★ 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 Games 1980: Moscow ● Further to our post on the death of Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. President who kept the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team at home, 3 Wire Sports’ Alan Abrahamson offered a deeper look into the impact on the U.S. athletes who never got to compete, in a story he wrote in 2005 for the Los Angeles Times.
Twenty-five years later, it still hurt.
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● Complaints continue to come in on the deterioration of some of the medals presented during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. RTL French radio posted photos of men’s Medley Relay bronze medals from swimmers Clement Secchi and Yohann Ndoye Brouard, with Secchi referring to his as having “crocodile skin.”
The French Mint, which made the medals, has said it will replace any which are defective.
● International Olympic Committee ● In his New Year’s message, IOC President Thomas Bach reflected on the success of the Paris 2024 Games and looked to how the Olympic Movement can help shape the future:
“In our difficult times, with wars and conflict on the rise, we need our Olympic values more than ever. There is a new world order in the making. In these times, our Olympic Movement has a unique and important role – because the Olympic Games are the only event that still manages to bring the entire world together in peaceful competition. We can only achieve this through our full commitment to equality through solidarity.”
● Paralympic Games ● In another sign of wider acceptance of Paralympic athletes alongside Olympic athletes in Japan, the Japanese Olympic Committee and the Japanese Paralympic Committee agreed to have sponsor companies sign a single joint support agreement beginning in 2025.
The governing bodies are two separate entities in Japan – unlike the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee – but feel a more flexible approach can increase their profiles among potential corporate supporters.
● Commonwealth Games ● “We’ve changed the Games. So it’s much more affordable, much more attractive.
“We’re not the Olympics. We are not going to be the Olympics. We’ve learned over the last couple of years, we’ve analysed it, where we sit within the environment and we’re really comfortable.
“We’ve reset and reframed the Games to exactly the sweet spot of where we should be.”
That’s Commonwealth Games Federation President Chris Jenkins (WAL), in an interview with the BBC, explaining that the format of the compacted 2026 Games in Glasgow (SCO) is the way forward.
Only 10 sports will be contested in Glasgow, after 20 in Birmingham (ENG) in 2022, and while Jenkins sees a potential for more sports in the future, the new approach is better:
“Glasgow’s showing how you can co-create. We’ve taken 50-plus percent of the costs out. It’s going to be a very, very compact Games.
“But also I think it is going to showcase the first phase of the reset. Using existing accommodation, existing venues, using indoor facilities really well, perhaps for ceremonies. So that’s one aspect of what I find exciting about Glasgow.”
He’s open to a single city hosting, multiple cities, or even countries. Next up is finding a host for the centennial edition in 2030, with a new approach that will hopefully be more digestible for potential new hosts.
● Russia ● The TASS news agency reported on a new Olympic and Paralympic scholarship program announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin. A total of 4,000 scholarships are to be made available, paying a maximum of 60,000 rubles a month (about $555 U.S.), for athletes or others supporting their achievements, such as coaches.
● Athletics ● Michael Johnson sees his Grand Slam Track project being able to lift the sport on a par with golf and tennis. He said in an interview with Britain’s Daily Mail:
“I think it can be huge. I think the potential of this sport is immense. It’s the greatest Olympic sport. Every four years, it’s the most watched sport – and probably the most watched thing – in the world.
“It is a sport that everybody understands. It’s perfect for today’s audience. It’s really a series of highlights. Two thirds of our races take place in under a minute and you just keep getting more and more of them. …
“Half of my team have come from WWE and that is huge. Look at what has happened with UFC and where they are now. Tennis has four Grand Slams every year. Golf has four majors every year. Look at what F1 has done. There is no reason that track can’t be on par with those sports.”
He said the circuit’s television arrangements will be announced in January.
● Swimming ● Sweden’s sprint star Sarah Sjostrom told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper that she plans to take 2025 off, but is not retiring.
“As it is now, I have no competitions planned. I will train, but at a low load and then slowly increase. I think that is the best way to last in the long run.”
She’s considering a possible run at a sixth Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, especially looking at the 50 m Free, when she will be 34. The 50 and 100 m Free winner in Paris, she noted her build-up to 2024 was especially good:
“In both the fall of 2022 and 2023, I had an extremely easy time competing, and my body responded very well to that. It was as if I came back stronger because I was fresh when I then started the hard training.”
She’ll skip the 2025 World Championships, but could return in 2027 in Budapest.
¶
★ 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, 885-event International Sports Calendar for the rest of 2024, 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
