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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● Japan held a modest parade for about 100 of its Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 2024, walking Saturday on a packed Tokyo’s Chuo Street in front of an estimated 10,000 spectators.
The attendees included second-time men’s gold medalist Hifumi Abe (Judo: 66 kg), women’s 53 kg wrestling winner Akari Fujinami and Paralympic women’s badminton Singles victor Sarina Satomi. The parade was not held after Tokyo 2020 – held in 2021 – due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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A French court in Bobigny, north of Paris, banned an Australian man – unnamed – who tried to rush the start of the men’s 100 m final on 4 August at the Stade de France.
The defendant, 24, received – in absentia – a three-year stadium ban and was fined €8,000 (about $8,400 U.S.). He ran onto the track wearing a shirt reading “Free Palestine, Free Ukraine, Jesus”, and was quickly subdued and removed by French security staff.
● World Anti-Doping Agency ● WADA opened the nomination process for its elections for President and Vice President, to take place on 29 May 2025.
The terms of office of both the current President – Witold Banka (POL) – and Vice President – Yang Yang (CHN) – will expire on 31 December 2025, and nominations are due by 31 January 2025. Candidate files will be reviewed and eligible candidates will be certified by 31 March.
To be nominated, a candidate must submit an application, a resume, a declaration of no conflicts and two nomination referrals, one from a member of the Olympic Movement seats on the WADA Foundation Board (20 members) and one from a member of the Public Authorities seats (20 members).
Both Banka and Yang are eligible to run for a third and final term of three years, through 31 December 2028.
Observed: It will be fascinating to see whether Banka will be challenged, notably from the U.S., or by a candidate with U.S. backing, in view of the continuing turmoil over WADA’s handling of the January 2021 Chinese doping incident involving 23 swimmers who tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine, but were not sanctioned.
● Athletics ● The father of the three star Ingebrigtsen distance runners, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, will be tried in Norway in 2025 on charges of abuse.
Henrik Ingebrigtsen (now 33), Filip (now 31) and Olympic star Jakob (24) shared claims of mental and physical abuse in 2023; Gjert was their coach until 2022. The father was charged with abuse by Norwegian authorities in April.
Now 58, Gjert was indicted on 29 November; his lawyers issued a statement:
“Gjert Ingebrigtsen maintains what he has said all along, that he does not admit criminal guilt for the offences he has been charged with and that he has never subjected any of his children to either physical or mental abuse.”
The BBC reported that “Gjert was charged with one offence in April – but five cases were dropped on the strength of evidence and one other because of time constraints,” and prosecutor Birgitte Budal Lovlund explained, “I can confirm that Gjert Ingebrigtsen on November 29th was indicted by our office for physical and mental abuse of his son Jakob Ingebrigtsen.”
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The German athletics federation announced that Ilke Wyludda, the 1996 Olympic women’s discus champion, has passed away at age 55 on Sunday (1st).
She threw for East Germany until 1990, then for Germany until retiring in 2000. She was ninth at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, won in Atlanta and was seventh at Sydney in 2000; she retired after the 2000 season. She won World Championships silvers for Germany in 1991 and 1995. She finished with a best of 74.56 m (244-7) from 1989, still equal-second all-time.
Due to sepsis, she had her right leg amputated in 2011 and became the first German athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games when she participated at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
● Football ● A horrific scene in Nzerekore, the second-largest city in Guinea, saw fans storm the field on Sunday after the referee called a penalty and sent off two players from the visiting team from Labe near the end of the game.
Labe fans rushed onto the field, throwing stones, with police responding with tear gas. The resulting race to get out of the Stade du 3 Avril caused spectators to be crushed. At least 56 have died, but the total could be much higher.
Guinea is one of five countries which are not allowed by the Confederation of African Football to host international matches because of sub-standard facilities.
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FIFA posted the nominees for its “The Best” awards, with fan voting open to 10 December 2024, for men, women, coaches, keepers, the “Best 11″ and more.
U.S. Soccer has multiple nominees, including women’s coach Emma Hayes (GBR), and women’s players Lindsey Horan, Mallory Swanson, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman (five of the 16 nominees) and keeper Alyssa Naeher. Rodman is also up for the first Marta Award, celebrating the best goal of 2024.
Three-time men’s award winner Lionel Messi of Argentina is once again a nominee.
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