★ 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 Games 2028: Los Angeles ● Southern California traffic has been a notorious problem for decades, not only for congestion, but for the cost of creating new infrastructure that might help.
The Los Angeles Times reported that a proposed $2.4 billion, 1.7-mile “people mover” that would bridge between local transit lines and the Inglewood entertainment district that includes SoFi Stadium, the new Intuit Dome arena and the Kia Forum – all proposed 2028 Olympic venues – did not obtain some $493 million in additional funding needed.
The South Bay Cities Council of Government voted down the added funding, 11-6, noting it would take away from more than 100 smaller projects and create construction headaches for as much as three years. Added buses could be an alternative, but hundreds of millions have already been raised for the project, which now does not have the funding to move forward.
While it may be funded in the future, it is now not likely that construction will be completed by 2028. The LA28 Olympic bid was not conditioned on any improvements to the area’s transit infrastructure, vastly expanded and improved since the 1984 Olympic Games.
● Olympic Games 2040 ● GamesBids.com reported on an initiative by Poland’s Minister of Sport and Tourism, Slawomir Nitras, who explained to an audience of athletes and sports leaders in Warsaw:
“We need to build a national strategy for the development of sports. This strategy is called Warsaw 2040, but in reality it is not a strategy for organizing the Games, it is a strategy for changing Polish sports in such a way that the Games in Poland are possible.
“We do not have financial barriers. We have organizational, structural, certain infrastructural and social barriers that we need to overcome to move forward.”
Nitras added:
“So we can ask the question, not whether we can afford the Games, but why we couldn’t afford the Games until now. We have really good budgets, but we spend this money inefficiently and this is the task that lies ahead of us. In terms of money spent on sports from public funds, we are not far behind wealthy European countries.”
● Fencing ● Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who stepped away from his position as President of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) in March 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions imposed on him, is standing for election once again as FIE President.
Usmanov, 71, was nominated by 103 national federations and will stand against Sweden’s Otto Drakenberg, 58, a 1988 fencing Olympian and a senior executive for major companies including Goodyear Dunlop in the Nordic region and Carlsberg Sweden.
Usmanov was first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, 2016 and 2021 and has given millions to the FIE to support its finances. Greece’s Emmanuel Katsiadakis has served as interim head of the federation while Usmanov recused himself.
● Football ● At the 68th Ballon d’Or awards held in Paris, Spain swept the main awards, with midfielder Rodri (Manchester City) winning the men’s player of the year award and midfielder Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona) repeating as the women’s award winner.
Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) won for best keeper, and the new Johan Cruyff Trophy for coaches, was given to Carlo Ancelotti (ITA, coach of Real Madrid) and Emma Hayes (GBR, coach of Chelsea and the U.S. women’s national team).
● Rugby ● World Rugby confirmed three candidates to be the federation’s next Chair, at the 14 November Interim Meeting of Council in Dublin, Ireland:
● Abdelatif Benazzi (France: 56) nominated by France and seconded by South Africa;
● Andrea Rinaldo (Italy: 70) nominated by Italy and seconded by Ireland;
● Brett Robinson (Australia: 54) nominated by Australia and seconded by England.
The four prior heads of the federation have come from Europe, with two from Britain (including outgoing Chair Bill Beaumont/GBR), and one each from France and Ireland.
● Short Track ● The second leg of the ISU Short Track World Tour was to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, but:
“The International Skating Union (ISU) was informed by US Speedskating and the Utah Olympic Oval that due to supply-chain related delays, the new padding system compliant with ISU Communication 2626 will not arrive in time for the start of the ISU Short Track World Tour #2 event (November 1-3, 2024) or the ISU Four Continents Short Track Championships (November 8-9, 2024), both events due to take place in Salt Lake City (USA).
“The well-being and safety of athletes remains ISU’s foremost concern. Therefore, further to a careful consultation process with the participating teams, it was concluded that the safest course of action would be to relocate the ISU Short Track World Tour #2 event to Montreal (CAN), where all appropriate safety measures and equipment is already in place.”
Montreal hosted the opening leg this past weekend; a new site and date will have to be found for the Four Continents Championships.
● Table Tennis ● At the WTT Champions tournament in Montpelier (FRA), the hone fans were rewarded with a men’s Singles win for France’s Felix LeBrun, defeating Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) by 4-1 (11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4).
The women’s title went to Satsuki Odo in an all-Japan final, taking down Miwa Harimoto by 4-2 (11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-4).
● Wrestling ● USA Wrestling President Bruce Baumgartner, a two-time Olympic champion, was elected to the United World Wrestling Bureau, the governing council of the sport, during the UWW Congress, held on 27 October in Tirana (ALB).
Baumgartner, 63, essentially replaces fellow American Stan Dziedzic, a UWW Vice President, who was ineligible to run again due to term limits. Said Baumgartner of his election:
“This role carries a tremendous responsibility, and I am committed to the growth of our sport. I look forward to making a positive impact on wrestling not just in the United States, but globally. Together, we can continue to elevate wrestling to new heights for future generations.”
¶
★ 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, 885-event International Sports Calendar for the rest of 2024, 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
