Sports Random, Random

[Fastbackss]

I feel like the Little League denial is a precursor of larger issues for the major sporting events of next 18 months.

On a cheerier note - a co-worker of mine was on ESPN2 (the ocho) for the Pop a Shot national championship. It was actually published on our internal network. And he ended up winning. In Orlando. (At least someone in our office did good in Orlando (I didn't make it out of my flight at USTA nationals earlier this year))

[ti-amie]

I feel like the Little League denial is a precursor of larger issues for the major sporting events of next 18 months.

On a cheerier note - a co-worker of mine was on ESPN2 (the ocho) for the Pop a Shot national championship. It was actually published on our internal network. And he ended up winning. In Orlando. (At least someone in our office did good in Orlando (I didn't make it out of my flight at USTA nationals earlier this year))

President Trump floats military use at L.A. Olympics, says there will be gender testing

By Zack Pierce
Aug. 6, 2025Updated 2:05 pm EDT
19

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to establish a task force that will handle security around the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, saying that he might utilize the military while also asserting there would be “some form” of gender testing for athletes competing in women’s sports.

Flanked by members of his administration, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and LA28 — the organizing committee for the 2028 Games — Trump said the task force was meant to “(mobilize) the entire federal government to ensure the Games are safe, seamless and historically successful.”

A few minutes into his prepared remarks, Trump changed topics. He turned to Gene Sykes, chair of the USOPC’s board of directors, to thank him “for recently banning men from competing in women’s sports.” The USOPC changed its policy on transgender athletes last month to comply with Trump’s executive order in February that seeks to bar athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports unless assigned female at birth.

“The United States will not let men steal trophies from women at the 2028 Olympics,” Trump said.

USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland had previously said that “it’s not our role” to decide athlete eligibility. In a letter to its stakeholders after the change, though, Hirshland and Sykes said that all national governing bodies “are required to update their applicable policies in alignment” with Trump’s order.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the eligibility of two women’s boxers was the subject of controversy. Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting were both deemed ineligible a year earlier at the 2023 world championships by the International Boxing Association, which said tests had shown they had advantages over other women. The IBA provided almost no details to back up the claims.

The IBA — which is in a years-long dispute with the International Olympic Committee — no longer oversees the Olympic boxing program. The IOC, which formed a task force to govern boxing at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, allowed Khelif and Lin to compete in Paris, and both won gold with ease in their respective weight classes.

Khelif and Lin were assigned female at birth and have always identified as women. The IOC repeatedly defended their inclusion, asserting both met eligibility requirements.

Kirsty Coventry, the former Olympic swimmer and new president of the IOC, made gender eligibility one of the top issues of her campaign. She has called for a task force of her own on the matter.

“The overarching principle must be to protect the female category,” she said.

Less than three years out from the L.A. Games, it’s unclear what will come of Coventry’s task force or how Trump’s executive order and testing pledge will be enforced. But with the administration, the USOPC and the IOC all in line, it’s likely to have an impact on the 2028 Olympics.

“There will be a very, very strong form of testing,” Trump said Tuesday. “And if the test doesn’t come out appropriately, they won’t be in the Olympics.”

Khelif plans to box at the 2028 Games, which World Boxing — a new governing body, formed in 2023 — will sanction. Khelif told British broadcaster ITV in March that she is not deterred by Trump’s executive order.

“This does not concern me, and it does not intimidate me,” Khelif said. “That is my response.”

Some of the organizing bodies that oversee the various Olympic sports have already moved toward testing procedures. World Athletics, which guides international track and field, has said it will begin implementing a cheek-swabbing test to look for a gene that is an indicator of male-typical sex development.

For Trump’s security task force, which he plans to oversee as chairman, he said the executive order would give several federal departments and agencies “every tool at their disposal to ensure a fantastic, safe and beautiful event.” The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” that recently passed through Congress and was signed into law last month allocated $1 billion for 2028 Olympic security funding.

LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman praised the Trump administration’s support and said the bill would provide local and state agencies with funding “to make sure that our Games are safe and secure and ultimately the best place to experience and be an Olympic fan.”

How those local agencies will work with the Republican administration is another question. Trump has repeatedly clashed with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom, both Democrats.

In response to protests about his immigration policies, Trump in June deployed thousands of National Guard and Marine troops to Los Angeles. Asked Tuesday about safety around the Games, Trump suggested he would consider using the military in L.A. again for the Olympics if he felt it was needed.

“We’ll do anything necessary to keep the Olympics safe, including using our National Guard or military,” Trump said. “No, I will use the National Guard or military — this is going to be so safe — if I have to.”

The 2028 Olympics are scheduled from July 14-30, 2028, throughout the greater Los Angeles area.


https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/653823 ... -military/