★ 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 2024: Paris ● The trial of seven defendants charged with cyber-abuse by Olympic ceremonies director Thomas Jolly (FRA) began in Paris on Wednesday, with two of those charged not in the courtroom.
Jolly said he received death threats and abusive social-media comments of a homophobic and anti-Semitic nature; the seven people charged ranged in age from 22 to 79. French laws on such attacks include penalties such as fines and possible imprisonment.
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The LA28 organizing committee and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced Westlake Village, California-based PennyMac Financial Services as “Official Mortgage Supporter of the 2026 and 2028 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams and a Proud Supporter of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
As part of its programming, PennyMac plans to work with U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes with educational efforts to help with homeownership.
● Mediterranean Games 2026: Taranto ● The Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that the staging of the 2026 Mediterranean Games requires more government funding. A €275 million allocation was made for venue renovations and construction, with another €25 million to help start up the organizing committee.
The report says that sponsorship and ticket revenues will total only about €10 million and with an estimated cost of €60 million for staging the event, another €25 million is being looked for from the Italian government. (€1 = $1.08 U.S.)
The XX Mediterranean Games are scheduled for 21 August to 3 September 2026.
● Football ● From FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI), writing on his Instagram page:
“I can confirm the first ever half-time show at a FIFA World Cup final in New York New Jersey, in association with Global Citizen. This will be a historic moment for the FIFA World Cup and a show befitting the biggest sporting event in the world.
“We also spoke about how FIFA will takeover Times Square for the final weekend of the FIFA World Cup in 2026, during both the bronze final match and final.
“These will be two incredible matches, featuring some of the best players in the world, and what better way to celebrate them than in the historic Times Square in New York City.
My thanks of course to Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans and his incredible team, for helping us put together these amazing shows. I also want to thank Chris Martin and Phil Harvey of Coldplay, who will be working with us at FIFA to finalise the list of artists who will perform during the half time show, as well as at Times Square.”
¶
The FIFA Ethics Committee’s adjudicatory chamber imposed a lifetime ban and a fine of CHF 1,000,000 on former Gabon national boys U-17 team coach Patrick Assoumou Eyi for sexual abuse of four players between 2006-21.
● Nordic Skiing ● Norway and Sweden continued their domination of the cross country portion of the FIS Nordic Skiing World Championships in Trondheim (NOR), each winning again on Wednesday.
Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won his fourth event (out of four), teaming with Erik Valnes to take the Classical Team Sprint in 18:27.71, clearly ahead of Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola and Lauri Vuorinen (18:31.81) and Oskar Svensson and Edvin Anger (18:31.82). The U.S. pair of Gus Schumacher and J.C. Schoonmaker finished a very creditable sixth in 18:40.01.
In the women’s Classical Team Sprint, it was Sweden sweeping its fourth event in a row in these Championships. Jonna Sundling got a second Sprint gold, with Maja Dahlqvist, in 20:51.63. That was clear of the American pair of Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern, second in 20:54.53 – the first U.S. medals of this Worlds – with Anja Weber and Nadine Faehndrich third (21:00.76).
It’s the seventh career Worlds medal for Diggins (2-3-2) and second for Kern. Competition continues through Sunday.
¶
In ski jumping, the Mixed Team event went to Norway, with second golds for Marius Lindvik, Anna Odine Stroem and Eirin Kvandal (plus Johann Forfang) with 1,020.4 points to 959.3 for Slovenia and 906.8 for Austria. The U.S. squad of Paige Jones, Kevin Bickner, Annika Belshaw and Tate Frantz finished sixth (739.1).
● Ski Mountaineering ● The ISMF World Championships are ongoing in Morgins (SUI), with familiar stars on the awards podiums.
Swiss star Remi Bonnet won the Vertical race in 18:50.3, way ahead of Maximilien Drion du Chapois (BEL: 19:37.0) and fellow Swiss Aurelien Gay (19:40.3). Cameron Smith was the top American, in 20th (+2:04.5).
For Bonnet, it’s his fifth career Worlds gold, including the Vertical title in 2021-23-25.
The women champion was France’s Axelle Gachet-Mollaret, also a runaway winner in 22:24.9, followed by Tove Alexandersson (SWE: 23:06.0) and Sarah Dreier (AUT: 24:01.0). Hali Hafeman was 20th (+4:00.1) was the top U.S. finisher.
Gachet-Mollaret won her 11th career Worlds gold; she had previously won the Vertical in 2021 and 2023.
In the relay opener on Monday, French stars Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet won in 32:44.1, barely ahead of Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll (ESP: 32:45.0), with Swiss Marianne Fatton and Robin Bussard close in third at 33:02.9. Americans Jessie Young and Smith were 12th (37:15.6).
Racing continues on Thursday, on to Saturday.
● Speed Skating ● The years-long doping tug-of-war between German star Claudia Pechstein and the International Skating Union has come to an end, with the parties agreeing to settle their dispute.
Pechstein, now 53, was a German star, winning nine Olympic medals from 1994-2006, including five golds, and an astonishing 41 World Championships medals (6-21-14), beginning in 1996.
She was suspended for blood doping due to elevated reticulocyte counts in 2009, for two years. She appealed the finding to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, explaining the condition as hereditary, and that she never failed a single doping test. Refused entry into the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, she sued the ISU in Swiss courts, but the ban was upheld, and she finally returned to competition in 2011.
Pechstein then sued the ISU for damages in Germany courts, losing at the Federal Court of Justice level in 2016, but her appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court in 2022 succeeded, with the court ruling that her rights had been violated. The case was sent back for further hearings, with Pechstein asking for €8.4 million in damages. In October 2024, the Munich Court of Appeal asked the parties to settle. (€1 = $1.08 U.S.)
Pechstein said last year she would be willing to settle for less, but wants an admission of wrongdoing from the ISU. The ISU statement said Pechstein showed a “mild form of dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis (DHS)” and the statement was issued Tuesday that “[t]he Parties have mutually agreed to settle their litigation in a spirit of conciliation.”
¶
★ 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, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
