PANORAMA: USA Basketball moves games to NBCU for 11 years; Olympic winner Khelif turning pro; shooting was worried about LA28 inclusion

Olympic Biathlon champ Martin Fourcade of France (Photo: Peter Porai-Koshits via Wikipedia)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● The five-time Olympic champion biathlete, Martin Fourcade, made it clear that he is interested in being the chief executive of the in-formation organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Games.

He told the French all-sports newspaper L’Equipe he would focus on the domestic sponsorship program and refining the organizing effort for maximum efficiency.

Fourcade, 36, and retired since 2020, is a member of the International Olympic Committee from his 2022 election to the IOC Athletes’ Commission. If selected – and it’s a major political issue with the national government and the two French regions which will host the Games involved – he would follow in the path of Olympic canoe slalom star Tony Estanguet, 46, who successfully led the Paris 2024 organizing effort.

● Alpine Skiing ● Norwegian star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, a two-time Olympic medalist in 2022, will not compete in the 2024-25 season:

“I now need another surgery to fully fix the shoulder. This unfortunately means I won’t be competing this winter.”

Kilde, 32, suffered a bad crash in January during a Downhill in Wengen (SUI), with injuries to his shoulder and right leg, and has been recovering since. He explained in a statement, “two of the [shoulder] muscles are still not attached at this moment, which means I need to do another surgery and reconstruct everything again.” He is expected to be back for the 2025-26 season.

● Basketball ● USA Basketball announced an 11-year agreement with NBCUniversal and its owned platforms – USA Network and Peacock – for the federation’s own events, including the pre-World Cup and pre-Olympic “Showcase” exhibition games.

This is a move for USA Basketball from Fox Sports, which televised the American exhibitions ahead of the 2023 FIBA World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games.

Observed: This is an important development. NBCU owns Olympic television rights in the U.S. through 2032, but the purchase of USA Basketball rights to 2036 demonstrates NBCU’s continuing devotion in the Olympic space.

Or does it? The deal with USA Basketball covers the same period – 2025-36 – as the NBCU agreement with the National Basketball Association, announced in August.

● Boxing ● Imane Khelif, the controversial Algerian 2024 Olympic women’s gold medalist at 66 kg, said recently she will continue her career:

“I will soon enter the world of professional boxing. I have many offers. Currently, I have not made up my mind about where I will enter professional boxing.

“But very soon I will take this step.”

Khelif, who has always competed in the women’s division, was accused of failing a gender test by the Russian-led International Boxing Association, which disqualified her at the 2023 World Championships after she defeated Russian Azalia Amineva in the quarterfinals of the welterweight-class tournament.

Earlier this year, British boxing promoter Eddie Hearn told iFL TV he might have interest in signing Khelif, but that questions have to be answered:

“I look at it like this: if there is an unfair physical advantage that this individual has, that is something that has to be looked at correctly – not by a rival organisation, not by someone that might have an agenda.”

● Football ● The first two quarterfinals are set at the FIFA women’s U-17 World Cup in the Dominican Republic, with Group A winner Nigeria to meet the U.S. on 26 October and Group B winner Spain to play Ecuador, on 27 October.

On Tuesday, Nigeria completed a 3-0 finish in Group A with a 1-0 win over the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador defeated New Zealand, 4-0, to finish second at 2-1.

Spain won Group B at 3-0 with a 2-1 victory over Colombia, and the U.S. thrashed South Korea, 5-0, to finish at 2-1.

Group play continues today, with the quarterfinals to be set for Groups C and D.

● Shooting ● The head of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) said in his season-end message that the drama of the sport needs to be better communicated on television, and soon.

Luciano Rossi (ITA) wrote on the ISSF Web site:

“When I was elected at the end of 2022, the relationship was very strained and shooting sport was very close to being removed from the LA 2028 Olympic Games.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that if this had happened then it would have meant the end of our sport as the Olympics is the dream for all our athletes and brings crucial funding to the sport at national level, thanks to Olympic development programmes.

“So, I am very proud that thanks to the lobbying of our leadership team, we have rebuilt our relationship with the IOC and have ensured that we will be part of the 2028 Olympics.”

Now the challenge really begins:

“[W]e are discussing directly, both with the IOC and with LA 2028, ways to improve the presentation of our sport, to make sure that the TV production and media promotion of our athletes is top class and adds value to the Games.

“If we want our sport to grow, then we need to be open minded about ways to improve what we are showing so that the excitement and suspense you feel in the finals hall can be transmitted to those watching on TV and social media.

“We are developing ways to improve our story telling of the athlete experience, and our new marketing and communication units are working hard on this.”

Rossi also remarked on the placement of the Paris Olympic competition in Chateauroux, home of the French national shooting sport center, 168 miles south of Paris, “we want to be at the heart of the Olympic experience in LA – in the city and not hundreds of miles away!”

The shooting site for 2028 has not been named, but is expected to be outside of the City of Los Angeles proper.

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