Olympic Times - Sports Daily

With Barack Obama in the White House, baseball officials think their sport could have a better chance of getting back into the Olympics.

“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.

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Officials aiming to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Tokyo fear that Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election will have a positive effect on the bid of his hometown of Chicago, one of the three rival cities competing with Tokyo to host the Games. ‘‘I wonder how IOC members will react when Mr Obama appears in a presentation for Chicago,’’ Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda said Wednesday.
Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro have moved to the final phase of the selection process after their bid plans were given the nod by the International Olympic Committee in June. The IOC will name the host city of the 2016 Olympics at its general assembly meeting in Copenhagen on Oct 2, 2009. ‘‘Mr Obama is popular and good at speeches, so things could get tough for Japan,’’ said Tomiaki Fukuda, a senior JOC executive board member.
But Ichiro Kono, the 2016 Tokyo Olympics campaign chief, showed a subdued reaction to Obama’s victory, saying, ‘‘It was within expectations. We will just do what we have to do no matter who becomes U.S. president.’’

source: japantoday.com

ATHENS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election has given Chicago, bidding to host the 2016 Olympics, the chance to shine on the international stage, its bid leader said on Wednesday.

“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.

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from: http://jappone.blogspot.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.

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There are endorsements that no one welcomes, however enthusiastic: Hamas for Obama, Osama for McCain. But what of the entire globe? Barack Obama goes into today’s vote with the overwhelming backing of the world beyond America’s borders in a presidential race that has gripped audiences like no election before.

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.

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The morning of Nov. 4 polls will have officially opened all across America, as Election Day 2008 begins.
After over a year of intense media coverage of the 56th Presidential Election, with Canadian news channels covering the material as enthusiastically as their American counterparts, the results should become quite clear as polling stations begin to close and the final ballots are counted.
With the Canadian and American elections only 20 days apart this year, there has been much comparison between the two events.
Canada’s record-breaking low voter turnout has now been succeeded by millions of Americans having already voted at early polling stations.
This seems to provide the idea that the US voter turnout might actually increase from the 2004 election, and the comparison leaves citizens and political scientists alike wondering, ‘why’?
“I think it is our particular situation.” said Marc James, a political science professor at Brock. “Most people weren’t really unhappy with the government - but on the other hand, [they] weren’t really excited about the government enough to give them a majority here in Canada, so I think that [Canadian citizens] really didn’t have a lot motivation to go out and vote.

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Canadian pollster says Obama appears destined for win in U.S. election

Barring the unforeseen, Sen. Barack Obama will be elected as the 44th president of the United States, says the president of Canadian polling firm Harris Decima.

Bruce Anderson said with Obama pulling away in most national polls, there’s little evidence to suggest that the Democratic party candidate’s campaign will be undermined by anything, including a reluctance by some voters to elect an African-American president.

“”You can’t look at all of the polls and still find much to substantiate this idea that this race is closing, that (Republican Sen. John) McCain really has an opportunity to vault past Obama,” Anderson said.

“It could happen. But at some point, somebody needs to put some evidence on the table to substantiate that point of view rather than simply say, well it feels like people won’t vote for an African-American.”

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Finally, election day

Some tips for those who want to follow the voting action like a pro.

It’s over. The longest, most intense, most media-saturated presidential campaign in American history has come to an end. Now, as the United States at last selects its next president, it’s all about the wait.

Campaign strategists who have been working 24/7 for months may go see a movie, head for the gym or otherwise kill some time and try to settle their nerves. But sooner or later, they’ll be glued to the TV and computer, working the phones, scanning every report, chasing down any nugget of news.
With history in the balance, you don’t have to be a politico to crave clues to tonight’s results. Here are some tips for those readers who want to follow the action like a pro — some are standard quadrennial rules, some are unique to the particular 2008 puzzle.

Turnout reports. Journalists too have a lot of time to fill today, and this year there will be an obsessive push to assess the turnout. Every indication is that voting rates will be higher (maybe a lot higher) than in recent years. But don’t be fooled by a breathless TV reporter broadcasting live from a swarming polling station, or by a call from your Aunt Betty in Ohio describing an eight-hour wait to cast a ballot. Anecdotal slivers do not necessarily mean turnout is going to be up locally or nationally. Wait for official characterizations from secretaries of state or big-county officials before drawing any conclusions.

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Some new polls present a portrait that isn’t a pretty one for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain one day before the 2008 election: Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama leads in 6 out of 8 battleground states, Obama is widening his lead nationally, and polling finds Obama has deflected McCain’s and the GOP’s recent attacks.

The polling, coming from three separate polls done by Reuters/Zogby and by The Washington Post-ABC News, portray an Obama campaign heading towards victory — meaning that a McCain victory would dwarf Democrat Harry Truman’s surprise 1948 victory over Republican Thomas Dewey and be talked about for years.

One key Zogby finding: McCain is holding onto his Republican base while Obama is winning the independent vote and holding his own base. There is an irony here since, after the conventions, Democrats feared McCain was the only Republican who could expand his party’s base and appeal to independents.

Here’s a summary of the polls.

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After an historic 20 months of rallies, debates and countless commercials in the most expensive election campaign ever, voters will finally get their chance Tuesday to pick Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain as the next US president.

Across the country, state officials are preparing for record turnout and huge lines at polling stations, a testament to the massive interest that has been generated in an election widely considered the most important in recent memory.

McCain or Obama will become president on January in the midst of two wars, an economy tail-spinning into recession and a global financial system on the verge of collapse. The world will be looking to the next president to rebuild a US reputation tarnished during the eight-year administration of President George W Bush.

Some states are forecasting turnout of 80 to 90 per cent. That compares with nearly 60 per cent in 2004’s presidential election, which already had the highest participation rate since 1968.

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After months of campaigning, hours of election speeches and debates, and hundreds of opinion polls tracking the ebb and flow of the 2008 US presidential election, the time of reckoning is near.

Keep this guide to US election night to hand to check what will be happening when and what to look out for.

Remember each state has a certain number of electors in the electoral college that elects the president, so the winner is the one who wins enough states to stack up 270 electors’ votes.

We give the times the polls close in various states (some straddle more than one time zone) but if there is heavy turnout and/or problems with the voting equipment, some precincts may stay open longer.

In some cases, projected results will emerge immediately after voting ends but in other cases, depending on how tight the race is, they may not emerge for several hours (or in the case of 2000, several weeks).

So here goes:

2300 GMT (1800 EST): The first polls close, but election night really gets going in another hour.

2400 GMT (1900 EST): Polls close in Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont but the ones to watch are Indiana and Virginia. Both have gone Republican since 1964, so if either of them go for Barack Obama, it could spell a miserable night for John McCain.

But if Senator McCain secures both, he is still in with a chance.

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Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton admitted “his heart was in his mouth” during the nail-biting conclusion to the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Englishman snatched the title at the final corner of the most dramatic race of a dramatic season, despite Felipe Massa doing all he could by winning in front of his home fans.
Late-race rainfall had unpicked Hamilton’s best-laid plans to cruise home in the fifth place he needed to deny Massa the crown and it looked like he would blow his chances of becoming champion for the second season running.

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But the McLaren man came good in the end, overtaking Toyota’s Timo Glock, who had stayed out on dry tires as the heavens opened, to snatch fifth with the checkered flag in sight.
“Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable. I was able to stay ahead of [Sebastian] Vettel and then it started to drizzle and I didn’t want to take any risks,” said Hamilton, who, at 23, becomes F1’s youngest-ever champion.
“Then he got past me and I was told that I had to get in front of him, and I couldn’t believe it. There was nothing I could do, I was just trying to keep the car on the track and my heart was in my mouth. Read more about F1 at The Circuit.

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Lewis Hamilton became Formula One’s youngest ever world champion by finishing fifth in an incredibly dramatic rain-affected Brazilian Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa won the race for Ferrari and looked set to take the title until McLaren driver Hamilton slipped past Timo Glock’s Toyota and into the crucial fifth place at the final corner of the very last lap.

Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) completed the podium finishers, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, whose penultimate lap pass on Hamilton had looked set to hand Massa the title, only for Glock’s gamble of staying on dry tyres in a late race shower to fail, causing the Toyota to slip from fourth to sixth within sight of the flag and giving Hamilton the title after all.

Ferrari still clinched the constructors’ title, as the two McLarens only finished fifth and seventh.

The start was delayed by ten minutes after a brief, but heavy, downpour hit Interlagos just before the mechanics were due to clear the grid.

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Felipe Massa is in position to win the Formula One championship on home soil.
Massa claimed the pole for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix with a fast lap of 1 minute, 12.368 seconds at the 2.6-mile Interlagos track.
Trailing series leader Lewis Hamilton by seven points heading into this season finale, Massa has a shot to win his first F1 championship if he finishes among the top two.
The 23-year-old Hamilton, who leads the circuit with 94 points, is guaranteed to become the youngest F1 champion if Massa finishes third or lower.
Hamilton will go out in the fourth spot Sunday, behind Massa, Jarno Trulli and defending champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Massa delighted the partisan crowd during Saturday’s qualifying session, claiming an unprecedented third consecutive pole at the event.

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Following practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa remained optimistic about his chances of overcoming Lewis Hamilton for the Formula One title on Sunday.

Massa, who needs to erase Hamilton’s seven-point lead to win the title in front of his home fans, had the second-fastest practice Friday, behind only Renault’s Fernando Alonso.

Alonso clocked 1 minute, 12.296 at the 4.3-kilometer (2.6-mile) Interlagos track, while Massa’s quickest lap was 1:12.305. Massa’s time was good for first place in the first session, but Alonso overcame the Brazilian in his last lap in the afternoon session.

“It might only be Friday, but it’s important to get off to a good start on such an important weekend,” Massa said. “We found a good setup for the car, which seemed to be well balanced in both sessions.”

Hamilton was only the fourth-fastest overall at 1:12.495. His 1:12.827 in the second session was good for only ninth.

source: usatoday.com