Montreal Olympic Games left a legacy that’s still being felt, 50 years later

MONTREAL - When reflecting on the 1976 Montreal Games, it's hard not to think of the controversies surrounding the Olympic Stadium, whose problem-plagued construction and ballooning costs earned it the nickname the "Big Owe."

But 50 years later, key players in the Olympic movement say the first Games on Canadian soil had a lasting impact on Quebec's sporting culture that went far beyond those negative headlines.

"These Games left a great legacy," said Thomas Bach, who is the honorary president of the International Olympic Committee and a 1976 gold medallist in the team foil fencing event.

"I remember the controversies at the time, like with all the Games to follow elsewhere," he said by video from Lausanne, Switzerland in June.

Women’s hockey at the 2030 Olympics is set to feature 25-player rosters, matching the men

Women’s hockey rosters for the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps are expected to include 25 players, up from 23.

The change was quietly included in the event program released by organizers earlier this week. Men’s hockey has had 25-player rosters for each of the past four Olympics going back to Sochi in 2014.

It is being billed as the first Winter Games with gender balance, with 1,525 women and 1,521 men making up the 3,046 athletes across 126 events. That number is 300 men to 250 women in hockey because there are 10 teams in the women’s tournament, compared to 12 on the men’s side.

Women's hockey, which debuted at the Olympics in Nagano in 1998 at the same time NHL players began taking part on the men's side, is experiencing a time of growth. The PWHL is expanding to 12 teams for its fourth season after being at eight in its third and six during its first two. 

Montreal’s Les Supremes help usher synchro skating into Olympic Games

Canada had a hand in pushing synchronized figure skating over the finish line to Olympic inclusion.

The coach of one of the most successful synchro teams in the world was asked on short notice by the International Skating Union to put together a team for a demonstration performance in April's world synchro championships in Salzburg, Austria, in front of International Olympic Committee members.

"They're like 'we're making a pilot project for the IOC, to push and make sure that this time we get in,'" Marilyn Langlois recounted. 

Langlois coaches Montreal's Les Supremes, who have won four world championships in the last five years in a competition that features teams of 16 skaters. Olympic teams will consist of only nine skaters (the event is called "synchro9") in 2030.

FIFA’s Infantino targeted by complaint to Olympic ethics body after Trump lobbying on Balogun ban

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino is being referred to Olympic ethics investigators for a possible breach of political neutrality, a human rights group said Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump helped block a World Cup player’s ban.

Trump took credit Monday for FIFA’s decision — unprecedented in modern World Cup history — to let United States forward Folarin Balogun play Monday against Belgium despite getting a red card in the team’s previous game. A Belgium team clearly fired up by the furor won 4-1 in Seattle. 

The IOC cites neutrality among “fundamental principles of Olympism” for sports bodies like FIFA, and has jurisdiction over Infantino since he joined its exclusive group of 100-plus invited members in 2020.

“FairSquare will file a complaint to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s repeated breach of political neutrality rules,” the London-based sports and human rights NGO said in a statement Wednesday.

IOC eases path toward Russia returning with full team at 2028 LA Olympics

GENEVA (AP) — Russia has moved closer toward having a full team with its national flag and anthem at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday provisionally lifted a suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and advised Olympic sports bodies to end a three-year program where Russian athletes had to be vetted for permission to compete as neutrals.

The IOC said the timing was because qualifying events are starting for the L.A. Games, and “the need to offer equal access to these competitions to all athletes.”

The move, which also signals a return for Russia in team sports, had been expected since the IOC advised two months ago that athletes from Belarus, which was Russia’s ally when its military invasion of Ukraine started in 2022, should be allowed again to compete with their full national identity.

Luge Canada hires Poland’s Maciej Kurowski as head coach to 2030

CALGARY - Three-time Polish Olympian Maciej Kurowski has been named the Canadian luge team's new head coach through to the 2030 Winter Olympic Games in the French Alps.

The 40-year-old from Jelenia Gora coached South Korea in February's Milan Cortina Winter Olympics alongside former Canadian team coach Wolfgang Staudinger. Kurowski has also worked with Korea's development team.

Kurowski coached in the International Luge Federation's development program to help 10 athletes from emerging luge countries qualify for Beijing's Olympic Games in 2022.

The contract of Robert Fegg, who coached Canada's luge team from 2022 to 2026, concluded in May.

Hockey Canada starts search for new women’s team general manager, coach

CALGARY - The Canadian women's hockey team is in search of a new general manager as well as a coach at a time when Professional Women's Hockey League teams have been scooping up candidates.

Hockey Canada announced Tuesday that general manager Gina Kingsbury will not return next season after eight years overseeing the national women's team.

Kingsbury is also GM of the PWHL's Toronto Sceptres.

Troy Ryan, who coached Canada to three world championships and an Olympic gold medal in the six years after Kingsbury promoted him, indicated after February's Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that he wouldn't continue coaching Canada's women.

Report shows uneven progress for women in Canadian sport leadership

A new report on women in Canadian sport leadership roles presents a mixed bag of progress, stalling and backtracking.

The number of women on the boards of national sports organizations, which are unpaid positions, has jumped. The number of women who are paid chief executive officers has plummeted.

Canadian Women and Sport released its 2025-26 “Women in Sport Leadership Snapshot” report Tuesday, saying women now hold a record 45 per cent of board seats and 48 per cent of board chair positions in national sport organizations.

"It really shows that the sports system is capable of change," CWS chief executive officer Allison Sandmeyer-Graves said. "This is a lot of individual organizations choosing to put the effort in to get that result."

Montreal among four cities to host final Olympic qualifier ahead of Los Angeles Games

MONTREAL - Montreal is one of four cities that will host final Olympic qualifiers ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, the International Olympic Committee unveiled Thursday.

The IOC made the announcement Thursday in Lausanne, Switzerland, though the Canadian Olympic Committee was notified earlier this week.

“It’s the return of the Olympic rings to Montreal, Quebec and Canada,” COC chief sport officer Eric Myles said. 

Orlando, Tokyo and Shanghai are the other cities set to host the Olympic Q-Series, which will feature 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle, climbing, skateboarding and flag football, which will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles.

Sport boosted and bridged by massive funding infusion, says Secretary of Sport

Canadian sport has been given a boost and a bridge, says the country's Secretary of Sport.

In the federal government's spring economic update, $755 million more over the next five years, and $118 million more thereafter, was provided to grow participation in sport, support Canada's athletes on the world stage and attract more international events to the country.

"We know that sport is Canada's ultimate nation-building project and the Prime Minister believes that too," Adam van Koeverden said Wednesday from Vancouver. "It's all about bringing our giant country together.

"We have a boost for Canadian organizations to make some changes and to address some of the long-standing issues, to create those opportunities and the connective tissue that we're talking about. The bridge is a long-term plan that will ensure that there's durable, sustainable impact. 

Federal government to inject $755 million into Canadian sport over five years

Freestyle Canada chief executive officer Peter Judge faced a choice between his organization running a deficit of over half a million dollars or hosting no World Cups in Canada next year.

The federal government's announcement of a $755-million injection into sport over the next five years, and dropping to $118 million after that, had Judge and other Canadian sport leaders exhaling Tuesday.

"I was literally doing budget work today," Judge said. "My sense is my board had reached their tolerance limit for deficit spending.

2030 Winter Olympics organizers weigh Paris or Lyon for ice hockey after Nice impasse

PARIS (AP) — French organizers of the 2030 Winter Olympics are looking at alternative locations for ice hockey outside of Nice, including in Paris and Lyon, because of a political deadlock involving the Riviera city's new mayor.

Like the Milan Cortina Olympics, the French Alps project has split snow sports in storied mountain resorts and skating in a snow-free city, the Mediterranean resort of Nice.

Nice was to turn the city's soccer stadium, Allianz Arena, into a temporary hockey rink.

But Nice far-right new mayor Eric Ciotti opposes the plan, refusing that the resident football club lose access to its stadium for months because of the Olympics. Ciotti, a former conservative allied with the National Rally of Marine Le Pen, was elected last month.

Federal government gives $6.22 million over next two years to athletes’ mental health

OTTAWA -  

The federal government will supply $6.22 million over the next two years for athletes' mental health.

Secretary of Sport Adam van Koeverden made the announcement Friday in Ottawa.

The money comes out of $16 million to support the well-being of athletes and coaches already announced March 20.

Paris offers to host 2030 Winter Games ice hockey after Nice mayor opposes Olympic plan

PARIS (AP) — Olympic Games events could return to Paris as soon as 2030.

The Paris Entertainment Company, which operates the Adidas Arena and Accor Arena in the French capital, told The Associated Press on Thursday it has submitted a bid to host ice hockey during the 2030 Winter Games to be held in France.

Both venues were used during the 2024 Paris Summer Games and could serve as alternative solutions because the new Nice mayor, Eric Ciotti, opposes ice hockey events at Nice soccer stadium, the Allianz Arena, which would be converted into a temporary hockey rink.

Like the Milan Cortina Olympics, the French Alps has split snow sports in storied mountain resorts and skating in a snow-free city, the French Riviera resort Nice. The final venues will be confirmed in June when the IOC decides the list of sports and events.