★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The year-to-go ceremonies for the 2026 Winter Games will take place on Thursday (6th), with the main celebration at the Teatro Strehler.
The formal invitations for the Games will be distributed to representatives of the National Olympic Committees, following the installation of the countdown clock in the Piazzetta Reale in the afternoon.
Ticket sales will also begin for the 347,000 registered potential buyers, who will have received a 48-hour window – randomly drawn – during which they can select their sports and sessions.
¶
The Italian Mint announced its Olympic Winter Games coin program, with nine coins in four styles:
● 2: Olympic Winter Games gold coins in €50 and €20 denominations.
● 1: Paralympic Winter Games gold coin in €20 denomination.
● 5: Olympic Winter Games silver coins in €6 denominations, saluting Alpine Skiing, Curling, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, Speed Skating.
● 1: Paralympic Winter Games silver coin in €6 denomination, saluting Nordic Skiing.
The coins will be sold beginning this month.
● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● As the organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Games is being assembled, it appears that the favorite to head the team … will not.
Word came Monday that six-time Olympic biathlon gold medalist and 13-time World Championships winner Martin Fourcade, 36, has withdrawn from consideration to be organizing committee president.
The Associated Press reported a message from Fourcade to the in-formation organizing committee board, insisting that the headquarters of the Games must be in the mountain area and not near Lyon:
“There are still too many differences of opinion to be able to contemplate this mission calmly. The mode of governance, the vision, the territorial roots: we have not been able to find common ground on these fundamental issues.”
The formal announcement is reported as scheduled for 18 February. If Fourcade is not to head the organizing effort – and it’s not over until it’s over – the favorites are also said to include former biathlete Vincent Jay, 39, the 2010 Vancouver Sprint winner, or Marie Martinod, 40, a two-time Olympic Freestyle Halfpipe skiing silver winner.
● World Games ● Indonesian climbing star Veddriq Leonardo, the Olympic men’s Speed champion in Paris, won the final–round vote for the World Games Athlete of the Year.
He collected 77,045 votes to 51,338 for Estonian Flying Disc star Kristin Latt and 26,181 for China’s Xin Tong (Wushu).
● American Eagle 5342 ● Reuters reported Monday that 55 of the 67 people who perished in the 29 January crash of American Eagle flight 5342 with an Army helicopter have now been identified.
Sadly, the number of those who are part of the skating community continues to grow. U.S. figure Skating confirmed to USA Today’s Christine Brennan on Monday that 28 of the 60 passengers aboard flight 5342 (47%) were skaters (11), coaches (4) or family members (13).
This adds four additional family members to our list published on Sunday, and as the remaining passengers are identified, there may be, tragically, more.
● Athletics ● The complete, albeit short comments by Noah Lyles to NBC’s Lewis Johnson about his “Tyreek Can Never” comments on the inside of his bib, shown after Lyles won the 60 m in 6.52 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Sunday:
“When you’re ready to actually put some words down and you’re actually ready to race, see me.
“I’m right here. I ain’t going nowhere. But all I know is, your football season’s over. You ain’t got no excuse now.”
Hill replied on X, “Get a load of this guy” and then, responding to a Lyles post reading “Let me show you the Worlds Fastest Man,” he posted “Who gave you that title? Your Wikipedia page?”
¶
Two-time Olympic 100 m medalist and 2022 World Champion Fred Kerley pleaded not guilty on Monday in a Miami, Florida court to charges of strangling his wife and stealing her mobile phone.
NBC6 South Florida reported:
“[O]n Monday prosecutors filed a battery by strangulation and a robbery by sudden snatching charges against the Olympian regarding a May 2024 incident.
“In this case, he is accused of getting violent with a woman identified in a police report as his wife of three years, with whom Kerley shares three children.”
This is a separate case from his 3 January arrest in a scuffle with Miami Beach officers in which he tried to get to his car after being told to go around a police action going on in the same area. He was charged of battery on a law enforcement officer and disorderly conduct; prosecutors have not determined whether to move forward with a filing in that matter.
Kerley is a signed “Racer” with the new Grand Slam Track circuit that will debut in April in Jamaica.
¶
Triple Olympic gold shot gold medalist Ryan Crouser will be in a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, as part of a Michelob Ultra spot that also includes WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu and former NFL star Randy Moss playing pickleball, with veteran actors Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara.
Crouser told Fox News Digital:
“I mean, I don’t know how much of an acting career I would call it, because I’m kind of playing myself. But no, it was a really fun shoot, a lot of fun out flying out to L.A. Really just a dream come true, and I’m really excited about it. …
“For me, being competitive, it made it pretty easy. The reason I’m good as a professional shot-putter is because I hate losing and [am] competitive by nature. They had me lined up against a professional pickleball coach, player, and he was just bringing the heat on these serves. And I was trying to return them. It was a little bit of acting, but it was also pretty genuine.”
¶
An impressive world-leading men’s 3,000 m mark of 7:27.92 for Britain’s 2024 European 5,000 m runner-up George Mills at the Meeting de l’Eure in Val-de-Reuil (FRA) on Sunday, moving to no. 9 on the all-time indoor list.
Two-time European champ Jessica Schilder (NED) took the women’s shot world lead at 19.85 m (65-1 1/2) in the same meet.
● Curling ● Thrilling finals at the USA Curling Nationals in Duluth, Minnesota, with Korey Dropkin’s rink to represent the U.S. at the 2025 men’s World Championships, and Tabitha Peterson’s squad for the women.
Dropkin’s team won the men’s title with an 11-end, 7-6 comeback win over Daniel Casper. Casper was out to a 5-3 lead after six ends, but Dropkin tied it in the seventh, 5-5. Dropkin went one-up in the ninth, but Casper came back to tie and it took a final shot by Dropkin in the 11th to win. It’s Dropkin’s second U.S. title – also in 2021 – and finished fourth at the 2022 Worlds.
Peterson was up by 3-1 after three ends on Elizabeth Cousins, but Cousins tied it in the fourth. Peterson went up again by 6-4 after seven, but Cousins scored in the eighth and 10th to tie, and Peterson finally won with a point in the 11th, 7-6.
This was Peterson’s fifth U.S. title and third in a row, in 2012 (as Lead)-20-23-24-25. As Skip, her squad has finished third at the 2021 Worlds, then seventh in 2023 and 2024.
● Cycling ● The Union Cycliste Internationale announced Friday that September’s 2025 World Road Championships in Kigali (RWA) are proceeding on schedule. The political unrest and fighting in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo “is confined to the DRC” and:
“following the spread of rumours on this subject, the UCI clarifies that no relocation of the 2025 UCI Road World Championships from Rwanda to Switzerland or any other location is planned at this time.”
¶
“[T]he UCI Management Committee approved a ban on the repeated inhalation of carbon monoxide (CO). The ban will come into force on 10 February 2025.
“As a reminder, CO is commonly used in sports medicine to measure total haemoglobin (Hb) mass and blood volume, especially to examine the effects of endurance training and altitude exposure on oxygen carrying capacity. However, its repeated inhalation can result in acute and chronic health problems, for example headaches, lethargy, nausea, dizziness, and confusion. Such symptoms can worsen at any time and develop into problems with heart rhythm, seizures, paralysis, and loss of consciousness.
“The new regulation forbids the possession, outside a medical facility, of commercially available CO re-breathing systems connected to oxygen and CO cylinders. This ban applies to all licence-holders, teams and/or bodies subject to the UCI Regulations and to anyone else who might possess such equipment on behalf of riders or teams.”
● Football ● Spanish midfield star Jenni Hermoso testified in the criminal trial of former Royal Spanish Football Federation chief Luis Rubiales and three others in Madrid on Monday, explaining the incident in which Rubiales kissed her during the awards ceremony following Spain’s win at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia:
“He grabbed my head effusively. I couldn’t react. It was a thousandth of a second. I felt that it was completely out of context. I knew my boss was kissing me.
“That shouldn’t happen. I felt disrespected. It ruined one of the happiest days of my life. I didn’t look for that act, and nor did I expect it. I was disrespected.”
She detailed the efforts to get her to support a story that the kiss was consensual, when the team bus arrived at the Sydney airport:
“The bus stopped, and I got off. The press officers were waiting for me.
“They showed me a cell phone with a statement. They’d written it to send to the press and to calm the commotion. They wanted to take that step, so that the fire would go out. I skimmed the text. I didn’t want to know what it said exactly. … I got quite upset. I didn’t want to do anything else. I was fed up and told them, ‘Do whatever you want.'”
Rubiales also spoke to Hermoso on the plane, asking for her cooperation. She said, “I told him no, that I wasn’t going to do anything. … I told him I was sorry, but I wouldn’t do it.”
The trial will continue for at least a couple of weeks.
● Judo ● The International Judo Federation’s annual awards were announced on Sunday, with the seven major awardees all tied to Olympic gold in Paris:
● Men’s Judoka of the Year: Hidayat Heydarov (AZE), Olympic champion at 73 kg.
● Women’s Judoka of the Year: Christa Deguchi (CAN), Olympic champion at 57 kg.
● Coaches of the Year (3): Baptiste Leroy (FRA/team), Marko Spittka (UZB/women’s judo) and Richard Trautmann (AZE/men’s judo).
● Moment of the Year: Diyora Keldiyorova (UZB), Olympic gold medalist in the women’s 52 kg class.
And, of course, French icon Teddy Riner was recognized for the Ippon of the Year, to win the Olympic gold in the men’s +100 kg class.
● Softball ● USA Softball named Oklahoma’s Patty Gasso as the head coach for the Women’s National Team through the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Grasso, 62, has been the head coach at Oklahoma since 1995 and her teams have won four straight NCAA titles in the sport and eight total. She has previous international experience with USA Softball, including as the American coach at the World Cup of Softball.
● Swimming ● World Aquatics announced that French icon Leon Marchand and Canadian star Summer McIntosh were the men’s and women’s Athletes of the Year.
Marchand, of course, won four individual golds in Paris (and a relay bronze) and was one of the faces of the Games for the host team. McIntosh, only 18, won three golds and a silver.
● Water Polo ● World Aquatics also announced Serbia’s Dusan Mandic as its men’s Player of the Year, while Bea Ortiz (ESP) took the women’s honor.
Mandic scored 26 goals while leading Serbia to the Olympic gold in Paris, while Ortiz scored four times in the final to help Spain to its first women’s gold.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
