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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 1984: Los Angeles ● The living legacy of the 1984 Olympic Games is the LA84 Foundation, established with a 40% share of the $232.5 million surplus from the staging of that Games.
The Foundation has expanded its reach beyond the original concept of “putting bats and balls in the hands of boys and girls” in the Los Angeles area. Chief executive Renata Simril explained the change in approach in a new post in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. In part:
“[W]e had to innovate. We had to do something different if we were going to live up to the legacy of the 1984 Olympics. The world has changed, and our approach had to change with it. Our focus could no longer simply be on how many kids we reached or how many grants we awarded. We needed to address the systemic barriers that were preventing kids on the margins from accessing the benefits of sports and play. We needed to think bigger and act more boldly.
“This shift in thinking led to the creation of the Play Equity Fund, a 501(c)3 public charity focused on building youth voice and creating pathways to enriched opportunities through sports, play, and movement. We understood that we needed to go beyond traditional grantmaking models and adopt an enterprise approach to philanthropy. Two organizations with one mission. Through this model, we have built a play equity movement aimed at creating collective impact, and yes—with a laser focus on equity and social justice.
“At its core, our work at the Play Equity Fund is about more than just giving kids a chance to play; it’s about addressing the deep, systemic inequities that prevent marginalized communities from accessing the opportunities that sports, play, and movement provide. It’s a concept that recognizes sports and play are essential for a child’s physical, emotional, social, and academic development and that disparities in access to sport and play can perpetuate inequality in other areas.”
The results have gone far afield of simple grant-making, for example $15 million of public funding for organizations using sports as a took for social intervention in Los Angeles County, and creating a fund for regional approaches to systemic change, to complex issues such as mental health, obesity and personal isolation in the digital age. Observed Simril:
“Sports, play, and movement can reconnect our youth to their communities, build resilience, and offer them a sense of purpose.”
● NBC ● A major announcement Wednesday from Comcast Corporation, parent company of U.S. Olympic rights-holder NBC, said that seven of its cable television channels – CNBC, E!, Golf Channel, MSNBC, Oxygen, Syfy and USA Network – will be spun off into a separate company.
Comcast will retain the NBC broadcast network, NBC News, NBC Sports, the Peacock streaming service and the Bravo cable channel.
This will necessarily thin the cable-channel space available for NBC’s Olympic-related programming; for Paris 2024, NBC placed Olympic events on CNBC, E!, Golf Channel and especially USA Network. Such programming could simply be shuffled off to Peacock to continue its growth, but may not be helpful to sports looking to grow their profile.
● Aquatics ● The Russian news agency TASS reported that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to compete – as “neutrals” – in relays and team events in artistic swimming and diving.
Prior approvals for “neutrals” were for individual events only.
● Athletics ● World Athletics announced its nominees for national federation of the year, with USA Track & Field as one of the finalists. The six nominees are Ghana, India, Paraguay, Portugal, Solomon Islands and USATF. Of the American federation, the nomination notes:
“US athletes achieved 34 medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, securing the top spot on the medal table, with performances including world records by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles and by the mixed 4x400m team. The team’s Olympic performance in Paris was driven by a diverse range of medals in sprints, jumps and throws.
“The federation also showcased its strength by achieving first place in the medal tables at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 and the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24. One of the key factors behind these successes has been the implementation of an athletics development programme that covers all categories and events.”
The winner will be announced in December.
● Football ● “We have seen players’ strikes in different sports. We also have seen it in professional football and the players (have) proactively talked about it.
“I think it’s quite a unique moment in terms of how connected players are on this issue. So I, personally, would also not rule anything out at this point.”
That’s from Alexander Bielefeld (GER), the FIFPRO director of policy and strategic relations, as reported by The Associated Press on Wednesday. The FIFA Club World Cup, expanded from seven to 32 teams for 2025, is scheduled for 15 June to 13 July in the U.S. at 12 sites and has drawn continuing criticism from player groups concerned over the expansion of matches being played at clubs and national teams.
● Weightlifting ● U.S. lifters have steadily improved, winning two medals (1-0-1) at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with other promising performances pointing to future success.
So, USA Weightlifting has taken the next step and announced a new National Team Program, creating a program for “youth, junior, and senior-aged U.S. weightlifters and offers numerous developmental opportunities, including regular training camps, biomechanical analysis, and consultations with National Team coaches and performance experts, along with the opportunity to receive performance-based funding and bonuses. …
“The National Team Program splits athletes into gold, silver, bronze, and developmental levels based on age and performance history. The top-12-ranked athletes in each gender, which make up the gold and silver levels, have the opportunity to receive monthly funding and expense reimbursement opportunities to aid their continued success. The bronze level focuses on developing the two highest-ranked U23 lifters in each gender after the gold and silver levels, and the developmental level focuses on setting the foundation of the future of United States weightlifting by developing the top-25 youth and junior athletes who aren’t already in the gold, silver or bronze levels.”
● Enhanced Games ● Not much has been heard about the Enhanced Games recently, the doping-welcomed event, but it’s still in formation, with promoter Aron D’Souza (AUS) telling GearJunkie.com, “So much scientific progress has been held back by a bunch of sports bureaucrats.”
The event has been harshly criticized by anti-doping authorities and International Federations on health grounds, but no dates or site information has been shared. D’Souza said the venue and dates will be revealed in December 2024 or January of 2025. Competitions will be held in combat events, gymnastics, swimming, track and field and weightlifting.
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