★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Reaching out way past Italy, the Milan Cortina 2026 organizing committee and the Italian government has been busy with an “International Roadshow for Milano Cortina 2026,” with stops in Munich (GER), Paris (FRA) and New York at the Italian Consulate on Park Avenue last Friday.
Organizing committee chief executive Andrea Varnier saluted the interest of American fans in the 2026 Games:
“The interest of the United States in the upcoming edition of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 is very strong. We have already sold more than half of the tickets, and in third place, among the nations with the highest number of tickets sold, we find the United States.
“On the volunteer side, the United States has also given an extremely positive response. We received applications from more than 100.000 people, many of whom came from the U.S.”
The roadshow moves on, with stops upcoming in Tokyo (JPN), Oslo (NOR), Stockholm (SWE) and Seoul (KOR) and Beijing (CHN) in May.
● International Olympic Committee ● The German ticketing resale marketplace Ticombo filed an antitrust action with the European Commission alleging that the IOC exercises an unfair monopoly over the resale of tickets to the Olympic and Winter Games.
It claims that the IOC procedures limit competition, inflate prices and limit consumer access to events, in violation of European Union statutes. Ticombo has filed similar complaints against Belgium, and against UEFA related to the Euro 2024 tournament last year.
● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track announced the broadcast and public address teams for its first season, with founder Michael Johnson – a long-time track and field analyst for the BBC – bringing in familiar BBC colleagues, including Steve Cram, the 1984 Olympic 1,500 m silver winner, as lead television announcer, aided by analysts including former American distance star Carrie Tollefson and Canadian sprinter Anson Henry.
The BBC’s Radzi Chinyanganya and American heptathlete Taliyah Brooks will serve as reporters on the track.
Each of the Slams will have pre-meet and post-meet coverage led by long-time ESPN SportsCenter anchor John Anderson, plus former U.S. Olympic stars Matthew Centrowitz and Sanya Richards-Ross.
Public address will be led by Paul Swangard, the long-time voice of Hayward Field at the University of Oregon, plus Donald Smith (JAM), Iwan Thomas (GBR), Trishana McGowan (JAM), and Tiara “Tee” Williams (USA).
¶
The Athletics Integrity Unit sanctioned Kenyan distance runner Brimin Misoi for five years, “from 17 February 2025 for Presence/Use of Prohibited Substances (EPO, Furosemide). DQ results from 22 November 2024.”
Misoi, 36, ran 2:04:53 for the marathon in 2023, and won the Sydney Marathon in 2024 in 2:06:18. He’ll be 41 when his ban ends.
● Biathlon ● The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee told The Associated Press that “Following our thorough internal evaluation, we can confirm that Gary Colliander and Eileen Carey are no longer affiliated with the USOPC.”
This followed an AP story which reported that biathlete Grace Boutot accused Colliander of sexual abuse during a four-year period beginning in 2006, when she was 15. He was then a coach at the Maine Sports Center and according to the AP, “quit the job after Boutot’s October 2010 suicide attempt and was later hired by the U.S. Paralympic Nordic team.”
Both Colliander and Carey, the vice president of the Maine Sports Center during the period of the alleged abuse, were terminated as of 14 March. Colliander is currently under investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, and adamantly denies all claims against him.
● Bobsled & Skeleton ● The season may be over, but USA Bobsled & Skeleton has been busy trying to attract new athletes and new donors!
The federation has started its recruiting season, offering five-skill tryouts at nine locations between 5 April and 31 May, in tests including a 10-yard dash, a 40-yard dash, vertical jump, broad jump and a weighted sled push. Events are being held in Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina, Vermont and Washington.
USABS has been able to attract more and more ex-track & field athletes into the sports, including former UNLV sprinter Kaysha Love, the 2025 World Champion in the women’s Monobob.
For those wanting to support USABS, the “Race with US” is collecting donations, with gifts for $25, $100 and $250 donations, but a $500 “Gold” donation will place your name directly in a U.S. sled in an IBSF World Cup race!
● Cycling ● An important win for American Neilson Powless at the 79th Dwars door Vlaanderen in Belgium on Tuesday, winning a three-way sprint to the line in this time-honored, 184.2 km Classics race in 3:57:14.
He beat Belgian favorites Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot at the finish, all receiving the same time, with fellow American – and defending champion – Matteo Jorgenson fourth, five seconds behind. Powless was third in the race in 2023, and Benoot was second in 2022. Powless scored his second career win in a UCI World Tour race.
The women’s race, at 128.5 km, was a runaway for Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini, who won in 3:12:49, 29 seconds up on Lotte Kopecky (BEL).
● Equestrian ● At the 14th FEI Sports Forum, in Lausanne (SUI), the question of using horses in sport was highlighted, with British Professor Madeleine Campbell of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), a specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law, positing a consensus view of the FEI’s new Equine Welfare Advisory Group:
“Our belief is that the use of horses in sport is ethical provided certain key principles are fulfilled.
“The guiding principles to which our group will be working will be to ensure that negative welfare effects are minimised, positive welfare effects are maximised, avoidable and unnecessary risks to horses are identified and mitigated, and the FEI regulations and the law are complied with.”
● Football ● During a whirlwind visit to Southern California, FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) spoke to dignitaries and reporters at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, offering thanks to those who helped to fight the January wildfires in nearby Altadena, the Pacific Palisades and elsewhere, including the L.A. City, Pasadena and L.A. County Fire Departments, Angeles National Forest Fire Chief and L.A. Sheriffs Department:
“On behalf of FIFA and on behalf of the global football – or global soccer – community, I would like to, of course, give my and our sincere thanks and appreciation to all those who have operated, all those, all you and all of your colleagues who operated to save lives, to help people to fight one of the worst disasters of the last decades. Lives were lost and our prayers, of course, go with the families of those who have lost their lives.
“Many people have lost everything they have, but yet you were here. You were here to give hope and relief to people, and a lot of the activities were starting exactly from this place, and that’s why I thought, and we thought at FIFA, that it would be appropriate to recognise the work of the first responders, and also to award 30,000 tickets of the FIFA Club World Cup matches here in Pasadena to all first responders.”
● Ski Jumping ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) has lifted the suspensions of the five Norwegian jumpers involved in the jump-suit modification incident at the Nordic Skiing World Championships in Trondheim (NOR) in March:
“The athletes’ provisional suspension was necessary to safeguard competition integrity. This requirement no longer applies after the end of the competition season 2024/2025. Marius Lindvik, Johann Andre Forfang, Robin Pedersen, Kristoffer Sundal, and Robert Johansson will therefore be allowed to engage in training sessions or any other activities organized by the Norwegian Ski Association or other National Ski Associations with immediate effect. The provisional suspension of three officials from Norway’s Men’s Ski Jumping team remains in place.”
However, investigations into the incidents continue.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
