Back in 2018 I wrote a short post about what I had always considered one of the structural quirks of Colombian democracy: presidential elections, held every four years, always collide with the Football World Cup. When Colombia qualifies, football takes center stage in the national conversation and the election campaigns have to fight for attention.

Today is May 31st — first round of the 2026 presidential election — and the timing is even tighter than it was eight years ago. The World Cup kicks off on June 11th, just eleven days from now. Unless there is a first-round victory, which looks unlikely since the leading candidate Iván Cepeda was polling behind the threshold back in April, the runoff will take place on June 21st — right in the middle of the group stage. Colombia's third group match, against Uzbekistan, is on June 17th. Colombians vote again four days after that.

We need to focus on this election — it's so important! But honestly, I have a feeling the country is going to get distracted again, pulling attention to 'mi selección'. Seriously, some things just never change. 🤦‍♂️

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When I was a kid, I used to play tennis on the rusty concrete court around the corner from our place. My friends and I spent countless hours there, which is why the sport has always stayed close to my heart—and remains the only one I truly enjoy watching.

This week, I’ve been following the Australian Open, which is still ongoing, and there have already been some great matches. That got me thinking about how dominance in tennis is measured over time. Many people agree that Djokovic sits at the top when it comes to total Grand Slam titles, but it made me curious about how those wins are distributed across each major. The table below summarizes that breakdown.

What stands out from the table is the contrast in geographic dominance between the two ATP and WTA tours. The women’s records are overwhelmingly held by American players across all four Grand Slams, while the men’s side is largely defined by European dominance.

A couple of days ago I was chatting to one of my colleagues about how this World Cup has been really weird. Leaving aside all the justified controversies about the way Qatar treats migrant workers, the fact that this World Cup is being played at Christmas time has been really strange. Since I live in Europe, I have always associated this event with summer and people enjoying themselves outside, watching the games and having a good time. That has not been the case in 2022.

Now I wonder if any of the countries that have won the cup before will manage to do it again? Italy didn’t even qualify, Spain is out this week, Germany and Uruguay didn’t make it past the first round. So, could it be Brazil or Argentina again, or European teams like France or the UK? We will see soon, but again this winter cup has lost a bit of its charm.

The US has more than 3.7 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, making it the country with the highest number of cases in the world. Lately, the news has focused on how states that rushed to reopen as quickly as possible, such as Texas and Florida, have seen a steady and exponential increase in the total number of cases.

Next to California, which has also seen a sharp increase in the number of cases, mainly in Los Angeles County, those states are getting closer to matching the numbers of New York. It feels like a cautionary tale that "going back to normal" won't be the pre-COVID-19 normal until there is an effective vaccine or treatment in place.

Fortunately, the an mRNA vaccine trial preliminary report in the NEJM stated the vaccine induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants, and no trial-limiting safety concerns were identified. Crossing the fingers for the next phases of those promising results.

After a couple of days of competition in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the medals table started looking similar to London 2012. This is the current table

And this is how the table looked at the end of the London competition.

Clearly, the US and China are dominating this sports event.

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