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IS IT TRUE … that a deeply-divided USA Swimming board has settled on the federation’s next chief executive, and that the announcement is imminent? That the new head will receive an annual salary near or at $1 million a year, guaranteed for multiple years?
USA Swimming let go of seven-year chief Tim Hinchey on 29 August 2024, instituting a search that named University of Delaware athletic director Chrissi Rawak on 19 February 2025. But before she could start – scheduled for 14 March – she withdrew on 28 February.
USA Swimming hired Stanford coach Greg Meehan as its National Team Director on 11 April, and promoted communications and marketing chief Jake Grosser to Chief Operating Officer on 9 July of this year. The newest search is apparently coming to a close.
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The Los Angeles City Council is busy coming up with new requests for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee.
On Tuesday, a motion from Ninth District member Curren Price, Jr. requests the “City Council approve the following changes to the Official Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 2028 Games:
“● The relocation of the Olympic Closing Ceremony from both the LA Memorial Coliseum and the Stadium in Inglewood to solely the LA Memorial Coliseum; and
“● The relocation of the Paralympic Closing Ceremony from the Stadium in Inglewood to the LA Memorial Coliseum.”
The Coliseum is in Price Jr.’s district, of course.
Another motion, from Seventh District member Monica Rodriguez, asks LA28 for “a detailed presentation on the new federal Olympics taskforce, its purpose, jurisdiction, anticipated activities, and the implications for the City’s planning and preparation for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This should also include guidance on what guardrails the City can enact to ensure that the City’s most vulnerable communities are protected.”
Expect more on these at Wednesday’s 8 a.m. meeting of the Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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Making its way, slowly but surely, through the California Legislature is AB749 – the Youth Sports For All bill – a major policy initiative of the LA84 Foundation and the Play Equity Fund.
Per the Foundation, the bill “requires the California Health and Human Services Agency to establish a Blue-Ribbon Commission to examine the current landscape of youth sports and make recommendations for establishing a centralized entity to ensure fair access to quality sports programs for all youth in California.”
The idea is to develop a new approach to the current, fragmented environment, with pay-to-play models, lack of facilities, lack of coaching standards, and inaccessible community sports programs deny many children the opportunity for wellness, academic success and positive personal development. It passed the State Assembly by 62-3 in June and has passed the Senate Health and Appropriations Committees, but has a little further to go.
★★★ Athletics I: Thursday’s Diamond League Final in Zurich (SUI) could be ugly, with temperatures around 60 F, 90% probability of rain and 27% chance of thunderstorms; the first running-event final is at 6:34 p.m.
It’s a long program, finishing at 9:40 p.m. with the men’s 200 m, the last 18 running-event finals, not to mention eight field events. No word on any plan in case of a lightning delay; the meet – as usual – is a sell-out with more than 24,000 expected.
★★★ Athletics II: Gianna Woodruff, 31, who was born in Santa Monica, California, but who has competed for Panama since 2015 in the women’s 400 m hurdles, finished a strong second at the Van Damme Memorial Diamond League meet in Brussels last week in 53.89, a seasonal best.
Her reaction included: “I think I have a season´s best and am exciting with where we are going with that. … I am just finishing stronger now, that´s the only difference compared to my other races. It was my first time competing in Brussels and it was great. I love the waffles.”
★★★ Athletics III: American Jasmine Moore, the Olympic long jump and triple jump bronze winner, was third in the women’s triple jump, but was happy to just make it through the meet, with temperatures falling to around 60 F:
“It was a bit chilly out there today. I am used to the heat of Florida and my feet were a little frozen today, but it is good to know that I can fight through any condition. I am proud of that.”
★★ Football: FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) was showing U.S. President Donald Trump the FIFA World Cup trophy last week in the Oval Office, as the Final Draw was announced for the Kennedy Center on 5 December. Said Infantino:
“Presidents of countries, and then those who win can touch it, because it’s for winners only. And since you are a winner, of course, you can, as well, touch it; it’s pretty heavy …”
Replied Trump: “Can I keep it?” Infantino threw up his hands, and gently reminded Trump, “We have to give it to the next winner.” (Photo: The White House)
★★ Aquatics: You’ve probably heard of Katie Ledecky, Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass, all U.S. superstars at the Olympic and World Championships in women’s swimming. If you’re looking for 2028 Olympians coming up now, remember this name: Rylee Erisman.
At 16, she won five golds at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Bulgaria, including the 50-100 m Freestyles and three relays, plus two relay silvers. Her 100 m win (52.79) was so fast it would have earned the Worlds bronze in Singapore in July. Remember the name.
★★ Gymnastics: Not many people pay attention to rhythmic gymnastics, but it’s hard not to be excited for 16-year-old Rin Keys, who won a silver medal in the Ball apparatus final at the FIG World Championships last week in Rio de Janeiro (BRA).
It’s the first-ever medal for the U.S. at the Rhythmic World Championships, which started in 1963; the 2025 edition was the 41st.
★★ Memorabilia: Olympic collectors – and those who would like to be – will be interested in a panel on 9 September presented by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, and the International Society of Olympic Historians. The latest “Games History Hour” will focus on the hobby with avid collectors Gordy Crawford, a past head of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, Jonathan Becker, President of the Lake Placid Olympic Museum and Karen Rosen, a TSX contributor and a Board member of the Olympic Collectors Club.
The program comes on 9 September at 9 a.m., U.S. Mountain Time. Registration is free here: https://usopm.org/gameshistoryhour/
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