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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● SafeSport ● Another damaging incident for the U.S. Center for SafeSport, as The Associated Press reported that Sean Gardner, 38, was arrested last week by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on child pornography charges, more than three years after being placed on “temporary suspension” by SafeSport.
Gardner was hired in 2018 as a coach at the well-known Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa. He was dismissed in 2022 with SafeSport noting “allegations of misconduct” in his suspension and the AP reported:
“court records obtained exclusively by The Associated Press show the coach was accused of sexually abusing at least three young gymnasts at Chow’s and secretly recording others undressing in a gym bathroom at his prior job in Mississippi.”
While there was a report to police in 2022, a new report in 2024 led to Gardner’s arrest by the FBI after 16 months, with the SafeSport case still unresolved after three years.
SafeSport has been repeatedly criticized for its slow case resolution and is current searching for a new chief executive, after Ju’Riese Colon left in April.
● Anti-Doping ● The World Anti-Doping Agency declared the anti-doping agency of Sri Lanka as non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code and joins Russia as the two countries currently out of compliance.
The issue in Sri Lanka is the alignment of national laws with the World Anti-Doping Code, which has remained unresolved since March.
● Archery ● The World Archery Congress is coming up quickly on 2-3 September in Gwangju (KOR), ahead of the World Archery Championships, with two familiar candidates for President: long-time Secretary General Tom Dielen (BEL) and Greg Easton (USA), son of Jim Easton, the former President of the federation from 1989-2005. Current chief Dr. Ugur Erdener (TUR) is stepping down after having been President since 2005.
Dielen, 57, has been the federation’s Secretary General since 2006 and proposes to continue the growth seen under Jim Easton and Erdener. He wants to review the competition formats for further growth along the lines of badminton, judo and table tennis, create much better communications among federations, organizers and athletes, and create a dedicated commercial arm for rapid revenue development.
Easton, 60, has been deeply involved in the sport since birth, and at every level, including as a Board member of USA Archery and World Archery. His platform emphasizes more support for athletes and national federations, remaking events to be more attractive, inspirational and accessible to possible organizers and expanding the sport’s commercial appeal to fans, broadcasters and sponsors. He notes the need for better transparency, communications and responsiveness from the federation with the member national federations.
Both are quality candidates and a difficult choice for the World Archery Congress in two weeks.
● Athletics ● The men’s pole vault competition of the Athletissima Diamond League meet in Lausanne (SUI) was held in cloudy and rainy conditions in the city center on Tuesday, with Olympic bronze winner Emmanouil Karalis (GRE) taking the lead at 5.92 m (19-5), clearing on his first attempt.
London 2012 Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie (FRA), 38, and countryman Thibaut Collet both cleared 5.82 m (19-1) and went 2-3. Turkey’s Ersu Sasma cleared 5.82 m but then missed three times at 6.02 m (19-9). But Karalis got over to seal his win with a final clearance.
Americans Sam Kendricks (5.72 m/18-9 1/4) and Austin Miller (5.62 m/18-5 1/4) finished sixth and in a tie for seventh.
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The second Ico For All-organized women’s world championship in the decathlon was held at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio on 16-17 August with Emory University grad student Nicki Boon (NED) winning with 7,451 points, ahead of Americans Katie Straus (7,301) and Jordyn Bruce (7,272).
There were 19 competitors in all from five countries; Voon was consistent, placing second in four events and never lower than ninth.
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The Athletics Integrity Unit banned Ukrainian star jumper Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, 30, for four years for a December 2024 out-of-competition positive for testosterone. She denied taking the drug, but produced no satisfactory evidence to refute the positive test.
Her suspension runs from 13 May 2025, the date of her provisional suspension. She had apparently stopped training after the Paris Olympic Games, where she finished 11th in the triple jump. The ban can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Bekh-Romanchuk is a three-time Olympian and a two-time Worlds silver medalist in the long jump (2019) and triple jump (2023) and ranks no. 24 all-time in the triple jump with a best of 15.02 m (49-3 1/2) from 2022.
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The AIU also banned 30-year-old Kenyan distance runner Roncer Kipkorir Konga for three years for the use of testosterone, from 16 June 2025. He’s a 58:03 half-marathoner from 2023 and was the 2024 African Championships 10,000 m bronze medalist.
● Swimming ● USA Swimming revealed its nominees for the annual Golden Goggles awards, to be held on 27 September in Denver, Colorado. The candidates:
Men’s swimmer:
● Jack Alexy ~ Worlds 50 m Free bronze, 100 m Free silver
● Shaine Casas ~ Worlds 200 m Medley silver
● Luke Hobson ~ Worlds 200 m Free silver
● Luca Urlando ~ Worlds 200 Fly gold
Women’s swimmer:
● Katharine Berkoff ~ Worlds 50 m Back gold
● Kate Douglass ~ Worlds 200 m Breast gold
● Katie Ledecky ~ Worlds 800-1,500 m golds
● Gretchen Walsh ~ Worlds 50-100 m Fly golds
Coach of the Year:
● Bob Bowman
● Todd DeSorbo
● Anthony Nesty
Open Water:
● Mariah Denigan ~ Women’s 3rd in 5 km and 10 km nationals
● Dylan Gravley ~ Men’s 10 km national champion
● Brinkleigh Hansen ~ Women’s 10 km national champion
● Ivan Puskovitch ~ Men’s 5 km national champion
Relay of the Year:
● Mixed 4x100m Freestyle ~ Worlds gold, world record
● Women’s 4x100m Medley ~ Worlds gold, world record
Fan voting is open through 22 August.
● Table Tennis ● The International Table Tennis Federation has been quiet about its process of internal repair after the near-riot at its Annual General Meeting on 27 May in Doha (QAT), where Petra Sorling (SWE) was re-elected over Qatar’s Khalil Al-Mohannadi, the Senior Executive Vice President of the federation, 104-102.
Al-Mohannadi announced in June that he was challenging the result to the ITTF Tribunal and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, the Annual General Meeting was not concluded and several elections are still open; resumption of the meeting will be needed by the middle of November.
A Monday meeting of the ITTF Executive Committee noted some progress:
“Significant work has been undertaken to address matters relating to the resumption of the 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM), in consultation with an international Swiss-based law firm. During the meeting, it was clarified that this responsibility lies with the Chair of the AGM, Graham Symons [AUS], who indicated he is considering an online format for the continuation. He will wait for the decision of the ITTF Tribunal before confirming the date and modality.”
The ITTF Tribunal hearing is slated for later in August. An online resumption of the Annual General Meeting would be ironic, since Al-Mohannadi’s protest centers around his belief that at least some of the online votes in the May meeting should not have been counted (and if not counted, would have given him the election).
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