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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The stomping and screaming campaign by L.A. City Council member Tim McOsker paid off on Monday when the LA28 organizers announced a split of the 2028 sailing competition between the already-announced Belmont Shore Marina in Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro.
Sailing had been projected for Long Beach for many years and an Olympic Classes Regatta has been held there for decades. But McOsker blew up the 28 March meeting of the Los Angeles City Council, loudly demanding that sailing be held in his district, in San Pedro.
The announcement said the events will be split:
“The Port of Los Angeles will host six (6) boat events: Men’s and Women’s Dinghy, Men’s and Women’s Skiff, Mixed Dinghy and Mixed Multihull. Belmont Shore in Long Beach will host four (4) board events: Men’s and Women’s Windsurfing and Men’s and Women’s Kite.”
The agreement is a notable victory for former Los Angeles Yacht Club Commodore and Director Kelly Marie, who approached McOsker with the idea to bring sailing events to San Pedro, where the sport was held for the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
● Anti-Doping ● The important Compliance Review Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency met in mid-June, and an announcement more than two weeks later confirmed the current countries currently not compliant as the anti-doping organizations in Cameroon and Russia, with Iran and Sri Lanka on the “watchlist” for non-compliance.
There has been no mention of the U.S., which has not paid its dues of $3.625 million for 2024 and continues to object to WADA’s handling of the 2021 Chinese swimming doping incident.
● Biathlon ● The International Biathlon Union had paid less prize money during its World Cup season in Olympic season – such as the 2025-26 season coming up – but no more. The IBU Executive Board confirmed its decision “to increase by 1.6 million Euros for the Olympic season to bring it level with seasons when there are IBU World Championships.
“The increase is focused on the top positions in individual competitions and will see a World Cup victory being worth 20,000 Euros in IBU prize money. The total prize money planned for the season is over 9.3 million Euros which represents a more than 56% increase since the last Olympic season in 2021-22.”
● Rowing ● Fascinating, if small, study done at the University of Limerick, of calls by coxswains during races, with Associate Professor of Sport Science Frank Nugent (IRL) telling World Rowing:
“There was practically no silence throughout a race. It’s a fairly big demand on someone to talk non-stop for five and a half to seven minutes, and it’s much higher than observed in other team sports. Coxing is a real niche specialised skillset that deserves a lot more research in the future.”
According to the study:
“The analysis revealed that over 40 per cent of calls were technical calls, predominantly with an internal focus directed at body movements; there was some limited use of externally focused calls talking about the boat or blades. Another 38.6 per cent of calls were motivational and 21 per cent were tactical, talking about making a change or where the boat was in the race. Coxes made an average of 32 calls per minute.”
● Swimming ● Amazing swim from Romanian star David Popovici, who won the men’s 100 m Freestyle at the European U-23 Championships in Samorin (SVK) on Saturday (28th) in 46.71, the no. 2 performance of all time, behind only the 46.40 world record by China’s Zhanle Pan at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Popovich had been the world-record holder at 46.86 at the 2022 European Championships, but was surpassed by Pan at the 2024 Worlds (46.80). Now, Popovici is the world leader in 2025 in both the 100 Free and the 200 Free (1:43.64), also at the European U-23s.
The Romanian won the 200 m Free in Paris in 2024 and a bronze in the 100 m Free.
● Weightlifting ● Four 2024 USA Weighting national title holders repeated in 2025, at the USA Weightlifting National Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Paris Olympian Mary Thiesen-Lappen was the only repeat winner among the women from 2024 at the 2025. She defended her 2024 title in the women’s highest class, now +86 kg, lifting a combined 258 kg, over Caitlin Thilges (248 kg). Four-time Worlds medalist Mattie Rogers won the 77 kg class at 241 kg.
Among the men, Olympic 61 kg bronze winner Hampton Morris took the men’s 71 kg class, lifting a combined 324 kg to win easily. There were three repeat winners from 2024: Christopher Camenares in the 65 kg class at 236 kg; Brandon Victorian defended his 89 kg title from 2024 by winning the 88 kg class with 350 kg, and Chrisanto D’Agostino, the 96 kg winner in 2024, won at 94 kg this time at 343 kg.
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