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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● The locally-celebrated recent Queensland infrastructure committee review of the Fitzroy River in Rockingham that cleared the site for use for sprint canoeing and flatwater rowing for the 2032 Olympic Games did not, of course, include any agreement from the International Canoe Federation or World Rowing.
And so the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Council noted in a stern statement on Monday:
“Regarding Brisbane 2032, several ASOIF members have conveyed concerns regarding the consultation and communications process regarding venue validation. While recognising the complex nature of planning the Olympic Games it is essential that IFs are involved early and meaningfully in venue validation as they must approve their venue(s) based upon objective criteria aimed at ensuring a level playing field for the athletes. ASOIF encourages the Brisbane 2032 organisers to proactively communicate to and engage with the IFs.”
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● For all those who doubted that the new sliding track in Cortina could be finished in time, the doubting is done. On Monday, 140 sliders from 25 countries started two weeks of training on the “Pista Olympica Eugenio Monti.”
The International Training Period comes ahead of the FIL test event from 24-30 November, just after the ISBF World Cup from 21-23 November.
● International Olympic Committee ● IOC President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) told the International Federation Forum in Lausanne (SUI) on Monday that working together is key to maintaining the credibility of international sport:
“We are faced today with many challenges and obstacles, and we are only going to be able to overcome them if we work together. My coach always used to tell me that we’re only as strong as our weakest link.
“So, to ensure that the weakest link is just as strong as you are, you work together, you embrace each other, you hold each other accountable, and you find ways to get stronger together. And this is what all of us in this room need to do. We need to ensure that we are strengthening our policies on the protection of athletes. We need to ensure that we are protecting, and finding new and innovative ways to uphold, our principles and values. …
“We want the next generation to be able to have faith in who we are. They have to trust us, they have to understand the policies we are putting in place. We have to show transparency and neutrality in how and why we are making decisions.”
● Association of Summer Olympic International Federations ● Further to the ASOIF Council meeting on Monday, the group stated it “fully supports” the IOC Executive Board statement, admonishing Indonesia for banning Israeli from the FIG World Artistic Championships in Jakarta.
Worth noting: FIG President Morinari Watanabe (JPN), whose International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) rolled over when told by the Indonesian government it refused entry visas for the Israeli team, is a member of the ASOIF Council. Apparently he was in favor of the IOC’s position, although the FIG did nothing.
● Anti-Doping ● If you continue to worry about doping in sports, you’re not the only one.
At the 24th annual U.S. Anti-Doping Symposium on Anti-Doping Science in Atlanta, Georgia in September, Athletics Integrity Unit Chair David Howman (NZL) told more than 75 anti-doping leaders and strategists:
“We are still only catching the dopey dopers. Most sophisticated dopers still evade detection.”
That’s a wake-up call for the anti-doping movement, with Howman urging a change from the quantity of testing to the quality of tests, when taken and from who, intelligence-led profiling and to explore compensation for doping-free athletes who have been financially impacted by cheaters.
He has sounded the alarm.
● Memorabilia ● Hall of Fame women’s basketball star Teresa Edwards won four gold medals with the U.S. team at the 1984-88-96-2000 Olympic Games and placed that first from 1984 with Heritage Auctions.
The sales closed this past weekend and her LA84 gold brought $25,620 in bidding that closed on Saturday, including the buyer’s premium. It has been projected to bring $40,000, but the medals shows some sides of oxidation around the edges and comes in a substitute box, not the original presentation box.
There were a few other Olympic items in the Fall Sports Catalog Auction and a slabbed Olympiastadion pass for the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, graded very good to excellent, brought $1,128.50, including the buyer’s premium.
A sample gold medal from the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, created by Jostens as a sales tool and enclosed in a wood case, sold for $610.00 with the buyer’s premium.
The top-selling item was a 1914 Babe Ruth rookie card when he was with Baltimore of the International League, selling for $4.026 million!
● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The formal promotion of Team USA for the 2026 Winter Games has begun, a day ahead of the USOPC Media Summit in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday:
“The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee today unveiled its ‘One for All’ campaign and anthem film, continuing its immersive brand platform spotlighting athletes’ powerful stories ahead of Milano Cortina 2026, LA28 and beyond. Featuring new athletes from a variety of winter sports, backgrounds and experiences, the campaign is the first opportunity for fans to get acquainted with the athletes on the road to Italy.”
The “One For All” will be available on NBC networks, YouTube, Meta and TikTok; the USOPC is also launching its first augmented reality experience on Snapchat.
● Athletics ● World Athletics announced its final group of “Athlete of the Year” nominees, this time for the out-of-stadium events:
Men:
● Caio Bonfim (BRA) ~ World 20 km Walk champ; 35 km silver
● Evan Dunfee (CAN) ~ World 35 km Walk champion
● Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) ~ World road leader at 5 km and 10 km
● Sabastian Sawe (KEN) ~ London and Berlin Marathons champion
● Alphonce Simbu (TAN) ~ World Marathon Champion
Women:
● Tigst Assefa (ETH) ~ Worlds silver, London Marathon winner
● Sifan Hassan (NED) ~ Sydney Marathon winner, London third
● Peres Jepchirchir (KEN ) ~ World Marathon Champion
● Agnes Ngetich (KEN) ~ World women-only 10 km record
● Maria Perez (ESP) ~ 20 km-35 km Walk World Champion
Fans can vote to narrow the field to finalists via World Athletics platforms on Facebook, Instagram and X through 2 November.
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World Athletics announced a new event – “RUN X” – a 5 km World Treadmill Championship, to take place in the fourth quarter of 2026, in cooperation with Italian equipment company, Technogym:
“Starting from Q1 2026, fitness and wellness clubs from all over the world will be able to affiliate and join the network hosting the first World Treadmill Championship. Starting from Q2, runners will be able to register for the competition that will be held in Q4 of 2026. RUN X will give members the chance to compete against professional athletes via an online leaderboard displaying real-time rankings from participants across the globe. The 5km results will be certified through treadmills connected to the Technogym Digital Ecosystem. The top-ranked participants in each country, categorised by age group, will then advance to regional championships to qualify for the world final.
“The final will take place in an iconic location at the end of 2026, where the world’s top 10 male and 10 female runners will compete for the first-ever treadmill world title in an exciting and engaging format that takes running to a completely new level. RUN X will feature a US$100,000 prize pool, while World Athletics will grant wild cards for some of its World Athletics Series events, such as the World Road Running Championships.”
World Athletics is following up on the path taken by World Rowing, which has been conducting “World Indoor Rowing Championships” – using rowing machines – since 2018, and online since 2021. It’s a unique way to reach people where they are, extending their exercise routine into competition.
The kicker for World Athletics is to allow winners into its track or road championship events!
● Bobsled & Skeleton ● Flavor Flav has found his winter sport:
“USA Bobsled/Skeleton is excited to announce that Flavor Flav has generously committed to being an official sponsor and hype man for our team for the upcoming season on our journey to the 2026 Winter Olympics.”
Flav (William Drayton, Jr.) co-founded he iconic rap duo Public Enemy and came out famously in 2024 as a supporter, sponsor and “hype man” for USA Water Polo. Now he’s already involved with the American bobsled and skeleton teams:
“Flav has officially joined as a member of USA Bobsled and Skeleton. Over the weekend, he participated in several bobsled rides and skeleton runs at Utah Olympic Park.
“Flav even brought out some of his friends from Maroon 5, who participated in a passenger bobsled ride. He then surprised some of the athletes and took them to Maroon’s concert on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.”
● Fencing ● USA Fencing announced the election of Dr. Scott Rodgers as its new Board Chair, replacing the controversial Damien Lehfeldt, who had served since September 2024.
Rodgers is a three-time Paralympian from 2000-04-08 and a 2004 Paralympic bronze medalist. He continues to compete and is the first active fencer and first Paralympian to lead the federation. Off the piste, he is an electrical engineer with long experience in the defense industry, including 10 years with Lockheed Martin.
He was elected on 24 October and will serve into the fall of 2027, unless recalled earlier.
● Football ● FIFA announced the opening of a second ticket-sale window for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with entries for a purchase slot open through Friday (31st). Actual sales will begin on 12 November, with special reserved times for buyers from the host countries: Canada, Mexico and the U.S. A total of one million tickets is allocated for this sales period.
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The Turkish Football Federation said Monday that of its 571 active referees in its professional leagues, 371 have accounts (65%) with one or more betting companies and that 152 have wagered on football matches. There was no data to show whether any bets were made on matches in Turkey; most of the action was on games in foreign leagues.
Ten of the officials were reported to have bet on 10,000 or more matches each!
● Modern Pentathlon ● The absorption of World Obstacle into the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) continued with an agreement at the end of the 2025 World Obstacle Championships in Beijing (CHN) that the 2026 Worlds will be the last for World Obstacle. So:
“Meetings in Beijing reinforced this progress, resulting in renewed confidence that a World Obstacle Congress can be convened in early 2026 for National Federations to vote on the dissolution of World Obstacle, marking a significant milestone in the unification of the sport under UIPM, the sole governing body of Obstacle sport within the Olympic movement.”
Obstacle racing is now an element of the pentathlon event set, replacing equestrian after the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.
● Taekwondo ● The 2025 World Taekwondo Championships is ongoing in Wuxi (CHN), with China, Turkey and South Korea leading the medal parade.
In the five men’s classes decided so far, the Koreans have two wins, by Eun-su Seo at 54 kg and defending champion Sang-hyun Kang at +87 kg. Tunisia’s Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi, the Tokyo 2020 runner-up and Paris bronzer at 58 kg, moved up successfully to a gold at 63 kg. Brazil’s Henrique Marques won his first Worlds medal – gold – at 80 kg and Tokyo 2020 80 kg bronze winner Seif Eissa (EGY) took the win at 87 kg after winning 80 kg Worlds bronzes in 2022 and 2023.
The U.S. won a bronze in the men’s +87 kg class with Jonathan Healy, his first career Worlds medal!
Turkey has two golds in the women’s classes so far, with Emine Gogebakan winning at 46 kg for her first Worlds medal, and Nafia Kus defending her title in the +73 kg class after winning a Paris 2024 bronze at 67 kg.
Brazil got its second gold from Maria Clara Pacheco at 57 kg, moving up from bronze in 2023, and defeating Paris 2024 Olympic champ Yu-jin Kim in the final.
You-yun Liu (TPE) won the 49 kg class over Elif Sude Akul (TUR) and Belgian Sarah Chaari took the 73 kg victory for her second Worlds gold; she won at 62 kg in 2022, and got a Paris bronze at 67 kg last year!
The championships, which have drawn a record 991 competitors, continues through Thursday.
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