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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2034: Salt Lake City ● At the IOC news conference following Tuesday’s Executive Board meeting, a question was posed as to whether there might be a date conflict in 2034 between the Salt Lake City Winter Games – scheduled for 10-26 February – and the 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
FIFA is expected to formally hand the tournament to the Saudis on 11 December and it will have to be held during the Northern Hemisphere wintertime given normal weather patterns in the Arabian peninsula. But no dates have been proposed. IOC Executive Director for the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi (SUI) answered:
“I think the way you have to see this is that for sports fans a real feast during a period of whatever it is – three, four months – where you’re going to have these two events. I think the risk of having those two in parallel is immensely limited. Immensely limited.
“What I know as well, with these two [events] being in totally different countries and continents, from all standpoints, including a commercial one, we have actually virtually no risk. So, what I see is a lot of sports consumption for all of us on any platform, on any channel.
“So really, at this stage, we don’t see a major issue.”
● Youth Olympic Games 2026: Dakar ● The IOC did something very interesting on Tuesday: it announced a contraction of the Youth Olympic Games.
The 2026 YOG in Dakar (SEN) will feature 2,700 athletes, down from 3,997 in Buenos Aires (ARG) in 2018. Further, the number of medal events will go down from 241 in 2018 to 151 in Dakar, with 72 each for men and women and seven mixed events.
There will be 25 sports with one discipline each for medal events, and an additional showcase for 10 sports which “will not feature in the competition programme but will be promoted through interactive activities on site and via digital platforms, emphasising their role as integral components and an official part of the YOG.”
Sometimes, bigger is not better, and the YOG has continuously expanded from 2010 to 2014 to 2018. Now, it will shrink somewhat for Dakar, opening the possibility to have this event remade again under the next IOC President.
● Athletics ● Posted on Tuesday:
“The AIU has banned Kibrom Weldemicael (Eritrea) for 6 years from 9 August 2024 for Presence/Use of Prohibited Substances (EPO and furosemide). DQ results from 5 May 2024″
Weldemicael, 37, is a 2:07:25 marathoner from the 25 February Castellon (ESP) race. He won the Geneva Marathon on 5 May, but is now disqualified after testing positive.
● Biathlon ● A report reviewing athlete welfare and safety for the U.S. Biathlon Association from the New York-based Vestry Laight organizational culture consultants was completed in October and released this week, finding:
● “The culture in US Biathlon for elite athletes is impacted by the nature of the competitions which require the athletes to live together in close quarters abroad for several months at a time (from November to March), far from their support systems and families. This presents challenges for athletes, who need to get along with each other in a small group of 8 to 10 while competing against each other in highly stressful conditions, as well as on staff who may face extra demands to make things run smoothly. The experience can be emotionally challenging with some athletes feeling isolated and lonely and others describing the closeknit group of staff and athletes to be like family.”
● “Our [24] interviews did not reveal egregious examples of ongoing sexual harassment and abuse. Some veteran athletes noted that behavior has improved recently with staffing changes. Although most people interviewed did not express fear for their safety, many described an atmosphere in which comments or ‘circumstances made [the athlete] feel uncomfortable.’”
● “[M]any people from the survey and interviews provided comments about culture that were consistent and strikingly similar. They described inappropriate material displayed in wax rooms, ‘low-level microaggressions’ and “multiple small instances” of ‘not ok,’ ‘weird,’ or ‘misogynistic’ comments or behavior from staff or other athletes that added up to creating an environment that is not welcoming or inclusive to many women and to some men. As one person said, ‘It is very uncomfortable as a woman – not unsafe but tough to be in that environment… Lots of little comments layered on top of each other make you feel like you don’t belong.’”
● “Many [athletes] expressed concern that if they complained they would be denied training opportunities, financial support, selection for relay teams, a discretionary spot if there is an injury or a place on the national team. Even though selection is based primarily on performance at high level competitions and the International Competitive Committee (ICC) selects teams, there is an element of discretion and many athletes we spoke with believe that team selection is not objective and fear retaliation if they complain.”
A survey undertaken for the report showed that “[a]lthough almost all men express comfort with raising concerns about athlete safety (92%), only 52% of women do.”
A series of recommendations were made on safety, culture, transparency, communications and privacy concerns, to be implemented and reviewed over the next 12-18 months.
The Associated Press reported in February a U.S. Center for SafeSport investigation which found that two-time Olympian Joanne Reid had been sexually harassed by a wax technician. The tech was fired and Vestry Laight was engaged to perform the audit.
● Cycling ● Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel of Belgium was seriously injured on Tuesday, when he crashed into the door of a post office van during a training ride, suffering fractures to a rib, right shoulder blade and his right hand. His bike frame split in two after hitting the van door.
Upon being hospitalized, he was also found to have lung contusions and a dislocated collarbone, which required surgery. He is expected to recover, but was visibly shaken at the scene, having run into the door as it was opened in front of him.
Evenepoel was the first cyclist ever to win both the Olympic road race and time trial in the same Games.
● Figure Skating ● French five-time World Ice Dance champions and Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medalists Gabriella Papadakis (29) and Guillaume Cizeron (30) announced their formal retirement from skating.
They took a break from competition in June 2022, and have not competed since, but dominated the discipline with Worlds golds in 2015-16-18-19-22, and five more European titles between 2015-19. They won the Olympic silver in 2018 and then triumphed in 2022.
● Football ● A brilliant summary of the driving forces within FIFA and its member federations was offered by AIPS Football Delegate Keir Radnedge (GBR) on Tuesday. In short:
● “To be clear, the majority of FIFA’s 211-strong membership is not only non-European but financially challenged. This means heavy dependence on the [financial] favours of a president which he – whether long-gone Joao Havelange or resentfully critical Sepp Blatter or current supremo Gianni Infantino – can parlay into voting support.”
● “This has led, in turn, to a strategy of new competitions and expanded tournaments aimed at generating ever more millions of dollars from television and, to a lesser extent, sponsors. Complaints about pressure on players has proved counter-productive.”
● Projecting that the FIFA Congress will not even vote on the FIFA World Cup 2030 and 2034 host countries, but agree by acclimation, Radnedge writes, “No European objections about human rights abuses and ill-treatment of workers will be heard or registered or even reflected in FIFA’s non-vote.”
He adds:
“Infantino need not even answer barbed questions from the media: he has scrapped press conferences, round tables, etc. As he would probably say, if journos could ask him, his responsibility is to his member associations not to the media.
“So, expect the torrent of outrage targeted at FIFA, Infantino and the Saudis from western Europe media and human rights bodies to be balanced by only a self-interested smirk of pragmatic approval from much of the rest of the world.”
And continued announcements of the funds distributed by FIFA to its member federations. That’s the driver. Now you know.
● Shooting ● Signs of new life from the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) from its 2024 General Assembly in Rome, beginning with President Luciano Rossi (ITA), who explained:
● “In 2022, when I took office, we were just one step away from being out of the Olympic Games. … The situation I found was extremely challenging. Relations with the IOC were at an all-time low, putting our Olympic participation – and the very survival of our sport – at risk. Our priority was to rebuild constructive dialogue with the IOC leadership.”
● “We have worked tirelessly on lobbying and rebuilding relations with the IOC and the Olympic Family and showing the real potential of shooting sports as a relevant and appealing part of the Olympic Games. Today, we can confidently say that for 2028, we have secured our place in the Los Angeles Olympics!”
● “We need to become more mainstream, more visible, loved by young people and seen as trendy, not old-fashioned. To achieve this, we must raise the standard of our competitions, enhance the quality of our television productions, and strengthen our presence at international events.”
Rossi also stressed the needs for commercial participation, “to reduce dependence on IOC contributions.” ISSF Secretary General Alessandro Nicotra di Giacomo (ITA) provided proof of progress, reporting €778,000 in sponsor income in 2024, including €278,000 from official sponsors, a first-time realization of €440,000 for the ISSF House at the Paris 2024 Olympic site at Chateauroux and first-time sponsors of the ISSF General Assembly of €68,000. (€1 = $1.05 U.S.)
That compares to just €115,000 in all of 2023; the ISSF has set an “ambitious target” of €3.5 million for sponsorship for the 2024-28 quadrennial.
● Weightlifting ● The International Weightlifting Federation Executive Board, meeting in Manama (BRN) ahead of the 2024 World Championships, approved a new set of weight classes for the sport, to be introduced in June 2025.
The current and new categories:
● Men/now (10): 55 – 61 – 67- 71 – 81 – 89 – 96 – 102 – 109 – +109 kg
● Men/new (8): 60 – 65- 71 – 79 – 88 – 98 – 110 – +110 kg
● Women/now (10): 45 – 49 – 55 – 59 – 64 – 71 – 76 – 81 – 87 – +87 kg
● Women/new (8): 48 – 53 – 58 – 63 – 69 – 77 – 86 – +86 kg.
The IWF has created new weight classes in 1951, 1969, 1977, 1993, 1998 and 2018 for men. Women’s classes were introduced in 1983, then modified in 1993, 1998 and 2018.
The reduction from 10 classes to eight in each gender mirrors the 1993-to-1998 changes (10 to 8); the number of classes was enlarged to 10 again in 2018, and will now go back down to eight.
¶
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