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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● International Olympic Committee ● Presidential candidate Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP) told Reuters that a formalized policy on the question of transgender women participating in the women’s category will be a priority if he is elected on 20 March:
“We should try our best to have it in place before the Milano-Cortina Games. I think it’s almost mandatory to try. The timeline is very short, but the timeline is there.
“We saw Paris, one of the most, if not the most successful Games in history, and they were tainted by that issue.”
Commenting on the existing IOC “framework” structure which leaves the decision to each International Federation – adopted in November 2021 – he would prefer more clarity:
“It was a good call [then], but it has not been good enough. Paris demonstrated that the social alarm on this issue is still there, and there is a common understanding … for the IOC as the leader of the world of sports to be the leader also on this issue.”
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The IOC announced that TOP sponsor Allianz, the German insurance giant, has confirmed its participation through the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.
Allianz has been the IOC’s insurance partner since 2021 as well as a worldwide partner of the International Paralympic Committee. With the commitment, the IOC now has seven TOP sponsor categories filled, by AB Inbev, Allianz, Coca-Cola/Mengniu, Deloitte, Omega, TCL and Visa.
● Athletics ● ATHLOS confirmed a 2025 meet, this time on 10 October 2025, again at Icahn Stadium in New York. The tagline is “to celebrate the world’s fastest women,” indicating only running events and for women only, once again.
The 2024 program included the women’s 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1,500 m and 100 m hurdles.
● Boxing ● World Boxing approved six more members, bringing its federation total to 84. The new federations include: the Chinese Boxing Federation; the Turkish Boxing Federation; the Sudan Boxing Federation; the Boxing Association of Montenegro; the Slovak Boxing Federation and the Hellenic Boxing Federation (Greece).
World Boxing was provisionally recognized by the IOC Executive Board to govern Olympic boxing and is well placed now to be fully recognized by the IOC Session next week in Greece.
● Cycling ● Two of the celebrated, early-season stage races are at the midway, in France and Italy.
At the 83rd Paris-Nice race, Belgian sprint star Tim Merlier won the mass-finish first stage, followed by another win in stage two. The Team Time Trial in stage three was won by the Dutch Team Visma/Lease-A-Bike with defending champ Matteo Jorgenson of the U.S. ending the stage in the overall lead.
That didn’t last long as the hilly fourth stage endured slick conditions due to hail and melting snow, with the race stopped for 15 minutes with about 30 km left of the 163.4 km course. Once resumed, the race finished uphill and Portugal’s Joao Almeida just edged two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) at the line in 3:37:06. However, Vingegaard took the overall lead by five seconds over teammate Jorgenson, with four stages left.
At the 60th Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy, the home country has won all three stages, although Time Trial star Filippo Ganna, Jonathan Milan and Andrea Vendrame all ride for different teams!
Ganna won the opening time trial (of course), then Milan and Vendrame won mass-finish sprints to the line in the second and third stages. Ganna retains the overall lead by 22 seconds over Juan Ayuso (ESP), with the key test not coming until Saturday’s sixth stage, with an uphill finish to Frontignano.
● Freestyle Skiing ● The Moguls season ended in Livigno (ITA) with the men’s and women’s Dual Moguls and a confirmed triple win for American star Jaelin Kauf, the Beijing 2022 Olympic Moguls runner-up.
She finished second to Australian rookie rider Charlotte Wilson, 22-13, in the final, but Kauf won the seasonal Moguls title by a tight 676-650 over 2018 Olympic champ Perrine Laffont (FRA), the Dual Moguls title by 660-440 over Laffont, and the overall Moguls crown by 1,336-1,090 over Laffont. It was Kauf’s first win in all three categories.
Canadian star Mikael Kingsbury won the Dual Moguls, reversing his loss to Japan’s Ikuma Horishima in Moguls, 20-15. It was the 99th career World Cup win for all-time leader Kingsbury, in the last event of the season.
Kingsbury won the Moguls seasonal title by 755-598 over Horishima, the Dual Moguls over Horishima, 544-440 and the combined Crystal Globe, 1,299-1,038. It’s the 13th seasonal overall win for the great Kingsbury, still only 32.
● Gymnastics ● The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) told the Russian news agency TASS, “We do not discuss individual AIN cases or publish the reasons why individual requests were approved or rejected,” referring to the rejection of neutral status of Tokyo Olympic Team gold medalist Viktoria Listunova, now 19.
Listunova’s coach said she was rejected because of social-media posts of “Victory Day” postcards which included the ribbon of St. George, a symbol connected with Russian nationalism.
● Rowing ● World Rowing extended its neutral-athlete policy for Russian and Belarusian athletes in its competitions for 2025, allowing Singles, Pairs and Double Sculls in senior-level events and all events except Eights in U-19 and U-23 events.
It’s not clear that the political neutrality of the participants will be checked, as the statement noted only that “Background checks will be performed should they be required by World Rowing.”
● Snowboard ● A long recovery is projected for Australian rider Belle Brockhoff, 32, a 2021 World Champion in the Mixed Team Snowboard Cross, after a bad crash at the FIS World Cup in Gudauri (GEO) last Saturday.
She was competing in the “small final” for places 5-8 when she crashed and did not finish. According to the Australian Olympic Committee:
“Belle was airlifted from the course and taken to a Tbilisi hospital where examination and imaging revealed a fracture of the L1 vertebrae, with no neurological damage.
“Belle was then evacuated to Greece for surgery.
“After surgery it is expected that Belle will remain in Athens to rehabilitate for up to two weeks before returning to Australia.”
A broken back requires 6-12 weeks recovery and Brockhoff, who competed at the 2014-18-22 Winter Games, had already been hit with injuries, recovering from a broken wrist at the end of the 2023-24 season. In Gudauri, she was competing in only her second event of the 2024-25 season.
● Volleyball ● USA Volleyball announced the induction of six new Hall of Fame members on 21 May in Denver, Colorado.
Olympic beach greats Mike Dodd (1996 silver) and Kerri Walsh-Jennings (2004-08-12 gold, 2016 bronze) and indoor stars Lindsey Berg (2008-12 silver), Tayyiba Haneef-Park (2008-12 silver), Tom Hoff (2008 gold), and David Lee (2008 gold) make up the class.
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