THE BIG PICTURE: London Sunday Times says Russia covered up a doping violation...
If it’s in a British newspaper, the headline has to be dramatic: “Russia faces new Olympics ban over doping” and “There can be no way back for Russia after latest doping scandal.” Those are from the Sunday (2 June) editions of The Sunday Times of London (GBR), concerning a potentially significant new problem for Russia […]
HEARD AFTER HALFTIME: Semenya’s appeal of IAAF regulations filed with the Swiss Federal...
News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport: ● Athletics ● As promised, South Africa’s Olympic 800 m champ Caster Semenya filed an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal against the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s approval of the female eligibility regulations of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The […]
LANE ONE: The IOC keeps changing the Games, and not a minute too...
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has said – with good reason – that the Olympic Movement is in pretty good shape at the moment. Olympic host cities are set through 2028, there are two viable candidates for the 2026 Winter Games and the first-ever Olympic competitions in Africa will be held in 2022 with […]
THE BIG PICTURE: Boxing confirmed for Tokyo 2020, but organized by the IOC,...
/Updated: see footnote/The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board kept its promise to the athletes. There will be a boxing tournament at the Tokyo Games in 2020, but the International Boxing Association – AIBA – will not organize it. The IOC’s statement included: “After a thorough discussion, the IOC EB recommended to the IOC Session that […]
LANE ONE: Olympic budget pressures mean nothing to those who aren’t paying for...
Spending someone else’s money is pretty easy. The Olympic Movement has been great at it for decades. The International Olympic Committee, especially under the administration of President Thomas Bach (GER), has found that host cities have gotten tired of the continuous bleating from it, from the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees, and has […]
HEARD AFTER HALFTIME: WADA chief Reedie says he is “unsure” of winning against...
News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport: ● Doping ● Britain’s Craig Reedie is the elected head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the lead actor in the world’s fight against doping in sport. In an interview with the SportAccord conference newsletter, The Daily, he noted: “I am unsure whether sport […]
THE BIG PICTURE: Bach signals AIBA’s days may be numbered
The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board will meet on 22 May in Lausanne to determine whether the International Boxing Association – known by its French acronym, AIBA – should operate the Olympic Boxing tournament in Tokyo in 2020. The IOC’s President, Thomas Bach (GER), made his clearest statements yet that indicate his organization does not […]
LANE ONE: With just more than a year to go, how ready Tokyo...
In remarks to the Australian Olympic Committee’s Annual General Assembly last Saturday, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach of Germany told the delegates: “With the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on the horizon, the athletes will have so much to look forward to. As John can confirm, the preparations and the level of organisation of our […]
LANE ONE: Planning your time off for 2020 yet? How about U.S. Trials...
With the announcement of St. Louis, Missouri as the site for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials for men and women, the United States Olympic Committee – and its television partner, NBC – have assembled two weeks of continuous Olympic Trials action for next June. Over the course of almost a year, four U.S. Trials events […]
LANE ONE: Is the Tokyo swimming schedule better for Katie Ledecky or Caeleb...
/Updated: see Endnote/ Now that the Tokyo organizers have released much of the detail of the 2020 Olympic sports schedules, it’s finally possible to see what some of the projected stars of the Games might be able to accomplish. This is especially so in swimming, where the added events and relays create a dizzying set […]
LANE ONE: Morning swimming and track finals in Tokyo are the price of...
“Having finals in the morning, as requested by the International Olympic Committee, will enhance the visibility of athletics across all time zones.” That comment from IAAF Competitions Director Paul Hardy sums up the news from the release of the session-by-session schedule by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizing committee, with all of the swimming finals in […]
LANE ONE: Russian involvement in elections is nothing compared to what they’re doing...
The latest turn in the saga of the International Boxing Association came last Thursday when the Secretary General of the Russian Boxing Federation, Umar Kremlev, offered to pay more than $16 million to clear AIBA’s debts, on the condition that the sport be retained in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. It was only the […]
LANE ONE: The strange story of the International Boxing Association gets even stranger
As had been expected, the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board took no action concerning the International Boxing Association (AIBA) on the final day of its meetings in Lausanne (SUI) on Thursday. At the news briefing following, IOC spokesman Christian Klaue (GER) stated: “We also heard today the intermediate report of the Inquiry Committee on the […]
LANE ONE: Thomas Bach’s IOC wants “to get the couch potatoes off the...
The focus of the Olympic Movement has changed. It was, until very recently, to stage the greatest sports spectacle in the world. But in a 54-minute news conference following the second day of International Olympic Committee Executive Board meetings, IOC chief Thomas Bach clearly signaled that the technical organization of the Games will more and […]
LANE ONE: Crucial IOC Executive Board meeting this week in Switzerland could impact...
We’re going to have some interesting days starting on Tuesday as the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board meets in Lausanne (SUI). A series of issues which have been simmering for months might come to a boil … or maybe not. But there is a lot of interest in what the IOC is going to do […]
BOXING: AIBA President Rakhimov “to step aside” with IOC Executive Board meeting next week
The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board meeting starts next Tuesday in Lausanne (SUI) and the status of the International Boxing Association (“AIBA”) is on...
THE BIG PICTURE: Diack investigation might be moving along after all
We noted on Tuesday that the investigation by French authorities into the influence-buying and doping cover-up involving former International Olympic Committee member and IAAF President Lamine Diack (SEN) was continuing without end. But there were new developments this week, as Agence France Presse reported that arrest warrants had been issues for former IAAF Treasurer Valentin […]
THE BIG PICTURE: Under pressure, Japan’s Takeda to resign from Japan’s Olympic Committee...
The 71-year-old head of the Japan Olympic Committee, Tsunekazu Takeda, announced on Tuesday that he will retire from the JOC and as a member of the International Olympic Committee in June. “I don’t believe I’ve done anything illegal or wrong,” Takeda said. “It’s regrettable that a shadow has been cast on the tournament because of […]
LANE ONE: The U.S. can thank Jeff Van Gundy for being in the 2019...
One of the stranger periods in the history of U.S. national-team basketball concluded on Monday night in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the American men’s...
THE BIG PICTURE: Paris 2024 asks for four added sports: three from 2020,...
The International Olympic Committee went back to the past when it allowed Tokyo 2020 to propose added sports for its program, as used to be done through the 1972 Games in Munich. Paris 2024 released its request for four sports – but without any details as to events or competitors – and asked to add […]
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