The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has written to all of the 205 national Olympic committees asking for nominations for the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games. The initial deadline for submissions is February, while official bids must be entered by next July, reports the Associated Press.

The IOC’s executive board will select a shortlist in October and IOC members will vote on the host city for the 2014 Youth Games during the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in February 2010.

According to the Associated Press the event is scheduled to take place over 12 days with up to 3,500 athletes ages 14-18 competing in as many of the 26 official Olympic summer sports as possible.

Meanwhile the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games will be announced at IOC headquarters next week. Innsbruck Austria and Kuopio Finland are the final two candidates competing.

source: gamesbids.com

The federation confirmed a decision by its judicial committee to punish the former star.

A gold medallist at Athens in 2004 Halkia was expelled from the Beijing Olympics after testing positive for the banned steroid Methyltrienolone.

Halkia, her coach and two other athletes who failed tests also face maximum sentences of five years in prison in Greece over their respective cases.

The four suspects deny any wrongdoing and Halkia claims she was the victim of sabotage.

The same drug had previously been found in the samples of over a dozen Greek athletes in other disciplines, severely embarrassing Greek authorities in the run-up to Beijing 2008.

Olympic officials had been on the lookout for cheats from Greece ever since Methyltrienolone turned up in the results of 11 Greek weightlifters in April.

The International Olympic Committee has taken a keen interest in the case, hiring legal representation in Greece and suing Halkia’s coach for causing damage to its reputation.

source: foxsports.com.au

The 24-year-old Londoner beat favourite Sanya Richards at August’s Beijing Games to become Britain’s first ever female Olympic gold medallist over 400 metres.

Ohuruogu was banned for 12 months after missing three out-of-competition doping tests from October 2005 to July 2006, and had to win a court battle to overturn her lifetime BOA ban.

UK Athletics had said she was guilty of a technical offence and welcomed her onto the Beijing team, but Ohuruogu’s achievements have consistently been overshadowed.

She won the world championship in Osaka, Japan, in August 2007 barely weeks after returning to competition.

source: google.com

The fencing team drew wide attention after it brought home two individual gold, two individual bronze and three team bronze medals.

The swashbucklers have used media appearances at home to great effect, knowing that soon the focus will return to more traditionally popular sports like soccer and auto racing.

Diego Confalonieri, who won bronze in the team épée, wants to avoid the fate of most smaller Olympic sports that must wait until the 2012 Games in London for another 15 minutes of fame.

“In Italy fencing is still not a famous sport because we lack a structure,” Confalonieri said. “There are very few fencing gymnasiums, so we hope the medals we are winning can help fencing to have more centers. We could be a lot more than we are, but there are a few of us and we are still very competitive.”

Fencing may have returned to the back of the Italian sports papers, but at least it still makes the news here. In most countries, it will be forgotten by the mainstream news media for the next four years.

“If you haven’t done fencing, it is difficult for you to understand how it works,” said Igor Celli, a teacher at the Piccolo Teatro fencing club in Milan. “That’s why it is difficult for fencing to get media coverage.”

The sport traces its roots in the country to the 1500s, when Italians began using the rapier extensively, developing a fencing technique and using the weapon for dueling.

Italian fencing masters like Camillo Agrippa, who invented the four fencing positions, and Giacomo DiGrassi and Vigiani, who invented the lunge, flourished during this time.

“Fencing is a sport which has long roots in Italy,” Confalonieri said. “It is because of historical reasons, it could be the medieval link.”

The Olympic medals have helped increase participation at fencing centers, but this is unlikely to endure over time.

“People see the fencing at the Olympics on TV, and they want to join clubs,” Celli said. “There is a pattern: an explosion after the Olympics, then down for the next three years, then it rises again. The next big jump will be after the Olympics in London.”

Even if more Italians have become interested in the sport, there are few facilities. Resources are stretched.

“Milan has more than one million inhabitants, and there are only four clubs,” said Marco Mandelli, another fencing teacher at Piccolo Teatro. “It’s not as if there is space for everybody.”

The Italian fencing federation president, Giorgio Scarso, said many sports clubs used old facilities.

“There are new facilities cropping up in smaller towns,” he said, adding that a new fencing center was being built in Rome and that there were plans for another in Milan.

“The delicate problem at the moment is finance,” Scarso said. “Of course it is worrying, but it does not worry me so much for the 2012 Olympics. The real drama will be 2016 and 2020. The fear I have is for the long-term future of sports like ours.”

Scarso said he did not expect the global financial crisis to hamper the sport immediately.

“The repercussions will hit the big federations because of sponsorship,” he said. “Sponsors invest where there is huge visibility.” Problems with state handouts for sports like fencing could come further down the line, he added.

Italy’s fencers have basked in the Beijing glow so much that Matteo Tagliariol, the épée gold medalist, went on a reality show, Maria Valentina Vezzali, the gold medalist in foil fencing, attracted headlines for an appearance on a political program when she made a personal remark to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that was interpreted by the news media as flirtatious.

Vezzali’s brush with Berlusconi led her employers, the Italian police, to bar her from her next media appearance.

She had been scheduled to go on Italy’s “Saturday Night Live” dressed in yellow like Uma Thurman in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” movies.

Margherita Granbassi, who finished third behind Vezzali in Beijing, was also blocked but decided to leave her job with the police to work on the political television program “Annozero.”

“I am leaving to avoid an embarrassing situation for me and the police,” Granbassi told reporters. “It has not been an easy choice and I am not happy at having taken this route. When I finish my career as a fencer, I would like to be a journalist.”

Confalonieri expressed support for Vezzali and Granbassi.

“I’m an athlete like them, so I am on their side,” he said. “They should do whatever they feel is right. We can go on television and express our sporting, political and social opinions. We are athletes, but also people. The publicity is good for fencing. It is a positive thing.”

Celli said more needed to be done to boost fencing’s profile.

“Nearly all fencing centers are underground, below street level,” he said. “This is our reality. The only way to get out from beneath the stairs is to get people together at local fairs, sports days. The classic advert in the newspaper just doesn’t work.”

source:nytimes.com

Two cities to compete to host the 1st Youth Winter Olympic Games in 2012:
Innsbruck, Austria
Kuopio, Finland

About the Winter Youth Olympic Games
The Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are a 10-day multi-sport, cultural and educational event for young people and driven by young people. The YOG will add a new dimension to the Olympic ideal, complementing what is already being achieved through the
Olympic Games and the numerous IOC projects to bring the Olympic values alive. The YOG will bring together talented athletes to participate in high-level competitions and lead them on their way to becoming true Olympians. This event will allow the Olympic Movement to extend its reach and stimulate worldwide sports activities.

The project cost was approximately $23m –which was under the budget, and it was also finished ahead of the planned schedule.

As well as hosting the ten events at the Olympics, Weymouth and Portland will also be the venue for Paralympic sailing — playing host to about 400 athletes.

The venue is located on Osprey Quay between the towns of Weymouth and Portland in the southern English county of Dorset.

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) officially launched the venue on Friday with British gold medal winning sailor Paul Goodison, ODA Director Ralph Luck, Jonathan Edwards from the London 2012 Organizing Committee (LOCOG) and WPNSA Chairman Edward Leask in attendance.
The British sailing team which claimed six medals at the Beijing Olympics, including four golds, will train at the venue ahead of the next Games.

As well as the 150 meter slipway, other features of the venue include new race-boat parking, lifting and mooring facilities.

The Osprey Quay area is also under extensive development, with new cafes, accommodation and shops, and other businesses being erected.

source: edition.cnn.com

Further discussions will be held in the next fortnight on the number to be provided from the national allocation in an effort to avoid forcing the parents and siblings of Olympic competitors on to the black market.

The agreement, struck on the eve of completion of the first official Games venue in Weymouth today, is a response to problems over ticket allocation in China. The squeeze on supply led the parents of Rebecca Adlington, the double Olympic swimming champion, to a rogue website where they were conned out of £1,100. Five people behind the widespread scam were arrested this week by serious fraud investigators.

The small velodrome meant that key members of the British cycling set-up could not get access; the parents of Chris Hoy, the triple gold medal-winner, watched their son perform only after receiving last-minute tickets from a sponsor. The demand in London is expected to be even greater.
“Our first priority is an allocation of tickets to the athletes,” Colin Moynihan, the BOA chairman, said. “The principle has been agreed. The athletes have given their lives to be members of Team GB and their family should be given the opportunity of enjoying the Games around them.” The ticketing issue was hotly discussed at a formal Beijing debrief in London this week. The organisers want to avoid an embarrassing repeat of empty seats in Beijing that occurred despite its billing as the first sold-out Games.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) is working on ways to fill vacant seats with true supporters. One option is a Wimbledon-style system to re-use tickets held by spectators leaving early. It will also allow ticketless members of the public on to the Olympic Park in order to create the best possible atmosphere.

In Weymouth, where the upgraded sailing facilities for the Games will be unveiled by Paul Goodison, the gold medal-winning sailor, there is a push to stage the ten medal races within the harbour to give spectators a better view of the action.

“There is a natural amphitheatre at Newton’s Cove and we’d like 10 to 15,000 people to be on the hillside, eating ice-cream and watching the big screens to see what’s going on in London, but there are logistical barriers including security,” Mark Stubbings, the chief executive of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, said.

“Sailing has never been the best spectator sport - the harbour may not be the best place from a pure aesthetic sailing point of view but it is from a spectator standpoint. We are just saying to Locog, don’t lose sight of that.”

Construction workers have finished 150 metres of new slipway under a £6.5million project by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). British sailors expect a better all-round test of their skills in Weymouth compared with Qingdao, the Chinese coastal city that was plagued by light winds and strong tides. Weymouth was chosen for its prevailing southwesterly wind - with an average speed of 16 to 17 knots - and a low tidal range of two metres.

ODA chiefs claimed the legacy of 2012 had already begun in Dorset. “From an economic point of view, this is a catalyst for more facilities,” Ralph Luck, the director of property, said. “Teams from across the world can come and train here, so it will affect the economy much more by being delivered early.”

Sailing requires two test events, so 2010 and 2011 will be important years for the Academy to demonstrate its potential as the ultimate Olympic venue. But there are still big logistical challenges: Weymouth takes three hours to reach by train from London and is accessible by only one main road.

source: timesonline.co.uk

The review, released by the Olympic committee during meetings in London this week, credited the Beijing Games with attracting broader participation and larger audiences than any other Olympics.

“The Games expanded and strengthened the Olympic movement by advancing the universality of sport,” the three-page fact sheet said. “They also brought many tangible and intangible benefits to China, especially in terms of public infrastructure improvements. While some of the positive benefits were immediately apparent, others will emerge with time.”

The document praised the Beijing organizers’ nearly flawless execution of the Games, detailing the successful coordination of a half-million volunteers and the maintenance of a complex transportation and security system. It noted that facilities for the news media were “widely praised as the best ever,” and that the Chinese government had indefinitely reduced restrictions on foreign journalists reporting in the country.

But it made no mention of several highly publicized crackdowns on would-be protestors, or of Internet censorship at the media center and harassment of foreign journalists.

“I think the I.O.C.’s fact sheet is missing a lot of salient facts,” said Minky Worden, the media director for Human Rights Watch. “What is missing in this document is the extent to which the International Olympic Committee lowered its standards on human rights around the Beijing Olympic Games.”

Thousands of people were evicted from their homes to make way for construction of Olympic venues, and some activists were detained before the Games. Authorities set up protest zones during the Olympics, but no demonstrations took place. Several people who applied for protest permits were detained, including two elderly women who were sentenced to up to a year of “re-education through labor.” The sentences were later rescinded.

Despite promises by the Chinese that foreign journalists would have unfettered access to the Internet, authorities initially blocked access to several Web sites at the main press center. Although some of the restrictions were loosened, the I.O.C. member overseeing press operations, Kevan Gosper, accused the Olympic committee of betrayal. In addition, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China logged more than 60 incidents of reporting interference during the Olympics, including several cases in which foreign journalists were physically harassed.

“I think, in the end, the government’s approach to the media hasn’t changed that much,” said Bob Dietz, the Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Dietz said he and other members of his group met with officials at the Olympic committee’s headquarters in Switzerland in 2006, then again in Beijing in 2007 to express their concerns about press freedom in China. He called the I.O.C.’s response “tone deaf.”

“They just didn’t get it,” he said. “They didn’t understand the importance of our concern.”

Sam Zarifi, the Asia Pacific director for Amnesty International, said that the Chinese government had made some strides in recent years, but that it had hardened its stance on other issues, like Tibetan autonomy. “Certainly for the I.O.C. to pat itself on the back I think is not really a fair evaluation of all that they accomplished,” Zarifi said.

The I.O.C. report praised the Games for improving public health in China, saying that authorities “took new steps to improve food and water safety.” It quoted a World Health Organization official, Hans Troedsson, as saying the public-health legacy of the Games was a “long-term gift to China.”

There was no mention of the tainted-milk scandal that broke just after the end of the Games and led to the death of four infants and sickened more than 50,000. Worden pointed to reports that a Chinese journalist’s blog post about the contaminated milk was removed from a Web site just as the Games were beginning.

“I think it has to be said that the news was there of the toxic baby formula,” Worden said. “Censorship in China is a matter of life and death.”

Despite the timing of the tainted-milk scandal, the public-health improvements brought about by the Games should not be overlooked, said Zhen Xiaozhen, who was the medical service manager of the Beijing Games. She pointed to a ban on smoking in public places and the training of 3,000 medical volunteers.

The meetings in London are part of a debriefing process in which Beijing organizers give technical advice to those planning the London Games in 2012. This “knowledge management” process was instituted by the I.O.C. president, Jacques Rogge, to improve efficiency and planning of future Olympics, said Emmanuelle Moreau, a spokeswoman for the Olympic committee.

Moreau said the questions raised by the human rights groups would be examined next year at the annual Olympic Congress in Copenhagen.

Dick Pound, an I.O.C. member from Montreal, said the Beijing Olympics deserved praise. “I think most of what they identified is good and did in fact happen,” he said. Still, he said, post-mortems typically include negative assessments as well.

In a speech in London on Monday, Rogge praised the Beijing organizers and cautioned against comparing the two Games. When asked how London could outshine Beijing, Rogge said: “It doesn’t need to. London just has to be London. And asking me which Olympic Games is the best is like asking me which of my children I love the best.”

Many activists are already focusing on the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, which they say may raise many of the same issues as Beijing.

Human Rights Watch has called on the I.O.C. to set up an internal mechanism that would audit a host city’s human rights record before the Games. Human Rights Watch has lobbied several national Olympic committees to endorse the idea — including the United States Olympic Committee; so far only the German committee has formally expressed interest.

Rogge and other I.O.C. members have often resisted efforts to associate the Olympic movement too closely with human rights issues, arguing that the Games should serve as a refuge from international conflicts and politics. “I would be very cautious about doing that,” Pound said of the Human Rights Watch proposal. “To start legislating how host countries or potential host countries are managing their internal affairs is a lot more complicated and more subtle than saying, oh yes, we insist on human rights.”

Moreau, the I.O.C. spokeswoman, said that the executive committee had not taken a position on the proposal, but that the topic was likely to be discussed at the annual congress next year.

source: nytimes.com

The IOC and London organizers, meanwhile, expressed confidence Thursday that the 2012 Olympics will be a success despite the global economic downturn. And London’s Olympic chief said the Games will be “secure” from terrorism.

Olympic officials concluded weeklong meetings aimed at passing on lessons learned from the Beijing Games, which the IOC described as “an indisputable success” that could lead to further social, economic and political progress in China.

The Beijing review was meant to transfer knowledge to upcoming host cities, particularly London for 2012. Organizers of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, also took part. So did officials from the four cities bidding for the 2016 Summer Games: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

“The 2008 Games set new standards for organization, venues and athletic performances, but we can always improve,” IOC Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli said. “I’m confident that the London organizers will host a first class event with a uniquely British atmosphere.”

Ticketing and empty seats were singled out as key issues. While tickets were sold out in Beijing, there were still vacant seats at some of the venues, Felli said.

He said this may have been because ticket-holders did not stay at the venues for long or back-to-back sessions. Also, some tickets were allocated to groups across China which may not have shown up, he said.

Some tickets also ended up on the black market, while fake tickets were sold to unsuspecting fans in online scams.

“We are already correcting this with future organizing committees,” Felli said.

Demand for Vancouver tickets has exceeded expectations. By the time the first five-week request period ended on Nov. 7, Canadians had asked for C$345 million worth of tickets. A lottery will be used to allocate tickets for 120 of the 170 sessions at the Games.

Normally, tickets are allotted to national Olympic committees. Felli said there was a demand from 152 national committees in Beijing, compared to less than 100 in Athens in 2004.

Preparations for the London Games have been affected by the global financial crisis, with organizers struggling to secure private financing for the athletes village and other projects.

Felli said the IOC is confident that Vancouver, London and Sochi are in a sound position because of long-term government investments.

“We still believe that the Olympic Games is a very important tool in the economy to motivate people to do something in life,” Felli said.

London has an overall 9.3 billion pound (C$17.6 billion) budget for construction, infrastructure and regeneration. London organizing chief Sebastian Coe said the separate Games-time operational budget of two billion pounds (C$2.57 billion) is “balanced and on target.”

“We move forward mindful of the changing economic environment, but remaining confident that we can stage Olympic Games and Paralympic Games that the nation wants to see,” Coe said.

He denied that London organizers were “scaling down” the Games.

“We will deliver a Games that serves the athletes as well as any previous Olympics and we hope even better,” he said.

Speaking a day after more than 100 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, Coe pledged to provide a safe Games. He said London’s police and intelligence forces have an international reputation for dealing with terrorism.

“I say that with no complacency at all,” he said. “But our security plans are under way and we will deliver a secure Games.”

In a three-page “fact sheet,” the IOC hailed the Beijing Games for its near flawless organization and for strengthening the global reach of sport and bringing public infrastructure improvements to China.

“While some of the positive benefits were immediately apparent, others will emerge with time,” it said.

The IOC cited environmental and public health advancements, but made no direct mention of controversies on human rights and press freedom. Some Internet sites were initially blocked at the main press Center, some foreign journalists were physically harassed, and no demonstrations actually took place at specially created “protest zones.”

“The Games provided intangible benefits that can lead to further social, economic and political progress,” the IOC said. “Unprecedented international attention from journalists, activist organizations and foreign leaders highlighted China’s strengths as well as its shortcomings.”

source: google.com

“The Games expanded and strengthened the Olympic Movement by advancing the universality of sport,” according to the three-page fact sheet. “They also brought many tangible and intangible benefits to China, especially in terms of public infrastructure improvements. While some of the positive benefits were immediately apparent, others will emerge with time.”

The document praised the Beijing organizers’ nearly flawless execution of the Games, detailing the successful coordination of half a million volunteers and maintenance of a complex transportation and security system. It noted that the media facilities were “widely praised as the best ever,” and that the Chinese government has indefinitely reduced restrictions on foreign media who report in the country.

But it made no mention of several highly publicized crackdowns on would-be protestors, or of Internet censorship at the media center and harassment of foreign journalists during the Games.

“I think the I.O.C.’s fact sheet is missing a lot of salient facts,” said Minky Worden, media director for Human Rights Watch. “What is missing in this document is the extent to which the International Olympic Committee lowered its standards on human rights around the Beijing Olympic Games.”

Thousands of people were evicted from their homes to make way for construction of Olympic venues, and some activists were detained before the Games began. Although authorities set up “protest zones” during the Olympics, no demonstrations took place, and several people who applied for protest permits were detained, including two elderly women who were initially sentenced to up to a year of “re-education through labor.” The sentence was later rescinded.

Despite promises by the Chinese that foreign journalists would have unfettered access to the Internet, authorities initially blocked access to several Web sites at the main press center. Although some of the restrictions were loosened, it led the I.O.C. member overseeing press operations, Kevan Gosper, to accuse the Olympic committee of betrayal. In addition, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China logged more than 60 incidents of “reporting interference” during the Olympic period, including several cases where foreign journalists were physically harassed.

“I think in the end, the government’s approach to the media hasn’t changed that much,” said Bob Dietz, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Dietz said he and other members of his group traveled to the Olympic committee’s Swiss headquarters in 2006 and met with officials, then again in Beijing in 2007 to express their concerns about press freedom in China. He called the I.O.C. response “tone deaf.”

“They just didn’t get it,” he said. “They didn’t understand the importance of our concern.”

Sam Zarifi, the Asia Pacific director for Amnesty International, said while the Chinese government has made some strides in recent years, it has hardened its stance on other issues, such as Tibetan autonomy. “China has moved forward, but not at the pace that we had hoped,” Zarifi said. “Certainly for the I.O.C. to pat itself on the back I think is not really a fair evaluation of all that they accomplished.”

The I.O.C. report also applauded the Games for improving public health in China, saying that authorities “took new steps to improve food and water safety” and quoted a World Health Official, Hans Troedsson, as saying the public-health legacy of the Games is a “long-term gift to China.”

There was no mention of the tainted-milk scandal that broke just after the conclusion of the Games and which has led to the death of four infants and sickened more than 50,000 others. Worden pointed to reports that a Chinese journalist’s blog post about the contaminated milk was removed from a Web site just as the Games were beginning. Chinese reporters were also prohibited from reporting on food-safety issues during the Olympics, she said.

“I think it has to be said that the news was there of the toxic baby formula,” Worden said. “Censorship in China is a matter of life and death.”
Despite the timing of the tainted-milk scandal, the public health improvements brought about by the Games should not be overlooked, said Zhen Xiaozhen, who served as the medical service manager of the Beijing Olympics. She pointed to a ban on smoking in public places and the training of 3,000 medical volunteers. “These health care volunteers are the legacy for the future,” she said.
The meetings in London are part of a debriefing process in which Beijing organizers pass along technical advice to those planning the London Games in 2012. This “knowledge management” process dates to 2000, and was instituted by the I.O.C. president, Jacques Rogge, to improve efficiency and planning of future Olympic Games, said Emmanuelle Moreau, a spokeswoman for the Olympic committee.

“The Beijing debrief focuses on the operational aspects of the Games and does not intend to address issues that fall outside the remit of the I.O.C.,” she said in an e-mail message. Moreau said the questions raised by the human-rights groups will be examined next year at the annual Olympic Congress in Copenhagen.

Dick Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee from Montreal, said the Beijing Olympics rightly deserve praise. “I think most of what they identified is good and did in fact happen,” he said. Still, he said post-mortems typically include negative assessments, as well. “You basically learn from the things that didn’t go as well as you might have hoped,” he said.

In a speech in London Monday, Rogge praised the Beijing organizers and cautioned against comparing the two Games. When he is asked how London can outshine Beijing, Rogge said, he answers, “it doesn’t need to — London just has to be London. And asking me which Olympic Games is the best is like asking me which of my children I love the best.”

Many activists are already focusing on the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, which they say may raise many of the same issues as in Beijing. Worden noted that journalists and dissidents are frequently detained and killed in Russia, including two journalists this year who died under suspicious circumstances.

Human Rights Watch has called on the International Olympic Committee to set up an internal mechanism that would audit a host city’s human-rights record in the runup to the Games. Although Human Rights Watch has lobbied several national Olympic committees to endorse the idea — including the United States Olympic Committee — so far only the German Olympic Committee has formally expressed interest.

Rogge and other I.O.C. members have often resisted efforts to associate the Olympic movement too closely with human-rights issues, arguing that the Games should serve as a refuge from international conflicts and politics. “I would be very cautious about doing that,” Pound said of the Human Rights Watch proposal. “To start legislating how host countries or potential host countries are managing their internal affairs is a lot more complicated and more subtle than saying, oh yes, we insist on human rights.”

Moreau, the I.O.C. spokeswoman, said the executive committee has not taken a position on the human rights proposal, but the topic is likely to be discussed at the annual congress next year.

source: nytimes.com

See for yourself how hot and sexy this super-star and beauty is.

Sexy Carolina Kostner in hot swimsuit

Suguri’s mistakes allowed American Rachael Flatt to take the silver medal after posting the session’s top technical score at the Megasport arena. Suguri of Japan finished third.

“I was quite nervous going into my program,” said Kostner, who landed a triple-triple that she missed in her short program. “I got my confidence and then enjoyed my skating.”

She fell on a triple toeloop later in the free skate, but that wasn’t enough to deny her victory.

Suguri, meanwhile, skipped an early double loop, two-footed a triple salchow, and didn’t attempt some other elements.
“I did a lot of mistakes on my jump,” she said. “I was in very good condition over the last two weeks, so I’m very disappointed with how I did.”

Flatt managed to come away with second place.

“I thought I skated very well but it wasn’t my best program. … But I had a lot of fun and it was very exciting,” said Flatt, who adjusted her program after a wobbly landing on an early triple loop.

Kostner and Suguri remain in contention for a Grand Prix Final berth heading into the sixth and final preliminary competition, the NHK Trophy, in Japan next week.

Kim Yu-na and Joannie Rochette have already qualified for the Grand Prix final with two golds apiece. The other four final places remain open.

source: iht.com

All alone in Milan David Beckham could run the risk of being overwhelmed (as some are saying) by the highlife of some of players? Not ever. Victoria, who at first was thinking to remain in Los Angeles to pursue her fashion career has decided instead to fly to Italy with the whole family and stay with her husband who is on loan to Milan. But she brings with her a few demands to leave you breathless.

THE ‘SPICE LIST’ - At least that’s what American magazines have reported. First on the list, is a private helicopter available 24 hours always ready to take off to follow David in his training. Obviously it is better not to waste time waiting for the ‘popular’ flights. Also on the ‘Spice list’ is a pool of 100 square meters with whirlpool spa, fitness center and a beauty salon built specially for her and her personal hairdresser available 7 days a week.

CAROLINA KOSTNER - According to rumors from friends of the couple, Posh also asked for an ice skating rink for their children, lovers of skating and avid fans of the game “Stars on Ice”, a video game dedicated to skating in winter. According to Star magazine she would be prepared to pay up to 1,000 euros per hour for an international champion to teach their children to skate. Contenders for the post are current world champion Jeffrey Buttle, the American Sasha Cohen and Italian Carolina Kostner.

‘NO THANKS’ - Our Carolina claims to have not yet been contacted. “I am very honored that the Beckhams have thought about me. Unfortunately, I am very busy with competitions and the musical Winx on ice in Turin and Rome. I really do not have time to teach now. But I would be happy to invite them to one of my shows and, when the three children come to see me, I will be happy to skate with them”.

(Corriere della Sera)

Suguri, who took silver at Skate Canada, is in line for a slot in the Grand Prix final if she gains a gold or silver in Moscow, the fifth of six Grand Prix series competitions. With a score of 58.30 points, she edged Carolina Kostner of Italy, the world silver medalist, and American Rachael Flatt at Moscow’s Megasport Arena.

In a disappointing performance, 2006 world champion Kimmie Meissner was eighth.

Suguri nailed all her jumps, with the only flaw a bit of apparent hesitation before her triple flip. She took fewer risks than Kostner or Flatt, essaying only a triple-double combination and front-loading all her jumps into the start of her program to “Fanfan” by Nicolas Jorelle.

Kostner tried a triple-triple, but put a hand down on the second jump, then fell on a triple lutz. But her drama and elegance won her the highest artistic marks of all the women.

Flatt stepped out of the first part of her triple-triple and only doubled the toe loop jump when she tried to add it on to her ensuing triple lutz.

But she held back a double axel until more than two minutes into the program, and got the second-highest technical marks.

Kostner and Flatt each have only a Grand Prix fourth place this year, making them outside possibilities for a final slot if one of them wins in Moscow.

Flatt, new to the international seniors circuit, said her third-place status “kind of surprised” her.

“I honestly didn’t know where I was going to come out for the standings. But I’m very excited. I didn’t skate my best, it could’ve been better, but I’m happy with where I am,” she said.

Suguri, in turn, was ambivalent.

“Today it was a little bit difficult for me to be satisfied with my marks. But I’m really happy how I skated today, especially in front of a big audience,” she said.

American Alissa Czisny was fifth, less than five points behind Suguri and not to be counted out.

Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin led the ice dancing field after the compulsory dance, ahead of compatriots Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States were in third with 35.77 points, exactly three points behind the leaders.

The Americans and Domnina and Shabalin each have won one gold medal in this year’s Grand Prix series. A second gold, or even a silver, would put them in the Grand Prix final. Khokhlova and Novitski, who won bronze at Cup of China, could advance to the final with a gold in Moscow.

source: google.com

The organizers, after meeting yesterday to review a report on venues by consultants KPMG, also reiterated plans to build temporary facilities for basketball in the Olympic Park and for equestrian events in Greenwich Park, in the U.K. capital’s southeast, according to an e-mailed statement from the 2012 Olympics board.

Games officials pledged to control costs after the games’ 9.3 billion-pound ($13.8 billion) budget tripled from the 2005 bid estimate. Britain’s economy contracted in the third quarter, and organizers have so far failed to arrange bank financing for the construction of the Olympic Village, a development of 3,000 apartments where athletes will live during the games.

The KPMG report recommended canceling the North Greenwich Arena 2, a 6,000-seat building that would host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics, Paul Deighton, chief executive of the games’ organizing committee, said yesterday in a presentation to the city’s legislative assembly.

“We continue to look at ways to deliver the games and to save significant amounts of money,” Deighton told the assembly. The two sports could be moved to an existing facility, though he didn’t say where.

The organizers confirmed plans to hold basketball and handball at a 12,000-seat temporary arena in the Olympic Park and the equestrian events at Greenwich Park because moving the venues would be costly and complicated, according to the statement from the Olympic Board.

source: bloomberg.com

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