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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● “Divers from Australia and France will join delegations from the Netherlands and Team USA to conduct their 2028 Pre-Games Training in the City of Mission Viejo as announced today by the Mission Viejo Nadadores Foundation (MVNF).”
That announcement came Wednesday, as the City of Mission Viejo voted 4-1 to approve a 19-page contract with the National Olympic Committee of the Netherlands (Nederlands Olympisch Comite) and the Netherlands Sports Federation to host the Dutch team for pre-Games training in 2028.
The Dutch have agreed to pay $1 million for facility usage, with payments increasing from $50,000 upon signing the agreement to $250,000 on 30 November 2027, with extra costs to be paid in 2028.
Training facilities for 20 Olympic sports and 11 Paralympic sports are promised – depending on which sports the Netherlands qualifies for – with pre-Olympic usage from 20 June to 10 July and pre-Paralympic usage from 20 July to 10 August. Committed facilities include high schools, community colleges, a golf course, swimming center and other sports facilities.
Although Mission Viejo – in Orange County, south of Los Angeles – has no Olympic or Paralympic competitions scheduled for 2028, it is in the forefront of working with National Olympic Committees to use its facilities prior to the Games. Culver City, which is in Los Angeles County, will discuss again the proposed plan to be the site of the national “house” and fan zone for New Zealand at its 29 September Council meeting.
● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The annual USOPC General Assembly is underway in Salt Lake City, Utah, with meetings through Sunday.
The program for 2025 is concentrated on discussions, especially among the National Governing Bodies, on best practices and approaches to common issues. The Team USA Athletes’ Commission, and the U.S. Olympians & Paralympics Association will also have meetings.
No public events are scheduled.
● U.S. Center for SafeSport ● The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Center for SafeSport distributed a letter to athletes and sports organizations outlining changes based on discussions with stakeholders.
These are primarily better communications and better education about what the Center does, the processes involved and the “potential long duration of cases.”
The Center has been without a chief executive since Ju’Riese Colon was let go in April; a search is continuing.
● Enhanced Games ● Another swimmer, German Marius Kusch, has signed up with the doping-friendly Enhanced Games, to take place in Las Vegas in May 2026. He competed in the heats of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the men’s 100 m Butterfly.
He won a 2022 Worlds Short-Course bronze in the men’s 100 m Fly. He is the seventh swimmer announced to join the program.
● Athletics ● The Boston Athletic Association announced that 24,362 have qualified for the 2026 Boston Marathon, out of 33,249 applicants. Per the statement:
“Qualifiers who were four minutes, thirty-four seconds (4:34) or faster than the qualifying time for their age group and gender have been accepted into the 130th Boston Marathon.”
The field will be completed with entrants running as part of charitable fund-raising programs. Of the accepted entrants now accepted, the field includes individuals from 120 countries, all 50 U.S. states, and 13,823 men, 10,429 women, and 110 non-binary athletes.
● Boxing ● World Boxing announced eight new members to take its federation total to 125: Kenya, Libya, North Macedonia, Nicaragua, Qatar, Senegal, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Formal approval must come from the World Boxing Congress, to meet in November.
● Cricket ● “The International Cricket Council (ICC), after a thorough review of affairs and extensive engagement with key stakeholders over the past year, today confirmed the suspension of ICC membership status of USA Cricket, with immediate effect.
“The decision, taken by the ICC Board during its meeting earlier, was based on USA Cricket’s repeated and continued breaches of its obligations as a ICC Member under the ICC’s Constitution. These include, but are not limited to, the failure to implement a functional governance structure, lack of progress toward achieving National Governing Body status with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), and significant actions that have caused reputational damage to cricket in the United States and around the world.”
The immediate effects of the Tuesday announcement:
● “The ICC Board has decided that USA’s national teams will retain their right to participate in ICC events, including preparations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28).”
● “The management and administration of USA national teams will temporarily be overseen by the ICC and/or its designated representatives to ensure continued support for the players and maintain momentum towards Olympic inclusion.”
This is a long-running governance dispute between USA Cricket and the ICC federation, but of special concern now as cricket is now included on the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Conflict-of-interest questions concerning USA Cricket board members and the USOPC has been in favor of a revamp of the board, but without success.
● Football ● The Argentine football site Ole reported that FIFA is likely to agree to a one-time-only further expansion of the FIFA World Cup to 64 teams for the centennial edition in 2030, after a presentation in New York on Tuesday.
The current plan calls for 48 teams, with single “centennial celebration” matches played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. That has not satisfied the South Americans and Alejandro Dominguez (PAR), the head of the South American confederation CONMEBOL, has asked for the expansion.
If approved, each of the three South American hosts would have a full group to host, with six matches each. The other 13 groups of four will play in the tri-host countries of Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
¶
At Monday’s annual Ballon d’Or awards in Paris, France’s Ousmane Dembele and Spain’s Aitana Bonmati were honored as the men’s and women’s players of the year. Dembele is the sixth French player to win; Bonmati won for the third straight year, with a Spanish player winning for the fifth straight year.
Yashin Trophy winners for the best keeper went to Gianluigi Donnarumma (ITA, second award) and Hannah Hampton (ENG).
Johann Cruyff Trophy winners for the top coaches were Luis Enrique (ESP) and Sarina Wegman (NED).
● Gymnastics ● USA Gymnastics announced that Noblesville, Indiana, about 26 miles from the federation’s existing office in Indianapolis, will be the site of its new “Training & Wellness Center” and official headquarters. Per the announcement:
“USA Gymnastics will launch a fundraising campaign to support the construction and operation of the TWC. The campaign will determine the scope and development of the project, which will bring together the sport of gymnastics from youth development through National Team camps.”
Noblesville already has a 4,000-seat arena which can be used for gymnastics events; the new facility is expected to break ground in 2026 and open in 2028.
● Skiing ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) Council approved the use of screening for the “presence or absence of the so-called SRY gene, the sex-determining gene present on humans’ Y chromosome” with “only SRY-negative competitors may compete in women’s competitions.”
How this is to be done comes next: “FIS will engage with the National Ski Associations and other stakeholders to roll out an implementation plan.”
FIS joins World Athletics and World Boxing, which have instituted tests – by cheek swab or blood – for one-in-a-lifetime sex screening to determine eligibility for the female category.
● Sport Climbing ● Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw got a world record when she needed it and won the women’s Speed gold – the first final – at the IFSC World Championships in Seoul (KOR).
The Olympic Speed champ from Poland raced up the 15 m wall in 6.03 seconds, ahead of Olympic silver winner Lijuan Deng (CHN: 6.22), just as in Paris last year. Yafei Zhou (CHN) won the bronze over Jim-in Jeong (KOR: 6.38).
Miroslaw had the old record at 6.06 from Olympic final last year; she has now set 11 world records in a row from 2021-25, lowering the best time from 6.84 to 6.03!
● Table Tennis ● The complete written opinion of the International Table Tennis Federation’s independent tribunal was published, confirming the election result that re-elected Petra Sorling (SWE), 104-102, over Qatar’s Khalil Al-Mohannadi at the noisy Annual General Meeting in Doha (QAT) in May. Al-Mohannadi’s appeal was essentially that only votes in the room by those physically present were valid, but this was rejected. In specific:
“As already deduced by the Hearing Panel above, in accordance with Swiss Civil Code and the ITTF Constitution, absolute priority at the voting procedures shall be given to ensuring that each member association was granted the possibility to exercise its voting rights.
“Any member association registered to the general meeting has right to decide whether it intends to participate in such general meeting in full or in part, whether it intends to express its will on all items of the agenda or only part of them.
“Therefore, the Hearing Panel sees no issue in the fact that the number of the voters varied during the AGM 2025 within the maximum limit, neither does it see any legal issue in the fact that the Presidential Election took into account all the votes, physical (cast in presence) and electronical (cast remotely).”
and
“Having assessed the overall arrangements of the AGM 2025 and its outcome, the Hearing Panel remains of the opinion that none of the points referred to by the Appellants could constitute the grounds for the annulment of the Presidential Election.”
Al-Mohannadi has already appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which will review the detailed, 28-page opinion from the ITTF Tribunal.
● Volleyball ● The first quarterfinals were completed at the FIVB men’s World Championship in Pasay (PHI) on Wednesday, with no. 1-seed Poland sweeping Turkey, 3-0, and no. 5 seed (and defending champion) Italy sailing past Belgium, 3-0. The winners will meet in the second semi on the 27th (Saturday).
On Thursday, the third-seeded U.S. will face Bulgaria (19th) and the 18th-seeded Czech Republic will play no. 14 Iran for spots in the semis.
¶
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