, especially within Japan itself:

“4.5 million Olympic tickets have been sold domestically in Japan, and to give you an indication of the enthusiasm of the Japanese people around these Olympic Games, one figure is maybe interesting for these 4.5 million tickets, there were over 80 – eight, zero – million requests since the start of the sale of tickets in Japan.”

Bach also spoke about a series of other initiatives that the IOC is undertaking, but that drew little interest from the media assembly.

One of them will show up at this summer’s Games in Tokyo: a change in the IOC’s Opening Ceremony protocol to allow National Olympic Committees to have two flagbearers – one male and one female – to jointly carry the flag into the stadium. (How two people are going to carry one flag is yet to be figured out; it would have been better to allow each NOC to have two flagbearers: one with the national flag and one with the flag of the NOC itself.)

Another is a new IOC program to create an “Olympic Forest” and a promise that future Games will be “carbon-positive”:

“We will have in Tokyo about 2.9 million tons of emissions related to the Games, which will be fully compensated. ‘Fully’ means not only be related to the activities of the OCOG, but the Olympic Games as such. And Paris is aiming for a reduction of these carbon emissions to 1.5 million [tons] already.

“And for the hosts of 2030 on, the IOC will make this commitment to be climate positive obligatory in the Host City Contract. This is a commitment with regard to the organization of the Olympic Games, but there is a second commitment, with regard to the IOC as an organization.

“Now, the IOC as an organization is carbon-neutral, already since 2017, but here again we wanted to lead by example and we do not want only to tell the organizers of the Olympic Games ‘you have to be climate positive,’ the IOC itself must lead by example and wants to become climate-positive as soon as possible, and that means way before 2030. So as a part of these efforts, to become climate-positive as soon as possible, the IOC will start planting an Olympic Forest, starting in 2021. And this will help the IOC to become climate-positive , and with this Olympic forest, we will contribute to the project, which is backed by the United Nations Environmental Program – by UNEP – and is initiated by the African Union with a number of African states and some other international organizations and is planned for the Sahel region of Africa.” (The Sahel is the region just below the Sahara Desert, running the width of the continent, including parts of 14 countries: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.)

No interest.

Bach did comment on China, where the coronavirus has had the most impact, commending the Beijing 2022 winter organizers, who did appear in Lausanne to report on their progress:

“Despite these challenges, the organizing committee could present their report, which shows – with impressive numbers – how successful they are in their engagement program. So they’re well on target to make 300 million Chinese people familiar with winter sports. They have, already now, just a couple of months after the start of the program, 670,000 applications for just 39,000 volunteer positions , and the application phase is still going on until next year. So we can expect some more record numbers , and also the marketing program is extremely well on the way: there are already 10 marketing partners.

“They had to cancel in China [a] FIS World Cup, but on the other hand, we were informed about various successful China national winter games, which were held at the new Olympic venues.”

There was one question that wasn’t aimed in part at Tokyo 2020 and the virus issue, asked about the status of the suspended International Boxing Association (AIBA) and the agreement to hold the Paris 2024 surfing competition in Tahiti.

On AIBA, Bach put down the hammer.

“We also had a very short report of the monitoring group of AIBA, which is – as you know – separate from the organizing group for the competition. And there, you would not get me to say that I am optimistic, and this is not because the report was so short. So we will have to see how this will go on. We keep monitoring this, but I cannot say more at this moment in time.”

The federation was to hold a special congress to elect new officers and pass reform legislation this month in Budapest (HUN), but this has been postponed – due to the coronavirus – until 20 June. But Bach’s comment is not good news.

Bach added that the IOC agreed to the Paris 2024 request for Tahiti after considering the environmental impact, but most especially because of the “athlete’s experience: we are told that the surfing athletes are really eager to have this competition in Tahiti because of the conditions there, the waves.”

Always the politician, Bach smiled at the end of 30-plus minutes of questions and closed with a off-the-cuff laugh line: “Thank you for your great interest in gender and climate and have a nice evening.” He was hardly tired.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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THE BIG PICTURE: IOC expects Tokyo Games to go on as scheduled, passes on new transgender rules, OKs ‘24 surfing in Tahiti

By
Rich Perelman
-

Within the Olympic world, Tuesday’s attention was on Lausanne and the meeting of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee … and the potential impact of the coronavirus on the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

IOC President Thomas Bach told reporters that “Following a very comprehensive discussion today with the Executive Board, the IOC remains fully committed to the success of the Tokyo Games 2020.

“I would like to encourage all the athletes to continue their preparation for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 with great confidence and full steam.”

The IOC further released a statement about the situation, including

“A joint task force had already been created in mid-February, involving the IOC, Tokyo 2020, the host city of Tokyo, the government of Japan and the World Health Organization (WHO). The IOC EB appreciates and supports the measures being taken, which constitute an important part of Tokyo’s plans to host safe and secure Games.

“The IOC will continue to follow the advice of WHO, as the leading United Nations agency on this topic. The IOC EB expressed its thanks to WHO for its continued valuable advice and cooperation.”

At a 33-minute news conference following the Executive Board meeting, IOC spokesman Mark Adams (GBR) was asked question after question about the situation, but his first answer was the best. Queried how the IOC could be so sure the Games will take place as planned, beginning on 24 July:

“All the advice we are getting from the competent authorities, and the most important one is the U.N.-recognized leads in this, which is the WHO. As you know, there is not even an international travel ban and still not a pandemic announced. All the advice we’re getting is that the Games can and will go ahead.

“There are some issues and complications with qualification, although thankfully National Olympic Committees and IFs are working very closely together and we have seen to be doing a very good job in making sure athletes can compete. So, at this precise time, we are working, moving ahead and expect the Games to begin on the 24th of July.”

Adams was further asked if there had been any Executive Board discussion of a deadline to make a decision about changes to the Games, and the answer was no. (If you are looking at the calendar, the date to keep in mind is not 24 July – the date of the Opening Ceremony – but 14 July, when the Olympic Village will open.)

That’s where we are right now.

There was some outside noise injected into the discussions from Tokyo, where the Japanese government’s Olympics Minister, Seiko Hashimoto, told the National Diet in response to a question that “The IOC has the right to cancel the games only if they are not held during 2020. This can be interpreted to mean the games can be postponed as long as they are held during the calendar year.”

The coronavirus discussion obscured some of the other important business discussed by the Executive Board, including:

● Agreement to the transfer of allegiance for 11 athletes on an expedited basis, including four Russians all now competing for Uzbekistan. These four include potential medal winners Olga Zabelinskaya (road cycling) and Ilyas Bekbulatov (wrestling: Freestyle/70 kg) and two modern pentathletes. Also, ex-Iranian judo World Champion Saeid Mollaei was approved to compete for Mongolia, after being listed as a refugee athlete following his defection last year.

● The IOC passed on changing its outdated 2015 guidelines on transgender athletes, stating that to do so now – so close to the Tokyo Games – would be unfair:

“To date, the IOC has started a process of consultation to consider not only the medical, scientific and legal perspectives, but also that of human rights, with an emphasis on the view and experiences of affected athletes.

“Overall, the discussions so far have confirmed considerable tension between the notions of fairness and inclusion, and the desire and need to protect the women’s category. Opinions are very diverse and difficult to reconcile, and perceptions differ strongly. The new IOC guidelines will have to balance all of these.”

The current goal is not to create a “one size fits all rule,” but “a framework of voluntary guidelines for athletes and International Federations.” The 2015 guidelines suggest a serum testosterone limit for the women’s division of 10 nmol/L, but both World Athletics and the Union Cycliste International have adopted a 5 nmol/L limit, following up on the research in athletics that led to the same limit level for athletes with hydroandrogenism such as South Africa’s double 800 m Olympic champ Caster Semenya of South Africa.

The IOC also approved the proposal by the Paris 2024 organizers to create a temporary venue at the Place de la Concorde for multiple events, and to place the surfing competitions in Tahiti at Teahupo’o, one of the world’s great surfing sites. In his post-meeting news conference, Adams noted not only the enthusiasm of the 2024 organizers to use Tahiti, but the excitement of some of the surfers to compete there rather than in Biarritz, a recent host of the ISA World Championships.

● REAX ● Although it’s just one sport and a small number of competitors, one must ask whether the Paris organizers are doing the International Surfing Association any favors by placing that competition to far away from France. Out of sight, out of mind? And looking ahead to Los Angeles in 2028, the Southern California surfing community will certainly not be interested in placing an Olympic competition in Hawaii!

With the Richard McLaren-led investigation into charges of corruption in the International Weightlifting Federation now in high gear, the IOC also noted “It is with great respect that the IOC Executive Board today had to accept the resignation of Mr. Tamas Ajan from his status as an IOC honorary member.” Ajan, the longtime IWF Secretary General and then President, is sharing his duties while the inquiry takes place and was a member of the IOC from 2000-2010.

● REAX ● Resigning from the IOC is one of the last things that Ajan wants to do and having known him over decades, is undoubtedly deeply distressing to the 81-year-old Hungarian. But by doing so, he removes the question to the IOC leadership of why he continues to be a member, even on an honorary basis. He has plenty of other things to worry about going forward.

The IOC Executive Board meeting will continue on Wednesday, with Bach scheduled to give a news conference at about 7 p.m. Lausanne time; check here for live video coverage.

LANE ONE: Nassar survivors committee targets USOPC as deep pocket in settlement vs. litigation election

By
Rich Perelman
-

The ultimate strategy of the high-profile survivors of the Larry Nassar sex-abuse cases was unveiled via a court filing last Friday: target the assets of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.

The filing by the “Additional Tort Claimants Committee of Sexual Abuse” asks the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana to approve the hiring of Nashville, Tennessee-based Gibbins Advisors for “[a]dvising the Survivors’ Committee in investigating the assets, liabilities and financial condition of the USOPC.”

The specific reason for the request is further explained, with regard to the forthcoming election by the 517 plaintiffs against USA Gymnastics and others on the proposed Reorganization Plan for USA Gymnastics, which includes a settlement option that would trigger $217.125 million in damages payments:

“The non-consensual third party releases and channeling injunction would extinguish all Abuse Claims for compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages against USOPC. USOPC is not contributing any of its own funds as consideration for the release and channeling injunction. The Disclosure Statement contains no information relating to USOPC’s financial condition or its ability to make a contribution of its own funds as consideration for its release while maintaining viability to fulfill its mission” and

“Some of the jurisdictions in which cases against USOPC are pending permit discovery of a defendant’s financial condition in connection with punitive damages claim. Therefore, the Abuse Claimants need disclosure concerning USOPC’s financial condition to evaluate what they would be giving up by making the Settlement Election. The Court will also need this information to determine if the payments under the Plan constitute sufficient consideration to release the claims against USOPC, including the punitive damages claims.”

What does this mean in plain language?

(1) The Claimants Committee, which consists of nine women who have filed as abuse survivors, is unhappy that the Settlement Election option settles all cases – now and in the future – in one stroke and absolves all of the related players – including the USOPC – from any further exposure to liability.

Olympic gold-medal winners Simone Biles and Aly Raisman railed against this aspect of the proposal on tweets reported on Saturday (29th), with Raisman stating:

“The problem is USAG & USOC don’t want anyone to know. This is a massive cover up. The only way for anyone to know what really happened is if someone forces them to release ALL documents & data to investigate. HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS HAPPEN?”

(2) In order to advise its individual claimants on the proposal, the committee wants to hire an expert to estimate how much money it might recover from the USOPC, that would still allow the USOPC to continue operations.

(3) This information will be important to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court as well to determine if the financial aspects of the settlement plan filed by USA Gymnastics are “fair.”

This is pretty sophisticated stuff from the Claimants Committee and its legal team; it’s worthwhile to note that the claimants group includes two attorneys, Rachel Denhollander and Sarah Klein, who are both co-chairs. Consider:

● The proposal plan of reorganization for USA Gymnastics, if approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, will go to a vote in April and early May by the claim holders. It can be approved, either with a “Settlement” option or a “Litigation” option.

If the Settlement option is adopted, all 517 of the claimants will receive a cash payout from $1.25 million down to $82,550, depending on the nature of the claim. If the Litigation option is adopted, then everyone is on their own and has to re-file within 30 days.

● The request for information about the USOPC ‘s financial situation and the tweets by Biles and Raisman are interesting tactics to counter the guaranteed payout being offered by the Settlement option. In simplest terms, the pitch is that it’s more important to uncover “all the facts” and affix specific blame to individuals and organizations – ostensibly so that such abuse will never happen again – then to receive the promised financial compensation, which would have to be sought after in individual trials that will take years (and may recover nothing).

● The public threat of going after the USOPC’s assets could create pressure on that organization to sweeten the pot. The Claimants’ filing states that the USOC is putting none of its own money; this is technically correct, but the USOPC was an additional insured on the USA Gymnastics policies and the settlement offer of $217.125 million could not have been made without the USOPC’s agreement, for which it required all claims against it to be settled.

The Plan specifically states that “Nothing contained in this Plan constitutes an admission or denial by any Person of liability for, or the validity or priority, amount or extent of any Claim … asserted against [USA Gymnastics] or any third party.” This and the agreement to release all parties by taking the Settlement option is for the protection of groups like the USOPC against further actions for punitive damages or other causes of action.

The USOPC’s assets are not actually the subject of much doubt. Its 2018 financials showed $594 million in assets, including about $495 million in cash and investments. In 2018 alone, it took in $296 million and spent $270 million.

However, if the USOPC were to agree to contribute anything more than its coverage as an additional insured, it could open itself to claims from athletes in other sports – swimming and taekwondo come to mind – that abuse survivors there also deserve compensation (and possibly, punitive damages).

Is there some middle ground? Possibly, but that’s not going to come out in any public filing until an agreement – privately negotiated – is made.

● The Claimants’ Committee’s attorneys are well aware of sec. 1129 (b) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which allows the Bankruptcy Court to confirm the Reorganization Plan, even if it loses in a vote, “if the plan does not discriminate unfairly, and is fair and equitable, with respect to each class of claims or interests that is impaired under, and has not accepted, the plan.”

The Court could find that the Settlement program is the fairest to all of the 517 claim holders, since it pays them all, rather than leaving each of them to their own fate in an uncertain legal environment for probably 451 of the 517 plaintiffs (87.2%). The 66 claimants against USA Gymnastics who alleged abuse in events hosted or owned by the federation would have a fair-to-good opportunity for recovery in suits against USAG and/or the USOPC. Those 66 are the ones whose proposed compensation is $1,250,758 each.

There is also the matter of de-certification of USA Gymnastics, which was begun by the USOPC, but halted once the Chapter 11 filing was made in 2018. Once the election or defeat of the Plan has been made, the Bankruptcy Court oversight of USA Gymnastics can be concluded and the de-certification process could actually begin.

But, it’s worth remembering that even if the USOPC decides to remove USA Gymnastics as the National Governing Body for the sport in the U.S., its word is not final. The Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, at 36 U.S.C. sec. 220529 requires that an NGB whose recognition has been revoked by the USOPC “may obtain review by any regional office of the American Arbitration Association” and “Final decision of the arbitrators is binding on the parties if the award is not inconsistent with the constitution and bylaws of the [USOPC].”

We’re not close to the end of this, but the next step comes in a hearing on 9 March in Indianapolis for the Bankruptcy Court to determine if the Reorganization Plan can go to a vote. Then it’s up to the survivors to determine what’s next.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HIGHLIGHTS: Big wins for Germany in Bobsled, Luge and Cycling; world record for Chloe Dygert Owen; U.S. shooting & table tennis picks Olympians

By
Rich Perelman
-
New U.S. 25 m Pistol Olympian Lexi Lagan

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

It’s been a busy weekend in international sport; click here for our coverage of track & field, including U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials wins for Galen Rupp and Aliphine Tuliamuk, a fast Tokyo Marathon that was limited only to the elite runners, and hot running in the Boston University Last Chance meet, with n American Indoor Record in the 3,000 m for Karissa Schweizer.

● ALPINE SKIING ● The FIS Alpine World Cup started the final month of its season, but without much skiing due to heavy weather for both men and women.

In Hinterstoler (AUT), Austrian veteran Vincent Kreichmayr won the Super-G on Saturday and France’s Alexis Pinturault won one of his favorite events – the Alpine Combined – on Sunday. Swiss Mauro Caviezel was second in both and has three silvers in the last four races. The scheduled Giant Slalom has been postponed to Monday. With nine races left out of 43 on the season, Norway’s Alexander Aamodt Kilde still leads with 1,082 points, followed by Pinturault (1,048) and Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR: 981). Full results here.

The women had it even tougher. Austria’s Nina Ortlieb won Saturday’s Super-G, ahead of World Cup leader Federica Brignone (ITA) at La Tuhile (ITA), but Sunday’s Combined was snowed out and next week’s Giant Slalom and Slalom in Ofterschwang (GER) were canceled with bad weather ahead. Full results here.

With 30 of 37 races completed, Brignone leads American Mikaela Shiffrin by 1,378-1,225, with no indication of a return by Shiffren this season, after the death of her father in January. Slovakian star Petra Vlhova is now third at 1,189.

● BOBSLED & SKELETON ● The World Championships in Altenberg concluded on Sunday with a German sweep of the second week. Double Olympic champ Francesco Friedrich (GER) drove his four-man sled to a third straight world title; he now owns 11 Worlds wins plus two silvers for a career total of 13. He has now won both the 2-man and 4-man titles in three straight Worlds. Germany swept the event, with Johannes Lochner second and Nico Walther third.

German entries swept the Skeleton events, with Christopher Grotheer, Axel Jungk and Alexander Gassner taking the men’s medals and Tina Hermann winning her third world title (and second in a row). Swiss Marina Gilardoni was surprise silver medalist, ahead of Austria’s Janine Flock. Jacqueline Loelling and Gassner teamed to win the Mixed Team event. Full results here.

● CURLING ● Tabitha Peterson and Joe Polo won the USA Curling Mixed Doubles National Championship in Bemidji, Minnesota on Sunday with a 7-4 win over defending champions Cory Christiansen and John Shuster in the final.

A three-point fourth end was decisive and the winners will represent the U.S. at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Canada in April. More details here.

● CYCLING ● The seven-stage UAE Tour on the UCI World Tour was cut short by two days when two confirmed cases of the coronavirus were reported for two Italian staff members of one of the participating teams. All of the riders and staff were quarantined in their hotels until tested and released. The standings after five days showed Britain’s Adam Yates as the winner, 1:01 ahead of Tadej Pogacar (SLO) and Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ: +1:33). Full results here.

The European “Classics” season opened on Saturday with the 75th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite race from Ghent to Ninove (200 km) in Belgium, with a 1-2 for the home crowd. Jasper Stuyven outleaned Yves Lampaert at the finish, with Dane Soren Kragh Andersen third (+0:06). It’s the first win for Stuyven in this race; he had been no better than fourth in four prior tries. Full results here.

The Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin (GER) were closely watched as a preview of the action in Tokyo this summer, with the home team and the Dutch having the most to cheer about. Sprinter Harrie Lavreysen (NED) won the Sprint, the Keirin and joined Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg in the Team Sprint for three golds during the event. Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen won the men’s Madison with Michael Morkov and garnered a second gold as a member of the winning Team Pursuit squad. Ashton Lambie of the U.S. won the only American men’s medal with a silver in the Individual Pursuit, won by Italy’s Filippo Ganna.

The women’s races had another triple winner in the Sprints, with German Emma Hinze thrilling the home crowd with golds in the Sprint and Keirin and as a member of the Team Sprint with Pauline Grabosch. American Chloe Dygert Owen won the Individual Pursuit (in world-record time: 3:17.283) and joined Jennifer Valente, Emma White and Lily Williams for another American gold in the Team Pursuit. Valente won silver medals in the Scratch Race and Points Race and finished fifth in the Omnium after an exhausting schedule. Her three medals give her a career Worlds total of nine. Dygert Owen has now won the Worlds Pursuit three times and the Team Pursuit four times and the U.S. is a clear medal favorite for Tokyo in that event.

Dutch star Kirsten Wild won both the Scratch Race and the women’s Madison, riding with Amy Pieters. The Dutch won the most total medals with nine (and led with six golds), with Germany winning eight medals (4-1-3), followed by Italy (6) and the U.S. and France (5). Full results here.

● DIVING ● The opening leg of the 2020 FINA Diving World Series was held in Montreal (CAN) over the weekend, with the perennially-favored Chinese staying home because of the coronavirus outbreak there.

That opened the door for host Canada, which collected six golds and eight medals overall in the 10 events. Philippe Gagne scored an upset over Britain’s two-time Worlds bronze medalist, Jack Laugher, in the 3 m Springboard, and Jennifer Abel won the women’s 3 m, with Meaghan Benfeito taking the 10 m Platform title. Abel and Melissa Citrini Beaulieu won the Synchro 3 m and Benfeito and Caeli McKay took the Synchro 10 m. Finally, Abel won a third event with Francois Imbeau-Dulac in the Mixed 3 m.

Russian divers won three events and had the most total medals with nine. Platform star Viktor Minibaev took silver in the men’s 10 m, then teamed with Aleksandr Bondar to win the men’s Synchro 10 m, and with Ekaterina Beliaeva in the Mixed 10 m Synchro. Nikita Shleikher and Evgenii Kuznetsov won the men’s 3 m Synchro.

The lone American medal was won by Mike Hixon, third in the men’s 3 m Springboard. Full results here.

● FREESTYLE SKIING ● A light schedule this week had only a Dual Moguls events in Shymbuylak (KAZ), with Japan’s Ikuma Horishima winning his first Dual Moguls gold of the season, just ahead of Canadian superstar Mikael Kingsbury. The women’s event saw U.S. star Jaelin Kauf win for the first time this season; she’s the only woman with medals in all three events so far (1-1-1); France’s seasonal leader, Perrine Laffont, was third.

In the Aerials competition, American Chris Lillis won a medal for the second straight event, taking the victory over Swiss Pirmin Werner. Ukraine’s Nadiya Mokhnatska won the women’s event over Megan Nick of the U.S. Full results here.

● LUGE ● The ninth and final stop of the 2019-20 World Cup circuit in Koenigssee (GER) saw more German dominance, with wins in the women’s and Doubles divisions, as well as seasonal titles.

Newcomer Anna Berreiter (20) won the women’s race for her second victory in the last three, but second-place Julia Taubitz (GER) was the seasonal winner with 965 points to 957 for Russia’s Tatiana Ivanova. American Summer Britcher finished fifth, just behind Berreiter, 637-523.

The German Doubles team of Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken won their fourth meet of the season in a tight duel with teammates Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt and won the seasonal title again, 872-847 over Wendl and Arlt, defending their 2019 crown.

Russian Semen Pavlichenko won the men’s racing by 0.03 over Austria’s Jonas Muller and countryman Roman Repilov, but it was Repilov coming out on top for the season by 765-749-741 over Dominik Fischnaller (ITA) and defending champ Pavlichenko. Full results here.

● MODERN PENTATHLON ● The 2020 World Cup season opened in Cairo (EGY), with Hungary’s 35-year-old Adam Marosi showing he plans to be a contender this season. The Olympic bronze medalist in 2012 and World Champion in 2009, he out-scored Korea’s Woongtae Jun, 1,470-1,460 thanks to his big win in fencing and strong swimming performance.

Britain’s Joanna Muir used a strong finish in the Laser Run to take the women’s title, finishing with the same point total as Russian Uliana Batashova, but out-leaning her at the line. It was Muir’s first-ever individual World Cup medal!

The home fans had plenty to cheer in the Team Relay, as Egypt’s Eslam Hamad and Haydy Morsy and Ahmed Elgendy and Salma Abdelmaksoud went 1-2. Full results here.

● NORDIC SKIING ● The Cross Country skiers were in Lahti (FIN) and home favorite Iivo Niskanen won his second event of the season in the 15 km Classical, besting overall leader Alexander Bolshunov (RUS).

Norway’s Therese Johaung won the women’s 10 km Classical for her astonishing 17th victory of the season, essentially giving her the seasonal title for the third time. Johaug claimed the all-time record for most distance-race wins with 63, surpassing countrywoman Marit Bjoergen. Full results here.

In the Nordic Combined racing, also in Lahti, Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber – who has already clinched the season title – failed to win a medal for the first time this season, finishing 10th! Instead, it was 2017-18 season champ Akito Watabe who got his first win of the season, , 2.9 seconds ahead of Jorgen Graabak (NOR). Full results here.

The Lahti festival was completed with the 999th and 1,000th ski jumping competitions in the history of the men’s World Cup and it was seasonal leader Stefan Kraft (AUT) and Karl Geiger (GER) who traded wins on the 130 m hill. They were 1-2 on Saturday and 2-1 on Sunday, leaving Kraft in front, 1,613-1,495 after 25 of 29 events. Full results here.

● RUGBY ● The men’s Sevens Series came to the Los Angeles area – Carson, California to be exact – for the fifth of the 10 tournaments, with South Africa claiming its second title with a 29-24 win over Fiji in the final.

Fiji, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand won their pools and then the Fijians crushed Oz, 43-7 in their semi. The All Blacks shut down New Zealand, 17-0, in the other semi, leaving New Zealand to out-point Australia, 19-17, in the third-place game. Full results here.

Through five tournaments, New Zealand still leads with 93 points to 89 for the South Africans, 72 for Fiji and 67 for France in fourth.

● SAILING ● In the Laser Radial World Championships off Melbourne (AUS), Dutch star (and reigning Olympic champ) Marit Bouwmeester won her fourth title, just holding off countrywoman Maxime Jonker, 42-44, after a bad medal race finished a week of difficult weather. Full results here.

The men’s and women’s RS:X World Championships finished on Saturday off Victoria (AUS), with more Dutch medals as Kiran Badloe won the title with 37 net points against Rio Olympic champ Dorian van Rijsselberghe (39) and Thomas Goyard (FRA: 56). Full results here.

Lilian van Geus (NED) won the women’s RS:X title with 42 points and had three wins – including the medal final – to beat Rio 2016 gold medalist Charline Picon (FRA: 51) and Israel’s Noy Drihan (52). Full results here.

● SHOOTING ● USA Shooting got serious with more Olympic Trials events with the Spring Selection Match in Air Pistols in Ft. Benning, Georgia and the Shotgun Spring Selection in Tucson, Arizona.

At Ft. Benning, the women’s 10 m Air Pistol did not have an Olympic quota spot available, but the U.S. has two in the 25 m Sport Pistol. The top two were the same in both: Lexi Lagan and Sandra Uptagrafft. Lagan won the Spring Selection Match with 1,151 points to 1,144 from Katelyn Abeln. But the aggregate of the two stages of the Trials saw Lagan compile 2,294 points to 2,281 for Uptagrafft, with Abeln third at 2,265.

In the 25 m Sport Pistol, Lagan defeated Abeln in the Spring Selection Match again, 1,168-1,152 and both made the team. But Lagan and Uptagrafft were 1-2 in the final total with 2,332 and 2,298, with Abeln the first alternate at 2,281. Tweeted Lagan afterwards: “I still can’t fully comprehend that I am going to the Olympics this year! This is such an amazing journey. I am so excited to see what 2020 has in store for me!”

In the men’s events, the 10 m Air Pistol Spring Selection Match was won by Nick Mowrer (1,165) with James Hall (1,156) and Keith Sanderson third (1,149). The two-stage total had Mowrer and Hall make the Olympic Team, 2,328 and 2,295, with Hunter Battig third (2,288).

Sanderson came back to take the one qualifying spot for the team at 2,315 in the 25 m Sport Pistol; he won the Spring Selection Match at 1,162, ahead of Henry Leverett (1,148). Full results here.

In Tucson, the Shotgun Spring Selection picked the Trap team, where the U.S. has two slots in both men and women. Seth Inman won the three-day match with 191 points, ahead of Brian Burrows (188) and Derrick Mein (185). Mein topped the Olympic selection total, with 428 points, winning over Burrows (424) and Inman (422; alternate).

Kayle Browning and Madelynn Bernau both scored 176 points in the Spring Selection Match, just one ahead of Corey Cogdell-Unrein (175). Browning won the Olympic selection with 408 points, with Bernau (400) second and Ashley Carroll (399) third (alternate). Full results here.

● SNOWBOARD ● The Parallel Giant Slalom was held at Blue Mountain in Canada, with Russian Dmitriy Loginov winning his first event of the season, just ahead of German Stefan Baumeister in the men’s division. Italy’s Roland Fischnaller won the seasonal title by 4,900-3,380 over Austria’s Benjamin Karl.

Ramona Hofmeister (GER) won her sixth event in the Parallel division (out of 10 events) for the season, and wrapped up both the overall Parallel crown and the Parallel Giant Slalom title. Full results here.

● SPEED SKATING ● The ISU World Sprint and Allround Championships were held in Hamar (NOR) with Japan and the Netherlands taking the top honors.

Japanese sprinters won both divisions. Tatsuya Shinhama was second and first in the two 500 m races and first and third in the 1,000 m sprints to compile a total time of 137.465 seconds, 24/100ths ahead of Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil and 0.96 ahead of Min-Kyu Cha (KOR). Miho Takagi won her second World Sprint title in a tight battle with countrywoman Nao Kodaira, 148.870-150.150, with Olga Fatkulina (RUS) third (150.430). Takagi and Kodaira were 1-2 and 2-1 in the 500 m races, but Takagi won both 1,000 m events to clinch the crown. Brittany Bowe of the U.S. finished sixth overall.

The Allround title were won by the Dutch, with Patrick Roest winning his third men’s title (147.880), ahead of Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR: 149.277) and Seitaro Ichinohe (JPN: 149.310). Roest won the 1,000 m, 1,500 m, 5,000 m and the 10,000 m to dominate the event. Ireen Wust won her seventh World Allround title in similar fashion, winning the 1,500 m and finishing second in the 5,000 m to finish with a total time of 159.524 to 160.462 for Canada’s Ivanie Blondin and 160.631 for Antoinette de Jong (NED). Full results here.

● SPORT CLIMBING ● The IFSC Pan American Championships were held at the Sender One Climbing facility near the Los Angeles International Airport, with American climbers dominating the men’s event. Colin Duffy (10 points), Zach Galla (16), Zander Waller (18) and Sean Bailey (48) claimed the top four places in the combined program (Speed/Bouldering/Lead).

Canada’s Alannah Yip won the women’s title with 15 points, well ahead of Alejandra Contreras of Chile (36) and American Lauren Bair (also 36) in third. Both Duffy and Yip qualified for the Tokyo Games as winners; further continental qualifiers are still to come. Full results here.

● TABLE TENNIS ● The 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials were on at Santa Monica College, with furious competition for the three spots available to American players for Tokyo. In the men’s competition, Kanak Jha was already qualified for the Games because of his strong world ranking. Going into Sunday’s final three rounds, Zhou Xin and Nikhil Kumar had 4-0 records, with Tom Feng at 3-1. Xin and Kumar both won their first two matches and with 6-0 records, faced off in the final, but both were on the team. Kumar, 17, took the first two sets, 11-8, 11-9 and then Xin tied it with 11-8 and 11-2 wins. But Kumar came back with 11-9 and 11-7 to take the Trials title and joins Jha as teenagers on the American team.

The women’s situation was similar, with Lily Zhang already in via her world ranking. In the Sunday finals, Liu Juan had a 4-0 record going in with three others at 3-1. Liu skipped through her matches to get to the final at 6-0, with Wang Hujing coming in at 5-1 and on the team. The matches were close, but Liu swept the sets by 15-13, 11-9, 11-6 and 13-11.

THE TICKER: Sun sets on China’s star freestyler; Russia vs. WADA timetable get clearer and coronavirus now clearing stadiums worldwide

By
Rich Perelman
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport

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

● Court Watch I: Yang Sun suspended for 8 years ● The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) finally announced its decision in the Yang Sun case, finding the three-time Olympic champion violated the World Anti-Doping Code and imposed an eight-year suspension from international competition.

The heavy sentence was levied because this was Sun’s second doping-rules offense; he had previously been sanctioned in 2014 and the anti-doping rules of the international federation for aquatics (FINA) call for an eight-year ban.

The three-member arbitration panel was unanimous that Sun had violated the FINA rules dealing with “tampering with any part of Doping Control,” noting

“[T]he Athlete failed to establish that he had a compelling justification to destroy his sample collection containers and forego the doping control when, in his opinion, the collection protocol was not in compliance with the ISTI [International Standard for Testing & Investigations]. As the Panel noted, it is one thing, having provided a blood sample, to question the accreditation of the testing personnel while keeping the intact samples in the possession of the testing authorities; it is quite another thing, after lengthy exchanges and warnings as to the consequences, to act in such a way that results in destroying the sample containers, thereby eliminating any chance of testing the sample at a later stage.”

Sun was visited by doping control officers in September 2018 at his home. He did provide a blood sample, but refused to provide a urine sample and questioned the authenticity of the doping-control team. The blood sample was destroyed before the doping-control team left and while the FINA Doping Panel ruled that the collection procedures were invalid, the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed.

It’s worthwhile to note that Sun did not fail any test. In fact, the CAS Panel specifically noted that Sun’s wins at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in the 200 and 400 m Freestyles were not to be invalidated. But not providing a sample is, for him, just as bad as a failed test.

Sun has promised to appeal the CAS decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, but his chances there are poor. Now 28, he will not be eligible for another international championship until 2028, when he will be 36.

The Court issued only a news release on the decision on Friday, and stated that the detailed decision would be available soon “unless the parties agree that it should remain confidential.” Let’s hope not.

Interestingly, CAS agreed with another appeal in swimming, but annulled a four-year ban last Thursday on Italian swimmer Filippo Magnini. The Italian national anti-doping organization had found Magnini – based on a criminal investigation into doping by Italian authorities in 2015 – had participated in a “Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method” and banned him for four years. Magnini, now 38 and retired, won the 100 m Free at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships.

● Court Watch II: CAS sets Russia sanctions appeals timeline ●The Russian appeal of the four-year sanction handed out by WADA is now in process at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with a three-member panel named and a large group of “interested parties” getting ready to submit arguments.

With the Tokyo Games coming in late July, the timetable allows for written submissions until the middle of April and a hearing “which will not take place before the end of April 2020.” WADA had asked for the heating to be public, but will not be due to “the absence of an agreement between all parties concerned.” Any doubt as to who objected?

The added parties include the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, Russian Olympic Committee, Russian Paralympic Committee, International Ice Hockey Federation and multiple individual Russian athletes (who were not named).

The strategy from the Russian Anti-Doping Agency and other Russian parties has been clear since the WADA decision was confirmed last December: delay, possibly long enough to allow Russian athletes to compete in Tokyo 2020. But if the CAS hearing can be held before the end of April, it’s not unreasonable to expect a decision – an announcement, not the detailed explanation – within a couple of months. That would be around 1 July, before the Olympic Village opens and with insufficient time for an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

● Athletics ● The drumbeat of doping positives being reported by the Athletics Integrity Unit continues unabated. Within the last week, Kenyan distance runner Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemboi – a 2:05:44 marathoner in 2018 and the 2012 African Champion in the 10,000 m – was charged with testing for a prohibited substance, and Ukranian 800 m runner Nataliia Krol (1:59.70 best) was alleged to have used a prohibited substance.

Moreover, in an interview with the British site Telegraph.com, Brett Clothier (AUS), the AIU chief, said that dopinghas been “rampant” among professional marathoners:

“We did a statistical study that showed that, in 2018, of all the marathon races around the world outside of the six major marathons, something like 70% to 80% of the podium finishers didn’t have any out-of-competition tests in the nine months leading up to the race.

“There was just no testing. Not only that, but the athletes weren’t in a testing pool so they knew no-one was going to test them.”

Clothier said that “Based on what has happened in the past, yes, for sure there will be cases before the Olympics that will shock people.” Stay tuned.

● Coronavirus update ● The continued spread of the coronavirus around the world is impacting events everywhere, with no end in sight. In the past few days:

● Switzerland: The Swissinfo.ch site reported that “Switzerland has imposed a ban on public events that gather more than 1,000 people together in the same place until at least March 15 in response to the coronavirus threat.”

● Italy: The FIS Alpine World Cup Finals scheduled to be held in March in Cortina d’Ampezzo will go on as scheduled, but – for now – without spectators. Multiple league football matches in Serie A and Serie B will also be held without spectators this weekend.

● Korea: The ISU World Short-Track Championships, set to be held in Seoul in mid-March, was canceled last Wednesday. The International Table Tennis Federation postponed its World Championships in Busan from mid-March to late June.

You can follow the worldwide status of the disease on the Johns Hopkins CSSE dashboard here.

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The chief executive of Discovery, Inc., the parent company of hit U.S. networks like Discovery, TLC, Food Network and the owner of the European rights to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, said on Thursday that even a cancellation of the Games would not impact the company’s financial performance.

The New York Post reported former NBC executive David Zaslav as noting, “It won’t have an adverse impact on financials.” Discovery’s revenue for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $2.87 billion, with net income of $476 million. Eurosport, which is 51% owned by Discovery, bought the pan-European rights to the 2016-18-20-22-24 games for 1.3 billion Euro (~$1.43 billion U.S.) in 2015.

● Vox Populi ● More on our Heard at Halftime column from last Tuesday on the passing of legendary track & field businessman and statistician Dick Bank from Los Angeles-area coach Ron Brumel:

“As one who came of age during the era between, 1960-64, I remember Mr. Bank doing commentary on Wide World of Sports, ABC’s weekly anthology.

“Back then, indoor track was huge, and Jim Beatty, the first indoor sub-4 minute miler, was a main attraction. His races with Tom O’Hara and many others were a weekly draw, and Dick (alongside host Jim McKay), would breathlessly comment on the splits of the race, strategy, and other trivia of track nuttiness.

“As for Mills:

“I first noticed him at the 1963 National XC Championship at Van Courtlandt Park in the Bronx, still (IMO) the classic American XC course, with both rolling and steep hills, and many long stretches upon which to make surging moves.

“It was my first time seeing world class distance runners up close, and me and my track nut friend, Mitch Edison, ran up and down the hills at various angles to catch the runners as they came by different stretches of the course.

“The race was between American Pete McArdle, and young Canadian phenom Bruce Kidd. I’ll never forget the final stretch with those two fighting it out to the end. Honestly, I don’t remember who won, just the battle, and back in third place, an unknown Marine named Billy Mills, maybe a good 100 yards behind the first two.

“Edison pointed him out to me, saying, ‘watch that Mills guy, he ran a great race.’ And of course, the following summer, after being the third American in the 10,000 meters in the Olympic Trials, upset the world at Tokyo.

“Such a great part of American history. Will our high school kids have memories like this, or is the sport forever tainted by professionalism and cheating coaches?

“All of the Mills’s are now out of the East African contingencies, only they’re running unfathomable times as teenagers. So it goes.”

ATHLETICS: Rupp wins as expected, Tuliamuk & Seidel shock in U.S. Marathon Trials in Coldlanta

By
Rich Perelman
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The U.S. Olympic Marathon Team: Seidel, Tuliamuk, Kipyego, Riley, Rupp and Abdirahman (Photo: Atlanta Track Club)

On a difficult, hilly, cold and windy course in downtown Atlanta, Galen Rupp showed that he is the dominant American marathoner at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday afternoon. But who were those American women?

Rupp was the obvious choice in the men’s race and after Brian Shrader broke away from the pack and led for almost all of the first half of the race, Rupp stepped on the gas in the 15th mile and closed the gap, finally taking the lead by the 16-mile mark.

He led a small pack through 19 miles, with Augustus Maiyo, Abdi Abirahman, Leonard Korir and Matt McDonald in close attendance. But a 4:52 mile left Rupp with a 17-second lead at the 21 mile mark and he was never headed.

Even with temperatures in the low 50s and winds gusting to 19 miles per hour, Rupp ran 4:40-4:48-4:52-4:52-4:44-4:50 from miles 18-23 and finished in 2:09:20, winning by 42 seconds. Barring injury, he’s a favorite for medals in Sapporo.

But the fight behind him was epic. The U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program stars Korir and Maiyo were right in the hunt with Abdirahman at 23 miles, but unheralded Jacob Riley, 15th in the 2016 Trials and a Stanford All-American at 10,000 m in 2009-10-11, was making up ground fast.

Riley joined the fight for second by the 24-mile mark, then surged to second at 25 miles and remained in control to the finish. His time of 2:10:02 was not just excellent for the conditions, but was a lifetime best, improving his 2:10:36 from the 2019 Chicago Marathon at just the right time, in just his fourth career marathon.

Abdirahman, at 43, continued his lifetime-of-surprises story by finishing third (2:10:03) and making his fifth Olympic team. Korir finished fourth in 2:10:06. Bernard Lagat, trying for a sixth Olympic team at age 45, was 18th (2:14:23) and Jared Ward, sixth in the Rio Games in 2016, had a bad day, ending up 27th in 2:15:55.

The women’s race was even more surprising. A large pack ran together for the first 20 miles and then the racing started. Nine-time U.S. Champion – at various distances – Aliphine Tulianuk, a former Kenyan who became eligible to run for the U.S. in 2016, led a breakaway group of three, including debut marathoner Molly Seidel and another ex-Kenyan, Sally Kipyego, who won nine NCAA title while at Texas Tech and the 2012 Olympic 10,000 m silver for Kenya.

Tuliamuk and Seidel ran away together and had a 22-second lead after 23 miles and 38 seconds at 24 miles; they were on the team. Kipyego was hurting, but held a steady lead of about 15 seconds over Laura Thweatt and Des Linden, who were trying to get back into contention.

Tuliamuk finally broke Seidel, a four-time NCAA champ for Notre Dame in 2015 and 2016, after the 25-mile mark and cruised in to win in 2:27:23. Seidel followed in 2:27:31 n her debut and Kipyego held on for third in her third career marathon on 2:28:52.

Linden got up for fourth in a creditable 2:29:03 and led a parade of favorites who did not contend for the top three places: Thweatt (5th: 2:29:08), Kellyn Taylor (8th: 2:29:55), and Jordan Hasay (26th: 2:37:57); Molly Huddle dropped out after 21 miles. Transgender athlete Megan Youngren finished in 230th place in 2:50:27. Full results here.

Seidel spoke for all three women when she said afterwards, “I’m still in shock right now.” None will be a medal favorite at the Games, but given the difficult conditions, it’s not hard to imagine one of them pursuing a medal.

In the race’s biggest side story – the shoes – the men’s race was dominated by Nike, with the top three all wearing the Vaporfly/Alphafly models. But for the women, Tuliamuk ran for Hoka One One, Seidel for Saucony and Kipyego for Nike. In fact, Kipyego was the only Nike-affiliated finisher in the top eight.

Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon was held solely for the elite athletes – about 210 – with the mass race of 38,000 canceled due to coronavirus concerns. About 16 men ran together through the first half of the race, and by 30 km, three broke away, with Ethiopians Sisay Lemma, Birhanu Legese and Asefa Mengstu in the lead. Legese ran away from Lemma after 35 km and strode to the finish and finished in an impressive, world-leading 2:04:15.

It was not only Legese’s second straight win in Tokyo, but 33 seconds faster than in 2019!

Belgium’s Bashir Abdi moved up to pass Mengstu with about 3 km remaining, then out-sprinted Lemma to get second in 2:04:49-2:04:51, a lifetime best by almost a minute and a half! Japan’s Suguru Osako not only held onto his Olympic team spot, but ran a national record of 2:05:29 for fourth. Mengstu faded to seventh in 2:06:23.

The women’s race went to ex-Kenyan Lonah Chemtai Salpeter – now running for Israel after marriage to her coach – who opened a decisive gap against Birhane Dibaba (ETH) with about 8 km to go. She was up by 38 seconds at 40 km and cruised in for her first World Marathon Majors victory in a stunning 2:17:45, a world leader and course record that moved her to no. 6 all-time (and the eighth-fastest women’s marathon performance ever)!

After her disappointing failure to finish in the brutal conditions of the 2019 World Championships in Doha (QAT), Salpeter confirmed that she’s one to watch in Sapporo in August.

Ethiopia’s Dibaba finished second in an also-impressive lifetime best 2:18:35, winning her fifth Tokyo Marathon medal in the past seven years. Sutume Asefa Kebede (ETH) was third in 2:20:30. Results of the top finishers are here.

The annual Boston University Last Chance meet, usually aimed at qualifying times for the NCAA Indoor Championships, saw an assault on the American Record n the women’s 3,000 m.

The favorite was speed merchant Shelby Houlihan, who won the 1,500/3,000 m double at the recent U.S. Championships in Albuquerque, but it was former Missouri star (and five-time NCAA Champion) Karissa Schweizer who had the strongest final lap and won in 8:25.70.

That shattered Shalane Flanagan’s 2007 mark of 8:33.25, with Houlihan second at 8:26.66 and Colleen Quigley third in 8:28.71, all under the old mark. Schweizer’s time moves her to no. 5 on the all-time world list, with Houlihan now seventh and Quigley ninth.

In the women’s 5,000 m, German Konstanze Klosterhalfen won easily in an impressive 14:30.79, now no. 4 on the all-time list and a national indoor record. American Vanessa Fraser was second in 14:48.51, now no. 10 on the all-time world list and no. 2 in American history. Emily Infeld ran 14:54.91 in third, now no. 3 all-time U.S.

The men’s 1,500 m saw the surprise of the indoor season, Josh Thompson, run 3:34.77 to win and claim a lifetime best – indoors or out – and improve his indoor best by almost three seconds.

The men’s 3,000 m was also speedy, with Lopez Lomong winning in 7:37.74 to move to no. 6 all-time U.S., ahead of Ryan Hill (7:38.03) and a comebacking Evan Jager (7:38.25, for no. 7 all-time U.S.).

Full results here.

LANE ONE: The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo will not be canceled or postponed, but could be the quietest ever

By
Rich Perelman
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An almost-empty arena in Barcelona, Spain (Photo: Staffan Cedarborg via Flicker)

This week’s headlines were all about comments from the senior member of the International Olympic Committee – not its President – that this summer’s Tokyo Games could be so deeply impacted by the coronavirus outbreak that the event could be canceled.

Canada’s Dick Pound, a 1960 Olympian in swimming and the 1962 Commonwealth Games champion in the 110-yard Freestyle, was elected to the IOC in 1978 and at 77, is its longest-serving member. A highly-respected lawyer, he was Chancellor of McGill University for 10 years, the first President of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a lot more. He is a keen observer and analyst of international sport, and when he speaks, it’s worth listening.

On Tuesday, he spoke to the Associated Press about the impact of the coronavirus situation and, was – as always – direct:

“In and around that time [end of May], I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’”

He suggested that given the complexity of the event, cancellation was much more likely than postponement:

“You just don’t postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics. There’s so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons, and competitive seasons, and television seasons. You can’t just say, `We’ll do it in October.’”

As for the athletes, Pound was reassuring:

“As far as we all know, you’re going to be in Tokyo. All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure that the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation.”

Was he speaking out of turn? Apparently not.

There was no statement repudiating his comments from the IOC headquarters in Lausanne; in fact, the respected AroundTheRings.com Web site received a comment from the IOC Press Office which (translated from Spanish) noted:

“Dick Pound explains very well that the IOC continues to work towards the successful Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games from the end of July” and that “Preparations continue as planned.”

All true.

Gov. Yuriko Koike, head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government – which has sunk more money into the event than any other entity – told reporters “I have emails from IOC members in charge of the Tokyo Games telling me to work hard in preparing for the event. The metropolitan government will pursue measures against the virus.”

The reality is that the coronavirus is a major problem in China and less of a problem – so far – elsewhere. Click here to see a terrific “dashboard” view of the coronavirus impact compiled by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering. As of Wednesday evening, it showed 82,163 confirmed cases, with 78,497 in China, 1595 in South Korea and, so far, 189 in Japan. In addition to 2,800 deaths worldwide, there are also 32,828 reported recoveries, so it’s not all bad news.

There has been plenty of speculation on what might happen to the 2020 Games if the virus spread – in a serious way – to Japan. Koike dismissed a comment from London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey that London could take over the Games, and others have suggested Los Angeles as a possible location, given the enormous sporting infrastructure already in place.

Neither could happen and neither will happen. The 2020 Games will take place in Tokyo, but the impact could be severe.

As for London, Los Angeles or elsewhere, it’s too late to put together anything resembling an Olympic Games as the facilities, hotels and especially the athlete housing – at UCLA in Los Angeles – is all spoken for well in advance, for summer school, camps, conferences and the like. And Pound made it clear that spreading the events around the world on a sport-by-sport basis creates a series of world championships, not an Olympic Games.

If – and it’s only if the virus becomes a real public health threat – you could see a solution to the problem that is already being implemented in Japan, and elsewhere:

No spectators.

On Wednesday, Nippon Professional Baseball – Japan’s major league – announced that its teams would play its remaining 72 pre-season games without any spectators. “This was a bitter decision to make. Because we can’t determine the situation, I won’t say anything right now about (opening day),” said NPB commissioner Atsushi Saito. “If possible, we all want to go ahead on March 20.”

Japan’s governing bodies for boxing, rugby and soccer have all postponed matches, waiting to see how the health situation develops. Many events are being canceled elsewhere, including in Iran, Italy and South Korea.

Having an Olympic Games without spectators would not only be lonely, but crushing for the Japanese public, which has clamored for tickets in unprecedented numbers. For the Tokyo organizing committee, ticketing revenue was budgeted at $800 million U.S. (converted from yen), in a total budget of $5.9 billion, and would create a substantial shortfall, even after some savings from not having spectators.

A dead arena is also no fun for the athletes, whose lifelong dream of competing in an Olympic Games will be turned dull and sterile without a live crowd (even if there is cheering via sound effects).

But in a no-win scenario, having the Games is much better than not having it. The international news media would be accommodated – especially television – and the necessary sports officials would participate. But eliminating the mass gathering of spectators and others would significantly reduce virus fears; for example, the annual Tokyo Marathon scheduled for 1 March announced recently that only the elite field of about 200 would participate, eliminating the race for the 37,000+ registrants.

There will be problems all around – what about the Olympic Village? – and even the IOC’s wealth will be insufficient to make everyone whole. It will be a mess … but much better than seeing a public health crisis exacerbated by the world’s largest sporting event beginning 24 July (and followed by the Paralympics on 25 August).

Likely? Certainly not at this point. Possible? Only if the virus comes much more of an issue in Japan than it is now. But unless the situation turns into a lethal pandemic, the Games will go on. But possibly, rather quietly.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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(Thanks to reader Greg Cornell for catching a typo!)

HEARD AT HALFTIME: U.S. Marathon Trials coming Saturday; World Baseball Classic sites revealed; more Russian doping

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

● Vox Populi ● We received several reader comments on recent stories, including:

● On Mike Moran’s 20 February remembrance of the 1980 Winter Olympic “Miracle on Ice,” Jim Anderson was one of several readers who noted:

“The REAL MIRACLE ON ICE happened in 1960 at Squaw Valley not 1980. The American squad was made up of amateurs, not future NHL players. I know because I was there as part of the press corps.”

● On Monday’s Lane One, outlining the in-depth, $217 million offer made by USA Gymnastics to more than 500 abuse survivors, Jaime Lapides wrote:

“Hello. The Army of Survivors will not surrender. They will march forward and seek justice from all parties including the USOPC, the Karolyis’, and others. Nassar Survivors have more resolve and heart than you give them credit for. They will not be agreeing to the insult USA Gymnastics added to injury. Neither are they naïve anymore. The deeper pockets are beyond USA Gymnastics. Raped athletes anticipate greater restitution from those deeper pockets. That said, shortchanging the Nassar Survivors is a deadly error. This will decimate USA Gymnastics. Less than 100 individual claims alone could amount to the money which the settlement offered. If decertification does not extinguish USA Gymnastics first, then piecemeal lawsuits will. The demise of USA Gymnastics is inevitable.”

These are, of course, the opinions of these writers only.

Click here for our summary of last weekend’s action, including a World Championships gold medal for Americans Kaille Humphries and Lauren Gibbs, two world records in Athletics, in the women’s indoor triple jump and the women’s half marathon on the roads, and a lot more.

● Athletics ● The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials comes this Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia and will be shown on NBC beginning at noon Eastern time. The men are scheduled to start at 12:08 p.m. and the women at 12:20 p.m.

More than 700 men and women qualified for the event, and the top three are expected to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Marathon in Sapporo (JPN) this summer. Prize money of $80,000-65,000-55,000-20,000-10,000-6,000-3,000-1,000 is available to the top eight finishers in each gender.

One of the women’s favorites would have been Amy Cragg, who won the 2017 World Championships bronze medal (and was a 2016 Olympian), but she is reported to be out due to illness. That leaves Des Linden as the only 2016 women’s Olympian in the race, and she will be tested by – among others – Sara Hall, Jordan Hasay, Kellyn Taylor, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Stephanie Bruce and a lot of others.

The men’s race includes Rio 2016 bronze medalist Galen Rupp and sixth-placer Jared Ward, plus Leonard Korir, Dathan Ritzenhein, Scott Fauble and two amazing veterans: Abdi Abdirahman, trying for his fifth Olympic team at age 43, and Bernard Lagat (45), trying for a fourth U.S. team and a sixth Olympics (his first two were for Kenya).

There was yet another doping positive from the 2012 London Games announced by the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday, by Albanian 200 m runner Klodiana Shala. She never actually competed, withdrawing from the competition with an injury prior to the heats, but her sample was re-analyzed and detected the steroid Stanozolol.

This brings the total number of doping positives at London 2012 to 73, the most in history and one more than from Beijing 2008. Nine positives were found during the Games and 64 in the IOC’s re-analysis program, which will not be completed until 2022.

Sad news of the death of two legendary figures in the sport, Dick Bank and Harry Groves.

Bank passed on Sunday (23rd) in Los Angeles, aged 90, and even after decades from retirement from active participation in the sport, remains a legend for his depth of knowledge, insight and brutal wit. While he was famously remembered for his “Look at Mills!” comment on NBC during Billy Mills’s historic run to the 10,000 m gold medal at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, he also was deeply involved in building the adidas brand in the 1960s as a representative for the German shoe company. American audiences in 1969 and 1970 heard Bank often during the spring and summer as the (solo) voice of a series of meets on CBS, brokered with Ollan Cassell of the Amateur Athletic Union of the U.S.

Bank recalled the ‘64 Olympic announcing in detail in a post on TrackandFieldNews.com in 2015 that he dictated to his friend Arthur Head. In it, he reminded everyone who might have met him that he was still their superior:

“It has come to my attention that there are some postings about me on the Internet. I don’t own a computer . . . nor do I want or need one. Mine is between my ears.

“I still type on an IBM Wheelwriter 1000, drive a 1989 Volvo 240GL with 299,000 miles, and do not have nor do I need a cellular telephone; or one that can take photographs.” Absolutely one of a kind.

Groves was the beloved coach at Penn State for both cross country and track and also passed on Sunday, aged 89. Groves became the head coach of both programs in 1968 and continued until his retirement in 2006. He was a five-time National Coach of the Year, inducted into the U.S. Track & Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2001 and was the head coach for the 1995 U.S. World Championships team and an assistant coach for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team and 1993 Worlds team.

He coached 21 NCAA champions, 14 Olympians and 227 NCAA All-Americans during his career, including 1976 Olympic 400 m hurdles silver medalist Mike Shine, Greg Fredericks, the American Record holder in the 10,000 m in 1972, Norwegian discus star Knut Hjeltnes and U.S. shot putter C.J. Hunter. Groves was demanding and stern, but also a gentlemen to all who approached him … except during a race!

● Baseball ● The most exciting baseball tournament outside of the Major League playoffs is the World Baseball Classic and the format for the 2021 tournament was announced on Tuesday.

The tournament will be held from 9-23 March of next year with the field expanded to 20 teams, competing in four pools of five teams each. The rounds will be played in three countries:

● Pool A: Taiching and Taoyuan (TPE)
● Pool B: Tokyo (JPN)
● Pool C: Phoenix, Arizona
● Pool D: Miami, Florida
● Quarterfinals: Tokyo and Miami
● Semifinals and Final: Miami

All 16 teams which participated in the 2017 tournament will do so again, along with four qualifiers from a tournament to be held in March 2020.

● Biathlon ● The International Biathlon Union issued two doping decisions concerning Russian athletes based on the data retrieved by the World Anti-Doping Agency from the Moscow Laboratory information system in 2019.

Both Svetlana Sleptsova and Evgeny Ustyugov were found to have committed doping violations in 2013 and had their results from mid-2013 through the 2013-14 World Cup season annulled.

For Ustyugov, this will also disqualify the winning Russian 4×7.5 km team from 2014. If confirmed by the IOC, the Russian total in Sochi will drop to 28, placing them in a tie with the U.S. for the most medals in that Games.

Both are now ineligible for two years, which will also cover the first half of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Sleptsova retired in 2017; Ustiugov retired in 2014.

● Swimming ● The doping saga of China’s Olympic Champion Freestyle star Yang Sun is continuing without end.

He was cleared by FINA – the international federation for swimming – of doping violations including interfering with a test in September 2018. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the FINA ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport last November, with the decision expected in January, but still not issued.

The Associated Press posted a story on Tuesday that noted that a Swiss “federal court document shows that swimming governing body FINA supported arguments by Sun’s lawyers to have an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency thrown out early last year in a pre-trial dispute over an alleged conflict of interest for the agency’s lead prosecutor, American lawyer Richard Young.” Young had previously been a member of FINA’s Legal Commission, but had resigned in February of 2019, prior to the hearing.

● Games of the XXXV Olympiad 2032 ● Remember that petition by a single Member of Parliament in Australia to call for a debate on the wisdom of bidding for the 2032 Olympic Games?

The tiny One Nation party posted the petition at the end of January and garnered 2,300 signatures in the first three days. Since then, the enthusiasm has slowed, but signatures continue to come in. As of Tuesday, some 5,393 signatures have been registered, with a deadline of 30 March. Stay tuned.

● XXII Commonwealth Games: Birmingham 2022 ● Better make that the Birmingham, and Chandigarh in India – population 1.05 million – as the Commonwealth Games Foundation approved India’s proposal to stage (and pay for) archery and shooting events on Monday (24th).

India had threatened to skip the 2022 Games if shooting was not included and agreed to hold the two sports in January 2022, with the main event in Birmingham (ENG) in July.

Although separated by six months, the medals from the January competitions will be included in the overall totals. Chalk up another ripple effect for the IOC’s Agenda 2020 program, but this time for political, rather than cost, reasons.

● At the BuZZer ● Very few people outside of the Middle East had ever heard of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates or Doha in Qatar before both became hotbeds for major sporting events, to be topped by the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Add Jordan to the list of countries who see opportunities in hosting sporting events. The capital of Amman took over for Wuhan (CHN) for the Asian qualifier for boxing for the 2020 Olympic Games in March and has announced and host Olympic qualifiers in table tennis in February and taekwondo in April.

The Jordanian organizers of the boxing qualifier announced on Tuesday that it had sponsor agreements with Coca-Cola, the Societe Generale De Banque Jordan, mobile network Zain Jordan, restaurant chain Buffalo Wings & Rings, Taishan and courier company Aramex.

It’s an interesting strategic turn for Jordan, a country far larger than either Qatar or the UAE, although smaller than Saudi Arabia, which has also looked for some hosting opportunities. It will be fascinating to see what the appetite is to being world-wide events – rather than regional – to the country in the future, especially as a tourism draw.

Look what sports has done for Lausanne (SUI), which last week agreed to take over the hosting of the annual SportAccord meeting from 19-24 April, with more than 100 international federations in attendance. The event was moved out of Beijing due to concerns over the coronavirus epidemic in China, and follows quickly on January’s Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, with a co-hosting of the IIHF men’s World Championships coming in May.

/Updated: Thanks to TrackandFieldNews.com’s Garry Hill for correcting our link on Dick Bank’s recollection of his 1964 Olympic announcing episode, which first appeared on the T&FN site on 14 August 2015./

THE BIG PICTURE: BBC catches four-time Olympic champ Farah in lie on supplements

By
Rich Perelman
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Former Nike Oregon Project coach Alberto Salazar

Here’s what 2017 Steeplechase World Champion Emma Coburn of the U.S. had to say about Monday’s BBC documentary about Britain’s four-time Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah:

The BBC Panorama program was titled, “Mo Farah and the Salazar Scandal” and focused on Farah’s time with now-suspended American coach Alberto Salazar at the Nike Oregon Project, between 2011 and 2017.

An investigation by the BBC and U.S. site ProPublica in 2015 resulted in allegations published in June of that year in a story with the top-line teaser “Chasing An Edge.” That describes Salazar – and many other coaches in other sports – perfectly.

The story led to an inquiry by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency into the Nike Oregon Project that eventually turned into a suspension for promoting doping for Salazar and a physician who assisted the program; the suspension was confirmed in 2019 by a three-member panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Salazar continues to claim innocence and has appealed the CAS decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

USADA investigated athletes coaches by Salazar – including Farah – but found no doping violations; the World Anti-Doping Agency has also undertaken a review of these athletes, egged on by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER).

The BBC Panorama program does not allege doping by Farah, but found out that he was caught by USADA when asked about taking injections of L-carnitine, a supplement which is allowed if administered in doses of less than 50 ml every six hours. From the BBC’s story on the program:

“Documents show Farah repeatedly denied to US Anti-Doping (Usada) investigators he had received injections of the controversial supplement L-carnitine before the 2014 London Marathon.

“Farah later changed his account to Usada investigators, saying he had forgotten.”

The story also notes that the dosage was 13.5 ml, well below the limit, so the issue is not doping, but Farah saying he didn’t take it … and then admitting he did.

There’s more and more detail coming out about Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project, which was formed in 2001 and only disbanded last year after the CAS ruling against Salazar.

And USADA chief Travis Tygart gave credit to the news media for helping to fill in the details:

“In pursuit of doping violations, Tygart says Nike tried to block him at every turn.

“‘Every time we turned around, another athlete was being represented by a Nike attorney and refused to cooperate with us,” he said.

“‘The Nike castle brought up the drawbridge, they put alligators in the moat around it, sharpshooters on the tower, and they were going to do pretty much everything they legally felt they could do to avoid us getting to the truth.

“‘In this case in particular the BBC and Panorama, exposing parts of the truth, were really helpful.’”

Nike denies this charge, but South African Science of Sport podcast co-founder Ross Tucker complained on Twitter about the British anti-doping agency (UKAD):

“Last to the buffet, every time. The simple fact (not for the first time either) is that if you’re an athlete under suspicion of doping, you would FAR rather be investigated by your own antidoping agency than by the media. If that isn’t a call for reform/restructuring, nothing is.”

In the meantime, the BBC further noted that the U.S. Center for SafeSport is looking into Salazar’s management of the Nike Oregon Project. This isn’t over.

Farah continues to train, with his sights set on the 10,000 m at the Tokyo Games this summer, an event in which he is the two-time defending champion. His use of L-carnitine in 2014 was within the legal limits for that supplement, so he is not accused of doping, but he is being watched closely now and will no doubt be tested continuously between now and the summer.

LANE ONE: USA Gymnastics goes all-in with well-thought-out, $217 million offer to abuse victims

By
Rich Perelman
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The long, horrific saga of sexual abuse perpetrated by Larry Nassar (and others) on U.S. gymnasts is now at a crossroads, with the survivors to determine whether their claims will be settled with $217 million in insurance money, or if each individual will have to prosecute their own claims in the future.

On Friday (21st), attorney for USA Gymnastics filed two lengthy documents that set out in detail the choice that now faces some 517 survivors who have filed suit against the federation:

(1) The “Settlement Option” in which the 517 abuse claimants agree to receive shares of the insurance pool of $217.125 million, according to four categories of claims.

(2) The “Litigation Option,” which allows each claimant to pursue their own, individual lawsuit against USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and/or anyone else.

The ballots will be distributed in April, must be returned by 8 May and a hearing will be held at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana on 3 June to announce the outcome.

So what are the choices?

USA Gymnastics and a “Survivors Committee” of nine abuse survivors met in mediation talks for several months, but did not come to any agreement on a settlement. The USA Gymnastics declaration of Chapter 11 bankruptcy brought all of the cases related to the Nassar abuse and related incidents into the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Under the Bankruptcy Court process for reorganization, USA Gymnastics, working in concert with a dozen of its insurers – several of whom fought any requirement to cover the claims – has pieced together a pool of $217.125 million to pay the survivors, in four groups:

● Subclass 6A: Elite Gymnasts. “Claimants are classified into Subclass 6A if they allege Sexual Abuse at the Olympics, the National Team Training Center, or a National Team event, such as the Olympic Team Trials or the World Championships.”

This group of 66 plaintiffs is allocated 40% of the total: $82,550,000, for an individual payout of $1,250,758 each. This group includes U.S. Olympians and World Championships performers including Rachel Denhollander, Tasa Schweikert, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Marcia Frederick – all members of the Survivors Committee – and current competitors such as Simone Biles.

● Subclass 6B: Non-Elite Gymnasts. “Claimants are classified into Subclass 6B if they allege Sexual Abuse at an event sanctioned by the Debtor, such as the National Championships or the U.S. Classic, as well as events held at Twistars.”

This group includes 142 plaintiffs and is allocated 35% of the total: $72,231,250, for an individual payout of $508,671.

● Subclass 6C: Other Claimants: “Claimants are classified into Subclass 6C if they do not qualify for treatment under Subclass 6A or Subclass 6B, such as Claimants who allege
Sexual Abuse solely at Michigan State University.”

This group of 284 plaintiffs is allocated 24% of the total: $49,530,000, or $174,401 each.

● Subclass 6D: Derivative Claimants. “Claimants are classified into Subclass 6D if allege liability solely on account of Sexual Abuse committed against a third party, such as a spouse or family member.”

This group has 25 claimants and is allocated 1% of the total: $2,063,750, or $82,550 each.

The election to determine whether to accept or reject this offer will be across all 517 members of this “Class 6″ group. Two-thirds of the “claims” – 345 – must vote for the Settlement Option for it to be chosen.

The chances for this are fairly good. The filing points out the significant advantages of approving the settlement:

● For Subclass A (66 Elite Gymnasts), offered $1,250,758 each: This is the high-profile group which alleges abuse at USA Gymnastics-organized events and has the best chance for massive recoveries at trial. But each of the individuals would have to pursue its own action against USA Gymnastics and the plaintiffs would have to relive the abuse ordeal at trial at length. Moreover, in a jury trial, the results are hardly assured and the awards could vary wildly … and whatever awards are made, the plaintiffs will incur significant attorney’s fees. But the opportunity for a multi-million-dollar award and a high-profile public forum are here.

● For Subclass B (142 Non-Elite Gymnasts), offered $508,671 each: This group alleges abuse at events which were “sanctioned” by USA Gymnastics, but which were not staged by the federation. As the filing notes, “The designation that an event is USAG-sanctioned only means that the rules governing scoring and the conduct of the meet are USAG’s official rules.” It is entirely possible that these claims could fail in court, and although some might succeed, there is no likelihood of consistent outcomes.

● For Subclass C (284 Other Claimants), offered $174,401 each: These are claims made outside of the first two groups, such as those alleging abuse “primarily at Michigan State University (“MSU”), where USAG had no presence or ability or duty to monitor employees of MSU.” The ability of these plaintiffs to obtain a recovery from USA Gymnastics is dubious; some claimants apparently are not gymnasts and have nothing to do with the sport.

● For Subclass D (25 Claimants), offered $82,550 each: These plaintiffs were not personally abused at all (!), but are asking to be compensated for injury to a third party (spouse, sibling or child). It’s hard to know what might happen with these claims, which will be highly dependent on proof of injury and a direct tie to any alleged loss.

The filing pointedly notes that 82% of the claims are in Subclasses B and C (426 of 517), which would constitute enough votes (345) to approve the plan. If approved, the plan offers two important benefits besides the payout:

(1) If approved, the settlement would distribute funds without the requirement for any of the claimants to prove their cases in court.

(2) If approved, the claimants will be paid fairly quickly, certainly by the end of the year in almost all cases. If defeated, the individual claimants will go back to court and the cases will drag on for some years. And, of course, in that circumstance, the awards to those who win their cases will vary wildly depending on the jury involved.

This is essentially an all-or-nothing offer by USA Gymnastics. If Class 6 – the abuse claimants – vote to settle, all of the outstanding civil suits will be ended. This included claims against or by USA Gymnastics vs. the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, former CEO Steve Penny, Bela and Marta Karolyi and others. It does not, however, impact a potential decertification action by the USOPC against USA Gymnastics, which has been stayed while the Bankruptcy Court action has been ongoing.

There are other commitments by USA Gymnastics to future action to prevent the recurrence of such actions, in line with its promises to Congress and to the USOPC. And there is a $10.75 million fund set up to handle any future claims which may be approved after the distribution to the abuse victims under the Settlement Election.

It’s important to note that this plan has not been approved by the Bankruptcy Court for voting by the survivors, but has been submitted for approval. The hearing has been requested for 31 March, with objections due by 24 March.

It will be fascinating to see how the voting shakes out, assuming the plan is Court-approved and the ballots are distributed. In many aspects, the proposed plan is quite generous and relieves the survivors of the burden of re-living their nightmare in court, in detail. But there will be votes against it, especially from those who will never be satisfied with anything anyone can propose. The next step comes at the end of March.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HIGHLIGHTS: Humphries & Gibbs win Bobsled world title for U.S.; world women’s records in Triple Jump and Half Marathon!

By
Rich Perelman
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World Champions Lauren Gibbs (l) and Kaille Humphries of the U.S. (Photo: IBSF)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● ATHLETICS ● Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis continued to attack his own world record in the pole vault, but he was upstaged – for now – by Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas, the women’s World Champion in the triple jump.

Competing in the Villa de Madrid meet in Spain – the concluding meet of the 2020 World Indoor Tour – Rojas had the competition won at 15.29 m (50-2) from the fourth round, but then exploded in the final round to reach 15.43 m (50-7 1/2), a world indoor record and the no. 2 jump of all time! Only Ukraine’s Inessa Kravets and her world (outdoor) record of 15.50 m (50-10 1/4) from 1995 is longer.

In the meantime, Duplantis continued his assault on history. After clearing 6.18 m (20-3 1/4) in Glasgow (GBR) on 15 February, he won in Lievin (FRA) on Wednesday at 6.07 m (19-11) and missed at 6.19 m (20-3 3/4), and won at 6.01 m (19-8 1/2) on Sunday in Clermont-Ferrand (FRA), again missing three times at 6.19 m. World Champion Sam Kendricks of the U.S. finished second in Lievin (5.90 m/19-4 1/4) and third in Clermont-Ferrand (5.87 m/19-3).

On Friday, Chris Nilsen of the U.S., a senior at South Dakota, cleared a collegiate record of 5.93 m (19-5 1/2), taking one of Duplantis’s marks off of the record books.

Also in Lievin, American Sandi Morris won the women’s vault at 4.83 m (15-10) and tried unsuccessfully at a world mark of 5.03 m (16-6)!

At the same meet, American Ronnie Baker continued his successful sprint comeback with a 6.44 win over countryman Demek Kemp in the 60 m (6.50), the no. 2 mark in the world in 2020, behind only the altitude-aided 6.37 for Christian Coleman at the U.S. Nationals. Baker then won the Villa de Madrid sprint over Kemp again, 6.44-6.48.

On the roads, there was a massive world-record run in the women’s Half Marathon by Yeshaneh Ababel of Ethiopia to win in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE). Her final sprint won the race in 64:31 to shatter the 2017 world mark of 64:51 by Joycilene Jepkosgei of Kenya. The world-record holder in the Marathon, Brigid Kosgei (KEN), was second in 64:49, also under the old world mark.

● ALPINE SKIING ● The men’s racing was in Naeba (JPN), with a Giant Slalom won on Saturday by Slovenia’s Filip Zubcic for his first World Cup gold, at age 27. Swiss Marco Odermatt finished second and American Tommy Ford won his second medal of the season in third. Now 30, Ford has won his first two World Cup medals ever in his 10th season on tour. The Sunday Slalom was canceled due to high winds.

The women were in Crans-Montana (SUI), with the local crowd wild for former World Cup winner Lara Gut-Berhami, who won the Downhill over teammate Corinne Suter on both Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, Italy’s Federica Brignone won her fourth race of the season, Sunday’s Alpine Combined, and took over the seasonal lead in the women’s World Cup.

She took over the lead from American Mikaela Shiffrin, mourning the loss of her father Jeffrey on 3 February, and who has not reappeared on tour since. Links to results are here.

● BIATHLON ● Norway and France dominated the 2020 IBU World Championships, but the spectre of doping invaded the festivities at Antholz-Anterselva (ITA).

In the men’s events, France’s amazing Martin Fourcade won the 20 km Individual for the fourth time in his career and his 12th Worlds gold overall, finishing almost a minute ahead of Norwegian rival Johannes Thingnes Boe, 49:43.1-50:40.1. Fourcade then contributed a leg to the winning French 4×7.5 km relay team and now has 13 career Worlds titles. Boe came back to win the 15 km Mass Start race on Sunday ahead of two French stars, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin (who won the Pursuit last week).

Russia’s Alexander Loginov won the 10 km Sprint on the first weekend, but Italian police raided the hotel where he and coach Alexander Kasperovich were staying on Saturday (22nd). Loginov’s computer and mobile phone were taken and the police said the search was conducted pursuant to an investigation related to the use or administration of doping materials. Loginov did compete in Saturday’s relay event, however.

The women’s first-weekend winners repeated, with Marte Olsbu Roiseland winning the 12.5 km Mass Start (to go with her Sprint win) and Italy’s Dorothea Wierer taking the 15 km Individual race (along with the Pursuit). Norway’s women won the relay, so Roiseland took three golds to Wierer’s two, and was third in both of Wierer’s individual races for a total of five medals in the five women’s events!

But she did more, as Roiseland was also on both winning Mixed relay teams for Norway (as was Boe), so she finished the Championships with five golds and seven medals in her seven events. Boe ended with three golds and three silvers for the top men’s total of six. Full results here.

● BOBSLED & SKELETON ● The IBSF World Championships got going in Altenberg (GER), with the two-man and two-woman races completed on the first weekend. This was the first Worlds for Canadian-turned-American Kaillie Humphries and she and Lauren Gibbs dominated the women’s division.

The two had the fastest times in three of the four races and won the Worlds gold in a combined 3:45.49, edging surprise German silver medalists Kim Kalicki and Kira Lipperheide (+0.37). Reigning Olympic champ Mariama Jamanka (GER) finished fourth. It’s the third world title for Humphries (2012-13), but the first for Gibbs, who won silver in PyeongChang in 2018.

The heavy favorite for the two-man title – again – was Germany’s Francesco Friedrich and he came through (with Thorsten Margis) with a sixth Worlds gold, defeating teammate Johannes Lochner, 3:40.44-3:45.86, with Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis third (3:42.23).

The Worlds continue this week with the four-man and Skeleton events. Full results here.

● FENCING ● Spain’s Carlos Llavador scored an upset win in the men’s Foil World Cup in Cairo (EGY), defeating Italy’s 2011 World Champion, Andrea Cassara, in the final by 15-6. Llavador defeated American Alexander Massialas in the semis, 15-3, his 11th career World Cup medal. The U.S. men won the team title, 45-36, over Russia.

The men’s Sabre World Cup was held in Warsaw (POL), with Hungary’s 2012-16 Olympic champ Aron Szilagyi outlasting American Eli Dershwitz, 15-9 in the final. France won the team title over Korea.

The women’s Foil competition in Kazan (RUS) saw Italy’s Elisa Di Francesca defeat Yue Shi (CHN) in the final, 9-8. It was Di Francesca’s first World Cup win in 2 1/2 years and her eighth career gold and 25th career medal, and at age 37, shows no signs of slowing down. The Italians won the team title, defeating the U.S. in the final, 45-27. Full results here.

● FREESTYLE SKIING ● The FIS SkiCross World Cup finished its 11th race of 12 this season in Sunny Valley (RUS), with Swiss Marc Bischofberger taking his first win of the season, over four-time winner Kevin Drury of Canada. Drury has clinched the seasonal title and has 768 points to 454 for Ryan Regez (SUI).

The women’s race went to Swiss Fanny Smith for her fourth victory of the season, but she is still in second place to Swede Sandra Naeslund, 855-796 with one race remaining. Full results here.

The sixth of seven Moguls events (not counting Dual Moguls) was held in Takawazo (JPN), with Canadian superstar Mikael Kingsbury winning his fourth event – he was second in the other two – ahead of countryman Laurent Dumais. Kingsbury leads the seasonal standings by 760-515 over chief rival Ikuma Horishima (JPN).

France’s Perrine Laffont won again in the women’s Moguls and has won all six events this season (and one of two in Dual Moguls). She has a 736-404 lead over Aussie Jakara Anthony and is the heavy favorite to win her third career Crystal Globe. The scheduled Dual Moguls event for Sunday was canceled; full results here.

The Aerials event in Minsk (BLR) was an American show, with Justin Schoenefeld winning his first career World Cup medal with a victory and Chris Lillis finishing third. Australia’s Laura Peel won the women’s Aerials, finishing ahead of China’s seasonal leader, Mengtao Xu, and Sicun Xu (CHN). Full results here.

● GYMNASTICS ● American Jade Carey continued her mastery of the FIG Apparatus World Cup series, this time taking the Vault and Floor in the season opener in Melbourne, Australia. Ukraine’s Diana Varinska won the Uneven Bars and Urara Ashikawa won the Beam.

In the men’s events, Korea’s Sung-Hyun Ryu won the Floor Exercise title; American Stephen Nedoroscik won the Pommel Horse, Greek star Eleftherios Petrounias won on Rings, Jea-Hwan Shin of Korea won on Vault, Vladimir Poliashov (RUS) triumphed on Parallel Bars and Dutch star Epke Zonderland won as expected on the High Bar. Full results here.

At the Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas, reigning national champion Sam Mikulak won the men’s All-Around at 86.800, ahead of rising star Shane Wiskus (84.550) and Brody Malone (83.950). In the individual finals, Gage Dyer won on Floor (ahead of Mikulak), Alec Yoder took the Pommel Horse title, Alex Diab won on Rings, Yul Moldauer won on Vault, Mikulak won the Parallel Bars and Colin van Wicklen took top honors in the High Bar (with Mikulak second). Full results here.

● JUDO ● Japan dominated the Dusseldorf Grand Prix, winning eight of 14 categories, including seven recent World Champions: Naohisa Takato (60 kg: 2018), Hifumi Abe (66 kg: 2018), Shohei Ono (73 kg: 2019), Uta Abe (women’s 52 kg: 2018-19), Miku Tashiro (63 kg), Chizuru Arai (70 kg: 2018), Shori Hamada (70 kg: 2018) and Sarah Asahina (+78 kg: 2019).

One other reigning World Champion win gold: Georgia’s super-heavyweight star Guram Tushishvili, who defeated local favorite Johannes Frey (GER). Full results here.

● NORDIC SKIING ● A very busy week in Cross Country Skiing, as the Ski Tour 2020 was held in Sweden and Norway all during the week. The six-event program began last week with two more distance wins for Norwegian superstar Therese Johaug in Ostersund (SWE) and continued with wins in Are (SWE: Freestyle Sprint), Meraker (NOR: 34 km Freestyle Mass Start) and Trondheim (NOR: 15 km Classical Pursuit). The only event of the six Johaug didn’t win was the Classical Sprint in Trondheim, taken by teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla. Norwegian domination was almost complete, winning all six events and 15 of the 18 available medals. Johaug now leads teammate Heidi Weng, 2,268-1,611, in the seasonal race.

The men’s Ski Tour saw Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov retain the overall World Cup lead, and he won the 34 km Mass Start in Meraker. Norwegian star Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won both of the Sprint races and Emil Iversen took Sunday’s 30 km Classical Pursuit. Bolshunov’s lead over Klaebo is a healthy 1,948-1,531 after 30 of 39 events. Links to results here.

In the Nordic Combined World Cup, the two races in Trondheim (138 m hill + 10 km) produced two more wins for Norway’s Jarl Magnus Rieber, giving him 13 wins in the 15 races held so far. He’s clinched the seasonal title already, with teammate Jorgen Graabak (second in Saturday race) standing second, 1,460-981. Full results here.

Austria’s Stefan Kraft remained in the seasonal lead in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, taking a bronze and gold in the two events in Rasnov (ROU: 97 m hill). His principal challenger, German Karl Geiger, finished 1-2 on the weekend, but Kraft still leads, 1,433-1,315 with six events remaining on the season. Full results here.

The women’s jumping was in Ljubno (SLO: 94 m hill), with reigning World Cup champ Maren Lundby (NOR) winning her fourth event of the season and ending a four-meet win streak for Chiara Holzl (AUT). With seven events remaining, the race has tightened to 1,066-1,040 for Holzl, with Austria’s Eva Pinkelnig – second on Sunday – closing in at 939. Full results here.

● SNOWBOARD ● The only World Cup competition of the weekend was in PyeongChang (KOR) for a Parallel Giant Slalom. Italy’s Roland Fischnaller claimed his third win of the season in Parallel events, finishing ahead of Russia’s Dmitry Loginov and Andrey Sobolev. That extended Fischnaller’s seasonal lead to 5,910-3,075 over German Stefan Baumeister, with five events left.

Swiss Julie Zogg won her third race of the season in the women’s Parallel Giant Slalom, beating Italy’s Nadya Ochner and Swiss teammate Ladina Jenny. However, Germany’s Ramona Hofmeister continues to lead the season standings, 4,300-2,470, over Jenny. Full results here.

● TABLE TENNIS ● The Hungarian Open in Budapest was the second stop on the ITTF World Tour, with Japan taking three of the five divisions. No. 1 seed Tomokazu Harimoto won the men’s Singles over teammate Yukiya Uda, while top-seeded Mima Ito won the women’s title over I-Ching Cheng (TPE) and Miu Hirano and Kasumi Ishikawa won the women’s Doubles.

German veterans Benedikt Duda and Patrick Franziska took the men’s Doubles and Chun Ting Wong and Hoi Kem Doo won the Mixed Doubles for Hong Kong, defeating Franziska and Petrissa Solja. Full results here.

LANE ONE: Mike Moran remembers the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid on its 40th anniversary

By
Rich Perelman
-

Time to step aside and let someone else tell the story. Mike Moran was the voice of the United States Olympic Committee, and its chief spokesman from 1979-2003. Now the Senior Media Consultant for the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, he wrote an excellent remembrance of one of the most iconic moments in American Olympic history:

Forty years ago on February 22, in Lake Placid,
American sport history was made by a hockey team
of youngsters and its incomparable coach

In tiny Lake Placid the morning of Friday, February 22, 1980, began unremarkably, or so it seemed. The Olympic Winter Games temperature was 30 degrees, with a forecast of light snow, sleet and freezing rain.

I got up early, around 5 a.m. in the small Lake Placid Resort house which the USOC had found for my staff of eight press attaches, made up mostly of legendary college sports information directors from across the nation.

Made some coffee and swallowed a piece of cold pizza left over from dinner the evening before, then headed down to Mirror Lake to take a $5.00 dogsled ride across to the town and the main press center in the Lake Placid High School building.

I knew my day was going to be memorable, because the upstart U.S. Olympic ice hockey team was set to meet the greatest team in the world, the terrifying Soviet Union, at 5:00 in the Olympic Arena.

The pugnacious Americans, coached by Herb Brooks, had reached the medal round by tying Sweden in its opener, 2-2, thanks to a 6-man power play with 22 seconds left by Bill Baker of the University of Minnesota, then skating past Czechoslovakia, Norway, Romania and West Germany.

Baker, whose shot made it possible for the American kids to be alive and make the medal round, was just one of a collection of twenty-somethings from college programs like Minnesota, Boston University, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Bowling Green. The team was picked by Brooks and his staff at the end of the USOC’s 1979 National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs.

The hockey portion of the second edition of the new event was conducted at the original Broadmoor World Arena. Convened in late July as an initial tryout for the 1980 Winter Olympics, it became a seminal moment in the American march to improbable Lake Placid gold.

The dominant Soviet team, coached by legendary Victor Tikhonov, was made up of half a dozen Red Army skaters over 30, and seven more over 25, including the world’s most celebrated goaltender, 27-year-old Vladislav Tretiak and 35-year-old team captain Boris Mikhailov, considered the top forward in the world.

This matchup against the Soviets had become special after the surprising run by the Americans. On February 9 at Madison Square Garden, the USSR had destroyed the young U.S. Team, 10-3, in an exhibition game that seemed to throw cold water on the prospect of a rematch in Lake Placid. A year earlier, the mighty USSR had whipped the formidable NHL All-Star Team, 6-0, in the title game of the World Challenge Cup at the Garden, and that was all the world needed to know going into the Olympics.

ABC had made an attempt, along with AHAUS [Amateur Hockey Association of the U.S.], then the U.S. governing body for the sport, to get the starting time changed to 8:00 because of the huge interest in the game, but the International Ice Hockey Federation refused to budge.

There would then actually be no live television of the historic game anywhere in the United States. None. Only a radio broadcast.

Crickets.

Nonetheless, I needed another 60 special tickets for the game for the American media after I had already exhausted my meager allotment of 40. I would get some because we had made the medal round, but I would need to spend much of the day going from country to country’s attaches to beg for their tickets which were no longer needed because their team was on the sidelines.

I managed 50 after exhausting every favor promised, every chit collected, and the empathy of the IOC Press Commission members Bob Miyakawa of Japan and Matti Salmenkylä of Finland, who had become good friends every night at midnight when I asked them for my quota of daily press tickets backstage at the high school for major events.

So, there I was at the gate at the Olympic Arena, armed with a list of media getting the seats, at 4:00.

The crush of journalists ended quickly, and in fact I was left with one extra ticket, which I have remaining in my scrapbook, autographed by Brooks, Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig, two of the team’s magnificent stars.

You know the rest.

The turning point of the game — Soviet Coach Tikhonov’s benching of the world’s premier goaltender of that era, Tretiak. He was pulled after Mark Johnson‘s sudden and thrilling goal tied the score at 2-2 with one second remaining in the first period. It set the stage for Mike Eruzione’s third period shot heard ‘round the world with ten minutes left to break a 3-3 tie and set up the frenzied, ear-splitting final moments.

The victory became one of the most iconic moments of the Games and in U.S. sports. Equally well-known was the television call of the final seconds of the game by Al Michaels for ABC, in which he declared: “Do you believe in miracles? YES!”

Dubbed the “Miracle on Ice,” the Americans defeated the Soviets, 4-3, “Few victories in American Olympic play have provoked reaction comparable to tonight’s decision at the red-seated, smallish Olympic Field House,” wrote The New York Times’s great columnist Dave Anderson. “At the final buzzer, after the fans had chanted seconds away, fathers and mothers and friends of the United Sates players dashed onto the ice, hugging anyone they could find in red, white and blue uniforms.”

Bedlam ensued and America gradually found out what happened during an ABC late evening rebroadcast and celebrated from Radio City Music Hall to the Golden Gate.

I had watched the game using a seat in the press area, and in the dizzying final moments was repeatedly whacked on my back by famed Detroit News sports columnist Joe Falls of the Detroit News.

As I left the arena and the bedlam, in a light, wonderful snowfall, I looked forward to a press conference at the main press center with this team and Brooks which would capture the moment for more than 600 journalists.

But it never happened. Brooks sent word that he and the team were not going to be available to the worldwide media. It was jaw-dropping news, and we settled for an appearance by backup goalie Steve Janaszak of Minnesota, who had not played, and assistant coach Craig Patrick, who was on loan from the New York Rangers.

Later that night, hundreds celebrated on the ice at Mirror Lake and in the tiny town. Millions of Americans, depressed with never ending news about Iranian hostages, long gas lines and a weak stock market, opened up with joy in homes, taverns, on ski slopes and during concerts and interrupted meetings.

Oh, AHAUS President Walter Bush eventually forced Brooks to make the team available the next day after practice ahead of the gold medal game set for Sunday. Brooks would not attend. I moderated a 30-minute scrum with the players still in their practice gear, sweating, towels around their necks. The players were Brooks-like quiet and careful.

On February 24, a day some forty years ago, the USA boys finished the job by beating Finland, 4-2, overcoming a sluggish start and a 2-1 Finnish lead after two periods.

Between periods, U.S. coach Brooks was livid. He famously told his players that if they didn’t find a way to win it in the final 20 minutes, they would take the loss “to their (expletive deleted) graves”. That speech fired up the team, and Phil Verchota came through off an assist from Dave Christian to tie it at 2-2 early in the third period.

The eventual game-winner came from Rob McClanahan, who was set up by Mark Johnson for a 3-2 lead. There was still more than half a period to play, however, and the desperate Finns took advantage of three straight USA penalties (to Neal Broten, Dave Christian and Verchota), to apply heavy pressure on Craig.

Craig stood up to the test, and with time running out in the Verchota penalty, U.S. scoring leader Johnson scored a shorthanded goal at 16:25 of the third period to make it 4-2, and complete the Miracle.

Eruzione recalled the moments after the gold medal game later. “When the game ended and we beat Finland, Brooks never came out on the ice to celebrate. He let us enjoy the moment. It was our moment. Herb was demanding and very difficult at times, but beneath that veneer he had a heart of gold.”

The team and Brooks received a post-game call from President Jimmy Carter, who infamously forced the USOC to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, then we flew the whole collection of teams to the White House a day later for a ceremony that sticks in my throat four decades later.

Eruzione is 65 now, and still entertaining groups with his stories. He gave me a team-signed game jersey in Salt Lake City in 2002 when I announced my retirement from the USOC. In fact, most of this team is now in their 60s, some auctioning off their game jerseys, sticks, even their medals to help send grandchildren to college.

I made a few appearances with Eruzione over the years at college fundraising events and we sat on leather chairs on stage, showed the game’s video final moments and relished seeing him pass his gold medal around to a hushed crowd afterward.

Brooks, the right man for the right time in American Olympic history, was killed in a car crash on August 11, 2003, at the age of 66, returning to the Twin Cities after a golf tournament.

He was eulogized on August 16 before 2,500 people gathered to mourn the legendary hockey coach at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

“Right now, he’s saying to God: ‘I don’t like the style of your team. We should change it,'” Eruzione said. “He had a passion to coach, a passion to teach, it was hard for him to show his emotions. He’s like your dad — you love your dad, but sometimes you don’t like him because he makes you do things you don’t want to do.”

A lone bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” as the casket, followed by tearful mourners, made its way to a waiting black hearse before heading to a private burial location. Overhead, a squadron of planes flew the missing man formation.

But the saga of Brooks and his astonishing collection of players and a system designed to overcome the odds at Lake Placid continues to be told from Cloquet to Colorado Springs in winters without end.

With thanks to Mike for allowing us to reprint his memories of an amazing day.

Rich Perelman
Editor

(Special thanks to Los Angeles Times and Hockey Hall of Fame reporter Helene Elliott for a correction to “Amateur Hockey Association of the U.S.” Thanks, Helene!)

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HIGHLIGHTS: World Champs in Biathlon, Luge, Sailing and Speed Skating, including a surprise silver for U.S.’s Susan Dunklee

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. Biathlon Olympian and World Championships medalist Susan Dunklee

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● ALPINE SKIING ● The Coronavirus epidemic in China caused the scheduled men’s World Cup racing in Yanqing to be moved to Saalbach, Austria on Thursday and Friday. Germany’s Thomas Dressen won his second Downhill of the season, ahead of Swiss stars Beat Feuz and Mauro Caviezel. In the Super-G, Norway’s Alexander Aamodt Kilde collected his first World Cup win of the season, with Caviezel second and Dressen third. With the win, Aamodt Kilde took the overall lead with 982 points, ahead of teammate Henrik Kristoffersen (903) and Alexis Pinturault (FRA/882). Full results here.

The women’s racing in Kranjska Gora (SLO) was once again without American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin, in mourning for her father Jeffrey, who passed away on 2 February. In her absence. New Zealand’s 18-year-old Alice Robinson won her second Giant Slalom of the season, ahead of Slovenian star Petra Vlhova and Swiss Wendy Holdener and Meta Hrovat (tied for third). Vlhova came back to win the Slalom on Sunday, beating Holdener. Shiffrin still leads the overall standings with 1,225 points, with Federica Brignone second (ITA: 1,112) and Vlhova third (1,071). No word on when Shiffrin plans to return to competition. Full results here.

● ATHLETICS ● While our Lane One column highlighted the top performances of the weekend, especially a second world record in a week for vault star Mondo Duplantis of Sweden (and Louisiana), there was even more going on, including world-leading marks in 10 different events:

Men (5):
● 60 m: 6.48 and 6.37 ~ Christian Coleman (USA)
● 1,500 m: 3:36.22 ~ Bethwell Birgen (KEN)
● Pole Vault: 6.18 m (20-3 1/4) – World Record – Mondo Duplantis (SWE)
● Shot Put: 22.60 m (74-1 3/4) ~ Ryan Crouser (USA)
● Weight: 25.31 m (83-0), Conor McCullough (USA)

Women (5):
● 60 m: 7.04, Javianne Oliver (USA) and Mikiah Brisco (USA)
● 400 m: 51.32 ~ Wadeline Jonathas (USA)
● 1,000 m: 2:33.47, Laura Muir (GBR)
● Long Jump: 7.07 m (23-2 1/2) ~ Malaika Mihambo (GER)
● Shot Put: 18.99 m (62-3 3/4) ~ Chase Ealey (USA)

At the USATF Nationals in Albuquerque, there were a lot of defending champs who did well, including five straight wins for Ajee Wilson in the women’s 800 m and Vashti Cuningham in the women’s high jump.

Nick Christie won his third straight title in the 3,000 m Walk and distance star Shelby Houlihan won her fourth straight national title in the 3,000 m/two mile and a third 1,500/3,000 m double at a U.S. Indoors. Erik Kynard, returning from injury in 2019, won a sixth U.S. Indoor gold at 2.26 m (7-5).

There were three other defending champions who won again: Donald Scott (men’s triple jump) and Chase Ealey (women’s shot) and Janeah Stewart (women’s weight).

With the World Athletics World Indoor Championships postponed for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, the U.S. season is essentially ended other than the NCAA Championships in March. The World Indoor Tour continues, perhaps with more heroics from Duplantis, this week in Lievin (FRA) on the 19th and Clermont-Ferrand (FRA) on the 23rd.

● BIATHLON ● The 10-day IBU World Championships in Antholz-Anterselva (ITA) is underway, running through this week and finishing next Sunday.

The opening events have already produced some surprises, not the least of which was a surprise silver medal for American Susan Dunklee in the women’s 7.5 km Sprint. She had won a Worlds silver at the 2017 Mass Start race and was a medal hopeful for PyeongChang in 2018, but didn’t qualify for the race; she also finished 66th in the Sprint.

After a 57th-place finish in the Sprint at the 2019 Worlds, she had no misses on the shooting range and had the lead for a while, finishing just 6.8 seconds behind winner Marte Olsbu Roiseland (NOR). It was Roiseland’s first individual gold at the Worlds. “I think there are 20 or 30 people, on any given day, who can be on the podium,” said Dunklee afterwards. “You never know when it’s going to be you so you always have to just believe and put yourself in contention.”

In the women’s 10 km Pursuit, Italian star Dorothea Wierer won her second career Worlds gold medal, finishing ahead of Germany’s Denise Herrmann (+9.5 seconds) and Roiseland (+15.8).

Roiseland won another gold in the Mixed Relay, as Norway cruised to the victory, with Italy second (Wierer included) and the Czech Republic was third.

In the men’s Sprint, Russia’s Alexander Loginov won his first Worlds gold, ahead of Frenchmen Quentin Filon Maillet and Martin Fourcade. However, France got a victory in the 12 km Pursuit from Emilien Jacquelin, in a lean at the line over Norwegian star Johannes Thingnes Boe, with Loginov third.

Full results and the schedule for this week are here.

● BOBSLED & SKELETON ● The IBSF World Cup wrapped up in Sigulda, Latvia, with the World Championships coming up this week in Altenberg, Germany.

Home fans cheered as Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis (with Matiss Miknis) steamed home first in both of the two-man races, finishing ahead of Francesco Friedrich (GER) in race one and Swiss Simon Friedli in the second race. The seasonal title, however, went to Olympic champ Friedrich, who piled up 1,530 points to 1,478 for Kibermanis and 1,466 for Canadian star Justin Kripps.

Friedrich had previously won the four-man title in St. Moritz two weeks earlier.

The two-women race was won by Russians Nadezhda Sergeeva and Elena Mamedova, their first medal of the season. The seasonal title was won by German Stephanie Schneider (third in Sigulda) with 1,611 points, over Olympic champ Mariama Jamanka (GER: 1,573) and Canada’s Christine de Bruin (1,514). Kaillie Humphries, competing as an American for the first time this season, finished fourth with 1,484, but did not race in Sigulda, preferring to concentrate on the Worlds.

In Skeleton, home favorite Martins Dukurs won again, ahead of older brother Tomass Dukurs and Olympic champ Sung-Bin Yun (KOR). The win have Martins a record ninth career World Cup seasonal title with 1,665 points, with Alexander Tretiakov (RUS: 1,603) second and Yun (1,581) third.

Russian Elena Nikitina won the women’s Skeleton race for her third victory of the season, beating Swiss Marina Gilardoni and Janine Flock (AUT). German Jacqueline Loelling won the season’s crown with 1,632 points, ahead of Flock (1,614) and Nikitina (1,595). Full results here.

The women’s Monobob will be introduced as an Olympic event in 2022. In the racing at Park City, Utah on Sunday, Sleper Karlien (NED) was the winner in 1:56.63 for two runs, ahead of American Vanessa D’Arpino (1:58.99).

● CURLING ● Olympic champ John Shuster’s rink won his ninth national title at the USA Curling National Championships in Cheney, Washington, while Tabitha Peterson’s team took its first U.S. championship.

Shuster, Chris Plys, Matt Hamilton and John Landsteiner raced through the nine round-robin games, then won their semi, 8-2, over Rich Ruohonen and defeated Ruohenen’s rink again, 8-6, in the final. Shuster’s squad qualified as the U.S. rep for the Worlds in Scotland in March.

The women’s title went to Peterson, with Becca Hamilton, Tara Peterson and Aileen Geving. Peterson took over Nina Roth’s squad when Roth took time off for maternity, and won her second national title (she had previously been on Allison Pottinger’s team in 2012).

Peterson went 8-1 in the round-robin, then had to defeat three-time U.S. champ Jamie Sinclair in their first playoff game, 9-4 and then beat Sinclair again in the final, 7-5. Peterson’s rink advances to the Women’s World Championship in Canada in March.

● FREESTYLE SKIING ● The action was in Moscow (RUS) and Calgary (CAN) this week, with men’s and women’s Aerials in Russia an Halfpipe and Slopestyle in Canada.

Russian Pavel Krotov gave the home fans a thrill with a win in the men’s Aerials, just ahead of Swiss Noe Roth, who won his second straight World Cup silver and third medal in four events this season. Hanna Hruskova from Belarus won the women’s Aerials, beating Australia’s Laura Peel. Full results here.

In Calgary, the five-stage Halfpipe World Cup concluded, with Britain’s Gus Kenworthy – formerly of the U.S. – winning his first medal of the season, over Brandon Mackay (CAN) and Birk Irving of the U.S. It was Canada’s Noah Bowman who won the seasonal trophy with 365 points, edging Americans Aaron Blunck (360) and Irving (310).

China’s Eileen Gu – also formerly of the U.S. – won both the Halfpipe and Slopestyle events. She finished ahead of Canada’s Rachael Karker and Valeriya Demidova (RUS) in Halfpipe, but Demidova won the seasonal title at 345, with Karker second at 280.

Gu won the Slopestyle event with Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) second and Megan Oldham (CAN) third. Swiss Sarah Hoefflin continues to lead the standings with 192 points.

The men’s Slopestyle winner was Swiss star Andri Ragettli, who won for the second straight event, this time against Americans Colby Stevenson (for the second event in a row) and Nicholas Goepper. Ragettli leads Stevenson in the seasonal race by just 265-220 with one more event to go. Full results here.

● GYMNASTICS ● The FIG Trampoline World Cup in Baku (AZE) was a showcase for China, which won four of the six individual Trampoline medals. Lei Gao won the men’s event with 61.585 points, ahead of Ivan Litvinovich (BLR: 61.360) and Dong Dong (CHN: 60.260). The women’s event was a 1-2 for China’s Xueying Zhu (55.810) and Lingling Liu (54.945).

The Tumbling events were won by Kaden Brown (USA/men) and Viktoriia Danilenko (RUS/women). Full results here.

● LUGE ● Russia dominated the 49th FIL World Championships, held on the 2014 Olympic Winter Games track in Sochi (RUS). Full results here.

Former World Cup champ Roman Repilov (RUS) won both the men’s Singles and the men’s Sprint, with Austrians Jonas Mueller second in Singles and David Gleirscher runner-up in the Sprint.

Similarly, Ekaterina Katnikova won the women’s Singles and Sprint, with Julia Taubitz (GER) and Victoria Demchenko (RUS) winning the other Singles medals, and Tatiana Ivanova (RUS) and Eliza Cauce (LAT) taking the other Sprint medals. Katnikova’s win was a shocker, as he had finished 25th at the 2017 Worlds and 15th last season; her best World Cup finish this season was fourth in Altenberg (GER).

Germans Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken won their third straight world title in the men’s Doubles, beating Russians Alexander Denisyev and Vladislav Antonov (RUS) and German teammates Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt. Denisyev and Antonov won the Doubles Sprint.

The Mixed Doubles title went to Germany (Taubitz, Johannes Ludwig, Eggert & Benecken), with Latvia second and the American team of Summer Britcher, Tucker West, Chris Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman third.

● NORDIC SKIING ● A fairly limited Cross Country World Cup schedule this week in Ostersund (SWE), but with the same results: Norway, Norway, Norway, Norway.

The sweep started with the amazing Therese Johaug winning both the 10 km Freestyle and 10 km Classical Mass Start races, giving her 13 wins in the 25 events held and victories in 13 of the 15 distance races. She led a Norwegian sweep in both events, with Heidi Weng second and Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg third both times.

Norwegians Sjur Roethe (15 km Freestyle) and Pal Golberg (15 km Classical Pursuit) won the men’s races. The Freestyle was another Norwegian sweep, with Simen Hegsted Krueger and Finn Hagen Krogh second and third; seasonal leader Alexander Bolshunov (RUS) finished second in the Pursuit. Full results here.

In Ski Jumping, the men were sailing off the giant 235 m hill in Tauplitz (AUT), and Poland’s Pyotr Zyla and home favorite (and twice World Champion) Stefan Kraft were the winners on Saturday and Sunday. Kraft finished third on Saturday and maintains the seasonal lead, 1,273-1,135, over German Karl Geiger. Slovenia’s Timi Zajc also won medals in both events, with a silver on Saturday and bronze on Sunday. Full results here.

● SAILING ● Three major world championships were held off Geelong, Australia and finished on Sunday, in the 49er, 49 FX and Nacra 17 classes, all with Olympic qualifying implications for some countries.

In the men’s 49er class, New Zealand stars Peter Burling and Blair Tuke ran away with the title, scoring a net of 38.0 points, well clear of Spain’s Diego Botin and Iago Lopez Marra (53.0) and Erik Heil and Thomas Poessel (GER/60.0). It’s a record sixth world title for Burling and Tuke, who are the reigning Olympic champions … and confirmed that they will be favored once again in Tokyo.

The women’s 49er FX racing was a tight win for Spain’s Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barcelo, who scored a 42.0-52.0 win against Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey (GBR), primarily on the strength of a fifth-place finish in the medal round, vs. 10th for the Brits. Americans Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea finished third (84.0).

Britain’s John Gimson and Anna Burnet won the Nacra 17 class, winning five of the 12 races – including the medal race – to finish with 67.0 points, just one better than Australia’s Worlds silver winners Jason Outteridge and Haylee Outteridge (68.0), with Rio Olympic silver winners Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS: 77.0) third. Full results are here.

● SHORT TRACK ● The ISU Short Track World Cup concluded in Dordrecht (NED), with two seasonal titles each for Korea’s Ji-Won Park and Dutch skater Suzanne Schulting.

In the men’s events, June-Seo Lee (KOR) won the 500 m but Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu had already wrapped up the seasonal title with 50,096 points, ahead of Dajing Wu (CHN: 32,171). The two 1,000 m events were won by Dae-Yeon Kim (KOR) and J-W Park (KOR) and Park took the 2020 title with 49,200 points, easily clear of China’s Tianyu Han (29,752).

Park also won the men’s 1,500 m in Dordrecht and claimed the seasonal diadem over J-S Lee by 42,621-37.642.

Lara van Ruijven of The Netherlands won her first 500 m title of the season in front of the home fans, but Canada’s Kim Boutin was perfect in her five races and won the seasonal crowd with 50,000 points to 38.736 for Italian Martina Valcepina (38,736). The two 1,000 m races went to Yu-Bin Lee (KOR) and teammate Ji-Yoo Kim, with Dutch star Schulting winning the seasonal title with 39,355 points to 31,120 for Yu-Tong Han (KOR).

Schulting won the 1,500 m race and the season’s title, scoring 38,000 to 30,621 for J-Y Kim. Full results are here.

● SNOWBOARD ● The World Cup Halfpipe season concluded in Calgary with a win for Japan’s Ruka Hirano, who finished ahead of Australian star Scotty James and Swiss Patrick Burgener. James won three of the five events and took the seasonal title with 3,800 points, ahead of Japan’s Yuto Totsuka (3,400) and Hirano (2.800).

The women’s Halfpipe was another win for China’s Xuetong Cai, her second in a row and fourth medal in the five events on the season. Japan’s Mitsuki Ono won silver and China’s Jiayu Liu won her third straight bronze (she also won a medal in all five events!). Cai won the seasonal title over Liu, 3,600-3,000.

Also in Calgary, the men’s Slopestyle saw the first-ever World Cup win for New Zealand’s Tiam Collins, ahead of Japan’s Ruki Tobita. The home crowd was happy to see Laurie Blouin win the women’s Slopestyle, ahead of Silje Norendal (NOR) and British star Katie Ormerod, who has won a medal in all four events thus far. Full results here.

● SPEED SKATING ● The ISU World Single Distance Championships was held at the famed Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah, and what is likely the world’s fastest track yielded six world records during the four days of competition.

In the men’s events, Russia’s Pavel Kulizhnikov won his fourth and fifth World Single Distance golds in the 500 m (over teammate Ruslan Murashov) and 1,000 m with a world record skate of 1:05.69, ahead of Kjeld Nuis of The Netherlands. Nuis came back to win the 1,500 m for his third career individual-event gold. American Joey Mantia won the 1,500 m bronze, his third career Worlds medal.

The distance races went to Canadians Ted-Jan Bloemen (5,000 m: 6:04.37) and Graeme Fish, who won the 10,000 m with a world record of 12:3.86 to beat Bloemen (12:45.01). Jorrit Bergsma (NED) won the Mass Start with 60 points.

The Dutch men won the Team Pursuit (3:34.68 world record) and the Team Sprint.

Japan’s Nao Kodaira won her fourth career Worlds medal in the women’s 500 m, and her second gold, with a 36.69-36.74 win over Russian Angelina Golikova. Dutch stars Jutta Leerdam and Ireen Wust won the 1,000 and 1,500 m; for the amazing Wust, it was her 14th World Single-Distance gold and 30th career medal!

Martina Sabilkova, the 32-year-old Czech distance star, might be even more amazing. She won the 3,000 m and was second in the 5,000 m to Natalya Voronina (RUS), who needed a world record of 6:39.02 to beat her! For Sabilkova, she now has 16 World Single-Distance golds and five silvers, from 2007-20. All of these medals have come at either 3,000 m or 5,000 m.

Canada’s Ivanie Blondin won the Mass Start race with 60 points and world records were set in both relays. Japan won the Team Pursuit in 2:50.76 to beat The Netherlands, and the Dutch took the Team Sprint in 1:24.02 to finish ahead of Russia (1:24.50).

The Netherlands won the overall medal title with 14, just ahead of Russia (12), with Canada third (9). Full results here.

● SWIMMING ● The first leg of the 2020 FINA Marathon (10 km) World Series was held off Doha (QAT), with France’s Olympic bronze winner Marc-Antoine Olivier winning the men’s race impressively in 1:49:46.6, some 12.6 second clear of Germany’s Rob Muffels.

The women’s title went to German Sophie Beck, 23, who won her first international title in a final sprint in 1:56:41.1. That was just 0.2 seconds ahead of defending champ Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) and Rio Olympic champ Sharon van Rouwendaal of The Netherlands. More details here.

The swimmers are off now until May, with the second leg in The Seychelles.

LANE ONE: Duplantis in the stratosphere again, Coleman & Crouser post no. 2 indoor performances, but did anyone notice?

By
Rich Perelman
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Olympic Champion and world-record holder Mondo Duplantis of Sweden (Photo: World Ahtletics)

In an Olympic year, the indoor track & field season doesn’t tell you who will win at the Games, but it can identify who to watch for. After Saturday’s meets:

1. Mondo Duplantis (SWE), pole vault
2. Christian Coleman (USA), sprints
3. Ryan Crouser (USA), shot put
4. Mikiah Brisco (USA), sprints
5. Malaika Mihambo (GER), long jump

Duplantis continued his heroics at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow (GBR), while Coleman, Crouser and Brisco were at the USA Track & Field Nationals in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Mihambo was at the ISTAF Indoor meet in Berlin (GER). All had performances that signaled much more to come:

● Duplantis is the hottest performer in the world right now, setting a second world record in the pole vault in a week with a 6.18 m (20-3 1/4) clearance at the World Athletics World Indoor Tour in Glasgow. As with his first world mark in Torun (POL), he won the event early and wasn’t at all fatigued when he moved to a new record height.

World Champion Sam Kendricks of the U.S. had the lead through 5.75 m (18-10 1/4), but couldn’t clear 5.84 m (19-2) and had to settle for second as Duplantis cleared 5.84 m on his first try and then 6.00 m (19-8 1/4) on his first attempt. So after only five vaults, he ordered the bar one centimeter higher than he cleared in Torun and sailed over 6.18 m (20-3 1/4) on his first try. That helped make the difference.

“There was such great energy the crowd was giving me and I really thrive off that. I tried a stiffer pole and it worked out.

“It’s unfair to think I’ll break it every time I compete. I don’t think about it too much. You don’t need to break a record to win every comp. Winning is always the goal, then if I have the energy left I’ll crank it up a bit.” (Full results are here.)

He has two more indoor meets scheduled, in Lievin (FRA) on the 19th and Clermont-Ferrand (FRA) on the 23rd.

● Coleman didn’t break his own world record in the men’s 60 m, but he gave it a scare.

He rumbled to an easy 6.48 in his heat, the world’s leading time for 2020 on Friday and with the high altitude in Albuquerque, his world record of 6.34 from 2018 was clearly in jeopardy. In the final, he stumbled at the start, then straightened up and ran past the entire field easily to win in 6.37, the no. 2 time in history, which had run twice in 2018.

He said afterwards he had done very little speed work, so this performance – even at altitude – underlined that defeating him in 2020 isn’t going to be easy.

● Crouser is the reigning Olympic Champion, so there’s no doubt he’s a contender for Olympic gold in Tokyo. But with the cancellation of the 2018 World Indoor Championships, the U.S. meet suddenly became the focus of his season and he responded with a brilliant series and the no. 2 throw in indoor history.

He took the lead right away, reaching 21.84 m (71-8) in the first round and that throw would have been good enough to win by itself. He improved to 22.05 m (72-4 1/4) in the second round, then fouled his third-round throw. Now the final man in the order for the last three rounds, he confidently strode into the ring in the fourth round and whirled rapidly in the ring, sending the ball way out … to a stunning 22.60 m (74-1 3/4), second in indoor history only to Randy Barnes’ 22.66 m (74-4 1/4) at the Sunkist Invitational in Los Angeles in 1989.

He backed up his super-throw with another superb mark, 22.18 m (72-9 1/4) and then a foul. Crouser confirmed that he is ready to defend his Rio title.

● Brisco was one of the women’s stars of the USATF Indoors, showing that she could return to his 2017 form, when she won the NCAA 100 m title for LSU in 10.96. She her heat in 7.10, slower then her world-leading 7.08 coming into the meet. But Javianne Oliver took the world lead at 7.04 and was the one to beat in the final. But Brisco got a good start and held her form to cross the finish line first in 7.04 to equal the world lead, with Oliver second in 7.08.

As a Tiger, Brisco won the 2017 NCAA 100 m, but had nothing left for the U.S. Championships two weeks ago. She won’t have that worry in 2020, but she’ll have to run faster than 10.96 to contend for the U.S. team in June.

● While all of this was going on, the ISTAF Indoor meet in Berlin (GER) saw World Champion long jumper Malaika Mihambo of Germany reach a world-leading 7.07 m (23-2 1/2), the longest indoor jump in three years and moving her to no. 10 on the all-time list.

Mohambo already proved she was the best in the world last year, and her win in Berlin says she’s going to be the one to beat in Tokyo.

There were other impressive performances at these meets, including a 6.50 win in the 60 m (at low altitude) by Ronnie Baker (USA) in Glasgow and British middle-distance sensation Jemma Reekie defeated an excellent 1,500 m field in 4:04.07.

Ar the U.S. Nationals, Wadeline Jonathas claimed a world-leader in the heats of the women’s 400 m in 51.32 and Chase Ealey won the women’s shot in a world-leading 18.99 m (62-3 3/4). Sandi Morris won the women’s vault at 4.90 m (16-0 3/4) over Jenn Suhr (4.85 m/15-11) and Shelby Houlihan completed another double in the 1,500 m (4:06.41) and 3,000 m (8:52.03).

Two old rivals put on a show in the women’s triple jump, with Keturah Orji reclaiming the American Indoor Record at 14.60 m (47-10 3/4) in the second round, but then losing it to Tori Franklin, who got out to 14.64 m (48-0 1/2). Full results are here.

All of these events – and more – were great, but will you find Duplantis or Coleman or Crouser on the front pages of newspapers across the country?

Not likely. On the ESPN.com list of the 30 top stories of Saturday, there was no mention of any of these performances, but coverage of the NBA All-Star Game festivities, college baseball, basketball and softball scores, the Astros sign-stealing scandal, NFL and XFL stories, UFC results, a high school basketball report, a review of the third round of the Genesis Invitational, soccer, boxing and eSports.

NBC, which televised the U.S. Nationals, had no video highlights of that meet, but did have Duplantis’s jump as the 22nd highlight out of 24 in its line-up. The sidebar with a short list of eight stories had the U.S. Indoor Nationals as the sixth out of eight.

This is the dilemma of track & field, a giant in the field of Olympic sports, but barely registering in this country outside of the Olympic Games itself and the trial events to make the U.S. Olympic Team. The Olympics are important, but its sports … not so much.

Duplantis, Coleman, Crouser and the rest were great this weekend, but without a stronger promotional push from someone or somewhere, no one will notice until summer comes. And that’s a shame.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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THE TICKER: Coronavirus knocks SportAccord out of Beijing, but Salt Lake City ready to bid for 2034 Winter Games

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

● SportAccord ● The annual SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit, a key convention for the international sports industry, is the latest victim of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

On Thursday, the head of the program, Italian Raffaele Chiulli – also head of the International Powerboating Federation – announced that the 2020 edition, scheduled for 19-24 April in Beijing, is in limbo.

“SportAccord 2020 brings nearly 2,000 delegates together worldwide. In addition to that, a significant number of participating countries, organizations, companies and institutions to put on exhibitions during the event. Considering the epidemic in China and around the world and taking into account the various factors of such force majeure situation and through consultation with the SportAccord 2020 Local Organizing Committee, we have reached a difficult decision that SportAccord 2020 will not take place in Beijing.”

The hope is to find an alternate location on short notice. The convention is a major meeting point for international sports organization, broadcasters and sponsors and cancellation will result in missed opportunities.

It’s yet another significant impact of the coronavirus, which also caused the stunning cancellation of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (ESP), perhaps the world’s most important mobile technology convention.

● Olympic Winter Games 2022 ●The soap opera over whether the National Hockey League will allow its players to compete in the 2022 Winter Games continues with no end in sight.

Canada’s Sportsnet reported that “According to a couple of sources, it was made clear there was a commitment to coverage of charters, hosting, hotels, etc. There were also opportunities presented for use of the Beijing Olympic logo and event highlights across NHL/NHLPA platforms, a breakthrough both wanted.” That’s more than the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the International Olympic Committee have offered before.

But NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told the Associated Press, “We aren’t there yet. In fact, we aren’t even close to being there. At this point in time, we continue to believe that the negatives outweigh the positives.”

A decision would likely have to be made next summer so that the 2021-22 schedule can be completed in time.

● Olympic Winter Games 2034 ● A new bid committee was announced on Wednesday (12th) of the “Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games,” a group which will continue the discussions with the International Olympic Committee about a future Winter Games.

Salt Lake City hosted the highly-successful 2002 Winter Games and has nearly all of the necessary infrastructure to do so again. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee has selected Salt Lake City as its “preferred” candidate for the next American bid, but the question is whether 2030 or 2034 would be a better fit.

At the last IOC Session in January, three cities were identified as being potential Winter Games sites, including Sapporo (JPN), Salt Lake City and Barcelona (ESP). The Japanese bid is well advanced and is an early favorite for 2030.

Thanks to the award of the 2028 Olympic Games to Los Angeles, there is considerable concern over whether corporate sponsorship sales would suffer with consecutive Games held in the U.S. So the 2034 Winter Games are likely more attractive.

A Salt Lake City bid will have some significant advantages over and above its existing venues, notably on-the-ground experience from two senior members of the bid committee: Fraser Bullock, who was the Chief Operating Officer of the 2002 Games and will serve as President and Chief Executive of the bid, and Colin Hilton, who directed the Park City venue operations complex in 2002 and has been the President of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation since 2006. That kind of actual know-how is rare in a bid group and a major confidence builder for those looking for valid projections of the needs of a 2034 Winter Games.

● Cycling ● The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) confirmed on Tuesday (11th) its regulations on transgender participation in the female category: “if a Federation decides to use testosterone as an indicator, the transgender athlete will only be eligible to compete in the Women category if their serum testosterone level is below 5 nmol/L.”

This is the same level specified by World Athletics, which had this approach approved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in an action commenced by twice Olympic 800 m champion Caster Semenya (RSA).

The rules also include requirements that “The athlete must prove that their serum testosterone level has been below 5 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to the eligibility date” and “Once deemed eligible, the athlete must agree to keep their serum testosterone level below 5 nmol/L for the entire time they compete in the Women category.”

The transgender issue is heating up, as evidenced by a lawsuit filed in Connecticut in which the families of three high school track & field athletes have asked a Federal Court to block transgender athletes from competing.

According to the Associated Press, “The lawsuit was filed against the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and the boards of education in Bloomfield, Cromwell, Glastonbury, Canton and Danbury” and that “They argue that allowing athletes with male anatomy to compete has deprived them of track titles and scholarship opportunities.”

● Figure Skating ● The head of the International Skating Union’s technical committee on Singles and Pairs competition has confirmed a proposal will be made to reshape how these events are contested.

In a story by the highly-respected Phil Hersh for NBCSports.com, Italy’s Fabio Bianchetti explained that the new approach would maintain two rounds of skating, with both to be the same length (instead of the current Short Program and Free Skate).

Further, the first skate – to be called the Technical Program – would weight 60% of the score on the technical elements and 40% on interpretation and presentation. The second segment, the Free Skate, would be reversed, with 60% on interpretation and 40% on the technical side.

The goal is to bring back more artistry and less reliance on jumping, which dominates the scoring under the current system. The proposal will be discussed at the ISU Congress in June and if approved – and it will be contested – could go into effect in the 2022-23 season … after the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN) is completed.

The accusations of skater abuse in France by retired star Sarah Abitbol in her autobiography have led to the resignation of French skating federation president Didier Gailhaguet.

The alleged abuser was well-known coach Gilles Beyer – who has admitted “inappropriate” conduct in the early 1990s – and Gailhaguet has been accused of hiring Beyer as team manager of a national junior squad in 2011, long after he had knowledge of the interaction with Abitbol.

Gailhaguet himself has not been accused of abuse of any athlete.

● Football ● A report from the international audit firm of PWC called out the spending practices of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as “unreliable and not trustworthy,” and continued:

“Based upon the procedures performed and documents reviewed, several red flags, potential elements of mismanagement and possible abuse of power were found in key areas of finance and operations of CAF.

“Given the serious nature of certain findings and red flags identified from the preliminary due-diligence, we cannot rule out the possibility of potential irregularities.”

The study showed that of a $10 million development grant made by FIFA, $8.4 million had either little or no documentation and “Large numbers of payments were made in cash, typically involving CAF issuing a ‘cheque to cash,’ which is then spent by a CAF Staff.”

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura (SEN) had taken over management of the confederation for six months, but her management project has been deemed “complete,” although FIFA is continuing to monitor the CAF’s financial affairs.

FIFA chief Gianni Infantino announced a huge financial commitment to African football at a recent football development seminar in Morocco, but with considerable oversight and strings attached to ensure that the money is actually spent as expected.

● The Last Word ● Although he lost for the first time in 10 years last weekend at the Paris Grand Slam, French judo giant Teddy Riner was fairly unmoved.

“If this happens at the [Olympic] Games I’ll be annoyed. Better this happens now than then,” he told reporters after the loss to Japan’s Kokoro Kageura in the third round of the men’s +100 kg category, ending a 154-match streak.

“But I’ll tell you another thing too. It’s a relief in a way. Counting wins as I closed in on (Yasuhiro) Yamashita‘s record was really heavy.”

Yamashita of Japan won 203 straight matches from 1977-84, taking four World Championships golds and the 1984 Olympic title before retiring. The 6-8 Riner won in Rio in 2016 and owns 10 World Championship titles in the +100 kg and Openweight categories, but stopped competing after the 2017 Worlds to take some time off.

The pressure of a long win streak is real; ask 400 m hurdles star Edwin Moses, who won 122 straight races (107 finals) from 1977-87, and who acknowledged the burden as he got older and new challengers came up. Riner, now 30, is free to concentrate on piling up the points to ensure he qualifies for the Tokyo Games.

LANE ONE: De Coubertin’s 1892 Olympic-revival manifesto is back in Lausanne, but what did it actually say?

By
Rich Perelman
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Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Movement

On Monday, the International Olympic Committee gleefully welcomed the donation of the original manuscript of Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s 1892 speech that called for the revival of the ancient Olympic Games.

The 14-page text, handwritten by de Coubertin, was purchased at auction for $8.8 million – the largest amount ever paid for sports memorabilia – by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. As president of the Federation Internationale de Escrime, he has been personally underwriting the expenses of the governing body of fencing for several years, and now purchased and donated the document from which the birth of the modern Olympic Games can be traced.

So was de Coubertin’s speech a rousing promotion for an Olympic revival?

Nope. In fact, when actually read, it’s no wonder that what the 29-year-old Frenchman had hoped was a “call to action” fell completely flat.

In 1994, then-IOC chief Juan Antonio Samaranch directed that de Coubertin’s manifesto be re-printed in French and translated into English in a thin volume called “Le Manifeste Olympique” and published under the auspices of the IOC.

De Coubertin’s lecture, given as part of the fifth anniversary program of the Union des Sociétés française de Sport athlétiques (USFSA) in November 1892 at Le Sorbonne in Paris, actually dealt with physical fitness, with the Olympic Games mentioned only as the final two works of the address. Some highlights:

● “The century which began so tragically and which is ending today in a troubled and uncertain peace follows one of great intellectual activity and veritable physical inertia.”

● “All [sports in France] was dead, and when the Directoire, steeped in memories of Ancient Greece, wanted to set up on the Champ de Mars in Paris something akin to an Olympic Games, one indispensable element was missing: competitors.”

● “I said that German gymnastics was energetic in its movements. On that condition alone, it is effective. Now, for this energy to be maintained, gymnasts must perpetually be under a warlike influence. The idea of war must never cease to inspire them.”

● [In England] “if boxers were seen to be killing each other here and there, or a rowing competition was held n the Thames, it as between professionals to give spectators the pleasure of losing their money on exaggeratedly high bets. There was nothing sporting or athletic about it.”

● “English athletics, Gentlemen, began only recently, and already it is taking over the world. … sixty years have sufficed for this prodigious transformation. … A certain philosophical glow surrounded them: reminders of Greece, respect for the stoic traditions and a fairly clear idea of the services that athletics could render the modern were now slow in drawing attention to them. When the movement gained ground, they were furiously and angrily attacked. But their work was already under the protection of youth.”

● “A special press has been set up to cover the interests of the athletic world. … On the days of major [sports] meetings business stops, offices empty, and there is a truce like in Ancient Greece to applaud the young people as they pass.”

● “Finally, how could one forget fencing? Is it not our national sport, in which only Italy can rival us for supremacy, the one which allows us to savor honorably the joy of fighting, the greatest after the joy of living?”

De Coubertin went on to note that an important step had been made within France in 1887, when competitions were expanded to include matches between sports clubs, and not merely within a specific club. He attached great importance to this, and led directly to his conclusion.

Saying “the role of a prophet is one full of danger,” he nevertheless exhorted his audience:

“It is clear that the telegraph, railways, the telephone, the passionate research in science, congresses and exhibitions have done more for peace than any treaty or diplomatic convention. Well, I hope that athletics will do even more. Those who have seen 30,000 people running through the rain to attend a football match will not think that I am exaggerating. Let us export rowers, runners and fencers; this is the free trade of the future, and the day that it is introduced into the everyday existence of old Europe, the cause of peace will receive new and powerful support.

“That is enough to encourage me to think now about the second part of my programme. I hope that you will help me as you have helped me thus far and that, with you, I shall be able to continue and realize, on a basis appropriate to the conditions of modern life, this grandiose and beneficent work: the re-establishment of the Olympic Games.”

The speech drew applause, but almost no action; that’s hardly surprising given the absence of any argument that the revival of the Olympic Games would solve his perceived crisis of physical fitness in France, or would be a catalyst in the expansion of competitions.

But in reading de Coubertin’s remarks, one can see his genius, especially in the marketing of the idea of “English athletics” which had developed rapidly since the 1860s. Why not have competitions on an inter-national level instead of on a purely intra-national basis as a way to promote exercise and healthier living … without the goal of training for war!

This was the true breakthrough in this speech, and de Coubertin – with help from others – persevered and finally saw the formation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894.

The first modern Games was held in 1896 in Athens, and de Coubertin retired from the IOC in 1925, after the second Games held in his beloved Paris in 1924. He came back into public view in the 1930s and in a radio address in 1935, he looked back on what he had helped create, but instead of a worldwide fitness movement, he found he had created a cult:

“The ancient as well as the modern Olympic Games have one most important feature in common: They are a religion. When working on his body with the help of physical education and sport – like the sculpturer at a statue – the athlete in antiquity honored the gods. By doing the same today, the modern athlete honors his homeland, his race, and his flag.

“I think, I was right, therefore, when reconstituting the Olympic Games to have connected them with a religious feeling from the beginning. It is transformed and even elevated by internationalism and democracy — the features of our time — but basically it is still the same as in antiquity when it encouraged the young Greek to employ all of their strength for the highest triumph at the feet of the statue of Zeus . . . The religious idea of sport, the religio athletae, has entered very slowly into the consciousness of the athlete, and many of them act accordingly only by instinct.”

De Coubertin died two years later, in 1937, having seen his concept brutalized by Nazi Germany for its own purposes. But despite two stoppages for war, the Olympic Games has survived and grown. What de Coubertin started has morphed far beyond his original idea, and with the coming inclusion of public-participation events at the third Paris Games in 2024, the IOC is finally fulfilling its founder’s dream … 132 years later.

Rich Perelman
Editor

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here.

HEARD AT HALFTIME: How high can Mondo go? Plus a new heart for Greg Foster & de Coubertin’s speech donated to IOC

By
Rich Perelman
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IOC President Thomas Bach and FIE chief Alisher Usmanov, donor of the de Coubertin manuscript on Monday (Photo: IOC/Greg Martin).

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

● Athletics ● The amazing world-record performance by Mondo Duplantis of Sweden (and Louisiana) in Torun, Poland on Saturday at 20 years old begs for speculation of just how high could he go over the next … 15 years?

He almost cleared 6.17 m (20-2 3/4) four days earlier in Dusseldorf (GER) and had the perfect situation in Torun, having won the event after having only two jumps. He’ll have more competition in the future, but note his changed mind-set from the last two years in his post-meet comments. He noted that the pole he used in Torun was the same as at the 2019 World Championships, where he lost on misses to Sam Kendricks of the U.S. at 5.97 m (19-7):

‘I couldn’t do much with it in Doha, because I was just a big fat college kid at the time, I guess. I’m a lot more in shape now so I can get a lot more out of the pole.

“Before, I was a high school kid, and I was a college kid. On Friday night, Saturday night, I was a college kid. I don’t regret that. But I wanted to take this to 100 percent, and be a professional. And I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”

He’s not resting on his record, either. He plans to be back in action in Glasgow (GBR) on the 15th, Lievin (FRA) on the 19th and Clermont-Ferrand (FRA) on the 23rd.

Although the mark was made indoors, it will be considered an absolute world record; in 2000, the IAAF (now World Athletics) passed a rule allowing world records to be set in any kind of venue, so long as the competition conditions complied with the rules.

In case you’re wondering, the largest improvement in a single career of the vault world record was by – of course – Sergey Bubka (UKR), who claimed 17 outdoor world records and raised the standard from 5.85 m (19-2 1/4) in 1984 to 6.14 m (20-1 1/2) in 1994. He retired at age 37 in 2001.

Could Mondo really jump 6.46 m (21-2 1/4) someday?

Good news for hurdles World Champion and former American Record holder Greg Foster, who underwent successful heart transplant surgery on 19 January at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The procedure took 6 1/2 hours, as the 918th heart-transplant surgery performed there, and Foster was walking upright the very next day and went home just eight days after the procedure.

His son Bradey reports that “He’s been riding a stationary bike and walking the treadmill. He gets a little sore in the chest from the actual surgery but doing well. He has his appetite back and eating like a horse.”

Foster’s GoFundMe campaign has surpassed $10,000, but there is a long way to go. You can find out more and donate here.

Nike announced that it will make available a “street legal” version of the shoe used by Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge to run his 1:59:41 time-trial marathon. The Air Zoom Alphafly Next% will comply with the new World Athletics rules that shoes (1) cannot have more than one embedded, carbon-fiber plate, (2) must have soles not thicker than 40 mm (1.575 inches) and (3) must be publicly available.

Kipchoge’s prototype shoes for his sub-2 marathon reportedly had three plates and even thicker soles. The new shoe is supposed to be available online in March.

There were more noteworthy – but not record-setting – performances over the weekend, especially at the Millrose Games in New York.

Chief among these was the successful return of sprinter Ronnie Baker. Hampered by injuries all last year, he won the men’s 60 m in 6.54, beating world leader Demek Kemp (USA), second in 6.56. At his best in 2018, Baker ran 9.87 and was the World Indoor Championships silver medalist behind Christian Coleman. If he can stay healthy, he’s a medal threat for Tokyo.

Hurdler Daniel Roberts showed good form in winning the 60 m hurdles in 7.64, his fifth-fastest indoor mark. In the women’s 60 m hurdles, Keni Harrison scored a win over 2019 World Champion Nia Ali, 7.90-7.96.

At the USA Track & Field Multi-Event Indoor Championships in Annapolis, Maryland, Garrett Scantling won the men’s heptathlon with 6,209 points, while Annie Kunz took the women’s pentathlon with 4,610.

The USATF Indoor Championships will be held this weekend – at altitude – in Albuquerque, New Mexico, so expect some fast sprint marks.

The Athletics Integrity Unit reported two more positives in the re-testing from the 2012 Olympic Games in London, with Gulcan Mingir (TUR/women’s steeple) and Klodiana Shala (ALB/women’s 400 m) both provisionally suspended. Both have retired; Mingir was 10th in her heat in London, and while Shala was tested in London, did not compete in any event (maybe she knew something ahead of time?).

The two new positives run the London positives to 82, the most of any Games in history, and there are still two more years to go before the re-testing process will be closed.

The outstanding Athletics International newsletter noted that Niger’s Amina Seyni (23), who burst onto the world scene with a 49.19 best in the 400 m last year, has decided not to take medications to lower her testosterone levels. Because of her naturally-elevated scores, she cannot compete in events from 400 m to the mile, so she will compete in the 100 m and 200 m and try to qualify for Tokyo in those events. She ran the 200 m at the 2019 Worlds and ha a best of 22.58, almost making it to the final.

● Basketball ● USA Basketball announced a roster of 44 finalists for the 12-man Olympic team roster for this summer’s Olympic Games. The list includes all of the members of the 2019 FIBA World Cup, nine gold medalists from the 2016 Olympic Team and seven members of the winning 2012 Olympic Team.

After most of the top NBA stars skipped the 2019 World Cup, this roster was full of them and includes LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, Mike Conley, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Durant, Paul George, Draymond Green, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, Kevin Love, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and many more.

Needless to say, the U.S. will be an overwhelming favorite to win again; American teams have won the last three Olympic titles and six of the last seven since NBA players were eligible to compete.

● Swimming ● South African swimmer Roland Schoeman received a one-year ban for doping from FINA for a trace amount of the banned substance Cardarine.

Schoeman issued a lengthy public statement last Saturday, noting that he had been tested multiple times without incident and believes the trace elements were from contaminated supplements. He wrote that he explained to FINA officials at length his vitamin regimen and was given a one-year ban that will end on 17 May 2020.

Because of the relatively short suspension period, Schoeman – now 39 – could qualify to swim in Tokyo this summer. It would be his fifth Olympics; he won three medals in 2004, including a gold on the 4×100 Freestyle Relay, silver in the 100 m Free and bronze in the 50 m Free.

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The Hellenic Olympic Committee made some history by naming Rio Olympic gold medalist shooter Anna Korakaki as the first woman to be the inaugural torch bearer in the quadrennial Olympic Torch Relay.

The traditional lighting ceremony will take place on 12 March in ancient Olympia and the torch will be run for a week in Greece before heading toward Japan, where the torch will begin moving around the country on 26 March.

● International Olympic Committee ● The 14-page manuscript of Pierre de Coubertin’s 1892 speech that called for the revival of the Olympic Games was sold to a mystery buyer for $8.8 million on 19 December, the largest price ever realized for an item of sports memorabilia.

The buyer was unmasked on Monday, as Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov – president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) – who bought the document and presented it as a gift to The Olympic Museum in Lausanne (SUI). Said Usmanov:

“This manuscript is the manifesto for the modern Olympic Games. Pierre de Coubertin had a vision of a world united by athletic pursuits and not divided by confrontations and wars. I believe that The Olympic Museum is the most appropriate place to keep this priceless manuscript.”

Some of the pages will be displayed shortly at the Museum and the entire document will eventually be on public display.

● At the BuZZer ● An interesting follow-up to Monday’s Lane One column on athlete protests and the potential consequences came from British star Ricky Gervais, the five-time host of the Golden Globe Awards, who commented on Twitter about cultural and/or political commentaries delivered by celebrities at Sunday’s Academy Awards show:

“I have nothing against the most famous people in the world using their privileged, global platform to tell the world what they believe. I even agree with most of it. I just tried to warn them that when they lecture everyday, hard working people, it has the opposite effect.”

Wonder if anyone will keep that in mind in Tokyo this summer?

LANE ONE: Edwin Moses is right when he says protests can’t be stopped, but neither can the blowback

By
Rich Perelman
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While the Tokyo organizers fret about the potential impact of the expanding coronavirus threat to this summer’s Olympic Games in Japan, discussions about the International Olympic Committee’s guidelines on protests are spreading among athletes.

There are lots of voices, but one of those worth listening to closely is Edwin Moses, the two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 400 m hurdles and universally respected as one of the most thoughtful people on sport and culture.

Speaking with CNN a couple of weeks ago, Moses said:

“Now the athletes have so many resources, social media resources and so many ways that they can activate their brand, I think the IOC is really trying to tap down on their activities, which is going to be impossible to do.

“It’s probably going to happen. I think that there’s going to be athletes that figure this is my chance to, you know, perform and if I get to the podium, I’m going to do what I want to do and express the feelings that I want to express. It’s got to be impossible to stop.”

He’s completely right about that. But that’s not the end of the story, but only the beginning.

His reference is to the IOC’s Rule 50 Guidelines, developed by its Athletes’ Commission and posted in early January. Its preamble lays out the reasons for the document, including:

“We believe that the example we set by competing with the world’s best while living in harmony in the Olympic Village is a uniquely positive message to send to an increasingly divided world. This is why it is important, on both a personal and a global level, that we keep the venues, the Olympic Village and the podium neutral and free from any form of political, religious or ethnic demonstrations.”

Contrary to some comments, these guidelines actually narrow the areas of protests or demonstrations to four areas at Olympic venues only:

(1) “On the field of play”
(2) “In the Olympic Village”
(3) “During Olympic medal ceremonies”
(4) “During the Opening, Closing and other official ceremonies”

Moreover, the guidelines specifically approve of “the opportunity to express their opinions” during interviews – including at the competition sites in the post-event Mixed Zone areas – and on media platforms of any kind.

This obviously includes U.S. fencer Race Imboden’s kneeling during the victory ceremony for the Team Foil event at the Pan American Games in Lima (PER) last year, or Gwen Berry’s raised fist during her victory ceremony for the women’s hammer there. But it also applies to Australian Freestyle star Mack Horton’s refusal to take the victory stand after the 400 m Freestyle final at the FINA World Championships in protest of China’s Yang Sun – the winner – who Horton felt was guilty of doping and let off by the Chinese swimming federation and FINA. (The World Anti-Doping Agency filed an appeal of these rulings vs. Sun and the decision is expected soon.)

The CNN story and others that followed all focused on American soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who has promised to speak out on issues she cares about, such as equal pay and playing conditions for the U.S. Women’s National Team.

So they protest. What then?

The Rule 50 Guidelines are clear and vague at the same time:

“If an athlete or participant is in breach of Rule 50 and the Olympic Charter, each incident will be evaluated by their respective National Olympic Committee, International Federation and the IOC, and disciplinary action will be taken on a case-by-case basis as necessary.”

So there might be consequences and there might not be. But if the IOC reacts as it did with Tommie Smith and John Carlos in 1968, and Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett in 1972 – with disqualification – it may very well be on solid ground.

The knee-jerk reaction of many Americans, for whom free speech is a cherished right under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, is that just about anything can be done. But there are limits, especially for non-governmental actors such as the IOC, that will allow post-protest punishments such as those that Smith, Carlos, Matthews and Collett received.

As the IOC is a European body, headquartered in Switzerland, the law of the European Union has to be consulted first. An excellent review of the applicable statutes, compiled in 2019, notes that the guarantee of freedom of expression in Europe rests on the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, which includes:

● “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression” but also

● “The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law
and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial
integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of
health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing
the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and
impartiality of the judiciary.”

The key phrase in that long second sentence is “for the protection of the reputation or rights of others” and that is where the IOC’s emphasis is. Its view, as detailed in its Rule 50 guidelines, essentially state that a protest or demonstration on the field of play, in the Village or during ceremonies, demeans the Games and disrupts the rights of other athletes to have a pristine Olympic experience.

Ridiculous, you say? Then you didn’t hear the comments of athletes at the IOC’s International Athletes Forum in Lausanne last year, where multiple questions were asked about why some athletes were unhappy with the Rule 40 restrictions on advertising. While this is a major issue for North American, European and Oceanic competitors seeking personal sponsors, there are many others whose income, training support and travel are paid for by their governments and are happy enough to be able to compete while making a reasonable living in their home country.

Those considering protests should not underestimate IOC President Thomas Bach – an Olympic gold medalist in team fencing for West Germany in 1976 – and a long-time lawyer himself. The Rule 50 Guidelines were very carefully drafted to narrow the areas where protests would be restricted, with an eye toward future tests before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Even Bach’s sometimes nemesis Dick Pound of Canada, himself a serious, highly-respected lawyer in Montreal and the senior member of the IOC, noted in a widely-reproduced column on Sunday (9th) that

“The IOC fully agrees with that principle and has made it absolutely clear that athletes remain free to express their opinions in press conferences, in media interviews and on social media. But, in a free society, rights may come with certain limitations. Rule 50 restricts the occasions and places for the exercise of such rights. It does not impinge on the rights themselves. Many other governmental and sporting organizations have similar rules restricting demonstrations. Remember, too, that allowing protests on the podium means accepting all protests, not just those with which you may agree.”

He added, importantly, “But the principles that give rise to the Games can illuminate a way forward that integrates fundamental humanistic values. Avoiding vengeance, especially misguided vengeance, is an admirable beginning.”

So if Imboden, Berry, Horton or Rapinoe want to make a scene during their victory ceremony, no one is going to stop them. But the blowback afterwards may end their Olympic careers, with the decision to be confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

And as the discussion at the International Athletes Forum in 2019 showed, while the IOC may be booed by some from U.S. and Europe, there will be many others from elsewhere who will ask why anyone has the right to spoil their Olympic experience.

In his CNN interview, Moses explained “I think it’s a very personal individual choice to have to make. I was not a fan [of protesting] mainly because of what happened 40 years ago, the boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow.” But while he agreed with what Smith and Carlos did as a personal choice, that doesn’t mean that he would do the same.

That balance in judgement is not normally part of the mindset of an activist. But the IOC is telling athletes and their entourage it needs to be, at least on the field of play, in the Village and on the victory stand.

Rich Perelman
Editor

HIGHLIGHTS: Where no man has gone before! Duplantis clears world-record 20-2 3/4 in Torun!

By
Rich Perelman
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World Record! Mondo Duplantis (SWE) clears 6.17 m (20-2 3/4) in Torun (POL) on Saturday. (Photo: World Athletics)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● ATHLETICS ● Saturday was one of those dream days in track & field, where athletes around the world were on fire:

At the Orlen Cup meet in Torun, Poland, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis realized his enormous potential with a world record in the pole vault of 6.17 m (20-2 3/4). The situation was perfect, as he essentially won the competition with his first jump of 5.52 m (18-1 1/4), and no one else could clear 5.62 m (18-5 1/4).

Duplantis passed that height and cleared 5.72 m (18-9 1/4) on his first try and was free to move the bar higher. He cleared 5.92 m (19-5) on his first attempt and then tried 6.01 m (19-8 1/2), a new national indoor record. After that, why not for the world record?

The bar was set at 6.17 m (20-2 3/4), one cm above Renaud Levillenie’s 2014 world mark of 6.16 m (20-2 1/2), set indoors. Only France’s Lavillenie and Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka (6.15 mi/20-2i) had ever cleared 20 feet; the World Athletics rules allow world records to be set indoors if conditions are equivalent to outdoor environments, and the pole vault is an event that typically meets these requirements.

At 20-2 3/4, Duplantis missed his first try, but sailed elegantly over the bar on his second attempt, claiming the world mark and setting off a wild celebration – on the infield and in the Polish crowd – for the 20-year-old from Louisiana. “It’s something that I wanted since I was three years old,” he said.

That wasn’t the only highlight in Torun, however. Home favorite Justyna Swiety-Ersetic won the women’s 400 m in a national indoor record of 51.37, a world leader. In the women’s 1,500 m, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay won in a world-leading 4:00.09, moving her to no. 8 on the all-time world indoor list. Full results here.

Just hours after Duplantis re-wrote the record book, World Champion Sam Kendricks set a new American Indoor Record of 6.01 m (19-8 1/2) in winning the Perche Elite Tour meet in Rouen, France.

Kendricks’ effort replaced the 6.00 m (19-8 1/4) mark set by Jeff Hartwig way back in 2002.

At the Millrose Games in New York, three American records were set, including a brilliant 1:44.22 in the 800 m by Donavan Brazier, who replaced his 2019 mark of 1:44.41. No one else was close, but Bryce Hoppel was second in 1:45.70, which moved him to no. 6 on the all-time U.S. indoor list.

Not to be outdone, Ajee Wilson lowered her own U.S. women’s indoor 800 m mark from 1:58.60 in 2019 to 1:58.29. She won comfortably, with Jamaica’s Natalya Goule second in 1:59.35.

Elle Purrier declared her intention to contend for an Olympic berth this season with an unexpected 4:16.85 win in the women’s mile, the no. 2 performance of all time and another American Record. Her lifetime best in the event was 4:24.88 from 2019, so this is a major step up.

She overtook Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen on the final lap and finishers 2-4 – Klosterhalfen (4:17.26), Jemma Reekie (GBR/4:17.88) and Gabriela Debues-Stafford (CAN/4:19.73) all set national indoor records. Purrier’s time wiped out Mary Slaney’s famous 4:20.5 mark, run in San Diego in 1982.

Purrier also passed 1,500 m in 4:00.20, the no. 2 mark in U.S. history to Regina Jacobs’ 3:59.98 from 2001 and making her no. 9 all-time. Klosterhalfen was leading at that point and her 3:59.87 moves her to no. 6 ever, with another national record.

Lost in the shuffle was another terrific performance for Olympic shot champ Ryan Crouser, who won at 22.19 m (72-9 3/4) over World Champion Joe Kovacs (21.34 m/70-0 1/4) and Sandi Morris’s win in the women’s pole vault at 4.91 m (16-1 1/4), a world leader. Results here.

What a day!

● ALPINE SKIING ● The men’s World Cup in Chamonix (FRA) for technical events, with the first-ever World Cup victory for Swiss Loic Meillard in Sunday’s Parallel Giant Slalom, ahead of teammate Thomas Turnier in the final. Saturday’s Slalom was a sixth career World Cup win for France’s 22-year-old star, Clement Noel. Full results here.

The women’s World Cup was in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) winning the Downhill in front of home fans and the first career Super-G win by Swiss Corinne Suter. Rebensburg finished ahead of Italy’s Federica Brignone – second in the overall standings to American Mikaela Shiffrin – and a noteworthy third by Snowboard star Ester Ledecka (CZE). Full results here.

Shiffrin, still mourning the unexpected death of her father, has given no indication of when she will return to skiing. She would normally have been expected to compete in Kranjska Gora (SLO) next week, with a Giant Slalom and Slalom on tap.

● ARCHERY ● The World Archery Indoor World Series finals was concluded at The Vegas Shoot in Las Vegas (USA), with Germany’s Florian Kahllund scoring an upset win over American star Brady Ellison, 6-4, in the men’s Recurve final.

The women’s Recurve final was another demonstration of Korean power, with Na-Yeon Wi defeating Rio Olympic champ Hye-Jin Chang, 6-4, in the final. Full results here.

● BASKETBALL ● The U.S. women won the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade (SRB) with a tight, 76-71 win over Nigeria on Sunday, their only challenging game of the event.

The American women, the clear favorite for another Olympic gold, defeated host Serbia by 88-69 in the opener, then stomped Mozanbique by 124-49. In Sunday’s game, Nigeria outscored the U.S., 19-6, in the second period for a 40-26 halftime lead. That shrunk to 57-50 after three quarters and then a 26-14 final push in the fourth quarter provided the winning margin.

Nneka Ogwumike of the U.S. was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, one of three held to finish out the field for Tokyo.

Three Olympic Qualifying Tournaments were played, with Canada (3-0) and Belgium (2-1) punching their tickets to Tokyo at Ostend (BEL); France (3-0), Australia (2-1) and Puerto Rico (1-2) qualifying in the tournament at Bourges (FRA) and Serbia (2-1) and Nigeria (1-2) taking the spots from Belgrade Group A and China (3-0), Spain (2-1) and South Korea (1-2) qualifying from Group B. These 10 teams will join already-qualified Japan and the U.S. in Tokyo.

Links to results are here.

● CYCLING ● The second of five stops in the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup was in Bathurst, Australia, but rain and strong winds cancelled most of the races.

Only the men’s race was held on Saturday (8th), with the women’s race cancelled and no racing on Sunday. In the men’s competition, the format was shortened to try and get the event in, with Americans Connor Fields and Corben Sharrah finishing 1-3 and Kye Whyte (GBR) second.

Australian rider Kai Sakakibara suffered head injuries in a bad crash and taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he was reported in “critical but stable” condition. Results are here.

● FENCING ● The U.S. collected four medals in a powerful showing at the FIE Foil Grand Prix in Turin (ITA), earning gold, silver and bronze medals in the men’s division and a silver for the women.

Three Americans made it to the men’s semis, with Rio silver medalist Alexander Massialas defeating France’s Wallerand Roger, 15-2, while Gerek Meinhardt out-lasted Race Imboden, 15-11, in the all-American second semifinal. That put Meinhardt and Massialas into the final, with Meinhardt winning, 15-8. That evened the all-time record between the two at 6-6 in matches going all the way back to 2007!

The women’s Foil tournament saw American Lee Kiefer score a 15-14 win over 2018 World Champion Alice Volpi (ITA) and advance to the final against France’s two-time World Championships medalist, Ysaora Thibus. It was another 15-14 thriller, but Thibus came out on top. It was Kiefer’s seventh career medal in a Grand Prix.

In the men’s Epee tournament in Vancouver (CAN), Bas Verwulen of The Netherlands, 36, won his 17th career World Cup medal with a 15-9 win over Sergey Bida (RUS) in the final. In Barcelona (ESP), Estonia’s Ketrina Lehis won her first career World Cup medal with a 15-8 victory over Alexandra Louis Marie of France in women’s Epee. Links to results are here.

● FIGURE SKATING ● The ISU Four Continents Championships is one of the major regional events in the world each year and Japan’s two-time Olympic champ Yuzuru Hanyu took the opportunity to make a statement.

Competing in Seoul (KOR), he set a record for the best score ever in the men’s Short Program at 111.82, then won the Free Skate at 187.60 for a total of 299.42, well ahead of Jason Brown of the U.S. (274.82) and Yuma Kagiyama (JPN – 16 years old! – 270.61).

Japan’s Rika Kihira repeated as Four Continents champ in the women’s division, winning both the Short Program and the Free Skate to score 232.34, ahead of Young You (KOR: 223.23) and American Bradie Tennell (222.97).

The Pairs event was the sixth Four Continents title for China’s Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, who out-scored countrymen Cheng Peng and Yang Jin, 217.51-213.29. The Ice Dance title went, for the second year in a row, to Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates. They won the Free Dance to pass teammates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and scored 213.81 for the repeat win. Hubbell and Donohue finished third as Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier were second in the Free Dance and captured to silver by 210.18 to 208.72. Full results here.

● FREESTYLE SKIING ● Lots of action in Deer Valley, Utah, with Moguls and Aerials for men and women.

Mention Moguls, of course, and you’re talking about Canadian superstar Mikael Kingsbury, the greatest ever in the event. He won the Dual Moguls event on Saturday for the second time in two tries this season, once again ahead of France’s Benjamin Cavet. But Japanese star Ikuma Horishima scored a rare win over Kingsbury last Thursday in the standard Moguls event; in the five events held this season, they have been 1-2 each time, with Kingsbury winning three and Horishima two.

In Friday’s Aerials, Russia’s Maxim Burov won for the first time this season, out-pointing Swiss Noe Roth, and older brother Ilya Burov.

The women’s Moguls was a showcase – once again – for Olympic champ Perrine Laffont, who won for the fifth straight time this season, this time in front of Australia’s Jakara Anthony. In Dual Moguls, however, Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe was the winner for the first time this season, ahead of Americans Hannah Soar and Jaelin Kauf.

In Aerials, Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya from Belarus had been second in the first events of the season, but finally got to the top of the podium, beating Megan Nick of the U.S. for the gold. Full results here.

● FOOTBALL ● The U.S. women concluded a highly impressive romp through the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a 2-0 win over Canada in Carson, California and a perfect 25-to-0 goals-against performance in the event. By making the final, both the U.S. and Canada qualified for the 2020 Olympic Tournament in Japan.

The American side won its group games by 4-0, 8-0 and 6-0, then strolled past Mexico, 4-0 in the semifinals. Canada piled up a 23-0 goals-against tally after skating past Costa Rica by 1-0 in their semi.

In the final, the U.S. had plenty of chances in the first half, especially by Christen Press, but could not find the net. But even more pressure in the second half finally lit up the scoreboard.

In the 57th minute, striker Lynn Williams took advantage of a failed clearance by Canada, then sent a right-footed rocket into the net for the first goal of the game. More U.S. pressure created more chances, and then Lindsey Horan scored in the 71st minute on a left-footed laser into the corner of the net after a Williams header placed the ball at Horan’s feet in front of goal.

The final was added in the 87th minute, as Williams drove the ball through the middle of the field, then passed to a wide-open Megan Rapinoe rolling in from the left side, who finished with an left-footed strike into the net. The tournament summary is here.

● ICE HOCKEY ● The Rivalry Series featuring the Olympic and World Champion U.S. women against Canada concluded with a 4-3 overtime win for the Americans in front of a record crowd of 13,320 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California last Saturday. It’s the largest crowd ever to see a U.S. women’s national team game on American soil.

Canada had a 3-2 lead after two periods in Anaheim, but Monique Lamoreaux-Morando tied it with nine minutes left, and Megan Bozek scored in the first minute of overtime for the game winner.

The victory ended the 2019-20 Rivalry Series at 4-1 for the U.S. After two wins in December, the U.S. lost, 3-2, in overtime on 3 February in Victoria, British Columbia, then won 3-1 in Vancouver on 5 February and added the overtime win on Saturday. More details here.

● JUDO ● The Paris Grand Slam is one of the most anticipated tournaments of the year, and this year was no different, especially with France’s 10-time World Champion Teddy Riner competing in the +100 kg division.

He won his first two bouts to run his winning streak – since 2010 – to 154-0, then faced 10th-ranked Kokoro Kageura of Japan in the third round. There was no scoring in regulation time and then Kageura turned an attempted throw by Riner against him and turned him to the mat after 40 seconds of overtime for the 1-0 victory.

For Riner, 30, it was his first loss in 10 years, and he will have to continue to look for wins to compile enough points to qualify for Tokyo. Kageura himself was disappointed, finishing with the silver medal after a loss to Dutch star Henk Grol in the final.

Reigning women’s world champs Daria Bilodid (UKR: 48 kg) and Christa Deguchi (CAN: 57 kg) won their divisions and the home crowd was thrilled with victories by French world champs Clarisse Agbegnenou (63 kg) and Madeline Malonga (78 kg). Full results here.

● NORDIC SKIING ● A busy weekend for all three disciplines, with the Cross Country skiers in Falun (SWE) for a Sprint and Mass Start race. The home fans were jubilant to see emerging star Linn Svahn (20) win her third Sprint of the season and second in the last three by defeating Russia’s Natalya Nepryaeva and teammate Jonna Sundling. But when it comes to distances, there is no stopping Norway’s Therese Johaug, won the 10 km Freestyle Mass Start for her 11th title this season (in 23 total races!). Johaug now leads the overall women’s World Cup with 1,690 points to 1,212 for Nepryaeva.

Men’s leader Alexander Bolshunov (RUS) won the men’s 15 km Freestyle Mass Start and Pal Golberg (NOR) won the Classical Sprint with teammate Erik Valnes right behind. Bolshunov continues to lead the men’s overall race, 1,647-1,222 over Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR). Full results here.

In Ski Jumping, the planned Willingen Five in Germany became the Willingen Two after high winds killed any chance of jumping on Friday or Sunday. However, home favorite Stephan Leyhe won his first-ever World Cup gold on Saturday, beating Marius Lindvik (NOR) and Polish star Kamil Stoch in the final. Full results here.

The women were able to compete in Henzenbach (AUT) off the 90 m hill, with new Austrian star Chiara Holzl (22) winning her third and fourth straight events this season and extending her overall lead. She won on Saturday over reigning World Cup champ Maren Lundby (NOR) and on Sunday, ahead of teammate Eva Pinkelnig. Full results here.

The planned Nordic Combined races in Otepaa (EST) were cancelled due to lack of snow.

● SHOOTING ● The U.S. Olympic Trials in Air Rifle concluded over the weekend in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with Lucas Kozeniesky and Mary Tucker winning the two-stage qualification program.

Kozeniesky (1,259.2) and Will Shaner (1,255.0) stood 1-2 and in line for Olympic spots after the first Trials event last December. Kozeniesky won the second Trials event, scoring 1,265.1, ahead of Matthew Sanchez (1,253.6) and Scott Rockett (1,253.4), but Shaner’s fifth-place finish with 1,251.6 points was enough to maintain the second spot (2,506.6) and send him to Tokyo. Sanchez was third (2,502.1) and will be first alternate.

The women’s event was all about Tucker, who led after the first event at 1,256.4. She scored a little better this time at 1,256.6 and won easily, with 2,513.0 points to 2,507.7 for Alison Weisz. The Rio Olympic gold medalist, Ginny Thrasher, came in standing only fifth and despite finishing second to Tucker on the weekend (1,254.4), it was not enough to get onto the 2020 American team. Weisz started in second place after the first event (1,256.0) and her weekend score of 1,251.7 was only sixth, but the combined total was enough to get a ticket to Tokyo. Sarah Beard finished third at 2,506.6 (alternate); Thrasher stayed in fifth (2,504.4). Full results here.

● SHORT TRACK ● The penultimate World Cup for 2020 was held in Dresden (GER), with four of the six individual seasonal titles decided.

Among the men, Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu finished second to Canada’s Steven Dubois in the 500 m, but wrapped up the seasonal title ahead of next week’s finale in Dordrecht (NED). Korea’s Ji-Won Park dominated the distances, winning his second 1,000 m race and third 1,500 m race of the season. He clinched the seasonal title at 1,000 m, but is in a tight battle in the 1,500 m.

Canadian sprint star Kim Boutin has been strong from the start and won the 500 m in Dresden to clinch the seasonal title in that event with her fifth win in five tries (she did not compete in one race). Dutch star Suzanne Schulting won her second 1,000 m event of the season and will be the seasonal champion in that event, but even after winning the 1,500 m, she is in a fight with as many as five others for the seasonal crown next week. Full results here.

● SPEED SKATING ● The fifth of six World Cup events was on in Calgary (CAN) last weekend, with tremendous results for Russian skaters.

Angelina Golikova (RUS) won the women’s 500 m, but still trails Japan’s Nao Kodaira (264-250) in the seasonal standings, with American Brittany Bowe fifth (187). Kodaira won the women’s 1,000 m for the first time this season, while Bowe lost for the first time and ended up sixth. But Bowe still leads the standings at 218-184 over Kodaira and only needs to finish 14th or better to take the 2020 title.

Japan’s Miho Takagi won the women’s 1,500 m, but Dutch star Ireen Wust is the almost-certain seasonal winner; she leads Russia’s Evgeniia Lalenkova, 222-174, with just the one meet left. Perennial champion Martina Sabilkova (CZE) won her second meet of the season in the 3,000 m and has a 271-238 edge on top of Canada’s Ivanie Blondin (238) this season.

Among the men, Ruslan Murashov (RUS) won the 500 m over teammate Viktor Murshtakov, but Mushkatov has the seasonal lead by 285-250 going into the final meet. Teammate Pavel Kulizhnikov scored his second win in a row in the 1,000 m, but the seasonal title will likely be decided between Dutch stars Kai Verbij (176 seasonal points) and Thomas Krol (second in Calgary, 174 total points). China’s Zhongyan Ning finished second to Russian star Denis Yuskov in the 1,500 m, but still has the seasonal lead, 186-162-162 over Yuskov and Kjeld Nuis (NED).

Another Dutch star, Patrick Roest, won his fourth 5,000 m race of the season and is slightly ahead in the seasonal standings with 240 points to 237 for Russia’s Danila Semerikov (237). Full results are here.

The final World Cup won’t be for a month, on 2-3 March in Heerenveen (NED).

LANE ONE: Sports in the ‘20s will be an American showcase, but is Africa actually the center of attention?

By
Rich Perelman
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI)

If you are a fan of international sports living in the United States, there’s no doubt that the 2020s are going to be great. Consider:

● 2021: XI World Games ~ in Birmingham, Alabama
● 2021: World Athletics Championships ~ in Eugene, Oregon
● 2026: XXIII FIFA World Cup ~ in Canada/Mexico/United States
● 2028: Games of the XXXIV Olympiad ~ in Los Angeles, California

In addition, possibly the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2030.

That’s quite a schedule, but at the same time, the heads of international sports have decided that it’s Africa’s time to shine … whether the continent is ready or not.

This theme was dramatically underscored this past Saturday by FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI), speaking to all 54 members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at the 2020 Seminar on the Development of Competitions and Infrastructure in Africa, in Rabat, Morocco. He told it like it is, and then promised change:

“There is also the reality, and it is sufficient [that] when you travel – and all of you travel a lot in Africa – you go to a hotel in the evening; before sleeping, you switch on the TV and you start zapping and you see SuperSport or BeIN or whatever, and you see that there is football everywhere. And if you have six – I don’t know – six channels that broadcast football in Africa, five of them broadcast European football and one of them broadcasts African football. And that’s already a little bit strange, right?

“But when you watch it, you can see that the European football which is broadcast – I am not just speaking about the Premier League or La Liga, but other leagues – they are played in nice stadiums, in nice infrastructure which look good, and when you zap, you see some African league match, in some countries, where you have people everywhere, cars inside the stadium, people standing … you don’t know what is happening. The match, which should start at 8 p.m., starts at 10 past 8, or maybe doesn’t start because it was postponed to the following day and nobody knows about it. So these are situations that, of course, affect the image of African football and that’s why we need to invest in infrastructure.

“Because when you want to sell a product, when you want to generate income, when you want to generate revenues, you need to offer something, you need to invest first. We have many investors here in the room; you know it. If you want to generate income, you need to invest, you need to believe in what you do and the basis for football is the infrastructure and the stadium, and my objective is to have in each African country – in each of the 54 African countries – at least one top-class stadium, at least one.”

Infantino then promised to raise $1 billion U.S. to build a quality stadium, costing $20-40 million each, in those countries which do not have one. Countries which have a good stadium can build training centers or smaller, regional stadiums.

“FIFA’s mission is to boost and develop football all over the world. And how do you develop football? How do you boost football? By investing in infrastructure. So it is easy for us to stand side-to-side with CAF, with the regional/zonal associations, with all 54 member associations of Africa, and go to the financial market and mobilize $1 billion, and guarantee that $1 billion with the money that is anyways going to Africa.”

He didn’t stop there: “Referees have to be above and beyond doubt and to do that we have to protect them. We will take 20 of the best African FIFA referees, professionalise them, and give them permanent, professional contracts. They should be the guardians of the rules of our game and we must protect them and make them totally autonomous. …

“This is something that has never been done anywhere in the world. And it is something that will have a serious impact on the credibility of football in Africa. And we need to do that because we need to de-politicize the whole situation. …

“We need to do something that the world will watch as something new, as something incredible, as something that is groundbreaking for refereeing in the world, and not only in Africa. That’s why you have to focus on the world and not, as the title here says, on Africa only.”

This is a serious commitment by FIFA to change the status of football in Africa. The headline of the AIPSMedia.com story on the conference was “Infantino unveils FIFA action plan to rescue African football from itself.”

And he is not alone. Consider additional investments being made and events being held in Africa by the NBA, by World Athletics and the International Olympic Committee:

● 2020: Basketball Africa League starts in March

● 2020: World Athletics U-20 Championships in Nairobi (KEN) in July

● 2022: Youth Olympic Games in Dakar (SEN)

The Basketball Africa League is a joint venture of the NBA with the International Basketball Association (FIBA) and will have 12 teams playing five games each, in venues in Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal. The finals will be in Kigali, Rwanda.

The World U-20 track & field Championships in Nairobi this summer could very well be a trial event for holding the 2025 World Athletics World Championships in Kenya. World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe has been enthusiastic about taking the biggest event in the sport there, in view of its brilliant history.

FIFA just completed a six-month mission with the CAF to end corruption in African football, which no doubt led to Infantino’s commitment to future development. Whether the continent is ready or not, the world of sport will bring a lot of support to Africa in the 2020s … and will expect a lot back. In the view of at least FIFA, the IOC and World Athletics, the only thing that will hold Africa back is Africa itself.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: U.S. women face Mexico in Tokyo qualifier; Duplantis opens at 19-8 1/4 to beat Kendricks

By
Rich Perelman
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Sweden's Olympic and World Champion Mondo Duplantis coming back to Los Angeles for the first time since 2017 for the USATF L.A. Grand Prix.

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

● Athletics ● The third leg of the World Athletics World Indoor Tour came on Tuesday in Dusseldorf (GER) in front of a big crowd at the Arena-Sportpark, with Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis stealing the show.

In his first competition of 2020, the 20-year-old from Louisiana cleared 6.00 m (19-8 1/4) to win the pole vault from World Champion Sam Kendricks, who rebounded from an off-day last week to clear 5.80 m (19-0 1/4). It was the fourth career meet over 6.00 m for Duplantis and his first ever indoors. He had three misses at a world record of 6.17 m (20-3)!

Other notable marks included world indoor leaders in the men’s 1,500 m for Filip Ingebrigtsen (NOR) in 3:36.32, Selemon Barega (KEN) in the 3,000 m in 7:35.71 and 21.52 m (70-7 1/4) for Croatia’s Filip Mihaljevic in the shot.

Women’s Steeple world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN) won the 1,500 m in a world-leading 4:02.09, a lifetime best (indoors or out), and Germany’s Neele Eckhardt took the triple jump in a world-leading 14.17 m (46-6). Full results here.

New Russian Minister of Sport Oleg Matytsin suspended the Russian Athletics Federation through 1 March, after RusAF had been reproached by World Athletics’ Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for yet another doping cover-up, this time of “whereabouts” reporting failures by 2018 World Indoor High Jump Champion Danil Lysenko.

Matytsin said of the move, “The crisis in Russia’s track and field athletics has been lasting for five years, which is obviously too long a period. Our goal is to swiftly normalize cooperation with World Athletics to reinstate RusAF’s membership. Our immediate tasks are to take necessary additional anti-doping measures and to ensure a possibility for our athletes to compete at international tournaments.”

RusAF has denied any wrongdoing in the Lysenko case, saying in a statement, “RusAF disagrees with the accusations against it, brought forward by the AIU Council, as they are baseless and lack evidence.” A special meeting of the Russian Athletics Federation is scheduled for the end of the month, during which new officers are to be elected.

Despite being unable to compete internationally, Russia’s high jump World Champion Mariya Lasitskene continues to jump within her home country … and well. She cleared a world-leading 2.04 m (6-8 1/4) and tried 2.07 m (6-9 1/2) in Moscow on 1 February.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport declared that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal of a group of women’s race walkers to force the inclusion of the 50 km event in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Two separate actions were filed, against the International Olympic Committee and World Athletics, but CAS will not hear the cases on the merits. This likely ends the attempt at adding the event, although a suit in Japan is a possibility (although unlikely to help).

● Football ● The CONCACAF women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament has now reached the serious stage with the semifinals set for Friday at the Dignity Sports Health Park in Carson, California. The two semifinal winners will qualify for Tokyo, with the U.S. facing Mexico and Canada playing Costa Rica.

The final group-stage games held little suspense. On Monday evening in Houston, the U.S. women had no trouble with a mostly-second-line Costa Rican squad, winning 6-0. Christen Press scored in the fourth minute and scoring machine Lindsey Horan got a goal in the 10th minute – both off assists from Carli Lloyd – and the rout was on. The tally was 3-0 at half, as Press scored again, and two Sam Mewis goals in the second half pushed toward the final score. The U.S. won Group A with a 3-0 record and a perfect 18-0 goals-against ratio.

In Group B, in Edinburg, Texas, Canada and Mexico both won their first two games and played Tuesday for the title. Christine Sinclair scored in the 26th minute and Shelina Zadorsky’s goal in extra time at the end of the first half sealed the match and there was no scoring in the second half. The Canadian women outscored their three opponents in Group B by 22-0.

Canada and Costa Rica will play in the first semifinal at 4 p.m. Friday, followed by the U.S. and Mexico at 7 p.m. The final will be on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Sinclair, 36, became the all-time women’s international scoring leader with her two goals in an 11-0 win vs. St. Kitts & Nevis, passing American Abby Wambach with her 185th score. She now has 186 with the one goal vs. Mexico and will look for more this weekend.

● Skating ● A new sex-abuse scandal has emerged in France, where Sarah Abitbol – a World Championships Pairs bronze medalist in 2000 – stated in her autobiography that her one-time coach, Gilles Beyer, raped her when she was 15.

According to a BBC report, “Mr Beyer has admitted to ‘intimate’ and ‘inappropriate’ relations with her, and said he was ‘sincerely sorry’.”

French prosecutors are now looking into assault allegations against Beyer and two other coaches; Beyer was previously investigated in the 2000s.

In response, Roxana Maracineanu, the French Minister of Sport, asked for the head of the French skating federation, Didier Gailhaguet, to resign. Gailhauget has been the head of the French federation from 1998-2004 and 2007 to now, but was involved in the judging scandal at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. A prior investigation indicated he had knowledge of the accusations against Beyer, but did nothing about them.

Maracineanu said that Gailhaguet “cannot absolve himself of his moral and personal responsibility.” Gailhuguet has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday; prosecutors say they will explore abuse in other sports beyond skating, such as swimming and tennis. .

● Skiing ● The alpine skiing community received a shock on Sunday with the news of the passing of Jeff Shiffrin, the father of American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffin, in Edwards, Colorado.

Shiffrin, 65, was injured in a home accident and transported to a Denver-area hospital, where he died several hours later. His wife Eileen, Mikaela and son Taylor Shiffrin were with him at the end.

He was a ski racer himself at Dartmouth and carved out a career as an anesthesiologist, but was also often seen at races to see his star daughter compete. Mikaela has left the FIS World Cup Tour and her return date is unknown.

● Doping ● In an age where spectacle is everything, even the World Anti-Doping Agency is not immune.

In an unusual request, the agency asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to hold its hearing of the appeal of its sanctions against Russia in public. Said WADA Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI): “WADA’s investigations on Russia, and this latest case of non-compliance, have generated huge interest around the world. It is WADA’s view – and that of many of our stakeholders – that this dispute at CAS should be held in a public forum to ensure that everybody understands the process and hears the arguments.”

This is suddenly becoming a trend. Prior to last November’s public hearing of the appeal by WADA to assess penalties against China’s star Freestyler Yang Sun, only one public hearing had been held. Now, the WADA case against Russia will be presented with public access, no doubt to include a live, online video stream. Stay tuned.

● At the BuZZer ● The newest sign that the Apocalypse is coming soon:

CNN reported a story on competitive Tag – not, this is not a joke – and World Chase Tag will hold its fifth world event in 2020. Tweeted former IOC marketing chief Michael Payne, “Which future olympic host is going to put this forward to the ioc as a new medal sport. Small venue, mixed gender, can relate to very young demographic – ticks all the boxes!”

Replied Olympic expert Bill Mallon: “I think Ninja Warrior will precede it.”

Stop, please!

LANE ONE: Swiss success in hosting Winter Youth Olympic Games polishes the IOC’s promise of change

By
Rich Perelman
-

Now that the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games has concluded and the grandstands and signs are coming down, it’s worth considering what was achieved at an event that really did not draw much international attention.

That’s to be expected for a series of competitions for athletes from 15-18 years old, so if you missed it – and most people did – here’s what happened:

● The III Winter Youth Olympic Games was held across eight venues, but primarily in and around Lausanne, Switzerland, the home of the International Olympic Committee, from 9-22 January. There was a symbolic tie with the last Olympic Games held in Switzerland – in 1948 – as the sliding and speed skating events were held in St. Moritz.

● According to the Lausanne 2020 organizers, some 1,872 athletes from 79 countries attended the Games (most ever), with 81 total events in 16 sports.

● Admission was free to all events, with 640,000 reported to attend “the event at and around the YOG,” which would include about 200,000 at cultural and sports demonstration events. Of the total, about 80,000 (12.5%) were school children.

● The organizing committee kept to its announced budget of $40 million (U.S.) and was aided by 3.,800 volunteers.

● The events were televised on the Olympic Channel (more than 165 hours of coverage) and shown in 191 countries.

All of this is nice, but the key outcome was the impact of the event on the Swiss population. What would have been a very well-received bid for Sion for the 2026 Winter Games was withdrawn after losing in referendum in mid-2018.

As far as the International Olympic Committee was concerned, the local response to the Lausanne effort was sensational. In the end-of-Games news conference, IOC chief Thomas Bach was either giddy or relieved (or likely both) with the reception. Asked if he felt there was a change in attitude in at least the areas where the events were held, he was supremely positive:

“You can not only feel it, it has been addressed by many people I’ve been meeting in both in St. Moritz and here in Lausanne, in Valois, everywhere. There, I am of course happy to see this, because on the other hand, it is human.

“If you’re undertaking such a wide range of reforms as we have been undertaking, people – in particular in Europe – they are very skeptical. They say, ‘OK, maybe that’s just another paper and let’s see what happens.’ And now, with Buenos Aires [2018 YOG] and with Lausanne, we could show the reality of these reforms and how these reforms are affecting the format of the Games, how they are promoting sustainability, inclusivity, how they are reducing costs … Then, people look at it now, obviously, with different eyes.”

In summing up the IOC’s view of the Games and the work of the organizing committee, he said “We are happy.”

Bach and Lausanne 2020 President Virginie Faivre spoke at length about the human side of the Games and the personal encounters they had with many athletes and attendees. Said Faivre:

“Coming back from St. Moritz, I had people saying they were a little scared about the Games coming there, and they were positively surprised about how it went and how natural it was. They really enjoyed the speed skating on the lake and how it was simple, human-size, and so I think the Swiss population have enjoyed these Games.”

The Youth Olympic Games, started by then-IOC President Jacques Rogge in 2010, has been seen mostly as a boondoggle, but has now been turned into a political marker as a pivot point for Bach’s IOC to show that its new approach to staging the Games is working.

The outcome of the Sion referendum and those in other cities considering bidding for the 2024 Olympic and 2026 Winter Games were criticized by Bach as being solely about the costs. But there were costs for Lausanne, too. In an interview with CNN Money and in written reports, Lausanne 2020 chief executive Ian Logan noted that the $40 million budget was obtained (figures approximated from Swiss frances):

● $7 million (17.5%) from sponsors, in cash, goods and services;

● $6 million (15.0%) from the International Olympic Committee;

● $27 million (67.5%) from the City of Lausanne, Canton of Vaud and the Swiss government, plus the Swiss Olympic Committee.

Remember that admission was free to all events, and no broadcast rights were sold. Bach noted that the IOC itself spent a total of $29 million on the Games, which included underwriting the entire broadcast operation.

The operating budget did not include the $162 million (CHF 156 million) cost of the YOG Village, which was a student-housing project for the University of Lausanne, and the $236 million (CHF 227 million) for the new, 9,600-seat Vaudoise Arena built to house the Lausanne Hockey Club matches in the Swiss national league and part of a multi-facility Malley Sports Centre.

So there were costs, although both the student housing and arena are both part of long-term needs for the area, once again showcasing the IOC’s desire to arrange its Games in line with the operating realities of its host cities. In this regard, its resume is growing (as is the crowing about it from Bach and others, but to make people believe it, one has to repeat it.)

So will Switzerland bid for the 2034 Winter Games?

At the IOC Session held just prior to the Winter Youth Olympic Games, the first report of the new Future Host Commission noted that Sapporo (JPN), Barcelona (ESP) and Salt Lake City from the U.S. had all discussed future Winter Games bids and Japan’s bid is the obvious front-runner for 2030.

As far as the Swiss are concerned, it’s not time to talk about a Winter Games bid yet. Logan told the Associated Press, “They say, ‘This could be the way, if we do it like this.’ They all see it’s nice, it’s friendly.

“First, you should motivate the region so that they see the impact for them — engaging people, having fun — and not talking about money first.”

And as for the Swiss Olympic Association, their focus is now on the Winter World University Games, to be held in January 2021 in Lucerne. A statement noted that “It will be only after analysing those two events closely that we will cautiously start looking into an eventual new bid.”

That’s typically Swiss, but credit Bach and the IOC for making a huge effort to ensure that its “home Games” went well and that Lausanne 2020 will be added to its rising totem pole marking the impact of Olympic Agenda 2020.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HIGHLIGHTS: Bobsled star Humphries close to making debut American season a World Cup winner

By
Rich Perelman
-
New American (and already two-time Olympic champ) bobsled star Kaillie Humphries

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

There was no doubt that once two-time Olympic champ and three-time World Cup winner Kaillie Humphries received her release from the Canadian bobsled federation and joined the U.S. federation, she was going to be a force. After another World Cup win this weekend, she’s in position to add yet another seasonal title! Check out all the week’s action below.

● Alpine Skiing ●The women’s Downhill in Rosa Khutor (RUS) for Saturday had to be cancelled due to heavy snowfall, but the Super-G was held on Sunday. Italy’s Federica Brignone led a 1-2 with teammate Sofia Goggia, the sixth straight World Cup race in which Italy has won at least one medal! It was also Brignone’s fourth win of the season so far. Full results here.

The men were in the famed German resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with home favorites Thomas Dressen getting his second win of the season (both in Downhills) over Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR), and France’s Alexis Pinturault getting his fourth win in Sunday’s Giant Slalom. Full results here.

Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen won the mid-week Slalom race in Schladming (AUT) over Pinturault for his third win this season. The seasonal battle continues to be tight, with Kristoffersen still leading at 877, with Pinturault at 822 and Aamodt Kilde at 820, after 27 of 44 races.

● Athletics ● The second stage of the World Athletics Indoor Tour took place Friday evening in front of a full house of 5,000 in Karlsruhe (GER), highlighted by a 2.02 m (6-7 1/2) win for Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

Still just 18, the mark is a World U-20 Indoor Record and her second of 2020; she cleared 2.01 m (6-7) on 18 January. She’s clearly a medal favorite for Tokyo.

Another Ukrainian star, long jumper Maryna Bekh-Romachuk, the World Championships silver medalist in Doha last year, scored a mild upset over Worlds gold medalist Malaika Mihambo (GER), winning by 6.92 m-6.83 m (22-8 1/2 to 22-5).

American Sam Kendricks told reporters prior to the meet that by his own calculations, he had cleared 5.80 m (19-0 1/4) in 16 straight meets (14, actually), but that came to an end on Friday as he managed only 5.50 m (18-0 1/2) and finished ninth. France’s Renaud Lavillenie won at 5.70 m (18-8 1/4).

Two world-leading marks were set in the 3,000 m. Kenyan Bethwell Birgen won in 7:38.50 and Ethiopia’s Fantu Worku won the women’s race in 8:37.58. Full results here.

Two other recent competitions of note were the annual Dubai Marathon and the U.S. 50 km Walk trials. In Dubai, 11 men finished under 2:07 and Ethiopia’s Olika Adugna won with a lifetime best of 2:06.15. Fellow Ethiopian star Worknesh Degefa won the women’s race in an impressive 2:19:38.

Former Swede Andreas Gustafsson won the U.S. 50 km Olympic Trials held in Santee, California in 4:12:11 on 25 January. That time is well beyond the qualifying standard of 3:50:00 and would have ranked 139th in the world for 2019. The women’s 50 km Walk is not an Olympic event for 2020, but Robyn Stevens won the women’s race in 4:37:33, the no. 6 performance in U.S. history.

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● The penultimate World Cup stop of the 2019-20 season was in St. Moritz (SUI), but this was the final race in the four-man competition. Canada’s Justin Kripps, who won the first two races of the season, won the finale by 0.13 over Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis and German star Johannes Lochner. Even though he only finished fifth, Francesco Friedrich (GER) won the seasonal crowd with 1,686 points to 1,649 for Lochner and 1,603 for Kripps.

Lochner won the two-man races, ahead of Friedrich and Kibermanis. Going into the final two races in Latvia in two weeks, Friedrich leads with 1,320 to 1,066 for Kripps and 1,028 for Kibermanis.

American Kaillie Humphries teamed with Lauren Gibbs for a fourth win this season in the two-woman racing, beating 2018 Olympic gold medalist Mariama Jamanka by 0.16, with Gwerman Stephanie Schneider third. That gives Humphries a 1,484-1,411-1,381 edge over Schneider and Jamanka with one race left.

In Skeleton, Latvia’s Martins Dukurs won his second race in the last three for the men and is poised to win his ninth career World Cup title in front of his home fans in Sigulda. He leads the standings with 1,440 points to 1,419 to Alexander Tretiakov (RUS). Germany’s Tina Hermann won her second straight World Cup, ahead of teammate Jacqueline Loelling. With one race left, Loelling (1,472) leads Hermann (1,419) and Austrian Janine Flock (1,414). Full results here.

● Cycling ● The sixth annual Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race in and around Geelong (AUS) crowned a first-time champion in 36-year-old Belgian Dries Devenyns. He edged Russian Pavel Sivakov at the line for his first-ever World Tour victory with South Africa’s Daryl Impey leading a four-man chase group four seconds behind. Detailed results here.

The women’s race was won by Liane Lippert (GER) – also a first-time World Tour winner – who sprinted away with the race, finishing 15 seconds ahead of Arlenis Sierra (CUB), Amanda Spratt (AUS) and American Tayler Wiles. This was the opening race of the Women’s World Tour for 2020; detailed results are here.

In the BMX Supercross World Cup in Shepparton (AUS) – the first of five stages this season – it was a great weekend for 2017 World Champion Alise Willoughby of the U.S. She won both stages, beating back home favorite Saya Sakikibara (AUS), 36.345-36.471, in the first race and then finishing ahead of teammate Felicia Stancil, 37.129-37.406, in the second event.

In the men’s racing, Dutch star and two-time defending World Cup champ Niek Kimmann started off with a win over Anthony Dean (AUS), 33.040-33.188 with the top five separated by just 0.892 seconds in race one. But American Connor Fields – the 2013 World Cup titlist – won the second race over Carlos Ramirez (COL), 33.869-33.960. Full results here.

● Football ● The U.S. Men’s National Team won a hard-fought friendly over Costa Rica, 1-0, before a sparse crowd (announced at 9.172) at the Dignity Sports Health Park in Carson, California on Saturday.

The Americans, with a young team and devoid of most of its familiar faces, had multiple chances to score, but only broke through in the 50th minute on a penalty. Reggie Cannon was taken down by Costa Rican defender Randall Leal to the right of goal and 18-year-old Uly Llanez scored his first national-team goal (in his national team debut) by drilling the penalty to his right, past keeper Esteban Alvarado.

The win gives the U.S. a 17-16-6 record all-time vs. Costa Rica; all 17 wins have come on U.S. soil.

The U.S. women stomped Panama, 8-0, with a hat trick from Lindsey Horan, to move to 2-0 in Group A of the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament in Houston. Costa Rica is also 2-0 in the group and the two teams will meet on Monday (3rd) to decide the group winner. Both will advance to the semifinals in Carson, California on 7 February.

Group B is being played in Edinburg, Texas, with Canada and Mexico both 2-0 and meeting on Tuesday (4th) to decide the group champion.

● Freestyle Skiing ● Lots of action in four different disciplines, with Halfpipe and Slopestyle events at Mammoth Mountain in California. Reigning World Champion Aaron Blunck of the U.S. won Saturday’s Halfpipe event over Noah Bowman (CAN) and Lyman Currier (USA), while Canada’s Cassie Sharpe took the women’s Halfpipe ahead of Russian Valeriya Demidova,

Friday’s Slopestyle events were swept by the Swiss. Sarah Hoefflin defeated Isabel Atkin (GBR) and American Maggie Voisin in the women’s event, and veteran star Andri Ragettli finished ahead of Colby Stevenson and Deven Fagen of the U.S.

In the Moguls events in Calgary, Canadian superstar Mikael Kingsbury won for the third time in four events this season, in front of Swede Walter Wallberg and France’s reigning Olympic champ Perrine Laffont continued her perfect season with a fourth straight victory, finishing ahead of Yulia Galysheva (KAZ) for the third straight time.

At Megeve, France, Canada swept both of the Ski Cross titles. Kevin Drury won the men’s event over home favorite Bastien Midol and Marielle Thompson won her third event of the season over Swedish star Sandra Naeslund. Links to results are here.

● Luge ● The final World Cup prior to the 2020 World Championships – in two weeks – was in Oberhof (GER), with another German sweep.

Johannes Ludwig won his second race of the season, ahead of Semen Pavlichenko (RUS) in the men’s Singles, and Anna Berreiter was a surprise women’s Singles winner over Tatiana Ivanova (RUS) and Summer Britcher of the U.S.

Twice Olympic gold medalists Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt won the Doubles, with a close win over Andris Sics and Juris Sics of Latvia, 1:23.695-1:23.812. Full results here.

● Nordic Skiing ● The Cross Country skiers had the week off, but the star of Nordic Combined was busy.

Defending World Cup champ Jarl Magnus Riiber won all three legs of the annual Nordic Combined Triple in Seefeld (AUT), with jumping off a 109 m hill and races of 5-10-15 km. The other medals were won by teammate Jorgen Graabak (bronze-silver-silver) and Vinzenz Geiger (silver-bronze-bronze), so only three athletes won the nine medals on the weekend. Full results here.

In men’s Ski Jumping in Saporo (JPN), home favorite Yukiya Sato won the first of two events off the 137 m hill, turning back Austria’s 2017 World Cup leader Stefan Kraft and Pole Dawid Kubacki. Kraft came back to win the second competition, on Sunday, and took the seasonal lead in the World Cup standings.

The women’s jumping in Obertsdorf (GER) was dominated by Austria’s Chiara Holzl, who won both events off the 137 m hill there over reigning World Cup champ Maren Lundby (NOR). That places Holzl in the seasonal lead, taking over from Lindby, 830-815, after 11 of 21 events. Full results here.

● Rugby ● Both the men’s and women’s Seven Series were in action in Sydney (AUS), with the first win of the season for the Fiji men and the fourth straight for the New Zealand women.

Fiji, South Africa, the U.S. and England all went 3-0 in pool play, then Fiji edged England, 17-14, in its semifinal and South Africa scooted past the U.S., 19-12. In the final, Fiji defeated South Africa, 12-10, and the American Eagles got by England, 17-10. Full results here.

In the women’s division, New Zealand, Canada and Australia were unbeaten in pool play and advanced with France to the semis. There, the Black Ferns skated past the French, 24-7, and Canada rushed Australia, 34-0. In the final, the New Zealanders proved superior by 33-7 over Canada, with Australia edging France, 12-10, for third. Full results here.

The Black Ferns lead the seasonal standings with 96 points to 80 for Australia; the New Zealand men also lead, with 76 points to 67 for South Africa.

● Sailing ● Better late than never, the ISAF’s World Cup Series in Miami finished on 25 January, with American sailors taking three of the seven events.

Pedro Pascual took the RS:X title, Caleb Paine (29.0) won the Finn Class ahead of Canada’s Kyle Martin (40.0) and Luke Muller of the U.S. (48.0), and Erika Reineke won the women’s Laser Radial in a tight match with Vasileira Karachaliou (GRE), 24.0-30.0.

World Championships medalists Jordi Xammar Hernandez and Nicolas Rodriguez (ESP) won the men’s 470 class, and Olympic bronze medalist Camille Lecointre and Aloise Retornaz (FRA) too the women’s 470.

The men’s Laser title went to Peru’s Stefano Perchiera and the women’s RS:X was a 1-2 for Mexico with Demita Vega de Lille and Mariana Aguilar (MEX). Full results here.

● Snowboard ● Lots of action at Mammoth Mountain in California, with Halfpipe and Slopestyle events on Friday and Saturday. Japan’s Yuto Totsuka finally broke through with a win in the men’s Halfpipe, after Scotty James (AUS) had won the first three events (and did not compete at Mammoth).. Totsuka out-pointed American Taylor Gold (USA) and Japan’s Ruka Hirano.

China’s Xuetong Cai won the women’s Halfipipe, with Maddie Mastro (USA) winning her third medal in four events this season and Jaiyu Liu (CHN) third; Liu has now won medals in all four events on the season.

Americans won both of the Slopestyle events, with Dusty Hendrickson winning the men’s Slopestyle over Ryoma Kimata (JPN) and Justus Henkes (USA). Jamie Anderson won the women’s Slopestyle – even with a magnitude 4.7 earthquake during the proceedings! – with Laurie Blouin (CAN) second and Britain’s Katie Ormerod third.

The SnowCross events in Feldberg (GER) were cancelled due to high temperatures. Links to  all of the results are here.

● Speed Skating ● The International Skating Union took a page from its figure skating program with a Four Continents Championships to give skaters from nations outside Europe to have a “regional” title event.

Not all of the top skaters attended the event, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Korea and the U.S. both winning four events. Americans Brianna Bocox scored lifetime bests in the 1,000 m (1:15.537) and 1,500 m (1:57.176) to win both events, and distance star Mia Kilburg-Manganello took the 3,000 m and Mass Start, plus a bronze in the 1,000 m.

Korean men won the 500 m (Joon-Ho Kim), 1,500 m (Min-Seok Kim) and Mass Start (Cheonho Kim), and Min-Sun Kim won the women’s 500 m. The other winners included Koki Kubo (JPN) in the men’s 1,000 m, and Vitaliy Schigolev (KAZ) took the men’s 5,000 m. Full results here.

● Table Tennis ● The reigning Olympic Singles gold medalists came up short to teammates in the finals of the German Open in Magdeburg. Chinese star Xin Xu defeated Rio Olympic champ Long Ma, 4-0, in the men’s final, and Meng Chen dispatched Ning Ding, 4-1, in the women’s championship match.

China won two of the Doubles titles as well. Chen and Manyu Wang won the women’s Doubles (3-1 over Japan’s Miu Hirano and Kasumi Ishikawa), and Xu and Shiwen Liu took the Mixed Doubles crown, skipping past Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito (JPN), 3-1.

It wasn’t a clean sweep for China, however, as Korea’s Daeseong Cho and Woojin Jang won the men’s Doubles over Gaoyuan Lin and Long Ma (CHN), 3-2. Full results here.

● Tennis ● Played despite the continuing brushfires, the 2020 Australian Open ended with a big surprise on the women’s side. American Sofia Kenin, just 21 and seeded only 14th, dispatched 15-year-old U.S. sensation Coco Gauff in the fourth round, top-seeded and home favorite Ashleigh Barty (AUS) in the semifinals, and then stopped unseeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in the final, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The men’s Singles title went to Novak Djokovic (SRB: seeded 2nd), who came from 2-1 down to defeat Dominic Thiem (AUT: 5) in five sets, 6-4. 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, for his eighth career Australian Open victory.

The Doubles titles all went to mixed-nationality teams. Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury (GBR) took the men’s Doubles; Timea Babos (HUN) and Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) won the women’s, and Barbora Krejcikova and Nikola Mektic (CRO) triumphed in the Mixed Doubles. Find in-depth results here.

● Weightlifting ● The IWF Rome World Cup offered Olympic qualifying points as a second-tier qualifier, with multiple quality results for the U.S.

Travis Cooper won the men’s 89 kg division and Wesley Kitts took the 109 kg class, while Jessie Bradley won the women’s 81 kg and Mattie Rogers took the 87 kg title.

That made the U.S. the event leader with four titles, with Vietnam and the Philippines getting three wins each. Full results here.

HEARD AT HALFTIME: Another McLaren report coming, this time on weightlifting and Tamas Ajan

By
Rich Perelman
-
Back in business: Canadian law professor Richard McLaren

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

● Weightlifting ● After his much-praised reports on the Russian doping scandal in 2016, Canadian law professor Richard McLaren instantly became the gold standard for investigations in the Olympic world. He’s back on stage again.

On 22 January, International Weightlifting Federation chief Tamas Ajan, who had served as Secretary General or President since 1976 – “delegated a range of operational responsibilities to IWF Vice President Ursula Papandrea, who will temporarily serve alongside Ajan in an Acting President role.”

So, while Papandrea, the President of USA Weightllifting, will serve as the head of an Oversight and Integrity Commission to figure out which allegations of the Geman ARD documentary “Secret Doping – Lord of the Lifters” are true, Ajan – in fact – continues as IWF President and has not “stepped aside” as has been previously reported.

An interim report from Papandrea’s committee is due by 11 March to the IWF Executive Board. On Friday, the IWF announced that McLaren had been engaged to “take whatever measures he sees fit to ensure each and every allegation is fully investigated and reported.”

In a related matter, the allegations made by Thai lifting star Rattikan Gulnoi – the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in the women’s 58 kg class – that lifters as young as 13 were doping caused the entire Board of the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association to resign on Thursday. The resignation letter noted that the ARD documentary “destroys our country’s reputation and image dramatically.”

McLaren has a lot to do.

● Taekwondo ● Iran’s only Olympic medalist Kimia Alizadeh confirmed at a news conference in Germany that she intends to stay in that country and continue to compete whether or not she is able to attend this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

She announced on 12 January on her Instagram page that she was leaving Iran and had gone to The Netherlands. But by 24 January, she was in Germany and declared that she will not return to Iran, stating (in English via Google Translate) “I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran” and “My troubled spirit does not fit into your dirty economic channels and tight political lobbies. I have no other wish except for Taekwondo, security and a happy and healthy life.”

Iran lost another potential taekwondo star as Farzad Zokghadri (80 kg) moved to Bulgaria and stated his intention to compete for that country. “I like Iran; this is my country,” he said, “But the competition there is tough and I’ll have much better chances to fulfill my dreams competing for Bulgaria.” He added, “I would like to say that my move to Bulgaria has nothing to do with politics.”

● Gymnastics ● The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) had never released financial statements, but finally decided to allow some more transparency with the posting of a six-page summary.

The balance sheet showed solid assets of 52.0 million Swiss francs (1 CHF = $1.04), but paltry 2018 income of CHF 16.1 million, with a net operating income of just CHF 723,000. Including investments and one-time items, the final net income for 2018 was CHF 939,000.

That’s not a lot, and way down from the CHF 2.45 million earned in 2017. The four-year financial plan does not look a lot better: 2019 was estimated to bring in CHF 1.38 million and a loss is forecast for 2020 of CHF 4.51 million! No notes or explanatory materials were included, so there is no way to understand the break-out between FIG income from its share of Olympic television rights and its earnings from its Artistic World Championships and other events.

● Football ● The CONCACAF women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament is underway, with two of the three group-stage match days completed.

In Group A, the U.S. and Costa Rica have qualified for the semifinals by winning their first two games, with the two teams to meet on Monday to determine the group winner. The American women, playing for the first time since November, cruised past Haiti by 4-0 on 28 January and then pounded Panama on 31 January, 8-0 (with a hat trick by Lindsey Horan), in Houston. Costa Rica defeated Panama, 6-1, and Haiti, 2-0.

In Group B, Canada smashed St. Kitts & Nevis, 11-0, and Mexico defeated Jamaica, 1-0. The remaining games are on 1 and 4 February. The semifinals and finals will be on 7 and 9 February in Carson, California. More details here.

● Canoeing ● Six-time World C-1 200 m champion Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (CAN) was reinstated by the International Canoe Federation after a doping examination panel concluded that last August’s suspension for having trace amounts of ligrandrol was caused by “bodily fluid contamination” from her ex-boyfriend.

The Associated Press reported “The Canadian canoe sprint racer and her lawyer detailed in a news program that laboratory analysis of hair from her then-boyfriend showed he was likely responsible for a tiny presence of ligandrol in her doping sample.”

Now eligible, Vincent Lapointe will be the favorite in Tokyo in the women’s C-1 200 m and in the C-2 500 m with Katie Vincent, where the pair are two-time defending world champs.

● Athletics ● World Athletics announced an amendment to its rules concerning shoes. In brief:

“From 30 April 2020, any shoe must have been available for purchase by any athlete on the open retail market (online or in store) for a period of four months before it can be used in competition.

“If a shoe is not openly available to all then it will be deemed a prototype and use of it in competition will not be permitted. Subject to compliance with the rules, any shoe that is available to all, but is customised for aesthetic reasons, or for medical reasons to suit the characteristics of a particular athlete’s foot, will be allowed.”

The federation noted that “there is sufficient evidence to raise concerns that the integrity of the sport might be threatened by the recent developments in shoe technology” and also limited soles to 40 mm and not more than one embedded plate that runs either the full length or part-length of the shoe.

World Athletics did not – as some had hoped – ban the Nike Vaporfly shoe, which has caused a sensation in distance running, especially in the marathon. Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei wore a version of the Vaporfly when she set the women’s world record of 2:14:04 last October.

An excellent review of the entire Vaporfly saga by 1968 Boston Marathon winner Amby Burfoot ran on PodiumRunner.com and is worth reading here.

The second stage of the World Athletics Indoor Tour took place Friday evening in front of a full house of 5,000 in Karlsruhe (GER), highlighted by a 2.02 m (6-7 1/2) win for Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

Still just 18, the mark is a World U-20 Indoor Record and her second of 2020; she cleared 2.01 m (6-7) on 18 January. She’s clearly a medal favorite for Tokyo.

Another Ukrainian star, long jumper Maryna Bekh-Romachuk, the World Championships silver medalist in Doha last year, scored a mild upset over Worlds gold medalist Malaika Mihambo (GER), winning by 6.92 m-6.83 m (22-8 1/2 to 22-5).

American Sam Kendricks told reporters prior to the meet that by his own calculations, he had cleared 5.80 m (19-0 1/4) in 16 straight meets (14, actually), but that came to an end on Friday as he managed only 5.50 m (18-0 1/2) and finished ninth. France’s Renaud Lavillenie won at 5.70 m (18-8 1/4).

Two world-leading marks were set in the 3,000 m. Kenyan Bethwell Birgen won in 7:38.50 and Ethiopia’s Fantu Worku won the women’s race in 8:37.58. Full results here.

Two other recent competitions of note were the annual Dubai Marathon and the U.S. 50 km Walk trials. In Dubai, 11 men finished under 2:07 and Ethiopia’s Olika Adugna won with a lifetime best of 2:06.15. Fellow Ethiopian star Worknesh Degefa won the women’s race in an impressive 2:19:38.

Former Swede Andreas Gustafsson won the U.S. 50 km Olympic Trials held in Santee, California in 4:12:11 on 25 January. That time is well beyond the qualifying standard of 3:50:00 and would have ranked 139th in the world for 2019. The women’s 50 km Walk is not an Olympic event for 2020, but Robyn Stevens won the women’s race in 4:37:33, the no. 6 performance in U.S. history.

Star miler Edward Cheserek, a native of Kenya, has long wanted to compete for the U.S. internationally. Now 25, and with very little movement on his application for American citizenship, told Athletics Kenya that he would run for his native country.

Cheserek lives and trains in Arizona, but will now have to try to navigate the Kenyan qualifying system to try to get to Tokyo.

● At the BuZZer ● Further to our Lane One column of 27 January, opining that if athletes were paid at the Olympic Games, it’s an open question as to whether many of the events would be dropped, two-time race walk Olympian Allen James replied:

“There are ways to compensate athletes that would not complicate the aspects Rich touches on. We have new technologies, formerly never available, that can enhance competition presentation such as athlete data. Athlete data, is solely owned by the athlete and in at least in the United States is protected by HIPAA laws.

“Game presentation can include athlete heart rates and other data that can be projected on to monitors or used as predictive factors while watching the event. It’s like the evolution of e-sports where viewers can see gamer data as the battles ensue and allow viewers to see realtime stats of the gamers. We can all see where the world of e-sports is going. Perhaps we’ll even be able to have augmented reality viewing, stuff that is really cool. I apologize to the little bit of info streaming, but this is ultimately where I was going, and no tier sport or events should be considered for removal, especially the Modern Pentathlon.

“As for the walks, consider what augmented reality could do, imagine The Far Side meets the Olympic walks, your favorite athlete actually becomes the cheetah speedwalker. The L.A. Clippers are playing with augmented reality like lighting up athletes when they’re hot and then their 3 pointers flame through the hoop, in near realtime viewing. Where the money comes in is for the athlete’s data and use of likeness for these alternate revenue streams.”

LANE ONE: USA Gymnastics proposes $215 million settlement, while Russia may be kicked out of World Athletics

By
Rich Perelman
-
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana

The Larry Nassar abuse scandal and the Russian doping saga have been enduring nightmares in Olympic sport over the last several years, but both took potentially significant turns this week.

● Gymnastics: The attorneys for USA Gymnastics filed a plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana that would potentially settle its claims with victims abused by former team physician Larry Nassar.

It’s only a plan, which the court will have to rule on, but it offers a lot more money that has previously been expected to be available to the survivors: $215 million.

Said USA Gymnastics chief executive Li Li Leung, “While we do not yet have an agreement with the Committee representing the survivors, we still hope to reach an agreement. USA Gymnastics filed its proposed plan to communicate to the survivor class the two options that are currently available based on the amount of money USA Gymnastics’ insurers are willing to pay into a settlement fund.”

The federation had filed several financial statements showing a $75 million receivable from insurance, and has won a round in court obligating one group of insurers to pay claims in the Nassar case. But the $215 settlement amount is almost three times what had been shown as available previously.

How does this compare with what Michigan State did?

MSU created a total fund of $500 million to deal with the claims, with $425 million being paid an estimated 354 claimants in the first round of settlements, an average of about $1.2 million each. There is $75 million remaining to deal with more than 160 additional claims, which would each be worth a lot less.

The USAG plan offers $215 million, and if the survivor committee agrees to it, an additional $2.125 million will be added by the insurers for the Twistars USA Gymnastics Club, also sued for abuse. With 359 registered claimants, the settlements would average a little more than $574,000, or about 48% of what MSU – a much larger entity that was Nassar’s full-time employer – paid on a per-claims average.

(The USAG plan includes an allocation of $10.9 million – 5% – to be held in reserve for future claims, which could be filed up to five years after the effective date of the Plan, if approved.)

The proposal also includes a commitment by USA Gymnastics to hire a director of safe sport and, importantly, to audit its member clubs for compliance with the Safe Sport policies.

What now?

This is only a proposal, and as Leung noted, could be superseded by a comprehensive settlement with the entire survivor class. But this forces the issue: if the court approves the program, then there will be a vote of the survivors to either accept the plan or reject it. If rejected, the survivors will be able to sue USAG individually in a court of their choice, with the action to be defended by attorneys for the insurers, not USA Gymnastics. That will take a while, making the survivors choose between a settlement that can be wrapped up fairly quickly, or the filing of new cases, to be handled individually over (a long) time.

● Athletics: The Russians might have done it this time. The Russian Athletic Federation might be on the road to expulsion from World Athletics.

The Athletics Integrity Unit, the independent arm of World Athletics that oversees doping, gambling issues and related subjects, issued a statement on Wednesday:

“[T]he AIU Board has made recommendations to the World Athletics Council to maintain the suspension of the Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) process until the charges are finally determined and, if the charges are upheld, to consider imposing the severest possible consequences, including considering the expulsion of RusAF from the membership of World Athletics.”

The last straw came in 2019. In addition to the massive doping scandal in which Russian track & field athletes had been major players in the national doping scheme from 2011-15 and the manipulation of lab data provided to the World Anti-Doping Agency a year ago, the AIU found that officials made “submission of forged documents and false explanations to the AIU in connection with the Whereabouts Failures case of Russian athlete [and 2018 World Indoor Champion in the high jump], Danil Lysenko.”

The statement noted that the Russian federation had been given eight weeks to respond to the charges – including three time extensions – but had submitted nothing. So:

“In the AIU Board’s view, a responsible member federation in the circumstances would have admitted the charges and shown contrition for its conduct, but RusAF has chosen to do neither. Instead, RusAF has gone to great lengths to deny any involvement in the matter, blame others and attack the process. This approach is deeply concerning for the AIU Board as it seems to indicate that the current leadership of the Federation is merely a continuation of the former.”

The recommendations of the AIU are to (1) continue the suspension of the Authorized Neutral Athlete program, with the effect that no Russian athletes can compete internationally, and (2) if the Lysenko case allegations are shown to be true, “the World Athletics Council should consider imposing on RusAF the severest possible consequences under the World Athletics Constitution, including (without limitation) the payment of indemnity costs and a significant fine; and that it should further consider recommending to the World Athletics Congress that RusAF be expelled from membership.”

This tracks with the report of the World Athletics Task Force on Russia, which also noted the severity of the Lysenko matter, demonstrating a willingness to cheat even after the 2011-15 doping scandal was exposed.

With the World Anti-Doping Agency’s four-year sanction against Russia to be heard in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, there could be a new case brewing if the World Athletics Congress agrees to with the AIU suggestion for expulsion this summer in Tokyo.

First, however, the Lysenko case has to be reviewed and a determination made of the facts. That will take some time, but unlike the situation with all of the other sports, World Athletics already has a mechanism in place to control the appearance of Russian athletes in international events. That’s the Authorized Neutral Athlete procedure and it’s already on hold. World Athletics could maintain it right through the Tokyo Games, eliminating Russian participation in track & field … although one wonders if the International Olympic Committee might intervene to request re-starting the Authorized Neutral Athlete program just for the Games. Only one Russian athlete – long jumper Darya Klishina – competed in Rio in 2016.

The Russian reaction was as expected: “RusAF disagrees with the accusations against it, brought forward by the AIU Council, as they are baseless and lack evidence” and claimed “violations of the RusAF procedural rights, including by giving RusAF a very short period of time to respond to the charges that took AIU months to prepare.”

The Lysenko affair is a serious problem for Russia well beyond track & field, and could impact the Court of Arbitration for Sport review of the WADA sanctions. That case is awaiting the formation of the arbitration panel and a timetable for the proceedings.

In an unrelated matter, World Athletics announced the postponement of the 2020 World Indoor Championships, scheduled to be held in Nanjing, China in mid-March. The Coronavirus outbreak, which has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, has impacted many events in China. World Athletics issued a statement noting “We have chosen not to cancel the championships as many of our athletes would like this event to take place so we will now work with our athletes, our partners and the Nanjing organising committee to secure a date in 2021 to stage this event.”

Rich Perelman
Editor

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LANE ONE: Should all Olympians be paid? Be careful what you ask for, because your event might be eliminated …

By
Rich Perelman
-

(Before getting too far, condolences are due to the family and many friends of basketball superstar – and two-time Olympic gold medalist – Kobe Bryant, who perished along with eight others in a helicopter crash on Sunday morning in Calabasas, California, northwest of Los Angeles. This unimaginable tragedy killed Bryant, just 41, and his daughter Gianna, among others.)

One of the most compelling aspects of online coverage of almost anything is the responses that come from readers. Over the last couple of week, two-time racewalk Olympian Allen James commented that the IOC’s regulation of protests at the Games “is not fair” and places athletes in “indentured servitude to the IOC” because they are not paid for participating.

U.S. Sports Academy Chief Executive T.J. Rosandich replied, noting “I think Allen James missed a very important point. One of the bedrock principles of the law of sports (based on British Common Law – the law of associations) is that the organization throwing the party, gets to set the rules. If you don’t want to play by the rules, then don’t come to the party… “

James wrote back:

“Totally agree, but that wasn’t my point. Athletes deserve to be paid!! I used the protest issue to talk about a much bigger issue, athlete compensation from an industry making millions upon millions of dollars on the backs of athletes.”

This is hardly a new argument, but one which current International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach (GER) actually dealt with in some detail less than six months ago. It’s worth considering his comments to the General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in Doha, Qatar last October. He said in part:

“Money for us is just a means to achieve our mission because if we consider the Olympic Games to be a business model, we would not have 206 National Olympic Committees and the athletes from the entire world in the Olympic Games. We would not have athletes from 33 or 28 sports in the Olympic Games. It would only be a very select group, a very select group of athletes, not even of National Olympic Committees, but a select group of athletes in a select group of some of the Olympic sports; and the Olympic Games, as we know them, and the Olympic Games as we want them, and the Olympic Games as they were conceived by Pierre de Coubertin 125 years ago, would cease to exist. We would just have another entertainment product in this world, competing with other entertainment products, but not related to any kind of values anymore; it would just be show, entertainment, without any values, without any contribution to a better society.

“And therefore, we will not consider the Olympic Games to be a business model. We all in this room, we want to accomplish our mission, and to achieve this we must show solidarity among us, the NOCs. There can be no NOC putting its interests first; no sport can put its interests first. No individual can put his or her interest first. We must all put our mission first and we must all think how we can contribute to accomplishing our mission and in doing so we must always keep solidarity and respect and unity in mind because only then we can accomplish it.”

So, if you’re Usain Bolt or Neymar or Katie Ledecky, you can be confident that your contribution to the success of the Olympic Games would result in a big payday if athletes were paid for their participation as a draw for worldwide viewers. But who would lose out?

The way Olympic television revenue is distributed to the International Federations gives us a clue. The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) coordinates this and the federations themselves agreed on five tiers of distribution for 2016 and the same for 2020 based on in-stadium attendance, worldwide viewing audience and other factors. Each tier gets less and less money:

● Tier 1: Athletics, Gymnastics, Aquatics

● Tier 2: Basketball, Cycling, Football, Tennis, Volleyball

● Tier 3: Archery, Badminton, Boxing, Judo, Rowing, Shooting, Table Tennis, Weightlifting

● Tier 4: Canoeing, Equestrian, Fencing, Handball, Hockey, Sailing, Taekwondo, Triathlon, Wrestling

● Tier 5: Modern Pentathlon (also Golf and Rugby as new sports for 2016)

Is there any doubt that in a world in which all Olympic athletes are paid an “appearance fee” to compete in the Games, the sports in Tiers 3-4-5 would disappear almost entirely?

Moreover, as part of Bach’s “Agenda 2020″ overhaul of the Games that was unanimously passed in 2014, the Olympic program for both the summer and winter Games was changed from competitions in “sports” to a program of “events.” So even where track & field would be included in a future Games with appearance fees, there is no certainty of which events would remain. The 100 meters? Sure. Would James’s race walks make it?

And in every event, the number of competitors would be many fewer than now. In the track & field and swimming events, no need for more than 16-18 competitors in any event and we would have semifinals and finals only. In team events, is there any need for more than six teams, with a round-robin to select the semifinalists?

As the Olympic Games is a modern reflection of the ancient Greek model, it’s worth noting that – so far as we know – the victors in the ancient Olympic Games did not receive money or prizes from the organizers. But they did receive significant, sometimes enormous, prizes from their home city or town that sent them to the event. The same is true today; Singapore’s Joseph Schooling’s upset win over Michael Phelps in the Rio 100 m Butterfly was worth $753,000 to him! The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee awards a lot less, but increased its gold-medal bonus from Rio ($25,000) to Tokyo ($37,500), with less for silver ($22,500) and bronze ($15,000).

But that’s for winning a medal, not for making it to the Games.

Bach defends what he calls the “Solidarity model” of the Games strongly, which sends about 90% of its revenue to others. Of its $5 billion in revenue from 2013-16, the IOC sent 49% ($2.449 billion) to the organizing committees of the Olympic, Winter and Youth Olympic Games and 30% to the International Federations and National Olympic Committees ($1.510 billion). Another 11% was spent on Olympic Solidarity programs for athlete training programs, athlete scholarships, plus anti-doping programs, support for the Olympic Channel and similar promotional programs. The IOC’s own operations were funded from the remaining 10%.

The IOC does not choose which athletes are allowed to compete in its Olympic Games. It agrees to a program of events and then provides a quota to each IF, which then decides the process of who will fill these spots. Under a pay-to-play system, as Bach noted, this would all go away.

There are many who feel as James does, that the blood, sweat and tears that it takes to get to the Olympic Games should be compensated in some way by the IOC, ignoring the same efforts made by thousands of athletes in sports not part of the Games. This much is sure: if the for-pay crowd ever gets its way, most will find that their Olympic experience will vanish long before an IOC wire transfer ever makes to their bank account.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HIGHLIGHTS: Shiffrin dominates in Bulgaria; Chen storms to fourth straight U.S. figure skating title

By
Rich Perelman
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World Champion Nathan Chen of the U.S. (Photo: ISU)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● ALPINE SKIING ● If you somehow thought American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin was off-stride, with a slow start to 2020, forget it.

While she had won three medals in her five races to start 2020, she hadn’t won since a Slalom in late December, That all changed in Bansko (BUL), where she won the Downhill on Friday and the Super-G on Sunday, with a fourth in the Saturday Downhill in between. She was a clear winner on Friday, taking the Downhill by 0.18 over Federica Brignone (ITA), then missed a medal on Saturday, finishing fourth by 0.21 with Brignone third and then sailed past the field on Sunday, winning by a convincing 0.29 over Marta Bassino (ITA) with Swiss Lara Gut-Berhami third.

Saturday was an Italian sweep, with Elena Curtoni winning ahead of Bassino (+0.10) and Brignone, with Shiffrin fourth and teammate Breezy Johnson fifth.

Shiffrin now has 66 career World Cup wins, just one behind now-retired Marcel Hirscher (AUT) for third all-time. She also has 96 World Cup medals and will certainly reach the century mark later this season. Better known as a technical skier, this was her second career Downhill win and fourth in the Super-G. Her overall World Cup lead is now up to 1,225-885 over Bassino after 21 of 40 races scheduled this season. Full results here.

The men were skiing at Kitzbuehel (AUT), with Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud winning the Super-G on Friday (his 23rd World Cup gold), home favorite Matthias Mayer taking Saturday’s Downhill and Swiss Daniel Yule winning the Sunday Slalom. Mayer moved into third place in the overall standings with 692 points, behind Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen (741) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (700). Full results here.

● ATHLETICS ●The World Athletics World Indoor Tour opened in Roxbury, Massachusetts with the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday and a historic performance from 800 m World Champion Donavan Brazier.

He took off from the start in the men’s 600 m, passed 400 m in 49.62 and the sailed to the win in the no. 2 performance of all-time in 1:14.39. Second-place Michael Stigler finished in 1:20.21. Only Brazier’s world-record performance of 1:13.77 from the U.S. Nationals last season has ever been faster.

In the men’s 1,000 m, American Bryce Hoppel, last year’s NCAA champ from Kansas, won in 2:17.41, making him the no. 3 performer in U.S. history. He out-leaned Jake Wightman (GBR), who set a national indoor record of 2:17.51 in second.

World 100 m hurdles champion Nia Ali impressed with a win in the 60 m hurdles in 7.94, just ahead of fellow American Christina Clemons (7.98). Full results here. The World Indoor Tour continues next Friday in Karlsruhe (GER).

● BADMINTON ● The Thailand Masters in Bangkok had winners from five different countries across the five events, with Ka Long Angus Ng (HKG) taking the men’s Singles title and top-seeded Akane Yamaguchi winning the women’s Singles event. The other top seed to win was in women’s Doubles, with China’s Qingchen Chen and Yifan Jia. Full results here.

● BIATHLON ● The last stop on the IBU World Cup tour ahead of the World Championships in mid-February was in Pokljuka (SLO), with impressive performances from Norwegian star Johannes Thingnes Boe.

Trailing a resurgent Martin Fourcade (FRA) in the overall standings, Boe won the 20 km Individual race on Thursday (23rd), then came back with a third in the 15 km Mass Start event. He only made up a few points, however, as Fourcade was second in the 20 km and fifth in the Mass start event. So at the World Champs break, Fourcade continues with the overall lead at 601, trailed by teammate Quentin Fillon Maillet (532) and Boe (482).

Germany’s Denise Herrmann (15 km Individual) and Hanna Oberg of Sweden (12.5 km Mass Start) were the women’s winners. Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff continues as the overall leader at 524, with Dorothea Wierer (ITA: 509) second and Oberg (456) third. Full results here.

● BOBSLED & SKELETON ● World Cup stop no. 6 on the eight-leg tour was in Koenigssee (GER) with a full schedule, but the usual result: two wins for double Olympic champ Francesco Friedrich of Germany.

He and Thorsten Margis won the two-man over 2018 Olympic co-gold winner Justin Kripps of Canada by 1:38.66-1:39.17 for their fourth straight win in five races this season, In the four, Friedrich’s crew won for the fourth time in seven races over teammate Johannes Lochner and Kripps.

American Kaillie Humphries, driving with Sylvia Hoffmann, won her third victory of the season in the two-woman bob, 1:41.57-1:42.60 over German Laura Nolte with Stephanie Schneider (GER) third. Friedrich continues as the seasonal leader in both of the men’s events, while Humphries regained the women’s lead by just 1,259-1,211 over Schneider.

In Skeleton, Russia’s Alexander Tretiakov won again, his third victory in six races in 2019-20, and Germany’s Tina Hermann won her second race in a tight finish with teammate Jacqueline Loelling, 1:42.79-1:42.97. Tretiakov and Loelling now lead the seasonal standings, but with plenty of competition for the rest of the season Full results here.

● CYCLING ● The first event of the 2020 UCI men’s World Tour finished on Sunday with home favorite Richie Porte, 34, winning his second Santos Tour Down Under in Australia. He won the key, hilly third stage and then finished second in Sunday’s hilly finale to overtake South Africa’s Daryl Impey and won the overall title. Italy’s Diego Ulissi finished second (-0:25), with Simon Geschke (GER) third; Impey was sixth. American Joey Rosskopf won the King of the Mountains classification. Detailed results here.

The sixth and final UCI Track Cycling World Cup was held in Milton, Canada, with two Dutch stars winning two golds each. Dutch sprinter Laurine van Riessen won the women’s Sprint and Kierin, and Jan Willem van Schip won the men’s Omnium and teamed with Yoeri Havik to take the men’s Madison.

The U.S. had a busy meet, with Jennifer Valente taking the women’s Omnium, joining Megan Jastrab for third in the women’s Madison and then as part of the winning Team Pursuit, with Chloe Dygert, Emma White and Lily Williams. Valente won three of the four Omniums she entered and was the seasonal World Cup winner. Madalyn Godby won bronze medals in the Sprint and the Kierin.

Poland’s Mateusz Rudyk won the men’s Sprint and the overall World Cup title. Although she didn’t compete in Milton, Hong Kong’s Wai Sze Lee won the women’s World Cup Sprint title. Full results here.

● FENCING ● The Epee Grand Prix in Doha (QAT) saw Russian Sergey Bida score a surprise win over Alexandre Bardanet in the men’s division. It was Bida’s third career Grand Prix gold, but first in three years!

The women’s final had two familiar faces, with Ana Maria Popescu (ROU) defeating Mara Navarria (ITA) in the final, 13-9. It was Popescu’s eighth career Grand Prix win and her second G.P, final this season. She now has a remarkable total of 17 career Grand Prix medals and 24 World Cup medals! Full results here.

● FIGURE SKATING ● Although his training had been hampered by the flu recently, World Champion Nathan Chen absolutely dominated the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships held in Greensboro, North Carolina.

He led Jason Brown after the Short Program by 114.13-100.99 and then won the Free Skate, scoring 216.04-191.89 over Brown for a 330.17-292.88 victory, with Tomoki Hiwatashi (278.08) third. “Needless to say, I’m really thrilled with the results,” Chen said. “I was happy I was able to get to this event, happy I was able to skate as much as I wanted to. I was able to stay pretty much consistent throughout the week, and was able to perform pretty well today.”

It was Chen’s fourth straight national title, matching the feat of a handful of others; the last to do it was Brian Boitano from 1985-88.

Alysia Liu, still just 14, won her second consecutive women’s title, scoring 235.52 and rising from second after the Short Program to sail past Mariah Bell (225.21) and Short Program leader Bradie Tennell (220.86).

The Pairs title went to Alexa Knierim and Chris Knierim, their third career American national title, scoring 216.15 to edge Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson (213.57, also winning the Free Skate).

Madison Chock and Evan Bates won a hotly-contested Ice Dancing competition, taking the honors in both the Rhythm Dance and Free Dance to score 221.86. That was just good enough to win a second career national title over Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (217.19).

Full results here.

● FREESTYLE SKIING ● In Ski Cross Canada’s Ryan Regez won gold and bronze in the two races held in Idre (SWE), with German Daniel Bohnacker winning the second event. He finished ahead of the ultra-consistent Kevin Drury (CAN), who has now won five medals in nine races this season. The women’s races showcased Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund, who won silver and gold in the two events, and continues the lead the seasonal standings. Swiss Fanny Smith won Saturday’s race, but finished second on Sunday.

Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury extended his own World Cup record for career wins to 58 by taking the Moguls title in front of home fans in Mont-Tremblant (CAN). He and Japan’s Ikuma Horishima have now finished 1-2 or 2-1 in all three events this season; Horishima won silver this time, with Ben Cavet (FRA) third for the second straight race. France’s Pierre Laffont kept her record perfect, with her third straight win this season in the women’s Moguls. Yuliya Galysheva (KAZ) finished second for the second straight time. Links to results are here.

● JUDO ● The first event on the IJF World Tour for 2020 was a Grand Prix in Tel Aviv (ISR) and the hosts did not disappoint the home crowd. Peter Paltchik won the men’s 100 km division and Or Sasson took gold in the +100 kg class.

Korea led all nations with three golds, from Won Jin Kim (men/60 kg), Baul An (men/66 kg) and Dongham Gwak (men/90 kg). Japan won two golds, from Natsumi Tsunoda (women/48 kg) and Chishima Maeda (women/52 kg), and Britain won two classes, by Sally Conway (women/70 kg) and Natalie Powell (women/78 kg). Full results here.

● LUGE ● The FIL World Cup was in Latvia at the famed Sigulda track and the home fans had plenty to cheer about in the Doubles events. Andris and Juris Sics took an upset win over German stars Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (second) and Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken (third) in the regular Doubles race, then Kristens Putins and Imants Marcinkevics won the Doubles Sprint, with Sics/Sics tying for second with Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner of Italy.

The Singles titles went to Johannes Ludwig (GER) and Semen Pavilchenko (RUS-sprint) for the men and Julia Taubitz (GER) swept both events in the women’s division. That gives Taubitz five wins in nine races this season; Russia’s Tatyana Ivanova has won the other four! Full results here.

● NORDIC SKIING ● Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov and Norway’s Therese Johaug continue as the kind and queen of distance skiing right now, and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Natalia Nepryaeva were the stars of sprinting at the Cross Country World Cup stop in Obertsdorf (GER). Bolshunov won his third straight distance race, this time a 30 km Skiathlon, ahead of Norwegians Simen Krueger and Sjur Roethe, and Johaug won the women’s 15 km Skiathlon, beating teammate Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg.

Klaebo won his fifth Sprint title of the season – a Classical – edging countrymen Pal Golberg and Erik Valnes, while Nerpyaeva won ahead of teammate Anamarija Lampic and American Jessica Diggins. For Diggins, it’s her fifth medal of the season (0-1-4)! Bolshunov and Johaug continue to have large leads in the seasonal standings; Diggins in fourth in the women’s overall list. Full results here.

After a week off, the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup continued in Obertsdorf (GER), but the results didn’t change. Norway’s Jarl Magnus Rieber won for the eighth time this season in 10 races, this time leading a 1-2 for his country with Jens Luras Oftebro second. Rieber now leads the seasonal standings with 960 points to 621 for Jorgen Graabak (NOR) and 595 for Vinzenz Geiger (GER). Wow! Full results here.

The men’s ski jumpers were in Zakopane (POL) on a 140 m hill and the home faithful had plenty to cheer for as triple Olympic champ Kamil Stoch logged his 35th World Cup win, finishing ahead of Austrian star Stefan Kraft and countryman Dawid Kubacki. Full results here.

The women’s jumpers had two events off the 97 m hill in Rasnov (ROU), with Austria’s Chiara Holzl winning for the second time this season on Saturday (25th) and seasonal leader Maren Lundby taking Sunday’s win. Austria’s Eva Pinkelnig, who had won three straight events, finished 3-2 and Lundby’s points edge is tenuous: she has 655, with Pinkelnig at 649 and Holzl at 630. Full results here.

● RUGBY ● New Zealand’s All Blacks delighted the home fans in Hamilton (NZL) with a stirring 27-5 victory over France in the final of the HSBC men’s Sevens Series. Australia defeated England in the bronze-medal match, 35-21. The All Blacks have finished 2-1-1 in the three tournaments this season and have 63 points and a big early lead in the standings over South Africa and France (both 48). Full results here.

The New Zealand women – the Black Ferns – weren’t far behind, winning the women’s tournament, with a 24-7 score in the final against Canada. France won the bronze medal, defeating Australia by 19-14. The New Zealand women have now won the last three tournaments on the season and lead the standings at 76 points, clear of Australia (64), Canada (62) and the U.S. (60). Full results here.

● SNOWBOARD ● It’s been a good season for unheralded Lorenzo Sommariva of Italy in the Snowboard Cross division, as he won his second race of the season on Sunday (26th) at Big White in British Columbia (CAN). Teammate Omar Visintin won the Saturday race, but Sommariva’s win places him – for now – atop the season standings, with two more races remaining (both in March). Americans won bronze medals on both days, by Alex Deibold and Senna Leith.

The women’s SnowCross races at Big White were won by Italian star Michela Moioli over Belle Brockhoff (AUS) on Saturday and then Brockhoff won on Sunday with Moioli second. American Faye Gulini was third on Sunday. Moioli now has a 3,600-2,900 lead over Brockhoff on the season.

Austria’s Andreas Prommegger won his first World Cup medal since the first race of the season in the men’s Parallel Slalom in Piancavallo (ITA), disappointing the home crowd as Ronald Fischnaller (ITA) won his fourth medal in seven races on the circuit. Fischnaller continues to lead in the overall Parallel standings.

Swiss Julie Zogg won the women’s Parallel Slalom over Germans Selina Jorg and Ramona Hofmeister, but Hofmeister continues to lead the seasonal standings by 5,760-4,000 over Zogg.

In the Slopestyle World Cup held mid-week in Seiser Alm (ITA), Russian Vlad Khadarin out-pointed Japan’s Ruki Tobita and Hiroaki Kunitake on the men’s side and Australia’s Tess Coady won the women’s division over Britain’s Katie Ormerod. Links to results are here.

THE TICKER: USOPC provides $525,000 for Athletes’ Advisory Council, NCAA allows more Olympic-athlete support

By
Rich Perelman
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USOPC Athletes' Advisory Chair Han Xiao in Senate testimony

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

● United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● Another of the urgent desires of the USOPC’s Athletes’ Advisory Council was fulfilled under an agreement announced Thursday to provide an annual budget of $525,000 and access to USOPC shared services.

The Memorandum of Understanding provides funding that will be used for staffing – including the hiring of an Executive Director – programs and travel for AAC members, with the AAC retaining full control of the budget. The AAC will further have access to USOPC administrative services such as human resources, information technology and finance support, at no cost to the Council.

This is another step by the USOPC to demonstrate its commitment to athlete services, aimed both at supporting current and future American athletes and at the U.S. Congress, which is considering legislation to require other actions. Those could include a significant expansion of the USOPC’s Athlete Ombudsman program. In his Congressional testimony in 2018, AAC Chair Han Xiao asked for the Ombudsman position to essentially become an on-demand legal resource for athletes and further requested the creation of an Inspector General over the USOPC and the U.S. National Governing Bodies. The AAC funding program is a clear show of good faith by the USOPC to use its resources for direct athlete support.

Collegiate athletes who are contenders for the U.S. Olympic Team got a major boost on Thursday with the passage of legislation by the Division I Council of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) that:

“Athletes designated as elite by nationally recognized groups may receive additional developmental training expenses from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee or national governing bodies, including travel for parents, guardians, coaches, training partners, training partners and sport experts.”

This is a crucial relaxation of the tight coaching and support rules that would prohibit such added help as “extra benefits” until now. Additional coaching beyond the current limits is also approved, as long as “the workout is initiated by the student and doesn’t cause missed class time.”

This is very good news for collegiate stars, especially in this Olympic year of 2020.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed $134.5 million in capital expenditures to update the Olympic facilities in Lake Placid, New York. The proposed state budget allocation includes funding for “a strategic upgrade and modernization plan to support improvements to the Olympic facilities and ski resorts.”

The arena and speed skating oval would be refurbished, along with trail upgrades, snowmaking facilities and a lodge at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg cross-country skiing course. Most of these upgrades will be the first since the 1980 Olympic Winter Games took place there.

Lake Placid is a crucial eastern training facility for American winter-sport athletes, and hosts a bevy of international world cup and national competitions annually.

● Russia ● A major shift in the leadership of Russian sport was made on Tuesday, with the appointment of Oleg Matytsin as Sports Minister of the Russian Federation.

He replaces Pavel Kolobkov, a six-time Olympic medalist in fencing, who had been an unapologetic booster of Russia’s place in Olympic sport, including against the recent, heavy sanctions imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Since 2015, Matytsin has been the head of the Federation Internationale de Sport Universitaire (FISU), which holds worldwide university championships annually and the World University Games every two years. His work there has been highly respected and he has met with NCAA President Mark Emmert about how to further expand the world university sports programs to better include U.S. collegiate athletes. He was re-elected as President last year, but will have to give up the post now.

Matytsin said in a statement that “In consultation with colleagues and key stakeholders, I am currently determining the best way forward to ensure that FISU continues to go from strength to strength. I remain fully committed to keep doing my best to support the international university sports movement.”

His new task will be to try to smooth a pathway for Russian reinstatement by the World Anti-Doping Agency as soon as possible; the Russian appeal of the WADA sanctions to the Court of Arbitration for Sport will be heard soon.

More bad news for Russia came on Wednesday, as the World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the new National Anti-Doping Laboratory of Moscow, as a follow-up to the sanctions against Russia announced in December. However, the suspension is limited:

“This provisional suspension prohibits the Moscow Laboratory from carrying out any work related to the analysis of blood samples in connection with the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) program and will remain in place pending disciplinary proceedings to be carried out by an independent Disciplinary Committee.”

Testing of other samples has not been prohibited, but a WADA disciplinary committee will be empaneled to make a recommendation on further actions, if any.

● Athletics ● British distance superstar Mo Farah said on Tuesday he has no issues with re-testing of any stored doping samples from the period he was part of the Nike Oregon Project.

Writing on Twitter, he noted “I’ve seen reports of my name in connection to Ukad and Wada about sample retesting. Just to be clear, I was not consulted about this and as I’ve said many times, I am happy for any anti-doping body to test any of my previous samples anytime.”

Tiger Woods is one of history’s outstanding sports champions, but when GolfWorld asked him about the winning streak in sports that impressed him the most, it wasn’t in golf.

“As far as streaks, I think probably one of the all-time best when I was growing up was Edwin Moses.”

Of course, Moses won 122 straight races – with 107 straight finals – in the 400 m hurdles from 1977-87 and won Olympic golds in 1976 and 1984 and set four world records. He not only revolutionized the event, but made it a must-see at any meet he was in.

“You’ve got to lose one of them, right?” Woods continued. “Clip your foot on a hurdle or something, but nothing happened.”

Nothing except winning. Give Woods credit for being quite a sports fan; he wasn’t even two years old when Moses started his streak!

● Football ● Shocking as they may seem, FIFA President Gianni Infantino actually said these words at a Tuesday evening dinner at the World Economic Forum in Davos (SUI):

“[T]here are at least three main reasons why it is the right thing that the President of FIFA tonight is introducing the President of the United States. …

“The second reason is the United States and soccer. And I have to inform you that the United States is on the verge of becoming the soccer power in the world. You don’t know it yet, but it’s coming faster than you think. We will organize the World Cup — the FIFA World Cup — in 2026, in North America. And President Trump has been in this venture from the very beginning. He wanted it to be organized, together with Canada and Mexico, in prelude of the great trade agreement that you just signed last week. So, soccer is in advance of trade as well.

“And if — I don’t know, in Italy, 250,000 jobs are created with soccer. In Spain, 185,000 jobs. In the U.S., President, in a view of the World Cup 2026, we have to create at least 1 million jobs for American citizens involved in soccer.”

The U.S. women are, of course, the world’s pre-eminent football team already, but the American men have a ways to go.

LANE ONE: Ajan steps down as International Weightlifting Federation head for now, American Ursula Papandrea named interim chief

By
Rich Perelman
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Then-newly-elected IWF Vice President Ursula Papandrea (USA) and IWF President Tamas Ajan (HUN) in 2017 (Photo: USA Weightlifting)

One of the seemingly eternal figures in international sport, Hungary’s Tamas Ajan, agreed to “step away” from his position as the elected President of the International Weightlifting Federation while an investigation into charges against him is mounted over the next 90 days.

This decision was reached during a marathon emergency meeting of the IWF’s Executive Board, in Doha (QAT) on Wednesday. Equally stunning was the naming of an American, USA Weightlifting President Ursula Papandrea, as the interim head of the IWF.

How big a deal is this? It’s extraordinary. Please consider:

● Ajan, 81, has been deeply involved in international weightlifting since 1968 and has been an officer or director of the IWF since being elected as Vice President in 1970.

● He was the IWF Secretary General from 1976-2000, but was clearly the man in charge of federation affairs while Austria’s Gottfried Schodl was President.

● He was elected IWF President in 2000 and has been re-elected four times, the last in 2017, meaning he has been the effective head of weightlifting for 44 years.

● Ajan was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2000-10, and despite all of the doping troubles associated with weightlifting, was a member of the Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency for many years.

Friendly, outgoing and with a ready smile no matter how bad the situation got for weightlifting, Ajan has been a popular member of the Olympic Movement – and a major player in Hungary – going into a sixth decade. That he is not the head of the IWF – for any reason and for any length of time – would be almost unthinkable at any time except now.

While not much publicized outside Olympic sports circles, Ajan’s public image was seriously called into question in a documentary by the German public television network ARD on 5 January. In that program, titled “Secret Doping – Lord of the Lifters” – Ajan was accused of hiding some $5.5 million in IWF funds and as head of the organization, allowed lax oversight of the drug-testing of the sport’s major stars and failed to find evidence of organized doping in Thailand, which was admitted by a Thai lifter during the show.

What is all the more amazing about this is that the IWF has just escaped from being thrown off the Olympic program for Paris in 2024, and restored by the IOC in March 2019. But the IOC’s announcement also included a provision for continued monitoring:

“Should any issues be noted in this ongoing implementation [of new anti-doping procedures], these will be reported to the IOC EB for it to consider any appropriate action, including with regard to further reviewing the place of weightlifting on the Olympic programme.”

So the IWF is back in hot water and the senior member of the IOC, Canada’s Dick Pound – the first head of the World Anti-Doping Agency – told ARD that if the allegations are proven, the logical follow-up is to remove weightlifting from the Olympic program.

The timeline:

● 26 March 2019: IOC Executive Board confirms weightlifting as a sport for the 2024 Paris Games, subject to continued monitoring of its anti-doping efforts.

● 5 January 2020: ARD documentary “Secret Doping – Lord of the Lifters” airs and accuses Ajan of multiple offenses, with first-hand admissions of heretofore unknown doping of teen lifters in Thailand.

● 6 January 2020: The International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency issued statements, with the IOC calling the ARD allegations “very serious and worrying.” The IWF statement rejected the program’s assertions, including “The IWF has to express its shock and dismay at the program as it contains many insinuations, unfounded accusations and distorted information, and it categorically denies the unsubstantiated and very serious accusations made against it by the show.”

● 19 January 2020: ARD follows up with an added segment that includes senior IOC member Pound calling for weightlifting’s suspension from the Olympic program of the allegations made are shown to be true.

● 20 January 2020: An emergency meeting of the IWF Executive Board was called for 22 January, in Doha (QAT).

● 22 January 2020: Ajan agreed to “step aside” for 90 days while a four-person “Oversight and Integrity Commission” will hire independent experts to review the charges made by ARD.

The lessons to be learned? The impact of investigative journalism is still quite strong, and where money was the catalytic factor in the ongoing trial of former IAAF chief and IOC member Lamine Diack (SEN) in France, the cover-up of doping programs has been the central focus of ARD’s work with Russia in 2014 and now with the IWF.

Moreover, the speed with which the ARD allegations turned into a full-scale investigation of Ajan and IWF activities – 17 days – is remarkable and shows that even a smaller federation within the not-widely-covered Olympic Movement is hardly immune from harsh scrutiny and internal rebuke. And Ajan’s long reign has been not appreciated by some within the IWF, who have been only too happy to demand his resignation.

Equally amazing is that of all people to head the IWF during the investigative period is an American woman. It may be hard to believe today, but the U.S. was the world’s leading weightlifting power in the 1950s, but faded in the 1960s as (chemically-enhanced?) Eastern European lifters took over. Women only joined the Olympic weightlifting program in 2000 and Papandrea became an IWF Vice President only because the IWF’s rules were changed in 2016 to mandate two female members of the Executive Board (one to be a Vice President).

Papandrea is steeped in the sport, having been a longtime lifter and coach, in addition to being a full-time faculty member at Austin Community College in Texas. And even if her term as head of the IWF is brief, it’s still fairly rare these days to have an American head of an International Federation.

And Ajan? He told the InsideTheGames.biz Web site that he looks forward to being vindicated:

“I have no doubt that independent experts will validate my position and the IWF position. It is worth it to wait a little longer to have this validation, in a way that is compatible with the best governance.”

He may be correct, but the IWF will never be the same.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: Weightlifting could face IOC suspension; AIBA wants a new name and 40 years since Carter boycott proposed

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

● Weightlifting ● The fire under the International Weightlifting Federation is getting hotter.

The folks at ARD television in Germany who produced the documentary “Secret Doping: Lord of the Lifters” were at it again on Sunday evening (19th). This time, Canada’s Dick Pound – the senior member of the International Olympic Committee and the first head of the World Anti-Doping Agency – said:

“If the allegations are proven, the logical answer — at least in the short term — can only be, to remove weightlifting from the Olympic Program until they can show to the IOC that weightlifting satisfies the Olympic values.”

When Pound speaks, people listen. The International Weightlifting Federation has called an emergency meeting of its Executive Board in Doha (QAT) for Wednesday (20th) to discuss its next course of action.

IWF chief Tamas Ajan, targeted directly by the 5 January documentary, said in a letter to the federation’s national associations, “You will of course have noted that the great majority of the ARD allegations refer to the past, while the TV show gave no recognition for our reforms – many of which have gone further and faster than in any other international sports federation.”

In the meantime, the IWF announced another positive test from the 2012 Olympic Games in London, this time for Romania’s Gabriel Sincraian in the men’s 85 kg division, in which he failed to complete any of its his lifts and did not place. The London positive makes him a two-time loser, as he lost his bronze medal from Rio 2016 due to doping. The additional positive is the third announced for Romania within the past 10 days and should subject it to at least a one-year ban from international competition.

The alarm bells are being sounded in multiple quarters. USA Weightlifting Chief Executive Phil Andrews (GBR) tweeted that “The sport must do whatever it takes to remain in the Olympic Games.” IWF Secretary-General Mohammed Jalood (IRQ) said “ We transferred our anti-doping program to ITA [International Testing Agency] and we are now on the right track. At the last world championships – controlled by ITA – zero doping. And we encourage ITA to target all the athletes qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games. Even if it costs much money, it doesn’t matter: Olympic status is top priority for weightlifting.”

Russian Weightlifting Federation president and IWF Executive Committee member Maxim Agapitov has demanded Aján’s resignation. And so it goes; stay tuned.

● Vox Populi ● Further to last week’s comment by 1992-96 U.S. race walk Olympian Allen James that the IOC’s regulation of protests at the Games “is not fair” and places athletes in “indentured servitude to the IOC” because they are not paid for participating:

“I think Allen James missed a very important point. One of the bedrock principles of the law of sports (based on British Common Law – the law of associations) is that the organization throwing the party, gets to set the rules. If you don’t want to play by the rules, then don’t come to the party… “
~ T.J. Rosandich, Ed.D., President and Chief Executive, United States Sports Academy

● Gymnastics ● Triple Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman confirmed on her Instagram account that she would not compete to be on the U.S. team for 2020. Although her decision had been reported in December, she added “It’s true, I’m not going to be competing in Tokyo” and noted “The past 10 years have been such a whirlwind that I haven’t really processed all that has happened, and sometimes I wonder whether I ever will.”

● Football ● U.S. Soccer named a 20-woman roster for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament coming at the end of January, with most of the top stars on the list, including strikers Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe and midfielder Julie Ertz.

Striker Lynn Williams and midfielder Andi Sullivan made the cut, having not been part of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup team. Five members of the gold-medal-winning squad did not make the new roster, including star striker Alex Morgan (maternity), defender Tierna Davidson (injury), striker Mallory Pugh and midfielders Allie Long and Morgan Brian.

There were 23 roster spots for the Women’s World Cup, but only 20 for the Olympic qualifiers and 18 for the Olympic tournament itself, making the choices difficult for new coach Vlatko Andonovski.

● Figure Skating ● The U.S. Nationals are this week in Greensboro, North Carolina, with American star Nathan Chen going for his fourth straight men’s title … if he can get past his fight with the flu (or something close to it). He told reporters last Friday:

“At this point in time I’m just trying to get myself back to 100 percent. That being said, I don’t think trying to push technique is necessarily my goal here. (It’s) more just to maintain my body, maintain my health and prepare myself for the second half of the season as well.”

Asked about possibly being the first since Brian Boitano (1985-88) to win four straight U.S. titles (and the eighth man to achieve the feat), Chen added:

“It’s awesome to be in a position to make that happen. If it does, awesome. In competitions, I’m driven by wanting to medal, wanting to stand on top of the podium. But that’s based on how my results are scored and how other skaters do. I don’t like to think about things like that. The fact is, other guys have done that and it would be great to follow in their footsteps.”

● Boxing ● The IOC-suspended International Boxing Association (AIBA) completed the first of five continental forums in Panama City, Panama over the weekend, promising a complete revamping of the organization in hopes of being once again designated as the International Federation for the sport.

A March Congress has been called to elect new officers and adopt a new set of governing documents. The AroundTheRings.com site noted that the federation could be re-named to “World Boxing Association,” which would not sit well with the existing WBA – founded in 1921 – which is one of the multiple governing bodies in professional boxing.

The AroundTheRings story also detailed the heavy influence of the Russian Boxing Federation. Interim AIBA President Mohamed Moustahsane (MAR) “acknowledged the support of the Russian Boxing Federation to underwrite the costs of the continental forums, which included travel costs for invited journalists.”

RBF Secretary General Umar Kremlev reiterated his support to help wipe away some $16 million in AIBA debt, although no details were forthcoming on where the money would come from. He also wants to hold a new championship tournament – this time for national teams – later in 2020 as a way to draw new interest and revenue to the federation.

There is a long way to go; four more continental forums are to be held in February. The IOC will not consider AIBA’s situation until after the Tokyo Games this summer.

● Athletics ● The start of the World Athletics Indoor Tour for 2020 begins on Saturday with the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Roxbury, Massachusetts. But there was off-the-track competition last week with the USA Track & Field Cross Country Championships held in San Diego, California last Saturday.

Anthony Rotich from the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program won the men’s race (10 km) in 30:35.8, running away from WCAP teammates Emmnauel Bor (30:57.5) and Lawi Lalang (31:00.0). Natosha Rogers won the women’s race (also 10 km) for her second national title in 35:44.3, ahead of Paige Stoner (36:06.9) and Carrie Verdon (36:24.0). Full results here.

The newest fracas in doping in track & field is the refusal of the British anti-doping agency (U.K. Anti-Doping or UKAD) to release any of its stored samples for distance superstar Mo Farah for re-testing as part of the investigation into doping at the Nike Oregon Project.

UKAD chief Nicole Sapsted says she wanted some “credible evidence” that Farah’s samples might turn up some new results before handing them over, explaining “The reason we put samples into storage is to enable us to retest when the science moves along. And so, every time we open a sample up to look at something, we lose the ability to maybe look for something else, which is why, if somebody wants to reanalyse a sample, it needs to be with foundation.”

Naturally, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency jumped on this and claimed that the refusal creates a “wall of mistrust in the country’s anti-doping system and, accordingly, its athletes as part of the system.” It should be noted that UKAD has supervised the re-engineering of the Russian anti-doping organization on behalf of WADA.

● At the BuZZer ● Monday was the 40th anniversary of a bad day for the Olympic Movement. In 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter proposed that the Games of the XXII Olympiad be either moved from Moscow (URS), postponed or canceled, and if not, that the U.S. should not send a team and “stage an alternative games elsewhere,” in protest of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan.

The U.S. did boycott the Moscow Games, the only Games it has ever missed. As for the Soviets, they continued in Afghanistan until 1989, a month after Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, had left office, and less than three years before the Soviet Union itself was dissolved.

LANE ONE: Once again, a fringe politician tries to use the Olympic Games for leverage … this time in Australia

By
Rich Perelman
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A fascinating fight over Australia’s potential bid for the 2032 Olympic Games has developed that could test the public’s view of the event, thanks to an insurgent protest from one of the country’s tiniest political parties and most controversial politicians.

Until last week, the State of Queensland’s interest and efforts to land the 2032 Olympic Games has been essentially unopposed. Economic studies had been done and the Australian Prime Minister (Scott Morrison, from the right-of-center Liberal Party) and Queensland Premier (Annastacia Palaszczuk, from the left-of-center Labor Party) had been mostly in sync on pursuing the Games. The Queensland Council of Mayors has also been in support and the Games would be centered in Brisbane and Gold Coast, both of which have hosted the Commonwealth Games.

Palaszczuk had led a delegation to Lausanne to meet with the International Olympic Committee, including President Thomas Bach (GER), who was highly complimentary of the area and the possibility to host a future Games in the region.

The plan has been to more fully develop the Queensland bid and present a comprehensive plan to the IOC at the Tokyo Games this summer, in the hopes of being named as a consensus candidate in 2021, eleven years ahead of the event. Queensland’s efforts have overshadowed (and so far, outdistanced) possible bids from elsewhere, including from Germany, Indonesia, India and other countries.

But now, there is a loud naysayer in the mix.

That would be Pauline Hanson, founder of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party, described as having a “strongly nationalist platform”; the Wikipedia entry states “Hanson and other party members have denied claims that the party is racist.”

Hanson herself has been in and out of Australian politics since 1994 and is currently a Senator from Queensland. Last Thursday, she announced the launch of a Queensland-wide advertising campaign – at least 50 billboards, not much in an area twice the size of Texas! – that features her picture and the slogan “2032 Brisbane Olympics, regional Queensland says NO.”

Always a media magnet, Hanson’s comments were widely carried by the Australian press:

“The feedback I’m getting from everyday Queenslanders is that they’re not interested in hosting the Olympics, and instead would prefer the money be spent on drought-proofing the state.

“Stuff spending tens of billions on stadiums and entertainment centres across Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast. The people want water projects like a hybrid version of the Bradfield Scheme so that towns right across Queensland don’t run dry ever again.

“The decision to chase the Olympics, despite having no idea about the costs, while ignoring the many other desperate needs of the people, is irresponsible, selfish and shows an extreme lack of leadership from both Annastacia Palaszczuk and Scott Morrison.”

The pushback from the Queensland government was swift. A spokesman for Palaszczuk told reporters:

“The IOC will pay some $2 billion for the cost of the Games, so they are revenue neutral. It’s not about the few weeks competition, it’s about the years leading up to it and the years after: 10 years of preparation and 10 years of celebration.”

Asked about Hanson’s campaign: “It’s nonsense. Pauline sows divisions when we need unity, that’s her whole way being. We have local, state and federal governments agreeing on something; that’s pretty rare and they are all working together to deliver this and the beneficiaries are the people who get the jobs.”

Palaszczuk’s statement of intentions for the Games issued last December maintained that the economic study completed last year showed the potential for 130,000 new jobs, increased tourism and as much as A$8.6 billion in new trade opportunities.

Now let’s take a step back and look at the relative standing of the players. The Australian Federal Government has 151 total seats in Parliament and 76 seats in its Senate:

● Governing: Liberal Party/National Party, with 77 MPs/35 Senators
● Opposition: Australian Labor Party, with 68 MPs/26 Senators
● Pauline Hanson’s One Nation: 0 MPs/2 Senators (including Hanson)

In the Queensland Legislative Assembly (one chamber only) with 93 total seats:

● Governing: Australian Labor Party: 48 seats
● Opposition: Liberal Party/National Party: 38 seats
● Pauline Hanson’s One Nation: 1 seat

(There are smaller parties in both governments which are not aligned with either of the two large parties.)

So, Hanson is a true outsider, having been dismissed from the Labor Party prior to the 1996 elections for comments that “advocated the abolition of special government assistance.”

The highly-respected GamesBids.com site notes that “Since 2013, nine straight public votes have been lost, spelling the end to Olympic bids.”

Hanson’s statement noted further that “I have written to Scott Morrison and told him to abandon this ill-conceived idea and I commit to the people of Queensland that if One Nation has any say after the next state election, we will pull the Olympics bid ourselves.”

Queensland has elections in October and based on past results, One Nation will have nothing to say – again – about this decision in Queensland, or any others.

But Olympic bids have been abandoned due to insurgent political pressure multiple times over the past decade, and this new dust-up in Australia presents the latest test of the completely-revamped selection process created by Bach and his new-look IOC. Under the new, “dialogue-based” process to select a host city for an Olympic Games – created under the leadership of Australian IOC member John Coates – the responsibility for ensuring political agreement behind the bid, including any possible referendum, is with the bidder, not the IOC.

Could this be the perfect opportunity to end the Olympic bid losing streak, in a vote in a sports-mad country which – given its location on the globe – needs to continuously remind people it’s around?

Hanson’s effort to stop the Queensland 2032 bid project is unlikely to succeed, especially since 80% of Queensland’s population lives in the state’s top six metropolitan areas, bound to receive the most benefits from a Games being held there. But in a new bidding environment, will the old saw of “waste of money” still resonate?

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HIGHLIGHTS: World Indoor Series win for Brady Ellison; U.S. women’s 69-game water polo win streak snapped

By
Rich Perelman
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U.S. shooting star Brady Ellison (Photo: World Archery)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

● ALPINE SKIING ● An especially busy week for the women’s World Cup circuit, with a mid-week stop in Flachau (AUT) before the weekend in Sestriere (ITA). Slovakian star Petra Vlhova won the Slalom in Flachau for her third victory of the season, finishing 0.10 ahead of Sweden’s Anna Swenn-Larsson and 0.43 ahead of American star Mikaela Shiffrin.

In Italy, there was a rare tie in the women’s Giant Slalom, with home favorite Federica Brignone and Vlhova finishing in a tie at 2:21.15 for the two runs, with Shiffrin just 0.01 behind! France’s Clara Direz won Sunday’s Parallel Giant Slalom, defeating Elisa Morzinger (AUT) in the final. Shiffren continues to lead the overall standings, 975-726-715 over Vlhova and Brignone after 18 of the 40 scheduled races.

The men’s events were held Wengen (SUI), with Matthias Mayer (AUT) edging French star Alexis Pinturault in the second Alpine Combined of the season, and Swiss star Beat Feuz winning his second Downhill this season, over Italy’s Dominik Paris. In Sunday’s Slalom, France’s Clement Noel got his second win this season, ahead of overall World Cup leader Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway. Full results are here.

● ARCHERY ● The famed Nimes Indoor Tournament saw an all-American men’s final and an all-Korean women’s sweep in the fifth of six regular-season tournaments in the World Archery Indoor World Series. Reigning World Champion Brady Ellison won the men’s title over fellow American Jack Williams – 19 years old – with a 6-4 victory in the final.

The women’s final was all-Korean, as Ye-Ji Sim defeated Hye-Jin Chang, 6-0, in the gold final and Chae-Yun Kim eased past Na-Yeon Wi, 6-2, in the bronze final. Full results here.

● BADMINTON ● Home fans were happy with the final day of the Indonesia Masters Tournament, as the home favorites won three titles: Anthony Ginting in the men’s Singles (over Denmark’s Anders Antonsen), the top-ranked pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo won the men’s Doubles and Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu won the women’s Doubles. Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon won the women’s Singles title over comeback Carolina Marin (ESP), the 2016 Olympic champ, in a thrilling 21-19, 11-21, 21-18 final. Full results here.

● BIATHLON ● The IBU Biathlon World Cup zoomed past the halfway mark in Ruhpolding (GER), with France’s Martin Fourcade continuing to impress.

After 12th in the standings last season, the seven-time champion has roared back, scoring his 80th and 81st individual wins in the 10 km Sprint and 12.5 km Pursuit. He’s now won all four individual World Cup races in 2020 and extended his overall lead to 507-436 over teammate Quentin Filon Maillet, who was second in both races.

The women’s races were swept by Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff, who took the 7.5 km Sprint over Sweden’s Hanna Oberg and the 10 km Pursuit ahead of Paulina Fialkova (SVK). Eckhoff now has six wins on the season – far more than anyone else – and is the overall leader at 501-459 over Italy’s Dorothea Wierer. Full results here.

● BOBSLED & SKELETON ● The second half of the IBSF World Cup tour started with another German sweep. Superstar Francesco Friedrich piloted both the winning two-man and four-man sleds, with surprises behind him. Unheralded Brad Hall (GBR) took the two-man silver and Richard Olsner (GER) the bronze; in the four-man, German star Johannes Lochner was second, but Hunter Church piloted the U.S. to an unexpected third-place finish.

Olympic champ Mariama Jamanka (GER) won her first race of the World Cup season, ahead of teammate Laura Nolte, with Americans Kaillie Humphries and Sylvia Hoffmann third.

In Skeleton, six-time World Champion Martins Dukurs (LAT) scored his first win of the season, ahead of 2018 Olympic winner Sung-Bin Yun (KOR). Germany’s Jacqueline Loelling won for the second time this season in the women’s race, with Austria’s Janine Flock third for the third time in 2019-20. Flock is the only racer to have won a medal in all five races! Full results here.

● CURLING ● The fourth of six stages of the Grand Slam of Curling had familiar faces atop the podium: Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg and Canadian Brad Jacobs.

Hasselborg skipped the Olympic-winning Swedish team in PyeongChang in 2018, and won a tight final against Korea’s Worlds bronze medalist Min-Ji Kim, 7-5. She had to defeat reigning Swiss World Champion Silvana Tirinzoni in the quarterfinals (7-3) and Olympic bronze medalists Satsuki Fujisawa (JPN) in the semis by 10-5.

Jacobs, the Sochi 2014 Olympic winner, defeated former World Champion Glenn Howard in the quarterfinals, 8-4, then skipped past fellow Canadian Mike McEwen, 6-3 in the semis and John Epping (CAN) in the final by 6-5. Full results are here.

● FREESTYLE SKIING ● A fairly light weekend in the Freestyle World Cup, with Ski Cross in Nakiska (CAN) and Slopestyle competitions in Seiser Alm (ITA). In the Ski Cross, Canada went 1-2 in the men’s division with Reeve Howden and Kevin Drury, and Swede Sandra Naeslund taking the women’s event, ahead of Brittany Phelan (CAN).

In the Slopestyle event in Italy, Olympic silver winner Birk Ruud (NOR) won his second gold of the season – the other in Big Air – finishing ahead of Fabian Bosch (SUI) and American Colby Stevenson. American Caroline Claire took the women’s division, ahead of Norway’s Johanne Killi. Links to results are here.

● LUGE ● A couple of first-time winners this season marked the FIL World Cup in Lillehammer (NOR), as Dominik Fischnaller (ITA) won the men’s Singles over Semen Pavilchenko (RUS) and Russians Alexander Denisyev and Vladislav Antonov won the men’s Doubles over Austria’s Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller.

The women’s Singles was won by Tatyana Ivanova (RUS) for her fourth victory in seven races on the season, in a tight finish with American Summer Britcher and German Julia Taubitz. Full results here.

● NORDIC SKIING ● In Cross Country, World Cup overall leader Alexander Bolshunov won both races in Nove Mesto (CZE), to pad his lead. Bolshunov won the 15 km Freestyle and the 15 km Classical Pursuit, with Ilvo Niskanen second (15 km Free) and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) second in the Pursuit. Norway’s Therese Johaug dominated – once again – both distance races, winning the 10 km Freestyle and the 10 km Classical Putsuit, both over Natalya Nepryaeva (RUS). Full results here.

In Ski Jumping, Poland’s Dawid Kubacki won twice off the 142 m hill in Titisee-Neustadt (GER), over Stefan Kraft (AUT) and Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi in the first event, and then Kobayashi and Timi Zajc (SLO). Austrian Eva Pinkelnig won both of the women’s jumps on the 102 m hill in Zao (JPN), beating Sara Takanishi (JPN) on Friday and Chiara Holzl (AUT) on Sunday. Full results here.

● SNOWBOARD ● In the Halfpipe event in Laax (SUI), Australian three-time World Champion Scotty James won for the third straight time this season, with Yuto Totsuka second, also foe the third time in a row. American Taylor Gold took the bronze, preventing Japan’s Ruka Hirano for being third for the third straight time! Spain’s Queralt Castellet won the women’s division, defeating China’s Xuetong Cai and Jaiyu Liu.

The men’s Slopestyle event was won by Sebastien Toutant (CAN) over Olympic champion Red Gerard of the U.S. and teammate Justus Henkes. In the women’s event, American Julia Marino won her fifth World Cup victory, ahead of Japanese star Reira Iwabuchi.

An Italian skier won the Parallel Giant Slalom for the fourth time in six events this season, with Edwin Coratti winning his first medal of the campaign, ahead of two-time winner, teammate Ronald Fischnaller. Czech Olympic gold medalist Ester Ledecka won the women’s event, ending German Ramona Hofmeister’s four-meet winning streak. Hofmeister finished second and Russian Natalia Soboleva was third. Full results here.

● SWIMMING ● Lots of action in the pool with both legs of the FINA Champions Swim Series and the second stage of the Tyr Pro Swim Series in the U.S. in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The headline from the University of Tennessee aquatic facility was an excellent 1:56.01 win by triple Olympic gold medalist Allison Schmitt in the 200 m Freestyle. It’s her third-fastest time since 2012 and stamps her as one to watch at the Olympic Trials. Backstroke world-record holder Regan Smith was outstanding in the 100 and 200 m Back events, setting a national age 17-18 record in the 100 m event in 56.28, the fastest time ever recorded before April 1!

The FINA Champions Series in Shenzhen and Beijing, China, included an impressive win by Japanese star Daiya Seto in Beijing in the 200 m fly in 1:52.53, the no. 3 performance ever. Dutch sprint star Ranomi Kromwidjojo won the most medals over the two meets, collecting four wins and nine total podiums.

Hungary’s famed Katinka Hosszu was everywhere in both meets, competing in six individual events in each meet and taking home – by our count – $96,000 for the four days, including appearance fees. China’s Freestyle star Yang Sun, waiting for a decision on his future eligibility by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, won the 400 m Free in both meets and the 200 m Free in Beijing. Much more here.

● WATER POLO ● the U.S. men and women took a long trip for a three-time exhibition series in Brisbane vs. Australia, another of the top teams in the world and perhaps second-best to the Olympic and World Champion American women’s team.

The U.S. managed to win the first game, taking a 7-5 halftime lead and then holding on for a 10-9 win. It was the 69th straight win for the U.S. women. But that streak, which reached back to April of 2018, was snapped in the second game on a goal by Australian captain Rowie Webster on a penalty shot with 30 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. The American women came back to win the finale, 10-7.

The U.S. men won one of three games, losing the opener 13-12, then taking the second game by 10-9 and losing the finale, 14-8. More here.

● WRESTLING ● The first of the United World Wrestling Ranking Series events took place in Rome (ITA) at the Matteo Pellicone tournament, and it was a good meet for the U.S.

Among 16 total medals for American entries were tournament wins for Tom Gilman (57 kg), Kyle Dake (74 kg) and Zahid Valencia (86 kg) in men’s Freestyle and Sarah Hildebrandt at 50 kg in women’s Freestyle.

Joe Colon finished second in the men’s Freestyle at 57 kg, losing to Gilman in the final by 4-2; another all-American final saw David Dieringer losing to Valencia at 86 kg, 7-5. Jordan Oliver finished second to India’s Bajrang Bajrang at 76 kg.

In Greco-Roman, Max Nowry won silver at 55 kg, and China’s Feng Zhou upset World Champion Tamyra Mensah-Stock of the U.S. on criteria after an 8-8 tie. Full results are here.

SWIMMING: Sensational 1:56.01 win for Allison Schmitt in Tyr Pro Swim 200 m Free

By
Rich Perelman
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Back in the mix: Triple Olympic gold medalist Allison Schmitt

/Updated to include Sunday’s results/Early-season meets are hardly predictors of summer success, but Allison Schmitt served notice that she is going to be a factor once again in the 200 m Freestyle.

Now 29, Schmitt won the 200 m Free at the second Tyr Pro Swim Series meet in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1:56.01, defeating sprint superstar Simone Manuel (1:57.25) and an all-star field including Melanie Margalis, Regan Smith, Canada’s Penny Oleksiak, Madisyn Cox and Hali Flickinger!

The time was special: her third fastest since 2012, when she was a triple Olympic gold medalist in this event and two relays! She later finished second in the 400 m Free.

The home crowd was thrilled with an upset victory by Tennessee’s Erika Brown, who recorded a rare win over World Champion Manuel in the 50 m Free, 24.57-24.63.

Backstroke world-record holder Smith also impressed with a 58.26 win in the 100 m Back, the no. 12 performance of all time and the fastest time ever recorded in January (or February or March, according to Swimming World Magazine!). Smith also set a national age-group record for 17-18 year-olds in the 100 m Fly, finishing second in 57.86, behind Amanda Kendall. Smith also won the 200 m Back in 2:05.94.

Freestyler Erica Sullivan won three events, the 400-800-1,500 m Freestyles. Double-event winners during the meet included Breaststroke star Annie Lazor in the 100 and 200 m, Zane Grothe in the 400 and 1,500 m Frees (and second in the 800 m Free), Carson Foster in the 200 m Free and 200 m Medley, plus Cox in the 200 m and 400 m Medley. Full results here.

The second FINA Champions Swim Series has come and gone for 2019, with both events held in China. This is a meet series with a big payday: just four swimmers per event, paid $10,000-8,000-6,000-5,000, plus a $3,000 appearance fee for every athlete.

At Shenzhen on 14-15 January, China’s Jaiyu Xu won the men’s 50 and 100 Backstroke and teammate Xiang Liu won the women’s 50 m Back and the 50 m Free. Freestyle star Yang Sun, awaiting a ruling on his eligibility from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, won the 400 m Free over Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys, 3:44.07-3:46.62, but finished second to Rapsys in the 200 m Free (1:46.50-1:45.53).

The workhorse – a role she is well acquainted with – was Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who was in six events, winning the 200 m Fly and 200 m Medley, runner-up in the 200 m Back and fourth in the 100 m Fly, 100 m Back and 200 m Free. That was worth $43,000, plus the appearance for a $46,000 take over two days.

In Beijing on Saturday and Sunday, Hosszu won the 200 m Back again and had seconds in the 200 m Fly, 200 m Medley and 200 m Free, plus a fourth in the 100 m Fly and 100 m Back. That was worth another $44,000 and the appearance fee. However, her second in the 200 m Medley to Canada’s Sydney Pickrem by 2:09.26-2:09.93, was her first loss in international competition across 56 meets since April of 2017!

The best swim of the meet came from Japanese star Daiya Seto, who won the 200 m Fly in 1:52.53, the no. 3 performance ever. He also finished second in the 200 m Medley.

Double winners include Russia’s Vladimir Morozov in the 50-100 m Free and Yang Sun, who took the 200 and 400 m Freestyles.

China’s Liu won the 50 m Free in an Asian Record 24.03, a 1/100th improvement on her prior best; she stays at no. 11 all-time. American Michael Andrew scored his first win in the two meets with a 24.92 victory in the 50 m Back.

The overall medals leader in the two meets was Dutch sprinter Ramomi Kromowidjojo, who won nine overall (4-3-2), including wins in both meets in the 50 m Fly and the Mixed 4×100 m Freestyle. Full results from Shenzhen are here; from Beijing are here.

THE TICKER: Everyone wants in on the Russian appeal of its suspension by WADA

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

● Doping ● It seems that everybody is in on the appeal of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s sanctions on Russia. On Friday, the Russian Olympic Committee, the Russian Paralympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee all filed notices as “interested parties” in the appeal of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency against WADA.

The Russian Olympic Committee statement noted “By taking part in the dispute as a third party, the ROC will be defending the rights of Russian athletes and Russian sports federations for the participation under the Russian national flag, equal conditions for the qualification and access of the Russians to the Olympic Games and other international tournaments.”

The IOC statement explained “The only purpose of this intervention is limited to the interest of the IOC and the IPC that the pronounced sanctions are clear, leave no room for any interpretation and can be applied without any further procedures. The purpose of this intervention is not to intervene in the assessment of the consequences or sanctions by [the Court of Arbitration for Sport].”

No timetable has yet been issued by the Court for the proceedings, which the Russians obviously hope to extend long enough to allow their team to participate “normally” in Tokyo this summer.

● Vox Populi ● Opinions from our readers (presented unedited):

● Further to our story on the IOC’s new rules concerning athlete protests at the Olympic Games:

“If the IOC wants to pay every athlete that competes in the Games, they can gain the right to control the message. Every athlete should be compensated. Otherwise, banning athletes from using this amateur platform for protest is not fair and makes athlete indentured servitude to the IOC and it’s constituents worse.”
~ Allen James (Los Angeles, California), a 1992-96 U.S. Olympian in the Race Walks

● Further to our note on the new sports being added to the 2022 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar (SEN):

“So excited to hear of the addition of a sport that I didn’t know existed on a formalized level, but one that I played regularly as a kid growing up in a Brooklyn New York City housing project.

“Due to space limitations (there were 2 baskets, 4 handball courts, and a blacktop softball field in the project playground…for about 1000 kids…no exaggeration). We also weren’t permitted to play on the grass areas surrounding the buildings, and would be fined (our parents that is) for infractions of that rule.

“Nevertheless, we played touch/tackle football and other catch games on the grass, always having a designated lookout for the project police, who were often in plain clothes to surprise us lawbreakers. Running from the cops is great practice for sprinting and middle distance running, as we had to sustain our speed until out of site of the ‘law.’

“But we played all kinds of ball games on the blacktop. Stickball, punchball, slap ball, off the wall, stoop ball: all variations of baseball in confined places. A few of us were able to get into formalized baseball, on the grass at Prospect Park, but that was quite a distance from my home in East Flatbush, on the south shore of Brooklyn. Funny, but we were very creative at coming up with games that were inclusive and utilized whatever confined space and material resources available. Great preparation for my eventual profession as an Adapted P.E. specialist in LAUSD…”
~ Ronald Brumel (Los Angeles, California)

● Boxing ● The International Boxing Association (AIBA), currently suspended by the IOC, is holding the first of its “Continental Boxing Forums” on Saturday (18th) in Panama City (PAN) to share information on the progress of its reform program.

Such meetings with the national boxing federations in Africa, Asian, Europe and Oceania will take place in February. According to the federation, “The idea of such forums is to unite all the NFs around the world for best future of our sport and an opportunity to show to AIBA members the changes we are implementing in AIBA in term of Statutes, governance, competition format, development programs for coaches, medical and [refereeing and judging], anti-doping seminars, communication with NF’s leaders, marketing programs for continents and federations, [a] big platform to discuss actual issues.”

In the meantime, the head of the IOC’s working group to oversee AIBA’s affairs said last week that he continues to be concerned about how the federation will clear some or all of its debt of at least $16 million.

Nenad Lalovic (SRB), who is the President of United World Wrestling, told Reuters that “We have been informed of AIBA’s willingness to organize new competitions in order to generate revenues. We do not know if there are possibilities for clearing AIBA’s debts and we have no knowledge of any financial plan.”

Without a resolution to its debt issues, it’s hard to see how AIBA can continue as a going concern. The IOC has said it will review AIBA’s status after the 2020 Games in Tokyo are concluded.

● Swimming ● One of the emerging stars for the U.S. suffered a setback, as 17-year-old Luca Urlando posted a notice on Instagram of a shoulder injury:

“Not the way I was hoping to start an Olympic year, but I dislocated my left shoulder during a swim workout last Saturday [11th]. Recovery will take a couple of months, but with the resources available to me in Colorado Springs I am optimistic that I will be able to reach my goal of swimming well at Olympic trials. I appreciate all the support as I focus to getting back in the pool competitively.”

Urlando ranked no. 3 in the world in the 200 m Butterfly in 2019 (1:53.84) and won the national title in that event. If healthy, he’s a medal contender for Tokyo.

● Triathlon ● Texas Christian University (TCU) added Triathlon as a women’s intercollegiate sport, becoming the seventh NCAA Division I school to do so and the second among Power 5 Conference schools, after Arizona State.

It’s another step forward for triathlon, which could benefit immensely from collegiate competition. The USA Triathlon announcement noted that “The addition of women’s triathlon as TCU’s 22nd varsity sport is made possible through the USA Triathlon Foundation Women’s Emerging Sport Grant, distributed to select NCAA membership institutions to develop, implement and sustain women’s triathlon programs at the varsity level.”

Smart move by the federation.

● World Beach Games ● The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) announced that the feedback on the first edition of the World Beach Games in Qatar in 2019 was good enough to continue:

“A total of 68 NOCs provided feedback along with all 13 IFs. The average feedback score for both the NOCs and IFs was above 8.5 out of 10. It was agreed by the Executive Council that the Games should be continued and that a letter will be sent out tomorrow (16 January) to all NOCs inviting them to register their interest in hosting a future edition of the Games.”

● Last Word ● More bad news for one of the high-profile venues from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), as a judge ordered the closure of the Rio Olympic Park due to worries over safety.

The BBC reported that “Judge Eugenio Araujo ruled in favour of a request from the Rio prosecutor’s office asking for a ban on all major events at the facilities until authorities had seen certificates demonstrating their safety. He said the place was ‘progressively battered by the lack of care’ and ‘ready for tragedies’.”

His decision also noted that “This situation, in sites damaged by the lack of surveillance and with thousands of people present, can lead to tragedies.”

The Brazilian federal government and the city of Rio signaled that they would appeal the ruling; the site was host to basketball, swimming and tennis in 2016, but maintenance has been an issue since the end of the Paralympic Games.

LANE ONE: The IOC hands out lots of medals, but soon might be in line for one itself

By
Rich Perelman
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The IOC's headquarters, starting in 1968 with 12 staff members: the Chateau de Vidy

Having watched the International Olympic Committee at work from near and far over 40 years, it is amazing how that organization has changed, especially in the last decade or so.

Back in 1980, the IOC was simply overrun by events beyond its control and its showpiece event, the modern Olympic Games, became almost invisible as 65 countries declined to participate as part of a United States-led boycott, or for economic reasons. At the end of the Moscow Games, the IOC’s new president, Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch, determined that things would be different.

In those days, the entire IOC staff was housed in the Chateau de Vidy, originally a church built in the 1450s, in Lausanne, Switzerland. No Olympic office building, no Olympic Museum. Just the house, owned by the city, which offered free rent. The prior IOC Presidents did not live in Lausanne; Ireland’s Lord Killanin lived in Dublin. Samaranch was the first to relocate – full-time – to Lausanne, as have his successors.

Fast forward to 2020, and the IOC has $4.1 billion in assets, with $3.6 billion in cash and securities, with about $1.4 billion in long-term reserves. It took in $2.2 billion in revenue in 2018 and spent 93% of it, with Olympic organizing committees, the International Sports Federations and National Olympic Committees receiving about $1.25 billion combined, or more than half.

Thanks in significant part to the transformative approach of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the 1984 Games, the IOC has become a financial powerhouse. In 2019, it opened a new headquarters in a futuristic, 237,000 sq. ft. building adjacent to the old Chateau de Vidy at a cost of $147 million. Some 500 staff members now work there.

All this success came at a price, and the IOC was seen as mercenary and ruthless at the start of the 21st Century, especially in light of the Salt Lake City bidding scandal, where a number of IOC members accepted exorbitant gifts to pave the way for the Utah city to be selected to host the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

The IOC’s specifications to host a Games – summer or winter – became more and more demanding, especially in the requirements for increasing spectacular facilities in which to host individual sports. This climaxed with stunning costs to host the Games that were reported at $40 billion for Beijing as host of the 2008 Olympic Games and as much as $51 billion for Sochi to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

The response of many nations which considered bidding for the Games was to pass. Referendum after referendum, especially in Europe and even in the IOC’s home country of Switzerland, showed that voters had no appetite for the financial burden. The crisis crested in 2017, when the IOC selected two host cities – Paris for 2024 and Los Angeles for 2028 – by acclimation, ending a 30-year era of over-the-top presentations and bid costs in the tens of millions of dollars for each competing city.

In short, Samaranch’s IOC had become too successful and had to be brought back to reality. His successor, three-time Belgian sailing Olympian Jacques Rogge, served from 2001-13 and preferred to stay in the Olympic Village during the Games rather in an expansive hotel suite. On his watch, the Olympic Games were awarded to China (for 2008) and Brazil (for 2016) for the first time.

But the IOC was dogged by the perception of lavishness and dearly needed high-profile reforms. It got it in a new president, German Thomas Bach, a lawyer and 1976 fencing team gold medalist. At the height of the perception crisis, Bach developed and pushed through his Agenda 2020 program in December 2014, which significantly relaxed the process by which Olympic Games were awarded, planned and operated.

And Bach did not stop there. Building on the work of Samaranch – who established the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the 1980s – and Rogge, who led the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Bach has changed the IOC and therefore, the international sports movement. With few exceptions, whatever the IOC does, everyone else follows.

One of the first implementations of the Olympic Agenda 2020 was the publication of an IOC Annual Report covering the year 2014. Its sub-title was not the famed Olympic motto of “Citius – Altius – Fortius” (roughly, Swifter, Higher, Stronger), but an aspirational statement of “Credibility, Sustainability and Youth.”

The contrast with 1980 could not more dramatic. And Bach has been relentlessly expanding his reform efforts:

● Today, the IOC continuously reminds everyone that it gives back 90% of all of its revenue to support sport around the world. This is borne out by its financial statements, although there are criticisms of how some recipients spend the money provided. This “Solidarity Model” is an important aspect of its credibility promise.

● A nearly-continuous series of reform policies has been adopted by the IOC that has eliminated the need for any Olympic bid city to build even a single venue if an existing site can be used, or a temporary venue can be employed. Reforms now underway could cut the requirements for the last remaining major venue requirement – the Olympic Village – to be reduced by as much as 40%. This is where its sustainability focus comes in and has become a major emphasis for the IOC.

● The bidding process, for decades plagued by excess and waste, has been essentially eliminated. No more leather-bound bid books offered in jeweled presentation chests; the process now features a “dialogue” between IOC commissions for the Olympic and Winter Games and interested cities/regions/countries or even multiple countries, with the goal of finding a good match for a specific Games and then offering a consensus recommendation to the IOC membership for ratification. This was unthinkable even five years ago, but furthers the sustainability pledge.

● The focus on youth has turned one of the IOC’s most wasteful projects into a living laboratory for sport in the 21st Century. The Youth Olympic Games, created under Rogge’s leadership, started in 2010 and was seen as an almost worthless sideshow and was widely expected to be abandoned by Bach at some point.

Instead, the event has been transformed; Bach talked about this at last week’s news conference following the IOC Session in Lausanne, held during the Winter Youth Olympic Games going on in the same city:

“[W]hat is the most important is the experience of these young athletes. This is what counts; these Youth Olympic Games are for them. They are for them to get familiar with the Olympic environment, with the Olympic values and with [a] multi-sports event. So this is priority no. 1.

“Then, the international awareness, from what I have heard from the figures from last night, for instance, is the fact that I guess that this Winter Youth Olympic Games get maybe more international attention than any other junior event in any other sport. Because this is life; you don’t publish a lot about junior events over the year and therefore, it’s maybe a sad record, but it still is a record.”

He added a little later, “So another signal or demonstration for the fact that we are using, there also, the Youth Olympic Games as a laboratory for new sports, for new disciplines, and [for 2022], these seven additions we made all together – including the two I just mentioned – they were very well appreciated by the Executive Board.”

For those who have watched the IOC for decades, this is amazing.

Samaranch worked tirelessly to end the three-Games cycle of mass boycotts in 1988 by getting almost every nation to the Seoul Games and in 1993 convinced the United Nations to approve an “Olympic Truce,” along the lines of the truce followed in ancient Greece to allow athletes to travel without hindrance to and from Olympia. He thought it was possible that the IOC could be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for these efforts, but it didn’t happen.

Bach may succeed where Samaranch did not. He was awarded the Cem-Papandreou Peace Award in Athens last June for having made “an outstanding contribution to peace.” And the resume keeps growing; under his watch, the IOC:

● Continues to support and has helped further the independence of the anti-doping and legal movements in sport, not only through the World Anti-Doping Agency and Court of Arbitration for Sport, but also the formation of the International Testing Agency;

● Created the memorable cooperation of North and South Korea in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and some sports of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games;

● Continuation of Samaranch’s Olympic Truce initiative, which was adopted for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games by consensus resolution of the U.N. General Assembly on 9 December of last year;

● Creation of the Refugee Olympic Team, with athletes who – for varying reasons – cannot be entered by a National Olympic Committee. This was a Bach initiative from 2015 for the Rio Games and included 10 athletes; it will be expanded for Tokyo. The IOC awarded the U.N. Refugee Agency its 2019 Olympic Cup award in Lausanne on 10 January;

● Close cooperation with the International Paralympic Committee, including significant financial support for Paralympic athletes, another expansion of the Olympic message of inclusion.

Bach underlined a now-familiar theme at the Cem-Papandreou Peace Award, noting that “The Olympic Games show us that despite all our differences it is possible for humankind to live together in peace and harmony. … In a world drifting apart in so many ways, the Olympic Games today stand out as the only event that brings the whole world together in peaceful competition.”

The IOC will hand out thousands of medals in Tokyo this summer, but Bach’s astonishing turnaround of an organization which has been continuously written off as archaic and imploding might well find itself on the podium at a Nobel Awards ceremony in the near future.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HEARD AT HALFTIME: Diack trial postponed after son’s testimony shows up from Senegal

By
Rich Perelman
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Papa Massata Diack (SEN) called (Photo: Jeune Afrique)

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

The new year has barely begun and the headlines are all about doping, doping and more doping: some old and some new and a long-awaited trial that has been postponed.

● Athletics ● The trial of former IAAF President and IOC member Lamine Diack was adjourned shortly after it started on Monday when the French court was told that the testimony of Papa Massata Diack – Lamine Diack’s son – from a Senegalese hearing held last November was received earlier that day.

In order to review this new evidence, which could shed additional light on the cases at trial, the entire matter was postponed until June, with Agence France Presse suggesting that it could resume on 3 June.

In its opening statement, the French Financial Prosecutor’s Office said that Diack has led a conspiracy to extort from €100-600,000 from as many as 23 Russian athletes with doping positives to allow them to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. Some of this money was used to fund a $1.5 million contribution by Lamine Diack to the ultimately-successful 2012 presidential campaign of Macky Sall in Senegal (who was re-elected in 2019).

Lamine Diack, 86, appeared in court on Monday and asked to be able to see his brother in Senegal, but the court refused permission for him to leave France, where he has been under house arrest since 2015. Also in court were defendants Habib Cisse (FRA), Diack’s one-time legal advisor at the IAAF and Dr. Gabriel Dolle (FRA), the former IAAF anti-doping chief. Both were accused of handling bribes.

In addition to Papa Massata Diack, the two Russian defendants did not appear and are being tried in absentia: former IAAF Treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev and former distance coach Alexei Melnikov, both of whom are still in Russia.

The BBC reported that World Athletics (formerly the IAAF) is seeking civil damages of €41.2 million (~$45.9 million) from the six defendants for “loss of sponsorship revenue, damage to reputation and potential loss of earnings.”

The Athletics Integrity Unit announced doping sanctions against two star athletes from Africa:

On Friday (10th), Kenya’s one-time world-record holder in the marathon, Wilson Kipsang, was provisionally suspended for both “Whereabouts failures” and for “Tampering or Attempted Tampering.”

Now 37, Kipsang set a world mark of 2:03:23 to win the 2013 Berlin Marathon, defeating countryman and current world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge in the process, the latter’s only career loss in a marathon. He won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Games and has victories at London (2012 & 2014), New York (2014) and Tokyo (2017). The next step will be a hearing.

On Tuesday, star sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad & Tobago was suspended for two years for Whereabouts failures, with her results annulled from 19 April of last year. She was the Trinidad & Tobago national champion (11.18) in 2019 and won a bronze medal in the Pan American Games (11.27). She ranks no. 25 all-time in the 100 m at 10.82 from 2017, and at 27, was a medal contender for Tokyo. The decision is appealable.

● Weightlifting ● The fallout continues from the bombshell 5 January ARD television documentary alleging corruption and doping cover-ups at the International Weightlifting Federation.

IWF President Tamas Ajan (HUN) has been all over Hungarian media, telling Inforadio that the IWF did not plan to sue ARD – at least not yet – but has asked for more documentation from the network. He said that did not plan to resign, but would not stand for re-election in 2021. He said of the impact: “My life, my 50 years of work, has been totally ruined by this documentary.”

USA Weightlifting chief executive Phil Andrews tweeted that “The correct response is to produce documented proof, or invite an investigation of the allegations. That is the only way forward for the IWF and the sport.”

In the meantime, the IWF announced that three more doping positives from the 2012 Olympic Games have been confirmed, including Erol Bilgin (TUR: 8th in men’s 62 kg), Razvan Martin (ROU: bronze medalist in men 69 kg) and Roxana Cocos (ROU: silver medalist in women’s 69 kg). All three are provisionally suspended.

There are impacts beyond further revision of the 2012 results; if the IOC confirms all three, the 2012 Games will have the record for the most total doping positives of any Games in history. If the two Romanian positives stand up, the country could have its entry quota for Tokyo cut to two lifters in total, or even banned completely for a year.

● Games of the XXXII Olympiad: Tokyo 2020 ● The International Testing Agency announced during the IOC Session in Lausanne its plan for the Tokyo Games.

In cooperation with the Japan Anti-Doping Agency and the organizing committee, “some 6,200 samples are expected to be collected during the Games across 33 sports, 50 disciplines and 339 events.”

Assuming about 11,000 athletes compete in Tokyo, that’s still just 56% of the total.

There was other news:

● Iran ● The only female medalist in Iran’s Olympic history, Kimia Alizadeh, is now in the Netherlands and has no plans to return. The Dutch broadcast service NOS reported Saturday that Alizadeh was on vacation in Eindhoven … and is staying there.

On her Instagram page last Saturday, Alizadeh wrote a long post in Farsi indicating she was not coming back to Iran, including (per Google Translate):

“I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who have been playing for me for years. They took me wherever they wanted. Whatever they said I wore. Every sentence they ordered I repeated. Whenever they saw fit, they confiscated me. They put my medals on the obligatory veil and attributed it to their management and tact. I didn’t care. None of us care about them, we are tools. …

“Dear Iranian people, I did not want to climb the stairs of corruption and lies.

“No one has invited me to Europe and I haven’t been to the green garden. But I was suffering from the hardship of homesickness because I didn’t want to sit at the table of hypocrisy, lies, injustice and flattery. This decision is even harder to win than the Olympic gold, but I remain the son of Iran wherever I am. I give you encouragement, and I have no other wish than to trust you in the difficult path I have taken.”

She hasn’t posted since, but her path follows that of judoka Saeid Mollaei, who left the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo after being told to throw his matches in order not to face Israeli Sagi Muki, and went to Germany. He was given privileged refugee status there, but has since been given Mongolian citizenship.

Alizadeh won the bronze medal in Rio in the women’s 57 kg division. Reuters reported that no indication had been given hat she had applied for asylum.

In a related story, IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) said Tuesday that the Iranian Sports Minister and the President of the Iranian National Olympic Committee promised in a letter to observe the Olympic Charter in the future. This would include ending its discrimination against competitions with Israeli athletes and teams.

Of course, a similar letter was sent to the International Judo Federation last May, which was completely disregarded at the World Championships by Iranian officials. Bach said the IOC has forwarded the latest letter to the IJF, which has suspended the Iranian federation.

● Badminton ● Japan’s superstar Kento Momota opened his 2020 campaign with a win at the Malaysia Masters tournament last weekend, then was injured in an automobile accident on the way to the airport in Kuala Lumpur.

The driver of the vehicle was killed, but the other four passengers – including Momota – survived. All received hospital care and Momota was released on Tuesday, and flew home to Japan. According to the BWF, “Momota sustained multiple laceration wounds to the face plus right maxillary sinus and nasal bone fracture.”

He hopes to return to action in March.

● At the BuZZer ● The IOC continued its efforts to shore up the legacy of PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games by awarding the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games to that area. This was another Games award made by acclimation and without any other bidder.

The Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal had its dates confirmed as 22 October to 9 November. Two new sports – baseball5 and wushu – were added to the program. Baseball5 is a barely-recognizable form of the game in which batters hit a ball with their hands, trying to get it past the infielders for a hit. No pitchers, no bats and five players per team. Wushu is a long-standing Chinese martial art, so Dakar will have judo, taekwondo, karate and wushu all on the program.

LANE ONE: Bach beams as IOC’s Athletes’ Commission issues athlete protest regulations for Tokyo 2020

By
Rich Perelman
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In sync: IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) and Athletes' Commission chair Kirsty Coventry (ZIM)

In late 1981, International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch sent a letter to German fencer Thomas Bach and others, stating “I have decided to create an IOC Commission for athletes. This Commission will act as the spokesman of all athletes to the International Olympic Committee.”

Almost 40 years later, now-President Bach has a dependable, powerful ally in the IOC Athletes’ Commission, which supports his reform agenda, and released new guidelines to enforce what he sees as a crucial element of the IOC’s future: political neutrality.

Bach has emphasized this over and over again, reminding governments, athletes and others that the only way the Olympic Movement can survive in today’s world is to maintain its neutral posture and remain one of the only meeting points for the entire globe to come together in peace.

That’s what’s behind the brilliantly-introduced “Rule 50 Guidelines,” which was sub-titled “Developed by the IOC Athletes’ Commission,” regulating athlete protests for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

This is not about the raised fists of Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the 200 m victory stand in 1968, or the casual stance on the victory stand in 1972 by Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett of the U.S. after the 400 m. This is about 2019:

● American fencer Race Imboden took a knee during the victory ceremony after the Team Foil event at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru;

● American Gwen Berry raised her right fist at the end of the women’s hammer awards ceremony in Lima;

● Australian Mack Horton stood behind the awards platform after the 400 m Freestyle at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, refusing to stand next to China’s Yang Sun, who Horton felt was guilty of a doping positive that was ignored by the Chinese federation and FINA;

● British swimmer Duncan Scott, who refused to shake Sun’s hand or pose for pictures after the Worlds 200 m Freestyle.

The demonstrations by Imboden and Berry concerned U.S. domestic politics, while Horton and Scott were protesting inaction by doping authorities vs. Sun. (However, the World Anti-Doping Agency filed against Sun when FINA did not and the decision on Sun’s status is expected to be issued later this month.)

All of those are banned by the new Rule 50 Guidelines. But the reasoning and the vibe are totally different than in 1968 and 1972.

The new guidelines explain “The IOC Athletes’ Commission and the IOC are fully supportive of freedom of expression” and includes this: “That is not to say that you should be silent about the issues you care deeply about, and below you will find a list of places where you can express your views at the Olympic Games.”

This is really clever. Express yourself, but not on the field of play or the victory stand. And the guidelines are specific:

● No protests: on the field of play, in the Olympic Village, during medal ceremonies or during the Opening or Closing Ceremonies or other “official Ceremonies,” or otherwise prohibited by local laws.

● Expressions OK: Interviews and news conferences, including in the mixed zone at the venues and at the Main Media Center, at team meetings or on social media.

The guidelines made a distinction between “expressing views” and “demonstrations.” A demonstration includes any political message (“including signs or armbands”), hand gestures or kneeling or “Refusal to follow the Ceremonies protocol.” That takes care of all four of the 2019 incidents.

In Mexico City, IOC President Avery Brundage – an American – demanded that Smith and Carlos be suspended and sent home. The U.S. Olympic Committee did not agree, causing Brundage to threaten to ban the U.S. track & field team from the remainder of the Games, and the two were required to leave. An IOC statement called the protest “a deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit.”

In Munich, Brundage sent a letter to the USOC, which included:

“The whole world saw the disgusting display of your two athletes, when they received their gold and silver medals for the 400 m event yesterday.

“This the second time the U.S.O.C. has permitted such occurrences on the athletic field. It is the Executive Board’s opinion that these two athletes have broken Rule 26 … in respect of the traditional Olympic spirit and ethic and are, therefore, eliminated from taking part in any future Olympic competition.

“If such a performance should happen in the future, please be advised that the medals will be withheld from the athletes in question.”

Both Matthews and Collett were banned from the ‘72 Games, which cost both a gold medal on the 4×400 m relay, where – without them – the U.S. was unable to field a team.

But in 2020, athlete “expressions of views” are welcomed, as long as outside the field of play and the awards ceremonies, according to regulations developed by athletes who were selected by their fellow athletes during elections held during the Olympic and Winter Games.

Brilliant, whether you agree with the rules or not.

As to sanctions, the guidelines are vague, promising only a review – on a case-by-case basis – by the National Olympic Committee or International Federation involved, and possibly the IOC.

During the news conference following last Thursday’s meeting of the Athletes’ Commission with the IOC Executive Board, Commission chair Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe – the country’s 36-year-old Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation who won seven Olympic medals in swimming – commented:

“The majority of athletes feel it is very important that we respect each other as athletes, but we needed clarity and they needed clarity on the rules, so that’s what these guidelines do.”

Bach was asked about the guidelines and was ready with the perfect reply:

“There you have heard and seen and read the voice of the athletes. And they have issued these guidelines on Rule 50 after broad consultation, with many athletes in telephone conferences and other consultations, and they have come to the conclusion that it is very much important for each athlete that his or her Olympic moment is respected. And that the focus is on his or her Olympic moment and that there is no distraction from this unique moment in their lives by any kind of political demonstrations.”

Think about this: the 2019 demonstrations were by athletes from the U.S., Great Britain and Australia, all countries with strong free-speech traditions. There was the crossed-arms political protest by Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa as he won the marathon silver medal in Rio, but if you listened to the comments at the International Athletes Forum in 2019 and similar events, athletes from most of the rest of the world were unhappy with anything that disturbed their Olympic experience. That won’t sit well with athletes from countries like the U.S., but it’s reality.

Samaranch, still criticized for being a diplomat in Spain’s Fascist regime under Francisco Franco, saw the need to involve athletes in the IOC’s affairs some 39 years ago. Bach, one of the original members of the Athletes’ Commission, has created a potent political force with it as he continues to reform the IOC and the Olympic Movement, all the while trying to maintain the place of the Olympic Games as an oasis of peace in a turbulent world.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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HIGHLIGHTS: Nick Itkin wins first career Foil Grand Prix with win over Olympic champ Garozzo

By
Rich Perelman
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American fencing star Nick Itkin (Photo: FIE/Augusto Bizzi)

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

Although most of the action this weekend was on snow and ice, the U.S. men’s Foil fencers made a major impression at the Challenge International de Paris over the weekend. American Nick Itkin won the individual title by defeating Rio Olympic champion Daniele Garozzo of Italy in the final, his first career World Cup victory.

The win moved Itkin up to no. 5 in the FIE World Rankings, giving the U.S. four stars in the top ten, including Race Imboden (4th), Itkin, Gerek Meinhardt (8th) and Alexander Massialas (9th). Remember to check on the men’s Foil results this summer in Tokyo!

● ALPINE SKIING ● A busy weekend on the slopes was a good one for 26-year-old Swiss Daniel Yule. He won the Slalom at Madonna di Campiglio (ITA) on Wednesday (8th) and then took the Sunday Slalom race in front of home fans at Adelboden (SUI), for his second and third career wins. Second in both races was Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen, who now has the overall seasonal lead with 611 points to 533 for France’s Alexis Pinturault. Slovenia’s Zan Kranjec took the Giant Slalom in Adelboden on Saturday. Full results here.

The women were in Altenmarkt in Austria, with Corinne Suter (SUI) getting her first win of the season (and third medal) in the Downhill on Saturday. Italy’s Federica Brignone won the Alpine Combined of the season on Sunday over two-time Combined World Champion Wendy Holdener of Italy. Full results here.

The women will be in Flachau (AUT) on Tuesday for a Slalom and another opportunity for Mikaela Shiffrin to extend her 261-point seasonal World Cup lead.

● ARCHERY ● The World Archery Indoor World Series moved to Oceania for the Sydney Indoor Archery Festival, with the home team dominating the men’s action with a sweep of the medals for David Barnes defeated James Gaze, 6-4, for the victory and Taylor Worth won the bronze over New Zealand’s Ben McLean, 6-2. Same for the women, as Madeline Boyle defeated Sarah Haywood, 6-5, in the women’s Recurve final and Melissa Spinocchia took the bronze, Full results here.

● BIATHLON ● The fourth stop on the IBU World Cup tour was in Oberhof (GER), and showcased seven-time World Cup Champion Martin Fourcade of France, who won both the 10 km Sprint and the 15 km Mass Start. By winning both, Fourcade took over the seasonal lead with a 387-374 edge over reigning champ Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR). Could Fourcade win again?

The women’s Sprint was won by Marte Olsbu Roiseland, ahead of Germany’s Denise Hermann; Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen won the 10 km Mass Start, ahead of Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff and Roiseland. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer has the seasonal lead at 390 points over Eckhoff (381). Full results here.

● BOBSLED & SKELETON ● The fourth stop of eight on the 2019-20 World Cup tour was in La Plagne (FRA) and it was another sweep for German superstar Francesco Friedrich. The 2018 Olympic champ in both the two-man and four-man, he won both, ahead of Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis (2-man) and teammate Johannes Lochner (4-man), with Kibermanis third. Germany’s Laura Nolte teamed with Deborah Levi to post her first win of the season in the two-women race. Americans Kaillie Humphries and Lauren Gibbs were fourth for the second week in a row.

Russians won both of the Skeleton races, with Alexander Tretiakov winning his second race of the season, and Elena Nikitina taking her second in the women’s division. Full results here.

● FENCING ● A huge weekend on the pistes, with five different Grand Prix or World Cup event ongoing!

In the Sabre Grand Prix in Montreal (CAN), France’s 34-year-old Bolade Apithy defeated 2910 Worlds bronze medalist Luca Curatoli (ITA) in the final, 13-12. The women’s title went to the evergreen Olga Kharlan (UKR), who won her 16th Grand Prix title by beating Russian Olga Nikitina in the final, 15-7.

In the men’s Epee World Cup in Heidenheim (GER), Hungary’s Gergely Siklosi defeated Sangyoung Park (KOR) in the final, 15-14. It was Siklosi’s first career World Cup gold. Hungary also won the team event over France.

The men’s Foil World Cup in Paris (FRA) was a big win for 20-year-old American Nick Itkin, who won his first World Cup gold with an impressive final win over Italy’s 2016 Olympic Champion Daniele Garozzo (ITA), 15-9. The win moves Itkin up to no. 5 in the FIE World Rankings and continues to strengthen the best event for the U.S. The American team of Itkin, Race Imboden, Gerek Meinhardt and Alexander Massialas won the team title, defeating Italy by 45-36 in the final.

The women’s Epee World Cup in Havana, Cuba was a victory for Poland’s Aleksandra Zamachowska, who won her first-ever Grand Prix title by out-dueling Romanian star Ana Maria Popescu, 15-8.

Russian superstar – and 2016 Olympic champ – Inna Deriglazova won the women’s Foil World Cup in Katowice (POL) over surprise finalist Camilla Mancini (ITA), 15-11. It’s the 13th career World Cup title for Deriglazova, who outlasted American Lee Keifer in the semifinals, 15-13. Still just 25, Keifer now has 13 career World Cup medals. Russia also won the team title over France, while the U.S. team was fourth. Click here for a full log of the fencing results.

● FREESTYLE SKIING ● The first Slopestyle competition of the season was held in Font Romeu (FRA), with Canada’s Mark Hendrickson winning over Jesper Tjader (SWE) and Cody Laplante (USA). The home fans cheered France’s Tess Ledeux, who won ahead of Swiss Giulia Tanno and Sarah Hoefflin. Full results here.

● LUGE ● The FIL World Cup moved to Europe for the remainder of the season, with competition in Altenberg (GER) for men and women. Austria’s surprise Olympic winner David Gleirscher picked up his first win of the season in men’s Singles, ahead of Italian Dominik Fischnaller, who won his fourth medal of the season. Austria’s Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller claimed their first win of the season – after two thirds previously – in the Doubles, beat perennial favorites Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken (GER) by 0.228.

Germany’s Julia Taubitz won the women’s Singles – her third win of the season – well ahead of Russian Tatyana Ivanova, 1:44.264-1:44.436. Full results here.

● NORDIC SKIING ● A short schedule in Cross Country, with just a Freestyle Sprint in Dresden (GER) on the weekend, won by Lucas Chanavat (FRA) for the men and Linn Svahn (SWE) for the women. Full results here.

Two races were held in Nordic Combined in Val di Fiemme (ITA), with seasonal leader Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) and Vinzenz Geiger (GER) going 1-2 in the first event, off a 104 m hill and a 10 km race. But Geiger came back to beat Riiber in the second event, with Norway’s Jorgen Graabak third both times. On the season, Riiber has a 860-582-571 lead over Geiger and Graabak. Full results here.

Also competing at Val di Fiemme were the men’s ski jumpers and it was a big weekend for Germany’s Karl Geiger. He won both events off the 104 m hill, with Stefan Kraft (AUT) and Dawid Kubacki (POL) second and third in both. Those results gave Geiger the seasonal lead by 699-655 over Kraft and reigning champ Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN). Full results here.

The women were in Sapporo, jumping off a 137 m hill, with Austrians Marita Kramer and Eva Pinkelnig winning, with Norway’s Maren Lundby second both times. Lundby continues as the seasonal leader with 405 points to 330 for Chiara Holzl (AUT). Full results here.

● SHORT TRACK ● The International Skating Union took page out of its figure skating program, adding a Four Continents Championship for Short Track to provide an annual event for the rest of the world as a companion to the European Championships.

Montreal (CAN) was the site for 2020, with Korea sweeping the overall titles. Dae Heon Hwang won for the men with 103 points, ahead of Steven Dubois (CAN: 65) and Ji Won Park (KOR: 37). The women’s title went to Min Jeong Choi (136) over teammate Whi Min Seo (KOR: 47).

Hwang and Dubois went 1-2 in the 500 m, 1,000 m and 1,500 m, with Park and Dagyeom Kim (KOR) winning gold and silver in the 3,000 m Superfinal.

Choi won all four of the women’s races; the best U.S. finish was a third place in the 1,500 m by Maame Biney. Full results are here.

● SNOWBOARD ● The third Parallel Giant Slalom was held in Scuol (SUI), with Andrey Sobolev (RUS) taking the men’s race over Austria’s Benjamin Karl. The women’s race was the third straight win for Germany’s Ramona Hofmeister, with Russians Sofia Nadyrshina and Milena Bykova finishing 2-3. Full results here.

● VOLLEYBALL ● The fields for the Tokyo 2020 volleyball tournaments were filled out with continental qualifying tournaments held for Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America.

The winners over the weekend for the men included Tunisia, Iran, France, Venezuela and Canada. They will join host Japan, Brazil, the United States, Italy, Poland, Russia and Argentina in the Olympic tournament. More here.

The women’s qualifiers were Kenya, South Korea, Turkey, the Dominican Republic and Argentina. They will contest with host Japan, Serbia, China, the United States, Brazil, Russia and Italy. More here.

Coming up this week are more winter events, but also the two legs of the FINA Champions Swim Series, both to be held in China. The first event will be in Shenzhen on 14-15 January and the final show on 18-19 in Beijing. Not to be outdone, the second stage of USA Swimming’s Tyr Pro Swim Series will be held from Thursday through Sunday in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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