PANORAMA: Paralympics to have 25,000 police for security; Roglic takes Vuelta lead; tennis no. 1 Sinner cleared of doping charge

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Paralympic Games 2024: Paris ● French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Tuesday that about 25,000 police officers will provide security for the Paris Paralympics and that no significant threats have been made against the event.

In-venue security will be handled by an additional 10,000 private security officials from the Paris 2024 organizing committee. The Paralympics is expected to welcome 4,400 athletes in all.

The Paralympic Torch Relay will start on 24 August, from Stoke Mandeville, England, where a sports program for disabled veterans from World War II was held in parallel with the 1948 Olympic Games in London. That event eventually became today’s Paralympic Games.

The Paris Paralympic opening will be on 28 August, after the Paralympic Flame is run through the Channel Tunnel into France and then spread about 12 torchbearers, starting a program of 1,200 torchbearers running through 50 locals over four days, meeting again at the Paralympic opening in Paris on 28 August.

Russian media were not allowed to be accredited for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, based on a decision of the French government. Same for the Paralympics, where two TASS journalists were refused accreditation for the event by the Paris 2024 organizers, referring to instructions from the French authorities.

Russia has 88 athletes accredited for the Paralympics, with the approvals of two others still in process.

● Cycling ● Spain’s Mikel Landa attacked in the final 400 m of the climb up to the Pico Villuercas in central Spain at the end of stage 4 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, but was caught by Belgium’s Lennert van Eetvelt.

Then, van Eetvelt was himself caught right at the line by three-time Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic (SLO), with the top seven all timing 4:26:49 for the 170.5 km first climbing stage. Portugal’s Joao Almeida finished third and Spain’s Enric Mas fourth.

Roglic now takes over the race lead, with an eight-second lead on Almeida and 32 seconds on Mas. Defending champ Sepp Kuss of the U.S. is 13th, 1:14 back of the leader.

● Football ● Multiple reports have identified Argentine Mauricio Pochettino as the next coach of the U.S. men’s national team, with contract details still being worked out with English Premier League club Chelsea, which fired him with year to go on his contract.

The men’s team has four matches scheduled in the fall:

● 07 Sep.: vs. Canada in Kansas City
● 10 Sep.: vs. New Zealand in Cincinnati
● 12 Oct.: vs. Panama in Austin
● 15 Oct.: vs. Mexico at Guadalajara

The match in Guadalajara will be the first-ever visit for the U.S. men to the Estadio Akron, which will be one of the venues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

FIFA announced that Bank of America has joined as the “Official Bank Sponsor” of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. It’s FIFA’s first-ever global bank sponsor.

Under continuing pressure from domestic leagues, the FIFPRO players association and the World Leagues Association about the expansion of FIFA events, notably the 2025 Club World Cup to be played in the U.S., FIFA has said it will entertain discussions about the international match and tournament calendar.

Earlier this month, a FIFA spokesperson told the BBC:

“Fifa has reiterated an invitation to meet and discuss the calendar with World Leagues Association and Fifpro, having received no response to a letter on 10 May 2024.

“Fifa believes there is a more productive way forward for football than the threat of legal action and the offer to engage in dialogue remains on the table.”

● Shooting ● Six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode of the U.S. said in an interview that she plans to compete for a spot on the U.S. team at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

She won gold-silver-gold in Double Trap in 1996-2000-2004, then had to switch to Skeet as Double Trap was eliminated from the program. She didn’t miss a beat, winning silver-gold-bronze in Beijing, London and Rio in 2016, medaling in six straight Games She just missed making the American teams for Tokyo and Paris.

Now 45 and a Vice President of the International Shooting Sports Federation, she said:

“I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I love. I’ve had some pretty major bumps in the road. But I want to be defined by what I did on the field, and in the legacy of helping the sport and people, not on all the challenges I had, because there are people out there with much worse things than me that they are having to deal with.

“And I think it’s also important to say that’s really what the Olympics represent, which is overcoming obstacles.”

Asked what she has found so special about the Olympic Games:

“When you are at the Olympics you are surrounded by the best of the best in every sport in the world. And you kind of just take that for granted, you don’t even realize how incredible some of these people’s stories are.

“And then when you do take the time to talk to them you find how similar our stories are. The reality is that we all have struggles, we all had obstacles that we had to overcome. And we were all able to be successful and to be there. It’s incredible to be surrounded by so many people that are like-minded.”

● Tennis ● Men’s world no. 1 Jannik Sinner (ITA) was cleared of doping in a March incident, according to the International Tennis Integrity Agency:

“[A]n independent tribunal convened by Sport Resolutions has ruled that Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner bears No Fault or Negligence for two Anti-Doping Rule Violations under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP), having twice tested positive for the prohibited substance clostebol in March 2024.”

Sinner was provisionally suspended, but demonstrated the source of the positive and was allowed to continue competing. In specific:

“The player explained that the substance had entered their system as a result of contamination from a support team member, who had been applying an over-the-counter spray (available in Italy) containing clostebol to their own skin to treat a small wound. That support team member applied the spray between 5 and 13 March, during which time they also provided daily massages and sports therapy to Sinner, resulting in unknowing transdermal contamination.  

“Following consultation with scientific experts, who concluded that the player’s explanation was credible, the ITIA did not oppose the player’s appeals to lift the provisional suspensions.”

The matter was heard by an independent panel, which determined a “no fault” finding. Because of the positive, however, Sinner’s results at the ATP Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells, were nullified, and he loses both the prize money and ranking points won. The decision could be appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

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