Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 awarded Olympic Games as IOC confirms double allocation

LIMA, September 2017 – Paris has officially been awarded the hosting rights of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, while Los Angeles was confirmed as the host of the 2028 Games.

The decision was confirmed at the 131st IOC Session in Lima that saw members of the International Olympic Committee vote unanimously to ratify the historic tripartite agreement that confirms a double allocation of the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games.

The idea of a double allocation of the 2024 and 2028 Games was first brought forward by IOC President Thomas Bach in June this year and approved by the Executive Board, before the proposal was also unanimously confirmed by the Extraordinary IOC Session in July.

On July 31, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that his city had transferred its bid to the 2028 Games in agreement with the IOC. The Session in Lima would serve to ratify the tripartite agreement between the Paris and Los Angeles bids and the US and French Olympic Committees.

And there were no surprises in Lima on Wednesday as, after a unanimous show of hands from IOC members, Thomas Bach presented Mayors Anne Hidalgo and Eric Garcetti with their respective Paris 2024 and LA 2028 cards, no envelopes necessary and no losers, but rather a win on all sides for the two cities and the IOC.

The decision will see Paris host the Games for the third time on the 100th anniversary of its 1924 Olympics. The city had previously hosted the Games in 1900.

Los Angeles will be hosting the Games in 11 years time, with head of the 2028 Evaluation Commission Patrick Baumman previously assuring IOC members that “the benefits of awarding the Games to Los Angeles 11 years ahead of time far outweigh any possible risks.” Baumman confirmed letters of support from the United States Federal Government, the Senate of the State of California, and the City Council of Los Angeles.

IOC Vice President John Coates had previously outlined the details of the tripartite agreement that made the 2024 and 2028 allocation possible, with with both him and IOC President highlighting the outstanding nature of both bids and the golden opportunity they presented to the IOC.

This was followed by final presentations to the IOC by the delegations of Paris and Los Angeles, with both focusing on the new Olympic era that the allocation represented and the promise of continued cooperation between the two cities and their organizing committees.

Paris 2024

An emotional Anne Hidalgo and French IOC member Guy Drut confirmed the focus on preserving and sharing Olympic values and improving both the movement and all of Paris, France and byeonf with the hosting of the 2024 Games.

“The Olympic values will be at the heart of our common action for international solidarity with refugees, social business, education. One driving force: Paris together with Los Angeles, one catalyst: the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Together, we will speed up the reinvention of two world Cities through the power of sport and the Olympic values,” Mayor Hidalgo said, also citing the importance of climate change.

LA 2028

The Los Angeles 2028 team led by CEO Casey Wasserman emitted the relaxed confident nature the bid had been centered around from the very beginning, with Wasserman explaining the fact the majority of the bid team were in sneakers and no ties is exactly “the unique brand of California-cool that we will bring to the 2028 Games.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti highlighted the Olympic legacy Los Angeles would bring having hosted a successful previous two editions of the Games in 1932 and 1984.

“Los Angeles loves the OIympics because the Games have lifted up our city twice before. But to us the Games have always represented an even brighter future and the chance to harness the power of sport and the Olympic Movement again to inspire the next generation – for the next 11 years and beyond.”

This marks the second time that two Olympic Games were awarded in the same instance following the award of the 1924 Games to Paris and the 2028 Games to Amsterdam decided at an IOc Congress in Lausanne in 1921 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

Three Russian athletes disqualified for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008

Anastasia KAPACHINSKAYA, 36, of the Russian Federation, competing in the women’s 400m and 4x400m relay events, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, in which she ranked 5th and 2nd with her teammates. Reanalysis of Kapachinskaya’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substances stanozolol and dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Denis Oswald (Chairman), Juan Antonio Samaranch and Ugur Erdener, decided the following:

1. The Athlete, Anastasia KAPACHINSKAYA:

1. is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen
2. is disqualified from all the events in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely, the women’s 400m and the women’s 4x400m relay, and
3. has the medal, the medallist pin and the diplomas obtained in the women’s 400m and the women’s 4x400m relay withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.

2. The Russian Federation Team is disqualified from the women’s 4x400m relay. The corresponding medals and diplomas are withdrawn and shall be returned.
3. The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
4. The Russian Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
5. The Russian Olympic Committee shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the medals, the medallist pins and the diplomas awarded in connection with the women’s 400m and in connection with the women’s 4x400m relay to the Athlete and to the other team members of the women’s 4x400m Russian Federation Team.
6. This decision enters into force immediately.

The full decision is available here.

Alexander POGORELOV, 36, of the Russian Federation, competing in the decathlon event, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 in which he ranked 4th. Reanalysis of Pogorelov’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Denis Oswald (Chairman), Juan Antonio Samaranch and Ugur Erdener, decided the following:

1. The Athlete, Alexander POGORELOV:

1. is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2. is disqualified from the decathlon event in which he participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, and
3. has the diploma obtained in the decathlon event withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.

2. The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
3. The Russian Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
4. The Russian Olympic Committee shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the diploma awarded in connection with the decathlon event to the Athlete.
5. This decision enters into force immediately.

The full decision is available here.

Ivan YUSHKOV, 35, of the Russian Federation, competing in athletics (shot put event), has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 in which he ranked 10th. Reanalysis of Yushkov’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substances stanozolol, oxandrolone and dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Denis Oswald (Chairman), Juan Antonio Samaranch and Ugur Erdener, decided the following:

1. The Athlete, Ivan YUSHKOV:

1. is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2. is disqualified from the shot put event in which he participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008.

2. The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
3. The Russian Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
4. This decision enters into force immediately.

The full decision is available here.

IOC imposed ban on Russia’s Yulia Chermoshanskaya for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008

Rio de Janeiro – The IOC today announced that an athlete has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. The details follow.

Yulia CHERMOSHANSKAYA, 30, of the Russian Federation, competing in the women’s 200m and the women’s 4x100m relay events, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, in which she ranked 8th in the 200m and 1st in the 4x100m relay with her teammates. Reanalysis of Chermoshanskaya’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substances stanozolol and dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Denis Oswald (Chairman), Gunilla Lindberg and Ugur Erdener, decided the following:

1. The Athlete, Yulia CHERMOSHANSKAYA:

1. is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use, of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen)
2. is disqualified from all the events in which she participated on the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely, the Women’s 200m and the Women’s 4x100m relay, and
3. has the medal, the medallist pin and the diplomas obtained in the Women’s 200m and the Women’s 4x100m relay withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.

2. The Russian Federation Team is disqualified from the Women’s 4x100m relay. The corresponding medals and diplomas are withdrawn and shall be returned.
3. The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
4. The Russian Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
5. The Russian Olympic Committee shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the medals, the medallist pins and the diplomas awarded in connection with the Women’s 200m and in connection with the Women’s 4x100m relay to the Athlete and to the other team members of the Women’s 4x100m Russian Federation Team.
6. This decision enters into force immediately.

The full decision is available here.

The additional analyses on samples collected during the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012 were performed with improved analytical methods, in order to possibly detect prohibited substances that could not be identified by the analysis performed at the time of these editions of the Olympic Games.

Cricket inclusion in Olympics may be shelved by the IOC

Edinburgh, Eng: 27th June 16: Opposition to cricket’s entry into the Olympics is set to become increasingly problematic after the ICC was advised that the sport’s preferred path to inclusion may be shelved by the IOC. The Olympics question is set to be among a suite of agenda items to be discussed at the ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh this week.

The earliest window for cricket to be played at the Olympics is 2024, an event favoured to be awarded to Los Angeles. Budapest, Paris and Rome are the other bidding cities, with the formal award announcement to be made in September next year.

ESPNcricinfo has learned that greater urgency has been added to the debate by advice from the IOC that the direct entry path to the Games may soon be closed off. The ICC is eager to apply directly through the IOC, rather than through the local organising committees of individual games. This is partly because the IOC path involves direct funding of at least $15-20 million for the ICC, in addition to the money made available to each individual Board. It would also guarantee cricket’s inclusion in at least two editions of the Olympics.

While that pathway is more attractive, the ICC has been told that it may be shut down for the 2024 Olympics and beyond, due to a desire to make the Games as flexible as possible for each host city. The 2020 Olympics, scheduled for Tokyo, recently nominated karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and baseball/softball for inclusion. To wait on the desire of a host city to add cricket would require the selection of a location that already has cricket as part of its culture, with the chance that it could then be dropped again after only one Olympics.

Earlier this month an IOC statement said: “The Organising Committee for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 proposed the new sports in response to the new flexibility provided by Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, to encourage innovation in the Olympic programme. Olympic Agenda 2020 gives host cities the option of suggesting new sports and events for inclusion in their edition of the Games. The host city selections are not binding on future Games hosts.”

Recent talks between the ICC and the BCCI saw the Indian board reiterate its unwillingness to work with the Indian Olympic Association “in any way at this point in time”. The BCCI’s reluctance relates to issues of government intervention that have also been highlighted by the International Olympic Committee, notably when the IOA was suspended by the IOC between 2012 and 2014.

As a result of discussions with the BCCI, ICC management has agreed to speak to the IOC about the possibility of cricket entering the games without the BCCI entering into formal agreement with the IOA. Cricket’s governing body will also ask the IOC whether it would be possible for the sport to be included in the Olympics without unanimous support of member nations.

However it is believed that ICC management has already concluded that both these possibilities are unlikely, leaving the BCCI’s fractious relationship with the IOA as an enormous obstacle to cricket’s participation in the Olympics. This is despite the softening of English opposition in particular, in recognition of the growth that would be possible were cricket to place itself under the Olympic umbrella.

That conclusion was strengthened by concurrent discussions with broadcasters, where the ICC has tested the financial viability of an Olympic T20 tournament for men and women in addition to the existing schedule of ICC events.

While it was agreed that much in the cricket calendar may change significantly between the present and any possible Olympic inclusion, the broadcasters advised that the shape and scope of the tournament would likely be very different to the World T20.

In that case, they concluded: “The more different that the two cricket events look, the less competition between the two and the less likely any negative impact on the commercial value of the ICC’s existing WT20 events.”

One early measure of cricket’s place in multi-sport events may arrive for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, due to be held in Durban. There have been talks about including a women’s tournament as part of those games, a move supported by Cricket South Africa and also up for discussion in ICC meetings this week.

Curtsy espncricinfo

Nita Ambani First Indian Woman Nominated to International Olympics Committee (IOC)

Nita Ambani first Indian Woman nominated to International Olympics Committee (PRNewsFoto/Reliance Foundation)

LONDON, June 21:

Nita Ambani, the founder and chairperson of Reliance Foundation, is the first Indian woman nominated as a candidate to be a new member of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) the supreme authority of the Olympic Games. Ms Ambani is one of eight candidates nominated; the final decision will be ratified by its Members Election Commission at the 129^thIOC session in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016.

The IOC’s role is to supervise, support, and monitor the organisation of the Games to ensure they run smoothly; and the rules of the Olympic Charter are respected.

Thomas Bach, IOC President commented, “The eight candidates we are proposing to the next IOC Session are a strong and varied group of individuals that are experts in their respective fields and will make great contributions. The nominees represent a cross-section of expertise from the worlds of sport, culture, medicine, sociology, business, law and management.  They have been vetted by new criteria in keeping with the recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020, and will add extra strength and diversity to our already universal orchestra of IOC Members.”

Ms Ambani, who has been a major advocate of sports in India, said, “It is truly an honour and privilege to be nominated by committee, I believe in the power of sport to shape our youth, to bring together communities and bridge gaps between cultures and generations. I look forward to the opportunity to contribute in meeting the goals of IOC.”

As founder and chairperson of India’s Sports Development Ms Ambani has shown extraordinary commitment to developing sports talent in India.  If elected as a member of IOC, Ms Ambani will be at the forefront of supervision of Indian players who will participate in the Olympic Games; and will be the first woman to represent India in the IOC.

The Reliance Foundation, founded in 2010, is the philanthropic arm of energy and petrochemicals company Reliance Industry Limited, led by Ms Ambani to provide impetus to various initiatives. She has promoted different sports in India, including a Junior NBA programme, focusing on young talent through grassroots programmes; reaching over three million children in more than 5,500 villages and urban locations across the country.  Ms Ambani is also the owner of Mumbai Indians cricket team.

Amazon jaguar shot dead at Olympic torch ceremony

Brazilian physiotherapist Igor Simoes Andrade poses for picture next to jaguar Juma as he takes part in the Olympic Flame torch relay in Manaus, Brazil, June 20, 2016. Picture taken June 20, 2016. REUTERS/Marcio Melo

Amazon, Brazil: A jaguar featured at an Olympic torch ceremony was shot dead by a soldier shortly after the event in the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaus as the animal escaped from its handlers, an army statement said.

The jaguar was killed Monday at a zoo attached to a military training center, when a soldier fired a single pistol shot after the animal, despite being tranquilized, approached the soldier, the army said.

“We made a mistake in permitting the Olympic torch, a symbol of peace and unity, to be exhibited alongside a chained wild animal. This image goes against our beliefs and our values,” the local organizing committee Rio 2016 said in a statement, adding “We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016.”

A smiling yellow jaguar known as Ginga is the mascot of the Brazilian Olympic team.

The shooting caused uproar among animal rights groups, which questioned why the animal was involved in the Olympic event.

“When will people (and institutions) stop with this sick need to show power and control by confining, taming and showcasing wild animals?” the Rio de Janeiro-based animal rights group Animal Freedom Union said on its Facebook page.

The jaguar is a nearly threatened species that has already been wiped out in Uruguay and El Salvador, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The use of Juma, as the jaguar was known, at the event was illegal, according to Ipaam, the Amazonas state government environmental authority that oversees the use of wild animals.

“No request was made to authorize the participation of the jaguar “Juma” in the event of the Olympic torch,” Ipaam said in a statement.

Ipaam said it is investigating the incident.

A jaguar featured at an Olympic torch ceremony was shot dead by a soldier shortly after the event in the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaus as the animal escaped from its handlers, an army statement said.

The jaguar was killed Monday at a zoo attached to a military training center, when a soldier fired a single pistol shot after the animal, despite being tranquilized, approached the soldier, the army said.

“We made a mistake in permitting the Olympic torch, a symbol of peace and unity, to be exhibited alongside a chained wild animal. This image goes against our beliefs and our values,” the local organizing committee Rio 2016 said in a statement, adding “We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016.”

A smiling yellow jaguar known as Ginga is the mascot of the Brazilian Olympic team.

The shooting caused uproar among animal rights groups, which questioned why the animal was involved in the Olympic event.

“When will people (and institutions) stop with this sick need to show power and control by confining, taming and showcasing wild animals?” the Rio de Janeiro-based animal rights group Animal Freedom Union said on its Facebook page.

The jaguar is a nearly threatened species that has already been wiped out in Uruguay and El Salvador, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The use of Juma, as the jaguar was known, at the event was illegal, according to Ipaam, the Amazonas state government environmental authority that oversees the use of wild animals.

“No request was made to authorize the participation of the jaguar “Juma” in the event of the Olympic torch,” Ipaam said in a statement.

Ipaam said it is investigating the incident.

More crackdowns expected on drugs cheats before Rio Olympics

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Craig Reedie (L) speaks with President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Francesco Ricci Bitti during the Olympic Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland June 21, 2016.

REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE

Leading sports powerbrokers gathered at the International Olympic Committee’s headquarters on Tuesday morning to discuss further crackdowns on drug cheats before the Rio Games.

International athletics boss Sebastian Coe and Russia’s Olympic committee chief Alexander Zhukov were present at the meeting, just four days after the IAAF maintained its suspension of Russia’s track and field team, effectively ruling out their participation in Rio.

The gathering of IOC members and federation heads is set to discuss the situation in Russia as well as several other countries, non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The IOC said it would discuss “the difficult decision between collective responsibility and individual justice”.

On Saturday the IOC backed the IAAF’s decision to extend its ban on Russia for systematic doping, denting hopes the nation might have had of competing at the Rio Games in August with a full team.

The IAAF suspended Russia last year over concerns its athletes were guilty of systematic doping.

Several countries, including Russia, Mexico, Ethiopia and Kenya among other, are non-compliant with WADA less than two months before the start of the Rio Games.

 

U.S. senator rise a question on WADA

Washington D.C.: A U.S. senator wants to know why the global agency charged with combating drug cheating in sports waited nearly five years to investigate a whistleblower’s allegations of widespread, state-sponsored doping among elite Russian athletes.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) sent a letter Monday to World Anti-Doping Agency President Sir Craig Reedie that criticized the organization for not aggressively investigating shortly after receiving information from a Russian anti-doping officer at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics about numerous elite Russian athletes doping and avoiding drug tests with government assistance.

“Because clean competition is central to fairness in sport and bears directly on the health and safety of athletes, a strong and credible WADA is indispensable,” wrote Thune, the chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which oversees sports. “Unfortunately, these recent allegations, and WADA’s subsequent response, have called the organization’s strength and credibility into question.”

In 2010, former Russia Anti-Doping Agency officer Vitaliy Stepanov told three WADA officials in Vancouver that his agency and Russia’s sports ministry — a government office — were both complicit in helping Russian athletes cheat. WADA did not open a formal investigation until early 2015, and then only after a German documentary aired based on Stepanov’s allegations.

[WADA heard of Russian doping in 2010, didn’t investigate until media reports]

WADA President Craig Reedie was the addressee of Thune’s letter. (Graham Hughes/AP)

Subsequent investigations by WADA have found evidence of government involvement in widespread doping, which Russia’s sports ministry denies. Last week, the International Association of Athletics Federations — the organization that oversees global track and field — upheld a suspension of Russia’s track and field team, effectively barring the team from the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

In his letter, Thune also questioned WADA’s independence, citing the fact that Reedie, the agency chief, also serves as a vice president for the International Olympic Committee, which others in international anti-doping circles have called a conflict of interest. WADA — whose spokesman did not respond immediately to a request to comment Monday — has received more than $25 million from the U.S. government since 2003, according to Thune’s letter.

“WADA’s mission to promote doping-free sport may be undermined since its leadership has ties to National Olympic Committees or sports ministries whose goal is to increase a particular nation’s competitiveness and medal counts,” Thune wrote.

WADA is racing to complete by July 15 another investigation of Russian doping, this one based on allegations made by a second whistleblower — former Russian anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov, who told the New York Times in May he concocted steroid cocktails for his country’s top athletes and participated in a scheme to sabotage drug testing of certain Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Rodchenkov also has asserted government officials assisted in helping athletes cheat.

In response to criticism, WADA officials have said the agency did not have jurisdictional power to launch an investigation in another country until a change in its governance in 2015. In his letter, Thune questioned this defense, pointing to specific language from WADA’s 2004 charter that authorizes the agency to investigate doping allegations.

In a June 2 Washington Post story that Thune cited in his letter, the whistleblower Stepanov said he was unsure whether WADA officials, after more than four years of inaction following his initial allegations, viewed him as an informant or a nuisance.

In 2014, one senior WADA official who had concluded his colleagues would never investigate Stepanov’s allegations directed him to contact German journalist Hajo Seppelt. The resulting documentary, “Top-Secret Doping: How Russia Makes Its Winners,” aired on German television in December 2014 and was the first piece of journalism to spark a roiling doping and corruption scandal that has now spanned two years.

Subsequent stories in the European media, primarily by David Walsh of the British newspaper The Sunday Times, revealed Stepanov’s frustrating campaign for WADA action.

 

courtesy

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/us-senator-wants-to-know-what-took-wada-so-long/2016/06/20/e54d7368-3718-11e6-a254-2b336e293a3c_story.html?tid=sm_tw_ps

IOC Executive Board welcomed IAAF’s decission

Lozanne: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) welcomes and supports the IAAF’s strong stance against doping. This is in line with the IOC’s long-held zero-tolerance policy.

The IOC has taken note of the decision of the IAAF Council and of the report and recommendations of the IAAF Taskforce.

The IOC Executive Board, in a telephone conference today, emphasized that it fully respects the IAAF position. The eligibility of athletes in any international competition including the Olympic Games is a matter for the respective International Federation.

The IOC will initiate further far-reaching measures in order to ensure a level playing field for all the athletes taking part in the Olympic Games Rio 2016. The upcoming Olympic Summit on Tuesday will address the situation of the countries in which the National Anti-Doping Organisation has been declared non-compliant by WADA for reasons of the non-efficient functioning of the national anti-doping system.