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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● Ticket sales are continuing through 19 April, but some sessions and sports inventories for the first sales sessions are sold out. From the LA28 feed on X from 5 April, during the local-area sale:
“If you’re not seeing the tickets to the session or category you wanted, that means there are no more in this particular ticket drop. Additional sessions or categories may be added to future ticket drops based on inventory availability. Keep an eye out for the next Olympic ticket draw, which will be announced and take place later this year, for a chance to be randomly selected to participate in a future ticket drop.”
SwimSwam.com reported Monday (13th) that swimming tickets were not longer available and noted an LA28 post:
“Due to high demand during the LA & OKC Locals Presale, certain sports do not have any more inventory in Drop 1. If you search a sport and no sessions come up, it is no longer available in this drop. More inventory will be added in subsequent drops, the next of which will be later this year.”
While many tickets have been purchased, there have also been problems, often along the lines of this poster on 12 April:
“Hey @LA28, I can’t log into my account to buy tickets. I’ve been assigned a time slot that already has started and this message keeps appearing all the time, can you help me please?”
And on Monday:
“@LA28 My time slot is today 4/14/26 at 10am for tickets. I did not receive the follow-up email with the access link. I logged into LA28 there is nothing indicating my slot for today. Previously, I saw my time slot as the email indicated in my account. I need help.”
The first public ticket sale will end on the 19th; no dates have been announced for future sales.
● Russia ● To no one’s surprise, the World Aquatics decision to re-integrate Russia and Belarus into international competition was vehemently opposed by Ukraine Minister of Youth and Sports Matvii Bidnyi:
“Sport should unite around fair rules and respect for life. Returning the flag to a country that disregards and systematically destroys these rules is a wake-up call for the entire sports community.
“Today, our athletes are training under fire, and against this background any talk of ‘neutrality’ or the return of the aggressor’s paraphernalia looks shameful and divorced from reality.”
The Ukrainian men’s water polo team forfeited the seventh-place match against Russia at the World Aquatics water polo Division II World Cup in Msida, Malta, on Monday.
● International Sports Journalists Association ● The AIPS overwhelmingly re-elected Italian journalist Gianni Merlo for a sixth and final term as president at the AIPS Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland on Sunday.
Merlo, 78, has been a high-profile reporter for the Italian all-sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport since 1974, with a special passion for track & field, but at home writing about all sports. He has worked since becoming AIPS President in 2005 to lift media access and support at events worldwide.
He won 83 out of 108 votes to win over Hungary’s Zsuzsa Csisztu and Merlo said afterwards he has, really, a new position:
“The plan is to improve on what we’ve done until now because our association must evolve every year. There is new media and many other things and it is important for us to have working groups to study the issues affecting our profession nowadays. We cannot stop now because the situation around the world is changing so quickly so we must begin to think ahead immediately. We must be in contact with the people that have a real vision of what will happen in the future to be ready.
“In this case I will be a coach of a new team where we will find who will be the new striker. And I think that the team is very good and we can do a lot. It depends on the will of everybody. My first duty is to bring them together to play in the proper way with a good strategy on the field. Let’s see because from tomorrow we will begin the first meeting.”
● Artistic Swimming ● Arizona teen star Mona Schwickert, 16, dominated the U.S. national championships in Buffalo, New York, winning the women’s Solo Technical (22.4000) and women’s Solo Free (231.400), teaming with Sophie Schroeder to take the senior Duet Technical and Duet Free titles and was a member of the winning senior Team Free event. Her Scottsdale Senior club took a silver in the women’s senior Team Technical final.
The men’s Solo Technical was won by Xavier Wang (225.1183), and Chris Leahy won the Solo Free (121.8613). Wang and Wendi Ning won the Mixed Duet Technical event.
● Athletics ● USA Track & Field noted that Lauren Harris’s 1:39:28 performance at the World Athletics Race Walk Team Championships women’s half-marathon in Brasilia (BRA) is a sizable improvement to her own American Record. She had timed 1:44:03 for the new distance in March.
● Badminton ● At the Pan American Championships in Lima (PER), it was an all-Canadian final in the women’s Singles, with Michelle Li winning by 21-16, 22-20 over Wen Yu Zhang, for her seventh career Pan Am title. She previously won in 2013-14-16-18-19-22.
Top-ranked Victor Lai (CAN) won the men’s title with a 21-11, 21-9 win over Uriel Canjura (ESA).
The U.S. swept the doubles events. The duo of Zhi Yi Chen and Presley Smith won the men’s Doubles, 21-13, 21-8, over Kevin Lee and Ty Lindeman (CAN), and the American pair of Lauren Lam and Allison Lee defeated countrywomen Francesca Corbett and Jennie Gai, 21-18, 21-18. Smith and Gai teamed up to win the Mixed Doubles, 21-16, 21-15, over Davi Silva and Sania Lima (BRA).
● Football ● Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed Friday that Iran’s matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be played in Inglewood, California and Seattle, Washington:
“FIFA ultimately decided that the matches could not be moved from their original venues. Such a move would have required a huge logistical effort from the organization.”
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Front Office Sports reported that the Los Angeles-area host committee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will charge admission for its fan festivals, which for prior tournaments have been free.
Rising host area costs, especially for security and transportation, have caused considerable grief for host committees. The New York-New Jersey host group said in December it will charge admission for at least some of its fan festivals.
For Los Angeles, with a main site at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 11-15 June and 10 smaller sites – each running from 1-4 days – admission will be charged for all attendees aged 12 and higher. The exact pricing has not yet been announced.
● Wrestling ● USA Wrestling announced another annual registration record, passing 374,000 members with the current membership year not closing until 31 August. The surging sign-ups shredding the prior year’s record of 371,955. Per the announcement:
“This is the fourth consecutive year USA Wrestling has set its all-time membership record. USA Wrestling eclipsed 300K members for the first time in the 2023-24 membership season, meaning the organization will be approximately 100K members larger than just 2022-23.”
The top states for registrations – so far – are Illinois (28,371), California (27,957) and Washington (20,042).
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