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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Russia ● The Russian news agency TASS reported information from the Russian Anti-Doping Agency that 27 cases of “whereabouts” failures were recorded in September.
This brings the total for the first nine months of 2024 to 221, close to the total for 2023 of 242, but down from the 2022 annual total of 375.
A “whereabouts” failure is recorded when an athlete is not where they said they would be for a doping control test, according to their listed schedule. Athletes subject to regular doping tests – usually national-class or world-class performers – are required to provide their “whereabouts” according to a monthly schedule, which can be continuously changed as needed. But athletes are responsible to indicate a specific time daily when they will be a specific location for a test.
Sanctions are only imposed if an athlete records three “whereabouts” failures during a 12-month period. The RUSADA report did not indicate the number of sanctions – if any – for “whereabouts” failures during 2024.
For comparison, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has imposed two sanctions for “whereabouts” failures in 2024 and had two in 2023.
● Athletics ● USA Track & Field announced the NBC broadcast schedule for 2025, on NBC and Peacock, with the usual seven meets from the past couple of years, but also revealing some unique timing:
● Indoor (3): New Balance Grand Prix on 2 February; Millrose Games on 8 February and the USATF Indoors on 23 February.
● Outdoor (4): L.A. Grand Prix on 8 June, NYC Grand Prix on 29 June, the Prefontaine Classic on 5 July and the USATF National Championships – again in Eugene – on Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 August.
The odd August timing of the USATF Nationals comes from the move of the World Athletics Championships to the end of the season, in September in Tokyo (JPN), and the designation of two World Athletics “national championships” windows in August. The 2-3 August dates are in the earlier window.
The August dates make 2025 the latest men’s nationals since 1930, held in Pittsburgh from 22-25 August, and the latest women’s nationals since 1968, held from 14-18 August in Aurora, Colorado. Wow. It also raises new questions for collegiate athletes, almost two months after the NCAA Championships will have concluded.
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Stunning news that 26-year-old Kenyan 800 m star Kipyegon Bett has passed away, on Sunday, after a short illness.
Bett’s sister, Purity Kurui, told the BBC that “He had been sick, complaining of stomach pains for about a month. The doctors said he had a liver problem and had been in and out of hospital.
“Last week we took him to hospital after he started vomiting blood and he was admitted. I went to see him [on Sunday] morning and he told me he was in pain.
“He told our dad, who is a pastor, to pray for him because he didn’t feel he would survive and after 12 noon he died. We tried everything to save him, but he left us. It’s very painful.”
Bett was the World U-20 gold medalist in 2016 and the Worlds 800 m bronze winner in 2017; he had a best of 1:43.76 from 2016. But he was banned for four years in 2018 for erythropoietin (EPO).
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Another honor for Olympic 100 m champ Noah Lyles, as the Atlas Brew Works in Lyles’ hometown of Alexandria, Virginia created a special release called the “Noah Lyles 100 m Golden Ale.” Per the brewery:
“Named for Alexandria’s hometown Olympic hero, the Noah Lyles 100m Golden Ale has subtle hints of melon and strawberry. Stop into the taproom to honor the fastest man in the world with this 4.1% ABV drinkable delight before it’s gone.”
● Boxing ● In an odd post, the International Boxing Association is headed back to court to try and stop the International Olympic Committee from its latest salvo concerning Olympic boxing:
“On 26 August, the IBA submitted a formal complaint to the Swiss Competition Commission, accusing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of unfairly dominating the global market for organizing and marketing the Olympic Games.
“The IOC is using its influence to prevent boxers from participating in the Olympics if their National Federation is affiliated with IBA, which violates fair competition standards under Swiss law. The IOC’s recent actions further emphasize this issue. It has pressured National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to exclude IBA-affiliated National Federations from their membership and restrict any formal relations between the NOCs and these Federations. IBA argues that this behaviour is unlawful and has raised it with the Swiss Competition Commission, adding to previous legal concerns.
“In response to this situation, IBA invites all its National Federations to join in legal action against the IOC in Switzerland. By working together, we can increase our chances of ending this pressure from both the IOC and the NOCs.”
Observed: This message was posted today (7th), referring to a 26 August filing, but actually protesting a letter sent by the IOC to the National Olympic Committees on 30 September!
In any case, as the IOC is the creator and total owner of the Olympic Games, it will be an uphill climb to convince a Swiss Commission that it cannot choose who should organize its sports competitions.
● Football ● As part of its strategic focus for the 2023-2027 quadrennial, FIFA included in its objectives more Olympic expansion, for women and for more forms of football:
“FIFA intends to make recommendations to the International Olympic Committee to change the format of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament at the Olympic Games, namely concerning an increase in the number of teams from the current 12 teams to 16 teams, to mirror the men’s tournament.
“Given participation levels worldwide, FIFA will also propose that both futsal and beach soccer be considered as distinct football disciplines at the Olympic Games going forward.”
The expansion of the women’s tournament to have the same number of teams as men makes sense, but will be a challenge for Los Angeles in 2028 given the existing expansion of the program to 35 or 36 sports and already well beyond the targeted 10,500 athlete limit.
Futsal – indoor football, with five-player teams – and beach soccer cannot be admitted until the 2032 Brisbane Games at the earliest.
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New U.S. men’s National Team coach Mauricio Pochettino (ARG) announced the hire of four assistant coaches, all of whom have worked with him previously: Jesus Perez (ESP), Miguel d’Agostino (ARG), Toni Jimenez (ESP) and his son, Sebastiano Pochettino.
All four were with Pochettino at his prior coaching stop at Chelsea.
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In an interview with The Athletic, U.S. Soccer’s commercial chief, David Wright, said the organization – the richest of all the U.S. National Governing Bodies – will bring in about $110 million in sponsorship sales as of the end of its 31 March 2024 fiscal year. The current USSF list shows 13 sponsors and partners, led by Volkswagen.
This is a big increase from the $32 million it received from its partnership with Soccer United Marketing, which ended in December 2021. Wright said the USSF is expecting total revenue for the 2023-24 fiscal year of about $200 million, its highest ever.
● Swimming ● The induction ceremonies for the Class of 2024 for the International Swimming Hall of Fame took place on Saturday (5th) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with 12 inductees from seven countries.
Of special note was the 1976 U.S. Olympic women’s 4×100 m Freestyle team of Shirley Babashoff, Wendy Boglioli, Kim Peyton and Jill Sterkel, which upset the doped-up East German team in a world-record 3:44.82. The DDR won 10 of the 11 women’s individual events and 11 of 13 overall, later shown to be powered by a frighteningly thorough state-run doping program.
Among the other inductees: Americans Dana Vollmer, a butterfly star who won five Olympic golds in 2012 and 2016 and Worlds golds in 2007-11-13; coach Dennis Pursley, the U.S. National Team director from 1989-2003, and long-time administrator and World Aquatics Treasurer Dale Neuburger. A special news media awarded was presented to long-time ABC and NBC Olympic Games producer Peter Diamond.
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World Aquatics shared its 2024 support program reach, with $4.493 million invested in 621 projects by 169 national federations, that reached 395,603 swimmers at 1,674 events. An additional $1.46 million was provided to assist athlete participation in major meets this year.
Coaching involvement reached 22,912 and there were 18,806 swimming officials involved.
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