The insidethegames.biz Magazine Spring Edition 2023

Aarhus Denmark

There will never be an edition of the Olympic Games which has no controversy in the build-up. Rio 2016 had fears over venue readiness and the Zika virus, Tokyo 2020 was impacted head on by the coronavirus pandemic and Paris 2024 next year is not immune to a crisis.

In February last year, Vladimir Putin launched the Russian invasion of Ukraine to widespread condemnation from across the world.

As with all major global stories, the repercussions quickly spilled over into the world of sport.

Russian athletes, and those from its ally Belarus, were largely frozen out by the Olympic Movement and banned from competing.

Events were moved away from the two countries as governing bodies expressed their horror, but now more than a year has passed since Putin’s bloodshed began and the International Olympic Committee’s stance has softened.

Those in Lausanne’s halls of power have opted to explore a pathway for Russians and Belarussians to compete neutrally in Paris next year, a move which has divided the sporting community.

Some argue that politics must never interfere in the field of play and that an athlete should not face the ultimate punishment of being banned from the Olympics for Government actions which are beyond their control.

But, for others, the Russian state is intrinsically linked with sport. For them it

DUNCAN MACKAY EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

is impossible for the country to compete “neutrally” and they believe any victories they claim would be used as propaganda to spur on Putin to more atrocities in Ukraine.

Asking Ukrainian athletes to share a track or court with Russians who may be in support of the invasion would also be a step too far for many.

The B-word - boycott - is a nightmare scenario for the IOC but it is a possibility they face as sport treads a delicate path towards Paris.

In this latest edition of The insidethegames. biz Magazine, Ukrainian NOC President and Sports Minister Vadym Guttsayt passionately argues his case about why no Russian team of any description should be permitted.

Organisers in France have had other issues to deal with, of course, with the chaos at the UEFA Champions League final at the Stade de France just one such stumbling block.

Chief feature writer Mike Rowbottom has spoken to Paris 2024 director general Étienne Thobois to see how he thinks preparations are going, with the countdown clock now dipped below the 500 days to go mark.

A man who knows a thing or two about controversies surrounding the Olympic Games is Richard Pound.

After reaching the upper age limit of 80, the Canadian’s time as a full IOC member has come to an end, which seemed like the perfect occasion for an interview.

Pound tells our chief columnist David Owen about his time at the forefront of some of sport’s biggest scandals, such as the Salt Lake City bribery crisis and the revelations of Russian doping.

Salt Lake City could soon be an Olympic host again - as it remains in an intriguing race for the 2030 Winter Games.

With Stockholm and Sapporo also in the frame, Mike Rowbottom has analysed the lie of the land as we look forward to seven years’ time.

By then, the plans various sports have in place to stay fresh and relevant will likely be coming to fruition - or could already be out of date.

With modern pentathlon scrapping horse riding for an obstacle course event, reporter Owen Lloyd looks at how sports need to constantly evolve to avoid being left on the scrapheap.

These are also interesting times for World Taekwondo which is on the cusp of celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Reporter Patrick Burke speaks to the organisation’s President Chungwon Choue about growing the martial art from “humble beginnings” to the mainstay of the Olympic Games it is now.

In October, India is due to host an IOC Session for the first time in 40 years, with the sporting world invited to Mumbai.

Desk editor Vimal Sankar paints the current sporting picture in this nation of more than 1.4 billion people.

If you enjoy this magazine and our yearround coverage of the Olympic Movement, I would like to invite you to make a contribution to support our journalism by logging on to www.insidethegames.biz/ contribute.

Every donation, however big or small, will help maintain and improve our work across the world.

We believe that Olympic news should remain in the public sphere and be free of charge to read, and we hope that it will.

Thank you and enjoy the magazine.

Duncan Mackay Editor

cannot compromise on Russian return”

More than a year has passed since Russian troops, with the support of Belarus, invaded the territory of independent Ukraine.

This violated the Olympic Truce, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and declared for Beijing 2022.

The basic Olympic values of peaceful coexistence, friendship and mutual respect were violated.

Then, the decision of the International Olympic Committee to prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in international competitions, and depriving these countries of the right to host sporting events, was logical and fair.

Has anything changed during this period? Do we have the right to talk about the return of Russians to sporting arenas in the current circumstances? No!

The Russian army continues to torture civilians, kill and rape women and children, destroy Ukrainian cities and villages and destroy infrastructure. Russian politicians continue to threaten the whole of Europe and the world with nuclear weapons.

At the time of writing, 230 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed and 40,000 athletes have been forced to move abroad. Almost 140,000 young athletes have no opportunity to play sport. Around 350 sports facilities have been severely damaged or destroyed.

The war affected every athlete. Someone lost their family or friends, colleagues or acquaintances. Someone lost their home, someone lost their training opportunities...

What equal conditions with Russian and Belarusian athletes can be discussed in this situation? It definitely does not comply with the principles of fair play.

In September 2022, the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, the chair of the Association of National Olympic Committees Culture and Education Commission Stanislav Pozdnyakov, publicly

stated that Russian athletes are citizens of their country and serving their homeland. Therefore, participation in the war is an honourable duty for them.

In Russia, sport was and continues to be an element of politics and powerful propaganda. In this case, it is the promotion of war. In this country, sport and politics are inseparable.

The secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev, is a member of the Supervisory Board of the All-Russian Volleyball Federation.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov is the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Canoe Slalom Federation.

Ksenia Shoigu, the daughter of the Minister of Defence of Russia, is the President of the All-Russian Triathlon Federation.

The vast majority of Russian athletes belong to the military and other law enforcement agencies. Forty-five Olympic medals out of 71 at Tokyo 2020 were won by representatives of the Central Army Sports Club.

These are active military personnel. They took an oath and by being in the ranks of the Russian army they support the war.

Many athletes openly promote the war and express their support for their Government's actions at various rallies and meetings, and on television and social media.

Despite this, the IOC has started discussing the conditions and possibilities for

the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international arenas.

Unfortunately, we have not yet heard proposals of how the rights of Ukrainian athletes will be protected?

How will they be able to step onto the same sports field and compete with Russian athletes at a time when their families, friends and colleagues are in mortal danger?

How can Ukrainian Olympians be sure of their safety when living in the Olympic Village with representatives of the Russian Federation, using the same changing rooms and dining halls? How can they climb on the podium together and shake hands?

History remembers the precedents when the Olympic community took the side of justice.

In particular, due to the country's apartheid policy, South Africa was barred from the Olympics in 1964 and only re-joined the Olympic Movement in 1992.

Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were banned from the Olympics in Antwerp in 1920 because of their role in the First World War, and Germany and Japan were not invited to London in 1948.

Today, the main victory should be life. And those who mercilessly kill should not return to the international arena, even under a neutral flag.

insidethegames note: The Russian Sports Minister did not respond to our request for comment.

“We

Ukrainian NOC President Vadym Guttsayt could not be more clear: the door should remain closed to athletes from Russia and Belarus.

On December 31, Richard Pound ceased to be a full International Olympic Committee member, at the end of the year in which he passed the applicable age limit of 80.

For those of us who spend our lives monitoring this strange organisation, his departure, albeit “upstairs” to the ranks of honorary members, was a seismic moment.

You might liken it to Jack Welch leaving General Electric, or Lord Reith departing the British Broadcasting Corporation, or Pierre Trudeau stepping down as Prime Minister of Pound’s native Canada.

You might liken it to these noted exits but for one thing - Pound was never the IOC’s top dog.

He will instead have to content himself with an Olympic epitaph as the most important member in the 129-year history of sport’s most exclusive club not to have been installed as President.

Since being inducted into the IOC in Athens in 1978, Pound’s influence has been felt everywhere, from transforming the body’s financial fortunes, to weeding out corruption, to spearheading the fight against doping.

He has been a frequent and valued interlocutor during my more than 20 years of covering the Movement, often over a glass, be it at Lausanne's swanky Palace Hotel or the Bricklayer’s Arms pub in London.

Ironically, the first time our paths crossed was during what I imagine was his lowest

SALT LAKE CITY SCANDAL DOPING CRISIS R.POUND

week as an IOC member. This was at the 2001 IOC Session in Moscow, where he tried for the Presidency but lost out to the polished Belgian surgeon Jacques Rogge.

The outspokenness which appealed to the likes of me is probably one of the reasons he lost this election, as was his willingness to undertake the tough jobs with which the wily Juan Antonio Samaranch often entrusted him during his 20 years as IOC President.

Sir Craig Reedie, who would go on to follow one of the trails blazed by Pound as President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, was also in Moscow and remembers that the Canadian was “crestfallen”.

Writing in Delivering London’s Olympic Dream, his excellent memoir, Reedie opines: “There was little doubt that his track record as chair of several high-profile ad hoc committees, in which he had done much of Samaranch’s ‘dirty work’, had counted against him”.

So huge was Pound’s contribution to the Movement over more than four decades that his change of status seemed an obvious juncture at which to request an interview, albeit one conducted via email.

The exercise produced a typically direct and thought-provoking series of responses.

I began by asking the former Olympic swimmer whether, at the end of 44 years as an IOC member, he would do it all again if he had the chance.

“Yes, for certain,” he replied. “All of the underlying values and reasons for my earlier work and subsequent joining of the IOC still exist.”

He elaborated: “There were initially two main reasons for becoming involved.

“The first was that if you drink from a well created by others, the volunteers who supported sport and athletes, after finishing competition, you have a moral obligation to put back in at least as much as you drew from the well.

“The second was to help make it possible for other athletes to have as much fun as I had during my competitive years.

Few IOC members will ever impact the organisation like Richard Pound did during his remarkable 44 years of service.

David Owen speaks to a man whose outspoken role in the limelight perhaps cost him the very top job.

(CAN)

The current Olympic broadcasting model still works well, according to Richard Pound Photo: Getty Images

DAVID OWEN CHIEF COLUMNIST, INSIDETHEGAMES

“The more I did, the more I enjoyed it and I think I was reasonably successful, although not without occasional bumps in the road.

“But, in the process, we developed several major initiatives and programmes that have produced some interesting outcomes, both organisational and economic, for the Olympic Movement.”

Was there one big decision over that lengthy period that he regretted, or would have done differently?

“Probably several,” he acknowledges, before going on to list various episodes where, by his own assessment, he and colleagues could have done better.

Pound said one incident was when “against my better judgement” he accepted the “assurances” of Kéba MBaye that Jean-Claude Ganga was a “leopard who had changed his spots”.

“With the result that I did not continue to object to him becoming a member of the IOC,” Pound added.

“MBaye was wrong and I was wrong. Ganga was one of the IOC members very much at the centre of, inter alia, the Salt Lake City scandal. He was expelled, for good reasons, in 1999.”

Pound also expresses disappointment over having been “ineffective in persuading the Canadian Government not to boycott the Moscow Olympics in 1980” and, in his dual role as President of the Canadian Olympic Committee, “in not being able to persuade the COC members themselves to resist the call for a boycott”.

He goes on: “The latter aspect was particularly annoying because all the winter federations, who had their Lake Placid 1980 Games, voted against Moscow participation and, when I was in Moscow for the IOC Session, several of the summer sport officials who had voted against participation were present with a holier-than-thou attitude that they had a responsibility to their International Federations.

“I left Moscow after the IOC Session, but before the Games started, since I did not think it proper, in my second capacity as President of the National Olympic Committee, to be there if our athletes were not permitted to participate.”

Pound’s list continues. “We took far too long to bring the United States Olympic Committee to heel in respect of television negotiations and sponsorships because Samaranch did not like confrontation,” he said.

“This carried over into the Rogge Presidency and, in 2009, European IOC members, mainly with IF connections, manoeuvred to ensure that Chicago, arguably the best 2016 candidate, was eliminated in the first round of voting and we ended up with the disastrous choice of Rio de Janeiro.

“I thought we were generally too weak in dealing with governance matters of IFs in the Olympic context, including poor or corrupt judging.

“The public ended up thinking the Olympics were crooked and did not understand that the IFs are responsible for the organisation of each sport at the Games, not the IOC itself.

“Early disciplinary proceedings, even if only with a couple of IFs, would have sent a message that would be understood by all IFs. We seem to have ‘drunk the Kool Aid’ of IF ‘autonomy’, which needs to be earned and not assumed as a divine right.”

Last, but by no means least, Pound asserts that “perhaps the one time when I was at serious odds with the IOC’s position was in

relation to the divulgations of Russian doping programmes and their implementation”.

By his assessment, there was a “golden opportunity for the IOC to send a message to the entire world, sporting and otherwise, that no country, no matter how important, is entitled to flaunt the rules”.

However, the IOC, in Pound’s estimation, “ignored the McLaren Report, complained that it came too close to the Rio de Janeiro Games, and essentially dismissed it as a collection of mere allegations”.

He added that it “appointed its own commissions and only one of which, the disciplinary one, was capable of dealing with that portion of the subject matter”.

“I paid the price for publicly expressed opposition to the IOC’s decisions,” said Pound.

“Through my removal as chairman of Olympic Broadcasting Services, as director of Olympic Channel Services and from the Legal Affairs Commission.”

Though he has become best known for his anti-doping work, Pound was at the heart of many of the decisions which transformed the IOC into a major business in the final decades of the 20th century.

It seems apposite to ask him if the now time-honoured broadcasting and sponsorship rights model that has served the sports movement so well still has legs. His response is reassuring: “I think it does”.

He goes on to argue that “both the broadcast rights and sponsorship support mechanisms still work well”.

Richard Pound, right, has been in place for the entirety of the IOC Presidency of Thomas Bach, left Photo: Getty Images

Many will associate Richard Pound with his heavy involvement in the Russian doping crisis Photo: Getty Images

For broadcasting, he says, there is “no current alternative to real-time mass distribution of the Games signal”.

“Interactive media is essentially a matter of either ancillary programming, which is why we initially awarded such rights to the television rights-holders in each territory, or individual ‘production’ that lacks both the quality of OBS-OCS-type professionalism and the ‘reach’ provided by the broadcasters,” he said.

As for sponsors, Pound feels that they “continue to look for value-added co-branding opportunities, with ethical and social impact”.

“I do not see significant diminution in that, so long as our own ethical values remain intact,” he added.

There is, however, an afterthought: “That said, technology will continue to develop and we will need to be able to adapt to take advantage of new developments and, where possible, to monetise them.”

Turning to the IOC’s leadership, I note that Pound once wrote that his top three IOC Presidents would be Pierre de Coubertin, Samaranch and Avery Brundage. Did that remain his view?

DAVID OWEN CHIEF COLUMNIST, INSIDETHEGAMES

For the Canadian, the present incumbent, Thomas Bach, is now “trending toward inclusion”. Indeed, Pound adds, “if one were to ‘modernise’ the list a bit, my inclination would be to recognise De Coubertin as the de facto founding President and probably to add Bach to the ‘medal’ category.”

The German, he suggests, has “wrestled with some pretty tough issues during his Presidency so far”.

Meanwhile, one post-Bach challenge for the organisation will be whether it chooses to “break its history of choosing as Presidents only white males, all but one from Europe”.

On the subject of Bach, I wonder if Pound thinks that the centralisation of power over which the German has presided was inevitable, given an ever-faster moving world.

“The kitchen table management days for the IOC have come and gone,” Pound concurs.

“The complexity of the issues to be managed requires a really professional series of skillsets and an ability on the part of the administration not only to carry out policy but also to formulate and propose it for consideration by the Executive Board.

“That new organisational style necessarily leads to centralisation of power.”

But are there pitfalls linked to this, I ask. If there are, Pound feels that most can be “avoided, or at least mitigated, by ensuring there is a sufficient degree of transparency within the organisation and a willingness to encourage genuine input and discussion - not merely obsequious agreement - within the membership, even if there is a degree of push-back with respect to certain elements”.

I wondered what qualities Pound thought the next IOC President would particularly need. And were these qualities the same as always, or were they changing?

“I don’t know that the particular Presidential ‘qualities’ are changing,” Pound responds.

“But the IOC parameters have certainly expanded and have become more complex.

“Early Presidents were presiding over a very modest and impecunious organisation that was responsible for an event that was on the fringes of the social and legal orders. That is no longer the case…

“Many IFs are now heavily dependent on revenues generated by the IOC. That said, it

Richard Pound has been an outspoken voice on Russian doping Photo: Getty Images

United by Water

Richard

DAVID OWEN CHIEF COLUMNIST, INSIDETHEGAMES

the World Anti-Doping

seems to me that the Olympic Movement needs a leader who can communicate, since a successful Movement involves creating and maintaining a consensus, internal and external, on the inherent values of sport and Olympism.”

“Samaranch,” Pound says, “was not good at this and Rogge was only marginally better”.

“Communication consists of listening as much as, or more than, speaking,” he said.

“Samaranch was a good listener and was willing to accept both dialogue and advice.”

The IOC President,” he concludes, “needs to understand the complexities inherent in a worldwide movement, both in the context of sport and the practical need to operate in a world that is ultimately driven by political imperatives, and must be able to recruit and retain a professional administration that has the competence to provide necessary advice

and to implement the related policies”. Would he advise Bach not to seek to extend his term as President - due to end in 2025 - beyond 12 years?

I found Pound’s relatively short answer to this particularly interesting. “I do not have the sense that Bach intends to try to amend the Olympic Charter in order to extend his Presidency,” he replies, adding: “Were he to ask for my advice, I would counsel him against such an action.”

I feel compelled to ask if Pound believes the important role he played in getting to the bottom of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal in 1998 and 1999 effectively cost him the IOC Presidency when he ran in 2001.

“It certainly was a significant factor,” he acknowledges. “Organisations want to be perceived as ‘clean’, but they don’t like the

cleaners, especially the chief cleaner, who carries most of the water and has a much higher public profile.”

He goes on: “Both Rogge and Bach were members of the Commission, but neither was active or vocal.

“I would be surprised if I received any, or many, African, Latin American or Asian votes.

“That said, it was important for the future of the IOC itself that it undertake its own investigation and demonstrate its willingness to impose consequences on its members whose conduct had been unacceptable.

“We did not want to be negotiating, for example, with the United States Congress, which was more than ready to share its pristine ethical standards with us.

“Instead, we said we would be pleased to report to the Congress when we had finished

Pound served as the first President of

Agency Photo: Getty Images

our investigations and adopted a series of reforms, which we did at the end of 1999. The matter was put to rest.”

Turning to the fight against doping, I ask Pound if he thinks the level of illicit drug use in sport is declining and, if so, how one could tell. Once again, his answer was thought-provoking.

“I think that with the possible, perhaps likely, exception of those athletes at the very top of the heap, yes,” he tells me.

He continues: “Being able to get at the entourages is critical here, since many of them depend on the success of the ‘stars’ for their own well-being, a mindset which may extend to the public authorities, as we have seen with Russia, although such conduct is by no means limited to Russia.”

Pound feels that WADA’s ability to investigate and report to a Conduct Review Committee has been “a significant driver in the direction of better code compliance”, while the Court of Arbitration for Sport has,

he says, been “spotty”, with arbitrators having “a tendency to think of themselves as enlightened legislators”. Independent sport integrity units have, he argues, “performed some very good work”.

Were there any further reforms he would advocate? One possible “useful adjustment” relates to the issue of missed tests.

As Pound sees things, a “game” is being played with respect to missed tests.

“The whereabouts requirement is a necessary element for any robust out-ofcompetition testing programme,” he said.

“When a test is missed, there is currently an elaborate process of notification that takes far too much time.

“Quite often an athlete may well be where he or she promised to be, but may not wish to be tested, presumably out of concern that a sample provided on that occasion might well be positive, and deliberately does not answer the door.”

Where such conduct may reasonably be suspected as deliberate, Pound - a lawyer - argues that officials should be able to “authorise short-circuiting the process”.

“If, on day one, it is suspected that such conduct is deliberate, the official should be able to obtain permission to test on day two and if that test is missed, to test on day three,” he said.

“Three missed tests are deemed to be the equivalent of a positive test. Appeals to CAS are, of course, available.”

As WADA’s first President, it seems appropriate to ask Pound whether that body is functioning as he hoped and envisaged?

Also, did he see it as the right move to set up the International Testing Agency? Once again, Pound demonstrates that he does not do pat replies.

“In general, regarding WADA, yes,” he responds. “While recognising that we were inventing something entirely new,

Richard Pound was frustrated when Canada boycotted the Moscow 1980 Olympics Photo: Getty Images

with no road maps and in a less than enthusiastic environment.”

He elaborates: “The collection of fiefdoms among the IFs had major reservations about an independent organisation overseeing matters and conduct relating to doping.

“To some extent, the same reservations extended to at least some of the public authorities as well - you can imagine some of the countries on such a list.

“WADA was permitted to rely on other investigations, but was not granted the authority to conduct its own investigations until 2015, some 16 years after it was created.

“The first was the Independent Commission regarding athletics in Russia, which I chaired, which led to suspension of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, the removal of the accreditation of the Moscow Laboratory, the discharge of the lab director and the suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation.

“Nor was WADA able to determine or impose sanctions - it could only report an anti-doping rule violation to the responsible sport or public authority, which might or might not be willing to act.

DAVID OWEN CHIEF COLUMNIST, INSIDETHEGAMES

“This feature was part of the price of achieving the original consensus. That has finally evolved to the point where WADA can now propose a sanction, which can be accepted or refused. If refused, there is an automatic referral to CAS for final disposition.”

He describes the ITA, which sports can delegate their doping programmes to, as “something of a mixed bag”.

“Philosophically it is based on the premise that those responsible for promoting a sport cannot be entrusted with enforcement of the rules governing it,” he said.

While not agreeing with this premise, Pound feels that “so long as the rules are enforced, I suppose there is no harm in delegating that operational, but not ultimate, responsibility to an arm’s-length organisation, provided that it is given the necessary authority, information and resources to be effective”.

He also makes the point that the ITA had what he terms a “somewhat messy beginning, against the background of the IOC’s refusal to acknowledge and respond to the 2016 McLaren Report, and was positioned as a response to unspecified

governance failures on the part of WADA”.

Do Russian athletes need to be given a chance to qualify for Paris 2024, irrespective of how the war pans out, I ask?

Pound replies by attempting to summarise what needs to be weighed when arriving at a response to this question.

“The unanswered philosophical question is whether an unprovoked war changes the aspirational Olympic paradigm,” he says.

“This was certainly the case with the two World Wars and the South African apartheid regime.”

He concludes: “At a certain point, there is a shared national responsibility for national conduct.”

And did Pound have a parting message for Russian sports leaders?

He does, of course. “Russian athletes and sports leaders are welcome additions to the Olympic Movement, but must understand that if they wish to be part of it, they must accept and respect the applicable rules,” he said.

“Their sport conduct cannot not be inextricably linked with state conduct. Their conduct in recent years has not been acceptable.”

In its clarity, brevity and even-handedness, this response in particular comes across as the sort of formulation that an IOC President might compose.

The Olympic Movement will miss Richard William Duncan Pound.

Richard Pound was at the heart of the Salt Lake City scandal, when his outspokenness may have cost him the IOC Presidency

Photo: Getty Images

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch was said to delegate the tough jobs to Richard Pound. Photo: Getty Images

2023: GAMES IN EVERY CORNER

Five continental Games are quickly approaching which athletes will hope to use as stepping stones to bigger things. Dan Palmer looks forward to what will be important staging posts on the road to Paris 2024.

For many athletes, 2023 will be the year of the dress rehearsal.

Four continental Games will take place within the same 12 months, providing valuable experience of a multi-sport setting before the Paris 2024 Olympics.

There could have been even more sport this year, but the African Games in Ghana were postponed to 2024 as the country battles a financial crisis.

This delay has denied us a unique occurrence - as all five continental events have never been held in the same calendar year before.

The European Games, African Games, Pan American Games and Pacific Games normally take place in the same year, one year before the Summer Olympics.

They were joined in 2023 by the Asian Games after Hangzhou 2022 was pushed back as a result of China’s strict COVID-19 policy.

But the delay of Accra 2023 was then announced in February to leave just four Games once more.

This year’s continental extravaganza will begin with the European Games in Kraków and the Małopolska region in Poland in June and July.

It will be just the third edition of the event, with Europe late to the party in arranging a multi-sport gathering for its athletes.

After Accra’s postponement, the next event will be the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September and October.

For the Olympic Council of Asia, the Opening Ceremony beginning in Hangzhou will likely come as a huge relief.

The Asian Games is the biggest multi-sport event outside of the Olympics, but it has been plagued by uncertainty. As a result of the pandemic, the OCA has not been able to hold one of its major competitions since 2018.

In October and November, focus will turn to the Americas for the Pan American Games in Chile’s capital Santiago.

The year will then conclude with the Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands, in November and December.

With Paris 2024 qualification opportunities on offer in many sports, the continental Games are a vital target in the diaries of athletes, who are tackling a shorter Olympic cycle of three years due to the postponement of Tokyo 2020.

insidethegames has looked ahead to the five Games to see how preparations are going.

The European Games still feels like the new kid on the block in the sporting calendar.

Kraków-Małopolska 2023 will be just the third instalment following Baku 2015 and Minsk 2019, and the event is still striving to find its feet and gain the type of prominence it is looking for.

Many athletes have not put the European Games towards the top of their list, although that may change due to the numerous Paris 2024 qualification places on offer this time in Poland.

There is also work to do in attracting fans, with the absence of a traditional athletics programme and swimming - the two “big ticket” Olympic sports - meaning television companies are not as interested as they might be.

The rival European Championships, which until recently did include athletics and swimming, has staged two editions itself which has provided stern competition for eyes and ears.

But with both sports ending their association with that event, too, it seems like an ideal opportunity for the European Games to gain ground.

Twenty-one Olympic disciplines will be on the programme in Poland, including a team track and field event which will double up as the European Athletics Team Championships.

There will also be the chance for seven non-Olympic sports to shine, with the inclusion of summer ski jumping on the famous Zakopane hills an interesting addition.

Look out, too, for padel and teqball in the main square of Kraków, the historic city which will be the focal point of the Games while sharing events with the wider Małopolska region.

Significant upgrades are taking place at Kraków’s Henryk Reyman Municipal

DANIEL PALMER MAGAZINE EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

Kraków-Małopolska 2023 June 21 - July 2

Stadium, which will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and rugby sevens.

A contractor for the work was signed in December, ending a six-month search.

Chorzów, around 90 kilometres to the west of Kraków, will stage the athletics at Silesian Stadium which has space for 55,000 people.

Other locations include new venues for diving and BMX freestyle in Rzeszów and Krzeszowice respectively, and an amphitheatre in Nowy Sącz for breaking.

In May, the host city contract for the Games was signed, a huge relief for organisers the European Olympic Committees after a funding deadlock between the city of Kraków and the Polish Government.

There are still question marks over the budget, however, which was described as a “big unknown” in October as Poland battles the cost-of-living crisis with inflation at a 25-year high.

Included in the host city contract is a cancellation clause which was inserted in case of an “uncontrolled influx of refugees” from neighbouring Ukraine, following the invasion by Russia.

Millions have already left Ukraine for Poland, with a significant amount in Kraków, and the diving venue in Rzeszów is only around 100 kilometres from the border.

Russia and Belarus will be absent from the Games after being frozen out of international sport following the invasion, and organisers will hope the athletes will do the talking come June.

But the treatment of LGBT+ people in Poland will likely lead to awkward questions for the hosts.

Małopolska even passed legislation declaring itself “free of LGBT ideology” before it was scrapped in October amid a European Union threat to withhold billions in funding.

Kraków will be the main hub of the European Games, with events also taking place across the wider regions of Małopolska and Silesia

Photo: Getty Images

Hangzhou 2022

September 23 - October 8

arrivals would no longer need to endure a spell in quarantine.

Forty-five countries and more than 10,000 athletes are expected at what will be the biggest multi-sport event of the year.

This number could increase further if highly controversial plans to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete come to fruition.

The OCA has made clear its readiness to welcome the two nations despite them being frozen out of much of international sport due to the invasion of Ukraine.

particularly from Ukraine and other European countries.

It would also lead to increased interest in Hangzhou 2022 from outside of Asia and, as usual with the Asian Games, there is a massive sports programme to get stuck into.

Sixty-one different disciplines have been confirmed, including every Olympic sport and regional favourites such as kabaddi, kurash and sepaktakraw.

When the curtain fell on the Jakarta Palembang Asian Games on September 2, 2018, nobody in the world of sport could have imagined what was to come.

More than four years have passed since those Games in Indonesia, but it remains as the last time an Olympic Council of Asia event has been successfully held.

The coronavirus pandemic put paid to planned editions of the Asian Beach Games, Asian Youth Games and Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, and the jewel in the crown was not safe either.

In May, it was announced that the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games would be postponed due to continuing coronavirus concerns in China, with new dates in 2023 later confirmed.

China had adopted an extremely tough approach to tackling the virus with huge cities being placed into lockdown as part of a “zero COVID” strategy which many outsiders viewed as being unsustainable.

Numerous other sporting events were postponed or cancelled, although the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics did go ahead with a strict closed loop bubble system in place.

It remains to be seen what COVID measures are being planned for Hangzhou, particularly after a fresh spike of cases in China in December and January, and concerns that the country has underreported how many people have actually tested positive.

The zero COVID approach has been rolled back, however, and there was a boost when officials announced that international

It is a divisive move which followed the International Olympic Committee’s decision to explore ways for Russians and Belarussians to compete under strict conditions of neutrality.

Randhir Singh, the Acting President of the OCA, has insisted that Asian athletes will not miss out on medals or Paris 2024 places if they are defeated by the invited guests.

But the move, should it be confirmed, will inevitably lead to much criticism of the OCA,

The Hangzhou Olympic Center Stadium - known as the Big Lotus - will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and athletics, while a large number of new venues have been built, including an aquatics centre and velodrome.

Esports is a notable inclusion at a brand new dedicated facility - which perfectly sums up just how much money authorities have dedicated to Hangzhou 2022.

It is because of this investment that China will be desperate for a positive event, even if it is taking place a year later than planned.

The Big Lotus stadium will be the centrepiece of Hangzhou's delayed Asian Games Photo: Getty Images

DANIEL PALMER MAGAZINE EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

Santiago 2023

October 20 - November 5

For Panam Sports, it is perhaps a case of history repeating as it prepares for the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile’s capital Santiago.

Four years ago in Lima, preparations went right to the wire as organisers in Peru scrambled to make sure venues and other vital facilities were ready.

They don’t do things easily in South America, it seems, with Panam Sports President Neven Ilic admitting at the organisation’s General Assembly in September that work on venues would be completed “very close” to Santiago 2023’s Opening Ceremony.

"That was not the first idea but it was the same problem that we had in Lima,” said Ilic, himself a Chilean.

Seven new venues are being built for the Games, with Ilic insisting that there is time to complete the work.

The main challenge could be the finishing touches, with Michael Fennell, the head of Panam Sports’ Technical Commission for the Games, singling out the aquatics and volleyball venues for “special attention”.

Fennell said that while overall preparations were “fine”, the danger was finishing off the small details.

Forty-one venues are planned for Santiago 2023 in all, across 19 Chilean districts.

The National Stadium Sports Park in the Ñuñoa district features 12 of the venues, including the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos which will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and athletics.

This focal venue was described as “86 per cent” ready in January and organisers hope it will be the first to be delivered.

Ilic blamed the COVID-19 pandemic as the chief reason for the delays in construction, but felt preparations for Santiago 2023 would ramp up after a tender process was completed.

Thirty-nine sports are on the programme, including every discipline set to appear at Paris 2024.

Santiago 2023 will offer the most Olympic places in the history of the Pan American Games, while the expected athlete count of more than 6,900 would also be a record.

Another issue is financial constraints, with the budget of $507 million set by Chile in 2020 only half of what it cost Lima to organise its Games in 2019.

Around $140 million of this was allocated for infrastructure, with a further $100

million going towards building an Athletes’ Village in Parque Bicentenario de Cerrillos.

The rest of the money has been set aside for the organisation of the Games, but the global economic climate has changed for the worse since the budget was announced in 2020.

Political uncertainty, meanwhile, has been cited by Chilean Olympic Committee President Miguel Ángel Mujica as one of the biggest challenges.

Since being awarded the hosting rights six years ago, Chile has been led by Michelle Bachelet, Sebastián Piñera and incumbent Gabriel Boric, who became President in December 2021.

This has meant dealing with “three different ideologies” but there has been good news including the recruitment of more than 12,000 volunteers.

Chile has never hosted the Pan American

Games before, with the event set to be the biggest sporting competition the country has welcomed since the FIFA World Cup in 1962. With 41 countries and an expected television audience of more than 200 million, organisers won’t let up to make sure everything is in place in time.

Santiago 2023's preparations are going right to the wire Photo: Getty Images

Solomon Islands 2023

November 19 - December 2

A six-court tennis centre, an athletics track surrounding a full-size football pitch and a multi-purpose hall are also included in the deal, alongside a hockey field, a food court and office space for the Organising Committee.

In February 2022, China provided additional workers to the Solomon Islands to help counter delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Games were originally scheduled for July but were pushed back to their new dates in November and December as the hosts wanted more time due to the impact of the virus.

Australia’s Government, too, has played a part by providing funding for athlete accommodation.

This will be the first time that the Solomon Islands has hosted the Pacific Games, which is due to welcome 24 countries.

Twenty-four sports are on the programme, including many found on the Olympic schedule and popular local disciplines such as rugby league nines and va’a canoeing.

The Pacific Games is not an event which regularly generates headlines outside of its catchment area, but this year’s edition in the Solomon Islands has found itself intertwined with the political tension felt between two of the world’s superpowers.

Last year, this collection of more than 900 islands signed a security agreement with China which put the west, and particular the United States, on notice.

Growing Chinese influence in the region is a major cause for concern for the country’s rivals, particularly with Beijing repeatedly making reference to a possible invasion of Taiwan.

This was the first such deal for China in the Pacific, and could lead to the country building a military base in the Solomons, less than 1,300 miles from Australia.

Both Taiwan – which the Chinese regard as a breakaway province – and China have pledged to fund the 2023 Pacific Games at different times.

In 2019, when the Solomon Islands recognised Taiwan, a deal was struck with the Fu Tsu construction company to build a national stadium.

But when the deal with China was penned, the relationship with Taiwan collapsed and Beijing was more than happy to step in and help with the construction work.

A new venue arrangement was signed with the Chinese in 2020 to include various facilities, including the stadium.

Chinese state company China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation later won a bid to build seven major projects, with the Government picking up the bill.

In May 2021, a ground-breaking ceremony was held in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands.

An aquatics centre with an Olympic-size 50 metre competition pool, as well as a 25m training pool, is among the new infrastructure.

Earlier this year, Solomon Islands police met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss security.

But the Americans have still had a hand in preparations, including by providing funds to clear Second World War bombs. The US is also planning to open an embassy in the country to try and counter the growing Chinese influence.

A sea turtle has been chosen as the Games mascot, and organisers have made conservation of the endangered species a key theme.

With more than six months to go before the Opening Ceremony, athletes will be working hard in training to prepare for the Games.

But the political toing and froing away from the sport may prove to be just as fascinating.

The deal between China and the Solomon Islands has been an intriguing sideshow to this year's Pacific Games Photo: Getty Images

DANIEL PALMER MAGAZINE EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

Ghana is due to host the African Games for the first time in its capital city Accra, but the 13th edition of the event has been hit by severe doubt.

The country has the aim of staging the “best African Games ever” and establishing Ghana as one of the five best sporting nations on the continent, but preparations are taking place under a huge financial cloud.

In February, the Games were postponed from 2023 to 2024 as a row over marketing rights also intensified, and it remains to be seen if they will ever take place.

Protests calling for the removal of President Nana Akufo-Addo have taken place due to a crippling economic crisis which has led to more than 50 per cent inflation, growing debt and a sharp decline in the country’s credit currency.

A $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund has been secured, subject to conditions, and there are many who think that hosting a major multi-sport event would be highly irresponsible under these circumstances, even next year.

Ghana's former President John Mahama has led calls for the cancellation of the Games, with this stance backed by George Haldane-Lutterodt, a former President of the Ghana Athletics Association and a wellknown economist.

Others, however, have called for calm with Kwaku Ofosu-Asare, the chairman of the Organising Committee, insisting that the Games should go ahead.

He has claimed it will cost Ghana just as much not to hold the Games as to stage them, with millions already splashed out on various infrastructure.

The Government has already pumped in $140 million of a $750 million loan it obtained from Afreximbank, a pan-African multilateral trade finance institution, on building facilities.

Asare claimed holding the Games would in fact boost the economy and said the Government would mobilise the resources it needs.

Despite this, plans to build a new Olympic Sports Complex to host the Games have already been abandoned.

A 60,000-seater stadium was part of the project but it was axed in 2021 after officials cited financial challenges caused by COVID.

Work is continuing on the Borteyman

Sports Complex which is due to host a massive 17 sports.

With only 24 sports on the programme in all - as well as teqball as a demonstration - the importance of the facility cannot be overstated.

But with fewer than six months to go until the original start date of the Games in August, construction was still continuing and there were fears it would not be ready in time.

Renovations are also progressing at Legon Stadium, part of the University of Ghana site where athletics, rugby, squash and football are due to be held.

The university is also the planned site for the Games Village.

Accra Sports Stadium is another football venue, which is scheduled to stage the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Nineteen Olympic sports are on the programme, as well as arm wrestling, chess, cricket, netball and squash.

Even with the planned 2024 staging,

question marks about whether the country should be hosting at a time when its currency has depreciated by more than 50 per cent will not go away, and the Games will be hard to squeeze in during Olympic year.

Organisers will hope that sport can provide a welcome boost to national morale next year, but the action on the field could do little to appease those who view the Games as an unneeded distraction.

Ghana's impeding hosting of the African Games comes with the country in economic crisis Photo: Getty Images

Accra 2023 Dates tbc.

T ime for India?

India is the host of this year’s IOC Session and has set its sights on the 2036

It is July 25, 2036. After months of sweltering heat and dry weather, the state of Gujarat is relishing the pleasant dip in temperatures.

All the roads leading to the 132,000 capacity Narendra Modi Stadium are beefed up with security and decorations as the world watches on.

A colourful and vibrant setting depicting the unique cultural heritage of a diverse nation is on display, along with thousands of Modi placards - if he is still in power - gazing at you.

As the first country enters the largest stadium in the world for the Olympic Opening Ceremony, fireworks are set off in the background and the crowd erupts. Picture perfect? Maybe, or maybe not. The host of the 2036 Summer Olympic and

Paralympic Games is yet to be decided.

Along with India, at least ten countries are in discussions with the International Olympic Committee for the hosting rights. And if India does become successful, Ahmedabad in Gujarat is mooted as a potential host city, including staging the Opening Ceremony.

In December last year, Indian Sports Minister Anurag Thakur described 2036 as “the right time to host the Games”.

“If India is making news in every sector from manufacturing to services, then why not in sports?” he said.

With the IOC Session in Mumbai set to take place from October 15 to 17 this year, Thakur claimed it is the right opportunity to make a case for the Games.

Under the current right wing and proHindutva Bharatiya Janata Party, India is due to host the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi a month before the Session, providing the perfect setting to expand on Thakur’s “why not in sports” comment.

At least that is what the Government will hope for. Financially, there will be billions of dollars in costs.

The BJP proudly boasts about its role in making the sub-continent the world’s fifth-largest national economy, and bankrolling the Games with private funding will be a concept that is easy to visualise.

This is why it was never a case of “can India host the Games?” but more about “should they?”

Olympic Games. But the sporting picture is a complicated one in this nation of more than 1.4 billion people. Vimal Sankar reports.

VIMAL SANKAR DESK EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

Since its first participation at the Summer Olympics at Paris 1900, India has won 35 medals in total, including 10 golds.

Among them, only two have been individual victories - shooter Abhinav Bindra at Beijing 2008 and javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra at Tokyo 2020. The other eight titles have all come in men’s hockey.

Since the first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896, when Greece hosted the prestigious event, the host nation has managed to finish at least in the top 10 except at London 1948, Mexico City 1968, Montreal 1976, Athens 2004 and Rio 2016.

In 1976, Canada finished 27th on the overall table - the lowest for an Olympic host nation at the Summer Games.

As far as overall standings are concerned, a 17th place finish among 26 participating nations at Paris 1900 was the best result for the sub-continent. Post-independence, finishing 22nd at London 1948 among 59 nations has been the best result. At Tokyo 2020, India won seven medals, the best-ever haul for the country at the Summer Games in a single edition, finishing 48th out of 206 teams.

Now, it comes down to what kind of statement does India want to make come 2036? Should the largest “democracy” in the world aim to be a sporting nation or a sports-hosting nation?

Assuming that those working behind the scenes to make 2036 a reality are targeting the sporting nation narrative, India will have to finish 38 places better than at Tokyo 2020 to make it to the top 10. Is that a realistic target?

If so, are Indian athletes being supported by the governing bodies to realise that dream? Sports lawyer and activist Rahul Mehra doesn’t think so.

“I think we have to be clear about why the country wants to host the Olympic Games,” Mehra, who has fought for more than a decade for better sports governance in India, said.

“When a country achieves quite substantially over a period of time at the Games, they try and bid for the Games in one of their cities.

“China prepared for 20 to 25 years before they bid for the 2008 Games. So have various other countries. They all have been at the top and then they try to make the bid and make the statement - ‘look here, we are among the top sporting nations of the world’.

“Look at our journey in sport. We are pathetic. This is not because we don’t have any talent. It is simply because there are people who play all sorts of games outside the sporting arena.

“Every system which is put in place is actually against the interest of sport. It is highly inefficient or corrupt. A person becomes an administrator for all the wrong reasons. They do everything but promote sport and develop sport across the nation.”

It is safe to say that the Indian Olympic Association has never been - in the past or present - a symbol of good governance. The National Olympic Committee was facing problems as recently as last year, forcing the IOC to intervene with a “final warning”.

While it is too early to judge the new team of administrators led by President PT Usha, a Member of Parliament nominated by the Modi-led Government, the political indulgence in Indian sport seems to have increased now more than ever.

Beleaguered BJP member Brijbhushan Sharan Singh has led the Wrestling Federation of India, with an Oversight Committee currently investigating sexual harassment allegations against him by the country’s top wrestlers.

Another BJP politician, Kalyan Chaubey, is at the helm of the All India Football Federation. BJP MP Anil Jain was elected unopposed as President of the All Indian Tennis Association in 2020 and is set to be in charge until 2024.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, also of the BJP, was re-elected unopposed for a four-year term as President of the Badminton Association of India last year.

There are a few more names but the Government has effectively ensured that BJP members or their cronies are calling the shots at most of the prominent National Federations in the country.

Interestingly, the Indian National Congress was in power when India last hosted a major multi-sport event - the New Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Drowning in controversies and corruption charges, the event saw India’s international reputation go for a toss.

Thirteen years later, only the names seem to have changed. A fresh set of politicians are overseeing sport in the country as India is preparing to host the IOC Session and bid for the Games. Only time will tell what they are planning to achieve and how they end up doing it.

“We successfully bid for the Commonwealth Games,” Mehra said. “Just look at what we did after that.

“We did everything that was wrong in the run-up and during the Games. A toilet paper was allegedly sold for 4,000 rupees.

“Since 2010 my litigation has led to funding being dropped with the majority of sports federations derecognised and suspended at different points in time. The courts have been shouting for a long time about everything wrong happening in Indian sports administration. We need reforms.

“Now, with this situation, we are bidding for the Olympic Games. There are two takeaways from this.

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is one of just two individual Olympic champions from India Photo: Getty Images

“There is zero learning from the past. From 2010, it was understood that we are incapable of hosting these Games for the simple reason that there is widespread corruption among the sports bodies.

“Sports administrators invested in the system are conflicted or corrupt. They shouldn’t be doing what they are doing. We have tried absolutely nothing to correct that system. But let’s assume that Indian sports administration is thriving and therefore everything will fall in place.

“The Prime Minister right now is the most powerful this country has had for a very long period of time. And he has thought that this is the time to go ahead and his second in command [Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs] is there to ensure that his vision is achieved.

“Now there is nothing in the world that can stop us from doing it. It is basically translating the will of the man at the top. He wants to have another feather in his cap so he can say ‘we did it during our time’.

“Even in the IOA reforms that have happened, they have managed to get their own men at the top.

“The IOA is an easy picking for them to muscle in and push in their agenda. The point is whether India is ready for it or whether Indian sports is ready for it. The answer is a big no.

“We have two individual gold medals from all these years in the Olympics. For a country that is unable to do that consistently, do we want to embarrass ourselves? Let’s build this culture first and bring in reforms.

VIMAL SANKAR DESK EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

“Maybe 2050 is the time. But politicians are politicians. It is more of a personal ambition of some people.

“Look at what we have done. We had two FIFA Under-17 World Cups. Boys and girls could not win a single match. And India spent so much money. The Olympic Games, costing billions of dollars, will be the same. All the new facilities that we need to build. Look at how we have used Commonwealth Games venues.

“What have they done to that after 2010? It is the same for the Olympics. Once this Games is done, all these facilities that we may make for billions of dollars of public money is going to be in shambles.

“It is not about BJP or Congress. They are all the same. For them it is something that they can abuse to further their political objectives.”

While India will do everything in its power to convince the IOC in Mumbai, the Session could also be one of the most-politically charged in recent history.

With the question of Russia and Ukraine at Paris 2024 hanging over President Thomas Bach and co, the chances are that all other matters might be treated as secondary. Even during the G20 meetings in India so far, the war in Ukraine has been a dominant topic.

India has remained neutral on the invasion while partnerships in the field of sports between the country and Russia have been developing steadily.

Recently, the weightlifting federations from both countries came to an agreement “to implement a joint sports development

programme” and more deals are expected in the future.

The two countries remain the best of friends, with Russia still the largest arms supplier for India. Oil exports from Moscow to New Delhi have also increased. Modi’s India has abstained from voting on United Nations resolutions condemning the war in Ukraine.

Last year, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said his country’s “specialists will be happy to help in organising the Olympic Games in India”. Meanwhile, the IOC is keen on India and sees the country as a key strategic partner moving forward.

While geopolitics and financial prowess seem to aid India’s Olympic ambitions, many other factors could play a crucial role in a winning bid according to Olympic champion Bindra.

“It is possible that India’s geopolitical relationships could have boosted its Olympic ambitions,” he said.

“Hosting and participating in international events such as the G20 summit can help boost a country’s profile on the global stage and enhance its reputation as a competent and capable nation.

“Furthermore, strong geopolitical relationships can also lead to increased cooperation and collaboration with other countries in the realm of sports.

“This can include joint training programmes, sporting exchanges and hosting international events, all of which can help build up India’s sports infrastructure and talent pool.

“However, it is important to note that while geopolitical relationships can play a

Delhi hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010 Photo: Getty Images

Nita Ambani, an IOC member, is heavily involved in Indian sport

Photo: Getty Images

role in India’s Olympic ambitions, there are many other factors that are equally if not more important, such as funding, sports infrastructure, talent development programmes, and more.

“Ultimately, achieving Olympic success requires a multi-faceted approach that takes into account a wide range of factors, including both domestic and international.”

Nita Ambani - the wife of business behemoth Mukesh Ambani who is the richest man in Asia - has been vocal about an Indian bid for a multi-sport event ever since she became an IOC member in 2016.

Mrs Ambani, who is the face of many Indian sports at the moment, backed by her wealthy husband, has invested millions in sport already.

Last year, she led the delegation as India won the hosting rights for the Session. Reliance, the company owned by the Ambanis, are principal

partners of the IOA and aims to help athletes prepare for major events.

“There has also been an increase in private investment in sport in India, with various corporate entities sponsoring athletes and teams,” Bindra added.

“Additionally, there has been a focus on infrastructure development, with the Government investing in the construction of world-class sports facilities.

“Indians are also consuming sport much more than before which is a sign of good things to come in the near future and will help fulfil our nation’s sporting ambitions.

“It’s time we leverage our population dynamics and, as a developing country, this is a natural ambition to have.

“As for the renewed positivity regarding 2036, it is possible that it is due to a combination of factors.

“The Government’s initiatives and investments in sports are likely to have a long-term impact and may lead to improved performances in the future.

“Additionally, there may be a sense of optimism regarding India’s growing sporting culture, with more and more people taking up sport and showing an interest in the Olympics.”

But even with the billions of the Ambanis, is the Olympic Games a feasible dream?

While there might be one or two venues capable of holding major events at a potential Games, some reports that emerged

during the National Games, also held in Modi’s beloved Gujarat, suggest otherwise.

From unsafe athletics tracks to triathlon being shifted from the water in the Sabarmati River due to pollution, it shot to fame for all the wrong reasons. Other venues faced issues mid-competition.

Meanwhile, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, a venue that has hosted the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, has a track that is sinking.

The IOC’s emphasis on sustainability and its plan to select future hosts with already built stadiums and facilities might therefore trouble the Indian bid.

Even if that was overlooked, will taxpayers be happy that their money is being invested in stadiums that are going to rust and sink once the Games are over, going by previous evidence? The estimated and final cost of staging the Olympics in Tokyo has spiralled out of control. By 2036, this is only going to be higher.

“I am not aware of the exact plans with respect to hosting the 2036 Games in India,” Bindra said.

“I understand that hosting the Olympics is a massive undertaking that requires significant investment in infrastructure, including stadiums, arenas, transportation and accommodation facilities.

“In recent years, the IOC has placed a greater emphasis on sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint of the Olympics.

The Government led by Indian leader Narendra Modi has installed favourable people in key sporting positions Photo: Getty Images

The vast Narendra Modi Stadium could host an Olympic Opening Ceremony in 2036 Photo: Getty Images

“This includes a focus on using renewable energy, reducing waste and promoting environmentally friendly transportation options.

“The IOC has also encouraged host cities to use existing facilities whenever possible, rather than building new ones, to reduce the environmental impact of the Games.

“In terms of India’s existing infrastructure, it would depend on the specific venues and facilities required for hosting the Olympics.

VIMAL SANKAR DESK EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

“India has experience in hosting large sporting events, having hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup and the South Asian Games.

“Later this year, India will also host the Cricket World Cup. Of course, hosting the Olympics, the world’s biggest sporting event, would be a much larger undertaking and would require significant investment and planning.”

Even if plans for infrastructure and facilities fall into place, hosting the Games has never really been about just the sport.

When Tokyo held the Games in 1964, it was also about showcasing how the nation had recovered from the brutal atomic bombings during the Second World War.

In Berlin in 1936, Hitler wanted to demonstrate Aryan superiority to the rest of the world and how the Germans had economically recovered after the effects of the First World War.

More recently in Beijing in 2008, the Chinese wanted to flex their economic and sporting progress.

Such is the nature of the Olympics that politics is barely kept out of it. Right, left, or neutral, the quadrennial celebration has witnessed plenty of politicians who have used it to showcase the soft power of their country and achieve geopolitical goals.

India is no different. For all the ambition and talk of hosting the Games, not one Indian authority - from the IOA to the Sports Ministry - wanted to comment on their plans for it.

The secrecy is understandable under the current BJP regime, which is not a fan of being questioned or criticised.

The image-conscious Modi Government’s reaction to the BBC documentary on the Gujarat riots of 2002 is a case in point. Come October, there will be more clarity on a lot of things within India’s Olympic Movement.

From an optimistic point of view, let us hope that for once, development of sport and athletes is at the forefront of the plans. But as they say in football, it’s the hope that kills you.

Infrastructure could be a barrier to any potential Indian hosting Photo: Getty Images

Shooter Abhinav Bindra won gold for India at Beijing 2008

Photo: Getty Images

In July 2016, I travelled with the Paris 2024 team members who were heading to Lausanne to make an official presentation on their bid to the International Olympic Committee.

At one point in our three-and-a-half-hour train journey from Paris-Gare de Lyon, I asked the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, about the key points she planned to make to the IOC President Thomas Bach.

“The first point we want to make is that Paris 2024 is fully engaged with all its athletes to ensure these will be a Games that has them at its centre,” she said.

“That is very important.

“The second point is to emphasise the huge level of commitment towards the bid at all levels in Paris, and across the country.

“We are engaged in a consultation exercise with our population which is unique in its depth and scope.

“Thirdly, we will speak of the important place sport has in French society, and of the many places for sport which we already have.”

The other key point was the way in which an Olympics, and the development it would entail, would fit into Hidalgo’s wider vision to renovate and improve some of the most needy parts of Paris - in this case, the Saint-Denis area.

Speaking after the meeting, Bach made it clear that Hidalgo had been an effective communicator.

Asked by insidethegames to mention the aspects of the presentation which had most resonated with him, he responded: “You can see that this approach really serves as a catalyst for the sustainable development of Paris and the regions.

“There are different projects around there as the Mayor has mentioned - the sport programme for schools, the cleaning of the River Seine - and you have many other projects where the candidature really serves as a catalyst.

“Plus the fact that the candidature is proposing Olympic sites which are 90 per cent or more than 90 per cent already in place.

"This is another great example for Olympic Agenda 2020 and sustainable development.

“And we experience here a candidature which is showing the great unity of Paris and the French people, even among the politicians. All the politicians are unified with the worlds of sport and the economy.”

With fewer than 500 days to go until the Olympics start in Paris on July 26, 2024, how have the aspirations expressed on that distant sunny day held up?

In the intervening years the world of sport, and the world itself, has been ravaged by a pandemic.

It has, fingers crossed, begun to abate, although millions still suffer through it, either physically or through the diminishing effects it has had on economic and social development.

While COVID-19 was not on the map in 2016, the other major factor that has emerged to test the delivery of Paris 2024 might have been anticipated given Russia’s military moves in Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

With fewer than 500 days until the Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024, the French capital is approaching the home straight. Mike Rowbottom explores the issues including Russia, the UEFA Champions League final and more.

MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Like the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 last year, has convulsed not just the sporting world but the world at large.

That said, the question of whether athletes from Russia - and by extension, its assisting power of Belarus - should be held accountable for the actions of their Government and excluded from international competition has become an intractable source of dissent and division.

One thing that has not changed since that Lausanne trip is Hidalgo’s talent as a communicator.

No-one was left in any doubt about where she stood on the IOC’s recently expressed desire to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the Games as “neutrals” when, on February 7, she said: "As long as Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine, I don't want there to be a Russian delegation at the Paris 2024 Games. I would find that indecent.

"It is not possible to parade as if nothing has happened, to have a delegation come to Paris, while the bombs continue to rain down on Ukraine."

Hidalgo also claimed that the neutral banner "does not really exist".

Three days later, she was visiting Ukraine and addressing Kyiv City Council.

“As long as Russian troops continue to bombard Ukraine, target the civilian population and infrastructure, while Russian soldiers occupy Ukrainian territory, the participation of Russian athletes in international competitions is unacceptable,” she said.

“This is my conviction as a Mayor, as a political leader, as a dedicated European woman.

“I have no doubt that the International Olympic Committee will be able to support this position.”

Within the next few days, however, other views would be aired by those associated with Paris 2024.

France's five-time Olympic biathlon champion and Paris 2024 Board member Martin Fourcade was among those to take a different path.

While stressing that "no part of me understands the Russian Government or its actions", the IOC Athletes’ Commission member said he would be “very embarrassed” if his country refused to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete at next year’s Olympics.

Shortly afterwards, French IOC member Guy Drut, the 1976 Olympic 110 metres

hurdles champion, also backed the idea of Russian and Belarusian athletes competing as neutrals, insisting that “athletes should not suffer from the stupidities of their political leaders”.

Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet, meanwhile, has been playing with a straight bat, insisting that the final decision rests with the IOC.

“It's not in the charge of Paris 2024 to decide who is allowed to participate,” the three-time Olympic canoeing champion said. “It's about the IOC, it's about the International Paralympic Committee, it's about the international federations who will decide which delegations will be allowed to participate.”

With all this turbulence around, one might expect Paris 2024 chief executive Étienne Thobois to be suffering from restless nights. Not so, as he told insidethegames

“Is there anything that is keeping me from sleeping at night?” he asked with the suggestion of a grin. “No. I am not sleeping a lot, but I am sleeping well.”

Thobois, who represented France in the men’s singles badminton at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, responded methodically to the question of whether, given the divergence of opinion regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes, there was an official Paris 2024 view on the matter.

“First of all I think what is happening is very sad, and we think of the Ukrainian people and what is going on and we hope it will end as soon as possible,” he said.

“You will understand that as an Organising Committee we will basically follow what the IOC is putting together and discussing with the various Governments, but it is not a decision for Paris 2024.

“Our job is to deliver the best possible platform for the athletes that will be competing in Paris.

“That’s what we are focused on. And as an organisation, despite our personal opinions, we don’t have to say otherwise.”

But Drut, Fourcade and Hidalgo - have they not all expressed opinions on the matter?

“Yes,” Thobois responded. “But they have done it as a personal opinion, and everyone is free to have a personal opinion on this very complicated subject.

“And so the IOC is discussing it with the various political entities, whether it’s the United Nations or the European authorities from various countries. But for us as an Organising Committee we are focusing on delivering the Games based on whoever will be participating.

“And that decision doesn’t lie with us, it lies with the international federations and the IOC and we trust them to take the best possible decision in the interests of the Olympic Movement and globally.”

While we are examining the bold claim regarding beauty sleep, the next obvious topic of conversation is the ramifications of the potentially catastrophic policing at last year’s UEFA Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

With fewer than 500 days to go until the Paris 2024 Olympics, issues such as Russian participation are coming to the fore Photo: Getty Images

The much criticised organisation of the event, including the random pepper spraying of fans, comes with the Stade de France due to host the flagship Olympic sport of athletics and rugby sevens next year.

Initially, UEFA and French authorities sought to blame ticketless supporters for the crushes which could so easily have resulted in the loss of many lives, until the evidence proved otherwise.

MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

French authorities, the police and Ministers were panned in a Senate report in July, which called for guidelines on the use of tear gas and for the state and the French Football Federation to “change the way public authorities look on the supporters”.

It described the Champions League final as a “warning shot” with the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics on the horizon.

Thobois fields the obvious question.

“It was very unfortunate for the people that had a very bad experience coming into that Champions League Final,” he said. “But on the other hand I think people have learnt a lot from it.

“We have gone through a very thorough exercise in terms of understanding what happened, what didn’t go well, from the whole chain of command to the transport issues, the security issues, the communication issues, the ticketing incident.

“It was a wake-up call in some ways, in understanding the difficulty of having many people engaging with what will be a fantastic celebration of sport.

“The Olympic Games is very different to football. In a way it is a much bigger challenge. But the difference is that we have five years to prepare, and we have been intensely preparing already with one-and-ahalf years to go.

“Everyone is very conscious of their responsibilities, everyone is around the table, and we are looking at every aspect of managing the flows of people on a day-to-day basis.

“So right now I am very confident in our ability to operate very smooth and secure experiences for those people that will be experiencing the celebration of the Games.

“We have experience, we have good public

transport systems, we have a fantastic city to celebrate sport and we are working hard to make sure that everything goes well.

“I have no doubt that we will be able to deliver a safe, secure and festive Games in 2024.”

The next topic for Thobois - transport. In February, Île-de-France President Valérie Pécresse demanded more than €200 million from the French Government to enhance services for Paris 2024.

Pécresse, the head of Île-de-France Mobilités which runs transport in Paris, has

Étienne Thobois said the chaos at the UEFA Champions League final was a "wake-up call" Photo: Getty Images

Paris 2024's look and feel has now been unveiled

Photo: Getty Images

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo brings the Olympic flag back to France from Tokyo 2020 Photo: Getty Images

Meanwhile, a Parliamentary report into the general transport scene in Paris had spoken of different factions sitting in different corners and refusing to cooperate. Thobois begged to differ.

“Transport is obviously a huge challenge for the Games,” he said. “It’s an area that needs very strong cooperation and coordination between the various stakeholders. Between the spectator transport plan, the accredited transport plan and everything else that will still be running in the city.

“I think we now have governance that is at the highest level. The Comité des mobilités will meet every six weeks, it is headed by the Minister of Transport together with the Minister of Sport and the Games and the Minister in charge of accessibility.

“In that meeting we have a President of the region as the head of the transport authority in the region, you’ve got the City of Paris, you’ve got the airport authorities…

“Everybody is around the table - the main operators. And the work is going very well. We are heading now into the transport strategy, we are looking at the accessibility, and the ability to get to some venues by cycling.

“Not to mention public transport for all the spectators and the accredited personnel. All these areas are tackled, and on the ground people are working hand-in-hand.

“There are always issues around the big money things in respect to transport and investment.

“But I can tell you that in respect to the operation for Paris 2024, everybody is working together and hand-in-hand to deliver.

“Yes, there are questions around financing transport globally, with IDFM experiencing challenges and asking for help at national level. But that is, I would say, a discussion that is not directly impacting the work and the delivery plans.”

So what does Thobois himself regard as the biggest current challenge for those charged with delivering the Paris Olympics and Paralympics next year?

“On a project like this, if you ask what is most challenging, it is probably to keep the excitement and the enthusiasm around the project,” he said.

“That is true obviously for the Organising Committee, for people who need to think all the time in a positive way and move forward despite all the challenges you need to face on a project such as this.

“But I think, again, the main challenge is to keep the ambition and be true to ourselves and not to take the easy way. We haven’t chosen to go the easy way on anything, and that’s the most difficult thing.

“Looking at past Games, sometimes the issues were around infrastructure. We cross fingers but we are very confident in that respect.

“We have done an incredible job in terms of delivering infrastructure when we talk about the Athletes’ Village, the Media Village, the Aquatics Centre, the arena, the things we built specifically for the Games. They will be on time and on budget if you don’t count inflation.

“So that’s great, and that for us is a big piece of serenity. I think we are now into a

Involving as many people as possible with Paris 2024 is a key aim for organisers Photo: Getty Images reportedly sent a letter to France’s Transport Minister Clément Beaune in a bid to secure funding for the improvements.

very integrated cooperation with the major stakeholders in terms of delivering for security and transport.

“We are full speed ahead with the public authorities there. We are where we want to be.”

Ticket sales for the Olympics have now begun, and organisations of all sizes have been able to apply for the “Terre de Jeux” label if they have a role to play in the Games.

“When you look at the overall engagement programmes, if we look at the commitment that people have around the volunteer programme, or even the ticketing, you can see that there is an appetite for these Games and things are really going pretty well at this stage,” said Thobois.

“Globally I think we are exactly where we would like to be at this stage of preparation of the Games.

“We are very optimistic in our ability to deliver on our promises and we feel we have been quite consistent from the start and quite true to our original promises despite all the difficulties that we, that is we globally, have had to go through.

“Whether it is COVID, or the conflict with Ukraine and Russia, or the basic economic difficulties that everybody has to face.

“We were able in that overall environment to maintain our ambitions, and Tony [Estanguet] has provided great leadership in that respect and convinced all our stakeholders this was the way to go.

“And with around 500 days to go to the Games I think the team - and when I say that I mean the public authorities, the IOC and

MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

the IPC as well - is on board for a Games that will set a new blueprint in some areas.

“There will be more participation of the public globally, and we will be where we should be in terms of sustainability.

“We haven’t given up on anything - and I think that’s probably what we are most proud of right now.

“There’s still a long way to go, but I am quite happy on where we are and the fact that we are being true to ourselves in many different aspects.”

Paris 2024 has announced plans for an intriguing Opening Ceremony which will see athletes travel down the Seine in a flotilla of boats.

“For us there are two or three main ideas behind the bid,” Thobois added.

“The first one is to open the Games to as many people as possible. And I think we have done that quite well, whether it’s through the Opening Ceremony, whether it’s through the marathon for all, which is having great success.

“Club 2024 now has almost three million connecting to the Games and the Terre de Jeux programme is huge.”

Estanguet has defended Paris 2024’s ticket pricing, insisting it is in line with London 2012 and World Cups in football and rugby.

“We have more than one million tickets at €24 and half of our tickets below €50,” said Thobois.

“We can see that it has been very, very successful.

“The Make Your Games pack phase, which was designed to allow people to discover new sport, has been very successful. Some of the new sports went out very quickly.

“So we feel we are opening up the Games to as many people as possible.

“The second big thing was making it meaningful, so that’s about our legacy programme. That has already started with the 30 minutes of sport in schools, and the Olympic and Paralympic weeks in schools, which have been a fantastic success.

“And it’s about our endowment fund, which has already been promoting many projects involving more than 700,000 people.

“In terms of the look and the branding of the Games, there again we are trying to bring some type of meaning to everyone. You see the mascots with their historical reference to freedom. You see the pictograms where we have tried to break the codes - we think it is another little game-changer.

“And the look of the Games reminds us of our history. Every time we do something we try to look for something meaningful around it. I think we are doing pretty well.”

Paris 2024 has said that 80 per cent of people in France are in favour of playing host.

“If you look at other Games at this stage that is quite remarkable,” said Thobois.

“And we believe that we get that rate because we engage and we have some kind of coherence and we are true to what we are trying to do.

“The third element is sustainability, which involves inclusion as well as environmental issues. And again, we are where we want to be.

“The fact that two thirds or more of our suppliers are small companies is also a good sign of the strategies we have put in place.

“Whether it’s through engaging, or being meaningful, or being sustainable, and despite the challenges we face, we have been able to stick to our ambition.

“And that gives us pride.”

The Paris 2024 mascots were unveiled as two Phrygian caps Photo: Getty Images

Paris 2024's ticket pricing has been defended with fans now able to buy their seats. Photo: Getty Images

CHANGE OR BE CHANGED

Short-form content is booming and taking over the sporting world, and governing bodies are scrambling to attract new audiences with different formats, rules and disciplines.

Modern pentathlon's "ninja warrior" obstacle course, the beach sprint in rowing and 3x3 basketball are just some of the events traditional sports have come up with as they seek to keep pace with an ever-evolving landscape.

Helped by the International Olympic Committee's keen attention, urban sports are pushing their way to the fore due to their popularity with the younger generation.

The most recent edition of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo saw the debuts of skateboarding, freestyle BMX and 3x3, while breaking is due to feature for the first time at Paris 2024.

With these new kids on the block thrust firmly into the limelight, some are realising that their sports are aging quickly and as such their once secure place at the Games could be in jeopardy.

The revolving door of Olympic sports has already spat out the likes of polo, lacrosse and cricket, with the latter seeking to be included again at Los Angeles 2028 with the shorter T20 format.

Sport's survival of the fittest takes no prisoners and while purists

are right to want to protect original formats, they should also realise that without innovation they run the risk of extinction.

However, this tends to be divisive so the real skill is for governing bodies to find a way to change without alienating swathes of stakeholders.

The International Modern Pentathlon Union's plan to replace riding with an obstacle race as the sport's fifth discipline has been one that has brought a fair bit of criticism.

Nevertheless, the organisation has stayed firm among the outcry and is adamant that this will enhance the sport, with riding’s system of allocating random horses proving unpopular.

One positive that is expected to come with the change is that it will make modern pentathlon accessible to many more African countries, which is set to increase overall participation.

The IOC's influence is also a large factor for the change, as it has threatened to leave modern pentathlon out of future Olympic Games.

"The key element for when we reached the decision with obstacle was to achieve the criteria of the IOC," said UIPM Athletes' Committee chairman Yasser Hefny of Egypt.

"We are talking about universality, cost production, an appealing

Modern pentathlon's decision to axe horse riding in favour of a "ninja warrior" style obstacle race is typical of sports trying to re-invent themselves to fit in with new trends. Owen Lloyd reports.

event, and an event that guarantees fairness.

"We are working towards and achieving these criteria, and we are filling the modern Olympic requirements.

"Our people in Africa are happy about this change. Before, there were two big challenges - fencing and riding.

"Fencing can be solved because you will send equipment, maybe one coach, and after one year you will have a team.

"But with horse riding it was always a very big challenge.

"How do you get the horses? How will you take care of them?

"Now with obstacle, they feel like it is very appealing.

"It is going to increase the number of countries who can compete and the number of participants, and also the countries who can host competitions."

Hefny feels that obstacle can offer a perfect equilibrium between past and present needs. For him, it should not be a case of having one or the other.

"Look at a sport like breaking," he said.

"If I told you 20 years ago that it would be in the Olympics, what would you say?

"But this is the trend, this is what it's all about.

"It’s not just the traditions, but you also need to present something that this generation and the next will like to watch.

"What we are trying to do now in pentathlon is mixing the tradition with something that fits the mentality of the new generation.

"Why can't we have both? We can have both.

"The tradition, the history, the Olympic spirit, but also we can fit in something that has the DNA of pentathlon that can also increase the sport's value and bring in sponsors."

In addition to the IOC's impact, the influence of social media has massively shifted the landscape of how people consume digital content.

The rise of short-form video platform TikTok has rapidly proved to be a driving force.

OWEN LLOYD REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Another Tokyo 2020 debutant, sport climbing, is perfect for the platform as most speed races are finished within 10 seconds.

Viewing figures for the Olympics have declined at each edition since London 2012, which brought in a global television audience of 3.6 billion.

While the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games still attracted a respectable 3.05 billion, the IOC is fearing the worst and has launched its drive to attract youth to its flagship event.

TikTok is seen as a prime target for the IOC as the social media app reports that a large slice - 41 per cent - of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24.

The strategy seems to be working so far as the IOC has already built up 6.1 million followers at the time of writing, surpassing its Instagram total of 5.6 million.

This is nearly above the Twitter following of 6.4 million, despite this account being set up more than a decade ago in 2009.

Modern pentathlon’s competition length has come down dramatically to make it more palatable for television, social media and in-person audiences.

Competition used to be contested over five days but was squashed into two at Tokyo 2020 which is more in keeping with the times

At Paris 2024, the plan is to hold a competition in just 90 minutes.

"This generation are not used to sitting and watching for so long," said Hefny.

"They want to scroll on TikTok and Instagram. "If you give them a video for more than one minute they don't want to watch.

"We made it shorter because this is the trend and this is the advice we got from the media and marketing experts.

"Changing and evolving is something we have to do.

"This change is going to be very important for modern pentathlon."

Another key reason for the IOC's interest in urban sports is the accessibility.

It all links to increasing participation levels and the majority of these sports can be practiced with minimal equipment needed.

Parkour has been encompassed by the

The 3x3 version of basketball made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 Photo: Getty Images

The International Gymnastics Federation has absorbed parkour into its list of disciplines Photo: Getty Images

Modern pentathlon has introduced an obstacle race to replace riding Photo: UIPM

International Gymnastics Federation and it would not be a surprise if we see it at the Olympics in the future.

It has already made strides towards the mainstream with the hosting of the inaugural FIG World Championships which took place in October in Tokyo.

With a multitude of new and exciting sports arriving, there is a feeling that it is either change or be changed for many.

"As an older organisation, we need to be challenged," said Michel Filliau, a former senior manager at the IOC and now a senior advisor for the International Basketball Federation, to insidethegames

"We need new blood always.

"It is not old sports versus new sports, but a question of breaking habits.

"It is a question of the fans, the new way to approach them, the new consumers.

"It is the question of attracting more of the public and I do trust that the future is about agreement together and learning from one another.

"The original motto [for 3x3] was ‘from the streets to the Olympics.’”

It is certainly good to be challenged, but is the IOC too hellbent on altering disciplines to fit into its "less is more" ideals of modern sport?

Although this will encourage those stuck in their ways to look for interesting ideas to

OWEN LLOYD REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES

develop, there is a danger that some could be forced into making rash decisions with a negative impact.

A hastiness to fit in may end up in Olympic sports losing their originality and the quirkiness that makes them great.

Imagine if we never saw Jessica Ennis’s heptathlon win at London 2012 because someone decided that the two-day event was too long?

Road cycling seems to remain as popular as ever, even though the acclaimed Tour de France takes three weeks - an eternity for the IOC's perception of young people.

The organisation has a classification system to work out each sport's popularity, which is split into five categories.

Cycling is in category B, the second highest, so maybe it is safe from the chopping block for now.

The system gauges popularity based on television viewers, internet traction, public surveys, ticket requests, press coverage and the number of national federations. There are weighted importance percentages of 40, 20, 15, 10 and five.

Modern pentathlon was down in the bottom category and was clearly in trouble.

That was even before the debacle at Tokyo 2020 which saw German Annika Schleu's coach punch her horse for not cooperating -

an incident which contributed largely to riding being dropped.

While the likes of discus and javelin have been around since ancient times and could feasibly stick around for a thousand years more, it seems that, as much as sport is about tradition, it knows no bounds in terms of how far this definition can be stretched.

The IOC wants to attract young people to the Olympics so badly that it is now considering the inclusion of things that are not even sports.

The debate around computer gaming, or esports, is engulfing the Olympic Movement with many feeling it deserves a place.

The industry is difficult to ignore, simply because of its financial value alone.

Although figures vary wildly, it is agreed to be worth billions and is undoubtedly appealing to young people.

Given these are the two things the IOC want most, it is understandable that its head has been turned.

The fact that there is even a conversation about it suggests how much the IOC is willing to adapt to remain relevant.

This is certainly a good thing, but Thomas Bach and friends must strive to find a middle ground between the new and innovative, and the importance of preserving sporting history and heritage.

The "horse punching" incident involving the coach of Annika Schleu at Tokyo 2020 contributed to the demise of riding in modern pentathlon Photo: Getty Images

PHILIP BARKER HISTORIAN, INSIDETHEGAMES

What’s in a name

Archery

The Fédération International de Tir a L’arc was born in 1931. Became World Archery in 2009.

Athletics

Established as the International Amateur Athletic Federation in 1912, the acronym stayed as it became the International Association of Athletics Federations. Became World Athletics in 2019.

Aquatics

The International Swimming Federation was formed in 1908. After more than a century of history, it became World Aquatics in 2022.

Breaking

Founded in 1957 as the International Council of Amateur Dancers, it became the International Dance Sport Federation in 1990. Renamed World Dance Sport Federation in 2011.

Rowing

Founded in 1892 as the Federation International de Sociétés d'Aviron, it was renamed World Rowing in 2020.

Rugby Union

The International Rugby Football Board was created in 1886. Shortened to the International Rugby Board in 1998, it became World Rugby in 2014.

Sailing

The International Yacht Racing Union, founded in 1907, became the International Sailing Federation in 1996 and World Sailing in 2015.

Taekwondo

In 2017, the World Taekwondo Federation changed to World Taekwondo because of “negative connotations” with the acronym “WTF”.

Wrestling

The Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées, set up in 1905, became United World Wrestling in 2014.

As governing bodies scramble to add the word "World" to their names, it can be confusing to know which federation you are talking about, especially with aquatics, athletics and archery now sharing an acronym. Philip Barker talks us through the organisations which have made a switch.

World Taekwondo will celebrate its Golden Anniversary in May after 50 years of existence. Patrick Burke speaks to the organisation’s President Chungwon Choue about half a century of history and the plans to celebrate.

May 28, 1973 - a date etched into taekwondo's history which continues to serve as a key reference point for the sport. It marks the founding of the World Taekwondo Federation at its Kukkiwon headquarters in Seoul. Continuity at the head of the organisation has been a key theme since then. Kim Un-yong led it from its incarnation until his retirement in 2004, and fellow South Korean Chungwon Choue has been at the helm since then.

World Taekwondo - as it was renamed in 2017 to remove the unfortunate WTF acronym - has made no secret of its pride at reaching its 50th anniversary year.

From what Choue has described as “humble beginnings”, it has grown into one of the largest International Federations in the Olympic Movement by number of member nations, something that provides the 75-year-old with a real sense of achievement.

“Fifty years ago, we started forming the World Taekwondo

Federation with only 17 countries,” he told insidethegames

“Now, there are 212, and I’m always saying ‘plus one representing refugees’.

“At the coming General Assembly in May, we are expecting Namibia to join with us, so after May we can say 213 plus one member nations, which is one of the largest of the IFs.

“The number of practitioners of taekwondo all over the world is reaching 100 million. Nearly half of the 100 million are in Chinathey have a huge population, but they decided to take taekwondo among the core sports.

“One hundred million is not a small number, and we are really happy.”

The journey has included several milestones. A little more than two years after it was formed, the organisation became affiliated to the Global Association of International Sports Federations, before earning International Olympic Committee recognition in 1980.

Appearances at the Olympic Games as a demonstration sport at Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 were followed by taekwondo's elevation to the official programme from Sydney 2000, where it has remained ever since.

Taekwondo might be synonymous with South Korea, but the sport's country of origin has hardly had an exclusive grip at the top of the medals table, with athletes from 22 countries taking golds since it made its Olympic debut. That spread of success is deemed to be positive by Choue.

PATRICK BURKE REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES

2024, which Choue believes is testament to the success of its debut.

The World Taekwondo President also highlighted the spread of success in Parataekwondo in the Japanese capital to add to his claims of it becoming a “universal sport”.

“After the successful launching, the International Paralympic Committee decided to increase the medals at the Paris Paralympic Games, so instead of three and three, it is five and five, so even more events than taekwondo at the Olympic Games,” Choue said.

“This is also good progress, and we are happy about the result. Many countries are very strong in taekwondo. In the last Paralympic Games, countries like Peru, Uzbekistan and Brazil won a medal, Korea only got one bronze, but all the six gold medals went out to six different countries.”

“Before, many people thought taekwondo is a Korean-dominated sport, which is not the case anymore,” he insisted. “It became a universal sport.

“For example at the last Tokyo Olympic Games, Korea did not get any gold medals. Many Koreans think it is because of you [other countries], but that is not important.

“Taekwondo is now Korea’s gift to the world. I’m really happy about the spreading of taekwondo in the programme of sports in the world, and taekwondo gives kids courage, confidence, respect and disciplinethese kind of philosophies supporting the young children.

“In many countries, they like to send many kids to the taekwondo dojang.

“Why? Because after they go to the taekwondo dojang, young kids are disciplined. They bow to elderly people and respect elderly people. Not many martial arts teach those kinds of philosophies, which is very important.

“I really like to spread this kind of atmosphere to the world.”

A Paralympic milestone has also been reached, with Para-taekwondo added to the programme for the first time at Tokyo 2020.

It is set for an increase from three to five weight divisions for both genders at Paris

Away from elite level, the work of the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation is something Choue attaches great importance to. He is the founder and chair of the charitable body, which was founded in 2015. It helped to establish a Taekwondo Humanitarian Center at the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan in April 2018, and recently staged its second edition of the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival.

The THF is working with 10 other Olympic sports on various initiatives, and Choue explained the family connection to his aims of promoting peace.

“September 21 is the International Day of Peace, and my father initiated this Day of Peace in 1981,” he said.

“I worked together with my father, at the time it was broached in Costa Rica, and we had a meeting with the President of Costa Rica. At the time, the Koreas were not even member nations of the United Nations, so Costa Rica initiated this idea to submit a proposal to the UN. In the same year at the General Assembly, the UN unanimously accepted the proposal.

“So, I am always thinking about how Olympic sports have to contribute to our human society.”

The COVID-19 pandemic witnessed several developments in taekwondo. The challenges relating to the staging of competitions and the well-being of athletes were clear, but the period provided a stand-out highlight for Choue with the performance of the World Taekwondo demonstration team on America's Got Talent

The 22-member team reached the final of the 2021 edition, having received a “golden buzzer” from host Terry Crews in the auditions round.

Their performances had a theme of peace and overcoming war and natural disasters.

Taekwondo's diversity of nations is a source of great pride for the organisation Photo: Getty Images

The sport is now an Olympic fixture having debuted at Sydney 2000 Photo: Getty Images

World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue, right, with IOC counterpart Thomas Bach Photo: Getty Images

PATRICK BURKE REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES

For Choue, it was a moment to remember from his Presidency, which is close to its 19th year, as he described it as “really astonishing to taekwondo people”.

Virtual taekwondo’s development also accelerated during the pandemic. The discipline was introduced in 2019 at the World Championships in Manchester, when two virtual concepts were showcased to IOC President Thomas Bach.

Choue said that virtual taekwondo had become “one of the most popular sports”, and expressed hope that it could be added to the Olympic programme, potentially from as early as Los Angeles 2028.

Taekwondo is one of the nine sports in the IOC’s Olympic Esports Series, and the only form of martial arts on the programme. This builds on the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series held in 2021, with the finals due to take place in Singapore in June.

Adding to taekwondo's presence at multi-sport events remains an ongoing pursuit for the organisation. Choue is “happy” about the introduction of a mixed team event at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, with the Octagon Diamond Games another “exciting” competition to showcase taekwondo.

While there is plenty to look forward to for World Taekwondo, historic allegations were made last year by former head of marketing Ho Kim surrounding how the sport secured its place at Sydney 2000.

In an interview with British newspaper The Times, he claimed he was a “delivery boy” for then-President Kim, who had told his staff to do “whatever was necessary” to secure the backing of members at the 1994 IOC Session in Paris. Ho Kim claimed some members were given “cash in brown envelopes” and would fly to Seoul to collect the money.

At the time of the allegations last September, World Taekwondo said it had “absolutely no knowledge” of the claims and urged “all evidence” to be shared with its Integrity Committee for an investigation.

Un-yong Kim's successor Choue insisted he had no knowledge of the allegations made by Ho Kim and defended the sport’s record in terms of governance and transparency.

“That happened before me, so I didn’t know anything about that, but taekwondo is one of the most fair and transparent sports, especially after we introduced the protecting and scoring system since the London Olympic Games,” the World Taekwondo President said.

“That was a miracle - how come eight gold medals went out to eight different countries? That was really the turning point that taekwondo is really one of the most fair and transparent sports, so we keep focusing in that direction.”

Looking forward, World Taekwondo has a myriad of plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The World Taekwondo Championships in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku are set to run from May 29 to June 4. The day prior to the beginning marks 50 years to the day since the organisation was founded, and Choue is excited for a joint celebration with the host nation.

“The founding day is May 28, and we are going to have a World Taekwondo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan,” he said. “Coincidentally, May 28 is the independence day of Azerbaijan, so we are celebrating together our 50th anniversary and their independence day.

“So it is going to be a really meaningful and exciting World Taekwondo Championships. We are expecting many participating countries.”

Talks are also taking place with the IOC on how the wider Olympic Movement can mark the occasion.

“I had a good discussion with the IOC on celebrating our 50th anniversary,” Choue said.

“I asked the President of the IOC, Thomas Bach, ‘could you allow us to have a taekwondo statue at the Olympic Museum?’

“He was really happy to accept my proposal, so most probably we will have a tape-cutting ceremony in November some time.”

With Namibia set to join World Taekwondo in May, completing the world map is a target for the governing body, and one Choue believes it can achieve.

“About the member nations, the only ones missing are Eritrea, Liechtenstein and North Korea,” he said. “In Pan America and Oceania, all the countries have joined with us, so we are happy about that.

“We are sooner or later approaching Eritrea, who should join with us. Liechtenstein is small, but we are working together with the European Taekwondo Union. The Vatican City joined World Taekwondo in November 2020.”

North Korea could represent a more difficult challenge due to the years of uneasy history with Seoul, where World Taekwondo is based. The secretive nation is also linked to another body, the International Taekwon-Do Federation.

However, Choue remains hopeful that North Korean membership could be a possibility in the future.

“Three missing countries, but North Korea, that I don't know,” he said.

“We are discussing together, so I hope some day they will join with us.”

After 50 years with notable success promoting the sport, World Taekwondo will now pursue more ambitious goals in a bid to add more dates to the history books alongside May 28, 1973.

Taekwondo made its Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020 Photo: Getty Images

RIVAL GAMES

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested at a summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in September that the SCO could create an Association of Sports Organisations and stage "major sporting events".

This would have been enough to cause major panic at the IOC who will be desperate to avoid a whole host of superpowers walking out of the door.

Summer Youth Games featuring athletes from both countries.

Russia and China reached a sporting agreement to stage more than 500 events in October last year, including a third RussianChinese Winter Youth Games in the Chinese province of Jilin in December 2022.

At the height of the pandemic in July 2021, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach successfully proposed the addition of the word “Together” to the Olympic motto.

It is now “Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together”.

To many, it might simply have seemed to be a question of semantics.

But now, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the decision has become emblematic of the desire to keep the Olympic Movement intact at one of the most difficult and testing moments in its history.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has already claimed that work has begun with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to create a new sports body.

The SCO, a political, economic, international security and defence organisation, boasts Russia and China among its members as well as India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Iran is in the process of joining, while Belarus, Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers and nine other countries are dialogue partners.

Officials in Russia have also spoken of the need to create sports alliances with organisations such as the BRICS alliance, which includes Brazil and South Africa.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's Ambassador-at-Large Bakhtiyor Khakimov has spoken positively about splitting away and claims that the SCO has opposed the sanctions his country has been placed under.

“Now work is underway to implement this idea," he said.

“In principle, the reaction of the partners is positive, we are expected to make appropriate conceptual considerations, as is customary in the SCO.

“Member states oppose violations of the principles of Olympism, and this is a clear common position.

“At the same time, partners, and this is logical, would not like to be the objects of some unfriendly, albeit indirect, actions.

“All these nuances must be taken into account in the work to create conditions for promoting cooperation in this area, given the unifying power of sport.”

Elsewhere, Russia's Ambassador to China Igor Morgulov has revealed plans for a

Dmitry Svishchev, Russia’s Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, has predicted a number of countries would back his nation’s position and could come along with them.

"We discussed opening windows for interaction with other countries, communities, BRICS, SCO,” he said.

"I think a large number of countries are ready to compete with us.

"We have heard repeatedly that Thomas Bach calls for removing Russians from sports life, but at the same time sometimes recommends allowing it.

"But Mr Bach is not all sport, so we need to find an opportunity to create sports organisations under the BRICS and SCO."

The IOC is now exploring the possibility of athletes from Russia and Belarus competing under a neutral banner, with the possible split likely at the forefront of its mind.

The question of Olympic unity has confronted successive IOC Presidents for more than a century.

“During the last two years of the war, the threat of secession had hung over Olympism,” said Pierre de Coubertin in his memoirs in 1920.

He hinted at attempts by French officials

The IOC’s decision to explore possibilities for athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at Paris 2024 has left the Olympic Movement divided again. As Philip Barker explains, this is nothing new.

PHILIP BARKER HISTORIAN, INSIDETHEGAMES

to place the Olympic Games under the control of the League of Nations.

Almost 20 years later, Adolf Hitler had ambitions to stage the Olympics in Germany for “all time to come” as part of his thousand-year Reich. Happily, this ambition went unfulfilled.

Yet, 60 years ago, there was a very real danger that the Olympic Movement might be split apart.

In 1963, Indonesian President Sukarno promoted the Games of New Emerging Forces - or GANEFO.

“The Indonesia Government has thrown down a challenge to all international amateur sport organisations, which cannot very well be ignored,” IOC President Avery Brundage said.

The previous year, Indonesia had been eager hosts of the 1962 Asian Games.

However, the Indonesian Government made it clear that it would not grant visas to athletes from Israel and Taiwan.

The IOC reacted by suspending Indonesia from the Olympic Movement, because of what it described as “deplorable incidents which took place in Jakarta”.

In February 1963, Sukarno struck back with a speech at a domestic conference.

“Quit the IOC!” he demanded, while hinting at an alternative sporting event. In April, he issued invitations to a Congress in Jakarta.

Delegates from the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, Guinea, Iraq, Mali, Pakistan, North Vietnam and the United Arab Republic responded.

Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, and Yugoslavia also attended as observers.

“The Olympic Games are a tool of imperialists and colonialists,” Sukarno told the gathering.

He proposed a movement against what he called the “old established force”, and the creation of a separate sporting event.

“Indonesia proposes now to mix sports with politics, and let us now establish the Games of the New Emerging Forces, the GANEFO, against the old established order,” he said.

The new event was given the motto “Onward, No Retreat”.

It was intended that the Games were to be celebrated every four years, with “friendly and equal amateur sport competitions”.

A GANEFO Committee was founded, which included Egyptian IOC member Ahmed El-Demerdash Touny.

He told Brundage that the new event was “of great importance and must not be ignored”, and his support for GANEFO was sufficient to prompt Olympic Chancellor

Otto Mayer to brand him a “spy”. Behind the scenes, Indonesian officials and diplomats were working hard to encourage participation in the new event.

Sukarno had defined “New Emerging Forces” in broad terms and small maverick groups from European countries such as France and The Netherlands were persuaded to send delegations.

When Brundage accused Indonesia of playing politics, Sukarno retorted by accusing the IOC of hypocrisy.

He pointed out that the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, East Germany and North Korea had not been permitted to take part in the Olympics in their own right.

Indonesia was reinstated to the Olympic Movement but anyone taking part in GANEFO was warned they would become ineligible for Tokyo 1964.

As GANEFO’s opening day approached in November 1963, security around the Games installations intensified as reports of potential sabotage from “old established forces and reactionary agents” were revealed by Government officials.

“Army and police units are on highest alert,” said Major Ali Siregar of the Jakarta garrison. Although it was supposed to be “against the old established order”, there were many familiar elements.

A flame was lit and an Olympic style Torch Relay travelled through Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Bandung.

There was also an official GANEFO flag which was raised in the stadium.

The Games were significant for the presence of a team from the People’s Republic of China.

Chairman Mao sent Deputy Premier He Long, who was hailed as an honoured guest by Sukarno.

Indonesian Communist Party secretary Dipa Nusantara Aidit also greeted competitors from China, which had yet to compete at the Olympics after the Chinese Civil War resulted in the previous regime retreating to Taiwan.

China’s team was the most successful and returned home with 68 gold medals.

They dominated the athletics but there was as much interest in the performances of North Korean sprinter Shin Keum-dan.

Athletes who competed at GANEFO were banned from the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 Photo: Getty Images

GANEFO centred around the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta Photo: Getty Images

Reports of her exploits when racing at home or in China had already excited athletics fans around the world.

She won the 800 metres in 1min 59.1sec, two seconds inside the recognised world record which would have made her the first woman below two minutes if her time was ratified.

Then came victory over 400m in 51.4sec, once again a world best. She also won 200m gold in 23.5sec.

As the Games came to an end, organisers insisted: “The sports festival of GANEFO has become a success for Indonesia in particular and the countries of the new emerging forces in general”.

There was one major obstacle - the impending Olympic ban on all GANEFO participants that prevented the likes of Shin, who would have been an outstanding favourite, from competing in Tokyo.

PHILIP BARKER HISTORIAN, INSIDETHEGAMES

GANEFO duly disappeared from the scene, but the political backdrop to sport has remained.

Successive Olympic Games were affected by boycotts in the late 1970s and 1980s.

As retaliation for the American led boycott of Moscow 1980, most Eastern Bloc nations stayed away from the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Throughout July and August in 1984, an alternative series called the Friendship Games took place.

Moscow was the central venue, but events were also contested across eight other nations in 22 sports.

When the IOC met in Lausanne later in the year, there were discussions about sanctions for countries which did not participate in the Olympics. In the end, no action was taken.

At the time, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch was widely viewed as trying to bring the Olympic Movement back together after a decade of division.

The “Olympic Family” almost came completely together at Barcelona 1992, although even then the civil war in the former Yugoslavia violated the Olympic Truce.

In February this year, the IOC warned against any boycott of Paris 2024 as a response to its plans to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete as neutrals.

It was difficult to determine exactly who had taken part in Jakarta, so every sport tried to obtain lists of participants from their national governing bodies and ascertain whether they had been given permission to attend.

The gathering of such information meant the fate of those who had competed remained unresolved as the Tokyo Olympics drew closer.

The North Koreans arrived in Japan with a team of 180 and half a dozen had taken part in Jakarta, including Shin.

North Korean officials insisted that the entire team would be withdrawn if the GANEFO six were banned, however.

“You are complaining because we keep six people out of the Games and you are keeping 174 out, who is right?” Brundage asked the Koreans.

The Indonesians also opted to withdraw their entire team.

As they did so, a cartoon appeared in Jakarta newspapers with the caption “The Olympics are a children’s game, GANEFO is much better”.

The rival event was held only once more in 1966, however, in Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

By then the original driving force of the Games, Sukarno, was gone from power in Indonesia. China’s interest faded in the wake of the Cultural Revolution.

Those in the Lausanne corridors of power are perhaps fearful that banning the countries will lead to another rebel event, in the style of GANEFO or the Friendship Games.

“A boycott is a violation of the Olympic Charter, which obliges all NOCs to participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes,” wrote Bach to the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.

If nothing else, it was a reflection that the problems he faces are similar to those that confronted so many of his predecessors.

Indonesian President Sukarno promoted the new Games after turning against the Olympic Movement

Photo: Getty Images

Avery Brundage fought to keep the Olympic Family intact amid the threat from the new event Photo: Getty Images

Indonesian stamps promote the Games of the New Emerging Forces in 1963 Photo: Indonesian Post Office

The 2030 Winter Olympic Games are due to follow the 2026 Milan-Cortina edition and are scheduled for February 8 to 24.

So much for the easy part. The question of where those Games will take place has taken a little more time to sort out - and is yet to be decided.

The host city was initially due to be elected at this year’s 140th International Olympic Committee Session in Mumbai, now due to take place in October.

But IOC officials declared in December that they were no longer working towards

picking a host in that timeframe.

This they could happily do given that the 2019 Session had increased flexibility as part of a new bidding process. The requirement to select a city seven years before the Games was removed, and the possibility of the host being multiple cities, regions and countries was introduced.

The first three potential bidding parties were revealed by Octavian Morariu, the Romanian IOC member and chair of the Future Host Winter Commission, during the IOC Session in Lausanne in January 2020.

These were Salt Lake City in the United States, which hosted the 2002 Winter

Olympics, Sapporo in Japan, which hosted in 1972, and a joint bid from the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Zaragoza in the Pyrenees region.

Last year, Spain withdrew its bid. Before then, in February 2021, Vancouver had also made a preliminary bid submission. The Canadian city also withdrew in October, however, as the 2010 Winter Olympic host was hampered by a lack of support from the Government of British Columbia.

On January 23 this year another contender was claimed to have joined the list as Swiss newspaper Le Temps reported that a bid for 2030 was being prepared by Alpine regions

The election of a host city for the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics has been delayed and there are still plenty of matters to resolve. Mike Rowbottom looks at the contenders.

across Switzerland, France and Italy, including Valais, Chamonix and Aosta Valley.

The next day, Éric Fournier, the Mayor of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, extinguished any optimism. “The project of a cross-border candidacy for the Olympic Games as relayed by certain media is not on the agenda,” he said.

On February 8, the shifting landscape gained another familiar face as Stockholm announced it had launched a feasibility study into hosting the 2030 Games. It came after the Swedish capital lost the vote for the 2026 Games to Milan-Cortina by 47 votes to 34.

The city’s idea is to review the concept that existed for the candidacy in 2026, which would mean competitions in several places in Sweden.

Falun, Åre and Östersund would join Stockholm, while sliding sports could take place overseas in Sigulda in Latvia.

An interim report on the feasibility study is due to be presented on April 20 by the city which hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics. But, despite a rich history of winter sport participation, Sweden has failed to earn the right to stage a Winter Olympics despite trying on eight - yes, eight - occasions.

Ninth time lucky? Well if anyone can make that aspiration come true it is Sweden’s highly experienced IOC member Gunilla Lindberg.

MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Pertinently, she is one of eight people on the Future Host Commission for the Winter Olympics, created along with a Summer Games version at the IOC’s 2019 Session. Amid all the rising and falling hopes, it is little wonder that the IOC is not expected to be in a position to deliberate clearly on the 2030 hosting until next year.

Another innovation of the 2019 Session was the establishment by the IOC of two modes of conversation over potential bids for the Summer and Winter Games.

The first is continuous dialogue, or “non-committal discussions between the IOC and interested parties”. Targeted dialogue, meanwhile, is, as the name suggests, “targeted dialogue with one or more interested parties”.

Accordingly, at the Olympic Summit in Lausanne on December 9, the IOC said it would remain in continuous dialogue with several of the interested parties.

The Summit was also informed that the Future Host Commission is looking into the challenges and opportunities facing future Winter Olympics, such as the impact of climate change.

A number of proposals which could have an impact on future winter elections were

also discussed, including a potential double award for 2030 and 2034 in the style of the decision which saw Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 named as summer hosts at the same time.

The rotation of the Games around a certain pool of hosts, minimum climate conditions and existing infrastructure criteria was also on the agenda.

At the request of the Commission, the IOC Executive Board decided to allow more time to study these factors to make the best possible decision about future hosting, including the revised 2030 election period.

As one might expect, the changing circumstances at strategic level have been matched by similar changes by the three cities which remained in the race for 2030.

Since its initial application, Sapporo has been beset by an escalating corruption scandal that has engulfed the COVIDpostponed Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. A trickle of allegations last year quickly turned into a flood and has severely dented the chances of the Olympics returning to Japan any time soon.

On February 28, it was confirmed that Japanese marketing agency Dentsu Group and former Tokyo 2020 operations executive

Vancouver, the 2010 host, dropped out of contention due to a lack of Government support Photo: Getty Images

Yasuo Mori were among several companies and officials that had been officially charged over alleged bid-rigging. The case centres around contracts linked to test events prior to the re-arranged Olympic Games.

Tokyo prosecutors have indicted Mori, six companies and various other high-ranking officials after receiving complaints from the Japan Fair Trade Commission.

Seiko Hashimoto, who replaced Yoshirō Mori as Tokyo 2020 President in February 2021, admitted that the news was “deeply regrettable” and that she felt “a great responsibility as the former head of the Organising Committee”.

Former Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member Haruyuki Takahashi, also an ex-senior managing director at Dentsu, faces four charges of bribery which allegedly yielded ¥198 million in return for helping companies secure sponsorship or marketing deals.

Former ADK Holdings President Shinichi Ueno has already admitted in court that he had bribed Takahashi.

As if the Sapporo bid did not have enough to deal with, public polls have also indicated opposition to the city’s hopes of staging the Games.

In December, amid rising public anger over the succession of corruption allegations

emerging in connection with Tokyo 2020, Sapporo officials said that organisers would “discontinue for some time” with their bid while the scandal was being investigated, but that the candidacy would not be cancelled.

Salt Lake City is well acquainted with the effects of a bidding corruption scandal. In 1998, several members of the IOC were accused of taking gifts from local organisers during the bidding process.

The allegations resulted in expulsions, resignations and sanctions, and the adoption of new rules. Now, more than 20 years after those Games, Salt Lake City is serious about hosting once again and is regarded as a front-runner.

The key question, however, is when? In November, Fraser Bullock, the chief executive of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, confirmed that “SLC considers the upcoming process is focused on 2030 and SLC will fully participate in that process to hopefully get either the 2030 or 2034 Olympics”.

However, the relatively small gap between Los Angeles 2028 and the potential of Salt Lake City 2030 is something that has caused much discussion, with suggestions that it could be difficult to manage two American events in swift succession.

In February, the “focus” on 2030 appeared to shift as the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland reiterated that its preference for staging a future Winter Olympics would be the 2034 edition. “We’ll get the Games back,” she pledged.

The Utah State Legislature has unanimously passed bills which support the effort to stage another Winter Olympics, while authorising the Governor to “sign agreements and make other assurances” in relation to the event. This could pave the way for taxpayer funding should costs overrun.

“There are not going to be bids that look more attractive to the IOC than Salt Lake City,” Hirshland said.

Major changes have been made to the process of selecting Winter Olympic hosts Photo: Getty Images

MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Sweden's bid for 2030 is subject to an initial feasibility study

Photo: Getty Images

She insisted that the 2034 edition of the Games remained the preference if there were other “viable bids” for four years earlier, to avoid a sponsorship clash with Los Angeles.

But she said that the USOPC would “direct our attention” to 2030 should it be left as the only feasible option.

Bullock said the state’s legislation would allow his Committee to “take the next step” in the IOC’s bidding process.

Meanwhile, unlike some of its rivals, Salt Lake City appears to have gathered broad support for staging the Games.

A poll of more than 800 people by Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics found in January that 82 per cent of respondents wanted Utah’s capital to host the Games again.

The IOC, meanwhile, has already sent a delegation to Salt Lake City. It conducted an inspection in April last year which included a technical site visit to venues and the potential Olympic Village.

It remains to be seen if Stockholm will prove to be the other “viable bid” that could enable Salt Lake City to give itself more commercial wiggle room and target 2034 instead.

The IOC welcomed the interest from the Swedish Olympic Committee, but any raised hopes were swiftly checked from rising too quickly as Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he did not want to draw any “hasty conclusions” until the outcome of the feasibility study.

The SOK’s announcement that it was considering whether to throw its hat into the ring to host the Games in seven years’ time faces its key date when the interim report is due to be presented to the organisation’s General Assembly.

Sweden’s interest in 2030 followed a meeting between the SOK and the IOC in January.

“The International Olympic Committee welcomes this renewed interest from the Swedish Olympic Committee, which previously proposed a project for the Olympic Winter Games 2026,” the IOC said.

“Under the new approach to electing Olympic hosts, the IOC is permanently open to informal and non-committal discussions with any cities, regions or countries and their National Olympic Committees in any part of the world that are interested in hosting the Games of the Olympiad, the Olympic Winter Games, or the Summer or Winter Youth Olympic Games.

“These discussions are not linked to a particular year or election of the Games and there is no longer a fixed election cycle, as in the past.”

A steering group, led by SOK acting vice-president Hans von Uthmann, is carrying out the feasibility study.

Lindberg, who is also secretary general of the Association of National Olympic Committees and an international advisor for

the SOK, is expected to be involved in the group which is due to bring in specialist expertise from various fields.

Stockholm, Falun, Åre, Östersund and Sigulda all have experience in hosting major international competitions which will work in the bid’s favour.

The SOK said it hoped to table its final report “during the summer” but insisted that “the important thing is that this is done properly and not as quickly as possible”.

The Swedish Government, meanwhile, is refusing to financially commit to a bid until it is informed of the findings of the SOK’s preliminary study.

“Economics has almost always been a weighty reason not to do an Olympics and it is guaranteed to remain as an argument,” Kristersson said in a report by Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten

“Then there are some signs that indicate that it is possible to make the Olympics cheaper these days than before.

“We are informed, and just like SOK look forward to an analysis of whether there are good conditions or not.

“There are many of us who like the Olympics, but no-one wants to draw any hasty conclusions.”

Given the already convoluted bidding process for the 2030 Winter Olympics, Kristersson need have no worries on that account.

MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Salt Lake City could play host again but the United States may prefer 2034 Photo: Getty Images

MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

The Road to Nowhere

Despite the fact that Sweden has failed in bids to host the Winter Olympics on eight occasions, the flame of hope is being rekindled once again due to Stockholm’s interest in staging the 2030 edition.

A preliminary study has now begun to look at the feasibility of a bid, before an interim report is due to be presented to the Swedish Olympic Committee’s General Assembly in April.

The Swedish interest in 2030 follows a meeting in January between the International Olympic Committee and the SOK, and the latter organisation now says it hopes to table its final report “during the summer”.

“The important thing is that this is done properly and not as quickly as possible,” it has insisted.

The Swedish Government, meanwhile, remains cagey about making any financial commitment to a bid until it has seen the findings of the study.

Meanwhile, the SOK can gain no comfort from reflecting on Sweden’s bids for the Summer Olympics.

Since the 1912 Games were awarded to Stockholm - the only city in the runningthere has been no Olympic action except the staging of equestrian events on behalf of Melbourne 1956 because of Australian restrictions on horse quarantine.

Sweden did bid for the 2004 Summer Olympics but was unsuccessful.

So, things hang in the balance for this winter sport loving country, as has always been the case during a long history of frustrated efforts and initiatives to gain the showpiece event.

Eight times down the ski jump ramp and not one take-off…

Stockholm has borne the brunt of that historic Swedish frustration in recent years. In 2013, the SOK announced a joint bid from Stockholm and Åre for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Only two months later and the bid was no more after the Moderate Party decided against supporting it, and the City Council also rejected the idea.

When Sweden went on to win a record number of Winter Olympic medals at Beijing 2022 - claiming eight golds and 18 in all - the achievement was flawed by the nagging thought of what might have been at home.

In 2019, Stockholm came tantalisingly close to achieving its wintry ambition when it was beaten 47-34 by the Milan-Cortina bid in the vote for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

While the ambition flares and flickers anew, the fact is that Sweden leads the field in failure so far as Winter Games bidding is concerned.

That unfortunate distinction is held in Summer Games terms by American city Detroit.

Between 1920 and 1972, “Motor City” - as it became known because of its huge car industry - submitted seven formal Olympic bids, and two other expressions of interest. But Motor City was on the road to nowhere…

The first expression of interest was registered in connection with the 1928 Olympics, with plans laid in 1920 to build a stadium to host the Games. But this was not deemed a sufficiently interesting expression of interest.

The first formal bid took place in London in 1939 as Detroit sought the 1944 Gameswhich very soon became a non-thing because of the Second World War.

They couldn’t really argue with that. But then came the long run of brush-offs for a city that was the official bid choice of the United States

Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972.

You want the 1952 Games? Sorry, that’ll be Helsinki. 1956? Melbourne matey. 1960? Rome. 1964? Tokyo here we come. 1968? And the Games go…to Mexico. 1972 then? Munich gets the nod…

How was hope kept alive after so many successive failures? Here, surely, is one of the most enduring demonstrations of Olympic sustainability.

The city came closest in its bids for the 1956 and 1968 Games. Which was, in truth, not very close at all.

In the 1956 vote Detroit survived until the third of the four rounds of the ballot, but not enough people put their hands up and they ended up with just four votes.

The bid for the 1968 Olympics received huge support right the way up the political chain.

When the IOC gathered for its 1963 Session in Baden-Baden, the Detroit bidders were able to count on backing from the City Council, the Governor of the State of Michigan and indeed the President of the United States.

John F. Kennedy, who would be shot dead in Dallas just over a month later, had pre- recorded a filmed message enjoining the IOC to look favourably upon the indefatigable Motor City bidders.

But once again the wheels came off as Mexico beat them by 30 votes to 14.

Forty-six years later in Copenhagen, another US President would go one, no, two, steps further in order to secure a successful home Olympic bid.

Barack Obama arrived personally in Denmark along with the First Lady Michelle. He spoke eloquently, she passionately. And the IOC members voted Chicago out in the first round…

Sweden has repeatedly been knocked down when bidding for the Winter Olympics but they always get back up again. As Mike Rowbottom explains, you are never going to keep them down.

Sweden has bid unsuccessfully for the Winter Olympics on eight occasions Photo: Getty Images