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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board approved the “Qualification System Principles” for the 2028 Olympic Games, with two hard dates set:
● 11 June 2028: Last day for qualifying events
● 26 June 2028: Sport entry deadline
“Universality places” for individual sports will be distributed according to a plan which must be in place by February 2026. Each International Federation will develop a plan for approval by the IOC.
● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● Money is at the center of another venue dispute, with Tennis Australia asking for a A$113 million (~$72.20 million U.S.) upgrade to the Queensland Tennis Centre for the 2032 Games:
“It currently does not meet the necessary standards – that’s why Tennis Queensland is advocating for additional government funding to upgrade the facility as part of the Olympic review process – and if unsuccessful we would consider hosting it in Melbourne.”
Tennis Queensland chief executive Cameron Pearson explained:
“We don’t have enough courts, we don’t have enough seating and our player facilities are not big enough. If we can’t get the funding and the required number of courts and seating here at the Queensland Tennis Centre we will have to look elsewhere.
“It would be a travesty if we weren’t able to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games here.”
The Queensland government is slated to deliver the results of its 100-day venue review on 25 March.
● Russia ● The saga of Russia’s state-sponsored doping program from 2011-15 and the follow-up to the data found at the infamous Moscow Laboratory of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency continues.
The World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed to the Russian news agency TASS that 262 doping convictions have been obtained from information retrieved in 2019 from the lab – known as “LIMS” – with another 79 cases still in process.
“There have been 262 convictions, with the number expected to increase as more cases are heard. Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated in 38 cases. 41 cases are still under investigation by the relevant anti-doping organization.”
● Athletics ● Another important doping suspension from the Athletics Integrity Unit, as former men’s Half Marathon world-record holder Kibiwott Kandie (KEN) was “provisionally suspended … for evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection.”
Kandie’s 57:20 in Valencia (ESP) in December 2020 is still the no. 4 performance all-time, and he also owns the no. 6 and no. 19 performance ever. He finished 13th (2:06:46) in the Berlin Marathon last September.
Turkey’s Sultan Haydar, now 37 and a 2012 and 2016 Olympic women’s marathoner, was also banned, “for 2 years and 6 months from 31 January 2024 for Evading, Refusing or Failing to submit to Sample Collection. DQ results from 31 January 2024″
● Bobsled & Skeleton ● With the IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid now wrapped up, the International Bobsled & Skeleton Federation is already looking ahead to the Olympic season of 2025-26:
“The Olympic IBSF World Cup season will start in exactly eight months: 17 November 2025 will be the first day of World Cup week number one which will take place at the new Olympic venue, the Eugenio Monti Sliding Track in Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy. The track is due to be pre-homologated at the end of March 2025.”
Of course, if the new track in Cortina isn’t completed on time, the back-up venue for the 2026 Winter Games is … Lake Placid.
● Boxing ● World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst (NED) welcomed the news that the International Olympic Committee Executive Board has recommended recognition of the federation to govern boxing for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and beyond:
“This is a very significant and important decision for Olympic boxing and takes the sport one step closer to being restored to the Olympic programme.
“I have no doubt it will be very positively received by everyone connected with boxing, at every level throughout the world, who understands the critical importance to the future of the sport of boxing continuing to remain a part of the Olympic Movement.
“On behalf of everyone at World Boxing I would like to thank the EB of the IOC for the trust they have placed in our organisation and we hope for a positive outcome when the IOC Session meets this week.”
¶
Meanwhile, the International Boxing Association held its women’s World Championships in Nis (SRB), with Russian fighters scoring seven medals and four wins among the 12 classes.
There were some 2024 Olympic medalists who made the finals in Nis, including gold medalists Nazym Kyzaibay (KAZ: 48 kg ~ 50 kg bronze in Paris), and North Korea’s Choi-mi Pang at 52 kg (Paris 54 kg bronze).
Pang defeated Turkey’s Buze Naz Cakiroglu, the 50 kg Paris silver winner, in the 52 kg final. Paris 54 kg silver medalist Hatice Akbas (TUR) was the runner-up in her class to Widad Bertal of Morocco. Tokyo 2020 66 kg winner Busenaz Surmeneli (TUR) won her class.
Kyzaibay and Surmeneli both won their third Worlds golds. Kazakhstan (3-2-1), Turkey (1-3-2) and Serbia (1-0-5) all had six medals to tie for second on the medals table.
● Nordic Skiing ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation reported excellent attendance figures for the 2025 World Nordic Skiing Championships in Trondheim (NOR), with 230,000 in-stadium attendees at the Granasen Ski Centre, “at least 170,000 turning out to watch by the side of the course. And more than 200,000 went to the Medal Plaza in Trondheim’s city centre to see medal ceremonies and cultural events.” That’s 600,000 people (with some duplicates, of course).
Wow.
The championships were a huge hit on Norwegian television, with a 90% market share for many races, and a reported 60 million cumulative audience in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
● Rowing ● At the World Rowing Quadrennial Congress over the weekend, the delegates adopted a new event, the Mixed Eight, to be included immediately (2025) in the World Rowing Championships and possibly in the Olympic Games, pending approval by the IOC.
● Swimming ● SwimSwam.com reported on a fund-raising effort at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo – which prefers to be known only as “Cal Poly” – to raise $25 million to endow the school’s aquatics program, which may otherwise be cut. The promoters of the funding effort explained “that at a conservative 4% endowment return rate, that this would create a budget of $1 million a year to fully-fund a competitive Division I program.”
The swimming and diving program was eliminated earlier this month, in view of cuts that will be needed if the House vs. NCAA settlement is approved in April. Endowment funding is a strategy that many schools and individual programs are undertaking to maintain their place within intercollegiate athletic departments as revenues from football and basketball will now be used to pay players.
¶
Hungarian butterfly star Tamas Kenderesi, 28, the Rio 2016 Olympic 200 m Fly bronze winner, was banned for four years for changes in his Athlete Biological Passport noted in 2022. He was banned by the Hungarian anti-doping authority as of 23 January 2023 and will be eligible again in January 2027.
● Volleyball ● The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) is investing hard dollars in development activities, announcing a 2024 investment total of $6.3 million in 74 countries, comprising 197 projects:
“The 2024 investment focused on three key areas, with over USD 5 million dedicated to 73 coach support projects, helping national teams access world-class coaching expertise. Close to USD 1 million was allocated to 76 volleyball equipment projects, providing essential equipment to grow the sport. Additionally, nearly USD 300,000 supported 48 knowledge transfer programmes, allowing NFs to learn best practices and strategies for the sustainable growth of volleyball.”
The FIVB is now asking for applications for 2025 programming, with applications submitted by 31 March receiving answers by the end of June.
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