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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● French counter-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen said Wednesday that forces were able to shut down three planned attacks on the Olympic Games in Paris. The Associated Press reported:
“In all, five people, including a minor, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the three foiled plots against the Summer Games … The suspects are facing various terrorism-related charges while they remain in pretrial detention, the prosecutor said.”
Among the planned actions were attacks against Israeli institutions or their representatives, although the Israeli Olympic team was not a defined target.
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A survey of Paris businesses found that those within security districts related to the Games suffered. An Associated Press story noted, for example:
“For Patrick Aboukrat, whose association represents 190 shopkeepers and restaurant owners in Paris’ central Marais neighborhood, the Olympics were ‘more than catastrophic.’ From mid-June to the end of July, sales were down roughly 35% to 40% on average in the area, he said.”
Other merchants observed that after the costs of travel, hotels, meals and Olympic tickets, few visitors had money for shopping. French government data indicated 1.7 million international visitors came to Paris during the Olympics, up 13% from 2023.
● Olympic Winter Games 2034: Salt Lake City ● The head of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation and a key member of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, Colin Hilton, saw the power of Olympic venues during his inspection tour of Paris during the Olympic Games:
“They had given a ticket to every local citizen to be able to come out and see kids in the community performing at the Olympic venue in skateboard, and they didn’t care that it wasn’t the Olympic event.
“They were at this Olympic venue and seeing this. So I was like, ‘Oh my god, we gotta do this for slopestyle, big air competitions in downtown Salt Lake.’”
● Commonwealth Games 2026 ● British and Scottish government officials are skittish about agreeing to have the 2026 Commonwealth Games rescued by Glasgow, which successfully held the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Although Commonwealth Games Scotland proposed a privately-funded Games on 30 August, with most of the money coming from the exit fee paid by the Australian state of Victoria, there are worried about costs and reputation.
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray told reporters on Tuesday:
“I think the UK and Scottish governments have both been clear, there’s no public money to invest or underwrite the Commonwealth Games, but you know, we’re leaving no stone unturned in what we can do to help.
“There’s obviously a role for the UK Government in terms of visas, wider security issues, around terrorism, those kinds of issues which [the Department for Culture, Media and Sport] I know are working through.
“So we want there to be a positive outcome here, and we’re working with Scottish Government to make sure we can get one.
“The games themselves, I think, will be fully covered by the Commonwealth Games [Federation] and the Glasgow organising committee, I think they’ve got a big contingency in there too. So the games themselves are not the issue. I think it’s the issues around the games that are the discussion points at the moment.”
Neal Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, was also cautious:
“There are risks inherent here that we need to bottom out, that we are working with both the UK Government, the Commonwealth Games Scotland and the Federation, to understand.
“It is a new concept. It is untested. The figures that we are being quoted are ambitious, and of course, we continue to be ambitious.
“But when there is an ambitious program and an ambitious target within the financial envelope that inherently draws risk, and we have already set out the situation that we have with the public purse.”
Gray also noted that the smaller program of 10 sports – 20 were held in Birmingham (ENG) in 2022 – could be a “reputational risk.”
It was noted that government spending on security issues for Birmingham 2022 amounted to £41.9 million (about $54.65 million U.S.).
● Anti-Doping ● The New York Times reported that the World Anti-Doping Agency was trying to keep Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy – the White House liaison agency on anti-doping matters – from being involved in Executive Committee discussions concerning the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine in January 2021.
The story said a White House attorney wrote a nine-page letter to WADA, including
“Any attempt to impose preliminary measures will be met with strong opposition and appropriate action(s) from the United States government.”
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said that the full report of former Vaud attorney general Eric Cottier‘s limited inquiry concerning WADA’s actions in response to the 23 Chinese positives in 2021 is to be provided to the WADA Executive Committee on Thursday.
● Russia ● Commenting on the just-completed Paris Olympic Games, Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov said Wednesday:
“The obvious proof that the Olympic Movement is really in its decline, is that within such relatively short period of time there was a transformation of ideals, traditions, as well as an utter disregard of all traditions.”
He said this was not because of Russian athletes being almost completely banned from the Games, but referring to boxers Imane Khelif (ALG) and Yu-Ting Lin (TPE) being allowed to compete after being disqualified a year earlier by the International Boxing Association, now de-recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
The IBA is led by Umar Kremlev, the former Secretary General of the Russian Boxing Federation.
● Athletics ● American shot superstar Ryan Crouser notched another win in the Gaia dei Castelli, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet, in Bellinzona (SUI) on Monday, reaching 22.25 m (73-0) on this fourth throw. That was enough to win over countryman Payton Otterdahl (21.61 m/70-10 3/4), with three-time Olympic silver winner Joe Kovacs fifth at 21.07 m (69-1 1/2).
Fellow American Bryce Deadmon won the men’s 400 m in 44.76 over Matthew Boling of the U.S. (45.30), but Olympic 110 m hurdles victor Grant Holloway was edged by France’s Sasha Zhoya, 13.22 to 13.23 (wind: +0.7). It was Holloway’s second loss of the season; Cordell Tinch was third at 13.54.
Americans Tamari Davis and Anavia Battle won the women’s sprints in 10.97 (+0.5) and 22.58 (+1.0) respectively, and Tokyo 2020 women’s 100 m hurdles gold winner Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) edged Grace Stark of the U.S., 12.52 to 12.54 (+0.6) in their race.
European women’s vault champ Angelica Moser (SUI) thrilled the home crowd with a win over two-time World Indoor winner Sandi Morris of the U.S., clearing 4.64 m (15-2 3/4) to 4.54 m (14-10 3/4) for Morris.
● Bobsled ● Sweden’s Ludmila Engquist, the Olympic women’s 100 m hurdles champion at Atlanta 1996, who won World Championships golds in the event in 1991 for the USSR (as Ludmila Narozhilenko) and for Sweden in 1997, admitted to doping to get out of bobsledding.
In an Swedish television (SVT) interview, Engquist, now 60, said that she wanted to win Olympic medals in track and bobsleigh and got involved with the Swedish bob federation. But it didn’t turn out too well. She explained it in her memoir, coming out Friday; in the interview story:
“Engquist admits that during a visit to Russia in the summer of 2001 she bought a protein powder that she knew contained methandrostenolone, an anabolic steroid known in Sweden as ‘Russian fives,’ and drank it with water.”
She knew what she was doing:
“I hated bobsledding. It was a complete nightmare. Constant unhappiness; before, during and after training – day and night. …
“There was nothing to hide, I wanted to get caught. End the madness. Get rid of the fear. No one could have stopped me, not even myself. Now the doping police would take me. …
“I have made enormous mistakes and I am, in a way, a product of my defeats. They shaped me, for better or for worse.”
● Boxing ● The new World Boxing federation announced that Algeria and Japan have joined, bringing the membership total to 44.
These are the sixth and seventh federations to join since the close of the Paris Olympic Games, but still well short of being sufficient for recognition by the International Olympic Committee.
● Breaking ● Breaking had its Olympic moment in Paris and is not on the program for 2028, but is in the news again thanks to an embarrassing situation of its own making.
Australian Olympic breaker Dr. Rachael Gunn – competing as “Raygun” – lost her three pool-stage Olympic matches by a combined score of 54-0 and was promptly eliminated. But she is suddenly the world’s top-ranked female breaker according to the World Dancesport Federation rankings.
How can this be?
The WDSF explained in a statement:
“The WDSF Breaking World Ranking List is governed by the WDSF Breaking Rules and Regulations Manual (BRRM) and is updated based on each athlete’s top four performances within the past 12 months. Points earned in these competitions remain valid for 52 weeks from the date of the event.”
It was noted, however, that due to “limited athlete quotas,” neither of the Olympic Qualifying Series events or the Olympic Games counted in the newest ranking totals.
Raygun’s major point surge, from winning the Oceania Continental Championships in October 2023, will expire after 12 months.
It’s an embarrassment that will not be forgotten when the WDSF asks to be on the program in Brisbane (AUS) in 2032, when Raygun will be 44.
● Hockey ● Pakistan’s Mohammad Tayyab is the only candidate for President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH), with the list of candidates posted on Tuesday.
Tayyab was elected in November 2022 to fill an open seat after India’s Narinder Batra resigned, so after the FIH Congress on 9 November, he will be serving a first full term.
● Ski Jumping ● Norwegian star Daniel Andre Tande, 30, has decided to retire. He won a Team Large Hill gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games as well as four Ski Flying Worlds golds (3 team, 1 individual) and eight FIS World Cup victories. But it was time:
“After my bad fall in Planica [SLO] just over three years ago, I needed time to realize that my fear of ski jumping was perhaps greater than I initially thought. That’s why it feels right to end my ski jumping career now.”
His crash on the giant, ski-flying hill in Planica in March 2021 was so serious he had to be resuscitated in the outrun. But he recovered fully and returned the next season. He added:
“I have fulfilled many dreams in my career, two of the biggest highlights are the World Championship gold in ski flying in Oberstdorf in 2018 and the World Cup victory at Holmenkollen in 2022.
“I’m keeping all my options open for the future and I’m excited about what’s to come.”
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