Few people know about Lindsey Van, just as few had heard of Stacy Dragila before she became famous at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The U.S. Olympic Committee named Van athlete of the month for October. The ski jumper had just won her 13th national championship on Oct. 11. She holds the record for longest jump among men or women.

Unfortunately for Van and for the USA, ski jumping is the only sport in which women will not be competing at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Van says it is her last shot at the Olympics and that her sport would draw a following as passionate as women’s pole vault did when Dragila was first permitted to compete in on the Olympic stage eight years ago.

Nearly everyone involved, except members of the International Olympic Committee, would like to see Van stand at the gate at the top of the hill, slide down the runway and get her shot at a gold medal in 2010. The IOC executive board said no in 2006, citing “their development is still in the early stage thus lacking the international spread of participation and technical standard required for an event to be included.”

Deedee Corradini does not buy it. She is making her pitch for the women’s participation today at a briefing in Vancouver where members of the worldwide news media are gathered for an update on Olympic preparations.

The former mayor of Salt Lake City is president of the Women’s Ski Jumping-USA.

“The IOC would have loved for us to go away,” Corradini said. “We’ve shown we will not give up. This is going to be a mission right up to the Games.”

Tops on her agenda will be the lawsuit filed by 10 plaintiffs from six countries, including Van and two other U.S. athletes, against the organizers of the Vancouver Olympics.

The lawsuit cites having men’s ski jumping events while failing to include women’s ski jumping events violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The hearing is April 20 in British Columbia Supreme Court. VANOC argues that it does not come under the jurisdiction of the charter. The IOC is not bound by any country’s charters.

VANOC’s Cathy Priestner, executive vice president of sports and games operations, wrote in an email Monday that the IOC sets the sports program: “In advance of the IOC’s decision not to include women’s ski jumping for 2010, we supported the inclusion of women’s ski jumping and communicated to the IOC that if they elected to add the event at that time, we would and could support it from a logistical and operational standpoint.”

Corradini hopes the women get the thumbs up and points to the late add of the women’s marathon in 1984 as a precedent.

source: usatoday.com

The Junior Olympics is the annual showcase event held each summer for the Amateur Athletic Union, and includes more than 15,000 participants in 20 sports, with its major focus on track and field competition.

With an estimated 30,000 spectators expected, the economic impact of the event is projected at $40 million.

This is the first time Houston has been selected to host the multisport event.

“This further validates Houston as a top-tier city for major sporting events,” said Greg Ortale, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

source: bizjournals.com

Phelps was something of a shoo-in for the award after winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, but the 23-year-old Fells Point resident was happy to take a night off from his busy traveling schedule to celebrate the honor.

He also received an award for Performance of the Year for his victory in the 100-meter butterfly, as well as one for being a part of the men’s 400relay.

“It’s been an awesome run,” Phelps said. “I’ve had so much support, from my family, my coach and my friends. My coach, in particular, has put up with a lot. I look forward to seeing what we can do in the future.”
Phelps took some time to talk about his business partnership with his coach, Bob Bowman, and the recent announcement that the duo had purchased the business side of the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, as well as control of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. It’s something Bowman and Phelps had talked about for more than a year before deciding to go forward with their plan.

“I’m going to have to learn a lot, but I’m ready for it,” Phelps said. “It’s going to be fun. It’s something different, something that I’ve never done before. Bob and I have had a great relationship over the last 10 years or so, so why not try some other things to see if we can master that? It’s going to be exciting. I’m going to learn a lot.”

Phelps said he has begun to climb back into the pool, although he won’t start to train seriously again until January.

“I feel just so out of it right now that I have to do something,” Phelps said.

Bowman was named USA Swimming’s Coach of the Year, the second straight year he has won that award.

“I just want to say thanks to the Phelps family, Debbie, Whitney and Hilary,” Bowman said. “We’ve been through a lot together. And Michael … I love you, man.”

Towson’s Katie Hoff was also in attendance, though she was nursing a sore throat that reduced her voice to little more than a whisper. Hoff announced this week that she would be working with Bowman from now on, leaving her longtime coach, Paul Yetter, after a somewhat disappointing performance at the Olympics.

“She’s so focused,” Bowman said of Hoff. “I’ve been kind of working with her alone [recently] and she can really train like that. Michael could never train like that. He has to have people around him. Katie is so focused on what she wants to do.”

source: baltimoresun.com

A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.

Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.

“I never dreamed of getting drafted,” Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.

“I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything,” she said. “I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league.“

Yoshida, 155 centimetres (five feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114 pounds), says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan’s first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.

(c) AFP

Dawson and Votaw came away from their presentation feeling upbeat. The Commission appeared impressed that golf’s amateur and professional bodies were speaking with one voice – and they seemed similarly taken with the news that the game boasts 60 million participants worldwide.

News on Japan - blog on japan

Again, a bit of name-dropping on Dawson’s and Votaw’s part did not go amiss. The Commission liked the sound of golf’s Olympic drive having the full support of such as Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa.

Golf’s charitable input would have been viewed as another plus. The R&A, for instance, dig deeply into their Open championship profits to send balls, clubs and other equipment to developing golfing lands. Votaw, on behalf of the PGA Tour, referred this morning to the many millions raised for charities via the American circuit. In 2007 it amounted to 123 million dollars, with that figure upped for ‘08.

In answer to whether the members of the IOC Programme Commission as a body had looked as if they leant more towards, say, golf or roller-sports, Dawson said a wry, “Golf, I hope.”

His overall impression had been that the Olympic personnel represented a pretty good cross-section.

Both men were quick to add that while they were confident their first presentation had been a good one, they had no doubt that the other sports would be equally well prepared. Of their rivals, softball and baseball are on a slightly different footing in that they drop out of the Olympic programme in 2012 but are bidding to return in 2016.

The support which Dawson and Votaw have had from the players apparently reached a new level during the Beijing Olympics.

Raphael Nadal’s reaction to winning a gold medal had made a significant impression on the golfers, as did the words of LeBron James. The latter had said that for him the Olympic stage was the biggest of them all.

Golf’s IGF Olympic Committee representatives have a very good idea of the building anticipation which could apply if they succeed in their mission.

“The players would have 32 opportunities to win a major before they have this chance to win one gold medal,” noted Dawson. “Majors are majors but who knows where a gold medal will stand in a player’s lexicon of achievements?”

Did they think that Tiger Woods, who will be 40 in 2016, might want to crown his haul of majors with a gold medal?

“It would be terrific if that were the case,” said Dawson.

Votaw, who has been “lent” to the Olympic campaign by Tim Finchem, the CEO of the PGA, denied that the US Tour had enough on its hands without getting so heavily involved in a scheme which will make the most difference at grass-roots level.

“We can multitask,” he insisted. Though the US Tour is said to be suffering more than its European equivalent at the hands of the credit crunch, notably because of its wider association with struggling banks, Votaw explained that they had a sound, “fully-sponsored” schedule lined up for 2009.

He also made it plain that the US Tour was by no means up in arms at the number of their players who had signed on for the European Tour’s Race to Dubai. On the one hand, many of the relevant tournaments would be taking place at the conclusion of the US season. On the other, he suggested that it was in their interests for the European Tour to be successful: “It’s good for us and it’s good for golf overall.”

No less, he said, was this combined Olympic drive good for the game. Regardless of whether or not golf gets the nod, both he and Dawson think that this coming together of all the different organisations has been a masterstroke.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Up to 70 VIPs will attend the “Beijing debrief” this month in a week-long summit which will begin with a lecture by Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee.

Mr Rogge is expected to tackle the issue of how the scale of the Olympic Games can be adapted to cope with a worldwide recession. Last month he sparked a row when he said that to avoid the main 2012 stadium becoming a “white elephant” after the Games, the athletics track could be removed. Officials from the Beijing Games organising committee, Bocog, will brief their London counterparts on issues ranging from transport, catering and security. Bocog earned praise for the organisation of the Games and the sports venues, especially the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube.

However, the London organising committee, Locog, will be keen to improve on public catering at venues and the poor atmosphere in the Beijing Olympic Green.

Meetings will be led by Hein Verbruggen, head of the IOC’s team overseeing the Beijing Games, and IOC chief technocrat Gilbert Felli.

Future Winter Olympics hosts Vancouver and Sochi will also attend, as will cities bidding to host the 2016 Games - Rio, Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo - who will also be given a tour of the Olympic Park. They will be discreetly trying to lobby the dozen IOC members in attendance, ahead of the 2016 vote next year in Copenhagen.

?BORIS Johnson has rejected claims that Olympic chiefs will struggle to put on the 2012 Games because of the financial downturn.

“Not only can we cope, but we can do a fantastic job,” he insisted, adding that this would be done within the £9.3 billion budget.

However, the Mayor admitted that Games organisers may have to attract more foreign investment, particularly from China, as a result.

The Standard reported last month that he was holding talks with some of China’s leading universities to establish a new campus in the Olympic Park.

Mr Johnson’s remarks on Channel 4 News come after Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said the Government would not have bid for the Games if it had known a recession was on its way.

source: thisislondon.co.uk

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) said the majority are small and medium-sized businesses and 98% are UK-based.
The firms are building the venues and infrastructure for the Games, to take place in Stratford, east London.
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said: “These figures are yet more proof that London 2012 is a golden opportunity at a time of economic need.”
The Olympic site will include an 80,000-seat stadium, a 17,500-seat aquatics centre and 3,000-home Olympic Village.
‘Increase competitiveness’
The ODA said 54% of the 801 firms working on contracts awarded so far were based in London.
It added that 12% of the work was being carried out by firms based in the Olympics host boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham and Waltham Forest.

Mrs Jowell said the Games would generate contracts worth a total of £6bn for UK businesses and generate an estimated £2bn for the tourist industry.
She added: “But this is not all - constructing and hosting the world’s biggest sporting event will inevitably increase the expertise, efficiency and competitiveness of British business, leaving a legacy which will benefit the UK economy for decades to come.”
ODA figures also showed 42,671 companies have registered an interest in a contract that is part of the Olympic supply chain.

‘Tremendous opportunity’
Lord Coe, chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), said: “As of next year, Locog is poised to release hundreds of opportunities for the best UK companies of all sizes to compete for work to supply our Games-time goods and services, so there is all to play for.”
The government’s original budget for the 2012 Olympics was £3.4bn but this was increased to £9.3bn last year.
Tourist agencies VisitBritain and the Tourism Alliance said the industry needs extra government support to fully benefit from the “tremendous opportunity” provided by the 2012 Olympics.
VisitBritain chairman Christopher Rodrigues said: “There needs to be wide-ranging backing from the highest levels of government for the visitor economy to achieve its potential.”
He called for the establishment of a fund and public-private partnership to promote British tourism.

source: news.bbc.co.uk

“Olympic” comes closest. This was truly the Beijing Games of fiscal stimulus packages: impressive, suppressive and excessive.

Common-or-garden stimulus packages are what governments in places like Britain, South Korea and Japan do to stimulate their economies. China’s $586 billion splurge is something entirely different. If Washington directed an equivalent percentage of its GDP at a stimulus package, it would be worth more than $2.2 trillion, and would consequently be utterly terrifying.

And, on closer inspection, China’s could indeed be something scarier than just a big stimulus package. Neatly disguised as the Kool-Aid that everyone else is drinking at the moment, Beijing’s offering is actually a knockout cocktail of political manifesto, Great Game diplomacy and domestic Riot Act.
There are three vital questions which that volume of money raises – beyond the technically critical issue of precisely where, and in what order, the money will be spent. The details were tantalisingly vague, and given the suspicion that Beijing may be double-counting investment plans already announced, economists are already at odds over how close the package’s actual financial impact will be, compared with its dramatic face value.

Question one, therefore, is: does this package guarantee a soft landing? There are plenty who think that on the basis of sheer size it will, and will do so at what is probably an affordable level for a country with relatively low debt-to-GDP ratios. For those that believed Chinese growth could slow into the 6.0 per cent region next year, this package should provide the four extra percentage points of growth that will haul the show back onto the road. Several analysts, having begun to wobble last week, told clients yesterday that they were now comfortable with their existing growth forecasts for China next year – the sort of forecasts that put growth in the 8.0 per cent region for 2009 and 8.1 per cent for 2010.

But question two is: what does such a vast figure tell us about what Beijing knows and fears? Certainly – and this is where the political manifesto and Riot Act elements come in – this is a package designed both to soothe and stir. The government’s legitimacy is heavily dependent on its continued ability to deliver what Chinese have grown used to – not just the big-figure GDP numbers, but the assurances that urban growth is strong enough to support itself. Chinese moving from the country to cities has, over the past decade, been perhaps history’s biggest ever flow of human migration. Depending on which analyst you listen to, that flow is supported by minimum economic growth rates of between 6 per cent and 8 per cent. Slip below that, and the millions of workers in the Pearl River Delta expected to lose their jobs next year may start wondering out loud whether those jobs are ever coming back. Those people are not all going to jump on a train back to the sticks, which could make for some very noisy urban disappointment. There are already economists who were, before Sunday, predicting that 2009 growth would fall below 6 per cent - if Beijing’s own internal charts showed the same thing, then the package starts to make an awful lot of sense. There will also be some stirring: the policies announced yesterday target issues that were becoming bottlenecks for long-term growth – social welfare provision, public transport etc. Exposure to global crisis, if that is indeed what this package exposes, is being turned into an opportunity to solve some persistent flaws in the Chinese story.

The last question is: what does this package do for China on the world stage?

There is a certain amount of Beijing demonstrating how terribly responsible it is. The world meets this week to discuss who is doing what, and China brandishes a package that eclipses anything anyone has ever seen. Much like that firework display at the Olympic opening ceremony.

But also swirling around Sunday’s announcement is the tacit question of what China can do for a broken financial system. Imagine the Great Gamesmanship of introducing a stimulus package so vast that it not only saves your own economy from decline, but establishes it as an engine of global recovery. Swaggering rights well worth $586 billion if the trick worked.

There is a tongue-in-cheek email doing the rounds at the moment showing the development of Chinese political and economic beliefs across the last 60 years. Perhaps Messrs Wen and Hu are taking it seriously.

1949 (Chinese revolution): Only socialism can save China.
1979 (Deng Xiaopeng’s reforms): Only capitalism can save China
1989 (Fall of the Berlin Wall): Only China can save Socialism
2009 (Global financial crisis): Only China can save Capitalism.

source: business.timesonline.co.uk

Their stance leaves them out of step with other European countries such as Sweden, France, Italy, Greece and Germany where anti-doping laws mean athletes and their suppliers can go to jail.

Arne Ljungqvist, the chairman of the IOC’s medical commission, said he would be pressing for a change in the British law, which would be an important legacy of the 2012 Olympics.

The subject will be raised by the IOC when Olympic host and bidding cities gather in London later this month for a post-Beijing debrief.

The IOC are considering making it a condition of bidding for future Olympic Games that candidate countries have anti-doping laws. In the meantime, just as the Chinese authorities were persuaded to introduce new legislation in the run-up to this summer’s Games, Britain will be under pressure to fall into line.

Ljungqvist, who is also a board member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said: “I think legislation is very important that criminalises certain offences as detailed in the WADA code because it allows public authorities to intervene where we cannot.

“We as sports authorities have our limited possibilities regulated by our code. We can do testing but we cannot do searches.”

The IOC have been convinced of the importance of criminal legislation after the events of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

It was only because of Italy’s tough anti-doping laws that they were able to expose blood-doping in the Austrian cross-country skiing team after police raided the athletes’ accommodation and seized haematological equipment and banned substances.

Britain hope to have a new independent anti-doping agency in place by next year but the Government have so far resisted calls to criminalise doping.

Ljungqvist said: “This is on my agenda so that Britain does have a law in place at the time of the Games which will allow them to take the same action as the Italians did if a similar situation occurred.”

source: telegraph.co.uk

The reasons? Time and television money. The global economic downturn has squeezed private financing for venues that will be a part of London’s 2012 Summer Games and Sochi’s 2014 winter edition, but with brisk ticket sales for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and most of the sponsors locked in, the IOC can afford to hold off making new deals for television rights and sponsorships.

“All of us feel this,” said Gerhard Heiberg, head of the International Olympic Committee’s marketing commission. “Of course, this has an impact for everyone in the world. It never comes at a convenient time. But we don’t feel we are affected too much in general. Things are moving everywhere in the right direction. Some things may take longer than originally hoped.”

The financial pinch comes as IOC president Jacques Rogge seeks another term that will keep him in office until 2013. He says the committee is closely monitoring the financial situation.

“It would be naive and shortsighted to say that nothing will happen,” Rogge said last week, confirming his plans to seek re-election next October, when he is expected to be unopposed. “Yes, the situation is so volatile that it is too soon to draw conclusions.”

Rogge said the Olympic movement is in “excellent financial health.” Total Olympic TV and sponsorship revenues for the 2005-08 cycle - covering the 2006 Turin Winter Games and 2008 Beijing Olympics - totalled about US$3.5 billion.

Twelve companies signed up for the 2005-08 global sponsorship program, known as TOP, generating nearly $900 million in revenues. TV rights fees, with the largest chunk from U.S. network NBC, provided the other $2.6 billion.

NBC is signed up through the Vancouver and London Games, and nine international sponsors have renewed so far.

“Most of our major contracts are long-term contracts,” IOC vice president Thomas Bach said. “Most of our contracts are not with banks or financial services, so it remains to be seen whether there will be a recession affecting the real economy and, if there is, how deep it will be. For the time being, there is no reason to panic.”

The Olympics’ financial security gives organizers the ability to wait until the world economy picks up to get into more sponsor negotiations. Heiberg said talks with remaining potential sponsors for 2009-13 likely will be pushed back.

“We feel the interest is there, but we feel we should take it a little easy to see what happens before trying to conclude anything,” he said.

Heiberg remains hopeful of signing up one or two more global sponsors, and still expects overall TOP revenue to exceed the $1 billion mark for the first time in the next four-year period.

Also looming is the high-stakes bidding for the U.S. broadcast rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics. That, too, could be postponed.

“We are not under any pressure,” Heiberg said. “We are talking about 2014 and ‘16. There is more than enough time. After the success of Beijing, several players are interested in talking to us. We are not in a hurry. They are not in a hurry.”

The IOC had hoped to open the U.S. negotiations soon after the Beijing Games and complete a deal before the October 2009 decision on the 2016 host city. Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro are the four finalists.

NBC beat out Rupert Murdoch’s Fox network and ABC/ESPN in a $2.2 billion deal for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics, and could face the same competitors again in the next bidding. The networks may prefer to wait until they know where the 2016 games will be held.

“For an American market, the games in Sochi are going to be very unattractive,” said Montreal lawyer Dick Pound, the IOC’s former TV rights negotiator, referring to the eight-hour time difference between Russia and the U.S. East Coast. “Much depends on where the 2016 games go. I don’t know what kind of appetite the American broadcasters are likely to have before next year.”

The financial crunch is biting into the London Games, which has a $15.2 billion budget for venues, infrastructure and long-term regeneration.

Most under pressure is the $1.6 billion athletes’ village, where 17,000 athletes and officials are scheduled to stay in apartments that are to be sold off after the games. Australian construction company Lend Lease is having trouble securing private financing from the banks to build the village.

“The terms that they can offer now are different from the terms they could offer say six months ago,” Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said recently. “Remember we bid for the games in one economic environment and we are staging them in another.”

The government has been forced to use $155.8 million so far from the Olympics contingency fund to pay for the village.

“That money could be offset by further private funding,” Rogge said. “If not, of course the government will get it back when the village is being sold.”

The village has already been scaled back from 4,200 apartments to 3,000 due to the fall in the housing market, and could be further trimmed to 2,700, raising concerns that athletes could be crowded three to a room.

London organizers are also reviewing plans for temporary venues for basketball, shooting and equestrian, including the possible scrapping of a 12,000-seat, $98.4 million facility for basketball.

Funding for the $656 million international broadcast and press centre is also uncertain.

But London’s $820 million Olympic Stadium is now taking shape with the recent installation of 35-ton steel supports that dot the city skyline. The 85,000-seat venue will be converted after the games to a 25,000-capacity arena for athletics. Officials are also searching for a local football or rugby team as a tenant.

With London already facing the tough task of measuring up to the grandeur of the Beijing Olympics, Mayor Boris Johnson is determined to hold down costs while not taking away from the spectacle.

“We do not want … austerity games,” he said. “We want to show London off to the world.”

Vancouver organizers, meanwhile, reported last week that, with a little more than a week to go in the first phase of ticket sales, packages to the Winter Games are selling out.

They say the games remain financially strong, despite a deficit of $40.5 million in the year ending July 31. Nearly 80 per cent of revenue has already been committed or received and organizers have surpassed their sponsorship target.

Russia, which is facing the financial pinch and drop in oil prices, recently appointed a deputy prime minister - Dmitry Kozak - to oversee preparations in Sochi, where virtually all venues are to be built from scratch with a budget of $12 billion.

“Things are moving in the right direction,” Rogge said. “There are technical challenges and construction challenges, but not a major funding issue today. It’s a priority project for the Russian federation and (Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin, and we are confident the funding will be there.”

source: canadianpress.google.com

Diack, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, issued a strongly worded statement vowing to fight for the “rightful place of athletics at the summer Olympic Games.”

He assailed the International Olympic Committee president for criticizing Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s celebrations in Beijing and for suggesting the Olympic track in London could be ripped up after the 2012 Games.

“Destroying the track would be totally unacceptable,” Diack said.

Diack is scheduled to meet with Rogge in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Nov. 17.

Diack took issue with Rogge for accusing Bolt of excessive showboating and showing a lack of respect to other sprinters after his world-record performances in the 100 and 200 meters.

“We live in a time when Olympic sports are struggling to remain attractive to young people, when we all need to make sport exciting and relevant to them,” Diack said. “Since we need to create heroes that young people identify with, why criticize the behavior of a young man who is instantly and completely appealing to young people?”

Diack said the 22-year-old Bolt, who won a third gold medal in the 400 relay, was showing “exuberance and uninhibited pleasure in victory.”

Diack criticized Rogge for his recent comments about the after-use of the 85,000-capacity Olympic Stadium in London that is to be converted after the 2012 Games into a 25,000-seat venue. Rogge suggested in a TV interview the IOC wouldn’t object if organizers decided not to keep the track.

“As the leader of the world governing body for athletics, I think this shows a lack of respect for my sport,” IOC member Diack said.

source: seattletimes.nwsource.com

source: theage.com.au

They refused to confirm reports that the city has agreed to loan Millennium Development Corp. or its financial backer, Fortress Investment Group, up to $100 million in addition to the $190 million the city had already offered as a loan guarantee to make sure the 1,100-unit project is built in time for the 2010 Winter Games.

The new deal, apparently approved in a tightly scripted in camera meeting Oct. 14, was confirmed by Sun columnist Miro Cernetig after it was first reported by a national newspaper, which also claimed the city’s longtime finance director, Estelle Lo, had resigned over concerns about the city’s financial exposure on the project.
Mayor Sam Sullivan, Coun. Peter Ladner and other elected politicians who attended the in-camera meeting all refused to discuss it, citing confidentiality rules. However, both the mayor and Ladner, who is running under the Non-Partisan Association banner to replace Sullivan, said Lo continued to work for the city and that she had never expressed to them or to council as a whole, any concern over financing for the village project.

“She has not quit and continues to work for the city,” Sullivan said. He said he would have been told by city manager Judy Rogers if Lo had resigned, and instead had been assured that “she is still on the city’s payroll.”

However, he said Lo’s position with the city was a “human resources matter” that he would not discuss, leading to the possibility that Lo’s employment is still in question.

Ladner said he spoke to Lo on Wednesday night “about a tax matter” and that she did not indicate to him she had left her position. Lo, who was in Hong Kong on scheduled holidays and was expected back at work Nov. 17, could not be reached for comment.

Rogers did not return calls. Deputy city manager Jody Andrews, who is also the project manager for the village project, also would not discuss whether Lo had resigned, saying that was “a personnel matter.”

Andrews issued a statement saying the city’s financial exposure on the project had not changed and that it was confident construction will be completed in time for the Olympic Games.

Dan Doyle, executive vice-president of construction for the Vancouver Organizing Committee, which will take control of the village next November, deferred to the city for comment. He said Vanoc was confident the village will be completed on time.

Andrews said the city had been in negotiation with Millennium and Fortress for some time because the project is about seven per cent, or about $70 million, over budget, which he said was small in comparison to the overall price.

Concerns about the financial stability of the project led to calls by Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson for full public disclosure. Robertson said Ladner, chairman of the city’s finance committee, should step aside from that position.

Just who knew what and who was talking has become a thorny political issue. Robertson said none of the incumbent Vision councillors, including Coun. Raymond Louie, had revealed to him details of the in-camera meeting.

Louie, who is vice-chairman of the city’s finance committee, would not tell reporters what he knew about the new deal. But he took the opportunity to slam the Non-Partisan Association-led council, saying council should hold a public meeting to discuss the project’s finances.

Last month Michael Flanigan, the city’s director of real estate services, told The Vancouver Sun the project was at that time six per cent or $60 million over budget and that the city was not concerned about its viability.

Flanigan said the city’s $190-million financial guarantee to Fortress was not in danger of being exercised and that work on the village was proceeding.

Against a backdrop of the noisy construction site, Andrews said the city was not prepared to discuss details of the negotiations.

“I think that the taxpayer out there will understand that when we conduct business discussions on their behalf, that we don’t reveal those on a day-to-day basis because we’re in negotiations,” Andrews said.

The city’s commitment on the project is being financed through its property endowment fund, which holds land, leases and cash. The PEF, worth $2.7 billion at the end of 2007, according to city financial statements, is running a $26.4-million deficit so far this year.

Ken Bayne, general manager of business and planning services, said the city built up the PEF’s cash reserves over recent years in part because it knew that it would have to finance servicing costs for the Olympic village site.

The resulting deficit is being financed from the city’s capital finance fund, which Bayne described as an internal financing vehicle the city uses to lend money to other departments. At the end of 2007, the fund held $194.3 million.

Andrews said the city last week gave engineering giant SNC Lavalin a no-bid consulting contract worth about $30,000 to provide “project oversight.”

Andrews would not discuss whether financial rating services were concerned.

However, Standard & Poor’s said the reported loan to Millennium will likely not hurt the city’s credit rating, even if it does add to Vancouver’s overall debt.

“[The loan] is something we’d obviously be concerned about,” said Steven Ogilvie, director of public-finance ratings for Standard & Poor’s office in Toronto. “But [does it raise] red flags? No.”

Ogilvie added that Standard & Poor’s is in the middle of completing its 2008 assessment of Vancouver’s rating.

Standard & Poor’s currently rates Vancouver AA+, which is the firm’s second-highest rating. Ratings establish a municipality’s credit risk and influence the interest rates on the bonds they issue.

The city, in its 2007 annual report, showed $514 million in long-term debt, which Ogilvie characterized as modest for a city the size of Vancouver. The city’s strong economy also factored into its high rating, he said.

“The city sits very comfortably within its rating category,” Ogilvie added, which means its AA status could stand “against a fair amount of new debt” being added to its books.

source: canada.com

“I hope that our Canadian Olympic Team will have stands full of cheering
fans for all of the action. The Olympic Winter Games will have it all, and
there’s no emotion like being there when it happens,” said Nathalie Lambert, a
four-time Olympic medallist in speed skating, and chef de mission for the
Canadian Olympic Team for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

About VANOC

VANOC is responsible for the planning, organizing, financing and staging
of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The
2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from
February 12 to 28, 2010. Vancouver and Whistler will host the Paralympic
Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Please visit www.vancouver2010.com for
more information.

For more quotes from Canadian Olympic athletes, please see the background
document attached.

Background information (Canadian Olympic athletes’ quotes)

Other Canadian athletes echoed Nathalie Lambert about the positive impact
of having stands full of cheering Canadian fans at Vancouver 2010 Olympic
Winter Games events:

“Our backyard will become the greatest stage the world has ever seen for
winter sport, and I can’t wait to hear the Canadian fans cheer us on. It will
be truly incredible.” Steve Omischl, two-time Olympian, freestyle skiing.

“I’ll never forget the feeling of being on the start line in my first
Olympic Games. With all of Canada urging me forward and giving me
strength…it gave me wings on the day. The thought of competing in my own
country inspires me each and every day as I prepare for the race of my life,
in Canada at the Olympic Games.” Clara Hughes, five-time Olympic Winter Games
medallist, speed skating.

“I have not experienced anything more exciting than playing in front of
20,000 passionate Canadian hockey fans. It’s like having the seventh man on
your side. It gives you that little bit of extra energy when the tank is
empty,” Hayley Wickenheiser, three-time Olympic Winter Games medallist, ice
hockey.

“The only thing that will help us more than home-field advantage in 2010
is having that home field filled with loud, crazy Canadian fans. I’m still in
my sport because the next Olympic Games are here at home, in Canada. I want to
perform my best and represent all Canadians - right to the top of the podium.”
Jeff Pain, Olympic Winter Games medallist, skeleton.

source: newswire.ca

Obama already has been active in Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, and given his newfound stature in the world right now, it’s not hard to imagine that his full-fledged support as President would bring the Summer Games to the Windy City for the first time in history.

Japanese officials behind Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Games are all but conceding today, admitting that one of Obama’s trademark speeches as part of a Chicago presentation to the IOC would be tough to beat.

The other two cities that are finalists for the 2016 Olympics are Rio de Janeiro and Madrid. When the four finalists were announced this summer, a widening rift between the IOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee over television revenues was reported to be a serious threat to Chicago’s chances, with the American city viewed as the longshot of the four finalists to secure the eventual bid.

To say the situation has changed since then, changed last night in fact, is to put it mildly. The decision for the 2016 host city will be made by the IOC in October of 2009 after presentations are made by each finalist in Copenhagen. If Obama can find time in his schedule to crash that party, fugheddaboudit. Mayor Daley can gear up the kickback train, MJ can get ready for another comeback, and Oprah can start training for the triathlon, cause the five rings will be on their way to Chi-town.

source: sportingnews.com

“If the perception internationally of the United States improves by virtue of his election, then I think the U.S. stature in international sport of every type will be enhanced,” San Diego Padres chief executive officer Sandy Alderson said Wednesday at the general managers’ meetings. “I don’t think the United States has the international stature in sport that it once had.”

Baseball was added as a demonstration sport in 1984 and 1988, then was a medal sport starting in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in July 2005 to drop baseball and softball following the 2008 Beijing Games. When a vote for reinstatement took place the following February, baseball lost 46-42 and softball failed 47-43.

At the time, International Softball Federation president Don Porter said: “I think anti-Americanism was a factor.” Softball was added for the 1996 Atlanta Games.

“I think clearly how the world looks at America is going to be different with Barack Obama in the White House,” Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. “And that will be initial. And then how he leads and how he governs will determine how they look at us over a sustained period.”

The IOC will consider the program for the 2016 Games when it meets next October. Leaders of Chicago’s bid to host that Olympics think Obama’s election provides a boost.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to get back in,” said Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president for baseball operations in the commissioner’s office. “I don’t know if the election in and of itself would do that. We’ve got some big problems.”

IOC officials were unhappy major-league players were not allowed to compete in the Olympics. Because the Olympics are played during baseball’s regular season, Solomon called it “a very difficult thing for us to contemplate.”

“I think what will help us get back in the Olympics is to get the IOC to understand that baseball is a global sport with significant appeal and that any other reservation about is a red herring,” Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer, said in a telephone interview from New York.

International Baseball Federation president Harvey Schiller is to make a presentation to the IOC on Nov. 14 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“President-elect Obama’s interest in sports and specifically in baseball, combined with the efforts of other world leaders, is the kind of thing we need to return baseball to the Olympic program,” Schiller said from New York. “It’s important that we have his support, but it’s also important that we have the support of the many countries that participate in the game. It’s clear we have to identify that it’s a global sport, and not just a sport in the United States.”

Management and the players’ association have been pushing for baseball’s reinstatement.

“I think Sen. Obama’s election is an event of profound significance to a lot of people around the world, and I would be surprised if it was not received that way in Olympic circles, also,” union head Donald Fehr said by telephone from Los Angeles.

Obama’s election could also impact the ongoing drug investigation of major league players that has been in federal court for more than four years. During the week of Dec. 15, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is to meet in Pasadena to hear an appeal by the players’ association stemming from the government’s seizure of urine samples in 2004. While the government was searching for records of players involved in the BALCO investigation, it seized all samples. If the government wins the case, it could use those records as evidence to question players on how they obtained the drugs.

A three-judge panel ruled largely in favour of the government, but the full circuit set that decision aside and decided the full court will hear the matter. If the union prevails before the circuit court in the case, which could decide the meaning of “plain view” in the computer age, a Solicitor General appointed by the Obama administration could decide whether to take the case to the Supreme Court.

“I think that baseball to one side, there are important issues in this case. I think that’s what caught their attention,” said Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice-president of labour relations.

Obama’s election was viewed as positive for players by agent Scott Boras.

“Both in the NLRB and the situation of the union’s relationship with the federal system, it’s going to be greatly improved,” Boras said.

Boras, negotiating contracts for Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira and several other high-profile free agents, maintained his viewpoint that MLB won’t he hurt by the economic downturn.

“Baseball didn’t invest in derivatives and sub-primes,” he said. “Baseball has long-term contracts with national and local TV networks. … As I’ve said all along, the hay is in the barn.”

Also Wednesday:

-Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said Los Angeles made an offer to Ramirez that would give him the second-highest average salary in the sport. That would put the slugging outfielder behind Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (US$27.5 million) and ahead of Mets pitcher Johan Santana ($22.9 million). Colletti did not divulge the length of the offer. “If you saw the bid, it’s nothing that we’re embarrassed by,” Colletti said. “We said, ‘Think about it for a while. It’s not going to be there forever.”‘ Los Angeles also declined pitcher Brad Penny’s $9.25 million option, choosing to pay a $2 million buyout.

-Alderson, discussing the team’s efforts to trade NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy, made it sound as if the Padres were definitely in a rebuilding mode. “It would be too facile for us to simply say, ‘Hey, we can get to the World Series next year because Tampa Bay did it this year.’ They accomplished something extraordinary.”

-MLB senior vice president Katy Feeney spoke to GMs about scheduling difficulties for 2010 spring training. The Dodgers and Cleveland Indians move their camps from Florida to Arizona for this spring, and Cincinnati follows for 2010. That will leave 15 teams in each state, causing either days off or split doubleheaders.

-New Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik, searching for a manager, talked about interviewing Willie Randolph for the Milwaukee job last month. “I saw Willie Randolph get his first major league hit. I said, ‘Willie, I go back with you longer than you think.”‘

from: canadianpress.google.com

“I think the eyes of the world have been on Barack Obama and therefore on Chicago and the eyes of the world will be on Chicago more than in the past,” Chicago 2016 bid chief Patrick Ryan told Reuters.

Democrat candidate Obama, who has spent most of his political life in Chicago, enjoyed a sweeping victory in the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday.

Chicago is one of four candidates vying for the 2016 Summer Olympics alongside Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will choose the winner at its session in Copenhagen in October next year.

“Last night gave us a global opportunity to show the city’s beautiful skyline, its lake and parks,” Ryan said of Obama’s speech in front of more than 200,000 cheering supporters in Chicago’s Grant Park.

Ryan said Obama’s stature would help Chicago in its bid to become the first U.S. city in 20 years to host the summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996.

“He has travelled around the world. He is a very highly regarded international global figure. He loves sport and he is very proud of Chicago,” Ryan said. “I don’t see any reason why he would be negative at all.”

Ryan would also want to see him attend next year’s IOC session and 2016 Games vote.

“We want him to be present,” Ryan said. “But depending on his schedule… if things are normal he will be there.”

Heads of state have become an important part of the bidding process for the Olympics in recent years.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair attended the 2005 IOC Session while still in office and is widely seen as the man who won the 2012 Games for London.

Last year it was then Russian President Vladimir Putin who made a flawless presentation — in English — in front of all the IOC’s members in Guatemala to win the 2014 Winter Olympics for the Russian resort of Sochi, an outsider at the time.

The IOC has said it will not object to heads of state wishing to support bid cities but has insisted on a low profile presence so as not to take the spotlight off the vote itself.

source: reuters.com

Residents of the Japanese city of Obama in Fukui Prefecture expressed delight Wednesday over Illinois Sen Barack Obama winning the U.S. presidential election Tuesday. About 200 citizens, U.S. students and Obama supporters gathered at a rally at a culture center in the city on the Sea of Japan coast chanting Obama’s name and his slogan, ‘‘Yes, we can.’’

‘‘We’re pleased our cheerleading has paid off,’’ said 47-year-old Yasunori Maeno, a member of a 1,300-person group rooting for Obama to become the next U.S. president. ‘‘We’d really like Mr Obama to visit the city of Obama,’’ he said.

Hula dance teams, dubbed the ‘‘Obama Girls’’ and ‘‘Obama Boys,’’ received loud applause from the audience as they performed.

The Obama Girls were halfway through their routine when the results came in on overhead TVs. Dozens of supporters swarmed the stage and joined hands, jumping up and down as they chanted “Obama! Obama! Obama!”

The Obama campaign brought an air of excitement to this normally sleepy seaside town. Local leaders, trying to revive the economy, latched onto the connection as a way to promote tourism. An “Obama for Obama” supporters group attracted 1,500 members.

“This is great. I followed the election closely on TV. I’m hoping Obama can make the world more peaceful,” said Akino Nakaoji, 34, still wearing a bright blue skirt and flowered lei necklace from her hula performance earlier in the day.

It was lunchtime Wednesday in Japan when the U.S. election results came in.

“It was over so fast, I’m glad I got a chance to dance,” said Satoru Wada, a 38-year-old male member of the hula squad, before heading back to work at a hotel.

Obama has a population of 32,000, smaller than the crowds the candidate drew at many of his U.S. campaign stops.

While few along its quiet streets could name his policy proposals, his optimism and upbeat message of change resonates well here.

Obama, which means “little beach” in Japanese, is a former fishing town that now relies almost entirely on tourism. More than 500 years old, it boasts several ancient temples and a distinctive hand-painted lacquerware.

But the rustic town, wrapped around a stretch of sandy beach and surrounded by wooded hills, is not well-known, even among Japanese tourists.

So Obama’s success has been a welcome boon.

The town has been featured repeatedly in the domestic and international media, and the number of visitors has increased 20% since it linked itself to the Obama campaign, said Shigeyoshi Takeda, who heads the city tourism bureau.

“We’ve had a lot more customers since the campaign, especially foreigners. We rarely had foreigners here before,” said Atsuko Ikeda, 38, the cheery owner of a watering hole on the main shopping street.

Obama’s mayor, Kouji Matsuzaki, himself won election with a campaign based on the English word “change.” He said he plans to invite Obama to visit Obama, and dispatched a congratulatory telegram to the president-elect.

“We are looking into making him a special honorary citizen,” Matsuzaki said.

The mastermind behind the “Obama for Obama” campaign, Seiji Fujiwara, is executive director of one of the town’s largest hotels. He said the town has several business leaders with marketing experience that jumped on the opportunity.

“There are other towns named Obama in Japan, but we were the first to react,” he said.

Town officials sent gifts and received an official letter from the campaign, signed “Your friend” in Japanese.

Fujiwara said the support group is already planning its future moves. Among them: Go to Washington for the inauguration in January and perform a hula dance.

Meanwhile, in the city of Unzen, Nagasaki Prefecture, some 200 residents and tourists at the Obama hot-spring area waved the U.S. flag and expressed congratulations to Obama on clinching the U.S. presidency.

‘‘Once Mr Obama assumes the presidency, our area will be known in the world,’’ said 39-year-old Tetsuyuki Hayashida, a member of Unzen’s chamber of commerce and industry.

Obamamania is at fever pitch across Europe, where his ratings regularly exceed 80 per cent. Germany, the Netherlands and France form the cheer-leading front row. Not since John F. Kennedy has France so fallen for a presidential candidate; if citoyens had the vote, Mr Obama would trounce Mr McCain by 72 points.

Urbane, intellectual and idealistic, Mr Obama “is the kind of American we love”, said Jack Lang, a Socialist and the long-serving Culture Minister of the late President Mitterrand. “His is the America of jazz and Fitzgerald and Falconer and Kerouac and Kennedy.”

In Russia, ordinary people are fascinated by the notion that America may elect its first black president, not least because even Moscow has almost no black population. Such is the expectation that Mr Obama will win that matrioshka “Russian nesting” dolls bearing his face have already been spotted for sale at Russian markets.
At an official level, Russia blames the US for the global economic crisis and the government line is that whoever wins must rein in imperialist ambitions and concentrate on the economy. But fears remain that Mr McCain would more hostile to Russia and more hawkish on Georgia, Nato expansionism and the Eastern European antimissile shield.

Georgia, for the same reasons, is one of only three countries backing Mr McCain. The others are the Philippines, where US forces are helping to battle Islamic rebels, and Israel, where 46 per cent would vote for Mr McCain against 34 for Mr Obama. Like Georgia, Israel believes that Mr McCain would be more hawkish on their biggest concerns such as Iran. Israel is also wary of the support for Mr Obama in the Palestinian territories, where Hamas has pledged its unwelcome backing.

Africa’s enthusiasm for the son of a Kenyan-born father is unsurprising. At Makerere University in Uganda, a student politician changed his name to Obama and promptly walked the election for president of the Student Guild. Since then “Obama” has become a generic compliment. “When we were watching football, the best player we call Obama,” said Robert Rutaro, the successful candidate.

“We support Obama not as a person but as a new phenomenon,” Denis Twahika, a student, said. “We look at America as a continent that disenfranchised Africa. If Obama is the president, then when I meet an American I meet a brother. That white-black thing, we become one.”

Less welcome perhaps is the endorsement of President Chávez of Venezuela, as Mr Obama fends off Republican accusations that he will turn American into a socialist state. “We are not asking him to be a revolutionary, to be a socialist, no,” Mr Chávez said gracefully. “We just want the black man who is about to be the US president to have enough stature for the times the world is living through.”

What bearing any of this will have on the domestic vote remains to be seen. Many Obama supporters see his appeal as someone who can repair America’s tainted global reputation so they can, in the words of the American comic Sarah Silverman “travel abroad without having to pretend to be Canadian any more”.

The world’s hopes for the 2004 elections – 53 per cent for John Kerry, 3 per cent for George Bush – had precious little bearing on the outcome.

One of the nations with the least firm opinion was Iraq, where people are awaiting the outcome of the status of forces agreement, which will determine how long US troops remain.

“I am fed up with all the problems in my country and I don’t care any more,” said Zahraa Zuhair, a computer programmer in Baghdad. “I don’t care who wins in the US elections.”

source: timesonline.co.uk