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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
1. Wasserman: LA28 to “put Los Angeles on an elevated trajectory”
2. Paris Mayor Hidalgo swims in the Seine
3. Manfred “open-minded” on MLB players at LA28
4. Pound warns U.S. on Chinese doping outrage
5. Copa America final security mess has not ended
● In an interview during Sunday’s LA84 Foundation 40-year celebration, LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman explained what he and his team hope to learn at the Paris Games, what makes organizing the Games so challenging and his hopes for Los Angeles as a result of the third Olympic Games to be held there.
● Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo fulfilled her promise and swam in the Seine River in Paris, prior to the opening of the 2024 Olympic Games, along with the Prefect of the Ile-de-France region, and the head of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, Tony Estanguet.
● In a news conference during the Major League Baseball All-Star break, Commissioner Rob Manfred said talks are continuing with LA28 on having MLB players involved in Olympic play for the first time. The head of the players’ union said that players were interested in participating in the Games.
● The first President of the World Anti-Doping Agency and IOC Honorary Member Dick Pound of Canada told Reuters that the current U.S. government probe into the Chinese swimming doping incident in 2021 could lead to a suspension of the U.S. by WADA … which would mean it could not host the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
● The Copa America and the UEFA Euro 2024 both set attendance records, but the security issues at the Copa America final resulted in blame being cast on tournament owners CONMEBOL and the Hard Rock Stadium authority in Miami. FIFA’s 2026 World Cup team, headquartered near Miami, is on notice.
● Panorama: Rio 2016 (two weightlifting doping positives on re-analysis) = Paris 2024 (3: plenty of tickets still available; new night-style official poster available; arrest of a teen neo-Nazi who wants to attack Games) = Russia (Friendship Games to be postponed from September) = U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (2: six digital “creators” to cover U.S. in Paris; Team USA TV project unveiled) = Athletics (three more Kenyan doping suspensions) = Basketball (Curry scores 24 to lead U.S. men over Serbia) = Cycling (Pogacar continues with big Tour de France lead) = Football (U.S. women play to 0-0 tie with Costa Rica in hot D.C.) = Weightlifting (U.S.’s Kitts suspended by ITA, but can compete in Paris) ●
● Memorabilia: Last day for registered bidders to get in on the 380-item auction of Olympic-related items, including 71 medals and 40 torches at RR Auction’s semi-annual sale, ending on Thursday (18 July)! The super-rare 1960 Olympic Winter Games torch – one of 23 – is up to $267,952! ●
1.
Wasserman: LA28 to “put Los Angeles on an elevated trajectory”
While much of the programming at last Sunday’s 40-year celebration of the 1984 Olympic Games and the legacy of the LA84 Foundation remembered the pivotal Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad and the impact since, there was also a look ahead to the 2028 Olympic Games, coming to Los Angeles once again.
LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman was interviewed by KNBC4 Los Angeles anchor Colleen Williams, looking not only at what will come in four years, but what is happening now. Said Wasserman about what LA28 is doing:
“I think what’s difficult is – I think what’s complicated is – the scale of the Olympic Games as you started to refer to is sort of unlike anything you can imagine. And I always understood it intellectually, but now when you’re in the details, you know it’s truly hard to comprehend.
“We have these funny stats that we like to talk about, the operational equivalent of seven Super Bowls a day for 30 days. I like to tell people, because our sport program is 36 sports, so we will have essentially what is 72 world championships – men’s and women’s – in 17 days.
“No other city on earth could even come close to handling the Games in the way that we can. It’s funny, people always say, ‘I don’t feel like you’re doing anything,’ and I remind people, ‘we’re not building anything.’
“So the funny thing about our Games, in some cases is, literally not until February-March-April of ‘28 will you actually see the Games come together, because we don’t have anything to do except to do sort-of the preparation for a lot of the facilities and venues. But that’s all in the last six months, physically speaking.”
Williams noted that the venues are spread across the Southern California area – this was also a key to the success of the 1984 Games – but Wasserman explained:
“When you start with the premise that these are going to be a privately-funded Games and we have committed that at the absolute worst, we will break even, it really sets the standard. You have to use venues that are the most appropriate, operationally and financially, while being respectful to the City of L.A., and the city we’re in. So, the venue decisions we made are really driven by being in Southern California and being fiscally responsible.
“People don’t remember, in 1984, they had preliminary soccer games at West Point [actually, Annapolis, Maryland, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Stanford, California], so the concept that the Games are always in one city is kind of a fallacy. We have more concentration in a very small area than probably people realize, between the Valley – where there were no events in ‘84 – down to Long Beach; there’s some 85% of our venues are in that, it’s only about 35-40 miles, so it’s a pretty compact Games. Think about this: we don’t have a single venue, as of today, in Orange County or San Diego, whereas every other city on earth would be thrilled to have the venues that Orange County and San Diego have be part of the delivery.”
Spoiler alert: note Wasserman’s use of “as of today” concerning venues in Orange County or San Diego. They are coming; almost certainly surfing will be Huntington Beach or The Tresles and there will likely be others.
Wasserman also underscored the need to be quiet now so that the planning can be in place for later:
“Just a few little things. Look, the unique thing for us is, we will spend 85% of our budget in the last 18 months. That’s $6 billion in 18 months. Now, our job is on two-fold: to push as hard as we can to generate as much revenue as we can, so we know exactly what we have to spend. And then the work – and we’re lucky to have our new CEO here, Reynold Hoover – to drive the operations and the delivery to make sure that we give ourselves as much room, as [LA84 ticketing executive] Debra [Duncan] said, things can happen and things do happen, in the planning and the preparation so that when it’s go-time, we’ve sort of got enough contingency on both sides to get where we need to go.”
A large LA28 delegation will go to Paris in a few days and Wasserman talked about what he was looking forward to see:
“A few things. The first is, when we got the Games in 2017, we thought we’d see Tokyo in ‘20 and Paris in ‘24, to sort of observe. Obviously, I was in Tokyo for nine days, and except for one two-hour window, I never got out of my hotel, obviously for Covid. So this is our only chance to observe a Games at scale, and there is no replica for that.
“You can’t read about it, you have to see it.
“It’s not the obvious stuff, necessarily. It’s not the 70,000 people at a track meet. It’s the International Broadcast Center that has 3,500 people, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 18 months. The transportation depot, replenishing all the venues every night, the quantity of stuff that has to happen at the scale that it has to happen, we all need to see and digest.
“And I think that’s the most important thing, not that we’re going to do it the same way, not that we have the same path that they have in Paris, but the ability to observe is what I think will frame what becomes our delivery plan.”
And will the excitement that swept Los Angeles in 1984 come again in 2028?
“I would say two things. One, a lot of the excitement we feel today is because what we’re doing today, which is, 1984 was such an incredibly special moment in this city, in every regard. The people in L.A. love the Olympics and they’re not afraid of the Olympics. They embrace having the Olympics and so, coming back, that has created an opportunity for us to build on that.
“And the second thing is, look, we’re going to bring – the Mayor said it – we’re going to bring the entire world to L.A. and let’s show the world how great L.A. is in every regard.
“And that’s on all of us. We’re an event for 17 days and then 10 days for the Paralympics which is our the first time. This is about how do we use the Olympics to motivate to push the city forward, and then coming out of the Olympics, really put Los Angeles on an elevated trajectory.”
2.
Paris Mayor Hidalgo swims in the Seine
Joined by more than a dozen others, including Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and Marc Guillaume, the Prefect of Paris and the Ile-de-France region, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo fulfilled her promise to swim in the Seine River ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The swim, heavily covered by news media – including a dozen on inflatable rafts in the river – came on Wednesday morning, with Hidalgo and others swimming about 100 m in 68-degree (F) waters, with seven security boats in the water as well. She said afterwards:
“It’s a dream day … and the sun is out.
“It’s sweet and wonderful and the result of a lot of work. I remember at the very beginning in 2015 when we began our campaign for the Games, the international triathlon federation said why not a triathlon in the Seine? Will athletes be able to swim in the Seine? Today we can say they can.”
Estanguet, who won three golds for France in slalom canoeing, added:
“Today we have confirmation that the Seine is swimmable and that the triathlon and marathon swimming competitions can take place in it.
“As organisers we’re very happy to be able to offer athletes the best conditions … but over and above that what is at play is using the Games to speed up the transformation of the city and make it possible to swim in the Seine.”
Swimming in the river had been banned since 1923, but a massive, €1.4 billion (~$1.5 billion U.S.) project to update the wastewater treatment system, including massive new reservoirs to contain overflows due to heavy rains, was completed ahead in June. Measurements of bacteria levels in the river have shown it to meet – over the last 10 days, and with little rain forecast for the Games period – the quality requirements of World Aquatics for open-water swimming and World Triathlon.
Another hopeful sign: officials have sighted about 30 species of fish in the river, compared to three in 1970.
French President Emmanuel Macron has also promised to swim in the Seine, but has not announced – and may not announce – when he will dive in.
3.
Manfred “open-minded” on MLB players at LA28
The question of if and how Major League Baseball players could participate in the 2028 Olympic tournament in Los Angeles was addressed by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred during his All-Star Game news conference with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
“I sat with [LA28 Chair] Casey [Wasserman] last week. We’re talking about what can be done? What exactly would it look like? What are the compromises that we would have to make in terms of our season? So I remain open-minded on that topic.
“I do think that maybe the thing that I found most persuasive that Casey is saying is forget about what’s going to happen with baseball in the Olympics long-term because I think we all know when you’re in Paris they’re probably not going to build a baseball stadium, right?
“But, but when you’re in L.A., you focus on L.A. It is an opportunity that we need to think about.”
Any deal on Major League players will require the agreement of the MLB Players Association, and union chief Tony Clark said there is player interest:
“The feedback that we’ve gotten so far from players is such that there is an interest in participating if given an opportunity.
“So we expect, at least as of right now based on the feedback that we’ve gotten, that’ll be a conversation we’ll look to have. But the players will determine whether or to what extent that is something that needs to be leaned in on, not just for 2028, but I think it’s probably an important discussion to be had beyond 2028, knowing that the opportunity to have it in 2028 could be a building block toward it being more consistently in the Olympics moving forward.”
The overwhelming response to baseball as a demonstration sport at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles – attendance at Dodger Stadium averaged 48,195 for the eight sessions – was a key driver to its inclusion, along with softball, for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona (ESP). Baseball and softball were included through 2008, then eliminated, but returned by Tokyo 2020 as an added sport. LA28 received approval for baseball and softball as added sports.
4.
Pound warns U.S. on Chinese doping outrage
Canadian lawyer and longtime International Olympic Committee member – now an Honorary Member – Richard W. “Dick” Pound was the founding President of the World Anti-Doping Agency and has been famous for his zeal in the anti-doping movement.
But even he thinks the U.S. government and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency are going too far with their strident criticism of the handling of the 2021 case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine, but were not sanctioned as the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency ruled that the positive tests were due to food contamination.
After a U.S. House hearing at which Olympic swim stars Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt and USADA chief Travis Tygart testified, a request was made of the U.S. Justice Department to inquire under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019, which provides extra-territorial jurisdiction to penalize individuals who assist in doping. A meeting is being scheduled with World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowicki (USA) on the China case.
“That legislation is non-compliant with the anti-doping code,” Pound told Reuters on Tuesday.
“My guess is that one of the steps that WADA is going to take at this point is to turn this particular issue over to the Compliance Review Committee.
“Which I suspect, if or when there’s a hearing on it, they will declare the United States non-compliant. It would mean they could not host the Olympics.”
Pound thinks that the International Olympic Committee could even delay next week’s vote to confirm Salt Lake City as the host for the 2034 Olympic Winter Games:
“There’s certainly an opportunity, because apparently we have a session in Puerto Rico in November.
“An easy way to finesse that would be to say, well. listen. these would be Games in the Americas, maybe that’s the place we should make our announcement in Puerto Rico.
“If I were King of the Mountain, I would call up [United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Chair] Gene Sykes and say, listen, the drums are starting to beat here and it’s this legislation that puts the U.S. offside.”
Pound, never one to mince words in order to be clear, added:
“When you look at the context, this was a national competition, a domestic China competition, there wasn’t an American within 6,000 miles. Now all of a sudden they’re trying to upgrade this to a Rodchenkov violation, which is just bad.
“You’ve already seen that shot across the bow from [the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations], saying, hey listen, this is serious and the U.S. may be disqualified from participation in a lot of these events.
“I think there’s a danger of USADA and the U.S. playing itself offside in a way that could jeopardize both the 2028 [Los Angeles] and 2034 [Salt Lake City] Games.”
5.
Copa America final security mess has not ended
On the field, Sunday’s Copa America final was a historical triumph for Argentina, a 1-0 winner over Colombia for a second straight title and its 16th all-time, the most by any nation.
But off the field, it was a disaster, with an 82-minute delay before the game could start, due to unruly, unticketed fans who stormed gates and climbed into ventilation shafts to try and get into Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Police reported making 27 arrests and ejected 55 others, but were overwhelmed at specific points at the venue, even with 800 officers on hand.
On Monday, CONMEBOL – the South American confederation which owns and operates the Copa America – blamed the stadium authority:
“[F]ans without tickets went to the stadium’s vicinity, which delayed the normal access of people who did have tickets, slowing down the entry and leading to the closure of doors.
“In this situation, CONMEBOL was subject to the decisions made by the Hard Rock Stadium authorities, according to the contractual responsibilities established for security operations.
“In addition to the preparations determined in this contract, CONMEBOL recommended to these authorities the procedures proven in events of this magnitude, which were NOT taken into account.”
Hard Rock Stadium management, unimpressed, issued its own statement which included:
“Preparations included an increase in the number of law enforcement officers and security on-hand, with more than double the personnel than a typical at-capacity stadium event.
“Throughout the afternoon and evening, there were numerous attempts by unruly fans without tickets to overpower security and law enforcement personnel at entry points to the stadium, putting themselves, other fans and security and stadium staff at extreme risk.
“Various stadium gates were closed and re-opened strategically in an attempt to allow ticketed guests to enter safely and in a controlled manner. Fans continued to engage in illegal conduct — fighting police officers, breaking down walls and barricades and vandalizing the stadium, causing significant damage to the property.
“When it became apparent that it would not be safe to start the match at 8 p.m., a joint decision was made to postpone. Shortly after 8 p.m., stadium officials, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and law enforcement officers communicated and decided to open stadium gates for a short period of time to all fans to prevent stampedes and serious injury at the perimeter.
“We will continue to work with law enforcement to identify and hold criminals accountable who engaged in illegal conduct tonight. It is disappointing that a night of celebration was impacted by unlawful and unsafe behavior, and we will fully review the processes and protocols in place tonight and work with law enforcement to ensure such an event never happens again.”
Colombian coach Nestor Lorenzo said afterwards the situation troubled his players:
“Imagine, from the locker room we were trying to communicate with family members, with friends, to see if they were in trouble or not, it was overwhelming. So that was chaotic. We tried to keep the team calm, but there was anxiety. …
“Everything became uprooted. I repeat, it happened for both teams. It’s a complaint, but not a cry.”
After the match, Ramon Jesurun, the head of the Colombian football federation, and his son, Ramon Jamil Jesurin – who were accredited – tried to enter the field, but were restrained by private security officials. They tussled with the guards and were arrested and both were charged with three counts of felony battery. They posted bond on Monday after a hearing with a judge. The Colombian federation apologized for the incident.
Observed: The incident in Miami was a warning for the FIFA World Cup 2026 organizers – FIFA is the organizing body for the event – and the host committees for the 16 venues in Canada, Mexico and the U.S., that football fans are not like baseball or NFL fans, and everyone had better be ready for this.
¶
“FIFA is aware of a video circulating on social media and the incident is being looked into.”
Wednesday’s statement came after another incident involving the Argentinian team, which in 2022 was chanting lyrics which included racist and homophobic language aimed at France and star striker Kylian Mbappe, which Argentina defeated in the FIFA World Cup final in Qatar.
After the victory in the Copa America final on Sunday, the chants were again heard, this time in a live video posted by Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez, 23, from the team bus!
Fernandez took to Instagram on Wednesday to apologize:
“I want to apologize sincerely for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebrations. The song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse for these words. I stand against discrimination in all forms and apologize for getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations. That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my character or beliefs. I am truly sorry.”
His behavior is also being scrutinized by his club team, Chelsea, of the English Premier League.
¶
The chaos of Sunday’s Copa America final was not limited to Miami.
More than 200 people were involved in a brawl outside the Sabor Colombiano restaurant on South Union Avenue in the Westlake District of Los Angeles, with at least two stabbings reported. Police responded at about 9 p.m. to calls concerning fighting on the street.
¶
In terms of fans who did attend the Copa America with tickets, the tournament – as expected – established a new attendance record of 1,571,878, or 49,121 average for each of the 32 matches played across 14 venues.
The old record came at the other time that the Copa America was held in the U.S., in 2016, when 1,483,855 (46,370 average) attended across 32 matches held in 10 different venues.
¶
By contrast, the UEFA European Championships final was reasonably calm as Spain scored late for a 2-1 win over England, which lost in the for the second straight time, before 65,600 at Berlin’s Olympistadion.
The tournament ended with an all-time attendance record of 2,681,288 or 52,574 average for the 51 matches. Forgetting the Covid-tinged 2020 edition, the 2024 tournament surpassed the 2016 edition as the most-attended ever:
● 2016: 2,427,303 (47,594 average) in France (51 matches)
● 2012: 1,440,896 (46,841) in Poland-Ukraine (31)
● 2008: 1,143,990 (36,903) in Austria-Switzerland (31)
● 2004: 1,160,802 (37,445) in Portugal (31)
● 2000: 1,223,833 (36,220) in Belgium-Netherlands (31)
In comparison to the Copa America issues, Germany’s Interior Ministry noted less security issues during the tournament than expected. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the police were “prepared for all conceivable dangers from Islamist terrorism, through hooligan violence to cyberattacks and dangerous drone flights.
“There were significantly fewer security incidents and offenses than our security authorities had expected beforehand at an event with millions of people. Above all, the very high police presence across the country was decisive in this.”
Across the month-long tournament, about six million fans watched from “fan zones” in addition to the 2.6 million attendees. The German Interior Ministry stated there were about 170 arrests and 320 temporary detentions. About 2,340 violations were related to the tournament, with 700 involving bodily harm, 120 thefts and 140 cases involving violence against police officers.
≡ PANORAMA ≡
● Olympic Games 2016: Rio ● The start of the re-analysis of doping samples from the 2016 Olympic Games has resulted in two potential positives being announced by the International Testing Agency in weightlifting.
Men’s 77 kg bronze medalist Mahmoud Ehab (EGY) was identified with a positive for a Methandienone metabolite, and fifth-placer Alexandru Spac (MDA) showed positive for the Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone metabolite.
Both can now ask for the B-samples to be tested; if positive, the cases will be pursued at the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● The Paris organizers have sold more tickets that for any Olympic Games ever held – 8.7 million – but they still have more available.
A bit more than 1.2 million tickets remain from the 10 million Olympic total. Another 50,000 tickets, across 30 sports, were put on sale on Thursday, with tickets continuing to come into public sale, especially for the sports with large capacities, including football and the basketball prelims and handball finals in Lille.
The U.S. remains the biggest ticket buyer outside of the host country, followed by Germany, Great Britain, Spain and Belgium.
¶
A special “celebration edition” of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic poster – at nighttime – has been produced, naturally, in a limited edition of 2,024 copies, available on 25 July, a day before the opening on the Seine River.
Printed in France on 70 x 100 cm paper (27.6 x 39.4 inches), each goes for €200, as long as they last.
¶
French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin reported Wednesday that police had arrested the “administrator of the Telegram channel ‘French Aryan Division,’ a young Alsatian is suspected of having called for violent actions during the Olympic Games.”
The 19-year-old neo-Nazi was arrested by the police of the Anti-Terrorist Sub-Directorate, apparently also a threat to the Olympic Torch Relay.
● Russia ● A weird sequence of events concerning the World Friendship Games, designed to be held from 15-29 September 2024, and heavily criticized by the International Olympic Committee as a political exercise by the Russian government.
The head of the Russian Weightlifting Federation, Maxim Agapitov, said Tuesday: “The World Friendship Games were scheduled. I officially know that these Games were rescheduled for the next year.”
Later the same day, he retracted his comments, telling the Russian news agency TASS: “I have no official information and speaking about the postponement I relied on open sources. I do not have the authority to disclose official information.”
Then the Friendship Games organizing committee announced:
“The Organizing Committee of the World Friendship Games continues actively preparing for the tournament. At the moment, due to a proposal of the International Friendship Association to postpone the Games to other dates, consultations are underway with all interested parties regarding new dates of the tournament.
“We will make an official announcement as soon as a relevant decision is made.”
The question now is not whether the event will not be held in September – it won’t – but whether it will ever be held.
● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● Following a recent trend especially impactful in track & field, the USOPC has six former athletes and digital personalities on the ground in Paris to document and report on the Games on their own social channels in their own style.
Olympic swimming stars Missy Franklin Johnson and Katie Hoff from the “Unfiltered Waters” podcast, Tokyo Olympic skateboarder Heimana Reynolds, and two-time Olympic ice dancing medalists Alex Shibutani and Maia Shibutani will be joined by “HighlightHER” creator Ari Chambers.
A separate team of six creators will cover the Paralympic Games, including Olympic women’s long jump favorite Tara Davis-Woodhall, the wife of Paralympic track & field medalist Hunter Woodhall.
¶
Following the demise of NBC’s cable Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA and the NBC Sports Network, a new outlet for American Olympic programming has been badly needed. The USOPC announced Tuesday a new streaming service called “Team USA TV.”
This is an all-digital, online project with the channel’s scheduled content on Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, VIZIO WatchFree+, LG Channels and Xumo Play, and launching soon on NBC’s Peacock subscription channel.
The channel is a joint project of the USOPC, NBCUniversal and FAST Studios as a permanent promotional vehicle for American Olympic and Paralympic sport.
● Athletics ● The Athletics Integrity Unit continues to sanction Kenyan athletes for doping, with three more announced on Tuesday. Daniel Muindi, 29, a 2:09:25 marathoner from 2019 was suspended for three years from 10 July 2024 for the use of Norandrosterone.
Judith Jerubet, 35, a 2:25:54 marathoner from 2023 was banned for two years from 7 June 2024 for using Triamcinolone acetonide. Rodgers Gesabwa, 36, a 2:09:40 marathoner from 2022, was provisionally suspended for using Benzoylecgonine.
● Basketball ● Star guard Steph Curry scored 24 points, with 6-9 from three-point range, to lead the U.S. Olympic men’s team to an impressive 105-79 win over world no. 4 Serbia in Abu Dhabi (UAE) on Wednesday.
The teams were tied at 28 at the quarter, but the Americans ran away with a 31-17 second quarter that featured nine points from Curry. A 24-13 third quarter gave the U.S. an unassailable 83-58 lead entering the fourth.
Center Bam Adebayo added 17 points off the bench and guard Anthony Edwards had 16 in a reserve role for the U.S., which improved to 3-0 on its exhibition tour prior to the Paris Games.
Serbian star center Nikola Jokic had 16 points, but the Serbs shot only 40.8% compared to 52.9% for the U.S., and 85% free-throw shooting. The two teams will meet in the Group C opener in Paris on 28 July.
The U.S. will complete its pre-Games schedule in London with matches against South Sudan (also an Olympic opponent) on the 20th and World Cup champ Germany on 22 July.
● Cycling ● No significant change at the 111th Tour de France, with Slovenia’s two-time winner Tadej Pogacar looking ready to win his third, maintaining a 3:11 over two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) after Wednesday’s 17th stage.
On Tuesday, Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen won his third stage of the race by taking the mass sprint at the end of the mostly-flat 188.6 km ride to Nimes. He finished ahead of Phil Bauhaus (GER) and Alexander Kristoff (NOR) as the top 111 riders received the same time.
The more challenging stage 17 on Wednesday, a hilly, 177.8 km course with an uphill finish to Superdevoluy, the Olympic Road champ Richard Carapaz soloed in the last 13.3 km to win in 4:06:13, well ahead of Simon Yates (GBR: +0:37) and Spain’s Enric Mas (+0:57).
Further back were Pogacar (+7:23) and Vingegaard (+7:25), so Pogacar’s lead is now 3:11 with the race concluding on Sunday. There is another hilly stage on Thursday and then two difficult climbing stages on Friday and Saturday, where Vingegaard says he will make a run at Pogacar before the race ends in Nice on the 21st.
● Football ● The U.S. women’s National Team contested a final prep match before heading to Paris with a 0-0 tie vs. Costa Rica in oppressively hot conditions in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
With temperatures as high as 98 degrees, the U.S. dominated play, with 79% possession for the first half and 80% for the game, out-shooting Costa Rica by 10-2 in the first half and 16-0 in the second. But no goals.
The forward trio of Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith created chance after chance, with significant help from Lindsey Horan, but could not score. Costa Rican keeper Noelia Bermudez was also sharp with 12 saves. On to Paris; under new coach Emma Hayes, the U.S. has not allowed an opponent goal so far, a good early sign.
● Weightlifting ● Timing is everything. U.S. lifter Wes Kitts, entered in Paris in the men’s 102 kg class, will have served a one-month suspension from the International Testing Agency for using a prohibited substance in competition. Per USA Weightlifting:
“His sample from the IWF World Cup in April contained methylhexaneamine, a stimulant only prohibited in competition. Although Wes appeared at this competition, he did not intend to compete at that competition due to injury. USA Weightlifting informed the IWF more than a week prior to his session that Wes would not be lifting.
“The ITA and Wes agreed that, because of his unintentional use and the specific circumstances of his positive test, Wes would receive a one-month suspension from July 3 to August 2. He is eligible to represent the United States in competition, and is expected to compete Saturday, Aug. 10 in the men’s 102 kg competition in Paris.”
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