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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Memorabilia ● The Sportlympique X auction comes on 3 December, with 327 lots offered by Vermot & Associates of France. The stars of the auction are Olympic torches from 11 different Games, including a 2024 Paris Olympic torch, the first to be auctioned in France (€1 = $1.06 U.S.):
● 1948 London Olympic torches (2): €1,800-2,500 estimate for each
● 1964 Tokyo Olympic torch: €4,000-5,000 estimate
● 1968 Mexico City Olympic torch: €3,000-5,000 estimate
● 1988 Seoul Olympic torch: €3,300-4,000 estimate
● 1992 Barcelona Olympic torch: €2,000-3,000 estimate
● 2004 Athens Olympic torch: €1,800-2,400 estimate
● 2006 Turin Olympic Winter torch: €1,500-2,000 estimate
● 2008 Beijing Olympic torch: €2,000-3,000 estimate
● 2010 Vancouver Olympic winter torch: €1,800-2,400 estimate
● 2016 Rio Olympic torch: €1,800-2,500 estimate
● 2024 Paris Olympic torch: €13,2000-20,000 estimate
The 1968 Mexico City torch is especially interesting, as it was specially engraved for the final torchbearer, hurdler Enriqueta Basilio, the first woman to be the final Olympic torchbearer.
Also of interest is an early copy of the Olympic flag, this one a framed, 26-by-35 model from about 1914, mirroring the flags ordered by modern Games founder Pierre de Coubertin of France at Le Bon Marche. It’s estimated to bring from €300–500. Two other lots feature lesser-known books by de Coubertin.
● Athletics ● The Boston Athletic Association, owners and operators of the Boston Marathon, announced Tuesday:
“The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) has elected to issue voluntary payments to athletes who were adversely affected by doping offenses at B.A.A. events. …
“The B.A.A. is identifying and contacting athletes whose results were re-ranked due to a disqualification within prize money placings since 1986, when prize money was first offered.
“The B.A.A. is working to ensure voluntary payments are received by impacted athletes. For any athlete whose finishing place among the prize money positions was adversely affected by the ultimate disqualification of another athlete, the B.A.A. will issue a voluntary payment for the difference the athlete did not receive due to re-ranked results.
“The B.A.A. continues to attempt to re-claim prize money that has been paid out in the past. The process of identifying all affected athletes has begun.”
Payments will begin in January 2025. The B.A.A. had previously had a policy of paying the legitimate winners of prize money only after recovering previously-paid money from athletes later disqualified for doping.
● Cycling ● The annual seminar for the UCI World Tour and Women’s World Tour was held in Nice (FRA) on Monday and Tuesday and included an important medical note:
“Seminar participants were also brought up to date on the current knowledge of the effects on performance of repeated carbon monoxide (CO) inhalation. The UCI clearly asks teams and riders not to use repeated CO inhalation. Only the medical use of a single inhalation of CO in a controlled medical environment could be acceptable. The UCI is also officially requesting the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to take a position on the use of this method by athletes.”
● Sailing ● A new strategy document from World Sailing – “Ready for the Future” – describes the federation’s plans for 2025-29, in a 15-page presentation now posted. The priorities, per World Sailing chief executive David Graham (GBR):
● Commercial and Events: “Embracing digital technologies, we will enable delivery of world-class events which are exciting to watch, easy to understand and easy to find,
underpinned by a commercial strategy which strengthens our investment in the sport.”
● Growth: “We will work with our National Federations, Classes and Continental Associations to provide more opportunities for more people to reach their potential through sailing.”
● Governance: “We will implement our newly transformed governance model, enabling us to operate efficiently, transparently and collaboratively in the best interests of our members and our sport as a whole.”
● Impact: “We will generate measurable economic, environmental and social impact for our global sailing community.”
In the events area, the goal is to simplify the World Sailing events schedule all the way to 2032 to draw better focus to specific races, and to develop a new, transformational presentation of the sport by 2028.
This will be a considerable challenge, with 140 member national federations and about 120 different equipment class which hold championship events.
● Weightlifting ● Doping nearly cost weightlifting its place on the Olympic program. So the International Weightlifting Federation was pretty happy to announce that all 120 of the lifters who competed in Paris this summer were tested prior to the Games. Per IWF President Mohammed Jalood (IRQ);
“These numbers and unprecedented level of testing demonstrate our full determination in the fight against doping in our Sport. It also certifies that we had a fair and clean competition in Paris. The IWF, together with the ITA, is taking this matter very seriously and we are happy to see that this strategy is proving successful. I take the opportunity to thank our National Federations for their effort and commitment to keeping weightlifting going in the right direction.”
The IWF announcement also underlined preventative measures in place, adding “100% of the athletes who qualified for the Paris Olympic Games received anti-doping education as per the mandatory IWF/ITA requirements.”
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