★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2020: Tokyo ● The Asahi Shimbun reported that while the volleyball venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games has done well financially, the other waterfront sites built by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have drawn fewer visitors than hoped for.
The volleyball site, the Ariake Arena, is operated by a consortium led by Japanese ad giant Dentsu, which leased the operating rights from the Tokyo government for 25 years for ¥9.38 billion (~$60.89 million U.S.). The operators split profits from the site with the Tokyo government; this amounted to ¥138 million in 2023 (~$895,676 U.S.).
Other sites are geared to less commercial activities and are funded essentially as parks. The Sea Forest Waterway, site of canoeing and rowing, had about 96,000 users – only 30% of what was planned – and the Canoe Slalom Center had 62,000, about 60% of target. No figures were given for the Tokyo Aquatics Center or smaller facilities for archery, hockey or gymnastics.
Overall, 1.683 million visitors a year were expected, but 993,640 visited in fiscal 2024 (59.0%). On the positive side, the allocation of ¥1.08 billion (~$7.01 million U.S.) was budgeted for maintenance, but only ¥920 million was spent and after the arena profit-share and other revenue was included, the story noted that the net cost was only ¥410 million or about $2.66 million U.S.
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The Canadian Football League Board of Governors approved participation by its players in the flag football tournament at the 2028 Olympic Games, the first of multiple steps to have CFL players selected in 2028:
“The approval permits the CFL to begin working with the CFL Players’ Association, the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and the relevant Olympic authorities to implement rules governing the participation of CFL players at LA28. In addition to Canadians and Americans, the CFL currently features a total of 37 Global players from 16 countries.”
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● France announced its medal bonuses for the Winter Games, with the same amounts as for Paris 2024: €80,000 for gold, €40,000 for silver and €20,000 for a bronze (about $92,700 ~ 46,350 ~ 23,175 U.S.).
This is an increase from prior Winter Games, with French Sports Minister Marina Ferrari saying in a statement, “Our ambition is clear: to fairly value all disciplines, encourage performance, and support those who proudly carry the colors of France.”
● Greece ● The 1960 Olympic yachting gold in the Dragon Class was won by Greek Crown Prince Constantine, later the final King of Greece from 1964 to 1973, in exile from 1967 until the monarchy was ended in 1973. He was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1964-74 and then an honorary member.
He lived in exile in Italy and Great Britain, finally returning in 2015; he passed away in 2023. His Olympic gold had been considered stolen. But last week, Greek royal historian Andreas Megos posted on Instagram:
“King Constantine’s gold Olympic medal from the 1960 Rome Olympics has been found among the personal belongings of the Greek Royal Family at the Tatoi Palace.
“The gold Olympic medal was considered lost, stolen since the late 1970s. After the exile of the Greek Royal Family, for decades, the medal was stored in the palace’s warehouses without anyone knowing its fate. It was found among the personal belongings of the royal family, which are kept and maintained in Tatoi by the Directorate for the Management of National Monuments of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.”
● Curling ● The U.S. Olympic Trials opened in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Tuesday and will run through the 16th with three squads to be selected, but only one already set to compete at Milan Cortina 2026.
Both the men’s and women’s playoffs feature four teams each, in round-robin play through Friday (14th) and then the best two-of-three finals after that. As the U.S. did not place in the top seven at the 2025 World Championships, they will need to one of the top two teams at the Olympic Qualification Event in Kelowna (CAN) from 5-18 December.
Among the men, John Shuster’s rink will be trying for a sixth straight Olympic Trials win; his team won the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic gold. Korey Dropkin’s team has won two of the last four U.S. titles, in 2021 and 2025 and stands as the most likely challenger.
Tabitha Peterson’s rink has won the last three national titles and four of the last five, with Elizabeth Cousins’ squad second in 2025 and Delaney Strouse the runner-up in 2023.
NBC has more than 100 hours of coverage on USA Network and its Peacock streaming service.
● Football ● Inside World Football reported that spectator parking passes are being sold for the 2026 FIFA World Cup from $75-175 per match, which is more than the $60 lowest ticket prices for group-stage matches.
FIFA is selling parking in conjunction with JustPark; the report notes:
“For the majority of US-based venues, group-stage parking costs $75 per match, which rises to $175 for a semifinal or the third-place game. Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia stands alone, listing group-stage parking at $115, with later rounds hitting $145.”
¶
Forward Mathis Albert’s goal in the 78th minute gave the U.S. men a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic and a perfect, 3-0 record in Group I of the 2025 FIFA men’s U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
The Americans finished with a 4-1 goals-against total and advanced to the Round-of-32, where they will face Morocco (1-2) on the 13th. Among the group winners, Italy (Group A), Argentina (D), the U.S. and Austria (L) were the only teams to go undefeated.
¶
The Turkish football betting scandal continues to spread, with the Turkish Football Federation suspending 1,024 players who are alleged to have been involved in betting on football. All have been suspended as of 10 November.
Prosecutors have asked for 17 referees to be detained related to betting after 149 were suspended for betting activities.
● Gymnastics ● USA Gymnastics announced Kyle Albrecht, 37, as its next chief executive, to begin on 1 January 2026.
Albrecht spent nine years at Under Armour on the marketing side, dealing primarily with soccer, which he played as a midfielder at George Washington University. He moved on to Major League Soccer, managing event strategy, new ventures, then the MLS GO recreational program for youth and the MLS NEXT development and training program for teen players, over the past two years.
That reach into youth programming as well as the professional side in sales and marketing made him a quality candidate for USA Gymnastics, now trying to progress after being rebuilt from the Larry Nassar by Li Li Leung, 52, hired in 2019 and who will finish at the federation on 31 December of this year. Albrecht was selected at the end of a three-month search.
● Shooting ● At the ISSF World Rifle-Pistol Championships in Cairo (EGY), Olympic champ Yukun Liu (CHN) pulled out a final-shot win in the final of the men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions.
He trailed Aishwary Tomar (IND) going into the final shot by 457.1 to 457.0, but Yun shot 10.1 and Tomar a 9.8 to give Liu the gold by 467.1 to 466.9. It was the first Worlds medal for both. France’s Romain Aufrere took the bronze (454.8).
China scored again in the Mixed Team 10 m Air Pistol, with individual medal winners Qianxun Yao and Kai Hu winning over India’s Esha Singh and Samrat Rana, 16-10.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 850-event International Sports Calendar for 2025, 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
AloJapan.com