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Summer Edition 2017
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Contents
Published: June 2017 by Dunsar Media Company Limited Editor: Duncan Mackay Magazine Editor: Daniel Palmer Managing Director: Sarah Bowron Design: Elliot Willis Willis Design Associates Pictures: Getty Images Staff headshots: Karen Kodish Print: www.csfprint.com Dunsar Media Company Limited C222 MK:TWO Business Centres 1-9 Barton Road Bletchley Milton Keynes MK2 3HU Great Britain +44 1908 821239 contact@insidethegames.biz www.insidethegames.biz No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission of the publisher.
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Introduction
Duncan Mackay
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Los Angeles or Paris? 2024 or 2028? Nick Butler
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London Calling Duncan Mackay
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Time for change at FINA? Nick Butler
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The 120-year dream Duncan Mackay
Barcelona 1992 - The Regeneration Games Mike Rowbottom
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The Games for the World Max Winters
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Five go to Tokyo
Michael Pavitt and Daniel Etchells
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Stray emails offer glimpse of our sporting future Mike Rowbottom
Data is published in good faith and is the best information possessed by Dunsar Media Company Limited at the stated date of publication. The publisher cannot accept any liability for errors or omissions, however caused. Errors brought to the attention of the publisher and verified to the satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected in future editions, if any. Š and Database Right 2017 Dunsar Media Company Limited All rights reserved.
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DUNCAN MACKAY EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES
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s we await the decision on whether the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games will be awarded together, this seems like a good time to remember Barcelona 1992. The “Olympic Curse” has struck many cities, most recently the 2016 host Rio de Janeiro, where the stadiums are already gathering dust. But some cities have had a positive outcome. Perhaps the clearest example of a city enjoying an “Olympic bounce” is Barcelona. Nowadays we think of the Spanish city as a land of sun, sand, soccer and sangria, but it is easy to forget that before the Games in 1992, it was a somewhat different place. For one thing, it didn’t really have a beach before - the city created two miles of beachfront and a modern marina by demolishing industrial buildings on the waterfront before the Olympics. Such investment came at a cost - $11.4 billion, according to one study (that’s over 400 per cent over budget). Most people, though, consider it money well spent. For example, unemployment dropped dramatically, from an all-time high of 127,774 in November 1986 to a low of 60,885 in July 1992. Olympic infrastructure created for the Games is thought to have provided over 20,000 permanent jobs for Barcelona. Crucially the Olympics seemed to change
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the way people thought of Barcelona. Between 1990 and 2016 the city went from being the 11th “best city” in Europe to the second, according to one ranking. Our chief feature writer Mike Rowbottom looks back at that Olympics as the Spanish city celebrates the 25th anniversary of hosting them. Since 1992, Olympic bid cities have used Barcelona as a model for hugely expansive urban makeovers. But since the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is widely reported to have cost the Russian Government $51 billion to stage in Sochi, the model has been largely dis-credited. That $51 billion figure has, as I predicted it would in previous insidethegames magazines, become a massive millstone around the neck of the Olympic Movement. It contributed directly to Boston, Hamburg, Rome and Budapest all pulling out of the campaign for the 2024 Olympics following public pressure, a lot of which was extracted on social media. It has left the International Olympic Committee with only two candidates, Los Angeles and Paris, leading to the current debate about whether the 2024 and 2028 Games should be awarded together. The two are very different bids which have polarised opinion. Paris are proposing the model so popular since Barcelona 1992, a bid publicly funded by the taxpayer to help regenerate run down areas of the French capital. Los Angeles, on the other hand, is promising a privately-funded Games using existing venues and asking for no public money. The IOC Executive Board are due to announce a decision after a meeting in Lausanne on June 9. It looks increasingly likely that Paris will get to go first, followed four years
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later by Los Angeles. There is no doubt that both cities are well-prepared to put on fabulous shows, as myself and Nick Butler discovered when we visited them during the recent IOC Evaluation Commission inspections. If it is a convoluted and long drawn out bid process you want, then few will surely ever beat London’s 21-year campaign to host the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships. The British capital first announced in 1996 it wanted to stage the event but it has taken until 2017 to realise that dream. Sitting down to recount the journey, it brought it home to me what a bizarre story it has been. I hope you find it as interesting as I have. The other big event on the sports calendar this year is the FINA World Championships in Budapest. But, as Nick Butler reports, there will be just as much interest on what is going on out of the pool as in it. Julio Maglione, at 81 years old, will be seeking a third term as the world governing body’s President. His re-election, though, is being contested by Italian Paolo Barelli amid growing dissatisfaction from Europe about Maglione’s leadership. We will be covering all these events on insidethegames during the next few weeks. Make sure you follow us. Remember it is free to sign up and we break more stories that you want to read quicker than anyone else.
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Los Angeles or Paris? 2024 or 2028? A battle to host the 2024 and, probably, the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games is heating up after recent IOC Evaluation Commission inspections. Nick Butler reports on a stumbling yet engrossing race.
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any of history’s best sporting duels have been between two rivals showcasing completely different styles. George Foreman the sledgehammer versus Muhammad Ali floating like a butterfly before stinging like a bee; or the gracefulness of Roger Federer versus the physicality of Rafael Nadal. The contest between Los Angeles and Paris has the potential to be a similar classic. Both are great but totally different bids, with contrasting strengths, weaknesses and priorities. At the moment, though, it is like the two are slugging it out on a tennis court in which one part is covered by sand. There have been some great moments already, but they are invariably offset by uncertainty over whether we will ultimately even reach a vote. I lost count of the number of times IOC Evaluation Commission chair Patrick Baumann and officials from both cities insisted they were “only focusing on 2024”. But the later 2028 Games was not so much an elephant in the room as a Hollywood sign plastered on top of the Eiffel Tower, covered in garlic and berets and screaming God Bless America. The IOC spoke a lot about how they had
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encouraged a more “flexible” process for their inspection visit. As well as chopping the length from five to three days, there were fewer people and equipment present while questions had been sent in advance to encourage a more “consultative” process. In true IOC style, they were unable to tell us how much it had cost. They only said that it was about “half” the unknown budget for the 2020 bid visits and that they had “contributed” along with the two candidates. They also sacrificed technical advisors for more IOC members on the panel. This was seemingly done to allow them to communicate the merits of each bid with voting IOC colleagues. It apparently led to more politicking at the expense of expert opinion. We were reasonably impressed with Baumann who, particularly in Los Angeles, was warm, engaging and at least making a decent stab at answering our questions. The lack of any members of the IOC communications team was bizarre, given the presence of so many media and the chance to better showcase two strong bids. One advisor from Hill+Knowlton Strategies was responsible for the press conferences but had no time to speak to us elsewhere.
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The Staples Center will be a key venue if Los Angeles hosts the Games. Photo: Getty Images
As usual, members would speak in equally gushing tones about both bids afterwards. They could have been anywhere, from Damascus to Milton Keynes, and would probably have said the same. But it is hard to find serious weaknesses in either. Los Angeles’ main strength is its plethora of existing venues and privately funded financial model. The line we are hearing over and over is that no new venues are to be built and no public money is required. That in itself is virtually unprecedented. The number one asset they wanted to showcase during the Evaluation Commission inspection is the site for the Athletes’ Village in
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Judoka Teddy Riner has supported Paris. Photo: Getty Images
Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin backs the LA bid. Photo: Getty Images
The LA Memorial Coliseum has Olympic pedigree. Photo: Getty Images
student accommodation at UCLA in Westwood Hills. Rival University of Southern California will host the Media Village and nearby Main Press Centre which, we were told in one of those wonderfully meaningless sporting clichés, will be a “clean to clean” environment with no internal security zones. UCLA was a fantastic site, though, with sensational sporting facilities. There are officially four venue clusters. This starts with the Valley Sports Park to the north of UCLA for equestrian, shooting and canoe slalom and ends with the Long Beach cluster by the coast. I was very impressed by a sailing www.facebook.com/insidethegames
course within sight of the shore, while triathlon, open water swimming, handball and BMX would all be held nearby. Close by is South Bay where temporary venues must be built for hockey and modern pentathlon swimming alongside an existing velodrome and rugby sevens pitch. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has pride of place in the Downtown Sports Park along with the Staples Center for basketball, Dedeaux Field for aquatics and locations for five other sports. Others are spread all over the city. This includes the Riviera Golf Course, beach volleyball at Santa Monica and the Rose Bowl football stadium where the 1994 men’s and the 1999 women’s FIFA World Cup finals took place. I also found transport less of a problem than anticipated. Yes, there was a lot of traffic, but there were so many lanes that it always seemed to be moving reasonably quickly. Except for the more remote rowing and canoe sprint venue at Lake Perris, journey times should not take longer
Children helped promote the Paris bid. Photo: Getty Images
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than 45 minutes or so. In fact, the roads in Paris seemed more congested even though, unlike in Los Angeles, our media tour benefited from a police escort. A more noticeable issue for me in the “City of Angels” was the lack of a city centre and an obvious single Games hub. I’m not sure how much the IOC are bothered about this, because they have encouraged Tokyo 2020 to sacrifice their compact venue model. But I felt a certain je ne sais quoi about a Parisian plan in which venues are packed into the city centre and around the Eiffel Tower. Beach volleyball would take place at its foot in the Champs de Mars, fencing and taekwondo would be held in the Grand Palais museum, while archery would be sited in a temporary venue in Les Invalides. Triathlon and open water swimming would take place in the River Seine and cyclists, marathon runners and race-walkers will join triathletes in zooming at varying speeds down the Champs-Élysées. Head out a few minutes west and you soon come to another group of venues including the Parc de Princes for football, the Stade JeanBoulin for rugby sevens and the Stade Roland Garros for tennis and - intriguingly - boxing and handball. Golf, cycling, equestrian and mountain biking would be out at Versailles. Aside from sailing 800 kilometres away in Marseilles and football spread around the country, only rowing and canoe sprint at Vaires-sur-Marne are operating in a stand-alone venue. To the north from the city centre would be the Saint-Denis hub for the new Athletes’ Village and Aquatics Stadium sites as well as the Stade de France. Paris hit back at Los Angeles by claiming that their Village was a “key strength”. Building a site from scratch is an advantage, they insisted, as it can be customised to their
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Eric Garcetti and Casey Wasserman are public faces of the LA bid. Photo: Getty Images
precise needs. Not being able to see it was a disadvantage for us but the city centre location on the banks of the Seine certainly had potential. The IOC are right to say at this stage that neither approach is the “right one” and both can work. Yes, it is possible costs could rise, particularly on the €1.8 billion Athletes’ Village plan. But even this is due to be funded by over 70 per cent of private sources. The Paris project seems to be as reliable a European bid as you can get. The IOC cannot afford to ignore all bids involving public funding from a democratic Government. There are also still question marks over aspects of Los Angeles’ budget. The University of Southern California, responsible for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum renovation, do not have to provide any guarantees to the IOC, for instance, even if the project currently appears reliable. Los Angeles authorities have also cited the 2024 Olympics when canvassing for more Federal funding for the new subway extension to Westwood Hills; something which does not completely chime with their claim that it is “not connected” with the Games. I am sure that none of these will ultimately be major problems, but it is worth pointing out.
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Legacy is another fascinating point. Paris certainly had more substantial plans to benefit the city and wider region. As well as the 4,500 new houses from the Athletes’ and Media Villages, they have also promoted the bid far more energetically around the country and involved more local people. It was telling how the few people on the street we spoke to all knew about the bid in Paris but not Los Angeles. It just seems to matter a bit more. Los Angeles 2024 talked about “being a bid also for California and the USA”. But, aside from a seemingly impulsive proposal by Mayor Eric Garcetti to hold football preliminaries across the country and over the Mexican border, this seemed mostly lip service. There seemed little substance to their talk about a “human legacy”. But is this apparent weakness actually their biggest strength? Los Angeles have no public funding so do they really need a legacy? There seemed a degree of apathy totally alien to the Western European - and, indeed, Eastern United States - mindset. I do not think people passionately want the Olympics; they are just not particularly opposed, hence the 88 per cent support figure. I was impressed by the laid-back atmosphere and easy-going vibe. Here, you felt the Olympic
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world was cut adrift from that whiff of risk and scandal which accompanies its European jaunt. Exactly what, I suppose, the Californian bid are attempting to typify in their slightly cumbersome “Follow the Sun” slogan. Garcetti, incidentally, is by far the most impressive of the bid leaders I have encountered so far, although that is not to say others are poor. He oozes charm and charisma and is impressing IOC members as much as the media. He is the perfect antithesis to the cries of American arrogance which I still feel lurk in other corners of the bid. That said, Garcetti will need to be on his game to match “new member
Los Angeles was lit up for the IOC visit. Photo: Getty Images
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Paris co-chairmen Tony Estanguet and Bernard Lapasset celebrate in the French capital. Photo: Getty Images
of the Paris bid”, French President Emmanuel Macron, in future meetings. Security and opposition are certainly bigger challenges for Paris. But the success of the security operation at Euro 2016 provided a good template and we currently have no reason to doubt the validity of their plans. I just cannot see the left-wing opposition group set up to campaign against the Los Angeles bid gaining much support. In Paris, such groups have been similarly low-key so far. I do think there is more potential for it to gain serious traction, however, including after the Games are awarded. After Budapest’s bid fell apart amid calls for a public ballot, prospects of the dreaded “R-word” coming to fruition can never be dismissed. What, then, is most likely to happen? I think we can all agree that, unless something significant changes, the IOC will press ahead with their joint awarding plans for 2024 and 2028. Given the strength of Los Angeles and Paris as well as the lack of reliable or - in the case of Russia - politically suitable contenders for 2028, they would be mad not to. My gut instinct is still Paris for 2024. I feel that Los Angeles are slightly more ambivalent about the timing and could see financial and political benefits in waiting. I am sure there www.facebook.com/insidethegames
would be a solution to the claims that Paris would be unable to use the Saint-Denis Athletes’ Village site in the later Games, but it was certainly a clever line to spin. The 100-year anniversary of Paris 1924 is another factor but, if Athens’ failure to land the 1996 edition is anything to go by, not a crucial one. The sheer fact that Paris is slightly more of a risk could also persuade the IOC to push for it in 2024 rather than 2028, and having America host the later Games could also help negotiate longer sponsorship renewals. That said, others at insidethegames disagree and think the opposite. They argue that, if push comes to shove, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has more to lose so will be keener to come to the table. There is also always the chance of some of Paris’ lingering financial and security weaknesses coming to the fore… An IOC Executive Board meeting on June 9 is set to mark the next step before the Evaluation Commission reports are published on July 5. A Candidate City Briefing in Lausanne on July 11 and 12 and due to be attended by Macron will then be crucial before the decisive IOC Session vote in Lima on September 13. It is still IOC President Thomas Bach who will make the key decisions, even if a working group @insidethegames
Paris wants to host the Games for the first time since 1924. Photo: Getty Images
set-up by his four vice-presidents inevitably reaches the conclusions he has ordered them to reach. It is crucial that the verdict, and the way it is taken, is communicated to the wider world in the correct way, something Bach has not historically been good at. It will be another engrossing few months and I cannot be alone in hoping for the, probably unlikely, scenario of heading for Peru with a genuine contest, preferably with US President Donald Trump en-route as well. Whatever happens, though, the IOC can be satisfied that they have two compelling bids to choose from.
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London Calling
The British capital will host the IAAF World Championships this year. Duncan Mackay reflects on what has been a long and drawn out process.
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hen the 16th International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships open at the Olympic Stadium in London on August 4 it will represent the end of a long and torturous campaign by the British capital to stage the event. Along the way, the journey has included a broken promise by a British Prime Minister. There were offers of shopping trips to Harrods by the British Sports Minister at the time. One London bid leader claimed he was the victim of forgery. Fears of legal action forced one bid to be dropped. There have been allegations of corruption (of course). Having been there every step of the way of all five bids, it has been an amazing trip. At times, I have felt more like I had a bit part in a John le Carré novel than a journalist covering the process to host an event that claims to be the third biggest on the sports calendar. London launched a bid in 1996 for the 2001 IAAF World Championships. The campaign coincided with the announcement by the Sports Council – now Sport England – that Wembley had been chosen as the country’s new National Stadium with the ability to host major athletics events. A row over funding meant it soon became obvious that a bid for those Championships was unrealistic and it was dropped, allowing the event to be awarded to Edmonton in Canada. In 1998 another bid was launched, this time for the 2003 World
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Championships. Doubts continued to persist over the future of the new Wembley Stadium, brought to the fore with the appointment early the next year of new Sports Minister Kate Hoey. She criticised the plans for the redevelopment of the famous old Stadium and claimed they would be unsuitable for an Olympic bid. She wanted a permanent running track rather than a removable platform. The British Olympic Association backed her stance. Twickenham, the home of English rugby, was mooted as a possible venue for the 2003 World Championships. Things were further complicated in November 1999 by the sudden death of IAAF President Primo Nebiolo, the Italian autocrat under whose leadership the World Championships had been launched in 1983. His successor, Senegal’s Lamine Diack, had been in office only two days when he announced that the British Government had withdrawn its bid via an official letter and the Championships would be awarded to its only rival, Paris. Myself and a group of other journalists were sipping champagne in a reception in the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo at the time when we were hauled out by Bill Glad, the leader of London’s campaign. “No such letter exists,” Glad told us. “If it does, it’s a forgery.” We set off to find UK Athletics chief executive David Moorcroft, attending a different reception in the same hotel. He refused to officially confirm that London’s bid had been withdrawn but admitted it was on
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life-support. “We are still officially in for 2003 but the reality is more likely we will be pitching for 2005,” he told the group of journalists. “I think it’s too risky to go for 2003.” The following month Hoey’s boss, the then Culture Secretary Chris Smith, ordered that Wembley be built as a stadium able only to host football and rugby. As part of the deal, it was agreed that the Football Association would give back £20 million of the £120 million they had received from the National Lottery to fund the rebuilding of Wembley. This money was to be used to help build a new dedicated athletics facility at Lee Valley in the London Borough of Enfield. It was this facility – known as Picketts Lock and officially launched at the cost of £87 million in March 2000 – that helped clinch London the 2005 World Championships. A high-level delegation, led by Smith and Moorcroft, travelled to the IAAF’s headquarters in Monte Carlo the month after funding for the new stadium was confirmed to present the bid. Diack announced following the decision that he was “particularly satisfied that the London bid now means that a major stadium will now be designed specifically for athletics”.
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It soon became apparent, though, that the cost of building a new athletics stadium in Picketts Lock would cost much more than first estimated and that the transport links to the area were so poor it would be almost inaccessible for major events. The British Government, under Prime Minister Tony Blair, launched a review conducted by businessman Patrick Carter. He concluded that building the stadium at Picketts Lock would cost at least £120 million. In October 2001, Blair withdrew the funding from the Government, despite having only a few weeks earlier written to Diack to reassure him about his support for the 2005 World Championships. Diack flew into Heathrow Airport for an emergency meeting with the new Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Sports Minister Richard Caborn. Jowell and Caborn’s solution was for the event to be moved to Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield. A furious Diack took me into one corner afterwards and made it clear he was not happy. “I am very disappointed because we had an agreement to stage the Championships in London,” the IAAF President told me.
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Top: Seb Coe celebrates after London was awarded the 2017 Championships. Photo: Getty Images Below: The design for the proposed Lee Valley venue for the 2005 event. Photo: Getty Images
“An attempt to move it is a bitter disappointment. I feel personally let down.” He grabbed me by the shoulder. “I don’t understand what is going on in this country,” he shouted. “I think if the political will is there you can build anything if you want to. This does not look good for British sport. This is not the first time that we have been given a change of
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Lamine Diack hands the IAAF flag to London at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. Photo: Getty Images
plan for London. First, we talked about Wembley, then Twickenham, then Picketts Lock. “If they cannot stage it in London, then Sheffield will have to bid like everyone else.” A ham-fisted attempt by Caborn to persuade Diack to accept Sheffield – the constituency where he was a Member of Parliament – only made things worse. The Minister allegedly offered to provide scholarships for African athletes and arrange shopping trips to Harrods in London for the partners of IAAF officials in return for staging the Championships in the North of England. Sheffield did not bid officially. The Championships were instead re-allocated to Helsinki, hosts of the inaugural IAAF World Championships in 1983. The weather, incidentally, was so cold and wet at those Championships in the Finnish capital in 2005 that I returned home with pneumonia and spent several days in hospital. But that is another story… Adrian Metcalfe, at the time chairman of UK Sport’s major event group and who had been instrumental in London winning the right to stage the 2005 World Championships, predicted Blair’s decision to go back on his promise to support the event spelt the death-knell of plans for London to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. “This decision will seriously dent any hopes of bringing the Olympics to London in the short to medium term,” he told me. “The progress we have made as a nation becomes meaningless if our guarantees of the staging of events can be called into question.” www.facebook.com/insidethegames
Yet, remarkably, the same trio of Blair, Jowell and Caborn who had done so much to anger Diack did play a leading role in the campaign to persuade the International Olympic Committee to award London the 2012 Olympics. Among those who voted for the British capital was Diack. The Olympic Stadium, built at a cost of £429 million, was always going to be an obvious venue to host the IAAF World Championships so it was no surprise in 2010 that the British Government and UK Athletics announced a bid for the 2015 edition. History repeated itself a few months later, however, when the then Sports Minister Hugh Robertson had to withdraw the bid because of a legal dispute over who would be the Stadium’s tenants after London 2012. Robertson and UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner announced confidently, though, they would bid for 2017. If London thought they were going to get an easy ride, though, they were mistaken. The decision of Doha to also bid meant it was always going to be a tough race. It needed the intervention of Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012 at the time, at the crucial IAAF meeting in Monte Carlo in November 2011 to get London’s bid over the line. Since then, it has emerged that Doha’s bid for the 2017 and 2019 World Championships – which they were awarded – is now under investigation by the IAAF Ethics Commission and French prosecutors. The Guardian had revealed in December 2014 an email in which Papa Massata Diack, the son of the by now disgraced IAAF President @insidethegames
Lamine, had apparently asked for $5 million from Qatar at a time when it was bidding for the 2017 World Championships and the Olympics. Diack, now wanted by Interpol as part of a French criminal investigation into corruption in athletics that has also arrested his father, denied sending the email. In January 2016, Warner told BBC’s Sportsweek programme he had been told by a senior IAAF official that “brown envelopes” were being handed out in a hotel suite on the eve of the 2017 decision. The Qatar Athletics Federation has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Warner has since suggested that if it emerges the Doha bid was not open, it could lobby for a return of the $7.2 million that the London 2017 bid had to promise in prize money to match the amount Qatar had proposed. This drama and scandal will probably be pushed to one side during the 10-day Championships to be held in a Stadium where costs have risen to £701 million following its refit to accommodate its new permanent tenant, Premier League football club West Ham United. There were more than one million applications for the 700,000 tickets available to the public. The event is set to be the highlight of the British sporting summer. The focus will be on what is expected to be the last appearance in a major event by
British athlete Adam Gemili outside of the London Stadium. Photo: Getty Images
Jamaica’s eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt. As old names depart, new ones are sure to emerge. In fact, it is entirely possible that some of them may not even have been born when London first began bidding to stage the IAAF World Championships. What started as “2001: A World Championships Odyssey” has turned into something of an epic journey of its own.
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Time for
change at FIN Aquatics is facing calls for change in and out of the pool at this year’s World Championships in Budapest. Nick Butler reports on a surprise FINA electoral challenge to Julio Maglione.
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ntil a few months ago, Budapest was dreaming of becoming the “right city at the right time” and hosting the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This may have fallen flat, but the Hungarian capital will still find itself at the epicentre of the sporting landscape when it hosts the FINA World Championships from July 14 to 30. The event, taking place in Budapest for the first time, marks the opening staging post of a fresh four-year Olympic cycle. It should be a paving ground for a fresh generation of stars and, in the case of men’s swimming, it will mark the first major event for 16 years in
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which neither of those two American superstars Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte are present. There are no shortage of big names still around, however, with the likes of Great Britain’s Adam Peaty, Unites States’ Katie Ledecky and Hungary’s “Iron Lady” Katinka Hosszú all poised to continue the stunning form they showed at last year’s Olympic Games. There should be no shortage of new talent coming through to challenge the old guard and welcome a new era. If only the same could be said in an administrative sense. The Hungarian capital will also play host to a Congress at which elections for the world governing body’s President, vice-presidents and all other Bureau positions will be held. As is often the way in sport politics, the outcome of the election had been planned and appeared regimentally predictable. After successfully pushing through a proposal to scrap an age limit of 80, Uruguay’s Julio Maglione was set to be coronated for a third term in office three months shy of his 82nd birthday. He would be joined by a coterie of allies led by a first
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vice-president - Kuwaiti Husain Al-Musallam seemingly destined to replace him in four years’ time. All of this can still happen, and probably will. But the calm water of the FINA fiefdom has been disrupted by an Italian tidal wave as European Swimming Federation President Paolo Barelli put on his proverbial speedos and dived in to challenge Maglione. On the face of it, this is exactly what the body needs. “We cannot continue to silently accept things that are clearly wrong or be bullied any further,” the Roman Senator declared in a letter sent to European member federations on May 3. “Change for the sake of change is useless. “Change to make a real difference is what I want to achieve with you.” Maglione insists publicly that it is good to have a challenger because it ensures a “democratic” process and, like with John Coates and the Australian Olympic Committee, there is nothing like a good contest to reinvigorate stale leadership. I somehow doubt this is what
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NA? he really thinks. But, at time of writing, I am yet to be convinced that Barelli would bring change for the better. A World Championship bronze medallist in the 4x100 metres in 1975, Barelli was first elected LEN President in 2012. I came across him last year when he was challenged by Erik van Heijningen when standing for a second term. The Dutchman was quick, as most electoral candidates are, to contact us and do interviews about his hopes and dreams for the continental body. In comparison, Barelli repeatedly ignored our attempts to contact him and did not distribute any sort of manifesto. The election itself in London’s Canary Wharf was then engineered with a degree of ruthlessness befitting of a location in the heart of Britain’s money-making district. After ruling that neither he nor van Heijningen could officially present their candidacies to the floor, Barelli proceeded to use his Presidential address to do exactly that. His manifesto was passed around the room as he spoke as was, more interestingly, a sheet of paper entitled www.facebook.com/insidethegames
“Barelli’s team - preferred list” listing candidates for all positions. It was pretty clear that a promise to channel more development money to federations was the crux of his campaign and, sure enough, he was elected by a 50 vote landslide, as was every single name inscribed on his “preferred list”. Okay, you might say, this is politics. All is fair in love, war and sporting elections. But there was barely any talk from Barelli about how to improve swimming in Europe. When I stopped him and asked about doping problems in the sport, he replied: “It is easy to say too much [about doping]. It is the job of FINA, the World Anti-Doping Agency and national bodies to take action, not LEN - we can only inform people about the dangers.” To be fair, he has recently cited tackling doping problems as a FINA electoral priority, but this did not sit well at the time. I was left with the impression that he was very much “one of the club”. It chimed with the view uttered by Maglione a few weeks later, when he criticised the World AntiDoping Agency for “exceeding its power” by commissioning the McLaren Report into Russian doping. The last few weeks has made it very clear that Barelli is no longer part of the club so far as FINA are concerned. He has launched two cases at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. One of these is believed to be against American vice-president Dale Neuberger, who is also a director of Lausanne-based TSE Consulting, a company who work for FINA and also helped van Heijningen’s campaign last year. This is the real crux of the issue, although Neuberger insists he had nothing to do with it. Many of the other points in his letter are valid. It does seem that Europe’s influence is overly minimal considering how successful the continent is. His view that many individuals are more interested in the “power and money of FINA rather than the wellbeing of athletes and National Federations” also rings true. But he has not yet done enough to shake my impression that he is applying as part of a personal grudge rather than out of genuine commitment. In fact, this is a very similar fault to what he is accusing the current leadership of. @insidethegames
A strategy of criticising Asia and Africa, accusing them of being only interested in “political and, more importantly, economic” influence seems strategic suicide considering the number of votes available there. Each of the 208 FINA national federation members will have two votes each. As it stands, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania are all planning to unite against Barelli, while even Europe is not expected to be unanimously supportive. Maglione, in comparison to somebody like Sebastian Coe at the IAAF, does not appear a particularly hands-on leader and the real power at the FINA tiller is with longstanding executive director Cornel Mărculescu. The 75-year-old assumed his current post in 1986 when East German doping was at its pomp and Communist relic Nicolae Ceaușescu still ruled his own country of Romania. An old-school leader, Mărculescu has also been heavily criticised for his anti-doping policies. He also shows little willingness to pay anything more than sporadic lip service to modern whims such as transparent leadership and good governance. It would seem impossible for him to work alongside a President Barelli, but he otherwise seems likely to remain in the position for a long while yet. Al-Musallam is currently at the centre of an Olympic Council of Asia Ethics Commission investigation probing allegations, all of which he denies, that he was a co-conspirator in a United States Department of Justice bribery case connected to their investigation into FIFA. Main picture: The FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest will provide action both in and out of the water. Photo: Getty Images Far left: Water polo will be one of the disciplines contested in the Hungarian capital. Photo: Getty Images Bottom: China will look to continue their domination of the diving competitions. Photo: Getty Images
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See you on June
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th
PARIS WILL CELEBRATE OLYMPIC DAY ON JUNE 23RD AND 24TH 2017 WITH MASS PARTICIPATION OF SPORT IN THE HEART OF THE CITY. 16
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NICK BUTLER SENIOR REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES
Open water swimming will take place on Lake Balaton. Photo: Getty Images
It follows scandals involving two other FINA Bureau members last year in Brazil’s Coaracy Nunes and Kenya’s Ben Ekumbo. Nunes stands accused of “over-billing, diverting public funds and embezzlement” of around BRL$40 million at the Brazilian Aquatic Sports Confederation. Ekumbo resigned as President of the Kenyan Swimming Federation after being arrested as part of an investigation into stolen Olympic kit. He was reportedly then found hiding under a bed in his Nairobi apartment. FINA let both remain in their positions, although each have been quietly removed from the list of Bureau candidates this time around. With all of this political skulduggery going on, it is a wonder they have any time to run aquatic sport. But swimming at Rio 2016 was unquestionably one of my highlights of the Games. The atmosphere was electric and the venue was packed for session after session of spellbinding racing and drama. As well as the likes of Phelps, Peaty and Hosszu, the pantomime like histrionics between Russia’s Yulia Efimova and American youngster Lilly King was sport at its dramatic best. In America and East Asia, many believe that swimming rather than
Julio Maglione will be challenged for the FINA Presidency. Photo: Getty Images
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athletics is the number one sport on the Olympic programme. It was hard to disagree based on the Rio showing. Yet it is hard to argue that swimming matches the popularity of athletics for the rest of the four-year cycle. The FINA World Championships, for instance, is destined to receive far less column inches in coverage than the corresponding global athletics extravaganza in London’s Olympic Stadium the following month. And swimming, certainly not in a 50m pool, has little to match the Diamond League circuit over the rest of the season. This is partly the nature of the sport itself, where swimmers tend to race more sparingly than runners, throwers and jumpers. But you do feel that more could be done. Adam Peaty, for example, is just about the best male swimmer out there at the moment but is still a relatively small name in Britain. Other pool stars set to compete in the Danube Arena include Ippei Watanabe of Japan, who set a 200m breaststroke world record of 2min 06.67sec in January. China will expect to continue their diving dominance after winning every gold except for one - the 3m synchronised springboard won by Chris Mears and Jack Laugher of Great Britain - at Rio 2016. Serbia’s men and the US women are defending water polo champions, while Dutch duo Ferry Weertman and Sharon van Rouwendaal will seek to repeat their Olympic gold medal winning open water form on Lake Balaton. One innovation FINA is attempting concerns the introduction of new events to the Olympic programme. This includes the discipline of high diving which will be showcased at Batthyány Square alongside the River Danube in Budapest. Other proposed events also featuring on the World Championship programme are a mixed duet in synchronised swimming, two mixed relays in the pool as well as additional 50m, 800m and 1,500m pool races. In truth, it seems a long shot for many of these to be added for Tokyo 2020, and many swimming purists are opposed anyway, but there is no harm in a reinvigorating shake-up. Let us hope all of this sport in Budapest is not overshadowed by the politics which precedes it.
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DUNCAN MACKAY EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES
The
120-year dream
Budapest had to withdraw from the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games race, but as Duncan Mackay discovers the city is already planning how to bounce back.
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f things had worked out differently then Budapest would have been heading into the final lap of its bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games by the time the FINA World Aquatics Championships starts. The event, along with the International Judo Federation World Championships, due to take place in Budapest between August 28 and September 3, were supposed to give their campaign a nice little late push and highlight to the International Olympic Committee what the Hungarian capital could offer. Best laid plans and all that… If Budapest’s ambition to one day host the Olympic and Paralympics has been dented by having to drop it following a successful campaign by youth group Momentum Movement to call for a referendum, leading to the Government withdrawing the bid, then its enthusiasm has certainly not been. Well, at least not that of Balázs Furjes, the chairman of Budapest 2024. He is already talking about when, not if, his city bids again. “Budapest will definitely come back,” he told me. “It’s a 120-year dream. Hungary has an eternal love with the Olympics. Sport remains a strategic plan for Budapest.” A statistic that Budapest 2024 officials were keen to use as often as possible during their bid was that Hungary is the most successful country in Olympic history never to have hosted the Games. They have won a total of 491 medals since Athens 1896, more than countries like Japan, Finland, Canada, The Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Brazil, Greece and Mexico, all www.facebook.com/insidethegames
previous Olympic hosts. The passion that Hungarians demonstrate for their athletes during the Games unfortunately evaporated during Budapest’s bid. At its peak, polls showed 63 per cent of the local population supported the campaign before it crashed following the Momentum Movement, which was as much about other issues as whether Budapest should bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Furjes, though, is confident that lessons gathered from this campaign can be applied to a future bid, which would most likely be in 2032 now. “We learnt a lot,” he said. “We were newcomers with no experience. Paris and Los Angeles started at half-way of a marathon, we were at zero.” Unlike other leaders of other unsuccessful bids, Furjes is in a unique position. His day job is Government Commissioner for flagship Budapest developments, giving him the perfect opportunity to influence the infrastructure that could help his city be in a better position for its next bid. “Next time our bid will be 80 per cent complete,” Furjes said. “We always believed Budapest can be the next Barcelona. The Government confirmed after our bid ended that every planned venue will still be built. We had always promised that.” To underline this commitment, discussions have already opened with the International Association of Athletics Federations about Budapest hosting their flagship World Championships in the planned Olympic @insidethegames
Stadium, the venue which would be the centrepiece of the proposed Olympic Park. Work has already started on the Puskás Ferenc Stadion, a multi-purpose stadium named after Hungary’s greatest ever footballer. It is due to be completed in 2019 and host four matches during Euro 2020. Then, of course, there is the Danube Aquatics Arena, the main venue for this year’s FINA World Aquatics Championships. Its ongoing construction is already considered a huge achievement, as it has been completed in less than two years, a record-breaking time. The complex, formerly known as the Dagály Swimming Complex, features two Olympic-size pools - the competition pool is three metres deep, while the depth of the warm-up pool can be set according to need. By involving temporary but indoor stands it can accommodate more than 15,000 spectators as well as cater to all demands of any large-scale event. Applying the latest developments in all areas, this magnificent building shall become a great home of each aquatic discipline and can host a series of international events. Even though it’s going to offer 5,000 seats in legacy mode, it can be re-enlarged within months if another major showcase visits the city. “We proved once more that International Federations could rely on us Hungarians as we are keeping our promises,” Furjes said. “Few would have believed last May, when we laid down the cornerstone here, that we would be ready on time, while keeping to the cost plans.”
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– the Regeneration Games that created a new template for the Olympics
Diving provided iconic images from the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Photo: Getty Images
Twenty-five years have now passed since Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympic Games. Mike Rowbottom finds out that the legacy in the city is still being felt now.
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n the summer of 2002, Britain’s Secretary of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport stood at the window on the top floor of one of Barcelona’s tallest hotels. Gazing out over the city, she asked the hotel manager what the Catalan capital had been like before it got the 1992 Olympics. “It was a dump,’’ the manager replied. “The Olympics changed everything.’’ The reply seemed to register with Tessa Jowell, who subsequently gave the idea of a London bid for the 2012 Games a significantly favourable nod before travelling to Beijing, where she was due to survey the preparations underway for hosting the Olympics of 2008. The story of this high level conversation was
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told by the Minister’s escort around Barcelona, David Luckes, who was putting together a feasibility study for a London bid on behalf of the British Olympic Association. At that point, three years before London was awarded the 2012 Games at the IOC’s 117th Session in Singapore, Luckes – goalkeeper for the British men’s hockey team at the Barcelona Games and two subsequent editions in Atlanta and Sydney – perfectly summed up the position as the Government pondered over vast amounts of economic research with regard to bidding for an Olympics. “The BOA and the Greater London Authority are standing on the cliff top holding hands,’’ he said. “We are waiting for the Government to join us before we jump off.’’ While the image may not have been a wholly comforting one, it encapsulated a basic truth. For the Olympics to return to London after a 64-year gap required a leap of faith from Tony Blair and his Ministers. As history records, that leap was taken, with broadly successful effect. It can be argued that without Barcelona’s
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inspirational effect, London might not have had the confidence to push on with its own campaign to welcome the Games it had last held in 1948. The Los Angeles Games of 1984 marked a sea change in the history of the Olympics, bolting onto them the unheard-of possibility of financial surplus. But if LA 1984 proved that profit and the Games could go together, Barcelona created a new template – that of the Games as a catalyst for ambitious social change, an agent for urban transformation.
Athletics was held at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. Photo: Getty Images
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MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES While the hotel manager believed the Games changed everything for Barcelona, it can be argued that Barcelona changed everything about the Games. Those 1992 Olympics are now widely acknowledged as transforming the landscape and infrastructure of Barcelona, and re-branding a city that is now one of Europe’s most popular destinations. I can personally vouch for that sense of a fresh new city. In 1989, in one of my earliest foreign assignments as a journalist, I covered the International Association of Athletics Federations World Cup final in the Catalan capital. Three years later I returned to cover the 1992 Olympics. The difference in the surroundings, and atmosphere, was palpable. The World Cup competition took place in the stadium on Montjuic that would host the Olympics in 1992. The event was of high quality, despite torrential rain on the third and final night which turned the track into a paddling
There was a sense of a fresh new city after the sporting action. Photo: Getty Images
pool and created huge gouts of water amidst the concrete pillars of the stands. Whereas I had taken transport up and down the hill in 1989, three years later I and my companions on The Independent went by foot. This was one of my fondest memories of my first Olympics – walking back down Montjuic via a series of terraces linked by staircases and
An athlete vaults during the gymnastics competition. Photo: Getty Images
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dusty pathways amid a tide of spectators at the end of another night’s athletics at the stadium, the air still packed with heat, the lights of the city twinkling between swathes of exotic foliage… But if Barcelona’s World Fair of 1929 had endowed Montjuic with the sumptuous Laribal Gardens, it took the Olympics to bring out the full beauty of its city centre and waterfront. In 1992, the city seemed smarter, cleaner. There were fast new roads. The famous boulevard of La Rambla was distinctly seedy at the edges in 1989; not so three years later, where it was a brightly lit and elegant thoroughfare. In Olympic year, also, there were suddenly hosts of different places to eat on the waterfront. Where had these places been hiding? They hadn’t. All were part of the huge regeneration. Before the Games, a railway had run along the somewhat scruffy coastline. But then the Olympic Village was built and two miles of beach installed. Another mile of beach was subsequently added, and the number of coastal restaurants rose to more than 70 as a new port was built. The Games were credited with transforming the city’s commercial status. In one annual report, Barcelona moved up from 11th to fourth in the European rankings for
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best cities to do business in. Meanwhile, the number of hotel rooms in the city more than doubled between 1990 and 2004. The Games were also credited with giving Spanish sport a huge boost, with Rafael Nadal establishing himself at the top of the men’s game in tennis, Carlos Sastre winning the Tour de France and the national football team reigning supreme as European champions and World Cup winners. Many trace these successes back to Barcelona, which left an infrastructure of world-class facilities and coaching. London’s prospective organisers made more than one trip to the Catalan city following a Games that was widely credited as being a “model Olympics”. Twenty years after the Barcelona Games the City’s then Mayor, Xavier Trias, told the Global Sports Forum that those Olympics had “totally transformed” his city. “We have been very committed to sport for a long, long time now,” said Trias in a report carried by the IOC website. “It all started with the 1992 Olympic Games, which totally transformed our city. There was a great effort from the city council and the society of Barcelona who really threw their weight behind the Games. “In Barcelona, holding major sports competitions is now a
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MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES
A pole vaulter competes underneath the Olympic flame. Photo: Getty Images
key part of our development and I’m convinced that sport is the perfect way to inject life into a city, to improve its well-being and to put it on the international stage. “The capacity for organising events in our city just grows and grows. Every weekend there is some kind of sporting event going on in Barcelona and more than 40,000 girls and boys take part in competitions organised here.”
A lasting legacy was the result following the Olympics. Photo: Getty Images
“Our marathon, for example, has grown by 20 per cent with every edition. This is not happening by chance. We’ve really thrown our weight behind increasing participation in sport for everyone, especially those who are suffering physical or economic difficulties, and that is where we will continue to invest in sport. Barcelona’s Deputy Mayor of Quality of Life, Equality and Sports, Maite Fandos, also hailed the positive impact of hosting the 1992 Games, highlighting the confidence and global exposure that the city gained from staging the event. “When you see you can host an edition of the www.facebook.com/insidethegames
Olympic Games – and 1992 was the best in history in our view – it gives you great selfesteem,” she said. “It placed us on the world map from a sporting point-of-view and led to other events coming to the city.” Fandos also highlighted the economic benefits that Barcelona has enjoyed as a result of the 1992 Games. “What is amazing is the breadth of impact that the Olympic Games can have – not only as a sporting event but also in terms of economic regeneration,” she said “They create a significant amount of jobs for local people. Equally, the Games are a unique opportunity to showcase the city to the world because hosting the Games successfully helps bring both sporting and non-sporting events to the city. “Barcelona is the inspiration for any city holding an Olympic Games after what happened in 1992.” Five years on, addressing the members of the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity Commission in April, the President of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, underlined that sense of satisfaction with what the Barcelona Games had achieved and enabled. “The Games were a boost to the internationalisation and the opening of Barcelona and Catalonia to the world,” he said. “The following day, the Catalan Secretary General of Sport, Gerard Figueras, participated in the opening session of the Olympic Solidarity Commission meeting and explained that, 25 @insidethegames
years on, Barcelona still bears witness to the great legacy of the Games. “Not only were the Barcelona Olympic Games a great example of sustainability thanks to infrastructures that are still fully functional today, but they also had a big impact on the place of sport in Catalonia,” said Figueras. “Today, 50 per cent of Catalans practise physical activity as a habit. We have 18,000 clubs and 72 federations, 450,000 students practise sport at school, and the sports industry represents two per cent of the Catalan GDP.” The Barcelona 1992 25th anniversary programme has featured school activities, sporting events and “City and Olympism” conferences. Speaking at an event held to launch the anniversary celebrations back in February, Ada Colau, the city’s Mayor, said the Olympic Games had left an indelible legacy of which the city could be proud. “Barcelona opened up to the world and, above all, to its citizens, becoming a collective project that looked both inwards and outwards,” she said. For his part, Alejandro Blanco Bravo, the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, described Barcelona 1992 as an unforgettable occasion for world sport. “Twenty-five years on, the whole world is speaking with pride and passion about what happened,” he said. Reflecting on the legacy of Barcelona 1992
Derek Redmond’s anguish was a memorable sporting moment. Photo: Getty Images
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Performers form the Olympic Rings at the Opening Ceremony. Photo: Getty Images
The men’s cycling road race at Barcelona 1992. Photo: Getty Images
on a special website created for the anniversary, the organisers of the celebrations wrote: “The dynamism and drive of those years have left a multi-faceted legacy combining aspects both seen and unseen, such as the city’s urban renewal, first-class local and municipal sports facilities, a significant contribution to the increase in sports participation, a strong sense of identification with the city and the project, and the cohesion and excitement generated by experiencing and taking part in a unique event.” Back in 2002, as the British Government pondered over the wisdom of bidding for the 2012 Games, the BOA hosted the inspirational figure of Rod McGeoch, chief executive of the
Sydney bidding company who had prompted his own Government to access both funding and imagination in order to bring the 2000 Olympics to the Australian city. McGeoch advocated the kind of approach to the task in hand that you might have expected from a tall and powerful man who had played 300 games of first-grade rugby. Speaking in the historic environs of the East India Club, McGeoch, who had also dropped in to share some of his expertise with the DCMS earlier in the week, ran with the metaphorical ball from the off, charging straight for what he described as “the Montreal myth’’ – a reference to the ruinous legacy of the 1976 Olympics still
Two fencers compete at the Games. Photo: Getty Images
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being paid for by the taxpayers of that Canadian city. “Let’s get that myth behind us,’’ he said, as the assembled members of the BOA thrilled quietly around him. “The Mayor of that city built a new airport and highway system, and then sent the bill to the Organising Committee. “If you build a facility that’s going to last 50 or 60 years, please only charge the Olympic budget for the appropriate amount. Montreal’s taxpayers are still paying, but they are paying for public infrastructure.’’ The public of Barcelona were better served 16 years later, McGeoch believed, because their Mayor made it clear that he was taking the opportunity to create one of the great cities of Europe. “They said: ‘we don’t expect the Olympics to pay for it, but we are going to use the Games as a means of changing the city,’” he explained. Sydney’s own bid, McGeoch added, had resulted in an overall profit of AUD$330 million. “Our Government was never in debt in any sense whatsoever,’’ he maintained. “It easily absorbed the cost. There isn’t any doubt any more that to run a successful Games financially is quite a modest challenge. Our stadium, swimming pool and main indoor arena were all paid for by private funding.’’ As for the question of whether Britain could follow the lead set by Sydney in this respect, McGeoch was bullish. “I would have thought quite easily,” he said. “You will absorb all the costs and it will give an enormous uplift to the whole country, not just to Londoners. I can assure you that was so in our country.’’ McGeoch and Sydney 2000, for sure, helped the London bidders feel they could realistically challenge the established favourites for the 2012 Games, Paris. But given the huge regeneration of East London that became part of those Olympics, it is clear that Barcelona 1992 had an even more profound influence upon them.
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The
Games for the World
Polish city Wrocław will be the centre of attention in July when the World Games roll into town. Max Winters looks at an event which is much more than just second fiddle to the Olympics. The International World Games Association will hold their flagship event in Wrocław. Photo: Getty Images
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his summer Wrocław, a city of just over 600,000 people in the west of Poland, will become the centre of an alternative sporting world. The International World Games Association is bringing its flagship event to the 2016 European Capital of Culture. The World Games will be staged over a period of 11 days and will feature sports and disciplines that are not on the Olympic programme. It is expected that around 4,000 athletes spanning 31 sports and more than 100 countries will compete. The 2017 World Games were originally due to be held from August 3 to 13, but were moved to July 20 to 30 in order to avoid a clash with the 2017 International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in London. The Games take place in the year following a Summer Olympics and, according to the IWGA website, “aspire to equal and exceed the importance of World Championships organised by each federation individually”. On July 20, the Opening Ceremony will be staged at the Municipal Stadium in Wrocław, which hosted three group stage matches at the 2012 European Football Championships. IWGA President José Perurena says he is delighted with how preparations are going. “At this moment it is going very, very well,” he told insidethegames. “This includes the television deal we have with the Olympic Channel. All
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the venues are ready and at the moment I am very happy with the situation before the World Games in July.” As well as featuring events that are not on the Olympic schedule, there is another significant difference between the World Games and the biggest multi-sport event on the planet. A philosophy instilled into the IWGA from its infancy bids to ease the pressure and burden on host cities as they prepare to stage the event. As some host cities of major events buckle under the financial and infrastructural demands, the IWGA aims to allow cities to focus simply on holding the best possible Games. A World Games host city is never required to build facilities or extend available infrastructure for the sake of the Games alone. In an ideal world, the event is staged at existing venues and facilities that have been planned or are already built. One new venue is being constructed for Wrocław 2017, a new roller skating track, but that is being built under the city’s own steam. As IWGA vice-president Max Bishop explained, not only does this provide a safety net for the host cities, it also widens the possibility of potential candidates for the Games. “If a facility has been planned and financed before we award the Games then we obviously do not have any objections to that being used,” said Bishop. “For example, in Wrocław there is a big new swimming venue that
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MAX WINTERS REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES
The Polish city will host competition in July. Photo: Getty Images
was already decided upon and funded. Wrocław is a big city with 600,000 people and there are new infrastructure projects underway all the time but there is nothing that has been specifically created for the World Games. “There is a certain amount of refurbishment obviously, that happens all the time but that will be to the benefit of the city in years to come and not just to the Games. It makes it attractive to host because you do not have to build white elephants. More importantly perhaps, it means that for the number of smaller cities that don’t have the financial resources of great big cities of millions of people, it makes it possible for them to host an event of this size. The philosophy
Sports such as sumo wrestling are given a showcase at the World Games. Photo: Getty Images
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widens the number of cities that can host the event.” Indeed it does. Take a look at recent hosts of the World Games and you will see proof. Cali in Colombia handed the Games over to Wrocław four years ago and before that the action was based in Kaohsiung in Chinese Taipei. Duisburg in Germany, The Hague in The Netherlands and Akita in Japan are further evidence that it is possible to stage a large sporting event without embroiling the city in financial turmoil, while building venues that sit deserted and abandoned for years after. While the city of Los Angeles in the United States, with a population of just under four million people, jostles to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games with Paris, the smaller American city of Birmingham in Alabama has already been confirmed as host of the 2021 World Games. The importance of the World Games in the sporting landscape becomes increasingly apparent when you see the nature of their relationship with the International Olympic Committee. The two organisations agreed on a new Memorandum of Understanding in April 2016 to supersede a previous deal that was in place from 2000. It states that the IOC and the IWGA are to closely cooperate regarding the @insidethegames
sports programme composition. It also confirms that the IOC recognises the importance of the World Games as a multi-sport event and the IWGA is “committed to develop its activities in the Olympic spirit and in conformity with the Olympic Charter”. “This Memorandum of Understanding tremendously enhances the status of the World Games,” said Perurena. “Working in cooperation with the IOC is essential for us to raise the level of competition and organisation of our Games. I want to thank IOC President Thomas Bach for
Rugby Sevens is one sport to graduate from the World Games to the Olympics. Photo: Getty Images
his enormous support and for working with us on this document. It proves that we are a real part of the Olympic Movement and a member of the Olympic family.”
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#Paris2024
M ade for S haring
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Roller skating will be among the sports contested. Photo: Getty Images
So where do those at the top of the IWGA believe the World Games fits into the sporting landscape? “I think the World Games is at the same level as the Continental Games,” said Perurena. “I think it is in a strong position and that’s why the IOC has an agreement with us. I think it is similar to the Continental Games, such as the Pan American or Asian, we are all at a similar level, which is second in multi-sport Games to the Olympics.” Another viewpoint is that the World Games are a vital tool in the development of the Olympic Games and the sports which it welcomes. Previous World Games “alumni” sports which have gone on to make the Olympics include rugby sevens, karate and sport climbing. The latter two are set to appear on the programme at Tokyo 2020 for the first time, while rugby sevens made a successful debut at Rio 2016. “We see the World Games as a stepping
Cue sports are given a showcase at the World Games. Photo: Getty Images
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stone to enable our Federations to have at least some hope of some stage getting onto the Olympic programme,” added Bishop. “It has happened to a number of sports but for me, more importantly than that, it is a successful event in its own right. “It allows people in sports which don’t receive a great deal of media coverage, and therefore don’t have a lot of money to have a showcase event, to project to their fans that their sport is in a bigger event where they can rub shoulders with other sports and compare themselves to some extent with others. “I think that is very important when they see what other non-Olympic sports have managed to do in terms of making their sport popular, projecting it via the media and so on. There is a certain amount of learning that goes on between the different sporting Federations.” Of the 31 sports set to appear in Wrocław, 26 make up the core programme while four are invitational events: American football, indoor rowing, kickboxing and speedway. Invited sports, whose world Federations are not members of the Games’ governing body, will not be included in the final medal classification. A landmark television deal has also been signed for this year’s Games which will see the sporting action beamed across the globe. The IWGA has joined forces with International Sports Broadcasting, who will work alongside Polish host broadcasters ATM System to showcase live coverage. Under the terms of the partnership, ISB will work side-by-side with ATM to cover events live from venues during the Games. They will also create a “24/7” permanent channel for the Games together with the Olympic Channel, another perk of the partnership with the IOC. Founded in 1996 by Manolo Romero, ISB has @insidethegames
served as host broadcaster for many of the world’s leading sporting events, including seven Olympic and six Paralympic Games, as well as the inaugural 2015 European Games in Baku. The deal is seen as a huge plus for organisers and as Bishop says, most sporting action on our television screens does not feature the sports that are on the World Games programme. “It is extremely important because the more media exposure we get, the more people have an opportunity to see minority sports which they don’t get to see because everything is crowded out by mainstream sports, such as football,” Bishop said. As for the future of the World Games, Bishop appears to be content with its position in the sporting calendar and hopes that while the wider sporting community continues to be bogged down by scandal, the IWGA can remain immune and continue to grow for the benefit of its member organisations.
Fireworks at the Closing Ceremony of Cali 2013. Photo: Getty Images
“My principle hope is that we are able to maintain the existing situation which is that we have not been sullied by any major anti-doping issues in comparison to what is happening elsewhere and we haven’t had any corruption scandals,” he said. “I think there is a place in the sporting calendar for an event where people go to have fun but, of course, they are all very serious athletes who all want to do better than everybody else and win medals. “There is also a different atmosphere at the World Games which is of friendship and mutual support and I want to maintain that. I think that quite clearly if we can get all our member sports increased exposure because of their participation in our Games, then we will have served them and their interests well.”
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FIVE GO TO
TOYKO
Five sports got the news they were waiting for last year – that they had been added to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic programme. Michael Pavitt and Daniel Etchells look at how preparations are going.
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thletes and officials from baseball and softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were celebrating on the eve of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The five sports were confirmed for the Tokyo 2020 programme during the IOC Session on August 3. The sports were added as a package for Tokyo 2020 by IOC members, which brought an end to a process which began in 2014 when Agenda 2020 reforms were passed. The reforms gave host cities the opportunity to propose the inclusion of additional events for their Games.
Karate-mad Japan will host the sport’s Olympic debut. Photo: Getty Images
A total of 26 International Federations initially sought inclusion, with Tokyo 2020 then shortlisting eight. Organisers eventually came to the decision to propose five sports for the Games. The panel opted to overlook the candidacies of bowling, squash and wushu from their final selection. The IOC Executive Board rubber-stamped the proposals last June, before the decision was ratified at the IOC Session. IOC President Thomas Bach hailed the process, claiming the addition of the sports will excite youth and prove popular at the Games.
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“We want to take sport to the youth,” he said. “With the many options that young people have, we cannot expect any more that they will come automatically to us. We have to go to them. Tokyo 2020’s balanced proposal fulfils all of the goals of the Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendation that allowed it. Taken together, the five sports are an innovative combination of established and emerging youth-focused events that are popular in Japan and will add to the legacy of the Tokyo Games.” The decision means that 18 new events and 474 new athletes will appear on the Olympic programme, with four sports making their debuts at the Games. Baseball and softball, which will make its return to the programme after being axed after Beijing 2008, will hold six-team tournaments. Karate will feature six kumite sparring and two kata demonstration categories, while bouldering and lead and speed combined climbing will be held. A total of 40 athletes will participate in men’s and women’s shortboard surfing, with the same number taking part in men and women’s street and park skateboarding events.
Sport climbing will hope to reach new heights in Tokyo. Photo: Getty Images
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The addition of the sports had been the subject of several concerns from IOC members. This included fears that no agreement had been reached over Major League Baseball participation. Concerns were expressed that the sport could prove similar to golf at the Rio 2016 Olympics, which was plagued by withdrawals of some of the world’s best and most well-known players in the build-up to the Games. Attracting the best surfers in the world has also been a task for the International Surfing Association, as their sport prepares to make its Olympic debut. The biggest concern came from a technical standpoint, with the size of the waves considered a potential issue heading
Surfing will appear at the Olympics for the first time. Photo: Getty Images
towards the Games. The governing body had put forward two suggestions for competition, with a choice between ocean or artificial waves. The former was selected for the Games, leading to fears that the waves in the summer months will not be sufficient for competition. The most prominent concerns surrounded the governance of skateboarding. Their events were submitted as part of the International Roller Sports Federation’s application, although both the International Skateboarding Federation and the World Skateboarding Federation sought involvement. It was claimed that tensions between the rival bodies had been resolved when the sport was added to the Games programme, after all three were represented on a special FIRS Commission chaired by ISF President Gary Ream. However, the Tim McFerran-led WSF opened a lawsuit against their rival bodies after appearing to have been cut out of the process. In recent months, Tokyo 2020 have worked with the five new sports to select venues for the Games, as they seek to place themselves at the heart of the action. With three years to go to the Games, sports have also been aiming to address any outstanding issues and actively promote their status as Olympic sports. Having been added solely for Tokyo 2020, each of the sports will be seeking to make the right impression to boost their prospects of appearing at future editions of the Games.
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DANIEL ETCHELLS REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES
ll Baseball and softba
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Baseball and softball will make their return to the Olympic stage. Photo: Getty Images
uch of the focus regarding baseball and softball’s preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has been on whether the two-venue plan, proposed when both disciplines were added back onto the programme at the IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro in August, will come to fruition in the Metropolitan area of Japan’s capital. World Baseball Softball Confederation President Riccardo Fraccari is hopeful that organisers and the IOC will still agree to utilise the Chiba Marine Stadium close to the Makuhari Messe venue for taekwondo, fencing and wrestling. It was confirmed at March’s IOC Executive Board meeting in Pyeongchang that the Azuma Baseball Stadium in Fukushima will host at least one game and the WBSC would ideally like it to be the first in order to reduce the logistical impact of 320-kilometre travel times. The Yokohama Stadium was confirmed as the principal venue during December’s IOC Executive Board meeting and is currently set to host all other matches. Fraccari insists that having two venues in Tokyo is vital for a format
consisting of one six-team group. The Italian opposes an alternative format consisting of two groups of three because it could mean that a team is mathematically eliminated after just one game. He has seemingly accepted though that there will only be half-a-dozen teams in both men’s baseball and women’s softball events, rather than the initial proposal of eight. “This is the first time staging a major baseball/softball international competition with six teams,” Fraccari said. “Following the Olympic Charter, the WBSC’s official proposal was for a short, eight-team tournament, also to avoid disruptions to the professional leagues. “Further altering the proposed Olympic baseball/softball tournament format also risks some nations potentially having undue advantages or disadvantages, thereby risking the integrity of the event. “The winner wins not because of the performance on the field but because of favourable conditions in terms of scheduling, rest time, travel or whatever else. “This is something the WBSC
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does not consider, except in cases of force majeure or some non-cooperative weather actually during the tournament.” A deal over the participation of Major League Baseball teams, which was part of the proposal made by the WBSC for inclusion at Tokyo 2020, is unlikely until the format has been finalised. In March, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred raised doubts over whether players from the world’s most lucrative baseball league will compete at Tokyo 2020, claiming he does not believe owners would support a break in the season. Manfred echoed concerns expressed the previous month by MLB Players Association head Tony Clark, who warned the impact on the MLB schedule is the biggest obstacle. Tokyo 2020 is due to be held from July 24 to August 9, falling in the middle of the baseball season which runs from April to October. Fraccari remains confident that the stars of the MLB would compete at Tokyo 2020. “While the Summer Olympic Games fall directly in the middle of the summer baseball season in many countries, all professional leagues, including Major League Baseball, support the Olympic vision and believe this is a great opportunity for our sport,” he said. “Everybody will do whatever they can do to ensure the best Olympic baseball tournament in history is staged in Tokyo. “We are awaiting final confirmation of the master venue plan, number of games, format et cetera, so we can share these key details with our stakeholders.” Fraccari admits that one of the main challenges facing the WBSC between now and the Games, given the compact six-team format, is determining and staging a fair Olympic qualification system for the governing body’s member Federations from around the world. He is keen for a system that “best ensures the Olympic baseball
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and softball events in Tokyo accurately reflect and showcase the true popularity and position of baseball/softball, both in Japan and internationally”. “We will continue to study this and gather feedback to ensure we establish a method that captures the best representation at the world level and continental level,” he said. The popularity of baseball in Japan means it is expected to be one of the most widely supported and followed events on the Tokyo 2020 programme. Fraccari claimed last year’s Japan Series provided further proof of the “exciting opportunity” the sport featuring at the Games provides for the Olympic Movement. The annual championship event in Nippon Professional Baseball, which came to a conclusion in October, garnered a total attendance of 213,685 with the six matches being played out in front of capacity crowds at the Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima and the Sapporo Dome in Sapporo. Tokyo-based team Yomiuri Giants had the best attendance figures throughout the tournament, with an average of 41,724 coming through the turnstiles for their matches at the Tokyo Dome. Japan’s hosting credentials will be further tested when the country stages the 2018 Women’s Softball World Championship in the city of Chiba. “Our events in Japan have seen top TV ratings, 40,000-plus game attendance and billions in social media impressions,” Fraccari said. “And we’ve recently added a number of staff, while strengthening our collaborations with our members - Nippon Professional Baseball, the Baseball Federation of Japan and the Japan Softball Association - so I am confident in this regard that we’ll be able to meet the big expectations of the fans and the community for the return of our sport to the biggest stage, the Olympic Games.”
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23-26 oct.2017
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MICHAEL PAVITT REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES
Karate
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Karate has endured a long journey to the Olympic Games. Photo: Getty Images
t has been a long time coming for karate but the sport has finally made its way onto the Olympic programme. The martial art initially failed to even get onto the shortlist for the 2020 Games following a controversial process which cost the sport €400,000. Wrestling won the vote at the International Olympic Committee’s Session in Buenos Aires in September 2013 having originally been nominated for exclusion after Rio 2016 by the ruling Executive Board. It came out on top after a vote of the full IOC membership which pitched them against baseball/ softball and squash after karate had been eliminated by the Executive Board at its meeting four months earlier. The decision was a bitter blow to Antonio Espinós, President of the World Karate Federation, as it was the sport’s third consecutive failure. In 2005, after baseball and softball had been dropped, karate
and squash had both narrowly failed to secure the two-thirds majority necessary at the IOC Session in Singapore to be included on the programme for London 2012. Then, at the 2009 IOC Session in Copenhagen, karate was beaten by golf and rugby sevens, which were nominated for Rio 2016 by the Executive Board. All that was forgotten in August of last year, however, when the IOC confirmed that karate was one of the five sports added to the Tokyo 2020 programme. “Karate’s inclusion in the programme of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 has been a long-time
Kumite and kata disciplines will be contested. Photo: Getty Images
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dream for all of us,” Espinós said. “The karate family has worked very hard for many years to see this dream come true, but all our efforts did not end when the inclusion was ratified. “We are continuing our work to further take karate to new levels. “It is a source of pride and delight for me to see how all the karate family is in unity in this path, and for me this is what I look forward to the most; to continue seeing how all the karate family is going together hand-in-hand in our Olympic journey.” An “initial plan” for the qualification process for Tokyo 2020 was among the key items presented during the WKF’s strategic meeting in Paris in April. The exact pathway for karatekas to be part of the sport’s historic Olympic debut in the Japanese capital is yet to be determined. WKF tournaments, including the flagship World Championships, feature five men’s and women’s categories, which raises a concern among the global governing body as to how they would go about installing an Olympic qualification route and how they select the athletes who will compete at the event itself. The initial proposal was to have all 10 categories, which were included at the inaugural European Games in Baku in 2015, before it was whittled down to eight. Eventually six was the amount put forward by Tokyo 2020. “We are convinced that every step that we have done so far in this process has been taken very carefully,” Espinós said. “All our decisions up to this moment have been implemented with the consensus of all the parties involved. “This is why meetings like the one we did in Paris are so important, not only regarding the qualification process but to all the key points towards 2020.” During the strategic meetings of the WKF in the French capital, karate sport manager Toshie Murata briefed participants on
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Karate’s inclusion has been described as a “dream come true”. Photo: Getty Images
progress reports on Tokyo 2020. He also revealed the karate test event for the Games will take place in the summer of 2019. “Our preparations for Tokyo 2020 are going smoothly and as satisfactory as expected,” Espinós added. “We are receiving a lot of help from the IOC so we can take the necessary measures in our way to our Olympic debut in 2020. “We have been preparing for this moment for a long time, so there are no unexpected challenges. “We are just enjoying the ride and trying to make the most of each one of the different steps of this wonderful process.” Espinós hopes Tokyo 2020 will mark the start rather than the culmination of karate’s Olympic
Tokyo 2020 could just be the start of karate’s Olympic journey. Photo: Getty Images
dream, and has speculated that Paris offers their best opportunities for inclusion at the 2024 Games, for which a separate process will be opened. Paris is up against Los Angeles in the race for the Games in seven years’ time with the IOC due to name a host at its Session in Peru’s capital Lima in September. The WKF will no doubt be watching on with interest as it looks to prolong its stay on sport’s biggest stage.
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Skateboarding
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f the five sports added to the Tokyo 2020 programme, it would be fair to say that skateboarding generated the greatest intrigue. Widely viewed as an IOC-backed move, skateboarding certainly appears to be the poster child of their desire to create a youthful and engaging sport programme. Skateboarding’s addition raised a few eyebrows and generated numerous headlines, with not all of them being positive. The clear issue remains the dispute between rival organisations. While the International Roller Sports Federation were the chosen governing body to lead the sport, the International Skateboarding Federation and the World Skateboarding Federation - both unrecognised by the IOC - have sought involvement. The decision to establish a special FIRS Commission chaired by ISF President Gary Ream appeared to have eased tensions prior to the sport being added to the Games. However, the Tim McFerran-led WSF opened a lawsuit against their rival bodies after alleging to have been cut out of the process. While the sport was still added to the programme, a dispute over the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s choice of National Federation in February highlighted the challenges facing the sport from national level through to the global level. FIRS called for skateboarding communities to become involved
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in their Tokyo 2020 preparations when the latest dispute emerged. The governing body remain optimistic that tensions will not affect the build-up to the Games. “We have a very constructive and positive relationship happening within skateboarding to make sure the preparations are perfect,” Sabatino Aracu, FIRS President, told insidethegames. “Having said that, yes, we absolutely can tell you we will continue to work on a daily basis in order to do what is best for skateboarding. “Skateboarding is very important to all of us to get it right and we will. We have a long tradition of bringing different sports together in harmony and reciprocal independence.”
Skateboarding is viewed as a way to attract young fans to the Olympics. Photo: Getty Images
It will be critical for disputes to remain at a minimum if the world’s top skateboarders are to participate at the Games. This was highlighted by the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s decision to recognise the Brazil Roller Sports and Hockey Confederation over the rival Brazilian Confederation of Skate. The issue led to a petition
being formed calling for the latter to be put in charge, while six-time Summer X Games park champion Pedro Barros claimed he would boycott the Olympics should a change not be made. FIRS have acknowledged that there is a need to respect and embrace skateboarding’s heritage. It comes with the governing body having had little experience in staging skateboarding competitions, with the FIRS expertise primarily coming through roller skating. FIRS had initially proposed roller speed skating and skateboarding for the Games, but only the park and street skateboarding disciplines were selected. The governing body said they are working with caution to respect the sport’s heritage and are hopeful that the world’s best skateboarders will appear at Tokyo 2020. “We are more than confident,” Aracu said. “Our cooperation with the existing skateboarding structure around the world has been growing and fine-tuning in the last 12 months. The process is ongoing, we are moving every step with needed caution in order to respect and embrace skateboarding heritage.” Part of this process surrounds the qualification criteria for the Games, with FIRS seeking to ensure national and private events can offer opportunities for those seeking to make their mark at Tokyo 2020. A decision on the qualification process is expected to be made in the coming months, with the criteria announced this Autumn. “We are working hard in order to establish a cooperative environment where our NF members and private events intertwine and support each other,” Aracu said. “We don’t want to create a parallel universe for Olympic skateboarding. We want to represent skateboarding in the best and most original form.” Skateboarding is set to be held in an urban plaza during the Olympic Games, where sport climbing
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Skateboarding has been hit by governance issues. Photo: Getty Images
competitions will also take place. Aracu confirmed the issue was still being worked on with Tokyo 2020 organisers, but he believes the exact location will ensure skateboarding enjoys a high profile in the Japanese capital. The plaza has also raised suggestions that men’s and women’s BMX freestyle events may be added for the Games, with the disciplines thought to have been put forward by the International Cycling Union to the IOC’s Programme Commission. They are expected to make a decision on any new disciplines for the Games in July. While the introduction of skateboarding has had undoubted challenges, the sport is set to feature at several multi-sport events in the coming years. Skateboarding was confirmed on the programme for the next Asian Games last September. The sport will feature alongside sport climbing, baseball/softball and karate next year in Jakarta, although surfing was removed earlier this year. Potential inclusion at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics has also been mooted for skateboarding in recent months. Should the sport become a late addition to the programme, it would join roller speed skating, another FIRS discipline which is due to take place in Argentina. It is clear that FIRS are making small and tentative steps towards Tokyo 2020, which might be just as well, as they seek to keep all parties happy as the Olympics approaches.
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DANIEL ETCHELLS REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES
Sport climbing
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he International Federation of Sport Climbing claimed the sport had climbed higher than ever when the IOC approved it as one of the five additions for Tokyo 2020. The IFSC immediately began working on the technical aspects of the Olympic sport climbing competitions with the selection process drafted and presented in March at the IFSC Plenary Assembly in Quebec City in Canada. Medals at Tokyo 2020 will be awarded to the winners of the men’s and women’s combined events, both of which will be 20-strong competitions consisting of qualifications and finals. Increasing media exposure of the sport between now and 2020 is among the main challenges cited by IFSC President Marco Maria Scolaris as the world governing body strives to make sure there are plenty of spectators to watch the events unfold in the Aomi Urban Sports Venue in Koto City. The signing of an agreement with the Olympic Channel could go some way towards helping to achieve this with current projects
including an inside-look at climbing in Japan and inspiring stories of IFSC competitors. Also put under the spotlight will be sport climbing athletes to look out for at both Tokyo 2020 and the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, an event to which the sport was added in December along with break dancing and karate. “The IFSC is actively working with the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee to prepare
Climbing will provide something different for Olympic viewers. Photo: Getty Images
for the Olympic Games,” Scolaris said. “It is an amazing journey, full of passion, emotions, but also difficulties. “The size of the Games is something we have never experienced and time is short.
The “vertical dimension” will be added to the Olympic programme. Photo: Getty Images
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Bouldering will be one of the disciplines contested. Photo: Getty Images
“However, people at Tokyo 2020 are great and in Lausanne we have always found support. “Our main challenge is to deliver the best possible event in Tokyo, and next year in Buenos Aires, but at the same time to develop the sport and increase TV and media exposure until 2020 and beyond. “That’s why we are working on a strategic plan for the next four to eight years.” Discussions over sport climbing’s Olympic test event are already underway with the Japan Mountaineering Association making clear its intentions in March to bid to host the sport’s World Championships in Tokyo, possibly in 2019, as an Olympic test event. The biennial event is next due to be held in 2018 in Austrian city Innsbruck and the following edition could be brought forward by a year to prevent a clash with Tokyo 2020. “We are in the process to consider whether to run the 2019 test event combined with another competition, i.e. the 2019 World Championship, or a stand-alone event,” Scolaris said. “However, according to the IFSC Statutes, the World Championships has to be assigned by the Plenary Assembly, therefore the final decision will be taken on occasion of the 2018 meeting in Innsbruck in February.” The IFSC celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 27, marking a decade since it was unanimously founded by 57 National Federations.
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In a letter to mark the celebrations, Scolaris said he believes participation in the Olympic Games gives sport climbing “dignity and recognition” and opens the doors for IFSC National Federations to work with National Olympic Committees. He also spoke of his confidence that the IFSC will be able to develop the sport in those areas of the world where it has not been possible so far, with the support of the Olympic Solidarity programmes. For Scolaris, it is now up to the world governing body to make the most of the opportunity presented to it. “For the past 10 years, the IFSC has worked hard for the development, the regulation and the promotion of sport climbing competitions around the world,” Scolaris said. “Now we have climbed up to new heights; the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 gave us the opportunity to be in the programme of the Olympic Games. “We are proud to add the vertical dimension to the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, as well as to the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires 2018. “Performing sport climbing on the Olympic stage, we believe, will inspire the young generations all around the globe, promoting an active life in the frame of the Olympic values. “In other words, we want to give a hand to make a better world.”
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MICHAEL PAVITT REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES current plans will produce a high standard of competition. “Tsurigasaki Beach is a wellknown surf spot and one of the most popular in Japan,” he said. “We visited the venue last March and are pleased with the plans in place - both for the competition and for the surfing beach festival. “We have done a lot of research and looked at historical records of waves off the coast of Japan, all to ensure that we find the best quality conditions for our competition window during the Games.”
Surfing
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nternational Surfing Association President Fernando Aguerre is confident that the sport is heading in the right direction as it prepares to make its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. The governing body have been quick to ensure the best surfers in the world will be heading to the Japanese capital. A cooperation agreement was reached with the World Surf League back in December, which paved the way for their professional surfers to compete at key ISA events, such as the World Surfing Games. The WSL, the world’s top professional surfing league, also vowed to continue to work closely in the build-up to the Olympic Games. “We feel confident that at Tokyo 2020 the world’s elite surfers will come together to put on an impressive, exciting, and unique celebration of surfing and sport,” said Aguerre. “The WSL endorsed the participation of the world’s elite professional surfers at our World
Surfing will attract a younger audience. Photo: Getty Images
Surfing Games in Biarritz, France. “This cooperation shows the appetite that the world’s top professional surfers have to compete in our events, and the close working relationship we have with the WSL to ensure our top athletes are in Tokyo in 2020.” The appetite of surfers to compete at the Games is likely to be reflected when the qualification system for the Games is revealed later this year. The ISA have vowed to work with the IOC to develop a system to ensure universality and give top surfers an opportunity to qualify. Aguerre has also reiterated he has no concerns about the conditions competitors will face at Tokyo 2020. The Tsurigasaki Beach, located in the town of Ichinomiya, was selected as the venue for surfing back in December. After the decision was taken to use natural rather than artificial waves at the Games, concerns were raised as to whether the waves would prove sufficient for the event. It has been argued that the summer months will not see waves sufficient for competition, which is due to take place between July 24 and August 9. Between late August and October is considered the best time of year to surf in Japan. Should there be a shortage of quality waves, it is feared that competition could be dogged by a series of postponements. Aguerre is confident that the chosen venue will provide surfers with world class waves and expressed his belief that the
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beach party festival that attracts young people especially, we hope to offer an exceptional experience unlike anything seen before in the Olympic context.” The success of the competition will prove key to helping the ISA ensure that surfing’s place on the sport programme is not merely a one off. Should surfing make a triumphant entry as an Olympic sport in Tokyo, its prospects of appearing at future editions would greatly improve. Aguerre is aware that to achieve this, the ISA need
The size of the waves in Japan has been a concern. Photo: Getty Images
The ISA have also expressed their desire to make their Olympic debut more than just a competition. The governing body have vowed to deliver a two-week surfing festival on the beach, with the idea first suggested by the IOC. It is hoped that the sport will use the festival to deliver on the vow to help attract youth to the Olympic Games. Aguerre, who has been ISA President since 1994, believes the festival aspect will show that surfing will add something different to the Games than their fellow Olympic sports. “On top of world class waves, the IOC and the ISA also want to bring our unique, youthful atmosphere to the Games with a surfing beach festival,” he said. “Our sport has a very special culture which is at the heart of everything we do. “By blending high-performance competition with a fun, exciting
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to promote the sport to population of Japan, as well as the rest of the world. The ISA President is relishing both the opportunity provided by inclusion at Tokyo 2020, but also the challenge of presenting the sport to a local and global audience to ensure it continues to grow beyond the Olympic Games. “As I like to say, we don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, so we’re absolutely focused on delivering the best surf competition and experience ever,” he said. “We are excited to present our sport both to a global audience, but also to the Japanese public in a way that inspires, engages and motivates people to love surfing as much as we do. We’re excited and honoured to have surfing on the Olympic stage and we’re convinced our athletes and our sport will add great value to Tokyo 2020 and beyond.”
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MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES
Exclusive:
Stray emails offer glimpses of our sporting future I probably should not be publishing this embargoed release that arrived in my email the other day. I suspect it was sent to me in error, but for the benefit of world sport I am proposing to share it with you.
T
he opportunity to push the limits of the possible to the impossible - and beyond. The signal to launch a moonshot to the stars. In short, the chance to make a waking dream come true and become a real dream that is not a dream but a reality by crushing time and making the future closer to the present and the past a lot further from the present and the future as well. “Modifying the course of history, in some ways like the greats such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Albert Einstein, but in some ways not, by discovering the hidden commercialities lurking within human potential and maximising them with relentless efficiency. “Because we’re not the kind of company that wants to sit around on its butt waiting for history to happen to it. We are history. “That’s why we’ve committed to Smashing1, an incredible marketing exercise that uses real humans to promote running shoes that challenge, in a very real way, the international rules on running equipment. “Sometimes awareness of possibilities becomes a formidable tool! After all, humanity has taken more than a thousand years, maybe even 40,000 years if you count Cro-Magnon man, or maybe even four million years if you count the first bi-pedals of the Ardipithecus genus, to break the four minute mile, even if some of those early guys didn’t necessarily know what they were shooting for. “And so here we are, passionate for future markets, ready to go the extra mile - and beyond - to ensure that those operatives tasked with wearing our footwear perform to their max in monitored conditions that will turn an outdoor venue into a virtual laboratory. And all under the unvarying gaze of specially selected
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Is e-sports the future of the Olympic Movement? Photo: Getty Images
media representatives. “Our team of 100 scientists has looked at every possible aspect of training, nutrition, performance, psychology and recovery and that’s why we are confident that one of our selected runners, wearing our uniquely new RollaSkayte100 shoe, will make it all the way down our specially constructed 42km of winding 1-in-4 track inside an hour to smash the ultimate marathon sales target. “Why ‘100’? Because it makes running 100 per cent easier, that’s why, and it can do the same for you so that you can beat your friends and humiliate your rivals. Always assuming they haven’t embraced the impossible possible themselves…” As I say, it’s an odd one, isn’t it? In a way it reminds me of a similar initiative taken earlier this year that narrowly failed to break a less challenging marathon barrier and ended with one of the three runners involved tottering home in a time almost 10 minutes slower than his best. This also had a snappy kind of title. Breaking Bad? No. Something like that anyway… Oh hello. Sorry. That’s another mystery item just landed in my Hotmail…. Now this is also quite interesting. And really rather odd. It’s looking ahead to the fourth London Olympics of 2048, whose organisers have “kept costs down by using the old stadium which hosted the 2012 Games in Stratford and later hosted West Ham United FC before the club’s merger with fellow Londoners Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Chelsea to form the Wembley All Stars in the Betway World Premier League.” It’s got a brief preview of the main sports scheduled to take place. So there’s Netbrawl –
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“Volleyball meets mixed martial arts in a literally gripping new spectacle that will appeal to the younger generation.” There’s Hackey – “Hockey with the brakes off – short, sharp, brutal and perfect for the younger audience.” “And there’s e-sports – “From Multiplayer Online Battle Arena to First-Person Shooter, test your instincts against an endless stream of virtual rivals – and kill every last one of them. ‘Compelling viewing for the kids’ says IOC President Oparah Khan-Refuse.” Think we’re getting the picture here aren’t we? Actually I’ve just noticed an additional section on this release: “Meanwhile Squash is seeking, for the 10th consecutive time, to get onto the Olympic Programme. Held up in the past by the fact that it was an internationally popular game involving huge physical effort and technical skill, the sport has worked with unremitting industry to adapt its profile. “The introduction on court of man-made hazards such as The Rockpile and The Slippery Snake has undoubtedly widened the appeal, as has the decision by the sport’s governing body to replace rackets with laser guns, thereby introducing an element of direct combat into a contest that now takes place in the cage format that superseded glass courts before the last unsuccessful effort to gain Olympic recognition. “Only the other week, an IOC insider described squash as having ‘a chance’ of getting onto the Olympic programme ‘at some point’. “But does it tick all the boxes as far as the new Olympic motto – Shorter, Younger, Cooler – is concerned? That is still the question…”
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