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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● The IOC announced the winners of its Olympic Golden Rings Awards for Olympic rights-holder performance. More than 100 efforts were nominated, with NBCUniversal leading with three category wins, in the Best Digital Offer (Web and App), Best Director and Best Social Media Campaign categories.
Brazil’s Globo and Warner Bros. Discovery, which had the European rights, won twice.
● International Olympic Committee ● At the IOC Executive Board meeting on Wednesday, proposals to the IOC Session in Greece in March were made for re-elections – for eight years – of 10 members, from 2025-33.
These included individual members Shamil Tarpischev (RUS) and IOC Presidential candidate Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP). Also proposed was International Equestrian Federation head Ingmar De Vos (BEL), also the incoming head of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).
Neven Ilic (CHI), the President of Panam Sports, is proposed to become an individual member, no longer linked to his position with the confederation.
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The Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom presented a petition to the IOC in Lausanne on Wednesday, with more than 42,000 signatures, “asking the IOC to protect women’s athletic opportunities by ensuring that women are not forced to compete against men in future Olympics.”
The petition continues:
“The IOC’s voice matters. Others look to your leadership. Not only are the women competing in this year’s Olympics impacted – but every little girl dreaming of winning the gold is as well.”
The IOC’s November 2021 Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations left decisions on participation up to the International Federations. Some, such as World Athletics, World Aquatics, the Union Cycliste Internationale, World Rowing and others have adopted strict eligibility requirements, shutting out men transferring into the women’s division if they have passes male puberty. Some other federations have no policy at all and the IOC imposes no standard.
It previously had a 2015 policy on participation which specified serum testosterone level standards for participation in the women’s classification.
● World Anti-Doping Agency ● The WADA Executive Committee, meeting in Riyadh (KSA), approved recommendations from a study group concerning procedural improvements cited by former Vaud Attorney General Eric Cottier (SUI) in his review of the 2021 Chinese swimmer doping incident. These are to include:
● Formalizing the structure of the WADA Results Management System;
● Create an interim process and then a permanent protocol to ensure that WADA’s Intelligence & Investigations team is able to become informed of high-risk cases more quickly;
● Create an “alarm system” within the reporting network to identify extraordinary cases and a standardized “triage and prioritization” system to assure appropriate attention to high-risk cases;
● Procedures for informing athletes of adverse findings, imposition of provisional suspensions, public disclosures of negligence or “no-fault” holdings, and an independent review expert to get involved where procedures are not followed;
● Exploring issues of “operational independence” of National Anti-Doping Organizations where issues concerning the sanctioning of their own athletes is involved.
The assigned timelines for implementation vary from 2025, into 2026 and 2027.
● Australia ● “Our record $385 million investment in high performance sport over the next 18 months, which includes a doubling of investment in Para sport, will enable our athletes to win well on the road to Los Angeles while also encouraging more Australians to play sport.
“We are creating more opportunities for more athletes by increasing the number of sports we support from 54 to 68 summer Olympic and Paralympic programs.”
That’s from Australian sports minister Anika Wells, who announced the A$385 million (about $247.40 million U.S.) government funding package via the Australian Sports Commission last Friday, with an eye not only to Los Angeles 2028, but the lead-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Some 95% of all national federations received funding increases that averaged 64% higher vs. the same period prior to the Paris 2024 Games; this funding commitment will cover January 2025 to June 2026. New allocations were made to federations for new sports in 2028, including American football (flag) and lacrosse.
● Athletics ● World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe (GBR) was asked at Wednesday’s news conference about the upcoming Grand Slam Track series and was enthusiastic:
“There are two things here. I guess I should be comforted. And I said this to the Council in my opening remarks yesterday morning, but we should be comforted that we’ve created a landscape where people think that it’s worth investing in our sport.
“They weren’t doing that five years ago. They certainly weren’t doing it 15 years ago. And I’m very welcoming of all sorts of innovation. I’m welcoming of all sorts of investment.
“You know, within reason and it’s important that we work as collaborators here, not competitors. I just see, you know, a rising tide helping everybody. I want them to be successful. I want them to add luster to our sport. And I think there’s space for everybody here, as long as they’re sort of communication and we have calendar coordination.
“I don’t see it as a threat. I’ve never, ever seen competition as a threat. It’s it’s, you know, you either work with competition or you don’t. And frankly, this is an organization that welcomes all sorts of innovation. And I think we’ve sort of shown that we’re not afraid of that.
“Yeah, I wish Michael [Johnson] and Slams success. Jon Ridgeon [GBR], my CEO, was Athlos [NYC meet] in September, just shortly after the World Championships. We’re welcoming of it.”
The Grand Slam Track series will debut on 4-6 April 2025 in Kingston, Jamaica.
● Football ● FIFA announced that the British streaming platform DAZN will be the rights-holding broadcaster for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which will be held in the U.S. from 15 June to 13 July.
All 63 matches will be shown and free to view, but may also be sub-licensed to local broadcasters. The BBC reported the deal to be for €1 billion, or $1.05 billion U.S.; FIFA had been struggling to find broadcast partners for the event in individual countries.
● Weightlifting ● Dmitry Vasilenko, the head of the Russian Weightlifting Federation told the Russian news agency TASS that he was told by International Weightlifting Federation President Mohammed Jalood (IRQ) that Russian participants may be returning to international competitions in 2025:
“A road map on the admission of Russian athletes to the European Weightlifting Championship and the World Championship in 2025 will be drafted on December 5. …
“There is a lot of work ahead, but we are on the right track. There will be two starts in April: the European Championship in the Republic of Moldova and the World Youth Championship in Peru. These are the first starts where we are expected.”
Russian lifters have refused to compete as neutrals under the current IWF policy.
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