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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2012: London ● The Athletics Integrity Unit announced Tuesday that no appeal was filed by Russian runner Tatyana Tomashova over her disqualification for doping at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Tomashova, originally fourth in the women’s 1,500 m in London, was moved up to second in view of two doping disqualifications ahead of her. But she was disqualified in September by the AIU based on data from the Moscow Laboratory concerning Russia’s state-sponsored doping program from 2011-15.
So, with Tomashova officially disqualified, the medal winners are now Maryam Jamal (BRN: 4:10.74), Abeba Aregawi (ETH: 4:11.03) and Shannon Rowbury of the U.S. (4:11.26), who was originally sixth. The International Olympic Committee has been notified and can proceed with a re-allocation of medals.
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● A French Senate budget report for 2025, detailed by the Le Monde daily, said that the security costs related to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris cost €1.14 billion or about $1.21 billion U.S.
The primary components were the police force (€813.9 million from 2020-24) and the gendarmerie staff (€327 million from 2022-25), including personnel costs, operations and equipment. There were bonus payments made as part of this total for having everyone available during the normally more relaxed summer months.
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The International Testing Agency reported that its pre-Olympic testing program for 2024 reached almost 90% of all athletes who ended up coming in Paris:
“A total of 31,8963 tests were implemented on the 10,720 athletes who participated in the Games. Out of these 10,720 athletes, 1,108 (10.3%) were not tested in the six months before the Games. This represents a significant improvement compared to the corresponding period before Tokyo 2020 where 14 to 15% of the athletes were not tested.”
This testing level was increased by about 45% over the prior six months, with 59% of all tests done by national anti-doping agencies and 41% by the International Federations.
Based on a pre-Games evaluation of potential doping risks, 76.3% of athletes were tested at their estimated risk level or above. Another 13.4% were tested once, below their risk level and 10.3% were not tested at all. In individual events, some 75.4% were tested at the recommended level, 16.2% tested once and 8.4% not tested at all.
In terms of medal winners, 89.5% were tested prior to the Games according to their risk level; 7.1% were tested once and 3.4% were not tested pre-Games.
The U.S. (98% of all athletes tested according to recommendations), China (99%) and Hungary (99%) were the most-tested teams, followed by Germany (96%) and Japan (95%).
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Work on the new Cortina sliding track is continuing at an accelerated pace and is on schedule for certification tests next March.
The Associated Press shared a report from Fabio Saldini, the head of the government’s Societa Infrastructure Milano Cortina (SiMiCo), saying “The timeline is being respected in view of the pre-homologation in March.”
A SiMiCo report added, “The top part of the track is being finalized. Checks on several different parts of the track are ongoing, with specific attention being made to the refrigeration system.” More than 180 workers are at the site, with others assembling components elsewhere in Italy.
● International Olympic Committee ● Vault coach Vitaliy Petrov and diving coach Jane Figueiredo were named as the IOC’s Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award winners for 2024. Petrov, a long-time coach and teacher in Ukraine, was the coach of Ukrainian superstar and world-record holder Sergey Bubka and later Philippine star E.J. Obiena.
Figuieredo, born in Zimbabwe, was a diving Olympian for Portugal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She became the diving coach at the University of Houston from 1990-2014 and then took over the British diving program in 2014, helping Olympic stars Tom Daley and Matty Lee, among others.
● Russia ● The Russian Olympic Committee reported income of 643.1 million rubles for November 2023 to September 2024, about $6.39 million U.S.
The story posted by the Russian news agency TASS said “the ROC has not received funds from the federal budget for 12 years.” The ROC reported reserves of 3.657 billion rubles, or about $36.36 million U.S.
● Alpine Skiing ● American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin posted the name for her eighth reindeer “won” at the Levi World Cup Slalom in Finland:
“Meet ‘Rori’ short for ‘Aurora Borealis’…which I was so excited to see for the first time earlier this week!!”
She previously named Rudolph (in 2013), Sven (2016), Mr. Gru (2018), Ingemar (2019), Sunny and Lorax (2022 races), and Grogu in 2023. The victory was Shiffrin’s 98th career World Cup gold, extending her own all-time record.
● Basketball ● Three U.S. stars who won Olympic gold medals – Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Cappie Pondexter – were voted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, and will be inducted on 14 June 2025 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Bird won five Olympic golds in 2004-08-12-16-20 and four World Championship titles with the U.S. in 2002-10-14-18, as a playmaking guard, plus four WNBA titles with the Seattle Storm.
Fowles, a 6-6 center, won four Olympic golds in 2008-12-16-20 and a world title in 2010 with the U.S., and two WNBA titles with Minnesota. Pondexter, a 5-9 guard, was a member of the 2008 Olympic gold-medal team and was a two-time WNBA champion with Phoenix.
● Boxing ● The Asian Boxing Confederation will meet in an Extraordinary Congress on 23 November to consider whether to be “an independent organization until any new international organizations is recognized by the International Olympic Committee.”
This would essentially be a transitional move away from the International Boxing Association and toward World Boxing, which is trying to become the IOC-recognized governing body for Olympic boxing.
So, the IBA, following its usual script, has injected money into the debate, announcing last Friday that it “has allocated $500,000 prize money fund for medallists and quarterfinalists of the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships that will take place in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 28 November – 12 December.”
The top three finishers will receive $8,000-4,000-2,000 with $1,000 for the quarterfinalists in all divisions. The IBA was expelled from the Olympic Movement in June 2023 and the International Olympic Committee has stated that it will not recognize fighters from national federations still affiliated with the IBA.
● Equestrian ● Olympic Jumping champion Christian Kukuk (GER) was honored as the Peden Bloodstock FEI Best Athlete Award winner for 2024, at the FEI Awards Gala in Abu Dhabi (UAE).
● Football ● The U.S. men’s National Team has little trouble with Jamaica in the second leg of their CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal on Monday in St. Louis, Missouri, winning 4-2 and finished with a 5-2 combined total.
Midfield star Christian Pulisic scored in the 13th minute, Jamaican defender DiShon Bernard suffered an own goal in the 33rd off a Pulisic shot that deflected into the net, and striker Ricardo Pepi made the lead 3-0 before halftime with a 42nd-minute goal. Jamaican forward Demarai Gray got two second-half goals, but Tim Weah scored in the 56th for the U.S. and the final was 4-2.
The U.S. had 67% possession and a 16-9 shots advantage. The CONCACAF semis will take place in March.
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Multiple reports confirmed that the ban on Russian teams is being continued by FIFA and UEFA, meaning a Russian team will not play in the European qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and will not participate in the tournament.
FIFA has followed the International Olympic Committee’s call for a continuing ban on Russian teams since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
● Freestyle Skiing & Snowboard ● “The Snow League,” a four-stop circuit of halfpipe skiing and snowboarding led by three-time Olympic champion Shaun White of the U.S., will debut on 7-8 March in Aspen, Colorado, to be televised by NBC.
The other three stops are to be announced; the circuit is to pay $1.5 million in prize money.
● Gymnastics ● Simone Biles’ “Gold Over America” tour concluded in early November and she posted on Instagram:
“7 weeks, countless memories, and endless gratitude. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported this journey after the success we had in Paris Your energy and love fuel everything I do. Forever thankful, forever inspired”
Biles, 27, told reporters in Paris after her Olympic individual event finals:
“This is my last, definitely Yurchenko double pike [vault]. I mean I kind of nailed that one. So never say never. … The next Olympics is at home, so you just never know. But I am getting really old.”
● Volleyball ● As a final show of support for his 12 years as FIVB President, Brazilian Ary Graca was elected as FIVB Honorary President during the FIVB World Congress that closed Sunday in Porto (POR).
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