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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● French prosecutors filed charges on Friday against seven individuals accused of cyber abuse against Paris 2024 ceremonies director Thomas Jolly.
Following the 26 July Olympic opening on the River Seine, Jolly was hit with both praise and criticism for the ceremony’s cultural events, with considerable anger at some of the scenes. Jolly filed a complaint on 31 July with French prosecutors, saying the show was not intended to be controversial, but inclusive.
On Friday, officials reported that seven individuals, aged 22 to 79, were charged with making death threats, aggravated insults, and cyberbullying, with possible fines and prison sentences. They were ordered to appear on 5 March 2025.
● International Olympic Committee ● IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) continued his African tour with a three-day visit to Kenya, where he met with Kenyan President William Ruto.
Bach promised that additional Olympic Solidarity funding will be made available to Kenya not only for elite-athlete support, but also for youth development programming. Bach also asked Ruto for support for the Anti-Doping Agency of Kanya (ADAK), which has had its funding slashed due to a budget crisis.
A post by the IOC on X last Friday included:
“President Ruto confirmed the fight against doping was a ‘high priority’ for him. He informed President Bach that he has given instructions to the government that all the necessary funds and human resources will be made available to the National Anti-Doping Agency.”
Bach has visited Senegal, South Africa, Lesotho, Uganda and Kenya.
● Alpine Skiing ● The 2024-25 FIS World Cup opener was, as usual, in Soelden (AUT) for Giant Slaloms, with plenty of surprises.
In the women’s Giant Slalom on Saturday, American star Mikaela Shiffrin raced to the lead in the first run, timing 1:05.82 to 1:06.04 for New Zealand’s Alice Robinson. On the second run, Austria’s Julia Scheib, the no. 16 starter – out of 30 – roared into the lead at 2:17:13.
No one touched Scheib’s time until Italian Federica Brignone, the two-time Olympic Giant Slalom medalist and the no. 28 starter, put together a quality run that moved her into the lead at 2:16.05. Robinson was next, and although only 10th-fastest on the second run, moved into second at 2:16.22. That left Shiffrin, who had trouble and had the no. 27 second run and fell to fifth at 2:17.36.
For Brignone, 34, it was her second career win at Soelden – also in 2015 – and she became the oldest-ever winner of a women’s World Cup Giant Slalom. It was her 28th World Cup gold, in her 18th season on tour.
Sunday’s men’s racing saw defending World Cup champion Marco Odermatt (SUI) skied out on the first run, eliminating the two-time winner. Instead, Alexander Steen Olsen (NOR) led the first run at 1:04.31.
In the second run, eight-time World Cup overall champion Marcel Hirscher – now skiing for the Netherlands – returned from five years off to take second from the 28th position with a time that held up for third-fastest in the field for the second run. He would finish 23rd overall, but with some confidence for the future.
Former Norwegian skier Lucas Braathen, now skiing for Brazil, was 19th following the first run, but was the fastest on the second run to take the lead (2:10.40 total). That held up until former teammate Atle McGrath took over as the no. 26 skier to start (2:10.16). He was passed by Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen (2:10.15), but Steen Olsen, skiing last, was good enough to take the victory in 2:09.50 for his second career World Cup win and a Norwegian sweep.
● Athletics ● World-record setters Mondo Duplantis of Sweden and Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine were named European Athletes of the Year on Saturday, in a ceremony in Skopje (MKD).
Both won Olympic golds in Paris and Duplantis’ latest world record was in August at 6.26 m (20-6 1/2), while Mahuchikh set her world mark before the Olympic Games, scaling 2.10 m (6-10 3/4) in the women’s high jump in the Diamond League meet in Paris in early July.
● Figure Skating ● Three world champions were on ice for the Skate Canada International in Halifax (CAN) and all three came away with convincing wins.
American Ilia Malinin, who barely won at Skate America in the ISU Grand Prix opener, was a dominant winner this time, winning both the Short Program and the Free Skate.
Malinin had a 106.22 to 96.52 lead after the Short Program over Japan’s Shun Sato, with U.S. teammate Jason Brown in seventh (79.03). In the Free Skate, Malinin executed four quadruple jumps and scored a sensational 195.60 points, far ahead of Junhwan Cha (KOR), who had 171.93.
Malinin totaled 301.82 points to 261.16 for Japan’s Sato, with Cha moving up from fourth to third (260.31). Brown finished eighth overall at 218.75. With wins at Skate America and Skate Canada, Malinin equaled the feat by Russian Alexei Yagudin in 1999, the only other male skater to win the first two events of the season.
World Champion Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) defended her 2023 Skate Canada Int’l victory with a 201.21 to 192.16 win over teammate Rino Matsuike, with Japan completing the medal sweep with Hana Yoshida in third (191.37). Matsuike won the Free Skate and came from 10th to second, while Sakamoto suffered a fall in her Free Skate program.
Americans Alysia Liu and Elyce Lin-Gracey finished sixth and seventh at 187.69 and 182.37. Liu was second after the Short Program, but seventh in the Free Skate.
Canada’s World Pairs Champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps won the Pairs for the second year in a row, scoring 197.33 to sail past Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitrii Chigirev (UZB: 189.65).
The Canadian stars won the Short Program by more than eight points, but Geynish and Chigirev moved from fourth to first by winning the Free Skate, 126.12 to 124.10 over Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps. Americans Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe finished fifth at 178.31.
Canadian stars Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, three-time Worlds medal winners, were looking for a fifth straight Skate Canada win, and led after the Rhythm Dance by 86.44 to 77.34 over teammates Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha.
They won the Free Dance to cruise to a 214.84 to 199.90 win over Lajoie and Lagha; Americans Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik were fifth (189.41) and siblings Oona Brown and Gage Brown finished sixth (179.14). Fellow Americans Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville finished ninth (173.08).
● Football ● U.S. women’s head coach Emma Hayes (GBR) continued trying out more players as the American women faced Iceland again, on Sunday in Nashville, making seven changes to the starting line-up from Thursday’s match.
The U.S. had control of the game from the start, but the American offense was too deliberate and had little success against the packed-in Iceland defense. The Icelanders were quick to counter-attack, but had very little success generating many chances.
But they got the only goal of the first half, in the 31st minute on a corner kick from forward Karolína Lea Vilhjalmsdottir. Her curving ball sailed toward the far corner of the U.S. net and was tipped by the right hand of backtracking U.S. keeper Casey Murphy, caromed off the far post and into the net for the 1-0 lead. It’s the first time an Emma Hayes-coached U.S. team trailed in a game.
For the half, the U.S. had 64% of possession and and five shots to two for Iceland, but no goals.
Hayes made three substitutions to start the second half, and substitute star midfielder Lindsey Horan sent a hard free kick at goal in the 62nd that was saved by Iceland keeper Cecilia Runarsdottir.
But the U.S. offense was unleashed, with subs Alyssa Thompson, Lynn Williams, Sophia Smith and Horan all prowling in the Iceland end. In the 72nd, it was Thompson at the left side of goal, sending a pass into the middle to Smith, whose right-footed touch went wide to the right. It ended up with sub midfielder Emma Sears – in her U.S. debut – left-footing the ball toward Williams in front of goal, who got possession, turned to the right and slammed it into the net to tie the game.
Then in the 76th, Mallory Swanson sent a free kick from the right side of the field to the left of the Iceland goal, where it was volleyed by Williams toward the middle of the field and tapped in by a rushing Horan for a 2-1 lead.
The American pressure continued, with the occasional Iceland counter-attack, and in stoppage time, the U.S. got loose again. Thompson smashed a drive off the left post, with the rebound coming to Smith, who passed to Sears on the right side, who sent a left-footed liner into the Iceland net for the 3-1 final at 90+3.
The U.S. finished with 65% possession and a 17-4 shots advantage, mostly from the final half-hour.
The U.S. now leads the overall series with Iceland, 15-0-2. U.S. coach Emma Hayes (GBR) has started her U.S. coaching career at 11-0-1.
The U.S. women have another match coming up, on 30 October against Argentina in Louisville. They will finish 2024 with matches against England in London on 30 November and the Netherlands in The Hague on 3 December.
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The U.S. and North Korea will meet in one semifinal of the FIFA women’s U-17 World Cup on Wednesday in Santiago (DOM), after wins on Saturday.
The American women (3-1) won their third straight game with a third-straight shutout by beating Nigeria, 2-0, on a 43rd-minute penalty by midfielder Kennedy Fuller and then a 74th-minute score by midfielder Kimmi Ascanio. Nigeria out-shot the U.S. by 17-14, but it didn’t help, only two were actually on goal; Evan Osteen got the shut-out for the Americans.
North Korea, which won Group C at 3-0 (11-1 goals-against), also got a third-straight shut-out at 1-0 over Poland, with Rim-jong Choe scoring in the 14th minute. The North Koreans had a 14-5 shots edge.
Two-time defending champion Spain (4-0) sailed past Ecuador, 5-0, in its quarterfinal and will meet England on Thursday. The Lionesses defeated Japan on penalties, 4-1, after a 2-2 tie in regulation time.
● Short Track ● The newly-rebranded ISU World Tour launched in Montreal (CAN), with the same stars leading the way.
The men’s racing saw home favorite William Dandjinou, the 2024 World 1,000 m gold medalist, take two races, winning the 500 m over teammate Steven Dubois, the 2022 Olympic bronze medalist, 40.701 to 40.797, and the 1,500 m by 2:18.607 to 2:18.606 over 2023 World Champion Ji-won Park of South Korea, with Dubois third (2:18.679).
Dutch star Jens van’t Wout, the 2024 1,000 m Worlds runner-up, won that race in 1:23.79, with Latvian Robert Kruzbergs taking second in 1:23.491.
Two-time World 500 m champ Xandra Velzeboer (NED) won the women’s 500 m in a tight finish with American Kristen Santos-Griswold, the 2024 Worlds bronze winner, 42.089 to 42.109. And it was the same in the women’s 1,000 m final, with Velzeboer at 1:31.011 and Santos-Griswold second at 1:31.044. American teammate Corinne Stoddard was third in 1:31.380.
Korea’s Gil-li Kim, the 2024 World Champion at 1,500 m, won that race in 2:24.396, ahead of Belgian Hanne Desmet (2:24.438) and 2024 World champ Santos-Griswold (2:24.612); Stoddard was fifth in 2:24.729.
● Swimming ● A choppy World Aquatics Open Water World Cup in Hong Kong had to be moved up due to a typhoon warning, but the events did get completed.
The men’s race came down to a battle – literally – between Italians Dario Verani and Marcello Guidi, who kept swimming into each other in the closing meters, with Guido allowing Verani to win in 1:57:39.2 to 1:57:39.8. France’s 2024 Worlds runner-up, Marc-Antoine Olivier, finished third in 1:57:48.7, with Dylan Gravley the top American in seventh at 1:57:55.1.
Australia’s Moesha Johnson, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalist, powered ahead on the final lap to win the women’s race in 2:06:38.1, with Ginevra Taddeucci (ITA: 2:06.40.5) second and Lea Boy (GER: 2:06:57.4) in third. American Katie Grimes, third at the 2023 Worlds, finished fifth in 2:07:15.8.
Australia, with Johnson on lead-off, won the 4×100 m mixed relay in 1:10:53.1, beating Brazil (1:11:02.0) and the youthful U.S. squad, with Grimes (age 18), Claire Weinstein (17), Gravley (22) and Luke Ellis (17), in 1:11:23.9.
The Open Water World Cup has one more stop, from 22-23 November, in Neom (KSA).
● Volleyball ● With U.S. men’s volleyball coach John Speraw named as the new USA Volleyball chief executive as of 1 October, one of the first things he had to do was to name a successor.
Speraw was also the UCLA men’s volleyball head coach and had led the Bruins to consecutive NCAA titles in 2023 and 2024. So, naturally, he turned to Bruin legend and three-time Olympic champion Karch Kiraly!
Kiraly, now 63, has been the highly-successful coach of the U.S. women’s team since September 2012, winners of the Tokyo 2020 gold, Rio 2016 bronze and Paris 2024 silver, with an overall record of 327-81. Said Kiraly:
“Chances to collaborate with some of the best people and players on the planet – and to represent our country while striving for incredibly difficult goals like Olympic gold medals – are precious beyond words.
“For one-quarter of my life, I’ve poured everything I have into the U.S. Women’s Team; first as an assistant, then as head coach. Now, it’s time for new adventures and new challenges.
“Huge thanks to USA Volleyball for all the chances to represent the United States; to the players and staff of the U.S. Women’s Team, too many to name, who did so much of the heavy lifting over the last 16 years; and finally, to the players and staff of the Men’s Team for the chance to work alongside you. Life has a way of humbling us all; the way you responded to adversity, and seized the bronze medal in Paris, should be a model for all to follow.”
He takes over Speraw’s successful squad, which won the Paris bronze medal.
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