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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● From the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday:
“We understand that Imane Khelif has taken legal action against individuals who commented on her situation during the Olympic Games Paris 2024, and is also preparing a lawsuit in response to the latest reporting.
“The IOC will not comment while legal action is ongoing, or on media reports about unverified documents whose origin cannot be confirmed.”
Khelif, the Algerian boxer who won the Paris Olympic gold in the women’s 66 kg class, filed in August in the Paris Prosecutor’s Office’s National Center for the fight against Online Hatred for comments made on social media during the Paris Games. The new suit will focus on a report in the French newspaper Le Correspondant, which last week published details of a medical report which stated she had male (XY) chromosomes and was a biological male.
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Australian break dancer Rachael Gunn – “Raygun” – who lost her three group-stage battles at the Paris Games by a combined 180-0, said she is retiring from breaking after the torrent of abuse that came following her Olympic performance. She said in an interview on 2DayFM in Sydney:
“I just didn’t have any control over how people saw me or who I was. I was going to keep competing, for sure, but that seems really difficult for me to do now.
“I think the level of scrutiny that’s going to be there, and people will be filming it, and it will go online.”
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The famed bell rung by the winners at the Stade de France during the Paris Games was delivered to the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris, along with two smaller bells as the renovation following the 2019 fire nears completion, with the formal re-opening on 8 December.
The Olympic bell was a gift from the Paris 2024 organizing committee, replacing a bell which was lost in the fire.
● Russia ● As expected, Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov will step down and a new chief will be elected on 13 December.
Podznyakov will leave his post on 13 November. Secretary General Rodion Plitukhin will also leave on 13 November and Director General Vladimir Sengleev will leave on 21 November.
There is little doubt that Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev, 43, will be elected, having been approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Degtyarev told the Russian news agency TASS:
“[W]e must prepare to work with the new leadership of the International Olympic Committee, the elections of which will take place in March 2025, and we count on reciprocal movement, because Russia’s role in the international Olympic family cannot be ignored.”
● Athletics ● The Paris Court of Cassation, the highest civil court on France, held Wednesday that Papa Massata Diack (SEN), convicted of corruption and embezzlement in 2020, must be re-tried at the Paris Court of Appeal.
Diack was convicted in absentia and sentenced to five years in prison and fined €1 million (€1 = $1.08 U.S.) for his part in a bribery and extortion scheme led by his father, Lamine Diack, then President of the IAAF (now World Athletics).
Papa Massata Diack fled to his native Senegal to avoid arrest and has not left the country. Lamine Diack was convicted in 2020 but, in ill health, died in 2021 after being allowed to return home to Senegal.
● Canoe-Kayak ● On the first day of its 2024 Congress, the International Canoe Federation agreed – with 85% approval – that it will move its headquarters from Lausanne (SUI) to Budapest (HUN) in 2025.
Hungary is a power on the sport, leading all nations with seven medals (0-4-3) at the recent Paris Olympic Games. The ICF will maintain a smaller office in Lausanne.
● Ice Hockey ● The U.S. women kicked off the annual “Rivalry Series” with Canada with a 7-2 win in San Jose, California on Wednesday.
The U.S. took a 5-0 lead in the first period and sailed home from there. Lacey Eden and Abbey Murphy both scored twice; it’s the most goals by the U.S. against Canada since 2015.
Game two of the series will be in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday, and then in Boise, Idaho on Sunday.
● Nordic Combined ● After losing funding from USA Nordic Sport earlier in the year, Nordic Combined USA – an all-volunteer group – received a grant from the International Ski & Snowboard Federation to allow it to continue a training partnership with the Norwegian federation.
The new money brings Nordic Combined USA to about 60% of its $500,000 budget for the upcoming season.
The sport is under pressure from the International Olympic Committee as well, which said in 2022 that its place at the 2030 Olympic Winter Games is not assured until Nordic Combined shows a higher profile. The IOC declined to add women’s Nordic Combined for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games.
● Swimming ● Prize money for the 2024 World 25 m (short course) Championships was published, with $2.16 million available to the top eight finishers: $10,000-8,000-7,000-6,000-5,000-4,000-3,000-2,000. That’s $45,000 per event.
This is the same pay scale as the 2022 short-course Worlds, but down by a third from the 2021 Championships in Abu Dhabi (UAE).
World-record bonuses are $25,000. The event takes place from 10-15 December in Budapest (HUN).
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