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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● One of the questions about sponsorship sales opportunities for Los Angeles 2028 was partially answered on Tuesday by the Milan Cortina organizing committee for the 2026 Winter Games.
Stellantis, the maker of Italian brands Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia and Maserati “have committed to providing an essential fleet of vehicles to ensure the seamless organization and execution of the sporting event, supporting the Games from their preparation phase all the way through their duration.”
The deal is for Stellantis and its Italian vehicle lines only, as a “Premium Partner” of the 2026 Winter Games. It does not include the conglomerate’s other brands, including U.S. marques Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and RAM trucks. Headquartered in The Netherlands, it is the no. 4 automaker as measured by worldwide sales.
This may signal the willingness of the International Olympic Committee to allow the LA28 organizers to make their own deal for the automotive categories previously sponsored by Japan’s Toyota Motors, which declined to renew its TOP sponsorship at the end of 2024.
Toyota USA has sponsored multiple U.S. national federations, including USA Swimming, USA Track & Field and others.
● Commonwealth Games ● A unique twist on the torch relay concept was started at Buckingham Palace in London as King Charles III initiated the inaugural Commonwealth Sport King’s Baton Relay for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games at on Commonwealth Day on Monday (10th).
The relay began 500 days prior to the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, with cycling star Chris Hoy receiving the souvenir baton, made in Glasgow. Unlike prior relays, the Commonwealth relay will be taken for multi-day celebrations in all 74 Commonwealth Games member countries, starting on 11 March in the Caribbean, finishing in St Vincent and the Grenadines on Saturday 14 June. Each Commonwealth federation will receive its own baton, which can be decorated according to local tastes.
The Relay then moves to Africa (15 June to 24 October), then Asia (25 October to 21 December), Oceania (2 January to 26 March 2026), Americas (27 March to 6 May 2026), and Europe (8 May to 23 July 2026).
● World Anti-Doping Agency ● WADA published the rosters of its Foundation Board and Executive Committee on Tuesday, with the U.S. absent from both bodies.
Relations between the U.S. and WADA have grown increasingly coarse since the Chinese swimming positives incident from January 2021 was revealed in April 2024, and the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy has not made the U.S. dues payment of $3.265 million for 2024.
So, while ONDCP Director Dr. Rahul Gupta was listed as the Americas Representative on the Executive Committee in January 2024 (with a term through April 2026), the March 2025 roster shows only “Member to be confirmed.”
There were no U.S. members on the larger Foundation Board in 2024, with Americas reps from Jamaica, Canada, Venezuela and Chile, and that line-up continues for 2025.
The Executive Committee has 16 members from the Olympic Movement (5), governments (5), five independent members and the head of the WADA Athletes Commission. The 42-member Foundation Board has 20 members from governments, 20 from the Olympic Movement and the WADA President and Vice President.
● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● Sad news that long-time USOC security chief Larry Buendorf passed away last Sunday (9th) in Colorado Springs, at age 87.
Buendorf was the then-USOC (now USOPC) security chief from 1993-2018 and was universally respected for his professionalism and deep sense of responsibility to keep American athletes safe at Olympic Games, Pan American Games, world championships and other events. Former Los Angeles Times Olympic writer Alan Abrahamson shared a moving tribute to Buendorf here.
Buendorf, who started his career as a Naval aviator, was best known as the Secret Service agent who grabbed an assassin’s gun to foil an attempt against U.S. President Gerald Ford on 5 September 1975 in San Francisco. He served with the Secret Service from 1970-93, then joining the USOC.
● Football ● Argentine star Diego Maradona, 60, died from cardiac arrest at his home outside Buenos Aires on 25 November 2020.
Now seven medical professionals are being tried before a three-judge panel which possible prison sentences of 8-25 years if convicted of “homicide with possible intent.”
In a marathon trial which is expected to last into July, more than 100 witnesses may testify against The defendants in the case are a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a medical coordinator, a nursing coordinator, a doctor and the night nurse.
The focus will likely be on neurosurgeon Leonardo Luque, Maradona’s personal physician in his final four years. He removed a blood clot on the brain earlier in November, weeks prior to his death.
● Freestyle Skiing ● A big day for American Moguls star Jaelin Kauf at the FIS Freestyle World Cup finale in Livigno (ITA), a test event for the 2026 Winter Games.
Kauf, the 2022 Beijing Olympic silver medalist in Moguls, won her third World Cup gold of the season at 81.21 points, ahead of 2018 Olympic champ Perrine Laffont (FRA: 77.07) and fellow American Tess Johnson (74.94).
The win clinched the FIS World Cup seasonal title in Moguls, to add her to already-clinched wins in the Dual Moguls and Overall Moguls categories: the triple crown! Kauf won medals in seven of the nine Moguls events and all six Dual Moguls, going into Wednesday’s final race.
Japan’s 2017 World Champion, Ikuma Horishima won the men’s Moguls for the third time this season, ahead of seasonal champion Mikael Kingsbury (CAN: 82.90) and American Charlie Mickel (80.14). It’s the 13th career discipline title for Kingsbury.
● Gymnastics ● Russian artistic star Viktoria Listunova, 19, was denied re-entry into international competition by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique.
A Tokyo Olympic Team gold medalist in 2021 and the 2021 European All-Around champ, Listunova applied, but was refused, according to coach Olga Petrovicheva:
“We found postcards posted on the Internet where she congratulates the country on Victory Day, and on these postcards there is a St. George ribbon. Because of this, they are not giving neutral status. The Federation is going to fight.”
The ribbon of St. George, which dates from the 1700s, is associated with Russian nationalism and militarism, including the invasion of Ukraine.
● Ski Jumping ● In the aftermath of the disqualifications of would-be silver medalist Marius Lindvik and star Johann Forfang from the FIS Nordic World Championships Large Hill competition on Saturday for illegal jump suits, the Norges Skiforbundet suspended coach Magnus Brevik and equipment manager Adrian Livelten:
“What appears to have been clarified so far is that Brevik and Livelten made a choice on Friday evening to sew an extra – and stiffer – thread into the jump suits for Forfang and Lindvik. They first tried this on a suit that was not to be used, to test the technique of doing so, before doing it on the competition suits for Forfang and Lindvik.”
On Tuesday, the federation additionally suspended assistant coach Thomas Lobben, also apparently involved in the decision to modify the suits.
The International Ski & Snowboard Federation is also involved, with the Norwegian federation adding, “FIS requested that all ski jumping suits used by Norwegian ski jumping and combined athletes during the World Championships in Trondheim be submitted to FIS.”
● Swimming ● A look at the gifts given to NCAA Division II swimmers from the University of Tampa in a cute un-boxing video, including an NCAA shoulder bag, a participation medal, two different styles of water bottles, a smaller tote bag, baseball cap, luggage tag, a phone selfie light, a 3-in-1 folding charger and a portable speaker. Nice!
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