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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● To the surprise of absolutely no one, the City of Pasadena completed an agreement with the LA28 organizing committee for the men’s and women’s football semifinals and finals to be held at the Rose Bowl.
This had already long been expected and the Rose Bowl will join the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as three-time Olympic venues. The Rose Bowl held track cycling – with a temporary track – in 1932 and football in 1984.
LA28 is trying to complete as many agreements and announcements on venues as possible, with a complete (or nearly complete) plan due to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board for its 9 April online meeting.
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LA28 hired USA Swimming Interim CEO Shana Ferguson as its Chief of Sport and Games Delivery, bringing a veteran sports marketer to help with the planning of the biggest-ever 36 sport program to be held in 2028.
Ferguson, who attended the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the Marine Corps as an Air Defense Control Officer for five years, went on to sports marketing posts Under Armour and the Icahn Automotive Group before joining USA Swimming in 2019 as its Chief Commercial Officer.
She was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2024 and then interim chief executive when the federation let Tim Hinchey go last August. She was not selected to be chief executive as USA Swimming named Delaware athletic director Chrissi Rawak, who then withdrew.
USA Swimming named Bob Vincent, former Chair of the USA Swimming Board of Directors, to be new Interim CEO, effective 1 April, and the search for a new chief executive continues.
● Olympic Winter Games 2022: Beijing ● Russian attorneys filed a new appeal on behalf of Russian skater Kamila Valieva with the Swiss Federal Tribunal, alleging “procedural fraud” by the World Anti-Doping Agency, referring to the results of an experiment by Swiss scientist Martial Saugy about a possible explanation of her drug positive that resulted in a four-year suspension and the disqualification of the Russian team at the 2022 Olympic Figure Skating Team event.
WADA told the Russian news agency TASS:
“In WADA’s view, the athlete’s claim lacks merit and WADA will vigorously defend its position in this matter. [Former Lausanne Anti-Doping Laboratory Director Martial] Saugy’s draft report was not a document for WADA to share and was not subject to any production or disclosure obligations in any event.
“Moreover, the report was of no use to Valieva and would not have made any difference to the outcome in any event, as the CAS panel ultimately rejected the athlete’s explanation for the strawberry dessert, not on the basis of scientific validity, but rather on the basis that it was not supported by sufficient factual evidence. Any allegations of misconduct on the part of WADA are completely rejected.”
● Alpine Skiing ● It’s not easy to win a FIS Crystal Globe, emblematic of victory in a discipline or the overall World Cup. But they’re made of glass, and easy to break.
Swiss star Marco Odermatt won the seasonal World Cup title for the fourth time in a row and took the Crystal Globe for the Downhill, Super-G and Giant Slalom discipline.
But he tossed the Giant Slalom trophy into the air after the presentation following Wednesday’s season finale in Sun Valley, Idaho … and promptly dropped it. The base broke into pieces, and Odermatt told The Associated Press:
“I have some pieces of glass now to share with the coaches.”
It’s not the first time; he dropped a trophy in 2019, too.
● Basketball ● “The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) today announced their joint exploration of a new professional men’s basketball league in Europe that would bring the sport to more European fans and accelerate the game’s growth across the continent. The NBA and FIBA will continue discussions that began more than a year ago with prospective investors, teams, arena developers and commercial partners.”
This has been long discussed, but without any specifics, but is taking new momentum with the announcement on Thursday. The NBA has created a small league in Africa, but the European market is huge and well developed. The question is how will a new league fit within the existing “European basketball landscape.”
● Boxing ● World Boxing announced five new members, to bring its national federation total to 89: Albania, Bulgaria, The Bahamas, Ghana and Sierra Leone.
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The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced a sixth-month suspension of USA Boxing women’s 154 lb. (70 kg) national champion Isabella Winkler.
Winkler, 25, tested positive for the stimulant propylhexedrine during last December’s national championships, which came from an over-the-counter medication. As she did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption, her ban started on 26 February 2025, and her result were nullified on and subsequent to 21 December 2024, meaning she will lose her national champion status.
● Cycling ● The Classics season is in full swing, with the UCI World Tours in Belgium for the Classic Brugge-De Panne race, with the men’s Wednesday edition the 49th, this time over 1905.6 km.
The flat course came down to a final sprint, with Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Molano getting to the line first in 4:07:23, just ahead of Jonathan Milan (ITA), Madis Mihkels (EST) and 10 more given the same time. It’s Molano’s first win in a World Tour one-day race, and the first by a non-European since 2004!
The women’s race on Thursday was eighth, over 152.7 km, with another win for Dutch star Lorena Wiebes, who won the mass finish in 3:42:13, ahead of Chiara Consonni (ITA) and defending champ Elisa Balsamo (ITA). It’s Wiebes’ second win in this race, also in 2020.
● Freestyle Skiing & Snowboard ● At the FIS World Championships in Engadin (SUI), the U.S. scored its second straight win in the Freestyle Team Aerials, with Kaila Kuhn, Quinn Dehlinger and Chris Lillis scoring 344.63 points to easily out-distance Ukraine (312.35) and Switzerland (281.43).
It’s a repeat of the 2023 Worlds, where Dehlinger and Lillis also won, with Ashley Caldwell as the third. Ukraine moved up from third in 2023 to silver in 2025.
Lillis has now won a medal in this event in three straight Worlds, also taking a bronze in the 2021 Worlds as well.
The Worlds finish over the weekend with seven more events.
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