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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Association of National Olympic Committees ● A new ANOC report commended 14 National Olympic Committees for “sustainability wins” at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Capo Verde, Czech Republic, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Slovenia and Switzerland.
● New Zealand ● High Performance Sport New Zealand announced “$162.8 million directly into 36 National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) over the next four years through to the Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games. [NZ$1 = $0.56 U.S.]
“$40.7 million per annum will go directly to NSOs for their campaigns, high performance programmes and performance pathways.
“In addition, HPSNZ will invest $22 million per annum in Tailored Athlete Pathway Support (TAPS), a programme of investment to sports which supports the wellbeing and performance of eligible athletes in the high performance system.”
Top-level sports which received funding increases included Rowing, Yachting, Athletics and Para Athletics, Cycling and Para Cycling, and Canoe Racing and Para Canoe, while “aspirational sports” Canoe Slalom, Gymnastics, Para Waka Ama, Speed Climbing, Tennis, and Para Table Tennis also will receive increases.
Sports with decreased support included Equestrian, Swimming, Triathlon, Hockey, Basketball and Rugby’s All Blacks Sevens. Sports not receiving funding are Diving, Surfing, Golf, Badminton, E-Sports, and Football.
The announcement also specified proposed medal targets for the 2028 Olympic Games of 14-18, and 9-14 for the 2028 Paralympics, and 10-plus medals at World Championships across non-Olympic and Paralympic sports. New Zealand won 20 Olympic medals (10-7-3) in Paris in 2024, and nine Paralympic medals (1-4-4).
● Alpine Skiing ● She’s back! U.S. star Lindsey Vonn left the FIS Alpine World Cup circuit after crashing in a Super-G at Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA) on 20 January 2019.
Now, with a career total of 82 wins, she will race in the World Cup again this weekend at St. Moritz (SUI) in the two Super-G races, at age 40, and after a successful partial knee replacement surgery earlier in the year. And she has a goal:
“Ultimately, if I can make it to Cortina, that would be my goal,” looking ahead to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. She’s a four-time Olympian already – 2002-06-10-14 – and a three-time Olympic medalist, including the 2020 Downhill gold.
“I was in survival mode the last years of my career. Almost every prep period I got some sort of injury, some sort of setback.
“Now I’m stronger, I don’t think about my knee. I think about how I’m going to execute the race. And that’s a totally different mindset than I was in before.
“I’m in a position where I’m not I’m not sitting on the ski, I’m working the ski, and that generates power, and that’s a lot faster than what I was doing in the last few years of my career.
“I’m having so much fun. My partial knee replacement went so well and I have no pain and no swelling. And I just started on this adventure and I thought, ‘Let’s give it a try.’
“I can’t tell you how big a difference it makes to be able to ski without pain. It’s a completely new world for me, I haven’t felt this good for 15 years. I’m excited to be back.”
● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track announced its final “Racer” athletes, filling out its 48-member core squad that will compete in all four meets in 2025:
● Freddie Crittenden (USA) ~ Olympic men’s 110 m hurdles sixth
● Caleb Dean (USA) ~ NCAA men’s 400 m hurdles champion
● Zharnel Hughes (GBR) ~ 2023 World men’s 200 m bronze medalist
● Brittany Brown (USA) ~ Olympic 200 m bronze medalist
● Diribe Welteji (ETH) ~ 2023 World women’s 1,500 m silver medalist
The remaining 48 competitors – Challengers – will be paid an appearance fee to compete at individual Slams.
The meet format: “Racers and Challengers will be assigned to compete in one of the following categories, and will all race in two events during each Slam: short sprints (100m/200m), short hurdles (100H or 110H/100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400H/400m), short distance (800m/1500m), or long distance (3000m/5000m). All competitors’ final placement score will be determined by their combined finishing order between the two races.”
The meets are scheduled for 4-6 April 2025 in Kingston (JAM); 2-4 May in Miramar, Florida; 30 May to 1 June in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 27-29 May in Los Angeles, California.
¶
The annual Bowerman Awards for the top collegiate track & field performers of the year were handed out at the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association convention in Florida on Thursday, with collegiate stars from Texas and Florida taking the honors.
German decathlon star Leo Neugebauer from the University of Texas won the men’s award for his wins at the NCAA Indoor heptathlon and his world-leading 8,961 win at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon. At the Olympic Games in Paris, he won the silver medal at 8,748. His Eugene win ranks him no. 6 all-time.
The women’s award went to Florida distance star Parker Valby, who won the NCAA Indoor 3,000 m and 5,000 m titles and then took the outdoor wins in the 5,000 and 10,000 m, all in meet-record times. The Olympic Trials runner-up at 10,000 m, she finished 11th at the Olympic Games in Paris.
● Football ● A crowd of 45,000 women – and only women – attended Monday’s match at the Naghsh e Jahan Stadium in Isfahan (IRI), to see Sepahan beat Persepolis 2-1, following a 2023 mandate from the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation’s (FFIRI) disciplinary committee “for the men’s fixture (home and away) to be played exclusively with women in attendance.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) added:
“FIFA has been in constant contact with authorities in IR Iran for several years regarding women and girls having the possibility to attend football matches, and after last year’s Tehran Derby between Persepolis and Esteghlal where 3,000 women and girls were in attendance, this latest development comes as a glowing representation of how our game is inclusive and open for everyone to enjoy.”
Iranian authorities had banned women from attending football matches for years and led to an infamous incident in which Sahar Kohdayari – the “Blue Girl” – set herself on fire in September 2019 after attending a match, being arrested and then sentenced to six months in prison.
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