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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● World Anti-Doping Agency ● The lawsuit brought by the Enhanced Games against the World Anti-Doping Agency, World Aquatics and USA Swimming was ended with the failure of an amended complaint to be filed and a final dismissal.
The matter had been dismissed by U.S. Federal District Court judge Jesse Furman back in November for failing to state an actionable claim on restraint of trade. But, he allowed 30 days for an amended complaint to be filed, and none was. In a statement, WADA noted:
“WADA welcomes the decision and thanks the court for its early dismissal of this claim by the Enhanced Games. It vindicates the strong stance we have taken on this matter. WADA has the right – indeed the responsibility – to speak out against the Enhanced Games, an event that risks athletes’ health by encouraging them to take powerful, performance-enhancing drugs without therapeutic need.”
The Enhanced Games has signed some more athletes since filing the suit, completely undercutting its own insistence that it cannot do so because of WADA or the swimming governing bodies. Essentially, the doping-friendly event is attracting recently-retired athletes or those who are at or nearing the end of their careers.
● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The USOPC is managing the complicated process of determining whether to recognize National Governing Bodies in several sports, with chief executive Sarah Hirshland explaining in a Monday briefing the status for badminton, cricket and surfing, with no certifications issued yet.
There is another ongoing procedure, for skateboarding, with USA Skateboarding in place but not a recognized NGB, and U.S. Ski & Snowboard offering to become the NGB; it has excellent financial resources, but the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act requires that a National Governing Body can only belong to one International Federation and U.S. Ski & Snowboard is already a member of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS).
The USOPC confirmed to The Sports Examiner on Thursday that “the process for identifying an organization for Skateboarding has been paused to determine the best outcome for athletes that complies with the respective rules of the International Federation and the Act.”
In other words, patience is in order.
● Athletics ● The Athletics Integrity Unit released more 2025 testing data, showing that the amount of out-of-competition testing has increased significantly prior to World Athletics Championships, but not just by the AIU, but also by national anti-doping organizations (NADOs):
● 6,193 out-of-competitions tests for Tokyo 2025
● 5,542 out-of-competition tests for Budapest 2023
● 3,940 out-of-competition NADO tests for Tokyo 2025
● 3,300 out-of-competition NADO tests for Budapest 2023
It was also noted that the number of entries who had no out-of-competition testing in the 10 months prior to a Worlds continues to decrease, from 33% for Eugene in 2022, to 27% for Budapest in 2023 and 20.6% for Tokyo 2025. Moreover, for Tokyo, 52.9% of all entries had three or more out-of-competition tests.
Only 2% of the event finalists (top-8) in Tokyo had not been tested out-of-competition; on average, finalists were tested out-of-competition an average of 5.67 times in the 10 months prior.
● Cycling ● A potentially important addition to the USA Cycling National Collegiate Championships for 2026 and beyond was announced Thursday, with men’s and women’s races for high school students added for Track, Mountain Bike, and Cyclocross.
Said USA Cycling Director of Membership Eric Bennett, “By integrating high school categories into our Collegiate National Championships, we’re creating an environment where young athletes can see what’s possible, meet collegiate riders and coaches, and take their first real step toward racing in college. It’s a huge opportunity for exposure, for the students and for the programs, and it strengthens the long-term pathway for the entire sport.”
Cycling is not an NCAA or NAIA sport, so USA Cycling – by necessity – runs programs for collegiate riders.
● Figure Skating ● Per The Associated Press, “The U.S. government admitted Wednesday that the actions of an air traffic controller and Army helicopter pilot played a role in causing a collision last January between an airliner and a Black Hawk near the nation’s capital, killing 67 people.”
Of the 60 passengers aboard AA flight 5342 were 24 skaters, family and officials returning to the Washington, D.C. area from the U.S. Figure Skating National Championships in Wichita, Kansas.
The filing is in response to one of the lawsuits related to the crash, which said that air traffic controllers did not follow required procedures for visual separation of aircraft; the filing stated that the Army helicopter pilots did not “maintain vigilance.” The document also said that others such as the airline and pilots may also be at fault.
● Snowboard ● The fourth of 13 stops on the FIS World Cup tour for 2025-26 was in Carezza (ITA) for a Parallel Giant Slalom, with the home team engineering a sweep! Two-time Worlds gold medalist Roland Fischnaller, 45 (!), won his 23rd career World Cup race, ahead of teammates Aaron March in the final, with Mirko Felicetti taking the bronze.
Austria’s Sabine Payer, a three-time Worlds medalist, won for the second straight World Cup – her third medal in four races this season – in the women’s final, winning over Pole Aleksandra Krol-Walas; Japan’s 2023 World Champion Tsubaki Miki won the Small Final for third.
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