Pentathlon leaders have applied to the IOC for a second Olympic discipline: Ninja 100m. They blame a compressed IOC timeline for the speed of the internal decision. Though, Vice President Viacheslav Malishev says the Executive Board had been kept in the dark about the IOC’s letter for eleven days.
By scrapping FFE, Gianni Infantino is trying to save his own skin. The reaction to his plans has been overwhelmingly negative worldwide, and within FIFA itself, a key figure – COO Kevin Lamour – has spectacularly turned his back on him. Infantino must go, but that alone is not enough.
The Olympic fencing federation FIE and its Hamburg lawyer announced a purported legal victory over Reuters to the world. I obtained both court orders and read them against that propaganda. Very little of what the federation and its lawyer claim about these decisions survives the comparison.
All 55 UEFA associations stand as one: no European national team will play in a FIFA competition for as long as Infantino's plan to sell stakes in the World Cup stands. In 30 years I cannot recall a threat of this magnitude. Read the full statement — and FIFA's own 25-page FFE presentation.
Has FIFA and IOC fiend Gianni Infantino gone too far this time? Or will he manage it once again: to split the football world with his plan to spin off FIFA's assets into a company part-owned by dubious investors, and at the same time bait the majority of member associations with money?
Naming and shaming! This cross-post from the investigative platform Josimar examines Infantino's FIFA empire: media manipulation, obstruction of journalistic work and widespread propaganda. As documented in this newsletter, these mechanisms apply to the Olympic world and, at its core, to the IOC.
An open letter addressed to IOC President Kirsty Coventry and the leadership of the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime has been signed by 2,981 people from at least 94 countries. Never before has a community within an Olympic IF mounted resistance and a demand for accountability of this scale.
Off the record, fencers and officials complain; publicly, they claim resistance is "too risky". Two YouTubers exposing the sport's existential crisis challenge this culture of cowardly indifference. Marius Dobel-Ober issues a rallying cry: there is no neutral ground when dealing with autocrats.
Change in IOC’s administration is set to begin with a SharePoint site and joint morning coffee catchups: unsettled staff can ask any questions they like, says the IOC President. During a video meeting attended by almost 600 employees, Coventry warned against negativity, rumours and silo thinking.
EXCLUSIVE: Why did the Greek Emmanuel Katsiadakis unexpectedly resign as interim president of the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) in April 2025? Read the answer here: because he refused to send a letter to US President Trump asking for the sanctions against Alisher Usmanov to be lifted.
Why the Algerian is allowed to lead ANOCA and remain an IOC member despite his history of scandals and allegations of corruption has been an unresolved question for many years. What does Berraf have on IOC leaders? Now, allegations of sexual harassment are being made again in the ANOCA sphere.
What I outlined in Thursday's newsletter has been confirmed by CAS' Ad Hoc Division: Denis Oswald made the decision on Wednesday on behalf of the IOC Disciplinary Commission. The IBSF jury was instructed to act in accordance with IOC guidelines. The next day, the IOC pulled off its deception again.
Once again, CAS acted in accordance with the wishes of the IOC. The press release on the arbitration ruling reads as if it were written by IOC's propaganda department – no deviations from IOC positions. Questions on the proceedings and the lack of transparency of IBSF and IOC remain unanswered.
The disqualification of Ukrainian Vladyslav Heraskevych becomes the biggest political issue of the 2026 Winter Olympics – with unforeseen consequences for the IOC and its president, Kirsty Coventry, who are attempting to rectify the situation with propaganda measures. Details on the opaque process.
The Pentathlon Union managed to delay the arbitration process indefinitely, the appeal lodged by Sharif El Erian was now dismissed. The Egyptian had a majority of 51:50 in the second round of voting at the 2024 congress in Riyadh, but the highly controversial American Robert Stull became president.
At the FIE congress in Manama on Saturday, a Mexican fencing federation (FME) is to be expelled and replaced by another so-called Mexican federation (ADNEM). Everything has been prepared well in advance. This is no small matter – the trail leads to Uzbekistan in the Russian hemisphere.
