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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The Milan Cortina organizers announced the signing of a Regional Transport Sponsor agreement with the Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM), the Italian public transport entity:
● “Short-long distance railway services for commuters in Lombardia will be strengthened, ensuring efficient links between competition venues and other key locations.”
● “Integration with bus services will further support a fluid and seamless travel experience. FNM will play a key role in transport planning, ensuring that all services are provided with maximum efficiency and reliability.”
● “Parking management and the optimisation of railway stations will complete the overall offer.”
In specific, “FNM Group will provide transport services for spectators in the Valtellina area, in particular free shuttle bus services connecting Tirano railway station to the Olympic venues in Bormio and Livigno, as well as services linking designated parking areas to the venues.”
Observed: For Paris 2024, the regional Iles-de-France Mobilities organization was an “Official Partner” of the organizing committee as well.
So, can we expect the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“Metro”) to be a sponsor of the LA28 organizing committee? Metro, at present, is lobbying the Trump Administration for $3 billion in assistance for Olympic programs and other regional transport support.
● Olympic Games ● Monday was the 104th anniversary of the “1er Meeting International d’Education Physique Féminine de Sports Athlétiques” in 1921, the first major international women’s sports event. There were 100 women who participated, from five countries, in 10 track & field events, plus exhibitions in basketball, gymnastics and pushball.
Organized by women’s sports pioneer Alice Milliat (FRA), it was held from 24-31 March in Monte Carlo, at the International Sporting Club of Monaco, to pressure the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) to have women’s track & field events at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games (which were added).
● International Olympic Committee ● IOC President-elect Kirsty Coventry was given a rapturous welcome when she arrived home to Zimbabwe on Sunday, greeted by officials, fans, dancers and a band at Mugabe Airport to celebrate her success at the IOC Session.
In the meantime, Coventry’s parents were robbed at gunpoint at home on 10 March, by John and Mike Nhongwe, two brothers who have been arrested and appeared in court last Friday (21st). They tied up the parents and took $15,000 in cash, jewelry, guns and some of Coventry’s sports memorabilia, all together worth about $90,000. No injuries were reported.
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While Coventry’s election was huge news worldwide, it wasn’t exactly must-see television, as the live stream of the IOC Session in which she was elected had an audience that topped out at 3,204 during the election action.
A total of 240 news media were accredited for the Session in Costa Navarino, Greece.
● France ● David Lappartient might have been the busiest man in sports, having been a candidate for the IOC Presidency last week, as well as the President of the Union Cycliste Internationale, the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) and the President of the Morbihan Council, a department in Brittany.
He lost in the IOC election and now will not run for re-election as the head of the CNOSF, a post he took when the organization was in chaos in 2023. He settled things down and spearheaded the successful bid for the 2030 Winter Games, surprisingly awarded to the French Alps.
Lappartient explained:
“I wish to respect the commitment I made to you to commit to a two-year term, taking into account my other mandates..
“While the accumulation of these commitments has been possible over these two years at the cost of a very substantial personal investment, I do not believe that it is desirable, apart from the exceptional circumstances of the last two years, for the president of the CNOSF not to be even more focused on his mission at your service.”
He will continue with his stewardship of the UCI and with his political duties in Morbihan.
● Alpine Skiing ● Think U.S. star Lindsey Vonn, 40, was happy with her FIS World Cup Super-G silver at Sun Valley on Sunday? She posted on X:
“I DID IT!!! After everything I’ve been through, I fought my way back on to the podium!! I can’t even start to describe what this means to me… I have been overwhelmed with emotion and support from so many people. I want to say thank you to everyone who believed in me! Going to enjoy this moment and reflect. More soon!”
It was Vonn’s first World Cup medal since 2015, when she won a Super-G bronze in Are (SWE) on 15 March, a day after her last World Cup win, in the Are Downhill. She now has 138 career World Cup medals, tied for third all-time with Austria’s Marcel Hirscher and behind fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin (156) and Swede Ingemar Stenmark (155).
She decided to return to the World Cup this season after a highly successful knee replacement surgery in April 2024. Injuries had pushed her into retirement in January of 2019.
● Bobsled & Skeleton ● USA Bobsled & Skeleton finished up the 2024-25 season with the national championships in Lake Placid, New York, with a double gold for five-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor.
She won the women’s Monobob in 59.89 over Sylvia Hoffman (59.98) and then combined with Jasmine Jones to win the Two-Woman title in 57.11, with Hoffman and Macy Tarlton at 57.53. Kris Horn and Hunter Powell won the two-run, Two-Man title at 1:52.06, ahead of Geoff Gadbois and Bryce Cheek (1:53.04).
In Skeleton, Austin Florian took the men’s title over Dan Barefoot, 1:48.05 to 1:48.71, and Kelly Curtis won the women’s championship, 1:50.82 to 1:50.93 over Sara Roderick.
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Fascinating announcement by USA Bobsled & Skeleton of its new board members, including three-time U.S. track & field Olympian Hazel Clark.
As the Director of Global Sales & Business Development at the Bermuda Tourism Authority, she brought a USA Track & Field “Bermuda Grand Prix” meet to the island in 2022-23-24. So will there be a Bermuda training camp in the future for American sliders?
Former U.S. sledder JP Davies, a financial investment manager with Edward Jones, and fast-casual restaurant conglomerate Aurify Brands co-CEO John Rigos also joined the Board.
● Biathlon ● More honors for 22-year-old Campbell Wright of the U.S, the winner in the IBU men’s World Cup U-23 seasonal standings. Wright won two World Championship silvers in 2025 and scored 455 World Cup points, way ahead of Ukraine’s Vitali Mandzyn (230).
Wright joined the U.S. team in 2023, from New Zealand.
● Cycling ● The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced that the experiment with the UCI Track Champions League has ended and the UCI Track Cycling World Cup will return.
The four-stage Champions League program debuted in 2021 and ran through the 2024 season, operated in cooperation with Warner Bros. Discovery. Now, track cycling will continue with a three-event program, but will return to being called the “UCI Track World Cup,” as it was from 2011 to 2020, with roots going back to 1993. It will replace the UCI Track Nations League, which was held from 2021-24, with a most recent edition in Konya (TUR) from 14-16 March 2025.
● Shooting ● Great concern from the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) over a European Commission draft proposal to eliminate “lead gunshot” within five years, which the ISSF says will wreck shooting in the affected European countries. Its statement on the proposal includes:
● “[T]here are still several planned regulations that would lead to far-reaching, unjustifiable problems from the perspective of sport shooting. This concerns the planned restriction on the use and placing on the market of lead ‘gunshot’ ammunition, which we consider to be particularly critical. The conditions imposed for the continued use of lead gunshot ammunition are not proportionate and cannot be generally implemented in practice.”
● “There are great differences in the size and use of the shooting ranges and for many regional and local facilities of our member federations, the requirements now proposed by the European Commission are neither practicable nor necessary given the risks they pose.
“In several European countries, most shooting ranges are small to medium-sized and are run by local shooting, hunting or reserve clubs on a voluntary basis.”
● “In addition, most shooting ranges are currently not authorised and equipped for the use of lead-free ammunition. Alternative ammunition places significantly different demands on shooting ranges. Due to changes in ricochet behaviour, far-reaching structural changes would be necessary to ensure a safe shooting environment.
“The mostly non-profit organisations that run shooting ranges on a voluntary basis are far from being able to cope with this enormous financial burden on their own. The enormous cost and workload for those who could continue is not feasible in the timeframe set by the European Commission; the planning, bureaucratic procedures, construction activities, licensing etc. cannot be done within a timeframe of 5 years, even 10 years might not be sufficient in many cases.”
The federation noted that the current proposal has improved since the European Chemicals Agency proposal to ban “lead bullets,” but is still a great threat to shooting sport in Europe.
● Wrestling ● The NCAA Championships concluded on Saturday, with perennial power Penn State winning its 12th national title in the last 14 editions, and Carter Starocci of the Nittany Lions winning his fifth individual NCAA title, at 184 pounds (thanks to an extra year via Covid-19).
But the highlight was the final appearance of Minnesota star – and Tokyo 2020 Olympic 125 kg Freestyle champion – Gable Steveson, looking for a third NCAA championship at 285 pounds and coming to the final with a 70-match win streak.
But it wasn’t going to be easy, as he faced second-ranked Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State), the United World Wrestling U-23 World Champion in 2023. Steveson started fast, with a 3-0 lead, narrowed to 3-2 in the second period on two Hendrickson escapes. Steveson added a point for a 4-2 lead, but with 18 seconds left, Hendrickson scored a double-leg takedown for three points and a historic, 5-4 win.
Said the winner about holding on for the final 18 seconds:
“I was looking at the clock and I’m squeezing him. I made up my mind. If he did stand up, I didn’t want to lock my hands. I don’t want to get a locked hands call, but I was squeezing.
“If he stands up, I’m just going to lock and pick him up and just hold him in the air for the last couple seconds, because I’m, like, ‘I have made it this far,’ and I knew I was going to win this match. I don’t care if I had to rip my arms off squeezing him. I was, like, ‘I’m holding this man down and winning this match.'”
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