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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games ● The International Olympic Committee updated its prior report on venues used at the Olympic and Winter Games, reporting that 86% of the 982 permanent “venues that have hosted medal events, opening and closing ceremonies, and Olympic villages across 53 editions of the Games, from Athens 1896 to Beijing 2022″ are still in use today.
The 33 sites from the Tokyo 2020 Games and 16 from the Beijing 2022 Winter Games have continued in operation.
● Winter Paralympic Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Although the International Paralympic Committee agreed to reinstate the Russian and Belarusian Paralympic Committee, it turns out that none of their athletes will compete in the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games:
“[T]he IPC has received confirmation from each of the four international federations with sports on the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games programme – the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), International Biathlon Union (IBU), World Curling and World Para Ice Hockey – that, in practice, no athletes from the two nations are likely to qualify for March’s Games.”
The International Biathlon Union, International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) and World Curling have all barred Russia and Belarus from their competitions. While the International Ice Hockey Federation allows Russia and Belarus to participate per the IPC decision in September, it is too late for either to qualify a team for Milan Cortina.
● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The USOPC named Koby Langley as its new Chief Operating Officer, to “serve as a key executive partner to the CEO, providing operational leadership and oversight across strategic planning, finance, information technology, procurement, and facilities management.” He will start on 10 November.
Langley’s career has been closely tied to the U.S. military and to serving veterans, including as litigation counsel for the U.S. Army, as a Senior Adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as Director of Veteran, Wounded Warrior, and Military Family Engagement in The White House in 2014-15. He is currently with the American Red Cross, currently as a Division Vice President for the northeastern U.S.
● Alpine Skiing ● The FIS World Cup season opens, as usual, with the Soelden Giant Slalom in Austria this weekend, with American star Mikaela Shiffrin looking for her 102nd World Cup win and her third win on the famed Rettenbach glacier after victories in 2014 and 2021.
Of her 101 total wins, 22 are in the Giant Slalom and she has won 43 World Cup medals in the event.
She told reporters this week that she plans to limit her World Cup entries leading into the Olympic Winter Games mostly to the Giant Slalom and Slalom. She will not race any Downhills and will enter the Super-G on 14 December in St. Moritz (SUI) as a trial to see if she will do any more.
“I’m feeling skeptical that I’m going to be able to expect to balance it all. … I’ve been to Games where I skied six events. I skied all of the events and it was a wonderful experience; wouldn’t do it again. It was exhausting for multiple years after the fact.”
Injured Italian star Federica Brignone and Norway’s Alexander Steen Olsen won the Soelden races last year; Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) won in 2023, but the men’s race was canceled due to bad weather.
World Cup races are broadcast in the U.S. by NBC on its Peacock streaming service.
● Cycling ● At the 2025 UCI World Track Championships in Santiago (CHI), Dutch superstar Harrie Lavreysen followed up on his Paris 2024 Olympic win in the Keirin with his fourth career Worlds gold.
The Worlds winner in 2020-21-22, he won with a 9.901 final lap and a 0.107-second edge on Leigh Hoffman (AUS) and 0.187 on Dutch teammate Jeffrey Hoogland. Hoffman won his fifth career Worlds medal, but his first individual medal, while Hoogland claimed his 22nd (!) career Worlds medal and third in the Keirin (silvers in 2021 and 2022).
The men’s 40-lap Scratch race was a victory for German Moritz Augenstein, ahead of Yanne Dorenbos (NED) and Iuri Peitao (POR). Grant Koontz of the U.S. was seventh, leading with three laps to go and then involved in the mass finish.
Two-time defending World Champion Denmark won a third straight men’s Team Pursuit gold with a win over Australia in the final, 3:43.915 to 3:47.256. New Zealand won the bronze, 3:48.877 to 3:49.799 over the U.S. squad of Ashlin Barry, Koontz, Graeme Frislie and Anders Johnson. It’s the best U.S. finish since a bronze in 1995.
In the women’s Elimination Race – twice re-started for crashes – Ireland’s Lara Gillespie was the winner, ahead of British star Katie Archibald (her 15th career Worlds medal!) and Helene Hesters (BEL); Megan Jastrab was the top American, in 10th. It’s Gillespie’s second career Worlds medal after a Points bronze in 2024.
The women’s Team Pursuit was won by last year’s bronze winner Italy, who defeated Germany in the final by 4:09.569 to 4:09.951. Defending champ Britain won the bronze, 4:12.380 to 4:18.675 for Belgium.
● Football ● The U.S. women faced Portugal in the first of a two-game friendly series in Chester, Pennsylvania and got the lead after 33 seconds, as star forward Rose Lavelle took hold of a pass into the middle of the box from striker Catarina Macario and smashed it into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Portugal found its footing and started creating chances and got the equalizer in the 41st, as a perfect corner from midfielder Kika Nazareth found defender Diana Gomes for a header that flew into the U.S. net. Portugal had 58% possession in the half and a 4-3 edge on shots.
The U.S. turned up the pressure in the second half and had a 13-3 advantage on shots, but could not score. A Portugal corner turned into a shot from midfielder Fatima Pinto that was blocked, but Pinto then found the net with a right-footed shot that made it 2-1 and that was the final. Portugal had 51% possession and the American 16-7 shots edge went for naught.
The re-match will be Sunday (26th) in East Hartford, Connecticut.
● Gymnastics ● They say lightning never strikes twice in the same spot, but it did on Thursday in Jakarta (INA) at the FIG World Artistic Championships in the women’s All-Around.
Russian “neutral” Angelina Melnikova, the 2021 women’s All-Around winner, won again with American Leanne Wong – second in 2021 – winning the silver again. Even with a fall on Beam, Melnikova totaled 55.066 points, with Wong at 54.966. Qingying Zhang (CHN) took the bronze at 54.966; American Dulcy Caylor fell on the Uneven Bars and scored 51.532 for 13th.
There was controversy, of course; The Associated Press reported:
“Melnikova, who struggled on floor exercise during qualifying, appeared to have both of her heels land out of bounds during her first tumbling pass, a major deduction. She recovered to put together a clean and dynamic routine and her score included just a one-tenth deduction for stepping out, indicating judges believed only one foot landed out of bounds.
“Had the judges ruled that both of her feet stepped onto the colored carpet that serves as the border, she would have been docked three-tenths of a point, which would have put Wong in first.”
Wong won on Vault (14.466) and was seventh in the Uneven Bars, third on Beam and sixth on Floor. Algeria’s Olympic Bars champ Kaylia Nemour won that event (15.166), Zhang scored best on Beam (14.833) and Aiko Sugihara (JPN: 13.666).
Hezly Rivera, the 2025 U.S. A-A champion, had to skip the Worlds due to injury. Wong won her fifth career Worlds medal (2-2-1).
● Swimming ● In a surprise, USA Swimming announced that 12-time Olympic medal winner Natalie Coughlin, 43, the federation Board Chair since the beginning of October, will step down as of 5 November.
Coughlin had been on the USA Swimming Board since 2016, elected as Board Vice Chair in November 2023 and elevated to Chair this month, replacing Chris Brearton. Now she’s leaving; she said in the announcement:
“I have complete confidence in Kevin Ring’s vision for the future of USA Swimming and Greg Meehan’s leadership of the National Team, and I believe this is the right moment in time for me to step aside. While I will continue to volunteer and support the swimming community, I am excited to focus on my family and being a swim mom to my two young kids.”
Beyond swimming and family, Coughlin is also a partner in Gaderian Wines in St. Helena, California. The announcement noted:
“USA Swimming’s Athlete Advisory Council will appoint an athlete to fulfill the remainder of Coughlin’s term and the Board of Directors will elect a new Board Chair in the coming weeks.”
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The Aquatics Integrity Unit banned American Master swimmer Hannah Caldas for five years “from 18 October 2025 to 18 October 2030, due to violations of the World Aquatics Integrity Code, the Policy on Eligibility for the Men’s and Women’s Competition Categories and the Operational Requirements to the Policy.”
New York Aquatics issued a statement on Caldas’ behalf that included:
“During the investigation, World Aquatics required Ms. Caldas to undergo a genetic or chromosomal test – at her own expense – to ‘prove’ compliance with the organization’s ‘chromosomal sex’ requirement under its Gender Policy to take part in the older-adult recreational World Aquatics Masters competition. This test was required even after Ms. Caldas provided World Aquatics with her birth certificate identifying her as female.
“‘Chromosomal tests are invasive and expensive procedures,’ Ms. Caldas said. ‘My insurance refuses to cover such a test because it is not medically necessary. No U.S. state requires genetic tests for recreational sports events like these. Not even U.S. Masters Swimming, the national governing body for recreational adult swimming in the U.S., demands this for any of its events.’”
A story in Britain’s Daily Mail identified Caldas, 47, as transgender, but the AIU and New York Aquatics statements did not mention it.
● Taekwondo ● At the World Taekwondo General Assembly in Wuxi (CHN), Korean Dr. Chungwon Choue was elected to a sixth and final term as President, through 2029. Running unopposed, he received 143 of 149 possible votes (five against, one abstention). He has served as the head of the federation since 2004.
There were two Americans elected to the World Taekwondo Council: Inseon Kim and Richard Jay Warwick. Reunion and Saint Pierre & Miquelon were approved as Associate Members of the federation, raising the total membership to 215. The 2025 World Championships will begun on Friday, with a record 991 athletes from 179 federations registered to compete.
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