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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Russia ● Dmitry Svishchev, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, told the Russian news agency TASS the Olympic world will be impacted by Friday’s meeting in Alaska between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Russian invasion of Ukraine:
“If the negotiations have a positive outcome, then this will definitely be projected onto sports.
“If certain agreements are reached between countries, then this will have a positive impact. The International Olympic Committee and international federations will also monitor the progress of the negotiations, expecting to receive signals. No matter how much the federations claim there is no politicization, much will depend on political decisions.”
Other Russian politicians noted that sports issues are not likely to come up during the talks, but that the outcome of any peace process – if there is any progress – could significantly impact how Russia is viewed by the IOC and the sports federations.
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The concept of venue naming rights at the 2028 Olympic Games was in development well before Thursday’s announcement by the LA28 organizers about an expansion of sponsor opportunities to include it going forward.
In an AdAge interview, Honda North America Vice President for Digital Services Ed Beadle explained that the retention of naming rights for the Honda Center in Anaheim was baked into its LA28 sponsorship agreement, announced on 2 June 2025:
“[T]hroughout the Honda Center, we’re actually going to be able to retain that name. The first time in the Olympics history where a venue kept its branding. And for us, that’s a huge win. You talked about like how you value a sponsorship and you know, the easy part is the media. So that has a clear math to it. There’s comparable ad units, there’s history and you can score it. So what you’re really trying to do as a marketer is close that value on sponsorship.
“The Olympics is an emotional hook, but how do you really measure that? So when you think about elements like branding of an actual venue, that’s that much more incremental value exposure on the broadcast – and it’s volleyball, which I don’t know if you can think of a more California sport than that. It runs the whole two full weeks. So I think that’s one exciting breaking news that no one’s talked about yet.”
As to why Honda sponsored LA28, Beadle noted:
“[T]he fact that it’s in Los Angeles is a pretty big deal for us. It’s our home turf. Honda dedicates so many resources to where they are, wherever Honda is, we have a history of investing in Los Angeles. We’ve been a huge part of the Rose Parade. We have the Honda Center. It is our home turf. So from that alone, we needed to look at it. And when we went down there, there was this great feeling overall. …
“As we looked at the map, you know, they have one of those massive city maps where it has all the different points where the events were going to be. You could just visualize. I wrote a little bit about it, about the Honda Marine picking up a surfer or Moto Compacto as being the last mile transportation between events. So it aligned beyond just an auto play. We looked at it like, this is perfect.”
● World Games 2025: Chengdu ● Archery sells itself as a lifetime sport and in Chengdu, Australian star Simon Fairweather is living proof.
Now 55, he was a five-time Olympian in Recurve, and the 1991 World Champion and 2000 Olympic champ in Sydney. But, with wife Nicky, he’s in the archery equipment business and picked up Barebow archery – with less sophisticated bows – in 2019. Now, they’re both representing Australia again, in Chengdu.
The World Games has Field Archery, a walking tour with marked and unmarked targets that mimics the ancient hunting concept; the started on Thursday and the Barebow competition will end on Saturday (16th).
● Commonwealth Games 2030 ● The Indian Olympian Association approved the bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, with Commonwealth Sport scheduled to make the selection at its 2025 General Assembly in Glasgow (SCO) in November.
There is interest from other bidders, such as Canada and Nigeria; the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi were marked by corruption and mismanagement.
● Deaflympics 2025: Tokyo ● Organizers of the 15-26 November Deaflympics in Tokyo will use new techniques to make sport more accessible to those with hearing issues. Kyodo News reported:
“At the judo venue, devices provided at the spectators’ seats will send vibrations that enable them to feel the impact of judokas’ dynamic throws. …
“Messages will be transmitted in sign language on big screens at every venue, as well as in text. Athletes’ announcements and emergency notifications will also be made via text.”
● Athletics ● World Athletics unveiled its “brand design” for its 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, featuring a blue, white and red “Star Flare” icon to symbolize the energy and explosiveness of the event.
The meet is slated for 11-13 September 2026, with Swedish vault superstar Mondo Duplantis named the first “Ultimate Star.”
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USA Track & Field named a 50-member team for the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Championships to be held in Nassau (BAH) from Friday through Sunday.
The men’s team includes 2025 national champions such as Ja’Kobe Tharp (110 hurdles), Olympic Steeple silver winner Kenneth Rooks, high jumper Tyus Wilson, long jumper Isaac Grimes, shot star Josh Awotunde, discus winner Reggie Jagers, hammer winner Rudy Winkler and javelin victor Curtis Thompson. The women’s team has high jump winner Vashti Cunningham and javelin champ Evie Bliss, along with sprint star TeeTee Terry and Lynna Irby-Jackson.
Several are chasing World Championships qualifying marks so they do not have to depend on the World Athletics Rankings to determine whether they will be in Tokyo in September.
● Biathlon ● Biathlon is not an NCAA or NAIA sport, but it is now supported at Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York, with scholarships for qualified biathletes:
“The new scholarship program recognizes the unique demands faced by student-athletes in biathlon, a sport that combines the rigorous training requirements of cross-country skiing and rifle marksmanship with the pursuit of higher education. Through this partnership, qualified biathletes will receive financial support to help make their college education more accessible while maintaining their competitive training regimen.”
Founded in 1946, Paul Smith’s is a small college, with less than 1,000 students, but on a 14,000-acre campus, with its own Nordic skiing and biathlon center, and only 21 miles from the winter-sport hub of Lake Placid.
● Boxing ● A new process from World Boxing is being installed at federation championships to monitor referee performance, now used by Asian Boxing at its U-19 and U-22 championships in Thailand. The system works this way:
● “Two evaluators per bout: one monitors the referee, the other the judges, ensuring two independent perspectives on each performance.
● “Scores are recorded manually, and bouts are reviewed again each evening as a second layer of protection, identifying inconsistencies or signs of favouritism.
● “If issues are found, sanctions can be applied to the official. Accumulating a set number of sanctions means an official will not complete the tournament.
● “All evaluations are stored in the World Boxing database, forming a reliable record used for future officiating appointments and supporting officials’ development.”
This is part of the reform effort by World Boxing to redress the refereeing and judging issues which the International Olympic Committee saw with the International Boxing Association and its predecessor, AIBA.
● Cycling ● Britain’s Matthew Richardson, who won three Olympic track cycling medals for Australia at Paris 2024 (0-2-1) but transferred afterwards, set a world record for the flying 200 m (lap) sprint at the high-altitude velodrome in Konya (TUR), at 8.941 seconds.
That broke the mark of 9.088 by Dutch star Harrie Lavreysen from the Paris 2024 Games; Richardson’s time averages 80.5 km/h or 50.02 miles per hour!
● Wrestling ● At the USA Wrestling’s Board meeting on 8-9 August in Colorado Springs, the all-time high in memberships help to power excellent projected financial results for the 2024-25 fiscal year, with “an operating reserve of $12 million, a favorable budget variance of $3 million and total net assets of almost $26 million.”
The budget for 2025-26 was approved, with projected revenue of $24,907,491, expenses at $24,763,210, and a modest surplus of $144,281.
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