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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● In a two-years-to-go interview with France Info, International Olympic Committee Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi (SUI) noted that ticket pricing in the U.S. is beyond European imaginations (compute translation from the original French):
“Of the 11 million tickets, 50% will be under $200 (approximately €175). For a European, that seems expensive, but not necessarily in the American market. In particular, there are a million tickets under $28 (approximately €25) . The Games need to remain accessible. And under $200 is a real benchmark in the United States. Most major events are over $200, and often much more, whether it’s sports or shows… They’re often very, very expensive. Reaching this 50% target of under $200 is a great achievement. …
“When you see the prices, it’s true they can be surprising, but there’s a real market. For example, if you’re in the United States and you wonder about the cost of a prime seat ticket for an NBA game. Or for the NHL, it’s unthinkable for us. Unthinkable. It doesn’t exist. Except those seats are the first to go. It’s a completely different situation.
“And I won’t even mention the prices for the hospitality areas, where they’ll spend several million dollars on the equivalent of five or six games, depending on the team’s performance. Again, it’s unthinkable for us, but it works in their model. Some prices are truly incredible from a European perspective , even for the Olympics, but those tickets are all gone.”
Dubi, very enthusiastic about the success of the 2028 Games, also said that some venue changes for sports could still be made due to climate concerns:
“There are operational adjustments, and more radically, there can be choices we make, like in 2021 with the relocation of the Tokyo Marathon to Sapporo. It was a huge decision, and something that is entirely possible in 2028.”
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The International Olympic Committee noted Wednesday the size of its Olympic Scholarship program for the LA28 Games:
“Two years ahead of the Games, 1,516 athletes (715 women and 801 men), representing 176 NOCs and 39 disciplines, are being supported through Olympic Solidarity scholarships on the road to LA28.”
The IOC said it has budgeted $71 million for scholarship funding for summer and winter sports for the 2025-28 quadrennial. Scholarship holders won 75 medals at Paris 2024.
● Winter Paralympic Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Results of the anti-doping program for the 2026 Winter Paralympics showed 844 samples collected from 334 athletes across 473 tests. Of these, 67% were from men and a third from women; the 334 total represents 56.7% of the 611 athletes entered.
There were four positives, all “related to the use of eye drops by athletes with a vision impairment.” All of the cases were resolved without sanctions as the use of the substances was “through a permitted (ophthalmic) route.”
● Russia ● The International Handball Federation became the latest to re-admit Russian and Belarusian teams:
“Following the decisions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board on 7 May and 7 July 2026, the IHF Council decided to align the IHF’s position with the IOC’s latest recommendations by lifting, with immediate effect, the ban imposed on 4 March 2022 on the participation of Russian and Belarusian teams, officials, referees, lecturers and experts in IHF events and activities.”
In the fifth paragraph of the six-paragraph announcement, there was also: “The IHF reiterates its longstanding commitment to the Ukraine Handball Federation and continues to stand in solidarity with Ukraine.”
The IHF is the 11th summer Olympic federation to fully re-admit Russia.
● Cycling ● The modestly-hilly 11th stage of the 113th Tour de France had the expected mass sprint finish, with the first 119 riders given the same time. The winner was Norway’s Soren Waerenskjold in 3:10:06, followed by Olav Kooij (NED) and Belgian Jasper Philipsen.
Race leader Tadej Pogacar (SLO) maintained his 3:36 edge on two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard (DEN).
● Modern Pentathlon ● Reporting better late than never on the USA Pentathlon national championships at the end of June in Charlotte, North Carolina, Temirkhan Sabdenbak moved up from national junior champ in 2025 to the senior level in 2026, piling up 1,594 points to win over Luke Filar (1,549). Sabdenbak was in the top three in all four events and won the Laser Run by 11 seconds to secure the title.
Kseniya Voronina won the women’s gold, her first, scoring 1,434 to out-distance 2024 national winner Phaelen French (1,405). Voronina won the fencing and swimming, then was third in obstacle and 11th-fastest in the Laser Run, but still won comfortably.
Filar and French did not go away empty-handed, however, as both won the U.S. Junior titles and Filar also won the men’s U-19 gold!
● Table Tennis ● The USA Table Tennis national championships in San Jose, California finished last week with Kanak Jha winning the men’s tournament for the seventh time, defeating Nikhil Jumar, 4-3 (11-7, 9-11, 11-13, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-3).
Sally Moyland defended her women’s title, defeating Amy Wang in a rematch of the 2026 final, 4-2 (11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-6).
In the men’s Doubles, Nandan Naresh and Daniel Tran won their second U.S. championship in three years by 3-2 over Ved Sheth and Alex Luo (11-7, 7-11, 16-14, 10-12, 11-8). Moyland and Irene Yeoh won the women’s Doubles by 3-1 against Hildy Chen and Lilian Ma (11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9), and Moyland also won in Mixed Doubles with Jishan Liang, over Daniel Tran and Jessica Reyes-Lai, by 3-1 (11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8).
● Taekwondo ● At the World Taekwondo Team Championships in Chuncheon (KOR), China won the men’s title for the second time in a row, defeating Kazakhstan. Morocco won the women’s tournament, defeating Russia in the final.
● Triathlon ● Bermuda’s Flora Duffy, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic women’s champion, confirmed her retirement at age 38 on 15 July, completing a career which included four World Triathlon World Championships in 2016-17-20-22, Commonwealth Games golds in 2018 and 2022 and a bevy of other titles in triathlon events of all styles.
She explained, “I feel at peace and content with the decision. It just got to a point with my body where I just kept breaking down and getting injured when I tried to train at the level needed to race the highest level. My body was just giving me clear signs and the timing felt right. I’ve had a long career. I’ve had a great career so I’m very happy with it all and just full of gratitude for the whole journey.”
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