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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns European television rights for the 2024 Olympic Games for its Eurosport subsidiary, hailed strong audiences:
“Cumulative reach of more than 215 million in Europe viewing Olympics content on Warner Bros. Discovery’s platforms – 23% more than Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (+40 million).”
Especially significant was subscriber growth across all major markets in Europe, particularly France, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, and Sweden.
And the announcement noted that 82% of all homes in which televisions were on in the evening in Sweden on 5 August were watching Kanal 5, with the track & field session featuring Swedish world-record-setter Mondo Duplantis.
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The IOC Athletes’ Commission issued a statement on Saturday, praising the IOC’s initiative against online abuse, but noting:
“[W]e are deeply saddened that during the Olympic Games over 8,500 targeted abusive posts were verified and had to be escalated for further action.
“As athlete representatives, we condemn, in the strongest terms, all forms of attack and harassment, regardless of the opinions one might hold about particular decisions. We wholeheartedly extend our full sympathy and support to the athletes and individuals affected by this unacceptable behaviour. These athletes deserve far more respect for what they have achieved.”
● Paralympic Games 2024: Paris ● The Paris 2024 organizers have updated their ticket sales data, with 1.4 million of an available 2.6 million sold so far. About 400,000 tickets were sold during the Olympic Games.
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The International Paralympic Committee said there are 98 “neutral” athletes approved to compete in Paris: 90 Russians and eight from Belarus. The Russian Paralympic Committee told the Russian news agency TASS that there is “no final clarity” on four athletes.
● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The USOPC named a 225-member team for the 2024 Paralympic Games, to start in Paris on 28 August at the Place de la Concorde:
“The 2024 roster features an equal split of men and women (110 apiece not including the five guides) and an impressive group of 141 returning Paralympians, including three six-time Paralympians, four five-time Paralympians, eight four-time Paralympians, 21 three-time Paralympians, 42 two-time Paralympians, 63 one-time Paralympians and 78 athletes making their Paralympic debut.
“The resume of veterans includes 100 medalists who have earned a combined 122 gold medals from over 277 Paralympic podium appearances. Sixty-three athletes have won multiple Paralympic medals with 34 winning multiple Paralympic gold medals.”
Among the headliners:
● Jessica Long, a 29-time Paralympic medalist in swimming, with 16 golds.
● Tatyana McFadden, a six-time Paralympian in track and field with a record 20 Paralympic medals in that sport.
● Oksana Masters, a six-time Paralympian and the most decorated winter Paralympian ever, returns in road cycling, already with 18 total Paralympic medals across three sports.
The third six-time Paralympian is Tahl Leibovitz, in table tennis. Archer Jordan White is the youngest U.S. athlete at 15, with shooter Marco De La Rosa the oldest at 52. There are four athletes on the team under age 18.
The 2024 Paralympic Games is expected to include more than 4,400 athletes in 22 sports and 549 medal events. NBC will show 1,500-plus hours of coverage on its Peacock streaming service; more than 140 hours will be shown across NBC, USA Network, and CNBC.
● Boxing ● National federations in Chinese Taipei, Pakistan, Bhutan, Fiji and Ecuador have joined World Boxing, bringing the membership total to 42. The federation is trying to attract enough national federations to obtain recognition from the International Olympic Committee as the international federation for the sport.
An important milestone will be the 31 August Extraordinary Congress of the 42-member Asian Boxing Confederation, specially assembled to vote on whether to join World Boxing.
● Cycling ● Belgian star Wout van Aert, the Paris 2024 Olympic Time Trial gold medalist, won the expected mass sprint to the line in stage 3 of the 79th Vuelta a Espana.
Van Aert got to the line ahead of stage 2 winner Kaden Groves (AUS) and Jon Aberasturi (ESP) with the first 115 riders given the same time of 4:40:52. Van Aert now has a 13-second lead on American Brandon McNulty, winner of the opening stage.
Still in the opening stages in Portugal, the race moves into Spain on Tuesday and features the first climbing stage, with three ascents, including a significant uphill finish to the 1,544 m Pico Villuercas in central Spain.
● Fencing ● A controversial referee had his sanction extended from nine months to four years by the USA Fencing Board of Directors, in view of his actions at a January 2024 Division I women’s Sabre bout at the North American Cup in San Jose, California.
Jacobo Morales was suspended in April for “providing input to [referee Brandon] Romo during the Erickson/Nazlymov bout.” The sanction was appealed to the USA Fencing Board, which stated:
“Under the circumstances, and in light of aggravating factors not considered by the panel, the USA Fencing Board of Directors finds the nine-month suspension decreed by the panel to be substantially inadequate.”
The situation had caused considerable turmoil within the federation, with many calls for a longer ban. Morales is now banned from participating as a referee in any USA Fencing event, to 4 September 2028.
● Wrestling ● “This is a particularly difficult case. The facts are not in dispute: the Applicant was above the 50 kg limit for her wrestling category when she weighed-in for the finals at the Paris Olympics. Had she competed, she would have been awarded either the gold or the silver medal. Her success in the competition had led to her being in that position.”
That’s from the 24-page full opinion, now published, of the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissal of the appeal by Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who qualified all the way to the final of the women’s 50 m Freestyle final in Paris, only to be disqualified and get nothing.
She asked for a second silver medal to be awarded to her, but was denied, with the arbitrator writing that the United World Wrestling rules are clear in this circumstance:
“It is equally the case that these terms are emphatic as to the consequences, draconian as they are, and making it clear that not only is the wrestler removed from the competition but also ranked last and without a ranking.”
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