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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● PARIS 2024: Broadcast figures are coming in from the 2024 Olympic Games, with impressive audiences reported by the International Olympic Committee in some markets:
● Australia: Channel 9, 9Gem and 9Now reported a combined audience of 19.5 million, a sensational 75% of the total Australian population, watched some part of the Games.
● Brazil: Some 140.4 million of the 215.3 million in the country – 65.2% – watched some part of the Games on TV Globo, SporTV, GloboPlay & Ge. An outreach program on YouTube with the popular online show CazeTV saw 41 million devices access the channel during the Games, with a high of 4.8 million.
● Canada: CBC/Radio-Canada reported 27 million tuned in for some portion of the Games: that’s 69.4% of the country’s entire population.
● Europe: Warner Bros. Discovery said 215 million across the continent (not including Russia) watched its programming, up by 40 million (+23%) vs. Tokyo 2020. That’s about 28.9% of the European population (without Russia), but does not count the national broadcasters who showed the Games.
● France: A staggering 60 million French – out of 68 million in the country – watched the Games in some part on France Televisions, or 88.2%!
● Germany: Public channels ARD and ZDF reported 53.4 million viewers combined, or about 63.7% of the total population.
● Great Britain: The BBC reported 36.1 million viewers, or 53.9% of the total population.
In India, 170 million reported to follow the Games on the Viacom18 channels, in multiple languages with a total viewing of more than 15 billion minutes.
NBC reported a daily coverage of 30.6 million for its Paris Prime (afternoon, live) and primetime programs combined, including streaming, a huge increase over the 16.9 million Tokyo average. No figures for total national reach have been announced yet.
● ATHLETICS: At the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea Diamond League meet in Rome, the women’s Steeplechase world record was in the sights of the last two Olympic champions: Peruth Chemutai (UGA) from Tokyo and Paris winner Winfred Yavi (BRN), with Yavi missing the mark by just 0.07 seconds in 8:44.39, the no. 2 performance in history. Yavi said later:
“I looked at the time after the race and I went ´oh, no!´ Í was really expecting that record and I was going for it. I definitely feel I should break it and I believe it will happen. I need to work even harder.
“And I am planning to have another go at it before the end of the season! My biggest goal for next year is to become a double world champion.”
Chemutai was second in a national record of 8:48.03:
“I feel good and I am very happy. Yet, I came here for the world record and I missed it. But I still achieved a national record. The world record will be for next time.
“I kind of paced this race for Yavi. I knew that Yavi has this strong kick at the end. But I planned this race with my coach and my management, unfortunately I missed the world record. I guess I need to train more for the final 100 m.”
American shot star Ryan Crouser, now a three-time Olympic champion, is also hunting records after winning in Rome at 22.49 m (73-9 1/2):
“I executed a lot better today than I did in Silesia. I no longer feel the jet lag after coming back to Europe from home. It is a good indicator there is a big throw is coming up. Not that today´s mark is not big, but I believe I can still get into world record territory. I am trending in the right direction.
“Mentally and physically you reach your peak at the Olympics, but you can compensate for not being there with being more relaxed. I feel more mentally engaged than normally at this stage of the season. I am throwing consistently and that is important.
“You train for that one big throw, but when you get consistency, big throws are more likely to come.”
The Olympic Games can be a pivotal experience, as Paris men’s 400 m bronze winner – and Rome winner in 43.99 – Muzala Samukonga (ZAM) is finding out at age 21:
“My life changed completely this year. It is hard to even explain this fully. I am recognizable in my home country now and it is not easy sometimes. But you have to be strong enough as an athlete to deal with it. Not everyone is going to like you, it is normal. You just have to do what makes you happy.
“The win at the Diamond League means a lot. Running sub-44 is not easy, you have to be at top level to do that. I still have the Diamond League final coming up. Anything is possible there. I do not want to say what I will do, I just want to run my best.”
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One of the busiest athletes in the sport has to be Tara Davis-Woodhall, who completed an undefeated season in the women’s long jump with a win in Rome at 7.02 m (23-0 1/2), but still has a lot going on:
“It is almost surreal, I mean no one has jumped seven meters so many times this year like me! I have been undefeated. I am tired.
“Tomorrow I will fly directly to Paris. I just want to see my husband Hunter Woodhall race there. I am excited just to see what he puts down. This year I told myself: no expectations, I worked so hard, I trained with the boys and it paid off.
“During the competition I did not have the approach I wanted, I had some pretty big jumps in me. Jumping first in the group is not what I prefer. Now I want to put my full attention on Hunter. Then we have some press interviews back home and after that we will go on a holiday to Las Vegas.”
Hunter Woodhall finished sixth in the men’s T64 100 m on Monday and will compete in the men’s T62 400 m on Friday (6th).
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Kenya’s 2023 World women’s 800 m champion Mary Moraa was pretty thrilled to win the women’s 600 m at the ISTAF meet in Berlin, but to also grab the world best from South African star Caster Semenya, in 1:21.63:
“I am feeling so well and happy. To achieve this record on the first attempt is just overwhelming. I am so satisfied about the way I ran today. And I am happy for my coach, for my sponsor and my team.
“Yesterday I talked to my manager about the pace to set and that I have to do it without a pacemaker. But I was confident because I am strong. I told myself. ‘I am going to make it’ and I did!
“This is my first time to run here in this stadium and I am over the moon. The atmosphere is nice, it makes me feel great.”
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The World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima (PER) concluded on Saturday, with the U.S. team leading the medal table with 16 total medals and eight golds (junior implements used in all events):
● Men/110 m hurdles: 13.05, Ja’Kobe Tharp
● Men/400 m hurdles: 49.26, Vance Nilsson
● Men/4×400 m: 3:03.56, Jayden Davis, Xavier Donaldson, Alexander Rhodes, Sidi Njie
● Men/High Jump: 2.25 m (7-4 1/2), Scottie Vines
● Men/Discus: 62.59 m (205-4), Bryce Ruland
● Women/4×400 m: 3:30.74, Michaela Mouton, Olivia Harris, Josie Donelson, Zaya Akins
● Women/Vault: 4.47 m (14-8), Molly Haywood
● Women/Shot: 17.34m (56-10 3/4), Akaoma Odeluga
There were a couple of lowlights for the U.S. An entry error by USA Track & Field resulted in the U.S. not being able to run a team in the Mixed 4×400 m relay, and the men’s 4×100 m relay squad did not finish after Brayden Williams and James Bauman were not able to complete the first pass inside the exchange zone. The women’s 4×100 m relay made the final (with the no. 2 qualifying time), but was also disqualified for passing outside of the zone.
Houston coach and sprint icon Carl Lewis wrote on X: “I guess we’ve accepted the fact that @usatf teams can not finish a relay race. It is so sad to see these young junior athletes also have to suffer from their incompetence.”
South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza doubled in the men’s 100 and 200 m in 10.19 and 20.52. Kenya’s Sarah Moraa, a cousin of World Champion Mary Moraa, won the women’s 800 m in 2:00.36.
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The Fribourg Track Lab meet took place in Switzerland on Sunday, with a series of new formats tried successfully on the technical level. These included a 40 cm take-off zone for the long jump (16 inches vs. 8 inches) with the measurement from the actual spot of elevation, vault measurements of the actual height cleared, with a limit on total jumps, javelin measurements only if a prior best was improved on and others.
A new event, the Steeplechase over one mile, was also introduced. Per World Athletics:
“All of these new formats were being tested for the first time and form part of a consultation process for the future of the sport to see if such changes can enhance the enjoyment and excitement of a competition. Further testing and consultation with various stakeholders will be undertaken in the aftermath of this event. Anything that doesn’t pass extensive consultation will not be implemented.”
In terms of performance, all 18 of the long jumps were deemed “legal” under the new format, eliminating – here – foul jumps. Ethiopia’s Abrham Sime won the mile Steeple in 4:14.36.
It’s the first of what will need to be many such tests of these concepts before they can be introduced in any championship competition.
● FOOTBALL: The FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup has begun in Colombia, with 24 teams playing in six groups and qualifying 16 to the elimination round.
The U.S. is in Group C and lost its opener to group favorite Spain, 1-0, on Sunday, with Olaya Enrique’s score at the 15-minute mark the difference.
The Americans will play Morocco on the 4th and Paraguay on the 7th. The U.S. has not won a medal in this tournament since 2012, when it won its third title.
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