Tell bullies to ‘sod off’. That’s the advice IOC President Kirsty Coventry has for young athletes facing bullying. She spoke to Al Jazeera ahead of the Youth Olympics in Senegal, where she reflected on her own experience as a young athlete.
Published On 3 Nov 20263 Nov 2026
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Veteran Hollywood film producer Kathleen Kennedy will oversee the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the organizing committee said Wednesday, giving the executive behind the blockbuster Star Wars and Jurassic Park franchises a leading role in staging what has been billed as the biggest athletic event in modern history.
Kennedy will helm a team of producers designing the look and content of dual ceremonies that will kick off the Summer Olympics on July 14, 2028 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. She also will lead the team designing the closing ceremony and both ceremonies for the Paralympics, which begin a month later.
“This appointment reinforces LA28’s commitment to harness the unparalleled creativity, cultural influence and storytelling power of the entertainment capital of the world,” an announcement from the Olympic organizers said. The result will be “ceremonies that are distinctly Los Angeles and leave a lasting impression on the global stage.”
At LA28, Kennedy will serve as head of ceremonies and content, a post that had been held by another big-name entertainment executive, Peter Rice.
Rice had a long career at 20th Century Fox, climbing the ranks to become president of 21st Century Fox in 2017. He recently was named chief content officer at Netflix. LA28 said in its announcement that Rice would remain on as an executive producer.
Kennedy ended a 14-year run as president of Lucasfilm in January, a changing of the guard at the Star Wars studio.
LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman heralded Kennedy as a legend and “one of Hollywood’s all-time greats,” adding: “I can’t think of anyone better to conjure the magic of Hollywood than Kathleen.”
In her own statement, Kennedy said she and her husband and producing partner, Frank Marshall, had attended almost every Olympics since the Games last came to Los Angeles, in 1984. “Sport remains one of the great unifying experiences we share,” she said.
Among the films Kennedy helped produce were “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” She co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg, and that company made hits like “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and the “Back to the Future” trilogy.
The production company she founded with Marshall made “The Sixth Sense,” “Seabiscuit” and “Lincoln.”
To stage the largest Olympics in history, LA28 is looking toward the cosmos for inspiration.
The committee in charge of bringing the Games back to L.A. for the first time in 44 years announced its slogan for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games on Wednesday, hoping to rally athletes, volunteers and fans behind a simple call: “Stars align.”
“‘Stars align’ is when preparation meets opportunity,” LA28 chief marketing officer Alex Merchán said. “So together that creates something extraordinary, and that’s what we seek to do here.”
The slogan that will set the stage for the next 21 months developed organically within the organizing committee over several years, Merchán said. Only during the past 12 or 13 months did the team really start imagining ways to bring the phrase to life.
“Stars align” is a nod to the “stars in motion” emblem for the 1984 Olympics. It takes inspiration from the 50 stars on the U.S. flag. It speaks to L.A.’s Hollywood reputation.
But it also captures how the largest sporting event in history came to L.A. By the time the Olympics open on July 14, 2028, it will have been 11 years since the city won the original bid. More than a decade of planning and a lifetime of training for competitors align during the once-in-a-generation sporting event.
“Athletes commit so much and dedicate so much and sacrifice so much to get [to the Games] that we ground the idea in that effort, in that alignment,” Merchán said. “Alignment is teamwork, coordination, hard work and commitment.”
Along with the International Olympic Committee’s official motto of “Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together,” each organizing committee uses a slogan to share its vision for the Games. The 1984 Games in L.A. pioneered the marketing tactic with “Play a Part in History.” Those Games then turned into the most financially successful in history, relying largely on private sponsorship to produce a $235 million profit that has sponsored youth sports in L.A. for decades. Now official slogans are as ubiquitous as the Olympic rings when walking around the Games.
LA28 looked at translations of the slogan in the next 14 most-popular languages within the Olympic and Paralympic movement, finding equivalent messages. Some were exact translations. Others needed a different collection of words. The message always stayed the same.
“The simple idea of stars and constellations have, in recorded history, been a part of every group around the world,” Merchán said. “Every country, every tribe if you will, have looked upon stars as something filled with optimism.”
The Games return to L.A. at a high point. The popular Paris Games, which used the motto “Games wide open” to set the tone for a resurgent post-pandemic movement, reinvigorated the Olympics with international broadcast records and 12 million tickets sold across the Olympics and Paralympics.
LA28 is on pace to exceed some of those marks. With more than 6 million Olympic tickets already sold, the private organizing committee will open first-come, first-served Olympic ticket sales next year. Tickets for the first Paralympics in L.A. will go on sale in 2027. The Olympic torch relay will begin in spring 2028, uniting all 50 states en route to the opening ceremony. Wednesday’s slogan is only the starting point of LA28’s constellation of events, Merchán said.
“If we get this right,” Merchán said, “we like to think that we can bring the world together and connect people under this banner.”
Race walker Koki Ikeda returns to competition immediately; Ethiopia’s marathon runner Ruti Aga given 6-year doping ban.
Published On 23 Oct 202623 Oct 2026
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an appeal by Japanese race walker Koki Ikeda against World Athletics, clearing the Tokyo Olympic silver medallist of an anti-doping rule violation and making him immediately eligible to compete again.
The 28-year-old was provisionally suspended in November 2024 before receiving a four-year sanction from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in February 2025 for allegedly using or attempting to use a banned drug.
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Ikeda was not allowed to participate in the Japan Race Walking Championships in February 2025, and all his competitive results between June 20, 2023 and November 1, 2024 were disqualified.
Ikeda challenged the ruling at CAS in March 2025, rejecting the doping allegations brought by World Athletics, which had alleged blood manipulation based on abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport.
The case was heard by a CAS panel in Lausanne in May. While the panel accepted that several readings in Ikeda’s biological profile were abnormal, it found there was a reasonable non-doping explanation for the findings.
CAS said Ikeda supported his case with substantial medical and expert evidence, providing a broader factual basis than was available during the proceedings before the World Athletics tribunal.
The appeal body overturned the four-year sanction, concluding that the anti-doping charge had not been established and that no ban should apply.
Ikeda placed second in the 20km event at the Tokyo Games as well as at the World Championships in Eugene in 2022. He finished seventh at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ethiopian marathon runner Ruti Aga, winner of the 2019 Tokyo Marathon, was given a six-year ban for the presence or use of the prohibited substance methylprednisolone and tampering with evidence, the AIU said on Thursday.
The AIU said Aga, 32, received a two-year ban after testing positive for methylprednisolone, a prohibited steroid that can reduce pain and fatigue and aid recovery, after winning a half marathon in China in March.
It added four years to the ban after finding she had misled investigators during an interview and submitted a fake prescription to justify her use of the substance.
Aga has been provisionally suspended since September 10, with the ban running from that date.
She has finished second three times and third twice at World Marathon Majors.
Teenage athletes have headlined some of the biggest Asian Games triumphs, leading their countries to historic gold medals, breaking records and cementing their legacy as formidable forces in the field.
Far from being intimidated by competitors double or triple their age, these schoolchildren remained cool and unfazed as they cruised to gold at their Asian Games debut.
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Many are already familiar with the pressure and expectations of the world stage and have dominated their sport all season.
Al Jazeera Sport looks at some of the stars who left their mark in Japan:
China: Swimming
At just 13, Yu was named female Most Valuable Player (MVP), as she bagged three gold medals and broke as many Asian Games records in a fairytale debut.
The schoolgirl stormed to victory in the women’s 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m individual medley (IM) and had a comfortable lead over her competitors.
Her time of two minutes and 6.10 seconds (2:06.10) in the 200m IM stands as a world junior record and second-fastest time ever.
“I don’t think I am what people describe as a prodigy,” she said after being crowned MVP. “I will continue to train hard, push myself and work alongside young athletes across Asia to inspire more young people to love and take part in sports, especially swimming.”
China: Swimming
Zhang held up seven fingers after his 400m freestyle win to count out his gold medals at the Games – the most at this edition, and more than what 27 of the 45 participating nations had in their medal tally at the conclusion of the event.
He set Games records in the 400m and 800m freestyle, an Asian record in the 200m, and helped power China to gold and Asian records in the men’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays.
But the 19-year-old has bigger victories in sight.
“The Asian Games is not the goal. I’m still aiming for the Olympics and competing with the best,” he said.
The teenager’s haul helped China sign off from swimming with 30 golds out of 41 medal events in the pool, with chief rival Japan a distant second with seven titles.
Japan: Swimming
Ohashi broke the world record in the men’s 200m breaststroke (2:04.83) in front of a home crowd to become the first swimmer under the 2:05 mark.
The gold added to his title in the 100m breaststroke shared with China’s Dong Zhihao, bronze in the 50m breaststroke, and silver in the mixed and men’s 4x100m medley relays.
The teenager said he was surprised and honoured that Olympic champion Leon Marchand knew who he was, after the Frenchman described the 17-year-old as a “scary” prospect ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“I respect him because I know just how strong he is. But if I want to win, he’s someone I know I’ll have to beat.”
Ohashi’s world record performance came just a week after the teenager recovered from COVID-19.
China: Athletics
Yan was already javelin world number one and Asian record holder when she stepped onto the field for her Games debut – her first and only throw of 70.46 metres was enough for gold and a Games record.
It was the sixth-best of all time and well ahead of Olympic champion and home hero Haruka Kitaguchi’s 62.70m.
Yan is closing in on the world record of 72.28m set by Barbora Spotakova in 2008. In May, she hurled a world-leading, record-breaking 71.74m to open an unprecedented season.
China: Athletics
Chen stormed to a new Games record in the women’s 100m en route to her first gold as she announced herself as the new sprint queen in Asia.
“I have no limits,” was her response when asked how much faster she hopes to run.
She followed up her podium finish with a silver in the 200m and gold in the women’s and mixed 4x100m relays.
Japan: Athletics
Goto narrowly missed gold in the men’s 400m hurdles, but his 47.93s was enough for a world under-18 best time, Asian under-20 best time, and a new personal best.
The teen star has run sub-50 seconds eight times this season alone, an impressive feat for a 17-year-old. His Asian Games silver added to the World Under-20 one he bagged in August.
India: Archery
Mohod scripted history for India when she became the first Indian to win an individual recurve archery gold at the Games. The 17-year-old helped India to gold in the women’s team recurve, and partnered with Dhiraj Bommadevara for mixed team silver.
Mohod’s gold was no stroke of luck; she defeated South Korea’s reigning world champion and Olympic medallist Kang Chaeyoung in the quarterfinals before dominating China’s Zhu Jingyi in the semifinals.
“Ever since I’ve made it to the national team, I’ve been visualising this moment. I had visualised shooting an X, and that is exactly what happened,” she told reporters after the match, according to Indian media.
India: Squash
World junior champion Anahat Singh has been India’s finest in the sport for several years now. Despite only being 18, Aichi-Nagoya was Singh’s second Asian Games outing after competing at Hangzhou 2023, where she won two bronze medals in the mixed doubles and women’s team events.
This time round, she won a silver in the women’s singles against world number five Sivasangari Subramaniam of Malaysia. However, her semifinal match against Japan’s Satomi Watanabe was what she called the “best win” of her career after producing a stellar comeback to defeat the world number six.
Japan: e-sports
At just 11 years of age, e-sports prodigy Kurihara became the youngest gold medallist in Asian Games history when he won Puyo Puyo Champions.
“I’m really happy. The gold medal is really beautiful, shiny and heavy,” Kurihara said after his final, where he barely broke a sweat.
Kurihara started playing Puyo Puyo in his first year of primary school – where he still studies – and soon started competing and winning in tournaments. He obtained his pro licence in April this year and regularly beats adults, often triple his age.
![TOKONAME, JAPAN - SEPTEMBER 26: Gold medalist Yuki Kurihara of Japan poses on the podium at the medal ceremony for the Esports Puzzle [Puyo Puyo Champions] on day seven of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya at Aichi Sky Expo on September 26, 2026 in Tokoname, Aichi, Japan. Kurihara becomes the youngest gold medalist at the Asian Games at the age of 11. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/getty_6ac2424a21-1791115850.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Taipei: Skateboarding
Ku took silver in the men’s skateboarding park with 87.33 points, and was just one of several teenagers – in his case, a pre-teen – who medalled in skateboarding at the Games.
Japan’s Izuru Nagahara, 15, took gold in the event. China’s Zhu Yuanling, also 15, won gold in the women’s street skateboarding competition.
China’s Cao Shiqi finished fourth in women’s skateboarding park and was the youngest athlete in China’s delegation at the Games.
