★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The Russian sports minister, Mikhail Degtyarev, told Russian Match TV that the Russian “neutrals” presence at the 2026 Winter Games will be small:
“You can count them and it will be no more than 15 to 20. That is the maximum number we can hope to send under the present conditions. Nevertheless, we will be represented. We must broadcast, watch, and support our team. Every victory will be worth its weight in gold, particularly under such difficult circumstances.”
Russian and Belarusian “neutrals” have the possibility to qualify in the skating sports, bobsled, luge and skeleton and possibly in skiing events, depending on the outcome of a Court of Arbitration for Sport case now pending, with the decision to come on or about 10 December.
Russia had 15 athletes qualify as “neutrals” for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
¶
Fun story on the Milan Cortina 2026 Web site on the origin of the “kiss and cry” figure skating area where skaters sit to see their scores. In short:
“The term ‘kiss and cry’ was coined in 1983 by Finnish judge Jane Erkko during the organisation of the world championships in Helsinki. As part of the organising committee, Erkko was creating a map of the facility to share with television stations and decided to give an area beside the rink this unique name.
“The Sarajevo 1984 Olympic Winter Games were the first Olympic Games to officially feature the ‘kiss and cry’. The expression gained popularity in the early 1990s and is now regulated by the International Skating Union.”
● International Paralympic Committee ● While there are those who insist that sport and politics are separate, that is not at all true for the International Paralympic Committee. IPC Deputy Chief Executive Kristina Malloy (CAN) underlined this last week at the “Future in Play: International Forum on Inclusive Sport” in Santiago (CHI):
“The Paris 2024 Call to Action gave guidance to governments on the role of Para sport as a tool to dismantle barriers, changes perceptions, and drive structural reform in sport, education and media systems. A year later this work is being further strengthened with global policy standards and roadmap for collective action. By acting now, governments can leverage sport to reduce inequalities and empower the most marginalised groups, especially the world’s 1.3 billion persons with disabilities.”
Adopted in 2024, the UNESCO-sponsored “Paris 2024 Call to Action” asked U.N. member states to, among many other things:
“Strengthen collaboration across ministries and between different layers of stakeholders to ensure sufficient funding for Para sport as well as for quality physical education inclusive of persons with disabilities.”
● Deaflympics ● The International Committee for Sports for the Deaf, meeting following the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics, selected Athens, Greece, for the next Games in 2029.
● Basketball ● The U.S. won both the men’s and women’s FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup titles on Sunday in Leon (MEX), as the men defeated Puerto Rico, 21-15, and the women got past Canada, 21-19.
Cameron Forte led the U.S. men with eight points, and was named Most Valuable Player. Allisha Gray scored the deciding two points for the American women on free throws and also won MVP honors.
¶
The U.S. men’s national team meets Nicaragua in the second of a home-and-home series in the FIBA World Cup 2027 Americas qualifiers on Monday in Atlanta, with tip-off at 7:10 p.m. local time.
Results will follow when available.
● Football ● FIFA announced that following the 2026 World Cup Final Draw on 5 December (Friday), the actual match schedules and times will be unveiled on Saturday, 6 December at noon Eastern time.
The sites and kick-off times for all 104 matches will be detailed, available on the FIFA YouTube channel and FIFA.com.
¶
The American women’s National Team plays Italy in the second half of their two-match series, this time in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Results will be included in this post when available.
● Rowing ● World Rowing has been in the forefront of “e-sport” adventures, introducing a an “indoor” championships – using rowing machines – back in 2018. Now, it is expanding with a trial of new “World Rowing Super60 Singapore 2025” concepts in Singapore:
“The Super60 featured three main initiatives: The mass-participation, Super 60 Challenge, where athletes had to row as far as possible in 60 seconds; The Singapore National Indoor Rowing Championships, with 500m, 2000m, and relay races being offered; and the World Rowing Versa Challenge, featuring 16 world-class athletes, including Singapore wild cards.
“The World Rowing Versa Challenge – Indoor Rowing’s premier multi-event championship – arrived in Asia for the first time, attracting top athletes from around the world. Across five intense events, competitors demonstrated extraordinary power, versatility, and endurance.”
Swede Anders Enquist and Britain’s Charlotte Dixon won the Versa Challenge titles last weekend.
Observed: This kind of “connected” sport, which allows simultaneous competitions or measured competitions worldwide is another kind of “e-sport” which can be used to attract participation, beyond the online gaming which so many people are focused on. This sector bears watching more closely in the future; how many Olympic sports could be involved with this type of competition? Cycling and shooting and …?
● Swimming ● The City of Paris’ winning – and costly – effort to renovate the Seine River to allow swimming in advance of the 2024 Olympic Games, after the river had been closed to swimmers since 1923, is raising questions elsewhere.
World Aquatics posted a Friday story of the premiere in Britain of a documentary film, “The Thames Swim Against Sewage”:
“Swimmers from across the United Kingdom united for a three-day, 263-kilometre non-stop relay swim [in September] from the source of the River Thames to Westminster, the heart of the nation’s government, to advocate for cleaner waterways.
“In response to the urgent need for action to protect the UK’s rivers, lakes, streams, and seas, a film documenting a relay swim undertaken by eight elite British swimmers premiered last night in London. This group included Paris 2024 Olympians Toby Robinson and Hector Pardoe, as well as world championships competitor Amber Keegan. Emily Forwood, Colleen Blair, Calum Maclean, Jessika Robson, and Daniel Smyth completed the eight-time line-up of elite swimmers taking on the challenge.
“The record-breaking swim attempt was abandoned just outside London due to unsafe water quality, as confirmed by citizen science testing. The film highlights several instances in which the swimmers passed by open sewer drains discharging directly into the Thames, revealing the polluted water they had to navigate. After the relay, Keegan fell ill with symptoms likely due to sewage exposure, despite all the safety precautions taken. Her experience is far from unique; thousands of people report similar illnesses every year.”
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 850-event International Sports Calendar for 2025, 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
