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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● International Olympic Committee ● New IOC President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) took office on 24 June, but she hasn’t been spending much time at Olympic House in Lausanne, showing up in two other continents by the end of July:
● 29 June: Lucerne (SUI) ~ World Rowing Cup
● 12 July: Colorado Springs (USA) ~ U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame
● 25-26 July: Paris (FRA) ~ One-year Olympic anniversary
● 28-30 July: Singapore (SGP) ~ World Aquatics Championships
Coventry, a two-time Olympic champion swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medal winner, was honored by World Aquatics with its Honorary Order, “recognising her lifelong contributions to the sport both in and out of the pool.”
● Association of National Olympic Committees ● Of course, the LA28 organizers are not the only one selling sponsorships for the run-up to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
On Thursday, the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) announced a deal through 2028 with Bluewater International, a Swedish-based water purification systems maker, for consumer and business customers.
The company will be an “ANOC Gold Partner through the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games” and “reflects a shared ambition to eliminate single-use plastic bottles in sport and promote safe, sustainable hydration practices across the Olympic Movement.”
Bluewater joins two other Gold Partners: Joy Billiards, an equipment maker, and apparel and footwear maker Peak Sports, both from China.
● Aquatics ● China’s Yuxi Chen, still just 19, won her ninth career World Aquatics Championships diving gold with a fourth World title in the women’s 10 m Platform final in Singapore.
Chen led the qualifying at 396.50 points, the semifinal at 394.65 and then destroyed the field in the final, scoring 430.50, ahead of first-time medal winners Pauline Pfeif (GER: 367.10) and Chinese teammate Peiling Xie (358.20).
Americans Bayleigh Cranford and Ella Roselli finished eighth (329.50) and 11th (290.20).
Chen won her first Worlds 10 m Platform gold in 2019 and again in 2022, 2023 and now 2025. She was second in 2024 and has Olympic silver from Tokyo and Paris. She finishes Singapore with three golds, also in the Team event and the 10 m Synchro.
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World Aquatics and NBC announced an extension of their U.S. rights agreement through 2028 on Thursday, including the World Aquatics Championships and the World Cup events in swimming and diving.
No financial terms were disclosed.
● Cycling ● France scored a 1-2 finish on stage 6 of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes, with Maeva Squiban getting away to score a major win on the triple-climb, 123.7 km route to Ambert, winning in 3:20:46.
Countrywoman Juliette Labrous was second (+1:09), leading a group of 14, with race leader Kimberley Pienaar (MRI) taking third at +1:13, ahead of Dutch star Demi Vollering.
That put Pienaar up by 26 seconds on France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, 30 seconds on Kasia Niewiadoma (POL) and 31 seconds on Vollering. The next two stages are both difficult, with the race ending on Sunday with an uphill finish to Chatel Les Portes du Soleil.
● Fencing ● USA Fencing announced its first-ever National Performance Center and National Academy, to be included in a $56 million redevelopment project by Masters Academy International in Stow, Massachusetts, to open in the fall of 2026:
“With clinics, camps, and National Team activities, the complex will be tailored from the ground up for fencing, complete with high-ceilings and expansive fencing halls, recovery suites, sport-science labs, state-of-the-art weight training centers, outdoor fields, and on-site dorms.”
MAI will renovate an existing, 312,000 sq. ft. facility, which will eventually support 10 more sports – baseball, basketball, esports, equestrian, figure skating, golf, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, and softball – and offer instruction to 600 students in grades 6-12 plus post-graduates.
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