2020 Olympic Games

The Associated Press’s Stephen Wade posted a story last Friday entitled “Olympic volunteers: One-time chance, or exploitation?” and proceeded to quote a Drexel Sports Management processor named Joel Maxcy, who called the practice of using volunteers, “To me, it’s very clearly economic exploitation.” The rest of the article struggled to find any prospective volunteers for […]

This is a busy time for the leadership and staff of the International Olympic Committee, even though there is no Olympic Games – winter or summer – in 2019. The IOC and especially the Executive Board have a long list of issues to be dealt with, including the continuing saga of Russia and its standing […]

The International Olympic Committee’s inquiry into boxing has finally gotten started. The International Boxing Association, known by its old French acronym of AIBA, is in danger of being removed as the governing body of the sport by the IOC, and the sport’s place on the 2020 Olympic program is in jeopardy. Issues with judging, governance, […]

The cost to the Japanese taxpayer for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo is holding steady – sort of – according to a Thursday...

The Straits Times of Singapore reported today (17th) that Tan Tong Han, 36, has been sentenced to a week in jail for lying to authorities over payments made to cover up a Russian doping case. Han was the owner of Black Tidings, a defunct “consulting” firm which is in the middle of investigations into bribery […]

When the International Olympic Committee issues one of its periodic statements on how it is adapting the Olympic Games to modern times, it’s hard to know whether to take it seriously. Is this a preview of real change coming to the Games? Or another self-congratulatory, self-serving statement that, in actuality, means little? But as long […]

Friday’s stunning revelation that the president of the Japan Olympic Committee, Tsunekazu Takeda, is under investigation in France for corruption is the most serious blow to the International Olympic Committee in 20 years. Back in 1998, the IOC was rocked by the Salt Lake City scandal in which bribes and gifts were given to IOC […]

There is considerable concern about the cost of the Tokyo Games, set to begin in about 18 months. But on another measure of the popularity of the Games, the organizers have nothing to worry about. The first phase of the recruitment drive for volunteers to assist at the Games closed last week, with 80,000 volunteers […]

The battle of the budget continues at the 2020 Tokyo Games, where a new version of the total financial requirements is due at the end of the year. During the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) meetings in Tokyo (JPN), Tokyo 2020 CEO/Director General Toshiro Muto told reporters that pressure continues to be placed on […]

No one will say it, even in a whisper. No one in the Olympic Movement even wants to think about it. But the Olympic Games in Tokyo, coming in less than two years, is a problem. For the International Olympic Committee and its affiliated organizations, what has happened in the planning for the Games of […]

The third edition of the International Olympic Committee’s YOG continues in Buenos Aires, with the Closing Ceremony scheduled for the 18th (Thursday). The IOC gave a news conference midway through the Games, headlined by Executive Director of the Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi (SUI; pictured). He was nothing short of ecstatic about the event, stating that […]

One of the many revolutionary changes made by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles was the concept of using volunteers as a main feature of the workforce. It was successful beyond all expectations and became a permanent legacy to succeeding Olympic organizing committees, all of whom have […]