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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The LA28 organizers announced recruitment giant Korn Ferry as a Founding Partner, its highest sponsorship level, joining Comcast, Delta, Google, Honda, Intuit and Starbucks.
Korn Ferry’s designation is as “Official Talent & Organizational Consulting Partner,” and the announcement explained:
“Korn Ferry is working closely with LA28 to hire, onboard, and develop the nearly 5,000-people workforce needed to deliver the Games, while cultivating leaders and high-performing teams that reflect the spirit of Los Angeles and the Olympics and Paralympics.”
Continuing a hot streak in sales, LA28 has now signed seven highest-tier sponsors with 2 1/2 years to go, equaling the number signed for Paris 2024 in total.
● Olympic Winter Games 2028: Milan Cortina ● Now the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, has stepped in with an opinion on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) staff coming to the Winter Games as part of the security detail for the American delegation, led by Vice President J.D. Vance. He told Italian media:
“This is a militia that kills. It’s a militia that enters people’s homes by signing permits for themselves. … It’s clear that they’re not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about that. …
“I believe they shouldn’t come to Italy, because they don’t guarantee they’re aligned with our democratic security management methods. We can take care of their security ourselves. We don’t need ICE.”
The U.S. State Department told CBS News:
“The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service is leading the U.S. security effort at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. As in previous Olympic events, multiple federal agencies are supporting the Diplomatic Security Service, including Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative component.
“At the Olympics, the role of Homeland Security Investigations is strictly supportive – working with the Diplomatic Security Service and Italian authorities to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations. ICE is not involved in policing or managing security during the Olympics. All security operations at the Olympics are directed and managed exclusively by Italian authorities.”
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France announced a record team of 159 athletes and two alternates (161 total) for the Milan Cortina Winter Games, way ahead of the 86 sent to the Beijing 2022 Winter Games and 106 or PyeongChang in 2018.
Switzerland will also have a record number of athletes, with a 175-member team announced, more than the 173 in PyeongChang and 168 in Beijing.
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The International Olympic Committee updated its list of invited “neutral” athletes from Russia and Belarus on Tuesday, totaling 20 in all:
There are 13 confirmed Russian athletes, in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, luge, Short Track and speed skating,
Belarus has seven invitees, in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, freestyle skiing and speed skating.
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Samsung has been distributing complimentary mobile phones to Olympic and Paralympic athletes since 2014 and unveiled its 2026 Galaxy Z Flip7 Olympic Edition, to be handed out starting on 30 January to the more than 3,800 athletes expected to compete in the two Games.
This custom edition is not for public sale and has AI features incorporated along with special Games applications, including the Galaxy Athlete Card for exchanging profiles, the Samsung Wallet with the Coca-Cola Free Beverage Key for Olympic-Paralympic Village vending machine (!), Athlete365 performance and schedule support, the IOC Hotline and many more.
There is also a neat “Dual Recording” feature allowing users “to capture both what they see and their own reactions in a single shot using the rear and front cameras at the same time.”
Samsung, an IOC TOP sponsor, also created a special, curving Olympic “wallpaper” for this phone and each unit has a custom gold metal frame.
● Alpine Skiing ● Swiss star Loic Meillard, the 2023 Worlds Giant Slalom silver winner, took Tuesday’s night-time FIS World Cup Giant Slalom in Schladming (AUT), placing second in both runs and totaling 2:14.38 for his ninth career World Cup gold.
Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was the first-round leader but ended up second in 2:15.11, then second-run winner Alban Elezi Cannaferina (FRA: 2:15.28). The Schladming stop will finish Wednesday with a Slalom.
● Athletics ● It was reported last week in Canadian Running that five Kenyan distance runners, including former women’s marathon world-record holder Brigid Kosgei and “2024 Olympic [5,000 m] silver medallist Ronald Kwemoi, Catherine Amanang’ole, Brian Kibor and Nelvin Jepkemboi” were listed “in a now-deleted social media post from the Turkish Athletics Federation announcing five new national team members.”
World Athletics has a three-year waiting period for transfers to be effective, so change requests had to be filed in 2025 in order to athletes to run for their “new” country at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
It was reported last year that four Jamaican stars were transferring to Turkey, as well as Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili. The Canadian Running article noted, “Each athlete reportedly received a US$500,000 signing bonus, monthly stipends and performance incentives that include a $380,000 bonus for Olympic gold and an additional $190,000 for setting an Olympic record.”
● Bobsled & Skeleton ● American Skeleton star Katie Uhlaender has been turned down by the IOC in her quest for an added spot in the Winter Games, and she may still file a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
She told CNN of what she has called a flawed review process by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation’s Interim Integrity Unit:
“It saddens me that they didn’t respond to my email with the evidence. They didn’t reach out to any of the affected parties, not even afterwards, to make sure anyone was okay, and it makes the community feel isolated from the governance. I think this is an opportunity for us to all come together.”
She added that she worries about the message that it being sent by the manipulation of the qualifying process by withdrawing athletes from competitions:
“It was never about getting into the Olympics, it was about standing up for the integrity of the sport. I have to emphasize that when I see the younger generation witnessing competition manipulation like some are trying to justify it, ‘through the rules,’ it concerns me because, if we didn’t speak out and show that people care about the integrity of the sport and ethics, they might just fall in line and behave that way.
“I don’t want Canada to have a bad reputation; I’m hoping that we don’t treat any (athlete) in this situation like an enemy. We treat them like a part of our community and try to show them that the better way forward is sticking together and being transparent and honest.”
● Figure Skating ● U.S. Figure Skating reported that 1964 Olympic Pairs silver medalist Dr. Ronald Joseph passed away on 20 January at age 81 from the effects of ALS.
He and sister Vivian won the Worlds silver in 1965 and the U.S. title that year. Joseph sent on to a long career as an orthopedic surgeon; he and his sister were inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in January 2024.
● Football ● The U.S. women face off against Chile in a friendly in Santa Barbara, California on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Pacific time. This post will be updated with results when available.
Next up will be the SheBelieves Cup in March.
● Wrestling ● Following the IOC’s recommendations from December, United World Wrestling announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes in the U-15, U-17, U-20 and U-23 competitions will be fully readmitted into international competitions, and no longer will compete under the UWW flag.
This does not apply to senior-level competitions. Moreover, the announcement noted that “the IOC maintains that no government officials from Russia or Belarus should be accredited or invited to international sports events or meetings for either senior or youth competitions.”
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For our updated, 45-sport, 910-event International Sports Calendar for 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
