Olympics Times – Sports Daily

NBC plans on bidding for rights to televise the 2014 and 2016 Olympics despite the U.S. Olympic Committee’s decision to build a competing Olympic network.

NBC spokesman Brian Walker said Sunday that nothing had changed in the network’s intentions to bid for the games.

Because of the rough economy, the International Olympic Committee has postponed the bidding for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics, likely until after the 2016 Games are awarded in October. Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo are the finalists.

NBC has televised all Olympics since 2000. Fox, the ABC Sports-ESPN team and CBS and Time Warner have also discussed bidding for the games.

The IOC sent a letter last week chastising the USOC for announcing plans for its new network, saying it raised complex legal questions and also could have a negative impact on the relationship with NBC.

The USOC worked for nearly three years on constructing a network. That included negotiations with NBC, whose cable partner, Universal Sports, already airs a healthy amount of Olympic-sport coverage.

Those negotiations fizzled and the USOC teamed with Comcast, which will give the network clearance on about 10 million homes when it goes to air after next year’s Vancouver Olympics. The USOC, which doesn’t have non-Olympic-year rights to most of the major Olympic sports, plans to start with mainly small-sport coverage, news and information shows and archival footage.

USOC leaders are touting the network as a good way to increase interest in the Olympic movement and as a complement to NBC, which has rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics and Olympic Trials.

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“We’re looking forward to working things out with the IOC in the very near future,” chief operating officer Norm Bellingham said. “When it becomes more clear to everyone what is taking place with regards to the new entity, they’ll see it’s not cannibalizing anybody’s piece of the pie, but growing it for all parties involved.”

But Bellingham conceded that after 2012, the USOC network plans to bring Olympic trials to its own network.

All of this has leaders at the IOC worried, as they look to maximize the amount of money they can get for the U.S. TV contract — not just the most lucrative TV deal out there, but the biggest chunk of money the IOC receives from anywhere. NBC will pay about $2.2 billion to televise the 2010 and 2012 Olympics.

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BOWLING’S AMF World Cup champion Jasmine Yeong-Nathan was named the Sportswoman of the Year on Tuesday after pipping two past multiple-winners – national paddler Li Jiawei and swimmer Tao Li.
The achievements of Singapore’s women athletes in 2008 made the choice a difficult one for the Singapore Sports Award Selection Committee.
Li was part of the women’s table tennis team that delivered a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics, while Tao Li finished fifth in the women’s 100m butterfly final on her Games debut.
But the panel had an even bigger debate when it came to the Coach of the Year award.
Much of the three-hour meeting at the Singapore Sports Council was spent deliberating if former national table tennis head coach Liu Guodong should be considered. This despite not being nominated by the Singapore Table Tennis Association.
Ultimately, he was not in the reckoning, and the committee decided not to give out an award for this category.

Jasmine Yeong-Nathan PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

There was also no winner for the Sportsman of the Year award – the first time since the awards were introduced by the Singapore National Olympic Council in 1967.
The national table tennis women’s team of Li, Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei and Sun Beibei were crowned Team of the Year (Event).
Wushu’s Yong Yi Xiang and kegler Jazreel Tan picked up the Sportsboy and Sportsgirl of the Year respectively.

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RALEIGH, NC (Reuters) – Michael Phelps makes his first competitive appearance since the Beijing Olympics at the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix meet on Friday, looking forward to the 2012 London Games and leaving behind a drug fiasco.

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The World Baseball Classic belongs to Japan again. Seattle Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the 10th, and Japan beat reigning Olympic champion South Korea 5-3 Monday night to win its second straight WBC title before a boisterous crowd of 54,846 at Dodger Stadium.
The Japanese won the inaugural tournament three years ago, beating Cuba 10-6 in the finals at Petco Park in San Diego.
South Korea had tied the game at 3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Lee Bum-ho’s run-scoring single off Japanese closer Yu Darvish (2-1), who got in trouble by issuing one-out walks to Kim Hyun-soo and Kim Tae-kyun, the 3-4 hitters in the lineup.
Darvish struck out Choo Shin-soo before Lee lined a 1-1 pitch into left field, with pinch runner Lee Jong-wook scoring easily from second.
Seiichi Uchikawa opened the 10th with a single, was sacrificed to second and took third on a single by Akinori Iwamura. After pinch-hitter Munenori Kawasaki popped out, Iwamura took second on defensive interference.
Suzuki managed to foul off a pitch after it had bounced then lined the eighth pitch of the at-bat from Lim Chang-yong (1-1) to center for his fourth hit. The Mariners’ star entered with a .211 average and three RBIs in eight previous games.
Given the lead, Darvish worked around a leadoff walk to retire South Korea in the bottom of the 10th, setting off a wild celebration when he struck out Lee Jin-young to end the four-hour game.

Ichiro Suzuki (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Japan’s Daisuke Matsuzaka won the MVP award for the second straight time after going 3-0 — the same record he had in the inaugural Classic. The Boston Red Sox right-hander had a 2.45 ERA in 14 2-3 innings over three starts.
The game was the latest in an intense rivalry between the Asian powerhouses — a Far East version of a Yankees-Red Sox matchup. They split four previous games in this 16-team tournament, with Japan’s 6-2 triumph in San Diego last Thursday giving it the Pool 1 title in the second round.
Two days earlier, South Korea won a 4-1 decision, and its players planted the nation’s flag on the mound afterward — not the first time that’s happened. Suzuki made sure it wouldn’t happen on this night. Suzuki is 6-for-10 in two WBC title games.
South Korea beat Japan twice last summer in the Beijing Olympics en route to the gold medal. The South Koreans also beat Japan twice in the inaugural WBC three years ago before the Japanese won their semifinal matchup. And South Korea beat Japan 3-1 to win the bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics after losing to its rival 8-0 earlier in the Games.
Japan, which outhit South Korea 15-5, blew several scoring opportunities and stranded 14.
Japan took a 3-1 lead with single runs in the seventh and eighth. Yasuyuki Kataoka singled off Jong Hyun-wook to open the seventh, stole second, took third on Suzuki’s bunt single and scored on Hiroyuki Nakajima’s single. Japan had a chance to blow the game open, but after Suzuki took third on Norichika Aoki’s fly to deep right, Kenji Johjima grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Iwamura’s sacrifice fly off Hyunjin Ryu in the eighth gave the Japanese a two-run lead. The run was charged to Jong, who left after giving up a one-out single to Uchikawa. Atsunori Inaba followed with a ground-rule double before Iwamura’s fly to left.
South Korea got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Lee doubled, took third on an infield out and scored on pinch hitter Lee Dae-ho’s sacrifice fly. Toshiya Sugiuchi relieved after starter Hisashi Iwakuma issued a two-out walk to Park Ki-hyuk, and retired Lee Yong-kyu on a liner to left.
Iwakuma, a 27-year-old right-hander who won 21 games for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles last year, worked 7 2-3 innings, longest outing of the WBC, and allowed just four hits and two runs. He walked two, struck out six and threw 97 pitches — three shy of the maximum.
Japan took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run off Bong Jung-keun in the third on Michihiro Ogasawara’s RBI single, but it could have been a lot worse because Japan loaded the bases with one out before Kenta Kurihara grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Choo tied the game by hitting a 1-1 pitch from Iwakuma over the center field fence to open the fifth for his second homer in as many games. Iwakuma allowed only one baserunner in the first four innings.
Bong allowed six hits and one run in four-plus innings with three walks and one strikeout while using 94 pitches. Jong relieved with runners at first and third and nobody out in the top of the fifth and worked out of trouble, striking out two before catcher Park Kyung-oan threw out Aoki trying to steal second.
Bong, a 28-year-old left-hander who pitched in 48 big-league games with Atlanta and Cincinnati from 2002-04, beat Japan twice earlier in the WBC, giving up six hits and one run in 10 2-3 innings
An elaborate ceremony was held beforehand, with the teams entering the field in single file from their respective bullpens before lining up down the first and third baselines. Among those participating was Sadaharu Oh, the Japanese career home run leader who managed the Japanese to the WBC title three years ago.
Then after the Japanese, South Korean and United States national anthems were played, the players met in the middle of the diamond to shake hands before and Hall of Fame manager and WBC global ambassador Tom Lasorda and former Dodgers pitching star Fernando Valenzuela, a native of Mexico, threw ceremonial first pitches.
South Korea advanced to the championship game by beating Venezuela 10-2 Saturday night, and Japan earned its berth by topping the U.S. 9-4 Sunday night.

source: xxx-olympic-games.com

A promoter has flip-flopped on plans to bring U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps to events in Calgary and Vancouver in light of a photograph that surfaced of the Olympic gold medalist using a bong associated with smoking marijuana.
Power Within Inc., a Toronto-based company that organizes motivational speaking events and initially stood by the superstar’s involvement in next week’s engagements in Western Canada, has suddenly pulled the plug.
“Due to widely publicized alleged use of marijuana by Michael Phelps, the decision has been made to present the program without Mr. Phelps’ participation,” the company said in statement released to a local newspaper.
Both nonrefundable events were well on their way to selling out. Tickets for next Tuesday’s event in Calgary cost $229 and will now feature actor Martin Sheen as its keynote speaker.
Next Friday’s engagement in Vancouver, which costs $169, will still feature Mehmet Oz, a regular on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The image appeared in a British tabloid earlier this month, but it was allegedly taken while Mr. Phelps attended a party last November while visiting the University of South Carolina. Last week, a state sheriff said he did not have enough physical evidence to charge Mr. Phelps.
Mr. Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in August, has apologized for his actions, but stopped short of admitting to using pot.
Days after the controversy surfaced, Power Within said it was standing behind the scheduled Canadian appearances by the swimmer.
“We’re not changing our position on it,” company founder Salim Khoja told a local newspaper. “His message and his accomplishments speak for themselves.”
Officials did not respond to requests yesterday to explain their change of heart.

source: theglobeandmail.com

Salt Lake City police said Tuesday that thieves who ransacked the home of David Zabriskie stole thousands of dollars in bikes and Olympic memorabilia from the world-class cyclist.

Zabriskie’s loss is estimated at just under $160,000, although not all of the 21 stolen items on a list made public by police have been assessed a value.

“It’s huge,” police spokeswoman Robin Snyder said.

Zabriskie’s mother, Sheree Hammick, discovered the theft Monday, Snyder said.

Zabriskie has been away since Feb. 13 participating in the Tour of California. Zabriskie finished second behind Levi Leipheimer in the race.

Hammick said she regularly checks on her son’s home when he and his family are out of town.

On Monday, Hammick said she struggled to open the garage door, but once inside found both cars gone and “stuff just thrown everywhere.”

“You just get that sick feeling in your stomach. I wanted to throw up,” she told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “It’s really unsettling.”

Hammick said no room in the normally “immaculate” home was untouched. She said so much was taken that she believes it’s possible that those responsible were in the house for more than one day.

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The number of travelers to China dropped by 2 million in 2008 in what was supposed to be a banner year for tourism but became one dampened by Olympics-related security measures and the global economic crunch.
It was the first decline in visitor numbers since 2003, when a deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, kept many people away.
The number of inbound travelers fell to 130 million last year, China’s National Tourism Administration said on its Web site.
“All major inbound source markets, except for Hong Kong and Russia, slumped last year amid the economic downturn,” the administration’s director, Shao Qiwei, was quoted as saying by the official China Daily newspaper Thursday.
Neither statement mentioned other factors affecting travel to China, though industry experts also blamed tightened visa restrictions before the Beijing Olympics and a May earthquake in southwest China that left 90,000 dead or missing.
Authorities feared protests around the Olympics would mar the flawless image of China that the government wanted to promote and made visa procedures more strict in an effort to weed out potential troublemakers such as foreign activists. That also kept out many would-be visitors.
“The high cost of hotel and air tickets may also have had an effect, but taking into consideration the spending power of foreigners compared to Chinese, they wouldn’t just drop their plans because of higher prices,” said Li Lei, chief editor of Chinese travel industry Web site Tourismvane.com.

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Defending Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from a Hong Kong exhibition tournament because she is still recovering from a shoulder injury just weeks ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year.

The three-time Grand Slam winner started playing tennis again just over two weeks ago and isn’t in proper condition, organizers of the Jan. 7-10 Hong Kong event said in a statement on their Web site Wednesday.

“I’m just not ready to play against the top-class competition in Hong Kong, although I remain hopeful for Australia where I’m the defending champion,” Sharapova said in a statement.

The Australian Open is Jan. 19 to Feb. 1.

“Maria needs to get ‘tennis fit’ now and she’s working hard,” Sharapova’s agent, Max Eisenbud, said.

Sharapova has not played competitively since pulling out of the Rogers Cup at Montreal in late July after beating Poland’s Marta Domachowska in a nearly three-hour match in which she double-faulted 17 times.

The Russian was examined by a trainer midway through the three-set victory and withdrew from the event before her next match.

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Relish the memories – 2008 was a special year for sport, and the outlook for the next few does not appear half so rosy.

Next year is thin in terms of big international events. The World Athletics Championships take place in Berlin, and it is left to rugby union – a minority sport globally – to provide another highlight when the British and Irish Lions tour South Africa, the world champions. And further ahead, the successor hosts of two of this year’s stellar events, the Olympic Games and the European Football Championships, have hard acts to follow, with fewer resources and the global economic crisis to combat.

The Beijing Olympics was the apex of 2008. China opened its doors to the world and demonstrated that it could organise a successful sporting extravaganza. It did so by hurling massive amounts of money and manpower at the Games, in a manner that perhaps only an authoritarian state could. The yin and yang nature of the event was symbolised by the happiness and pride of the Chinese people at hosting the world’s biggest sporting party on the one hand, and their government’s refusal to budge an inch over human rights on the other.

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GREECE’S former 400m hurdles Olympic champion Fani Halkia has been handed a two year ban for her positive dope test at the Beijing Games, the Greek athletics federation said.

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.

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The first venue for the 2012 London Olympic Games is complete and ready for competition more than three years out from the event.
The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) is the venue for the sailing events at the Games, and it has had extensive renovations including a new slipway to cater for the competition.

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.

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The Beijing Olympics were an “indisputable success” that brought change to China in areas as diverse as press freedom, the environment and public health, according to an assessment released by the International Olympic Committee that activists criticized as ignoring human rights violations that occurred during the Games.

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.”

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The Beijing Olympics were an “indisputable success” that brought change to China in areas as diverse as press freedom, the environment and public health, according to an assessment released by the International Olympic Committee this week that activists criticized as ignoring human-rights violations that occurred during the Games.
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 in history.

“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.

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Michael Phelps was named Athlete of the Year last night by USA Swimming at the annual Golden Goggle Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in the pool for American athletes.

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.

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The two, who were speaking on behalf of the International Golf Federation, were embarking on what will be a year-long process in which golf will vie with six other sports – rugby 7s, squash, karate, roller sports, softball and baseball – for inclusion in the 2016 Games.

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.

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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.”

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Stocks markets and oil prices may dip and dive, but Olympic organizers with preparations under way for three games in the next six years aren’t breaking a sweat.

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.

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The Beijing Olympics may have ended in August, but the Games continue to play out in U.S. courts.
Claiming the company reneged on tens of thousands of dollars in payments for fulfilling orders, Texas ticket broker Andrew Hentrich, owner of the Austin Ticket Company, is suing RazorGator for alleged breach of contract.
RazorGator, the nation’s sixth-largest secondary ticket company according to TicketNews, contracted with Hentrich’s firm to fill hundreds of orders customers placed with RazorGator for hard-to-get Olympics tickets, which Hentrich successfully did.
But, RazorGator has yet to compensate Hentrich.
According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Austin, TX, “Defendant [RazorGator] would pay plantiff [Austin Ticket Co.] 50% of all net revenues received by the Company arising out of the Company’s sales of Tickets to the 2008 Summer Olympics in China and reimburse plaintiff for all reasonable expenses incurred in connection with his performance. Plaintiff has performed its contractual obligations. Defendant, however, has not performed its contractual obligations. Specifically, defendant has not reimbursed plaintiff for the reasonable expenses incurred as a result of the contract. Defendant’s nonperformance constitutes a breach of the parties’ agreement.”

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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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