THE BIG PICTURE: Baumann’s World Urban Games becoming a reality
The newest multi-sport competition is the “World Urban Games,” a project of the late Swiss IOC member Patrick Baumann, who was the Secretary-General of the International Basketball Federation and head of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). Baumann championed the concept of new multi-sport events which he felt could bring added interest and […]
LANE ONE: U.S. Olympic Committee drops the hammer on USA Gymnastics, but also...
The FIG World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics finished in Doha (QAT) on Saturday. On Monday, new U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive, Sarah Hirshland, announced that the organization would begin the process of revoking the membership of USA Gymnastics as the National Governing Body for Gymnastics. Hirshland’s comment was significant in the details, including: “In the […]
ANTI-DOPING: A call for ethics in sports medicine
The chief of the United States Anti-Doping Agency is now campaigning about more than doping; he’s now working on ethical use of allowed drugs. Travis Tygart told the online version of the British newspaper The Daily Mail that “‘The days of blood transfusions, and open and obvious growth hormone and testosterone use we saw at […]
THE BIG PICTURE: IOC tells Int’l Biathlon Union they are OK (and starts...
One of the international sports federations in hot water over the past several months has been the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which had its president step aside and its secretary-general suspended over an investigation of possible bribes to ignore Russian doping positives. The International Olympic Committee noted the turmoil and suspended payments of Winter Games […]
LANE ONE: Boxing elects “organized crime” leader Rakhimov as president; now what?
Elections of international federation presidents aren’t usually too exciting except for those in the sport. There are exceptions, of course, and one of those came on Saturday in Moscow (RUS), when the International Boxing Federation (AIBA) met to elect its new leader. The result may end boxing’s participation in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. […]
THE BIG PICTURE: “Emergency summit” rips WADA for Russian reinstatement
An “emergency summit” of national anti-doping agencies and athletes was called by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and held on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. to promote reform of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This is the latest pressure tactic – coming two days […]
LANE ONE: Calgary 2026 bid comes back from the dead … on Halloween!
On Wednesday, the Calgary City Council voted 8-7 to kill the city’s bid for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games and yet the bid still lives on and will continue to a public vote on 13 November. How? Because the Council motion to kill the bid required a two-thirds vote – a 10-5 margin – the […]
THE BIG PICTURE: Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad steps down from IOC and ANOC posts...
The current explosion in the Olympic world is the saga of Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, the head of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and a member of the International Olympic Committee. Sheikh Ahmad, as he is known, was indicted in Switzerland on charges of “fabricating” an […]
THE BIG PICTURE: Civil war among the anti-doping agencies? Yes!
The internal battle in the world anti-doping community is continuing unabated, as the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations (iNADO) is calling for “meaningful reform of WADA governance.” It its latest statement, the group of 17 of the largest anti-doping organizations – including the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency – met in an “emergency summit” in Paris (FRA) […]
LANE ONE: Realpolitik in Calgary as Mayor Nehshi could end its 2026 bid...
Whether Calgary continues its bid for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games has come down to a question of money. And the bid could end on Monday. The Calgary 2026 Bid Corporation’s Draft Hosting Plan Concept projected the total cost of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games and Winter Paralympic Games at about C$5.46 billion. (C$1 = […]
THE BIG PICTURE: Boxing federation election controversy continues
With the International Boxing Association (AIBA) Congress and its presidential election coming on 3 November, the activity surrounding it has increased dramatically. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is deeply involved, with two motions in front of it. It disposed of the first on Wednesday, dismissing a request by the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation for a […]
LANE ONE: Why is the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique such a Scrooge?
The World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics is on for the next week in Doha, Qatar, with a star-studded field that includes not less than 20 men and women who have won Olympic or World Championships, including the incomparable Kohei Uchimura from Japan and Simone Biles of the United States. So why is the Federation Internationale […]
LANE ONE: Bach’s Olympic vision takes shape: City-center spectacle and fewer venues
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach of Germany has plenty of critics, but say this for him: he has a vision. Since being elected to head the IOC in 2013, he immediately set out to reform the way that Olympic and Winter Games are bid for and organized, with his “Agenda 2020″ and “The New […]
THE BIG PICTURE: Now the leading candidate for the boxing presidency might resign...
“Should I be given the trust by AIBA members and be elected AIBA President, then also details about my position, background etc. will be included in the report to the IOC. “I’m convinced that we will then establish a good cooperation between the IOC and AIBA – something which we have already seen this week […]
LANE ONE: As the 2020 Olympic Games draw near, Tokyo is suddenly the...
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 BIG PICTURE: Ex-USA Gymnastics chief Steve Penny indicted
When former USA Gymnastics chief executive Steve Penny (pictured) declined to answer any questions last June from the U.S. Senate Commerce Sub-committee that was investigating the Larry Nassar sex-abuse scandal on self-incrimination grounds, he received some good advice. Penny was indicted on 28 September by a Grand Jury in Walker County, Texas over the removal […]
LANE ONE: Bach calls Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games “superb” in his closing...
The third Youth Olympic Games closed in Buenos Aires (ARG) on Thursday evening and the nearly 4,000 athletes will now head back to their own countries with a lot of stories, experiences and pins. The event was a clear success on the ground for the organizers and the National Olympic Committee of Argentina, both headed […]
THE BIG PICTURE: IAAF stays femininity regs until Court review is completed
The International Assn. of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and Athletics South Africa have agreed that the implementation of the IAAF’s new Eligibility Regulations for the Female Classification will be delayed from 1 November of this year until at least 26 March 2019 to allow for an expedited ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport. After […]
THE BIG PICTURE: Stockholm’s 2026 bid clouded by lack of government support
Now the issue is Stockholm. A new, coalition government in the City Council announced last Friday that it would not support funding for a Stockholm bid for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, and that any bid for the Games would have to be financed from the private sector. Stockholm’s bid team, however, is hardly backing […]
LANE ONE: Being no. 1 today isn’t good enough for USA Swimming, looking...
It’s hard to imagine much concern at USA Swimming over the performance of the world’s no. 1 swim team, as the U.S. has been for decades, and showed once again at the Pan-Pacific Championships earlier this year. But there is. What is there to worry about? In an off year for the U.S., with no […]
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