Olympic Times - Sports Daily

IOC president Jacques Rogge foresees no immediate threat to the Olympics from the global financial crisis and says the fight against doping will be a key priority for a second term in office.

Rogge, a 66-year-old Belgian who has led the International Olympic Committee since 2001, notified members last Friday that he will seek re-election next October for a final four-year term that will take him to 2013.

He spoke in a telephone interview with The Associated Press ahead of a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday where he publicly announced his candidacy for another term at the helm of the IOC.

No challengers are expected and Rogge’s re-election is considered a formality at the October 2009 assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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If people are cutting spending on luxury items in these uncertain economic times, they’re not doing it on tickets to the Olympic Games.
With just over a week to go in the first phase of ticket sales, packages to the 2010 Olympics are selling out and individual requests are increasing daily.
Around 120 packages that contained tickets to the gold-medal men’s hockey game were gone two weeks after they went on sale, said Jean-Paul Modde, the president of CoSport, the official hospitality provider for the Vancouver Olympics.
Packages that include tickets to the opening ceremonies are also selling quickly.
Modde said sales have been brisker than expected, in spite of the economic uncertainty facing the world.
“This is not something that somebody wakes up on Friday morning and says, ‘oh you know what, let’s buy an Olympic package today,”‘ said Modde.
“People have been planning this for a long time and they know that things are going to turn around.”
The packages include other event tickets, accommodation and in some cases, transportation and meals.
They range in price from $3,800 to $34,500.

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GE, a worldwide partner of the Olympic Games, is kicking off a number of new marketing and sales efforts in advance of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and London 2012 Olympic Games.
For the London 2012 Olympic Games, GE has launched a ground-breaking moving image campaign on the side of London taxi cabs featuring a technique known as ‘motion lenticular technology’, never before used on the exterior of a taxi cab. The campaign, which runs until February 2009, features 300 London cabs displaying the new Olympic Games designs as side panels. Two creative executions have been developed – one that depicts an Olympic hurdler, the other a cyclist. As a result of the printing technology used, as the cab moves along the streets, the images appear to be animated.

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Rupert Murdoch’s media group scored another Olympic coup Friday when it was awarded the Turkish broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 games.

The International Olympic Committee announced the deal with Fox Turkey, part of the Fox entertainment network owned by Murdoch.

It is the IOC’s third Olympic deal with a Murdoch channel in Europe this year, and second this month. On Oct. 21, SKY Italia was awarded the 2014 and 2016 rights in Italy, following the contract announced in February for the 2010 and 2012 games.

Fox Turkey will provide coverage on free-to-air television, pay channels, and through the Internet and mobile phones.

The value of the contract was not disclosed. It covers the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The 2016 host city will be chosen next October, with Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro the finalists.
“Fox Turkey presented a comprehensive package that will allow not only the broadest coverage of the Olympic Games but also the promotion of Olympic sports and Olympic values beyond the 16 days of competition,” IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a statement.

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Tokyo 2016 today called on the National Olympic Committees of Asia to share in its unique vision to inspire the world by hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games at the heart of city life in one of the region’s most vibrant capital cities.
Bid Chairman and CEO, Dr Ichiro Kono said he was humbled by the support Tokyo 2016 had received from Japan’s partner nations within the Olympic Movement in Asia and expressed his pride at leading Asia’s Bid for the world’s greatest event in 2016.
Addressing the 27th Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) General Assembly in Bali, Dr Kono said:
“Japan needs an iconic event with new sports venues to help inspire millions more Japanese to play and stay with sport. This will be made possible, because the 2016 Games coincide with Tokyo Big Change – our Ten Year Plan for the comprehensive urban and environmental transformation of the Greater Metropolitan Tokyo area.
“The 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be a catalyst for the world’s greatest, metropolitan make-over. This will leave the Olympic Movement with an incredible legacy to inspire future bid cities.
“We aim to unite the Olympic Family with the heart and soul of our cosmopolitan capital city. That is why our vision and theme is called: ‘Uniting Our Worlds’. To ensure this vision becomes a reality we plan to create the most compact Games ever, based in the very centre of Tokyo, and promise athletes and the whole Olympic Family the friendliest, most exciting and most memorable Games in history.”
Dr Kono began Tokyo 2016’s presentation. He was joined by International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member and IOC Vice President, Chiharu Igaya; IOC Member, Shunichiro Okano; Japanese Olympic Committee President, Tsunekazu Takeda; Executive Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bid Promotion Division, Nagatoshi Nakamura; and Chair of the Tokyo 2016 Athletes’ Commission and Seoul 1988 Olympic medallist, Mikako Kotani.

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With Russia mired in its worst financial crisis in a decade, the Kremlin is throwing boom-time profits at its problems. But as the coffers empty out, concerns are mounting for the government’s pet project - the Winter Olympics in Sochi just six years from now.
Recent tenders for key Olympic facilities have failed for lack of interest. The country’s debt-laden construction industry is putting projects on hold. And, wealthy Russians brought on board to spearhead flagship developments are showing signs of financial pain.
All this as the price of oil - the backbone of Russia’s economy - is heading down. Since peaking in July, oil prices have more than halved to hover around $60, dipping below the critical $70 level at which the government balances its budget.
Few in the Olympic movement doubt that the Kremlin has the commitment and the will to see the 2014 Games go on - at any cost. But the cost looks increasingly steep.
Vladimir Putin, when he was president, traveled to Guatemala last year to personally lobby International Olympic Committee members. There he delivered his first address in English - a sign of just how important these games are to Russia.

source: usatoday.com

Activists met in Vancouver yesterday to discuss strategy around resisting the 2010 Winter Olympics.
While opposition to the Games has been steady since before Vancouver won them in 2003, protests have usually been connected to one of the many issues around them. But dozens of people gathered at the one-day conference to focus on bringing together Canada’s diverse activist community under one banner for the Games.
The issues around the Olympics range from the displacement of low-income people to the environmental consequences of development for the Nordic venues near Whistler.
The Olympic Resistance Network is also hoping to draw activists for other causes by arguing that many environmental and social issues can be connected to the Games.

from: theglobeandmail.com

In the wake of Beijing’s Olympics, London is preparing for what will be the most demanding multimedia Olympics ever in 2012.

The U.K.’s home broadcaster, the BBC, and operator BT are among the many stakeholders figuring out how to provide for a record amount of coverage for the Games as well as build a massive IP (Internet Protocol) network to support broadcasters and journalists from around the world.

The BBC has seen exponential growth in interest in Web-based Olympics coverage, said Ben Gallop, head of interactive for BBC Sport. Gallop was one of several presenters at a forum on Thursday discussing media technology for the 2012 Olympics.

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A company that will play a key role in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games ended rampant speculation about its financial well-being Thursday by completing a deal to refinance a $1.7-billion loan - just hours before deadline.

Intrawest ULC owns and operates major tourism venues across the country but is best known for its Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort, one of the main venues for the Winter Games.

The destination-resort company received unanimous support from its existing lender group Thursday to refinance.

Intrawest CEO Bill Jensen said he’s pleased to have reached an agreement with Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG), “particularly given the challenges of the global credit markets.”

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News Corp. subsidiary Sky Italia will pay about 80 million euros ($109 million) for broadcast rights to the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Games, the broadcaster said Wednesday.

To gain the rights, Sky Italia reportedly outbid state broadcaster RAI, which offered 60 million euros ($82 million) for the same package.

The Summer Olympics are traditionally the most important nonsoccer sports broadcast in Italy.

source: hollywoodreporter.com

A former Beijing official who oversaw citywide construction projects for this year’s Olympic Games has been given a suspended death sentence for corruption in a case that involved bribery and lavish living, state news outlets reported on Sunday.
Xinhua, the state news agency, reported that the sentence, suspended for two years, meant that if the defendant “shows good behavior, his sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment.”

The official, Liu Zhihua, 59, once exercised immense power as Beijing’s vice mayor and chief director of the agency that supervised construction projects, including the citywide makeover to prepare for the Games.

But in June 2006, Mr. Liu was stripped of his post after being linked to a bribery scandal. He was expelled from the governing Communist Party six months later.

Mr. Liu’s case was a major embarrassment to the party. Corruption is endemic, but party leaders had pledged that the $43 billion preparations for the Games would be the “cleanest in history.”

Mr. Liu’s case was doubly upsetting because of revelations of his opulent lifestyle, including expensive villas and mistresses provided by developers seeking his favor.

On Sunday, Xinhua said Mr. Liu had taken roughly $1 million in bribes during his tenure as vice mayor and as overseer of construction for a scientific research park in the city’s university district from 1999 to 2006.

The court found that Mr. Liu and a mistress had kept the money, Xinhua said, adding, “Liu abused his power to get contract projects, loans and offer promotions for others in exchange for profits.”

After his arrest in 2006, reports in Hong Kong’s news media portrayed Mr. Liu as having spent many weekends at luxurious villas in the mountains north of Beijing.

The South China Morning Post, an English-language newspaper in Hong Kong, reported that Mr. Liu had used a suburban compound called Xanadu that was “full of luxury villas belonging to senior Communist Party officials and rich business figures.”

His defense lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said Mr. Liu had not decided whether to appeal his conviction.

Irish rider Denis Lynch was officially disqualified Friday from the Beijing Olympics equestrian events for a positive drug test on his horse.
The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) also suspended the 32-year-old Lynch from competing in the sport for three months.
The ban runs out Nov. 21 after taking effect from the day Lynch was provisionally suspended from the Games.
His horse Lantinus tested positive for capsaicin, a banned pain relieving medication derived from chili peppers.

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Nearly one in 10 Olympians were treated for injuries at the Beijing Games, the IOC said yesterday.

More than half of all the 1,055 athletes hurt had leg and foot problems and at least 100 suffered head injuries, according to figures based on medical reports from 92 of the national teams competing.
Almost three-quarters of all injuries were sustained in competition, and the most common were thigh strains and ankle sprains.
The sports most dangerous to Olympians’ health were boxing, football, handball, hockey, taekwondo and weightlifting. Each reported injuries to around one in seven athletes.
Four sports reported that none of its athletes lost training or competition time: flatwater canoeing, diving, sailing and synchronised swimming.
An International Olympic Committee team of medical experts recorded and analysed injuries in detail at Beijing for the first time at a Summer or Winter Games.
A detailed report will be published in a sports medical journal and distributed to all national teams.

source: jamaicaobserver.com

International golf officials have used Adelaide as their meeting ground to plot the sport’s Olympic bid.
Australia and other around 70 other nations contesting the world amateur teams championships in Adelaide have been implored to lobby International Olympic Committee (IOC) members for golf’s inclusion at the 2016 Games.
Golf is among seven sports vying to compete at the Olympics - the others being baseball, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball and squash.
The IOC will announce the two inclusions in October next year.
International Golf Federation officials in Adelaide have asked national amateur body officials asking to keep the Olympic bid in mind.

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All that gossip about gymnast Nastia Liukin, the all-around gold medalist, appearing on “Gossip Girl” turned out not to be mere gossip at all.

After a chance meeting with the show’s producers, she was asked to make an appearance on the popular show. She says it’s one of the coolest things that’s come her way since she won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing.

Yesterday, she was honored as the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Sportswoman of the Year for 2008.

It seems like he’s off to a faster start on the Mary Lou Retton track than Carly Patterson was after winning the all-around title at the Athens Olympics.

source: latimes.com