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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games ● In the U.S., you often hear that an Olympic Games is the same as “10 Super Bowls at once” or five, or seven, or some such number.
Well, here’s one metric in which we can say that the 2024 Paris Olympic Games was almost four times as big as the NFL’s Super Bowl LIX:
Media accreditations.
The Associated Press reported that the NFL issued 6,414 media accreditations for the game and the surrounding activities during the one-week lead-up, the most ever.
That’s a lot, but it pales in comparison to the 24,171 press, photo and broadcast media accredited for Paris 2024, 3.8 times the Super Bowl total.
In Paris, the vast majority came from the broadcast side, with 18,438 accreditations in total, plus 5,733 for writers, photographers and editors, from 146 National Olympic Committees. No breakdown was reported for the Super Bowl, but the majority were no doubt from broadcasters.
● Olympic Winter Games 2034: Salt Lake City ● One of the reasons that Salt Lake City will not need to build any new venues for the 2034 Winter Games is that it has maintained the sites used for the 2002 Winter Games.
That is continuing now, with the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation – funded with the surplus from the 2002 Games – keeping the Utah Olympic Park, Olympic Oval and Nordic facilities at Soldier Hollow up to date. A Fox13 report on Sunday noted that municipal-owned facilities expected to be used in 2034 are also upgrading their facilities:
● Peaks Ice Arena in Provo – planned for ice hockey – wants to renovate the ice sheet, add bleachers and locker rooms, expected to cost $12 million.
● The Maverik Center in West Valley City, also used in 2002 and a hockey site for 2034, is asking for $500,000 to study upgraded lighting and sound systems.
These improvements will require city, regional or state funding as they are not operated by the UOLF and are used year-round by residents. The Utah legislature is planning a $40 million allocation for renovating sports facilities to maintain their useful lives to 2034 and beyond.
● Commonwealth Games 2026: Glasgow ● The dramatically compacted 2026 Commonwealth Games announced its full events program last week, with 153 events in eight Commonwealth sports, and 48 events in seven Paralympic sports (10 sports combined):
● 43: Athletics
● 42: Swimming
● 18: Track Cycling
● 16: Weightlifting
● 14: Artistic Gymnastics
● 14: Judo
● 4: Bowls
● 2: Basketball (3×3)
● 16: Para Athletics
● 14: Para Swimming
● 8: Para Track Cycling
● 4: Para Powerlifting
● 3: Para Bowls
● 2: Wheelchair Basketball (3×3)
● 1: Netball
Boxing is also listed, but without any details, as there is no IOC-recognized International Federation at the moment.
● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation announced its Team USA Community Champions in partnership with long-time sponsor Comcast.
Four American athletes were selected to receive $25,000 grants to further their work with non-profit causes helping health, wellness or youth sports: 1984 Olympic cycling gold medalist Connie Carpenter Phinney for the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s; track & field Olympian Alysia Montaño, the head of &Mother; curling Olympian Tara Peterson, working with the Hope Dental Clinic, and three-time Paralympian Rico Roman, who volunteers for Bridge City Inclusive Sports in Portland, Oregon.
● U.S. Center for SafeSport ● U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, asking questions about how the Center hired former Allentown, Pennsylvania police officer Jason Krasley, who has been arrested for theft, tampering with evidence, sexual assault, rape and more. He noted:
“Claimants and respondents alike deserve impartial, fair investigators who have not been accused of sexual misconduct of their own. Claimants and respondents alike deserve impartial, fair investigators who have not been accused of sexual misconduct of their own. Investigators must be professionally and morally qualified to perform their duties.
“Accusations of rape and other sex crimes against any SafeSport investigator are especially concerning given SafeSport’s mandate to protect athletes from similar abuse. Charges of that nature seriously call into question the quality of SafeSport’s vetting processes of its own officials.”
The letter noted a harassment charge made against Krasley while he was employed by the Center and posed 13 specific questions and asks for answers by 10 March.
● Alpine Skiing ● American skiing star Lindsey Vonn told The Associated Press she was “disappointed” in the way that teammate Mikaela Shiffrin came back into the Team Combined and was teamed with Downhill World Champion Breezy Johnson.
Vonn knew that Shiffrin expected to skip the Team Combined to focus on the Giant Slalom, but then withdrew from the Giant Slalom, after being injured in a GS race in November. She then made herself available for the Team Combined (Slalom segment) and the U.S. coaches placed her with Johnson. Said Vonn:
“I’m excited for Breezy and Mikaela to team up together and I believe they are a great pair. However, I am disappointed in the way it was handled.
“Despite the lack of communication I am a team player and am looking forward to be partnered with AJ Hurt, who is an amazing young skier.”
● Athletics ● Add one more “world record” to the pile from the Millrose Games: the men’s mile walk, rarely contested, but in which Mexican Olympian Ever Palma smashed the still-standing world best of 5:33.33 by American Tim Lewis from 1988.
Palma followed Swedish star Perseus Karlstrom, the 2024 European 20 km champ, for the first 1,100 m, then broke for the lead and was never headed, winning in 5:24.50. Karlstrom was a distant second in 5:32.34, also under the old mark. German Chris Linke was third, in 5:35.83.
The record attempt was lined up with help from the USA Race Walking Foundation and the FastWalker Group, which presented a $5,000 bonus for the record.
● Modern Pentathlon ● The Australian Sunday Telegraph reported that Australian modern pentathlete Alex Watson, who competed in the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, is not considered an “Olympian” by the World Olympians Association, an alumni group which confirms the use of the “OLY” post-nominal letters, used in the same way as educational credentials such as “PhD.”
Watson was disqualified at Seoul 1988 for an elevated level of caffeine, which at the time was listed as a stimulant beyond a certain level, but removed at the beginning of 2004. He served a two-year ban and returned to compete in Barcelona, but the WOA said in a letter last year that anyone who had an anti-doping violation is ineligible to use the OLY suffix.
The story points out that others who have had doping sanctions have been permitted and Australian Olympic Committee chief Matt Carroll deemed the WOA’s position as “excessive and unreasonable.” The story said that the WOA had simply not responded to letters from Watson’s attorneys.
● Swimming ● The International Swimming Hall of Fame announced its 2025 inductees on Friday, with American stars Ryan Lochte and Anthony Ervin leading the class.
Lochte, now 40, won 12 Olympic medals (6-3-3) between 2004-16 and a staggering 27 Worlds medals (18-5-4) from 2005-15. He set four individual-event world records; two each in the 200 m Backstroke and 200 m Medley. Ervin, now 43, won the Olympic 50 m Free in Sydney in 2000 and then in Rio in 2016, and also took two sprint golds in the 2001 Worlds, in the 50 and 100 m Frees. He won a third Olympic gold on the U.S. 4×100 m Free in Rio.
The other swimmers in the group include Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, the Olympic 200 m Free champ and four-time World Champion in the event in 2009-11-17-19 and world-record setter in the 200 and 400 m Frees, and Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, who memorably upset American star Michael Phelps to win the Rio 2016 100 m Fly.
Tunisian star Ous Mellouli was elected in the Open Water category, from his Olympic 10 km win at London 2012 and 2013 5 km Worlds gold. China’s five-time Olympic diving champion Ruolin Chen was honored for her Olympic Platform wins from 2008-16 and six Worlds golds from 2007-15.
Current World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam was elected as a “Contributor,” and Hungarian Bandi Molnar was voted in for water polo, and four-time Olympic medalist Andrea Fuentes (ESP) in Artistic Swimming.
The induction ceremony will be held on 28 July in Singapore, in conjunction with the World Aquatics Championships.
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